Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for california
The Prized Home of a Playwright
By Linda Tancs
Eugene O’Neill is America’s only Nobel Prize-winning playwright. At the height of his career, he chose to make Tao House his final home. Located in Danville, California, the house and grounds comprise the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site. This is where he wrote his most memorable plays: The Iceman Cometh, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Due to its location in a private, gated community, the site is only accessible via a National Park Service shuttle from the nearby Museum of the San Ramon Valley.
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Classic Cars in Los Angeles
By Linda Tancs
One of the world’s largest automotive museums, the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California, specializes in automobile history and related educational programs. A must for any car enthusiast, the museum’s collection encompasses both classic and vintage cars, including movie/TV cars (a no-brainer considering the location). The facility also boasts a basement collection known as The Vault, where, for an extra fee, you can see over 200 of the rarest vehicles ever assembled. Visitors will see turn-of-the-century cars, head-of-state vehicles, American classics, the personal rides of Hollywood legends, award-winning hot rods and many others.
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Livermore’s Centennial Light
By Linda Tancs
Can a firehouse be a tourist attraction? That’s certainly the case at Fire Station #6 in Livermore, California. That’s where the world’s longest-burning incandescent light bulb, as recognized by Guinness World Records, is still shining for over 120 years (albeit at a mere four watts these days). Invented by Adolphe A. Chaillet, it’s a handblown bulb with carbon filament. The station must be occupied for the bulb to be viewed inside; if the crew is out on a call or training, then you can still see it through the front right apparatus door window.
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The Mountains Are Calling
By Linda Tancs
Named for ecologist and mountaineer John Muir, the John Muir Wilderness in California stretches for 100 miles along the crest of the Sierra Nevada. Muir was a staunch advocate for the area’s preservation and is widely known for saying, “The mountains are calling and I must go….” And many continue to go, especially the 30 million or so who live within a few hours’ drive of its snow-capped mountains, deep canyons and vast expanses of glacially-carved terrain. The region is approachable from both sides of the Sierra Nevada. Most visitors, however, enter from the east at various points along highway 395, from the town of Mammoth at the north end down to Whitney Portal above Lone Pine at the south end. Mount Whitney (at around 14,500 feet) is the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states.
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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045.
Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.
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The Views on Tam
By Linda Tancs
One of the most prized assets in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mount Tamalpais State Park offers views as varied as the Farallon Islands, the Marin County hills, San Francisco Bay and the city, Mount Diablo and, on rare occasions, the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountain range 150 miles away. Known locally as Tam, you’ll find miles of trails along the 2,500-foot-high mountain crossing redwood forests, oak woodlands, open grasslands and a shrubland community found primarily in California. Located just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, daily service is provided by the West Marin Stage Coach via route 61.
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Birding at Pigeon Point
By Linda Tancs
Besides its status as one of the tallest lighthouses in America, Pigeon Point has become famous among birders as one of the finest vantage points for observing seabirds anywhere on the California Coast. That’s due in no small part to its locale immediately to the north of bird-rich Monterey Bay and the presence of deep ocean waters very close to shore. Pigeon Point is one of the reliable locations, especially during spring and summer, for observing Marbled Murrelets. If you’re extremely lucky, you may catch one of the rarer species, like a Black-footed Albatross or Tufted Puffin. Bring along a good spotting scope.
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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045.
Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.
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The Pillars of Crowley Lake
By Linda Tancs
A short distance south of California’s Mammoth Lakes, Crowley Lake is a reservoir that’s the focal point of fishing season (late spring to autumn) in Mono County. Boasting some of the finest fish in the Sierra, it’s prized for its trout, perch and cutthroat. What might not seem as evident are the stone pillars that reveal themselves when the water level is just right. Believed to have been formed over 700,000 years ago by a massive volcanic eruption, the columns are situated on the east side of the reservoir off Highway 395 near Rock Creek. You’ll need four-wheel drive to navigate a steep hill, after which you can park and hike down to the beach where you can view the pillars.
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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045.
Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.
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California’s Oldest Zoo
By Linda Tancs
Founded in 1907, Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka is California’s oldest zoo. It bears the distinction of being nestled amidst the majestic old-growth redwoods in Sequoia Park, providing a magnificent backdrop for one of the smallest accredited zoos in the country. Because of its modest size, it doesn’t house the star attractions like elephants, giraffes or lions, but it does feature rare and endangered animals such as red pandas, bush dogs and Chacoan peccaries along with a barnyard experience for children with donkeys, alpacas, rabbits, goats, sheep and fowl. You can also experience the forest along the Redwood Sky Walk, the longest sky walk in the western United States, which is only accessible through the zoo. Reaching 100 feet above the forest floor, it comprises a network of suspended bridges that reach across and through old-growth and mature second-growth redwood trees.
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The History of Computers
By Linda Tancs
As its name implies, the Computer History Museum recounts the history of computers. Located in Mountain View, California, the facility presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the information age. In addition to oral histories provided by computer pioneers, the museum’s vast collection, from calculators to the internet, explores artifacts like analog computers, mainframes, supercomputers and robotics.
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Folk Art in Los Angeles
By Linda Tancs
Around 1894 Italian immigrant Sabato Rodia arrived in the community of Watts in South Central Los Angeles, California. He distinguished himself there by building a series of 17 major sculptures out of steel covered with mortar and embellished with mosaic tiles, glass, clay, shells and rock. Completed in 1954, the so-called Watts Towers are an icon of the community, the world’s largest single construction created by one individual and a paramount work of folk art. Designated a Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Monument, the works are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, are a National Historic Landmark, a State of California Historic Monument and a State of California Historic Park. Public guided tours are available on weekends.
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