I’m so grateful now for the day I spent with the Big Guy on his bass boat late last June. We launched from Vieira’s Resort near Isleton on the Sacramento River, and explored northward toward Liberty Island and into Lindsay Slough before turning south. We passed underneath the Rio Vista Bridge and found a striped bass “honey hole” alongside Sherman […]
Some sights from my trip to the Delta with the Big Guy in the last week of June 2025.
The world has changed quite a lot since this episode of Visiting first aired in November 2002; but the Orange County Model Sailing Club is still going strong and continue to meet on a regular basis at the same lake where Huell encountered them. I can’t help but admire all the hard work and serious attention to detail that goes […]
I visited San Francisco’s Maritime Museum last summer, and I’ve shared a few images previously here. I really enjoyed studying the artifacts, the ship models, and the dioramas exhibited on the museum’s ground floor. But one of the most intriguing displays is the story of Kenichi Hori, the 23-year-old who in 1962 sailed alone across the Pacific in the sloop […]
I’m not sure how I managed to miss this cozy little houseboat a few years ago on my first visit to San Francisco’s Maritime National Museum. I suppose I was in a hurry to explore the vessels with tall masts just a bit farther along the Hyde Street Pier. I can’t help thinking that living aboard this type of “ark,” […]
This week Huell presents a somewhat bittersweet tale of two fireboats — old Fireboat #2, also known as the Ralph J. Scott, serving with pride for 78 years; and her replacement, the shiny new Warner Lawrence, which took over the job in 2003. The episode combines two half-hour segments of Visiting; the first aired in June 1996, and the update […]
The first time I explored downtown Point Arena was in September 2021. I recall that day I walked only a short way along the Shoreline Highway (AKA Highway 1) which makes up the town’s main street because the day was chilly and gray, and the cold wind was gusting right in my face as I headed down the hill. Still, […]
I’ve been on loads of fishing trips since I met the Big Guy 30-plus years ago, but I never imagined my mom and dad going salmon fishing until I came across these slides from 1950. My mom had relatives, the Ramsdells, living in Port Townsend, and they had what looks to me like a wonderful outing on Al Ramsdell’s boat.
Back in January I showed you some vintage family photos from San Diego that included the steam ferryboat Berkeley. I recalled seeing this boat in an episode of California’s Gold, and I was surprised to realize I had never featured it on my blog. So this week, I’m correcting that oversight! You may notice the mention of another San Francisco […]