What a great event this past week at The Peninsula Beverly Hills, as Global Traveler feted the winners of the 2013 GT Tested Reader Survey awards! The setting was lovely; the food divine; the guests distinguished and engaging; and our guest of honor/guest speaker, Terry Waite, had the room rapt as he spoke of his experiences and the lessons he learned from Nelson Mandela.

My husband, Harry, accompanied me, and we were more than happy to escape the 0-degree temperature we woke up to Monday morning here at home. Mere hours later we arrived in Los Angeles to sunshine and 60 degrees. It amused us to hear the DJ on the radio referring to the “chilly” temperatures as we drove to our two-night home at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica. The property, as its name suggests, sits directly on the beach and boasts a lovely pool deck, spacious fitness center, a spa and two on-site restaurants. The inviting lobby offers lots of comfortable conversation groups; two fireplaces (warmly glowing); and, in honor of the season, a Christmas tree and a model train set chugging around a miniature town.

We loved our Premier Ocean-view King room, located on the top (seventh) floor with a view directly over the pool and looking straight out at the beach and the Pacific. By opening the frosted glass windows above the Jacuzzi tub in the spacious bathroom, one could look past the bed to that stunning scene while soaking in the tub with the hotel’s iconic rubber whale as companion.   As we watched the sun approach the horizon on that first evening, we spotted porpoises leaping in the water just offshore. How cool is that?!

The next afternoon, we took advantage of a few hours of free time to stroll a short way up the beach to the Santa Monica Pier (the official terminus of Route 66), where we used vouchers the hotel provided us to ride the Ferris wheel and enjoy the view up the coast from the top. There we sat, in shirt sleeves on December 10 in 65-degree weather. Yes, our visit to Southern California certainly provided the perfect antidote to our chilly Pacific Northwest winter!

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor