Doran on a Sunday

Happily, you can’t tell from the photos, but the area around Doran beach and campground was pretty much wall-to-wall people when we arrived there on a Sunday afternoon last July. I’m not sure now why we thought it would be a bright idea to head to the coast on a weekend rather than midweek; but I know we’re never going […]

Read More →

Mission flowers

I didn’t seek out the Mission Francisco de Asis looking for flowers. And while most of the photos I shot on site were of the church and the cemetery, I couldn’t help stopping to admire the colorful blooms I discovered in and around the grounds of Mission  Dolores. Most were in the churchyard, but I also found Geraniums and Impatiens […]

Read More →

Goodbye to the garden

Here is the last batch of images from my visit to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden in Fort Bragg last October. I’m still hoping to return and check out the garden during the springtime for a completely different experience!

Read More →

Where trees are of stone

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 […]

Read More →

Back to the valley

Today, the last series of images from my trek up Mt Konocti last May. I do still have a few photos I’m not including  because they’re very similar and/or because I would have to extend the series. And I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to move on to other topics! I’ll most likely share those images at a […]

Read More →

Lakeshore once again

Whenever we spend a few days at Clear Lake and stay along the northeast shore in Nice, I usually feel the urge to take a walk up and down the short stretch of Lakeshore Boulevard behind the Worldmark hotel property. Over the years I’ve done this quite a few times, and it’s been interesting to see that for the most […]

Read More →

The old North Trail

Today’s post title is actually borrowed from a recent library find that now graces my bookshelves: subtitled Life, Legends, and Religion of the Blackfeet Indians, it was written by Walter McClintock and originally published in 1910. While the North Trail at Mendocino Botanical Gardens isn’t all that old, the sign (see above) certainly looks like it’s survived a few hard […]

Read More →

Lost in the Petrified Forest

Continuing the images from my visit to the Petrified Forest in Napa, California. Although the property is relatively small — especially when compared to the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona! — there is still so much to see that anyone who, like me, loves to pick out interesting details, it’s easy to spend half a day happily exploring. The […]

Read More →

Morning on the mountain

By the time I reached the first mileage marker on my way up the mountain, I was more than ready to stop for a breather. The wide dirt road may have looked flat, but the incline was obvious to my legs and hips. I think I remember wishing I had tackled Mt. Konocti at least a couple of decades earlier, […]

Read More →