Mission San Juan Bautista in central California is a treasure for history buffs like me. The mission was built in 1797 as part of a string of missions stretched from Baja California to San Francisco. The missions were built a days ride apart on the El Camino Real, the kings highway. Most of the missions [...]

Last Thursday British Columbia Tourism came to San Francisco to try and entice residents to come up to Canada and more specifically to British Columbia on vacation. They brought Olympic Gold Medalists Shani Davis and Ashleigh McIvor. They also brought the aboriginal dance group Le-La-La Dancers. They also had an artist painting a 3d style [...]

My father used to travel a lot for business, 100,000 miles a year or more. In his travels he would often encounter someone who had been to California, where I grew up, and said that they “didn’t like the weather”. This always amused him. If you don’t know why this is funny then your mental [...]

Just to the east of Yosemite National park and north of Mono Lake is a town that time forgot. Bodie was a booming gold mining town before the mines played out. When the miners left they often just abandoned their houses and today Bodie is a California state park that preserves what is left of [...]

David and I took the lead in a dark green half-track. Kevin and Reggie followed behind us in the tank. We all looked terrific in our uniforms, or at least we thought we did. The side of our half-track said “Rat patrol”. This was our night.
A man walked up with a runny-nosed kid in green [...]

This is a transcript of an episode of the Amateur Traveler podcast focusing on traveling to the Napa Valley in California’s Wine Country

Travel to the Napa Valley in California’s Wine Country – Episode 190
More blogs posts about Napa Valley
More podcasts about California

Chris: I’d like to welcome to the show Carol Terwilliger Meyers, who is the [...]

Tutankhamun was not the most important ruler in ancient Egypt. He became king at the age of 9 and only ruled until he was 19. He restored the ancient gods of Egypt after his predecessor (probably his father) had declared Egypt monotheistic. Other than that, Tutankhamun had no other major accomplishments to speak of except [...]

This is a picture of my standing in front of my other car at a winery in NapaSonoma California. OK, maybe that’s not my other car… yet. There is apparently good money in wine. The Napa valley is a gorgeous place with grapes everywhere and these beautiful wineries. Even if you don’t like wine this [...]

San Francisco – Golden Gate Park
Originally uploaded by Xevi V
Mistakes to avoid while in San Francisco
Last month my daughter and I went to St Helena to visit my son who is attending school at the CIA. It was not a flawless trip.
Mistake #1. In Napa, we pass a little strip mall that has a UPS [...]

1. Best walk – Bike or walk the Monterey Bay Coastal Bike Trail from Fisherman’s Wharf to Lover’s Point
The Monterey Bay Coastal Bike Trail is around 29 miles long stretching from Castroville to Pebble beach but the best stretch is along the bay near Cannery Row. This stretch is flat and only 2.3 miles long [...]