A dull but comfortable suburban town, Escondido is best known to older Americans as the home of Lawrence Welk, a middle-of-the-road band leader whose popularity soared through a long-running TV show. Welk owns the Lawrence Welk Village Resort (https://welkresorts.com), a vacation centre on the edge of town, where a small museum details his career and three separate golf courses occupy some of the resort’s 1,000-acre grounds.

Also on Escondido’s periphery are a couple of wineries warranting a call if you’re not heading north to California’s better-known wine-producing areas – see Marin Country and the Russian River Valley, Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley.