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 […]

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Walking in Chinatown

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 […]

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The Adventure Continues… Dune Buggy

Often imitated, the Meyers Manx remains unique — and more sought after — even all these years later. It just may be impossible to live in California and not have known about these fun little cars, but I had never heard the name “Meyers Manx” until now. And although I’ve never had the pleasure in riding in either an original […]

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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 […]

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Miracle groves

Walking through the two groves at Hendy Woods State Park, it’s clear that at some point in the past fire has come through and left its mark. But the giant coast redwood trees manage to survive the flames fairly easily, and fire can be beneficial to the health of the forest by clearing out the dense undergrowth. Whenever I feel […]

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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, […]

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Santa Rosa car museum

As we drove home from Texas last June along Highway 40, we spent our second night on the road in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. One reason for stopping here was that the Big Guy wanted to check out the Route 66 Auto Museum. The museum is relatively small, basically filling one large room, but packed full of classic cars and […]

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The Adventure Continues… Vandenberg

This Classic episode of California’s Gold originally aired November 1997 — and a lot has changed at Vandenberg since then! These days the facility is known as Vandenberg Space Force Base, and it has been the site of numerous military space launches as well as those of NASA and SpaceX. As a military installation, access to the Vandenberg property is […]

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