About: Okay, on a much lighter note: let's say you have gay friends coming to Southern California - what are the places you think they simply *must* see in the region? Maybe keeping in mind some less obvious spots?
Chad Allen: I always love to remind people that we have these amazing little islands off the coast, Catalina being the main one for tourists, and the Channel Islands are amazing for scuba diving - beautiful underground preserves. Even a day trip to Catalina feels like you've left the country. It doesn't cost much to get over there, and you can camp on the lee [Channel] side of the island. There are some great surf spots, too.
I'm a beach person, as you can probably tell - I love San Onofre State Beach, between L.A. and San Diego - used to be where nobody went, but it's getting more popular. Just cliffs as far as the eye can see.
I spend a lot of time in Santa Monica Mountains hiking - I just took the dog there the other day. There are some really terrific day-hikes up there. I live in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, and that's a part of the city many tourists miss, and it's worth checking out.
Oh, and one fun thing I just remembered - taking Amtrak to Santa Barbara. It's so simple to get there that way - you can go have a dinner there, wander around, and come right back by train. I think a lot of people in L.A. forget how easy it is to do that. Recently we hopped the train with our bikes, and we rode our bikes back home to L.A. the next day. That's not for everyone - about a 100 miles of biking, and it takes some planning. But it was a lot of fun.
About: And finally, if you were planning an ideal romantic vacation, what are some top spots that come to mind for you?
CA: Well, again, Australian and New Zealand are the next places my partner and I would like to go. In our relationship, I'm definitely the most rugged in terms of how I like to travel - my idea of a great time is to go to middle of nowhere and camp out, whereas he definitely pushes a little more toward the, "hey let's go get a massage" side of things. We're both willing to do all of the above, and we tend to favor trips that balance out those two poles.
We did a great trip to Kauai, after he ran in marathon in Honolulu. It was great to be able to spend a couple of days hiking the remote Na Pali coast, and then rent a beautiful house to stay in, which we also did.
Oh, and by the way, make sure you bring a flashlight when if you go hiking in Na Pali coast…it gets dark there real fast, and when the sun sets, you can't see a thing!
