Huell visits a massive archaeological site with millions of fossils dating from the Miocene Epoch, 15 million years ago. Kern County was once at the bottom of a huge sea filled with massive prehistoric sharks called megladons which were as big as city busses and fed on whales. Sharktooth Hill is literally covered with fossilized shark teeth. Huell also visits […]
If you’re like me and love to spend time browsing through used book shops and thrift stores for your next read, please don’t forget to check the public library! Many branches have a wonderfully varied selection of used books available for very low prices, and you never know what treasures you might discover. Above you can see the paperback I […]
The first time I saw this spot along the Mendocino coast was in November 2021. The weather had been rainy that day, and the trail was much too muddy to hike so I shot a few photos before leaving. The Keesbury Bay Viewpoint is very easy to miss along Highway 1 just north of the village of Mendocino. I still […]
If you’ve ever traveled over California’s Tehachapi range, heading either north or south along Interstate 5, you may have unknowingly passed the Tejon Ranch. As a kid, I always thought of these mountains as “The Grapevine,” without understanding or even questioning why! It meant that our trip to the Los Angeles region was nearly over — although occasionally the Tejon […]
I’ve seen many, many images of the Grand Canyon in my lifetime, both still shots and videos, and I grew up reading stories about it like Marguerite Henry’s 1953 novel Brighty of the Grand Canyon. But absolutely nothing prepared me for my first real-life view of this incredible place. I certainly can’t do it justice with my photos. Even knowing […]
Since I’ve been looking through my photos from last October when I visited the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in Fort Bragg, I thought it would be nice to revisit this episode — it was my very first look at this beautiful spot in Mendocino County. This segment of California’s Golden Coast originally aired in September 2003, and I featured it here on the blog in October 2018: I’ve been a botanical garden fan ever since my visit to the San Francisco Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park in 2016. Before that, I had no idea how wonderful such places could be — perfect for photography, for wandering, or for just sitting to relax in the middle of nature’s beauty. Watching this episode of California’s Golden Coast is a great introduction to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, a unique and beautiful public garden near the small town of Fort Bragg; I was surprised to learn that this garden has been here since 1961. Now it looks like I have another spot to add to my must-visit list! The Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens is the only public garden in the continental United States located directly on the coast. Huell explores this rare jewel set within coastal pines and coastal bluffs in Fort Bragg. In addition to its diverse flora, there is a retail nursery and garden shop as well as workshops, classes and lectures so you may take a bit of the […]
There are so many beautiful places to wander within the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden in Fort Bragg! It seemed to me that most of the other visitors while I was there last October headed for the bluff trails to enjoy the views of the ocean. I preferred the woodland areas and had them mostly to myself — with only birdsong, […]