Take In Fall Foliage in the Golden State

The town of Grass Valley sprouts unexpected bits of show-business history. The visitors' center at 248 Mill St. used to be the home of Lola Montez, a 19th century celebrity dancer and entertainer famed for her affairs with the rich and famous of her day. A few steps away at 238 Mill St. is a private residence that was once the home of Lotta Crabtree, another 19th century show-biz figure.

If all the driving has tuckered you out and you want to spend the night, you can check into the 1861 Holbrooke Hotel, a favorite of presidents from the Gilded Age of the 1880s and '90s. Grass Valley, right on highway 49, is a good base for daytrips. A prime route for spying beautiful leaves is the Yuba-Donner Scenic Byway, a 130-mile looped road that winds through the magnificent Sierra Nevada.

Nearby Nevada City, also on 49 and decked out with white churches and spires and picturesque Victorians, looks like a New England village plopped right down in the West. It, too, boasts easy access to the Yuba-Donner leaf-watchers' paradise road and has a trove of charming bed and breakfast spots.