Caples Lake, near Kirkwood on Hwy. 88, is a favorite fishing and camping destination. Pinecrest Lake, just off Hwy. 108, attracts big summer crowds to its cooling waters. Big Sur’s Bixby Bridge dates to 1937 and allows access to the rugged coast. Five cool places to beat summer’s heat, close to Stockton and San Joaquin [...]
Get ready, get set: with 12 weekends of Summer, a dozen one-tank vacations nearby! Summer is a week old; have you planned your weekends and vacation(s)? If not, here are a dozen suggestions for the remaining summer weeks/weekends (six this week, six more next, starting a few hours north of Stockton and moving clockwise to [...]
Update your travel Bucket List: Suggestions for N. California, Pacific Northwest and Western states… Last week, we urged updating your travel bucket list for 2017, with suggestions for S. California and the US Southwest; this week we present N. California, Pacific Northwest and Western States ideas. Plan now for a coastal tour of California, Oregon [...]
Beat the summer heat and crowds while basking in nature’s glory in these five close-at-hand parks! We’re less than a week from the start of summer, it’s getting hot in the valley – and you haven’t made your summer travel plans yet? Let’s consider some of the nearby parks and natural wonders that can take [...]
We central Californians are blessed by close proximity to an amazing world just outside our door. Last week we ushered in a New Year with suggestions to update your bucket list of US and worldly travel destinations. This week we offer suggestions within California. August 25, 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of our National Park [...]
With summertime almost upon us, families, particularly those with kids, are targeting some of the most popular travel destinations in N. California. These include Lake Tahoe, Yosemite and the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, to name a few. That can mean maddening crowds, traffic snarls and impossibilities in book campgrounds or lodging nearby. Close [...]
We live in, arguably, the most spectacular state in America. With all the wonderful destinations at your beck and call and the start of a New Year approaching, I suggest you update your bucket list of California destinations for 2015. To whet your appetite, here are some of our favorites – most of them in [...]
The approach to the iconic Sun Dial Bridge in Redding shows off its modern and airy structure. Shasta’s old stores and hotels are mere skeletons, preserved in Shasta State Historic Park! Western Star Masonic Temple, dating to 1854, is oldest Masonic Temple in CA, and anchors Shasta’s Main Street, Hwy. 299. Weaverville is a [...]
Lake Helen on Memorial Day Weekend remains frozen solid at 8,000 feet, on the road through Lassen Park; that is Mt. Lassen rising majestically behind the lake. The Sulpher Works, near Lassen’s southwest entrance, was a privately owned sulfer producer and tourist spa until the1950s; today if offers burbling mud pots and hot springs, [...]
Here our little teardrop trailer is parked overlooking Kings Canyon National Park from a Sequoia National Park overlook. The two parks share a common boundary in the Sierra, just east of Fresno! Rugged Pinnacles Natonal Park offers the remnants of a volcano; a volcano near Los Angeles! Located on the San Andreas Fault, Pinnacles National [...]
