Coastal sunshine

Our mid-November trip over to the Mendocino coast was short but very sweet — just what was needed after our trip in September caused more stress than it eased. Even though our November stay started off with a jolt from a minor earthquake (with the epicenter only a few miles away from Point Arena) and we lost part of one […]

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The scenic side of life

I’ve written before about traveling back and forth between Sacramento and Clear Lake via Highway 16 and that it’s now my preferred route. It takes me from Woodland along Cache Creek, and most of the time I have this two-lane road to myself once I’ve passed the Cache Creek Casino near Brooks. I usually look forward to stopping at some […]

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Miniature world (mostly slugs)

Although I’m not really that great at it, I do love macro photography. And for whatever reason, I get pretty excited any time I spot a banana slug — now formally designated California’s Official State Slug — along the California coast in Sonoma or Mendocino counties. I had always assumed this was a normal reaction until my most recent trip; […]

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Sunset and shadows

During our coastal trip in mid November, our rented house was just off Highway 1 in Mendocino County, and we had been told that Manchester Beach was only “a short walk” away. I could see the ocean from our front window, so even though it was already 4:30 in the afternoon I decided to take a stroll and discover whatever […]

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Tehachapi

Per Alton Pryor’s book Historic California: Its Colorful Names and How It Got Them, the word Tehachapi is “the Indian name for a creek … recorded in 1853.” After the railroad was built across the mountains in 1876, “Southern Pacific Railroad transferred the name from the old wagon route to the railroad pass.” Several train tunnel openings are visible from […]

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