Weekend in Beaumont? Just up the river from the Gulf on the Neches River, this old Texas city is known for seafood, independent business opportunities, ingenuity that led to the oil boom in Texas, and the freewheeling spirit of millionaires and hobos. It’s been called the Cajun Capital of Texas (by Lonely Planet) and Beaumont
First of all, for our planned climb, here are basic stats on the Mt. Fuji Yoshida trail from the 5th station. Elevation gain: 5,200 feet. Trail length: 11.5 miles, with the first four miles encompassing the entire elevation gain and the last 7 and a half being downhill. The idea came from my daughter who’s
Raise your expectations. There’s much to see in Twentynine Palms. You might have been told that Twentynine Palms is in the middle of nowhere, not far from Death Valley. This is not completely true. Here are restaurants, hotels, banks, a library, Starbucks …the town has all the comforts of home, really. The desert architecture
As I read over the posts that I wrote on the California trip, I made a list of the things I learned on each day and linked the posts below. Today, as I re-write and re-edit, I come again upon thoughts of Amelia Earhart. Her name came up more than once. Like her I was
I spent most of the day driving, returning from Littlefield, Arizona to Fort Collins. I actually left before 6 a.m., and rolled up to my house at 5:45 p.m. But it wasn’t all bad, because as I drove I was thinking about the California pilgrimage, putting my life in order, so to speak. The 10
I have arrived in LIttlefield, Arizona, just on the far side of the Nevada border. It was a long, tiring drive. The morning began beautifully, with “Barely” showing me how he feeds the blue jays from his porch. That was the highlight of the day. After that, Cholame, then Bakersfield, and then the Mojave desert
Tomorrow, bright and early, I need to get back in the car and travel east. Toward Colorado. Which is not a bad place. Nor is work bad. Exactly. But you know. Today would be a day in San Luis Obispo. Doing my own kind of things. Walking the Labyrinth My day in San Luis Obispo
Up till now my central coast trip has been in and around Morro Bay. Today, I decided to go up Highway 1 to see the part of that road that clung precariously to the side of a mountain. This would be that part of Highway 1, driving to Big Sur. This trip would not go
I remembered Dad late this morning when I was riding back from the bike shop. Stopping by the beach just north of Morro Bay, I sat for a moment looking out. I was remembering how my dad had come to the Army Language School in Monterrey in 1961, and met my mother. When he graduated
My father used to say that the indigenous Californians were less violent than the plains tribes. I didn’t think of that as a sign of a difference between the tribes themselves so much as the effect of the weather and geography of California. When you’re in California, particularly on the coast, with the sound of
