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.All Trips / California / North America / Southwestern USA
Magnificent Mt. Shasta, California
One of the most memorable drives I’ve done in recent years is the road that stretches between Klamath Falls, Oregon, and Mount Shasta in Northern California. Route 97 heads southwest towards the ever looming presence of majestic Mount Shasta, one of the prettiest mountains anywhere.
We did this drive last month and the views of that beautiful peak were one of the highlights of our trip. It was a clear day and Mt Shasta was visible for more than an hour. We stopped frequently for photos because we were worried the peak might disappear the closer we got because of hills obstructing our view, but that was not the case; some of these images are interspersed with this narrative, each subsequent …
Tagged California, Cascades, glacier, Mount Shasta, volcanoe
.All Trips / California / North America / Southwestern USA
“Pic of the Week”, January 20, 2017: Kelp Forest, Monterey Bay Aquarium
The finest aquarium I’ve had the privilege of visiting is in Monterey, California. Built alongside the old sardine canneries of Cannery Row (a site immortalized in John Steinbeck’s novella of the same name), you’ll find yourself fully immersed in the underwater world when you visit.
There’s dozens of great exhibits, but there are two that are my favorites — the jellyfish, and this one, the Kelp Forest tank. I’ve spent a lot of time watching this latter tank because there seems to be no end as to what’s going on. A giant shape approaches in the tank, only to be broken into thousands of individual sardines as the school splits apart. The moving light and shadows of the kelp, the sharks …
Tagged Aquarium, California, kelp forest, Monterey, Monterey Bay
.All Trips / California / North America / Southwestern USA
John Steinbeck Country: 3) Cannery Row, Monterey, California
“Cannery Row…is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.”
— John Steinbeck, from his novel ‘Cannery Row’
Wow! With a beautifully written introduction like that, who wouldn’t want to visit this place? Cannery Row is my favorite novel by American author John Steinbeck. It may not be his best book, but it’s the first of his I’d read and the one that made me a fan. Published in 1945, Cannery Row is set in Monterey, California during the Great Depression, near a waterfront street lined by sardine canneries. The book’s setting is secondary to the narrative and the many colorful characters Steinbeck develops. Steinbeck wrote a sequel to Cannery Row, called Sweet Thursday, some 10 years later, a much less interesting novel in my opinion (as …
Tagged Aquarium, California, Cannery Row, John Steinbeck, Monterey, Monterey Bay
“Pic of the Week”, October 31, 2014: Disneyland, California
Happy Halloween!
No one does it with more class than Disneyland. The park is extensively and cleverly decorated during October, culminating with a big celebration Halloween. Check it out sometime…see you at the Haunted Mansion.
(Click on the thumbnails to enlarge, right arrow to advance)
Oct 30, 2014
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.All Trips / California / North America / Southwestern USA
The Getty Villa, Malibu, California. Classical Art and Architecture
I’ve previously discussed J.P. Getty and his great museums on this blog and today would like to focus on the first of his museums, the Getty Villa in Malibu.
While he was despised by many during his lifetime, J.P. Getty has left the world a wonderful legacy. Getty was one of the world’s first billionaires who, like Bill Gates, was the richest man in the world during his time. Getty, an unpleasant but highly successful businessman, was a passionate collector of antiquities and art. Collecting art became the center of his life. His view towards his hobby is summarized by his quote, “The beauty one can find in art is one of the pitifully few real and lasting …
Tagged antiquities, art, California, Getty Villa, JP Getty, Malibu, museum
“Pic of the Week”, September 12, 2014: Sunset, Pismo Beach, California
One of my favorite stretches of the California coast is that around San Luis Obispo. Thirty years ago this was relatively undeveloped, but that’s much less true today.
This week’s photo is of a sunset in Pismo Beach. It was a lovely fall evening. We were just checking in to our hotel when I stepped out on the balcony and took in this beautiful view. Fortunately I had my camera at hand and got a decent photo of it.
Sep 11, 2014
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.All Trips / California / North America / Southwestern USA
John Steinbeck Country: 2) Salinas. The National Steinbeck Center
John Steinbeck is one of the greatest writers in American history and certainly a favorite of mine. This is the second installment in a series describing my visit to John Steinbeck country. In part one we looked at John Steinbeck’s boyhood home in Salinas. This post discusses the other significant Steinbeck attraction in Salinas, the National Steinbeck Center, a museum focusing on the life, times and writings of its most famous citizen.
The Steinbeck Center Foundation was established in 1983 and fifteen years later (June 27, 1998) the center itself was finished and opened to the public. The center is the most significant archives of Steinbeck’s work anywhere, and presents Steinbeck’s life, its formative processes and significant events, and …
.All Trips / California / North America / Southwestern USA
John Steinbeck Country: 1) Salinas. The Steinbeck House
I greatly admire and enjoy the writing of American novelist, John Steinbeck — in fact, you’ll see a quote from one of Steinbeck’s books underneath my blog’s banner. Steinbeck was born and grew up in the small farming town of Salinas, California, in 1902. His formative experiences in and around this community were extremely influential on his life view and future writing, including his Nobel prize winning novel, “The Grapes of Wrath” .
It had been decades since I’d last stopped in Salinas and I knew that a new Steinbeck museum had opened in town which I very much wanted to see. So while doing an (all too short) California road trip with two of my Arthur C. Clarke buddies, electronics engineer …
Tagged California, John Steinbeck, Monterey, Salinas, Steinbeck House
