As a boy growing up in sunny Los Angeles, I could never understand why the Dodgers felt they had to disappear to distant Florida to get in shape during Spring Training. I knew the weather couldn’t be so much better there (after all, didn’t L.A. have the heavenly climate?), and I never quite figured out what the big attraction of Vero Beach, the Dodgers’ off-season home, could be. But when I discovered that the Dodgers had started playing here way back in 1948—back when they still called Brooklyn home—it all began to make sense. And it still does, once you see the spacious grounds of Dodgertown, their Florida training complex, which spreads amidst the grapefruit orchards on the west side of town at 4001 26th Street. The Dodgers train here in February and March, when the place is packed with thousands of baseball fans from all over the country.
Besides baseball, Vero Beach also has a really nice beach, in South Beach Park at the end of the Palmetto Causeway. This South Beach is family-friendly and about as far as you can get from Miami’s South Beach and still be in Florida: the sands here are clean, grainy, and golden, the waves are good-sized, and there are showers and free parking.
Vero Beach also has a nice place to stay and eat: the Driftwood Resort (772/231-0550) at 3150 Ocean Drive, which has funky 1950s-style motel rooms, and the fun and good-value Waldo’s, a poolside café and bar overlooking the ocean.
