Photo Essay: Riding a Steam Train Through the Redwoods at an Abandoned Army Camp

I struggled with whether or not I should travel up to the Bay Area last weekend, given my uncertain employment and my certain commitment to be writing a book. 

But I hadn't taken a trip since Memorial Day weekend, and my feet were getting itchy. 

Turns out, it was the perfect time to get away from Los Angeles—which was in the throes of a 110-degree heatwave—and embrace the cooler environs up north. 

One of the draws for my trip was the annual Doors Open California weekend, hosted by California Preservation Foundation. And one of the places the program was giving special access to was the Redwood Valley Railway in Tilden Regional Park, just east of Berkeley. 

Photo Essay: The Dutch Windmills That Helped Establish San Francisco's Golden Gate Park

In Southern California, the only windmills you'll usually see are the wind power-generating ones, like on the windmill farms of Palm Springs or Tehachapi. 

At least, that's been true since the last of the Van de Kamps coffee shops closed in the 1990s. (The last remaining windmill is now a Denny's in Arcadia.)

But in Northern California—specifically, San Francisco's Golden Gate Park—two windmills are alive and well, including the Northern Dutch Windmill built in 1902. 

Photo Essay: A Los Angeles Carousel Has Made San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Its Home for Over 80 Years

This is just so typically me. 

I go years (or decades) without visiting a place—and then as soon as I go back once, I end up going back a bunch of times. 

Because it's so easy for me to shift my attention elsewhere. But once something gets back into the front of my mind, I realize how much I've missed out on. 

Such is the case with San Francisco. 

I was just there in January, after having not really been there since 2006—save for a couple of hours two years ago—and ever since, I've been itching to go back. 

This time, California Preservation Foundation's Doors Open California program gave me the perfect excuse to return. 

But first, I had a lot of places to cross off my list. 

 

Take Golden Gate Park, for instance. It feels very much like San Francisco's version of Central Park in New York, with meandering paths and sprawling lawns and a few historic points of interest—including its own vintage carousel. 

R.I.P. Belle Boy, Heritage Square's Museum Cat

One of the great joys of visiting Heritage Square Museum in Montecito Heights, Los Angeles over the last few years has been its floofy orange museum cat.

His name was Belle Boy. And I just found out he passed away last September 28, 2023.

 

When I heard the news, I cried with heartbreak. But I was also grateful—glad that I'd gotten to spend a little time with him in May 2023 while producing a video for PBS SoCal's "SoCal Wanderer."