Back in August I shared some of the images I shot during my visit to San Francisco’s Maritime Museum Visitor Center. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first walked into the building, but it wasn’t long before I was wandering very happily through the numerous exhibits which included ship models, interpretive displays, historic photographs, and cherished artifacts from […]
Every now and then a couple of my interests will happen to coincide in ways I never expected. That happened recently after my fascination for Chinese history and California history brought me to read Heather B. Moore’s novel The Paper Daughters of Chinatown (published in September 2020). Although in novel form, the story, set in San Francisco of the late […]
Today I’m wrapping up my look at our drive through northern Texas last summer. As we left the Panhandle region and traveled south along Route 287 toward the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we crossed the Red River into Childress County. The highway roughly parallels the Texas-Oklahoma state line for about 70 miles. I do wish there had been time to stop […]
A look back to some of the items I saw while exploring the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah, March 2023. If you are ever in this part of Sonoma County, I highly recommend visiting this small but very wonderful museum. The gardens are lovely and contain the Craftsman-style Sun House. I had never heard of Grace Hudson before stumbling upon […]
I always enjoy photographing statues during my visits to San Francisco — and of course I found plenty of them at the historic Mission Dolores. I was also pleasantly surprised to realize the figure of Francis of Assisi was created by Benjamino Bufano; he was the artist responsible for the Peace Obelisk found at Timber Cove in Sonoma County. That […]
This hour-long episode of California’s Gold, most likely first aired in 2007, takes a close look at one of California’s most iconic signs. Huell once again takes us where the general public is not allowed to go — although there are public hiking trails to the top of Mount Lee, where you can look over the back of the sign. […]
I may have posted similar views of some of these Pacific Heights houses before, but I never get tired of gazing at this turn-of-the-century architecture — steep gables, enthusiastic gingerbread, rounded turrets, and vast covered porches. Even some of the less ornate structures exude a certain historic charm, especially when contrasted with the modern buildings surrounding them. Very few of […]
At the beginning of this one-hour episode of California’s Gold, Huell describes this segment as a “learning experience,” and I certainly learned a few things relating to a portion of California about which I know very little. I believe the closest I’ve ever been to the Owens Valley was a visit to Death Valley National Park — which lies to […]
A couple of years ago I bought journalist Sean Flynn’s book Why Peacocks? as a gift for my mom, and I finally got around to reading it myself, finishing it early last week. In one chapter the author talks about Lucky Baldwin and the fact that he was responsible for introducing six Indian Blue peafowl to his Southern California ranch […]