Tag: travel
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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,…
-
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…
-
Muir Woods in Marin County, California
By Rachel Puryear Nestled in the outskirts of the quiet town of Mill Valley, in Marin County – which is part of the San Francisco Bay Area’s north bay region, is a wonderful little gem known as Muir Woods. It’s an American National Monument, as well. Named for the 19th century conservation activist John Muir,…
-
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…
-
Moab, Utah Road Trip
By Rachel Puryear The southwestern United States region, including Utah; is known for its natural desert scenery that’s as breathtaking and dramatic, as it is otherworldly. Here are the highlights of a recent road trip to Moab, a vibrant town in southeastern Utah, and its surrounding areas: Arches National Park You’ve probably seen iconic images…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
World Class Hugs 