Elizabeth Zach
Traveling with Julia Morgan
Our travel writer visits some properties designed by Julia Morgan, who is responsible for the look of more than 800 buildings in California and beyond.The first time I stayed at Asilomar Hotel & Conference...
Escape to Capay
An hour’s drive northwest of Sacramento, surrounded by grassy hills and a few craggy peaks, the very picturesque Capay Valley is familiar to you if you order organic fruits and veggies from one of...
After the Flames
Our travel writer visits Shasta County after the Carr Fire devastated so much acreage this past summer.In the mid-1980s, Fou Choy Saechao, a Laotian immigrant to the United States, traveled from Central California north...
Clear Lake and Beyond
Lake County’s treasures await visitors who are ready for some gentle adventure.At the corner of Main Street and Konocti Road in Kelseyville, a modest brown sign points travelers westward to Mount Konocti, a looming...
Country Roads
Several years ago, my mother and I took a leisurely drive to Oroville to see the Buddhist temple there, built during the Civil War. We spent a quiet afternoon at the temple, enchanted with...
The Eastern Slope
When the painter Hans Meyer-Kassel arrived in Nevada in 1937, his native Germany was on the edge of chaos and genocide. In the serene, expansive Carson Valley, where he and his wife, Maria, would...
Not Just Big Trees
Most drives through California’s San Joaquin Valley aren’t joy rides. Southward from Sacramento along Highway 99, it can feel like an endless tunnel of fast-food restaurants, dairy lots, office parks, motels and warehouses.Last summer,...
The California Alps
The world-renowned Alps are a staple on many a bucket list. But the so-called California Alps, which border stunning Hope Valley south of Lake Tahoe, are just as stupendous, and you won’t break the...
Keep Heading North
If you were living in Humboldt County in the early years of the 20th century, chances are you would have met Arthur Benbow. An English immigrant and itinerant salesman who peddled everything from sewing...
On a Mission: Santa Ynez Valley
In the celebrated 2004 film “Sideways,” divorced and depressed writer and wine devotee Miles Raymond takes his former college roommate, Jack Cole, on a road trip through California’s sleepy Santa Ynez Valley. Jack is...
