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The Emerald City, Seattle, is anything but an ordinary city. Surrounded with lush evergreen valleys and trees and a maze of beautiful water bodies Seattle, the Emerald city, is fast picking up as a popular tourist destination. Seattle identifies itself with sounds; let it be the Boeing jet engines or the whirring of espresso machines (it is having reputation for heavy coffee consumption) or the grunge rock (it is the birthplace of Grunge music) and the sweet sound of occasional rains. In Seattle you will always hear the music.

Seattle is full of events all year round so what to do is never a question to be asked in this city. If you are a first time visitor to the city go enjoying to Funky fishing boats, floating homes, swank yacht clubs, and waterfront restaurants. It’s a place of urban attractions and outdoor recreational activities. There are many attractions which attract thousands of tourists year after year. Some of the interesting places to visit in Seattle are Pike Place Market, Seattle Center, Summer Nights Concert Series, Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum, Observation Towers, Museum of Flight, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle Waterfront, Museum of History & Industry, South Lake Union Discovery Center. If you are still unexhausted go out for a drive in its lush green surroundings and relax yourself.

With the rise in traffic Seattle since a long time has developed a quite number of Hotels, Motels, Vacation resorts and other lodging facilities some of which reflect the world class lodging and dining standards. There are many hotels and restaurants in Seattle suitable for tight budget. So if you are on one the city still offers you many fine places to lodge and dine provided you are able to make prior reservations. You will find almost everything you look for including Air-conditioned rooms and suits, swimming pool, spas and health clubs, airport pick-up and drop facility, room service, and other such services. The dining here is tempting to all taste buds and serves the delicacies from across the continents. The connoisseurs of fine food find solace dining in the world class restaurants. You can make the reservations on cheaphotel-rooms.com or by contacting the hotels service number or visiting the hotels website.

Some of the recommended names in fine lodging and dining are Best Western Executive Inn, The Coast Gateway Hotel, Best Western Loyal Inn, Edgewater Hotel, Eighth Avenue Inn, Hotel Deca, Mediterranean Inn, Sixth Avenue Inn, The Sheraton Seattle Hotel, The Westin Bellevue, The Westin Seattle, Mayflower Park Hotel, Warwick Seattle Hotel, Watertown Hotel, The University Inn, Crowne Plaza Hotel Seattle-Downtown Area, The Inn At Harbor Steps etc.

When the hit movie Sideways came out, people all over the country were introduced to the idea that California wine-making doesn’t begin and end in the Napa Valley. There are, in fact, several wine regions throughout the state including the Santa Ynez Valley where Sideways was filmed.

Dubbed Santa Barbara Wine Country by local tourism promoters, this is an idyllic and pastoral region of small towns, ranches and, of course, a few dozen wineries that are scattered over an incredibly picturesque countryside. The movie Sideways, which follows a couple of middle-aged men as they discover the charms of this region and the truths of their existence, won great accolades as a comedy/drama but, interestingly, it also turned out to be an effective travelogue.

That’s not been lost on the Santa Barbara Conference and Visitors Bureau, which rushed to print with a detailed color brochure offering visitors a map of filming locations for the movie – a handy guide for the movie-goers smitten with the ambience so skillfully revealed in the movie’s cinematography. From all reports, plenty of people have, in fact, targeted the region for vacations or weekends and it’s still a common site to see visitors pulling out their big, green over-sized Sideways brochures to check their bearings while searching for yet another location used in the filming of the movie.

There has even been a bit of overkill, according to some local residents. A few disgruntled locals complained that the traffic brought to town by the movie was a double-edged sword – good for business, bad for the area’s roads. Not only were roads getting clogged during the height of the movie’s popularity but some say they were getting clogged with people a wee bit tipsy from all that wine-tasting. The TV show Inside Edition was recently in the area checking out all the fuss.

Much ado about nothing is the response of most locals, who have been pleased to see the area get national publicity and finally find its rightful place on the tourism map. During our March visit it sure didn’t seem overly crowded but, then again, we were there midweek and one should expect weekends will be entirely different.

We joined the other tourists in following our Sideways brochure to locations in Los Olivos, Santa Ynez, Buellton and the “authentic Danish village” of Solvang, all featured prominently in the film. There was the Days Inn Buellton where Miles and Jack stayed and the parking lot where Stephanie beats on three-timing Jack. Or how about A.J. Spurs, the western-themed restaurant where Jack meets his one-night stand, Cami. Had to see the Sanford Winery, where Miles teaches Jack the basics of wine tasting and, of course, Fess Parker Winery where the server refuses to serve Miles a full glass of wine so he guzzles the spit bucket instead.

Altogether there are 19 Sideways locations detailed on the map, all quite recognizable from the film. Some locations even have the unmistakable Sideways logo posted on their signs lest anyone not realize that their particular business or location will now live in movie infamy.

