Category: Nature Trips
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Water Dog Lake Park in Belmont, California
By Rachel Puryear Okay, initially, I checked out this park in part because of its name – I imagined dogs of all kinds swimming around in the lake, and just enjoying themselves. The day I went actually didn’t have very many people or dogs there, but it’s a peaceful and pretty local park nonetheless. Also,…
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The Mysterious Third Person Phenomenon
By Rachel Puryear Have you ever been in a very dangerous, even life threatening situation? Chances are, you either have, or someone else you love has. Maybe an accident or natural disaster, violence or a serious threat of such, being lost or stranded in a place where survival is unlikely, and so forth. Sometimes, people…
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The San Francisco Bay Trail
By Rachel Puryear The San Francisco Bay Area is known for its natural beauty, diversity, innovation, opportunity, progressive ideals, and so much more. The San Francisco Bay Trail is a large network of trails all over the Bay Area, which allows enjoyment of all there is here to offer, and with beautiful views. The Bay…
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Q&A: Signs You’re Being Catfished
By Rachel Puryear Have you ever met someone who seemed incredibly wonderful – but had a nagging feeling that they were perhaps too good to be true? And then maybe found out that they in fact weren’t who you initially thought they were? Unfortunately, that’s something just about all of us will experience in this…
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Have You Ever Experienced a Disappearing Place?
By Rachel Puryear For most of us, the idea of stumbling upon a mysterious place, only to find it’s not there anymore later; sounds like the realm of fiction – or even an overactive imagination. However, a number of people claim to have experienced exactly that, and have shared their stories to willing listeners on…
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Great Basin National Park
By Rachel Puryear Far out in the remote Nevada desert, a short distance off America’s Loneliest Highway, is an awesome natural wonder – the Great Basin. Great Basin National Park offers stunning views of the Great Basin, as well as some amazing caves! Plus, it’s an International Dark Sky Park, meaning that the nighttime offers…
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Bedwell Bayfront Park’s Great Spirit Path in Menlo Park, California
By Rachel Puryear You’ve probably heard of Stonehenge in the English countryside – but have you also heard of the Bay Area’s “Stonehenge by the Bay”? Bedwell Bayfront Park features the Great Spirit Path, also known as Stonehenge by the Bay, where you can get a great hike with amazing views, while also seeing stone…
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Wonderful Tropical Forest Images
By Rachel Puryear In the world’s tropical regions, year-round heat and abundant rainfall makes for many lush, gorgeous tropical rainforests teeming with diverse, amazing life forms. These pictures will help showcase that natural beauty – but you’ll have to visit there yourself in order to also experience the awesome sounds, smells, and humidity of these…
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Taylor Mountain Regional Park in Santa Rosa, California
By Rachel Puryear California’s Sonoma County offers a famously diverse array of beautiful landscapes. Within one set of county lines, you can visit beaches, forests, mountains, rivers, lakes, and more. The area also offers plenty of wonderful parks to explore. One lovely such mountainous park is at Taylor Mountain. If you’re ever in the area,…
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Awesome Snowy Forest Images
By Rachel Puryear In the chilly depths of Winter, there is a quiet beauty – snow blankets much of the world, and wraps many forests in an icy splendor. Thank you, dear readers, for reading, following, and sharing. Here’s to awesome Winter wonderlands. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” and subscribe, if you have…
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The Beaches of Pacifica, California
By Rachel Puryear About fifteen minutes south of San Francisco is the small coastal town of Pacifica, California. The name comes from the Spanish word for “peaceful”, and the town does live up to that name. It’s a quiet, peaceful, unpretentious town with a relaxed vibe. Even though it’s right near several busy and crowded…
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Asking for Help is Great – But is There Also an Obligation to Offer It?
