We have visited Yosemite more than a half-dozen times. First, with older parents in tow, who, sadly, didn’t want to get out of the car. Then several times for more extended stays in the Yosemite Valley, including hikes and bikes around the valley, up to Vernal […]
My spouse and I just returned from 3+ days in Yosemite high country, following Hwy. 120/the Tioga Road up to Tuolumne Meadows. While the rivers are running low, and some of the waterfalls have dried up – this is still stunning country, clean air and worth your visit. Posting some pictures of Olmsted Point, Tenaya Lake, […]
My last blog post and article in the Stockton Record newspaper profiled our recent trip over the Sierra, and along Hwy. 395. We found this section of the Eastern Sierra green, with rivers flowing, dotted with scenic lakes and full of other-worldly destinations! Here are more photos on the historic ghost town of Bodie, and […]
Old boarding house on Chinese Camp’s Main Street is slowly mouldering away! Old Chinese Camp Hotel, right off Hwy. 120 on Main Street – stop and tour the three blocks of old town on your way to Yosemite! Groveland’s old jail, dating to 1854, when the town was a lively Gold Rush stomping ground! […]
Hanging Rock juts from Glacier Point, with Yosemite Falls, running low on water, across the Yosemite Valley. Tourists hang from Glacier Point observation walk, with Half Dome looming in background. O’Shaunessy Dam, completed in 1923 and heightened in 1938, impounds Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and floods Hetch Hetchy Valley, for water bound for San Francisco, […]
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the Tuolumne Valley are close cousins to the mighty Yosemite Valley, virtually undiscovered and almost equally stunning. Hetch Hetchy is just 115 miles and a scenic day-tour from Stockton! The Hetch Hetchy Valley was the scene of one of the most epic environmental battles 100 years ago, as John Muir, […]
John Muir, arguably the world’s first conservationist, father of the National Park Service and cofounder of the Sierra Club, spent his adult years in nearby Martinez, California and more than occasionally traveled through Stockton. The largest collection of his papers, research and writings are archived in University of Pacific’s climate controlled […]
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 […]
Kings Canyon National Park, sister to Sequoia, offers stunning vistas like this one! Seven weeks ago, we began a tour of our Golden State’s nine national parks, starting with Pinnacles National Park, south of Hollister, CA. Some of the best, most iconic and the second-oldest of all the US’s national parks are located in California, and most of them […]