Show biz also figured into one of the two places we stayed while in the Santa Barbara Wine Country. Middle-age folks won’t have any trouble recalling the name Fess Parker, who cornered the market back in the 50’s and 60’s for coonskin-capped, buckskin-wearing movie mountain men. If you’re a certain age, you remember Parker as Daniel Boone. If you’re older than you want most people to know, you remember him as Davy Crockett, a premiere figure in the stable of Disney TV characters back in the days of the Wonderful World of Disney.

Unknown to most visitors, you can visit with this one-time TV icon on most Thursday nights at Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn in Los Olivos. The inn’s guests are encouraged to join Parker for a handshake, a glass of wine and even some musical entertainment. These word-of-mouth gatherings make it hard sometimes to find a vacancy at the inn on Thursday night.

Our room at the inn was everything you might imagine for a historical country inn located in a quiet small town surrounded by gorgeous scenery. The inn has been refurbished and updated to the point that guests get the best of both worlds – old-world charm with new-world convenience. Our spacious room was furnished with exquisite antiques, living palms and floral arrangements. The high ceilings featured white-washed beams while the windows were shuttered. Classic paintings were on the walls and floral bed coverings matched table and chair covers. Our fireplace was outlined by hand-painted tiles.

Downstairs, the Wine Cask restaurant is a small, intimate room, serving cuisine that is well-known for being some of the best and most innovative in the Santa Barbara area.

Several small shops, galleries and restaurants are located in the small downtown area of Los Olivos, including the Judith Hale Gallery which occupies two buildings just a block down from the inn and offers an amazing collection of paintings, illustrations, sculpture and jewelry. Across the street is the Los Olivos Café and Wine Merchant, the place where the two couples in Sideways enjoy dinner and several bottles of wine.

We spent a little more time than usual visiting Santa Barbara Wine Country and we wanted to experience one other lodging we had heard about – the Santa Ynez Inn. Located in Santa Ynez, this is an unusual Victorian bed-and-breakfast because it is not a historic building at all – the inn was built from scratch just four years ago. That offers the advantage of everything being new – floors, carpeting, plumbing – which will appeal to travelers less interested in the historic aspect of their accommodations.

The Santa Ynez Inn is certainly among the most luxurious inns we’ve enjoyed. Entering the lobby, one notices the carved wood stairway regally reminiscent of the grand staircase in the movie Titanic. The hallways are decorated with portraits of former presidents. In our second-floor over-sized room we found a sanctuary filled with antique-inspired furniture and such luxurious accents as crystal chandeliers and crystal-based lamps. The floral curtains parted to reveal a view of the countryside and small balcony with table and chairs. Another sitting area, made of travertine, was adjacent to the fireplace and both travertine and marble were used extensively in the larger-than-usual bathroom area. A jetted tub and separate shower area were just as you would find in the most expensive hotels.

The luxury inns we chose were the perfect complement to days spent in this magnificent countryside driving from winery to winery, from each Sideways location to the next. But then again, if you want the true Sideways experience, you can always opt for the motel used in the movie. Just don’t follow the script too closely.

AT A GLANCE

WHERE: Santa Barbara Wine Country is about 30 miles northwest of Santa Barbara on Highway 154 (San Marcos Pass).

WHAT: Santa Barbara Wine Country includes several small towns and a scenic countryside that is home to dozens of wineries and vineyards.

WHEN: Any time of year.

WHY: Santa Barbara Wine Country has become famous because of the movie Sideways. The area represents a charming and rural landscape that is easily accessible from the larger city of Santa Barbara – a tourist mecca in its own right.

HOW: For more information on Santa Barbara Wine Country, phone the Santa Barbara Conference and Visitors Bureau at 805-966-9222 or visit www.santabarbaraca.com. For more information on Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn and Spa Vigne, call 805-688-7788 or visit www.fessparker.com. For more information on Santa Ynez Inn, phone 800-643-4774 or visit www.santaynezinn.com.

Sequoia National Park is known for its tall trees, but visitors will be surprised to find one of the best caves they will ever want to explore.

Oh the giant Sequoia trees are impressive, all right. Who would not marvel at trees that weigh 2.7 million pounds, that are more than 2,000 years old and have branches seven feet in diameter?

More about those later, but along the way to see the trees we stopped in at the Foothills Visitor Center just after we entered Sequoia National Park. There was a line at the counter so we figured something was worth waiting for, so we nudged a little closer to see just what all the fuss was about. The visitors in line were signing up for the Crystal Cave, a guided tour that cost $10 for each adult, less for kids, and that was still another several miles’ drive into the park. OK, we told the ticket-seller, we’re game.

Next came a long, windy drive — first up into the park, and then down several miles into a canyon to a parking area. From there, we still had a half-mile walk down a steep trail until it seemed we were almost down to the rushing river below. And then there it was: the entrance to Crystal Cave, mother of all Sequoia caves, or at least the one the public is most invited to explore.

