Today the chances are high that I’m somewhere in the outdoors, soaking up some natural beauty and avoiding anything to do with current events. And after watching this episode of California’s Golden Parks — originally aired in January 2006 — I would just love to be on Catalina Island exploring this beautiful and unique botanical garden. I’ve been a botanical […]
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 […]
Today I thought I would share a few images that I managed to overlook from the past year or so. Every now and then I’ll upload an image to my Media Library and then forget to insert it into my blog post, and that’s the case with the first three photos. I especially love the view of the Mendocino coast […]
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. […]
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 […]
I had managed to cover the looping half-mile Main Trail at the Petrified Forest near Calistoga, California. It was nearly time to leave, but when you find yourself in such beautiful surroundings, it can be difficult to drag yourself away! But as I approached the main building and the entrance gate once more, this amazing place still had one or […]
I have to admit I’ve been skipping over this particular episode for awhile, assuming it was a duplicate, part of Huell’s series on all the California missions. You may recall that I featured the episode including Mission San Juan Bautista back in March of this year. Well, I finally decided to confirm my suspicion — and discovered I was wrong. […]
I’m always drawn to San Francisco’s Chinatown whenever I’m in the city, partly because of its history but also because there is always so much to see just wandering the sidewalks. With my hotel located on the lower slope of Nob Hill, I’m actually within walking distance of the Stockton Tunnel, and I used this as my gateway to Chinatown […]