Blog | California

How to speed up geologic time

Most cliff faces are carved by nature over millions of years. Wind and water can cut through and tear down a landscape or a mountain, but it takes a very, very long time for the elements to create something like the Grand Canyon or the sandstone arches of Moab, Utah. Then humans come along and […]

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Blog | California

Chasing bears is dumb

My kids hate hiking. Because I am a mean mom, I often take them hiking anyway. Over the years, I have become an expert at diverting all of their questions about where we’re going and what we’re doing and for some reason they haven’t caught on enough to just put their feet down and refuse […]

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Blog | California

Regurgitation Hill

The travel season is over and I am sad. I know California really, really needs the rain and I’m grateful for it, but I’m also allowed to hate it. I hate the mud and I hate wet shopping carts. I hate being stuck indoors because it’s too wet to go exploring. Now that I have […]

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Blog | California

Don’t walk on the jetty though

One of California’s lesser-known lighthouses sits on a tiny islet on Battery Point, just south of Crescent City. To get there, you have to wait for low tide. At high tide, the islet is surrounded by water. We’re almost always in the Crescent City/Eureka area on Labor Day weekend and this place has been on […]

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Blog | California

Shorebirds by the seaside

Today I’d like to share some photos I shot over the weekend. To get these shots, I bought a $500 bird blind, sat in it all day, and shot three million photos. Hahaha just kidding. I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and shot them all in about five minutes with my superzoom camera. Cheating. […]

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Blog | California

Budget alternatives to actually visiting Egypt

Unless a bag of money falls on my head, I’m probably never going to see the Valley of the Kings. So I’ll just tell myself it’s overrated, even though it’s obviously not. Meanwhile, if you are feeling the same way and are a resident of Northern California, you can simulate the experience of visiting Egypt. […]

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Blog | California

Summer’s end. Also, mountain lions.

Yesterday, my neighbor told me there’s a rampaging mountain lion in our area. Well, not rampaging exactly, just causing some trouble for a few of the neighbors, but he likes us to be cautious. Mountain lions aren’t really a danger to people, especially when there are so many deer around. Because they do occasionally take […]

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