As I wandered around an abandoned and overgrown portion of Spanish Flat Campground at Lake Berryessa, I found an oak woodland covered in foxtails and invasive vetch as well as a surprising variety of flowers growing wild alongside forgotten pieces of roadway and cement pads. I can only guess at what this hilltop headland looked like in its prime; these […]
It was six months ago, when we were at the Mendocino coast in late October 2023, that I finally got a chance to visit Russian Gulch State Park (not to be confused with Sonoma County’s Russian Gulch Beach). The clouds threatened rain and even delivered a few scattered showers; still, the day seemed perfect to me. While the Big Guy […]
Spring is an excellent time to explore around the shores of Lake Berryessa, as we recently did on our day trip during the first week of April. I discovered this unobtrusive trail near the Lupine Shores campground — guarded by a rather suspicious ground squirrel — which took me around the headland in a wide loop. I found the peace […]
A couple of days ago I drove over to Lake Berryessa with the Big Guy, and we spent the day at Steele Canyon Campground, near the south end of the lake. There is so much to explore all around this gorgeous lake that anytime we go over there, I find something new! Of course, my very favorite time of year […]
I was originally going to call this post “One last look.” Then I started browsing through my collection of photos from the hike at Jug Handle Preserve last October and realized I’ve barely even scratched the surface! So instead, these images are the last batch that I shot with my phone camera, and I’ll save the rest for some later […]
I had been hoping to go check out San Francisco’s Aquatic Park Bathhouse for a few years; when I finally got there last August I was slightly disappointed to find the upper floor blocked off. But despite my disappointment, there was still a lot of fascinating items on display in this beautiful building, constructed in the mid 1930s. The Aquatic […]
I guess this is the time of year when I usually start looking forward to August — when I spend a week in San Francisco, using public transportation to get around and exploring various parts of the city. Part of the fun is photographing some of the views from my window seat on the Amtrak California Corridor train. Empire State […]
We found the tide extremely low when we arrived at Doran County Park (south of Bodega Bay), where we always stop to collect ghost shrimp. Although there seemed to be a surprising number of people using the beach — across the road from where we park — we had the bay side completely to ourselves. I did notice, though, that […]
“Roughing it” may be a bit of an exaggeration, but we have had to adjust — for a few days we’re doing without a microwave and a coffee maker! More dauntingly, our only heat source is a small woodburning stove. We’re off the electrical grid, so all the power is battery operated; we need to keep an eye on the […]