How best to slow the world, see nature untrammeled, and regain a sense of calm? Sometimes the simplest answers lie closest to home: an hour spent in a small park or shrine in the midst of the city, a short break in a quiet corner of a well-traveled attraction, or a brisk hike up a seaside bluff that welcomes both your footsteps and beating heart without any fear factor at all. These four soothing spots are just what the spirit needs at this time of year.
MALIBU
Point Dume Natural Preserve: With dolphins feeding off the
point, whales spouting in the distance, and wildflowers blooming in
the coastal scrub, Point Dume is more about paradise than peril,
even though most locals pronounce the point's name "doom." This
200-foot headland that forms the northwest boundary of Santa Monica
Bay offers long looks up Zuma Beach and all along the bay down to
Palos Verdes. An informal trail network winds among the bluffs.
TIME TO REFLECT: Wander a bit, but find time to sit down and
take in the point's sensations, from the hypnotic undulations of
kelp waving in the current to the gong of a buoy's bell, rising and
fading with the wind.
DETAILS:
Dawn to dusk; $2-$5 parking fee. From Pacific Coast Hwy. (State
1) in Malibu, head west on Westward Beach Rd., continuing past Zuma
Beach to end of parking lot; from here, walk up path to
point.
PACIFIC PALISADES
Self-Realization Fellowship's Lake Shrine: Amidst all the
excesses of the good life along Sunset Boulevard, there is a place
for the inner life. At the shrine, ponder the big questions or
simply escape into beauty for a while. The fellowship's multifaith
approach is exemplified by monuments to all major religions,
including a memorial containing a portion of Mahatma Gandhi's
ashes.
TIME TO REFLECT: Follow the path beside the lake. With wisps
of fog slipping through eucalyptus and swans gliding across the
lake's surface, the shrine is its own hidden world.
DETAILS:
9-4:30 Tue-Sat, 12:30-4:30 Sun. 17190 W. Sunset Blvd.; (310)
454-4114.
SAN DIEGO
Pacific Rim Park: In the late 1990s, artist James Hubbell
and his students built a soaring pearl-like sculpture in the park
on Shelter Island's west end, creating a place ideal for watching
the traffic on San Diego Bay.
TIME TO REFLECT: Sitting beneath the sculpture, you can
watch large ships enter the harbor. As the ships approach, they
follow a deep channel that heads straight toward the sculpture.
Each ship's bow towers silently, seemingly right overhead, then
swings away at the last moment.
DETAILS:
Open daily; free. At the west end of Shelter Island Dr.;
www.portofsandiego.org
or (619) 686-6200.
San Diego Zoo: Spend an hour in either of the zoo's largest
two serene, lush aviaries, and you'll find a world far different
from the nearby superstar exhibits. Let the twitters calm your
jitters in the Scripps Aviary, or relax at the Owens Rainforest
Aviary, where light filters through the trees' canopies while
blue-naped mousebirds flash overhead.
TIME TO REFLECT: Bring your binoculars, perch quietly on a
bench, and observe the antics of birds from around the world. Be
sure to sit within sight of a feeding station.
DETAILS:
9-4 daily; $20. 2920 Zoo Dr., Balboa Park.
www.sandiegozoo.org or
(619) 231-1515.
