Getting away from it all is the necessary flipside to the modern trappings of PSP, MP3, DVD, and iChat. That’s why I just took my boys for a weekend break to the quiet seaside town of Coronado, California. Almost (but not quite) surrounded by water, Coronado Island is connected to San Diego by a dramatically arching two-mile-long bridge. As you get off the bridge and cruise drive down Orange Avenue, you know you’re on hallowed ground. This place has celebrity stamped all over it. Steeped in the glam of monolithic literati and glitterati, Coronado’s played host to the likes of Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Marilyn Monroe, Stephen Spielberg, and Oprah Winfrey (to name just a few!) Overwhelmingly, though, it's the sense of gentle sophistication and laid-back elegance that makes it such a draw card.
 

The boys abandoned their bags at the swank Hotel Del Coronado and disappeared on the beach for over an hour, clambering over rocks, bouncing along the soft sands, and diving into waves when the mood struck. The legendary Del is bang on the beach. And the beach seems to go on for miles and miles. Back on terra firma they were just as elusive. The sprawling clapper-board resort offers a three-hour Kidtopia play camp (for kids 4 to 12) and Vibz hangout (for teens). There are surf lessons, bike and boogie-board rentals, the Toy Castle toy store, MooTime Creamery, and old-fashioned Spreckles candy store. The family s’mores night and Flick N’ Float poolside movie night got the thumbs up. We strolled into town for a play one night at the Lamb’s Players Theatre. We gorged at the '50s-style Beach-N-Diner and browsed cutesy stores piled high with seashells and quirky, one-off trinkets.
 
Coronado reminded me of small-town America and a time when vacations meant stripped-down pleasures: seaside walks, bike rides, gumdrops, and jawbreakers. And not a Gameboy in sight.