By Rachel Puryear We all know that it’s very helpful to ask for help. It lets others know what we need when they might otherwise have no idea, and it gives us a chance to practice being assertive. Certainly, people should ask for help more often – and many don’t, quite to their own detriment.…
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Central Park in San Mateo, California
By Rachel Puryear Urban parks make for very special places within a city, whereby residents can get out and enjoy nature, right in (or near) their own neighborhoods. San Mateo, a small city about halfway between San Francisco and San Jose, boasts its own big urban park – San Mateo’s Central Park. There’s lots to…
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Amazing Outer Space Images
By Rachel Puryear Hi folks, your World Class Hugs host has some big personal life events going on. Accordingly, I am unable to put forth the usual kind of content for a short while. However, here some pictures of the gorgeous universe for you to enjoy, and hopefully get a good dose of inspiration and…
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Glorious Sunrises and Sunsets
By Rachel Puryear Hi folks, your World Class Hugs host has some big personal life events going on. Accordingly, I am unable to put forth the usual kind of content for a short while. However, here are some pictures of beautiful sunrises and sunsets for you to enjoy, and hopefully get a good dose of…
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Cat Pictures to Enjoy
By Rachel Puryear Hi folks, your World Class Hugs host has some big personal life events going on. Accordingly, I am unable to put forth the usual kind of content for a short while. However, here are some cat pictures for you to enjoy, and hopefully get a good dose of happiness and good vibes…
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Urban Nature Hikes in San Francisco, California
By Rachel Puryear San Francisco, California, the City by the Bay, is a major city known for many things – arts and sciences, diversity, great food, culture and progressive attitudes; and it also features lots of stunning natural beauty. Even within this major urban city, there are plenty of places to enjoy the great outdoors,…
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Simple Yet Powerful Things to Say to a Dying Loved One
By Rachel Puryear Nothing fully prepares you for losing a loved one. It’s something we will all go through sometimes in life, and it’s one of the hardest and most painful things we can experience. It’s often hard to know what to say to someone who we love, when they are nearing death. And of…
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Eaton Park in San Carlos, California
By Rachel Puryear If you enjoy hilltop vistas and beautiful panoramic views, then check out this lesser-known park in San Carlos, California. It’s truly a hidden local gem! This park is also less crowded than many other nearby parks. Hiking around sunrise or sunset is rewarded with seeing gorgeous lighting over the lush surrounding hills.…
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Yes, It’s Okay to Cut Ties Over Politics
By Rachel Puryear As the new administration in the USA unfolds in a predictably horrifying fashion, an old debate has once again been re-ignited in the court of public opinion: is it acceptable to cut ties and end relationships with other people – even family members and longtime friends – over differences in political beliefs,…
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Butano State Park in Pescadero, California
By Rachel Puryear On the coast of the San Francisco Bay Area region, is the charming small town of Pescadero, along the ocean. One of the great gems found on the outskirts of this town is Butano State Park – acres of trails through gorgeous, quiet, humid forests kept moist, and often draped in layers…
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Emotional Black Holes
By Rachel Puryear We’ve all heard about black holes in outer space, and probably marveled at how dangerous they could be – with their gravity being so strong that nothing can escape them. However, luckily, you will probably never actually encounter a black hole in outer space. What you’re much more likely to encounter right…
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Huddart Park in Woodside, California
By Rachel Puryear If you thought enchanted forests were something found only in fairy tales, you probably haven’t been to Huddart Park (and the several other gorgeous parks found in Woodside). Shaded by plenty of towering trees, often shrouded in fog from the nearby ocean, covered in a reddish-brown floor from the many redwood trees,…
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Signs of Emotional Maturity (or a Lack Thereof)
By Rachel Puryear When it comes to all kinds of interpersonal relationships – be they romantic, friendships, familial, business, or otherwise – the difference between closeness with an emotionally mature person, versus an emotionally immature person; is profound, and like night and day. Accordingly, it’s important to be able to spot signs of emotional maturity…
