On Track

I ONCE HAD the opportunity to interview Tim Conway for a story about the Del Mar Racetrack. Best known for his sketch comedy on The Carol Burnett Show, Conway is a track habitué. He comes every year, and told me he misses the smell of the old days, when the toilets would all overflow on opening day. Not the tallest of men, Conway also remarked he once aspired to be a jockey. But not exactly jockeyesque in stature, Conway believed any racehorse he might climb aboard would take three steps and ask him to dismount immediately.

Everybody’s got a track story—especially Thomas K. Arnold, who wrote our piece on Del Mar for this issue’s California Summer Guide. The turf itself is getting a facelift—but the traditions of old, even the old standard sung back in 1937 by crooner/track founder Bing Crosby, are still around.

The Summer Guide is enlivened by Bill Fink’s statewide roundup of “soft adventure” packages. The idea is that you work up a sweat by pedaling, climbing or driving something around during the day, before retiring to upscale accommodations and a spa at your service.

OUR FEATURE-STORY WELL is once again filled by Travels’ regular sirens of adventure. Laura Byrd takes to the road and reports on the drive from San Francisco to Mendocino. Judith Morgan rides the rails that run from Russia to Finland. And as you wind your way through these pages, stop to shop, pick up some news on airline fees and find out about the trend of putting spas in airports. And more.

Enjoy the trip.

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to San Diego Magazine »