Daily Los Angeles herald., 1882-05-07
A Delightful Excursion.

points of great interest to everybody ex-
cept to those who live in their immediate
vicinity. The same may be said of the
Lake of Como and other charming scenic
attractions which, by those who live
near them, are spoken of in the most
prosaic and commonplace terms-as
mere matter of course, while, in all ages,
they have stirred the poets magma
tion.
Sunday last the editor of the HERALD
pulled up at the Sierra Madre Villa in
company with great troupe of Boston
excursionists. The day was clear and
beautiful, and the superb panorama
spread out before these Fasteners, com
prising the pretty and minutely cult
waited San Gabriel valley, with its glori-
GUS mountain background, and reaching
clear to the Santa Catalina islands, in
the Pacific ocean, was one which right
fully evoked the Bostonese enthusiasm.
On all hands there were exclamations of
delight; and we overheard at least
dozen of the excursionists telling the
genial proprietor of the villa, Mr.. w. ?.
Rhoads, that they were simply enchant-
ed, and proposed to spend their winters
on the foothills of the San Gabriel, or,
more properly, Sierra Madre, range
hereafter.
Really, when one comes to think of it,
there is great excuse for the rhapsodies
which we then heard ON every hand
Our own experience, in going to and re-
turning from the villa, though we have
gone through the programme often, was
such as to deserve few journalistic
notes. When the bounds of the San
Gabriel valley proper are reached one is
in the midst of luxuriant grain fields, as
to which all doubt of making crop
must be dismissed at once, the unirri-
gated fields showing growth which re-
moves all distrust. Almost at bound
one is plunged into splendid vineyards
and beautiful orange groves, which are
set out with mathematical regularity,
and which are cultivated to the last
nicety. The tourist who learns
how to make this trip will
swing through the unapproach-
able alameda of orange trees
which leads up to the residence
and winery of Mr.. L. j. Rose. After
inspecting this thorough manufacturing
establishment, Mr. Roses fine stables
are within easy reach, where some of
the finest trotters on the continent are
to be seen. Retracing his course, the
Santa Anita ranch of Mr.. Z. j. Bald
win is shortly attained. The improve
ments which have been made on this
superb property count up into the hun
dreds of thousands of dollars, and, on
the Santa Anita, as on the Sunny Slope,
one of the finest trotting studs to be
seen in California or elsewhere may be
inspected. The drive thence, to the
Sierra Madre Villa, is devoid of special
features, although the surroundings
are at all times charming.
The return trip discloses some of the
most fascinating rural scenes to be en-
countered anywhere. The best route to
take lies through the Wilson place.
Winding through o series of country
roads one comes to the eminence upon
which the San Marino residence-the
home of Mr.. j. de Barth Shorb-is
perched. We risk nothing when we
say that the view from this family coigne
Of vantage cannot be surpassed in the
United States. 1t is fragrant and ex-
quisite homestead-really poetical in
the great beauty of its surroundings
and outlook. But perhaps even more
lies ahead for the lover of natural
beauty. The drive up the Wilson
cafion, from the old Wilson mansion, is
something so full of purely natural at
fractions that one almost holds ones
breath The fine old live oaks, vener-
able from their age and imposing from
their great size, intertwined with the
foliage of numberless parasitic plants,
amongst which the mistletoe and ivy
figure prominently, are of themselves
enough to justify long trip. Words
GOODNESS and beauty of this portion of the
drive. After miles OF it one emerges ON
the plateau on which Pasadena and the
Lake Vineyard colonists are located.
1t would beggar any descriptive writer
to attempt to portray the beauty and
perfection of Pasadena. When one re-
members that all this opulence of purely
artificial beauty has been created during
the past eight years the tax upon
human credulity is grievous one. So
instant and spontaneous are the sun and
soil of Southern California in
doing their work that we risk
nothing when We assert that neither
Oakland nor San Jose, old as both are,
can show anything comparable to the
bewildering succession of flowers, or
ange and lemon trees and other gracious
forms of vegetation which meet the eye
in trip through Pasadena. To afford
parallel to the delightful picture one
must stick to Southern California. Only
at Riverside and Orange, and at very
few other specially favored points, can
anything be found ON this coast to rival
this bright, prismatic and inspiriting
landscape.
Plunging down from the bluff which
d. =, IN. n