California already conquered, he finishes off the country’s West Coast, one beach scene at a time.

The Heceta Head Lighthouse near Yachats, Ore., stands on a seaside slope as spectacular as anything in Big Sur, and there’s a bed-and-breakfast in the lightkeeper’s home next-door. Be nice, and the innkeepers will let you stand beneath the lighthouse tower after dark.

On a cross-country trip, one man rolled with the requests from Times readers who e-mailed ideas for music and food spots.

As I thought about my two-week cross-country road trip this summer, I was wary about going it alone. But I found plenty of people to keep me company on the drive — or rather, many of them found me.

The Grand Canyon isn’t Arizona’s only majestic presence: head northeast for such low-key gems as Sunset Crater, Lower Antelope Canyon and the Petrified Forest.

An Arizona road trip? Why not? Last winter, a college friend and I visited the Grand Canyon, one of the country’s most celebrated treasures. In late April, we decided to return to check out Arizona’s northeastern corner, which seemed speckled with less-visited wonders and, I hoped, a few hidden gems.

WHERE TO STAY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road (well, OK, Lincoln Street) through Wamego to the Oz Museum. Go through the door and you won’t be in Kansas anymore.

For Johnpaul Cafiero and his siblings, the annual screening of “The Wizard of Oz” meant home-baked chocolate chip cookies in front of the TV. They knew the story backward and forward. Their grandmother owned a signed first edition of the L. Frank Baum book on which the movie was based.

Question: In your July 19 “On the Spot” column, you mentioned travel consultants. I did a Google search on travel consultants versus travel agents and there seemed to me no difference. Both titles were used interchangeably. Just what are travel consultants? Where does one find them?

Mammoth plans in flight

WHERE TO STAY

Copenhagen on two wheels