When I hear the name ‘Walnut Grove’ I tend to think of the California Delta or the setting for the 1970s TV show “Little House on the Prairie.” But the other day I discovered a new Walnut Grove along the shore of Grapevine Lake in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The path we followed toward the lake took us through a […]
As we drove along Highway 40 to north Texas and back again, we passed so many light-brown signs along the road pointing toward different state parks. I felt some serious twinges of regret every time I spotted the familiar color-coded indicators, wishing we had time to stop and explore each park. New Mexico alone has 35 state parks — Ute […]
I’m probably sounding like a broken record at this point, but again, I can’t be sure where these photos were shot. I do feel comfortable in guessing that it was somewhere in California’s Sierra Nevada, and some of these locations look somewhat familiar to me. One image actually includes a highway marker identifying Alpine County; that area is traversed by […]
After a very blustery morning and noontime, by late afternoon the wind had calmed considerably. But I spent much of the first half of the day sheltering from both the howling northeasterly gusts and the blazing sun! We saw only a handful of people during our visit to Oak Shores, on the western side of Lake Berryessa. I was disappointed […]
Recently I’ve shared images of some of the seasonal pools scattered around Mississippi Bar. Most of those ponds are man-made, but exploring them reminded me of this episode of California’s Gold, which educated me about historic Tulare Lake — an enormous lake (about 760 square miles) that I never knew even existed! Although apparently destroyed by damming of three rivers, […]
I’m calling this week’s batch of images “Water Colors.” All but two were shot by me; I included those two, dating sometime around 1983, because they look like the sort of place I would love to go hiking. Originally I believed the location was the American River Canyon below Auburn, but on further inspection I decided it’s more likely somewhere […]
Huell gets another thrill ride in this episode of California’s Gold from 2006 when he goes up in a plane to witness baby trout being planted in mountain lakes. California Fish and Game have been using airplanes to drop the trout for over 50 years, and despite Huell’s nerves, their pilots are experts at maneuvering among the high mountain peaks. […]
I’ve never visited Lake Arrowhead in Southern California, but this is still one of my favorite episodes of California’s Gold. Maybe it’s because of the complicated history of the lake’s construction; or because I’m fascinated by the old tunnels that lead under Lake Arrowhead itself. Or maybe it’s because Huell has so much fun riding in an 80-year-old elevator and […]
It was nice and cool in the mountains at 8700 feet (2651 meters) where The Big Guy and I went hiking today. Kind of hard to come back to the valley heat!