Skip to content

October hike

I really have mixed feelings about hiking from the Sterling Pointe trailhead at Folsom Lake. On the plus side, parking is free and the lot is usually nearly empty whenever I go. It’s also a fairly easy hike downhill to the lakeshore with great scenic views and even a bench or two along the way. Once at the bottom, you […]

Read More →

Driving over water

Last June we went on quite a long road trip, driving from Northern California to Fort Worth, Texas, to visit the Big Guy’s parents. It was the second time we’d done this drive, and we figured we were getting to be old hands at this type of travel. So much so that the Big Guy decided on an extra side […]

Read More →

In the Perennial Garden

Since I was visiting Fort Bragg’s Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in late October, I was surprised at how many brilliant flowers were blooming in the Perennial Garden. And even though shooting flowers wasn’t my main purpose for being there, it was impossible to walk past these beauties without stopping to check them out. I couldn’t always find signs to identify […]

Read More →

The Adventure Continues… Idyllwild

While Huell’s California’s Gold series took him to all corners of the state, in Visiting he focused on Southern California, and especially Los Angeles and its environs. As a native of Northern California, whenever I think of the southern half of the state, suburban sprawl and deserts usually come to mind. So it’s good to be reminded the region includes […]

Read More →

Riparian habitat

I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I started the trail known as the Ecological Staircase at Mendocino County’s Jug Handle Reserve, but it turned out to be a really great hike — not too physically demanding and yet a decent workout. All the way out to the Pygmy Forest and back, it totals about 5 miles. After taking […]

Read More →

Memory Monday: Summer 1990

Back in the summer of 1990 my family visited (for the first and last time) what was then Marine World/Africa USA in Vallejo, California. There have been lots of changes to the park since then. The place is now known as Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, and there are more rollercoasters these days than large animals — although some animals do […]

Read More →

Peelings, oh, peelings

My apologies for the punning reference to a song from 1974, but that was pretty much what popped into my head this morning after I spent nearly an hour laboring over my backyard project. I bought this small shed last spring with every intention of assembling it by myself; and I have done most of the work thus far, with […]

Read More →

Fuchsia

At the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in Fort Bragg, I was surprised to find so many different varieties of fuchsia, and each one of them more beautiful than the last!

Read More →