Beyond

The Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve is known for its showy display of wildflowers in spring. In summer, the hills turn to gold with the late evening sunlight. Autumn, when the fog recedes, is the ideal time to enjoy the ridge views of San Francisco Bay, the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the Pacific Ocean through the crisp, clean air. Winter …

Calero County Park is a large park in southern Santa Clara County. It is in a string of parks and open-space-preserves that stretch for 50 miles from San Francisco down to Gilroy. The 4,000 acre park is in the eastern foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and is comprised of the Pueblo lands of San Jose, the Rancho Canada de …

The Trail of the Ancient Oaks in the Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve is full of panoramic views; close-up wonders; and, of course, the magnificent canyon oaks.

For twenty-five years I drove every summer up to Seattle for a bicycle vacation. And every year I would pass the road signs to Oregon Gardens. This year I visited them. They are 20 miles off the interstate in the small town of Silverton. You travel on scenic country roads to get there. The Oregon Gardens is similar to Butchart …

Año Nuevo Point was named on January 3, 1603, over 400 years ago, by Father Antonio de la Ascension, chaplain for the Spanish maritime explorer Don Sebastian Vizcaíno. The Quiroste, a group of Ohlone Indians, lived here at least on a seasonal basis in order to hunt, fish, and gather abalone and other shellfish from the sea. The Quiroste were …

The Methuselah Tree. Over the years, I have bicycled and drove on Skyline Blvd a couple hundred times and I never saw this tree that is right off the road. It’s 14 feet in diameter, 44 feet in circumference, and 137 feet tall. It is 1800 years old.

In late spring and early summer, streets are awash with the magnificent purple-blue blooms of jacarandas (Jacaranda mimosifolia). As well as being superb street trees, jacarandas look stunning on their own as a specimen tree in an open lawn, where their fallen flowers form a colorful carpet of blue. My Sunnyvale garden has no room for the jacaranda but beyond …

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