Now this is not just any cave. The entrance is maybe just a little smaller than a railroad tunnel and no one is allowed in without a park escort. The guide will take groups of 70 persons or fewer into the cave and through the maze of many adjacent caves and chambers until, quite honestly, we probably never could have found our own way out. I guess this is why, when a little boy had to go to the bathroom, he was escorted back to the entrance by a second tour guide.

Aside from the spookiness that naturally comes from burrowing so far into the earth and its dark inner chambers, the real pay-off on this tour is the natural beauty. All along the way, from “room” to room, we saw gorgeous stalactites and “curtains,” as well as ornate marble and all kinds of crystal formations that made this look like some sort of Hollywood movie set. Fortunately, there are paved, lighted pathways that we followed – our guide never far away – and the rooms had just enough illumination to showcase the formations and their brilliance.

On this hot summer day, the 48-degree temperature of the caves was refreshing. Our 45-minute tour was fascinating every step of the way, and climaxed when our tour guide turned off the lights to show us what total darkness was all about: nothing but black and not a thing visible, even an inch in front of your face. Our guide told us there have been times when the power generator has failed so, at this point, we were just about ready to return to the entrance. While many of the rooms are huge, this tour definitely is not for the claustrophobic.

After the tour it was a fairly steep hike back up to parking lot (something to keep in mind if you’re bringing along Great Grandpa or anyone physically not able to climb the grade). But what an experience – well worth the price of admission and clearly the highlight of our visit to the park.

Sequoia is the second oldest park in the national park system – only Yellowstone predates it. Most people come to see the Sequoia trees, which appear in several groves scattered throughout the park. The trees grow to a height in excess of 300 feet, second in height only to the Redwood trees of Northern California, but considerably larger in girth.

With a little research you learn that the Sequoia tree gets so large because it grows throughout its life and it’s virtually impervious to disease. They only topple because of natural disasters, which explains how it’s possible to have a tree like the General Sherman tree – a park highlight and said to be the oldest living thing in the world. The General Sherman tree is 36 feet in diameter at its base and you could put a 15-story building under its first branch.

The Sequoias are only at certain elevations in the park – generally between 5,000 and 7,000 feet. There are 75 groves in the park with most of the pictures taken in the “Giant Forest” at about 6,500 feet. The world’s oldest trees are found here and, believe it or not, there are almost 11,000 trees in five square miles.

We noticed on our swing through the park that there are numerous walks and hikes through the trees – a really spectacular opportunity to get up close and personal with these giant treasures. In addition to the Sequoias, there are Ponderosa pine, sugar pine, red fir and foxtail pine, all growing to greater than normal size because of the area’s climate. If you like the Great Outdoors, there is no better place to marvel at Nature’s beauty.

There are also numerous places to stop and enjoy the views from the park. The roads through Sequoia take you high into the Sierra Nevada range and, on a clear day, the views of nearby mountains, or even down into the San Joaquin Valley, are spectacular. The view from Moro Rock is said to be one of the best.

If you want to make a weekend of it, there are several places in the park, and at the edge of the park where you can spend the evening. There are eight lodging facilities in Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks, as well as several more in the nearby areas of Three Rivers and Lemon Cove.

Several campgrounds in the park offer spaces for RV camping, although some are more primitive and allow only tents. If you’re bringing an RV, travel on the park roadways can be a little harrowing at times because roads are steep and narrow in some spots. Leaving Sequoia Park, there is a long downgrade and you’ll want to be sure to downshift rather than ride your brakes – the locals told us that vehicles of all sizes come down out of the park with brakes smoking due to overuse.

But whether it’s trees or caves you’re after, the long, windy road to Sequoia National Park is worth it. After all, some of these trees have been waiting for you since before the time of Christ.

AT A GLANCE

WHERE: Sequoia National Park is located in the central Sierra Nevada mountain range. One of the best ways to reach the park is by way of Highway 198, which heads east from Visalia. Highway 198 turns into the Generals Highway, the primary road through the park. The north entrance can be reached from Fresno by taking Highway 180 east.

WHAT: Sequoia National Park is famous for some of the largest trees in the world and some of the highest mountains in the U.S. The park also contains more than 100 marble solution caves, including the Crystal Cave, which is shown to visitors in tour groups of 70 people or fewer.

WHEN: Summer is the best time to avoid hazardous driving, as there can be snow in the park up until June. The Crystal Cave tours are offered from May 8 through November 14, weather permitting. No buses, trailers or vehicles over 22 feet long are permitted on the Crystal Cave road, and you’ll need to allow 90 minutes from the time you purchase your tickets to get to the cave site.

WHY: Sequoia National Park is one of California’s natural treasures.

HOW: For more information on Sequoia National Park, phone (559) 565-3341. For several lodging options, call 866-875-8456. One lodging choice that has been recommended to us is the Plantation Bed and Breakfast Inn in Lemon Cove. This inn has a Gone with the Wind theme, with various rooms named after characters in the film and decorations to match. It’s located a short drive from the park’s southern entrance. Phone 800-240-1466.