The Adventure Continues… California Missions series, Part 2
Huell visits these three Missions in this episode: San Gabriel de Arcangel San Fernando Rey de España San Buenaventura (Click on the linked image below to see the video.)
Memory Monday, Week 139
Summer 1973 — These photos are from a trip my parents took to Hearst Castle and Solvang on the Central California coast, leaving us kids home. But don’t worry! A few years later they returned and took me along with them. Sadly, I don’t recall too much about Hearst Castle except that it was beautiful and overwhelming; I’d love to […]
California Missions, Part 2
From 1982, images of the buildings and grounds at Mission La PurÍsima Concepción de María Santísima, Lompoc.
The Adventure Continues… California’s Missions
Last Friday I began my series on the California Missions with a few images of Mission Santa Barbara photographed by my mom in 1979. As part of this series, I’ll be featuring Huell Howser’s visits to the 21 missions. Unfortunately, since each episode is only 30 minutes long, there wasn’t enough time to present an in-depth look at each site […]
California Missions
When I was in elementary school back in the early 1970s, our lessons on California history skimmed lightly over the story of the Spanish missions, unlike the more in-depth study available to later students. I did visit the gold discovery site at Coloma and Sutter’s Fort with my class, but a field trip to the nearest mission would have meant […]
Rooms with a view
If you take a drive along Auburn-Folsom Road, which roughly parallels the north fork of the American River, now part of Folsom Lake, you’ll find both small ranch properties and gated communities. This portion of the lake is located in Placer County and adjoins the growing communities of Granite Bay and Loomis. Most of the really posh multi-million dollar houses […]
North Fork Ditch
I’m sure that one reason I find the North Fork Ditch remnants at Folsom Lake so fascinating is that their history goes all the way back to the mid 1850s. (Ditches were also constructed around the same period along both sides of the South Fork, but I’ve never seen the remains of these.) I’ve shot photos of bits and pieces […]
Stone mason aqueduct
A few days ago I posted a photo I shot at Folsom Lake showing a high curved rock wall. I took my initial pictures from a distance and didn’t have a chance to explore the wall more closely — but when I got home and started looking at the area on Google maps, something odd caught my attention. The screenshot […]
Forgotten waterways
The North Fork of the American River, now part of Folsom Lake, looks much different these days than it did prior to 1955. Now bulldozed, covered with rocks and gravel, flooded or otherwise forgotten were once homestead cabins, farms, vineyards, and mines. All of these required water, and the North Fork Ditch helped move water from the city of Auburn […]
