Tag archives: California

There is nothing better than a happy accident – not a car accident, but a missed turn-off that reveals an eye-popping, jaw-dropping view which is what happened on my backroads drive from Petaluma, in Sonoma County to Lagunitas, in Marin County. After whizzing past The Marin Cheese Company, without enough time to pull over (next […]

The early morning king tide was surging up to the base of the wave-battered bluffs along the Central California coast. At several gullies I waited for sweeping surges of tide to recede outwards so I could run to the next big rock to balance myself above the ebbing tide. When I reached the wide-open beach […]

The long muddy rut on Simmler Road was deep enough to swallow my tires up to the axle. Alkali loam transforms into a gooey death sentence for vehicles attempting to experience the far flung reaches of the Carrizo Plain National Monument. However, there was something odd about this narrow trench on one of the grassland’s […]

My posh trip to Napa wine country began elegantly as we soared out of a private terminal at Van Nuys Airport on Aero’s LA-Napa service on a semi-private plane. In just a little over an hour-long, smooth flight – Erewon fresh avocado tartine/toast, sweet berries and coffee served with cloth napkins in flight – a […]

From my kayak, there was no touching down on any beach on Vandenberg Air Force Base. This remote stretch of rugged Central California Coastline is off limits to Joe Public, even if the only member of the common man within the region was a salt-encrusted, sunscreen-smeared paddler in search of empty surf. I was paddling […]

The sounds and movements were more than familiar to us. The knocks, snorts, sneezes and galumphing led us to the most northern and newest northern elephant seal colony in California, and the world.  The Lost Coast in Northern California’s Humboldt County, and beneath the mighty King Range, offers refuge for lots of wildlife; seabirds, raptors, […]

The last time I visited Oceanside, in northern San Diego County, was a decade ago. There was a lively restaurant, The Flying Pig Pub and Kitchen, which survived COVID (that I did not revisit this time) and a lone little Victorian cottage, the “Graves House” sitting in an empty, weedy beachfront field.  More popularly known […]

I thought the Clash song would be a good title. It rather succinctly states the dilemma faced by those wishing to immigrate to California. Here’s my premise: You are a wealthy couple from a place where you made your money, but you wish for the California lifestyle and climate in your latter years. Home is […]

Since I criticize the great state of California for their policies that don’t work, I thought I would catch up on some recent news that caught my attention.  Minimum Wage California fast food restaurant chains now have to pay their employees $20 per hour. My criticism of these new minimum wage laws said that they […]

After a three-day wellness program visit to Sensei Porcupine Creek in Rancho Mirage, California, I can honestly say that the bar for health retreats was set incredibly high. I’ve visited many stellar “health retreats/spas” over the years (Rancho La Puerta is a favorite that comes to mind), and this one is right up there in […]

I’ve always wanted to visit Japan – a country that recently reopened to tourism. In the meantime, I thought I might approximate a Zen-like trip to Japan along the coast of California… just an hour’s drive away. These days, you can go throw a dart just about anywhere on the tourism planet map and visit […]

During the fall, when it’s hot and dry on the southeast end of Santa Cruz Island, cold, crisp, purple grapes are a must-have fruit on the largest isle off the California coast. It’s also a time for annoying, seemingly perpetual deer flies that seek moisture out of the ears, nose, and eyes. To momentarily escape […]

It was getting dark, and I was tired and hungry. It had been a long, great day, but I needed to land my kayak for the night. The day had begun at Yellowbanks on the southeast fringe of Santa Cruz Island. From there, I paddled the entire south side of the largest, most diversified isle […]

Why travel? To celebrate a special occasion? Birthday, anniversary, retirement, new job, you name it.For a change of scenery? To alleviate boredom? To explore new regions, to be pampered or just sneak off and indulge? Whatever your reason, I love flopping onto a freshly made bed in a hotel room – preferably with a view […]

Not too much of it though, myself and the western gulls were growing anxious. However, all I had to do was observe and study the throngs of those hungry seabirds, and then eventually the drama unfolded. The northern elephant seal colony above San Simeon and surrounding the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse on the Central California Coast, […]

My fall trip to Northern California wine country was designed to spend a few nights during the tail end of harvest season in Sonoma. This included checking out the recently opened Montage Healdsburg resort, a stunning and tranquil retreat set on 258 acres of heritage oak forest, also dotted with manzanita and madrone trees. Vineyards […]

My weekend trip to San Francisco began with a bang. I was bopping along in the fast lane of the 101, when just north of Gilroy and south of Morgan Hill, I heard a loud “clank” at the front left of my car. A few light, rain-filled moments later, I realized I had blown a […]

In 1979, I was a young teen and very green in the ways of animal behavior. I was surfing out front of my home in Carpinteria. It was wintertime and the beach was deserted under cloudy skies. I was the only one surfing that cold, crisp overcast morning. It wasn’t long before I heard a […]

How can you — or your kids — not be happy when the GPS navigational voice instructs: “Make a left on Vacation Road.” Especially after that relentless, age-old question: “Are we there yet?” Even a high school friend of mine’s face lit up when I told him I was heading to San Diego’s Paradise Point. […]