Roadside memories

I’ve shared before about taking Highway 16 on the way back from Clear Lake rather than the usual I-5 route. I’m fascinated by these hills and canyons and always so torn between the desire to get home and wanting to stop every mile or so along Cache Creek just to explore. I didn’t realize until later that I’d stopped at […]

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California’s Petrified Forest

The Petrified Forest located in Calistoga could scarcely be more different from the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. This lovely spot in Napa County is relatively small, with shaded paths and spring wildflowers, and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit last month — and would have lingered there even longer if possible. Yet I have to admit that, although the […]

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Lake Natoma morning

This morning I finally got outside to play with my brand new Canon 100-400mm lens. I planned to take a walk along the bluffs overlooking Lake Natoma and head out early enough to find cooler temperatures and fewer people. As you can see by the image above, there were plenty of folks — including a few Canada geese — already […]

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Mountain of my misgiving

I first climbed Mt. Konocti in March 2020. My lofty plans on that occasion fell short thanks to problems with my knee which made every step up the mountain painful. I failed to reach any of the three peaks, but I did manage to explore Mary Downen’s cabin. So in the back of my mind ever since I’ve had the […]

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Mendocino in March

Whenever we’re looking for a place to stay on our coastal trips, we try to find locations where it’s easy to get outside and walk. Not all of the houses we’ve rented fit that criteria, but it’s a definite plus in my book. The shoulders along Highway 1 can be small to nonexistent, and the road itself consists of innumerable […]

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Bed of roses

These days I often go for months without ever even thinking about my Canon Powershot, let alone pulling it out and using it. It has no viewfinder, only an LCD screen on the back (non-articulating), and for a long time after I began using this camera, I was convinced that for me, viewfinders were absolutely useless. So much so that […]

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Black Point Beach

Today I’m looking back at September 28, 2022, during another of our trips to the Sonoma and Mendocino coast. We were staying in a beautiful little house in Sea Ranch, up on Timber Ridge Road — no ocean view from there, but we were in the middle of a wonderful coastal redwood forest. And there were hiking trails that took […]

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The Adventure Continues… Survival Food

Today I was planning to feature a completely different episode of Visiting, but then I happened to read the blurb from this one, which originally aired in July 1999. Since I actually mentioned foraging in my post on Monday (Earth Day), it felt only fitting to take a look at some serious foraging right in the heart of Los Angeles. […]

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