California Road Trips Guide - 2021 - 14

ROAD TRIPS 2021
Kevin Costner's
CALIFORNIA QUESTIONNAIRE
Where do you live?
On the Santa Barbara coast.
Why there?
I'll tell you, I've gotten lucky
in my life. This is a place that
spoke out loud to me, to be on
the water with my children and
my wife. And so we moved here.
Who or what is
your greatest
California love?
The High Sierra. It makes me
think of my mother and father,
makes me think of the adventures
I had. I was going there in
diapers and I learned to walk
there, so there is something
about the Sierra that will never
leave me.
What is the biggest
misperception about
Californians?
That Californians can't drive in
the rain. Of course we can.
What is the stereotype
that most holds true?
It's expensive to live here.
What is your favorite
Golden State splurge?
I'm pretty thankful for In-NOut.
When I've been gone a
long time, when I just have to
get filled up, thank God it's on
the side of the road. I order my
burgers animal-style.
Time for a road trip.
Where are you going?
I've never been able to get the
Sierra out of my psyche. When
I go there, I'm always refreshed.
When I go to the sequoias, it's
the same. I've never been able
to duplicate that particular
smell that comes from the
Sierra's granite mountains.
I imagine the reason it smells
the way it does is because the
pine needles fall, the sun hits
them, there's all that sap.
If you could decree
a state culinary
experience, what
would it be?
I get a lot of satisfaction out
of eating at the San Ysidro
Ranch. It's a boutique hotel
with a great bar and a great
restaurant. And the food ...
I just love it.
How do you define
California style?
If you've got a convertible,
you can throw anything in
the back and you can go
anywhere you want.
What's the best
California song?
Scott McKenzie's " San
Francisco. " It defined an era
that I grew up in, during the
Vietnam War. I would come
through Santa Barbara during
'67 and '68, and there were
stop lights-the freeway didn't
go all the way through Santa
Barbara. There would be no
fewer than 40 or 50 kids at
each light, all hitchhiking to
San Francisco. My brother was
in Vietnam at the time, and so
that song was real, not some
kind of fairytale. Kids were
going to San Francisco and
they had flowers in their hair.
How would your
California dream
day unfold?
Well, I'm kind of living my
dream. I never knew that I
would have some of the things
I have. I live on the ocean.
I wake up to it. I like a really
good waffle in the morning,
and then I love seeing my kids
head out on their surfboards
right from our house. I think
to myself, " I don't know what
I've done right in life, but I did
this part right. "
Convict Lake in the Eastern Sierra
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California Road Trips Guide - 2021

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