Northern California

California’s Monterey-Carmel-Big Sur

The Monterey Bay Aquarium significantly increased the pleasures of travel to the Monterey-Carmel-Big Sur region in recent years because it interprets superbly the seaward face of California. The aquarium, one of the nation’s largest, enhances the earlier nature-and-history attractions of the area.

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge 75th Birthday

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge is one of the world’s most beloved icons. The story of how it was built is engaging. The many places where you can view or photograph it are intriguing, such as Baker Beach, Crissy Field, or Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands. 2012 marks the 75th anniversary of the Bridge, with much celebration planned.

California’s Yosemite National Park

California’s Yosemite National Park pleases with its Yosemite Valley, Half Dome, El Capitan, Glacier Point, Ahwahnee, waterfalls, camping, and sightseeing,

California’s Best Beaches North of San Francisco

Summer entices the connoisseur of beaches to the coast north and south of San Francisco. Whether you want to bronze your skin, marvel at tidepools, collect some driftwood, or simply restore yourself in the bracing salt air, far from the images of city life, nearby beaches offer something for everyone.

California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park

The explosion of northern California’s Lassen Peak on May 30, 1914 far exceeded the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington state. Both are part of the Cascade chain of fire mountains stretching down the west coast. The Redding and Shasta region adjacent to Lassen also poses many travel attractions.

California’s Three Arboreal Superlatives

In California you can meet the tallest, the most massive, and the oldest living things on earth. All these living things happen to be trees.

California’s Redwood Country

Though the California imagination can sometimes suffer from inflation, certain facts of nature here are indisputable. The redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens) along the coast north from San Francisco are magnificent and the tallest trees on the earth.

Spring Wildflower Adventures in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area

The refreshing presence of spring wildflowers makes mid-March to mid-April a joyous annual travel time in the San Francisco Bay Area. Wildflowers please in many ways. Golden carpets of the small goldfields flowers or abundant clusters of poppies delight the eye. More delicate and less revealing flowers, especially the Douglas iris, reward a searcher in the shadier woodlands. Highly specialized dashes of color, such as red larkspur, add punch to the green tapestry of spring. The variety in wildflowers stuns the imagination.

Introducing a Child to Snow at Lake Tahoe

The time had come, with Paultje between the ages of 2 and 3, to observe a pleasant family ritual—introducing my young grandchild to snow. This is the birthright of a child in Northern California, especially in the Bay Area, and Lake Tahoe is the likely celebration place of the ritual. Our goals were simple—some gentle sledding and making a snowman.

Lee Foster Wins Two 2011 SATW Muster Photo Competition Awards

For 2011, Lee Foster won two awards. Lee’s “Balloon Man San Francisco Gay Parade” won the Silver Award in the People-General Category. His “California Poppies Wildflowers” won the Bronze Award in the Natural Scenic Category.