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Gamble Garden in Palo Alto, California
By Rachel Puryear Do you love to stroll around a large garden, with a bounty of fresh, beautiful flowers and trees? If so, then Gamble Garden – nestled in the affluent city of Palo Alto, and in the heart of the Bay Area’s Silicon Valley – is a perfect place to visit and enjoy, and…
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Every Bully Needs Enablers
Rachel Puryear Nobody in their right mind likes a bully. Yet, bullies get their way far too often in everyday life, and feel entitled to do so – typically enjoying an undeserved, and elevated social status. So how do they get away with that, and only rarely face consequences for their bad behavior? Especially when…
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The Akashic Records
By Rachel Puryear Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live as someone else? It’s a strange and profound moment in life when we realize that the only being we’ll witness the entire lived experience of, from birth until death, is ourselves. And that no one else – no matter how much…
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Filoli Gardens in Redwood City, California
By Rachel Puryear Tucked into a corner of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Peninsula region is the gorgeous, and historic, Filoli estate – with huge gardens, forest trails, and a mansion belonging to the families who used to own Filoli privately. Stroll through serene, shady forests with towering redwood trees. Enjoy browsing colorful flower beds…
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Complicated Versus Uncomplicated Relationships
By Rachel Puryear On this blog, we’ve previously discussed chemistry versus compatibility in relationships, the difference between inner circle versus outer circle friends and relations, and also considering how well two people’s goals may or may not line up – in the context of large age gaps in relationships. This post will build upon those…
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San Bruno Mountain
By Rachel Puryear There’s nothing like an awesome panoramic view from the mountaintops. San Bruno Mountain, a short drive south of San Francisco, offers sweeping views of much of the Bay Area on a clear day. It’s a large and popular California state park, but usually doesn’t feel crowded or overrun with people. Instead, despite…
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Are You Afraid of Your Own Shadow?
By Rachel Puryear If you value personal growth, you may have heard of shadow work. Shadow work, basically, means addressing the parts of our psyches that most people tend to keep hidden – darker sides to our personalities, trauma, negative emotions, and so forth. All of us, no matter how kind and ethical we may…
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Chemistry Versus Compatibility in Relationships
By Rachel Puryear The first few months of a new relationship is an exciting and intense time. You’re likely giddy, thinking about your new sweetheart frequently, and dreaming of the future. That dreamy phase is known as new relationship energy, or the honeymoon phase – and for most couples, it last about three to six…
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The Loneliest Road in America
By Rachel Puryear If you love to drive but hate traffic and congestion, here’s a drive for a future road trip for you: Highway 50 between (roughly) Sparks, Nevada and Ely, Nevada. (However, Highway 50 from Ely onto Delta, Utah was more sparsely populated than the Nevada part.) It’s also dubbed the Loneliest Road in…
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Land’s End in San Francisco
By Rachel Puryear In a northwestern corner of San Francisco is a gorgeous, wooded coastal park – with views that will make you forget your proximity to the big, urban city nearby. You can relax on the beach, explore the ruins of the old bathhouses that used to be there, stroll through woods, take pictures…
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Alviso Marina County Park – San Jose’s Salty Pink Pond
By Rachel Puryear Chances are, you’ve enjoyed some beautiful blue, or greenish, lakes in your lifetime. But have you seen a beautiful pink lake before? San Jose’s Alviso Marina County Park has a very high salinity level, which can – with favorable timing – result in salt-loving microorganisms living in the water turning it a…
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Lake Manly in Death Valley: A Rare and Surreal Experience
By Rachel Puryear On this blog, I’ve written previously about visiting Death Valley National Park, and more desert beauty in the Mojave and in Arizona. This time, we visited Death Valley again to see Lake Manly – a rare lake that occurs in the park’s salt flats after receiving (relatively) large amounts of rain for…
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San Juan Canyon in Belmont, California
By Rachel Puryear The city of Belmont is a quiet, hilly suburb on the Peninsula of the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s home to some beautiful hiking trails, including San Juan Canyon. If you’re in this area, stop by to check out the views, and the natural beauty surrounding this park. For more information about…
