HOW I'M SPENDING MY SUMMER VACATION.

Some are sticking close to home this year, but other prominent L.A. executives need to go far, far away from the hassles of the city to find true relaxation

THE money squeeze may be slicing most people's one-week Disney World trips into a weekend at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but L.A.'s top executives and officials are still planning lavish vacations across the country and the world. From Italy to the Sierras, bird hunting to mountain biking, L.A.'s top dogs are in the midst of their summer plans. Here is a sample:

John Cushman

Chairman

Cushman & Wakefield Inc.

Taking annual month-long excursion to his ranch in the Grand Teton Mountains near Jackson Hole, Wyo., where he's vacationed every summer since buying the 2,000-plus-acre ranch 23 years ago... "We go there because it has an airport right in the town and I have a plane so I can get there in an hour and 38 minutes from Van Nuys. It has fly fishing, canoeing, hiking, horseback riding, bird shooting, golf, whitewater rafting, cross country skiing and in my opinion the most beautiful countryside in the U.S. We look at the Grand Tetons in Yellowstone National Park." ... What's his favorite thing to do there? "I like to do all that stuff."

Franklin Otis Booth Jr.

Original investor in Berkshire Hathaway 

Going on annual trip to Uruguay for a week of birdshooting at the Santa Emilia estancia in the central part of the country. The estancia has been his favorite shooting spot for the past 13 years... "In the morning you go out with two German short-haired pointers and a dog handler and two guns -- two people are shooting -- and shoot partridge. In the afternoon, you shoot dove coming into roost. They consider dove an agricultural beast so there's no limit on how many you can shoot." ... Recently returned from northern Colorado, where he has a riding and fishing ranch he co-owns near the White River and Meeker, Colo.

Jake Winebaum

Co-founder of eCompanies

Chief executive of Business.com

Just came back from the Mammoth Mountain area in Northern California, where he has owned a home for four years takes his wife and kids, aged 10 and 7, for a week or two each year for skiing, hiking and camping ... Favorite thing: "Saddlebag Lake, up near Yosemite. It's a beautiful hike for kids -- a 6-mile hike with a boat that goes across a lake and a 5-mile hike around the other side of the lake. It's really stunning scenery" ... This year, summer break wasn't as long as he had hoped. "I've got a few Internet companies here so with the markets the way they are and the economy the way it is, there's no relaxing other than a few weekends. I would love to take the family to Europe one summer, maybe go to the Alps and hike around there, or bike -- but the kids have to get at little older."

Martha Jordan

Managing partner

Latham & Watkins

Although her vacation time is pretty minimal this year, Jordan plans to fly out to spend time with her kids at their vacation house in Telluride, Colo. ... "The reality is I get very little vacation and part of the reason for going to Colorado is it's a convenient office out there. I have a computer hooked up and everyone knows the phone number out there."

Ed Hogan

Founder, chairman and chief executive

Pleasant Holidays LLC 

Recently returned from David Murdoch's private island in Hawaii. "Was I vacationing? I had a good time... but I didn't play golf. It was tempting, but I was too busy." Some day hopes to take his four horses and ride along the Loire Valley in France, but in the meantime he's perfectly happy "vacationing" at Sherwood Country Club... "It's one of the greatest holidays -- a great resort. "Here my wife and I go up to the gym and work out with a trainer and a group of our people three days a week -- Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday -- for an hour. We chat with our friends, and I play golf once in a while up there. I like the game but don't have enough time. And I'll ride my horses three or four times a week when I'm in town."

Eli Broad

Co-founder

KB Home Corp.

Taking a month off starting Aug. 13. First stop: six days in Ireland... "We've never been there and always wanted to go. I have a respect for Irish playwrights and the like. We've been to Scotland and other places around there. We will spend three days in Dublin, the capital city, visiting museums, going to theaters, visiting Trinity University, which has a famous library, and seeing various castles around Dublin. And we're going to go to the Southwest part of Ireland, which is very beautiful and historic and very green." ... Then he's off for two nights in Milan, followed by a stay in Corfu, Greece, in the Ionian Sea. After that, he is back in the United States for Labor Day Weekend in New York. ... Last stop before returning home is Michigan, where he has his 50th high school reunion. "This will be exciting to see how we've all aged."

Alex Padilla

President

Los Angeles City Council 

Newly elected Council President was too busy to share how he plans to spend his summer vacation, but spokesman David Gershwin offers this glimpse: "The past couple of years, he's picked up on golf, but this (vacation) will be a little bit off the beaten path. He's not going to Phoenix." ... Padilla has a 2-week period during the council recess at the end of August to take a vacation -- although he likely has little time to plan it. Gershwin suggested he check out 11thhourvacations.com or lastminutevacations.com -- otherwise, he's off to Palm Springs again.