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 […]

Read More →

Roadside memories

I’ve shared before about taking Highway 16 on the way back from Clear Lake rather than the usual I-5 route. I’m fascinated by these hills and canyons and always so torn between the desire to get home and wanting to stop every mile or so along Cache Creek just to explore. I didn’t realize until later that I’d stopped at […]

Read More →

Along Putah Creek

I had a different post planned for today but after reading that Highway 128 is currently closed due to another slide I thought I would share these images, shot on March 24. A week ago I was driving home from Clear Lake and decided to take the scenic route — through Napa County and via Lake Berryessa and Winters. I’ve […]

Read More →

More from Putah Creek

For awhile now I have been wondering how the name of this creek should be pronounced and was referring to it as Pyoo-tah Creek. But it finally occurred to me to seek the answer on my own bookshelf, in a book titled “Historic California: Its Colorful Names and How It Got Them,” by Alton Pryor (originally published in 2002). Thus […]

Read More →

Down to the creek

Putah Creek is one of those places I’ve been aware of for many years but never got around to exploring until recently; part of the reason is that it runs through Yolo and Solano counties, on the other side of the Sacramento Valley from where I live. On this particular day in early October, I happened upon one of the […]

Read More →

Yolo wetlands

In my lifetime, I’ve crossed and recrossed the Yolo Causeway many, many times. But last week was the first time I actually stopped to explore the surrounding wetlands, now designated as the Vic Fazio Yolo Wildlife Area. I wasn’t precisely sure what to expect when Google told me I had arrived at my destination — and I’ll admit I was […]

Read More →