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Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Fremont, California
By Rachel Puryear In the southeast part of the San Francisco Bay Area, there’s a gentle and beautiful hike by the water – that is, the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Fremont. There are plenty of birds, lush landscapes, mushrooms, and great views by the bay to enjoy here. If you’re…
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Stanford Dish Loop Trail in Stanford, California
By Rachel Puryear If you’ve driven along Highway 280 near the upper Silicon Valley area, you’ve likely seen the Stanford Dish, way up on the mountain. Did you know that there’s also a trail surrounding it, which offers great vistas, and abundant natural beauty? If you’re in the area, do yourself a favor, and check…
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Great Hikes in Vallejo, Benicia, and American Canyon, California
By Rachel Puryear In the outer northeastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, nestled between Napa and the East Bay region, is a cluster of three cities/towns – Benicia, Vallejo, and American Canyon. This is a sort of micro-region, that has its own local vibe. It’s also home to some beautiful scenery, and great…
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Trione-Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa, CA
By Rachel Puryear Sonoma County is in the outer reaches of the San Francisco Bay Area, and is relatively quiet with lots of wooded areas. Santa Rosa is Sonoma County’s largest city. Santa Rosa is also home to Trione-Annadel State Park, which offers plenty of beautiful views, hiking in forests, and a gorgeous lake. Check…
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Bidwell Park in Chico, California
By Rachel Puryear In the northeastern part of California is the charming college town of Chico. Chico is also home to the big, beautiful Bidwell Park. You can hike the trails, enjoy the views from the mountains, swim and fish in the lakes and creeks, gaze at the night skies, and take in lots of…
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Vichy Springs in Ukiah, CA
By Rachel Puryear In the heavily forested Mendocino County in northern coastal California, there’s a resort with beautiful trails, known as Vichy Springs. You’ve probably been to hot spring pools before, but this one is rare and special – it’s one of a very few places in the world which has carbonated hot springs. That’s…
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Rancho San Antonio Preserve and Deer Hollow Farm
By Rachel Puryear If you’re ever in the South Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, do yourself a favor and check out the Rancho San Antonio Preserve. While you’re there, also check out Deer Hollow Farm – they have friendly animals you can pet, so if you have kids, they’ll love it, too…
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Visiting Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
By Rachel Puryear Recently, I visited the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with my husband, while he attended a web developers’ event there (his profession). We were there about a week, largely in the downtown area. It’s a neat city with a friendly vibe, a diverse population, and plenty to do. It’s situated on three rivers,…
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San Jose Rose Garden
By Rachel Puryear Looking for a beautiful, romantic walk in a park? Love bright, colorful garden displays? After months of unusually cool weather for early Spring in the Bay Area, the San Jose Rose Garden is finally in full bloom. Stop by here and literally, as well as figuratively, smell the roses! Arches at the…
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Let’s Talk Dirty – Mud Baths in Calistoga
By Rachel Puryear In the Napa Valley region of California – an area world famous for its natural beauty, wineries and food, and arts and culture – there’s an adorable little town called Calistoga. In Calistoga, you can do something that most people don’t do every day – that is, lay in a tub filled…
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Hiking in Colma’s Cemeteries
By Rachel Puryear There’s a little town tucked into the San Francisco Bay Area’s Peninsula region. The neighbors are…quiet. You could say lots of people are…dying to get in. And despite the…grave surroundings, it’s actually a pretty pleasant place to live…if you are among it’s living, that is. If you count the town’s deceased population,…
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Monterey Road Trip: Awesome Beaches, Abundant Wildlife
By Rachel Puryear If you love beaches, gorgeous coastlines, and diverse sea wildlife; Monterey, California (and many of its surrounding areas) make for a great road trip. Here’s a recap of my own recent road trip down the coast (from the San Francisco Bay Area) to Monterey: Año Nuevo State Park is along the California…
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