Mountain town of Green Valley Lake is a respite in Southern California: Letters

Don’t forget Green Valley Lake

Christopher Reynolds’ “Their Heads Are in the Clouds” (Southern California Close-Ups, Dec. 23) was quite an extensive article on our local mountain resorts, but he neglected to mention Green Valley Lake. It wasn’t even marked on the map.

I compare Green Valley Lake to “Brigadoon.” Green Valley Lake is off Highway 18 near Running Springs and Snow Valley and is made up of mainly a general store, a malt shop, a bait shop and a few real estate offices.

It has a small lake for fishing and boating (no motors allowed) , a museum, a clubhouse and a campground. While you won’t find a lot to do in the way of planned activities, just the pristine location alone will give you peace of mind and an opportunity to renew your soul.

If you haven’t been there, check it out.

Judi Haase

San Pedro

Kudos to the TSA

I have no sympathy for Catharine Hamm’s unhappiness with airport security (“Checking Security,” On the Spot. Dec. 30).

Like Hamm, I am a leisure traveler and have no elite status. I have been going through airport security since 9/11 and have always found it quick and efficient and a small price to pay for the safety afforded me.

I am amazed how often I read of the number of loaded revolvers, knives, brass knuckles, etc., the Transportation Security Administration finds each day in hand luggage. Therefore, I would rather thank and congratulate TSA for the 11 years since 9/11 that no American airliner has been hijacked or blown up in flight.

I wish Hamm success in her planned application to Global Entry. If she is unsuccessful, I would suggest her future travel be by train or bus.

V.J. Carollo

Upland

RVs and campers

I’ve been a Times subscriber for over 50 years and just finished reading the Dec. 3 Travel section. Does The Times know that not all people travel by car, plane and train?

The California redwoods RV park my wife and I are staying in was almost completely full for the New Year’s celebration with families in small campers, tents, trailers up through diesel pushers, some costing more than six figures.

Seems to me that The Times is missing out on reporting about a major travel industry.

Barry Ulrich

Claremont

Past-life adventures

I enjoyed the article on hotels that had former lives (“Check Out What a Makeover Can Do,” by Terry Gardner, Dec. 23).

We enjoy staying in small hotels, and we have stayed in many that had previous lives, such as a former asylum reborn as the Hotel du Vin in Edinburgh, Scotland; a convent in Ballingarry, Ireland, that is now a bed-and-breakfast; a monastery that was converted into a parador within the famed Alhambra in Granada, Spain; and a convent in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Most recently we tried the Haywood Park Hotel in Asheville, N.C., which had been a department store. The Haywood Park retained some aspects of its previous life, featuring items sold on particular floors in display cabinets on those floors.

When we stepped out of the elevator on the second floor, a voice boomed, “Second floor, menswear!”

The former asylum in Edinburgh was most unusual. The elevator took us up to the second floor, then we walked down a flight a stairs, turned several corners and climbed 30 stairs to our room. Pure madness.

Libby Atwater

Ventura