Yesterday I showed you the giant wooden wheels once used at the Kennedy Mine to convey debris for almost a mile, from the mine site to an impound area. Today, a more familiar type of wheel — the water wheel at Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park. These days, Napa County is famous for its vineyards and wineries; but back […]
During our summer trips to Mexico, we did a lot of traveling along small roads; many areas of the country back then had no major modern highways. Of course, that’s still true in parts of the country today. But back in 1970 it seemed that even the toll roads were narrow and had no median barriers. The “big” roads between […]
It was an extremely windy spot on the Sonoma coast in Salt Point State Park, just north of Gerstle Cove, and I had the place mostly to myself as I clambered over the rocks trying to get a peek into some tide pools. I chose not to climb down too close to where the tide washed in, so my tide […]
Today, I wanted to find a way to observe the newest US federal holiday — but somehow shouting “Happy Juneteenth!” just doesn’t feel appropriate. Instead, I took the long overdue action of educating myself about the history of this historic day. I have to admit I was a little confused about its origin and meaning. I assumed it commemorated the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation — but a bit of research online showed me how wrong I was! Certainly part of the blame for this gap in my knowledge lies with my high school history curriculum, which completely passed over this “minor” detail in covering the American Civil War and Reconstruction. But of course, I’ve been out of high school a very long time. So, for anyone else who hasn’t been paying attention until this year, here’s what I now understand: The Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves held in the confederate states, took effect on January 1, 1863. But it wasn’t until Congress passed the 13th Amendment in April 1864 that emancipation was made national policy. This amendment was signed by Lincoln in February 1865 and ratified in December of that same year. Not surprisingly, even after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect it wasn’t immediately implemented throughout the American South. Union soldiers spread the news of the new law as they moved deeper into Confederate territory. It wasn’t until two years after it took effect, in mid June 1865, […]
I’ve never been all that interested in learning about rocks and minerals, but after watching this episode of California’s Golden Parks, I’m seriously thinking about a road trip to Mariposa to get a closer look at this particular collection. I had no idea that California has not only an official state rock but also a state mineral, a state gemstone, […]
This week, I’m focusing on our visits to Guadalajara during 1968 through 1970. I’ve shown you one or two of these pictures before, when I wrote about the “lemon factory“, and I’m sure we visited this church more than once. I can’t for the life of me remember what part of the city this was in, but I have clear […]
Citrus was a huge industry in the entire state of California during the early 20th century; by 1896, the Orange Vale Colony in eastern Sacramento County already had 300 acres in fruit including oranges and lemons. This part of Northern California drew eager investors from Chicago and other parts of the eastern US when folks realized these northern orange trees […]
It’s been quite awhile since I blogged Mexico Monday, but now I’m finally able to start scanning the final batch of slides. I’ve been wanting to re-scan these for such a long time! I’m also trying to present them in chronological order as best I can; in doing so I may repeat some images that I’ve previously published. Hopefully it […]
As I hiked along this unknown trail, following the Big Guy through the Kruse Rhododendron Preserve, I suddenly realized that the batteries in my trusty Finepix AX were about to die. I had decided to leave my two other cameras in the car, preferring to travel light this time; and although I had spare batteries for the Fuji, they were […]