Navigating Your Way to Fun and Recreation

With the rainy season passing and summer arriving, the rivers are no longer swollen, but the roads sure are. We may not be getting any trouble from El Nino, but traffic on the major thoroughfares is a real mama.

Of course, this is the time of year when state and local agencies like to do all of their highway expansion and renovation projects. Impatient commuters, frustrated at having to work while others vacation, blast down the freeway like it’s their own private Autobahn during a fantasy European holiday. They dodge construction zones and zig-zag around tourists, those perpetual Sunday drivers who plod along hoping to catch sight of a dolphin in the water or a celebrity in a limo.

The rest of us, lured by lovely weather, gorgeous scenery and a surfeit of outdoor events, jump into the car on any given day and hit the road.

This weekend is no different. There are enough events going on up and down the coast to keep us in highway pursuit of fun and recreation.

The Central Coast Blues Festival returns for a second year of American music making. It begins Friday afternoon at Live Oak Camp, just north of Santa Barbara. (See Bill Locey’s story on Page 40.) Not far from the blues is some jazz, as Gainey Vineyards in Santa Ynez kicks off another season of summer concerts. (See Josef Woodard’s Sounds column on Page 41.) The 11th Annual French Festival will return to Oak Park in Santa Barbara this weekend. (See Jane Hulse’s Jaunts column on Page 7.)

In this county, Beach Ride ’98 at San Buenaventura State Beach is a benefit, a Harley party and a magnet for bikers (See Bill Locey’s Rocktalk on Page 56.)

And in Thousand Oaks, some of the area’s most talented young performers will appear this weekend as current and former members of the Conejo Valley’s Young Artists Ensemble. (See Richard Kahlenberg’s For the Kids column on Page 54.)