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52 weekend getaways: Food and wine

At age 101, it's a wonder that Old Edna is still standing upright. But there she is, along California 227 south of San Luis Obispo, encouraging passing motorists to stop and say "hello." She had some hard years -- especially during World War II -- and they took their toll. Edna turned dull gray. Clearly weather-beaten, she developed rusty-brown splotches that, untreated, grew ever larger. "I could not see my sweet girl mistreated," says Pattea Torrence, an area resident who had been a frequent visitor for decades. "[She] deserved some attention -- a bit of cosmetic surgery, you might say -- a much-needed bit of lipstick in order for her to stand tall again and greet the passersby." -- Jay Jones Read more: Old Edna's kicking up her heels again Planning your trip: The Edna Valley B&B, 1655 Old Price Canyon Road, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401, www.oldedna.com/

At age 101, it’s a wonder that Old Edna is still standing upright. But there she is, along California 227 south of San Luis Obispo, encouraging passing motorists to stop and say “hello.”

She had some hard years -- especially during World War II -- and they took their toll. Edna turned dull gray. Clearly weather-beaten, she developed rusty-brown splotches that, untreated, grew ever larger.

“I could not see my sweet girl mistreated,” says Pattea Torrence, an area resident who had been a frequent visitor for decades. “[She] deserved some attention -- a bit of cosmetic surgery, you might say -- a much-needed bit of lipstick in order for her to stand tall again and greet the passersby.”

-- Jay Jones

Read more: Old Edna’s kicking up her heels again

Planning your trip:

The Edna Valley B&B, 1655 Old Price Canyon Road, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401, www.oldedna.com/

  (Joe Johnston / For The Times )

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Dining in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Ariz.

The stark landscape looms large here: miles of open land pockmarked by desert scrub; jumbled rocks heaped upon one another to create wild mountains; cantankerous cactuses ready to hurl daggers if you come too close.

Landscapes don’t come much more ruggedly Western than this.

So it’s not surprising to find restaurants that feature an Old West menu. More than a dozen years ago -- the first time I visited -- I dined on fried rattlesnake (chewy), cattle-drive stew (greasy) and Cactus Sam’s enchiladas (with Velveeta in a starring role).

But much has happened on the food scene in the intervening years. Phoenix and Scottsdale chefs have worked hard to downplay the chuck wagon-chow image.

-- Rosemary McClure

Read more: 10 restaurants to sample in Phoenix and Scottsdale

  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

San Francisco's Ferry Building

The Ferry Building, that long, tall landmark where Market Street meets the Embarcadero, is where they brought the injured after the great San Francisco quake of 1906. It’s the hub that drew as many as 50,000 commuters daily across the bay before there were any big bridges here, then sent them back across the water at day’s end. It’s the monument that a freeway amputated from the rest of the city in the 1950s, its clock tower left to jut into the fog like a forgotten gravestone.

Now it lives to make people hungry.

-- Christopher Reynolds

Read more: San Francisco Ferry Building a waterfront foodie heaven

Planning your trip:

Ferry Building Marketplace, One Ferry Building, San Francisco, California 94111, (415) 983-8000, www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com

  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

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