La Cañada Flintridge

La Cañada-Flintridge is a small city at the extreme northwest end of the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California.

La Cañada-Flintridge is famous for its fancy and rather pricey homes. It is one of the nicer communities in Los Angeles County. It sits against the Angeles Crest Forest to the north and is split in half by the 210 freeway. La Cañada is a suburban, primarily residential community with few tourist attractions.

The 210 freeway runs through La Cañada and connects it to such places as Altadena and Pasadena to the east and La Crescenta to the west. The 2 freeway links the city to Glendale and inner Los Angeles to the south and ends in La Cañada, and the 2 continues (as a two-lane highway) northward through Angeles National Forest where it can be taken to such places as Palmdale and Wrightwood.

• Descanso Gardens. www.descanso.com. Beautiful, private garden. Very similar to the Los Angeles County Arboretum, but smaller and more intimate. Make sure to visit the International Rosarium with over 3,000 roses. Admission is $7 (as of Aug. 2007).
• NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), www.jpl.nasa.gov. You aren't going to 'see' much of JPL without a set of binoculars or a friend who works there. This is a national laboratory run by Caltech complete with a security check point. If you do have a connection to the place and can get a tour, the place is very interesting if you like space. JPL does have an annual Open House that is held on or around Memorial Day weekend (last weekend in May). During this event it is open to the public, anyone can go at that time. Other times it is closed to the public at large.
• Angeles National Forest www.fs.fed.us

• Rose Bowl www.rosebowlstadium.com- The Pasadena Rose Bowl, home of the UCLA football team, the annual Rose Bowl football game and the 1984 Olympic Soccer Finals is only minutes away.