Native San Franciscan Erika Lenkert divides her time between Napa Valley and her hometown, where she seeks adventure, great food, and great accommodations. When she's not traveling, authoring her restaurant column in San Francisco Magazine , or writing articles for Elite Traveler, Wine Country Living , and Four Seasons Magazine , she's testing recipes for her new book on effortless and elegant entertaining to be published by McGraw Hill. A native of Los Angeles and an avid traveler, antiques hound, and pop–history enthusiast, Stephanie Avnet Yates believes that California is best seen from behind the wheel of a little red convertible. In addition to contributing to travel websites and magazines, Stephanie writes and/or edits several regional guidebooks, and is the author of Frommer's San Diego and Frommer's Wonderful Weekends from Los Angeles . She confesses to a special fondness for San Diego, having once attended UCSD. Online, Stephanie can be reached directly at savvy—
[email protected]. Matthew Richard Poole , a native Northern Californian, has authored and contributed to more than two dozen travel guides to California, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Hawaii, and destinations abroad. Before becoming a full–time travel writer and photographer, Matthew worked as an English tutor in Prague, a ski instructor in the Swiss Alps, and a scuba instructor in Maui. Addicted to a life of freedom, he spends most of his time on the road doing research and avoiding commitments.