Three items for thought: hotels, Mammoth Lakes, California. In the Golden State, one of the best places to go for an adventurous sightseeing experience is Mammoth Lakes. And, this time of year, it’s one of the most beautiful places to go visit. Also, you don’t have to camp out if you don’t want to; nice hotels are available for you and your crew. Go there if you need a change of scenery. Or, go there when you’re fed up with the heat that’s coming not just from the sun above, but from the concrete below. This resort area offers the trophies of a comfortable and natural bliss. That’s bliss as in, Mammoth can transform the dog days of a Southern California August into a paradisiacal summer environ, where seeing the mercury rise to only 69°F is not uncommon. Oh, yeah, and there’s the smell of pine and wildflower meadows and fresh mountain air.

Despite its renown as a winter resort, there’s hardly a better place for warm-weather adventuring. That’s why a Mammoth vacation is not something to miss out on, especially if you already live inside the state. Mammoth Lakes is in California’s Mono County, which is at the easternmost part of the state’s middle; the county shares a border with Nevada. For state-coasters, that means that it’s about a five-hour drive from Los Angeles, and a six-hour drive from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Anyone who’s made the trip there during either the summer or winter will be willing to recount of the astonishing beauty of the natural area and famous ski resort. California residents, of course, are not the only ones to make use of the area’s ski lifts and panoramic gondolas. Those whose commute to Mono County is too extended to get through on car (or those whose cars are unwilling to admit a single ski on board) have other options. Visitors flying domestically can take a charter plane to Mammoth Lakes Airport; international tourists must make a first stop at the Reno-Tahoe Airport. Once at the resort, twenty-eight lifts and three panoramic gondolas await, which all together are more than enough daring ammunition to get mammoth California adventure started.

Sam Walters is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her writing appears in print and online.