California Archives

March 6, 2019March 27, 2019

In Search of Methuselah

Last May, on a drive home from Palm Springs to Seattle, we took the less-traveled route along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas on Highway 395. Not only did we get to experience a part of the country we hadn’t seen before, but it also gave us an opportunity to take a detour and visit the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest just east of Bishop, CA. In our earlier travels through Utah and Nevada, we’d seen stands of bristlecone pines that were several thousands of years old, but the trees in the White Mountains of California are much older, closer to five thousand years.

March 2, 2019March 27, 2019

Death Valley’s Mysterious Moving Rocks

The largest National Park in the lower 48 states, Death Valley, is 3.4 million acres of rugged wilderness with a variety of bizarre landscapes: sand dunes, salt flats, mountains, slot canyons, and spring-fed oases. One of the most unusual places we’ve explored in the park is the Racetrack, a dry lakebed where rocks move mysteriously across the surface.

November 22, 2018October 20, 2020

Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Hotel

The Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park opened in 1927 as people were beginning to flock to our country’s incredible public lands and wanted accommodations that matched the splendor of those natural places. Nestled into Yosemite Valley, its stone exterior blends seamlessly into the surrounding granite cliffs.