When I arrived at my chosen trailhead on this mid November morning, the “steam” vapor was still rising at 10:30 a.m. I was eagerly looking forward to exploring an unknown path; I’d actually checked this spot out on an earlier trip but only managed to get a short way before time forced me to turn back. Today I had plenty […]
How is it possible that it’s been nearly three years since I last hiked at Doton’s Point, on Folsom Lake’s north fork? I can’t believe so much time could have passed already — but it was high time for me to get back out there. Or at least I thought so, until I arrived at Granite Bay and found Park […]
Back in August I shared some of the images I shot during my visit to San Francisco’s Maritime Museum Visitor Center. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first walked into the building, but it wasn’t long before I was wandering very happily through the numerous exhibits which included ship models, interpretive displays, historic photographs, and cherished artifacts from […]
Standing atop the hill some half mile from the Falcon Crest parking area, I can look down toward Folsom Lake and see another path (Brown’s Ravine Trail) that meanders through a stand of pine trees. I’ve visited this spot several times over the past few years and it remains one of my favorite viewpoints; with impressive ridges rising 1200ft/365m both […]
I found so many amazing sights during my visit to Mission Dolores in San Francisco. Although I did have some trouble finding my way to the site of this landmark in the Mission District, once I arrived all that was forgotten; I wandered through the original mission, the “new” basilica — completed in 1918 — and the attached cemetery. Although […]
It’s not too surprising that visitors to the Historic Downtown District of Williams, Arizona, enjoy strolling the picturesque sidewalks of old Route 66. On our two visits to the town, however, we did most of our exploring in the forest behind our hotel. After a delicious dinner at the Fiesta Mexican Grill, we headed back to the Best Western Plus […]
Every now and then a couple of my interests will happen to coincide in ways I never expected. That happened recently after my fascination for Chinese history and California history brought me to read Heather B. Moore’s novel The Paper Daughters of Chinatown (published in September 2020). Although in novel form, the story, set in San Francisco of the late […]
It’s been awhile since I hiked the Monte Vista Loop, and we picked a day that was pretty much perfect. It had rained overnight, so there was enough lingering dampness to keep down the dust and prevent the burs and foxtails from being too bothersome. I also didn’t intend to hike the full 3-mile loop, but there was so much […]
Today I’m wrapping up my look at our drive through northern Texas last summer. As we left the Panhandle region and traveled south along Route 287 toward the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we crossed the Red River into Childress County. The highway roughly parallels the Texas-Oklahoma state line for about 70 miles. I do wish there had been time to stop […]