Orange County, Calıfornıa

Orange County sells itself in slogans - the happiest place on earth, Surf City, sunshine as standard - and plenty of what sits behind them was built to order. Newport's islands were dug out of a tidal marsh, the waves at the Wedge grew after the Army Corps dredged the entrance to Newport Harbor, and on Lido Isle a Cadillac dealer gave plots of land away to anyone who bought a car.

Most visitors get a day at Disneyland and a day at the beach and never hear how any of it came about.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours tell it as you go, on the coast road or on foot in Old Towne Orange. Hear about the Prohibition rumrunners of Mariners Mile. Find out how a clause in the founders' agreement kept the plaza fountain from coming down. Then go further back, to the Acjachemen and Tongva, who lived along this shore for thousands of years. That's long before anyone thought to give a plot away with a car.

Earbuds in or windows down - the county will tell you who built it.