ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
From a distance, it could be mistaken for snow, a vast, flat valley of blinding whiteness. Except the temperature is 100o F (38o C). And it's Death Valley. The field is instead a salt flat so big that from the middle of Badwater Basin, it seems to stretch to infinity, if it weren't for the abrupt Panamint Mountains jutting up that... Continue Reading →
The recent torrential downpours in California threatened to put an end to a road trip to Death Valley that my wife and I had been planning since last October. The Oroville Dam disaster, flooding, washed out roads and mudslides have the effect of putting a damper on best-laid plans. There were also forecasts of snow... Continue Reading →
Driving on my current roadtrip, I was hard-pressed not to stare at the explosions of color on the southern and central California hillsides. Not only were the hills an uncharacteristic green, but they were carpeted with mostly yellow wildflowers, some of them so densely packed and widespread that the effect was immediately mesmerizing. The recent historic rains... Continue Reading →
It was just to take a quick look at Pismo Beach State Park in California. My wife and I wound up hanging around for almost two hours, enjoying the ride in our Jeep rental onto the sandy beach to watch the pounding surf. Then, we noticed what we first thought were sandpipers but were instead whimbrels. If... Continue Reading →
They were everywhere, the caterpillars of the white-lined Sphinx moth, in a field of wildflowers at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southern California. I saw one, then noticed more—and more. Some plants had as many as four chomping away at their flowers. What seemed like different species of bug turns out to be the same,... Continue Reading →
It was surprising to me that there is so much exposed salt at Death Valley. Ancient lakes didn't have an escape route to the oceans, so they simply dried up and left behind enormous salt deposits. At the Devil's Golf Course, salt got sculpted into complex, intricate formations from weathering, a phenomenon that prompted the National Park... Continue Reading →
My breath is taken away every time I see Mount Shasta from Interstate 5, just south of the Oregon-California border. Even when skies aren't always clear, its majesty dominates the horizon. Today, spectacular lenticular clouds were hovering over the mountain.
California is a really long state. In the north-south direction, drivers traditionally traverse the state on either U.S. 101 or Interstate 5. Highway 101 is more picturesque, going through seaside towns and redwood forests and boasting gorgeous coastal scenery and mild weather. It's also slower. Travelers wanting to make haste take I-5, but south past Redding the penalty... Continue Reading →
Nestled against the hills of Lincoln Heights, my wife's old stomping grounds, is Mom's Tamales, considered one of the best tamalerias in Los Angeles. Recipe handed down from grandmother, to mother and and now to current owner, the tamales are so popular that any of the six on the menu may be unavailable at any time because customers may have... Continue Reading →
Through the hilly neighborhood of Highland Park just west of the Arroyo Seco runs York Boulevard, the neighborhood's main commercial thoroughfare. It supports not one, but two supermarkets, within blocks of each other, that serve the mostly Latino community. When my daughter lived in New Zealand, she rued that she couldn't get Mexican products readily (or inexpensively). In Christchurch, there was... Continue Reading →
zoomeboshi 