CSP - Bidwell Mansion State Historical Park

A stop on one of our visits to the Howells in Paradise, Bidwell Mansion was the home of John Bidwell and his wife Annie.  They moved into the Italianate mansion after their marriage in 1868. 

According to Trail Posts, "Their home became the social hub of the Sacramento Valley, replete with gas lighting, modern plumbing and a total of twenty-six rooms. Some of the distinguished guests included William Tecumseh Sherman, John Muir, Susan B Anthony and President Rutherford B Hayes."



Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park     
525 Esplanade  Chico

Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park- Wikipedia

Trail Posts: A Literary Exploration of California's State Parks Includes a portion of John Bidwell's, Echos of the Past describing his journey across the Sierra's into California in 1841 via the California Trail. 

LH - Trial Islands

On our whale watching trip in Victoria this past June we passed by a pretty little light house and a two story keepers house.  Located at Staines Point it was completed in 1906 with a fresnel lens put in place in 1908.  

Lighthouse Friends Trial Islands provides a good history of the need for the lighthouse and its subsequent history, including a full list of keepers, water problems, and the importance of the telephone.

CSP- Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park

In 2019 on the way home from Portland I ventured through some of the parks in northern California.  Among them was Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park.  It was impossible to look in any direction and not be awed by the magnificence of the trees.

Originally established in 1925 the park includes o8 miles of coastline and after additions in 2002  it is 31,261 acres in size.  In 1983 it was designated part of the California Coast Ranges International Biosphere Reserve. 

In the 1850s there were over two million acres of old-growth redwood forests, but by 1910 that had been drastically reduced.  The  Group  Save-the-Redwoods League began purchasing large tracts of redwood acreage in an effort to save the quickly disappearing forests. With matching funds from the State of California over 100,000 acres were saved between 1920 and 1960. Del Norte Park was created in the 1920s from some of the purchased acres.

In 1968 Redwood National Park was created.  By 1978 it had expanded to 48.000 acres.  In 1980 it was declared a World Heritage Site.

The close proximity of Del Norte, Jedediah Smith and Prairie Creek State parks and Redwoods National Park led to joint management in 1994. 

 

Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park

Redwood National Park 

A Guide to Old Growth Redwoods

Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park - Wikipedia
Save the Redwoods

More Pictures

 

NP - Death Valley

 We visited Death Valley on the way back from my talk in Las Vegas in 2012.  It was breathtaking! 

Death Valley NP                                                   More Pictures                                                                                             

 

Miniature Abandoned Room

 I decided to try something different so signed up for an Atlas Obscura Class on making a miniature abandoned room.  I asked Nicholas what the room should be and he asked back.  When I said maybe a library, he lit up and said...well maybe a potions classroom, it would have to be a library first.  So that is the inspiration.  The basic kit, paper clay for bricks and floor boards were bought but otherwise I used stuff found around the house.  Well I did buy the tiny bottles.

It was a lot of fun......I have plans for one more.  But that will be enough!!

c

Bursting Heart

 

An experiment in colors

LH - Yaquina Head

It was an absolutely gorgeous day to visit this lighthouse.  

But the lighthouse did not have an auspicious beginning.   After Congress appropriated $90,000, construction work began on September 1, 1871 but was often delayed due to the tempestuous Oregon winter. Given its exposed location, the station was in a constant battle with nature. The report of the Lighthouse Board for 1880 describes the struggle.

 

  

This is ... an exposed headland where violent gusts of wind are not infrequent. The soil near the upper surface is very friable and is filled with gravel and small pebbles. During squalls the face of the cliff is swept by the winds and great quantities of sand and gravel are lifted from their beds and driven against the buildings, injuring the shutters and breaking the glass. To screen the station in a moderate degree against this influence a close board fence about 8 feet high was built, in August, around the crest of the bluff close up to the margin, to arrest as far as practicable the flight  of the gravel and throw it back upon the beach below. It has worked very satisfactorily. In January, the roof of the dwelling was greatly injured, the fences were blown down, the pickets broken off, and the displaced material scattered, drift-like, over the station. In October and January, sea-fowls broke, in the nighttime, several panes of glass in the lantern.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse with duplex and newer dwelling - circa 1935
Photograph courtesy University of Oregon Libraries

Yaquina Head

Yaquina Head Lighthouse - Wikipedia

More Pictures

NHS: Knife River Indian Villages

Located in Stanton ND northwest of Bismark, the Knife River Indian Village National Historic Site was a place of trade for the native tribes long before Lewis and Clark journeyed west.

The park is a tribute to the local tribes, the Hidatsa, the Mandan and the Arikara whose ancestors lived in the area for at least 500 years before the visit of Lewis and Clark in 1804 and wintered nearby at Fort Mandan.

With dwellings and tools to see as well as history to read we spent an enjoyable afternoon there before travelling on to Bismark

Knife River Indian Villages
1974 Stanton ND


Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Park

More pictures

Lewis and Clark Trail

CSP - Wilder Ranch

On a visit in Jan 2020, I took a hike around the property and through the buildings of the Wilder Ranch, which was the main rancho supplying the Santa Cruz Mission.  

 

Wilder Ranch State Park

Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks
More Pictures

Lighthouse in Brown

NP - Redwood

 

NPS Redwood National Park 

State Parks Blog Pages

Del Norte Coast Redwoods

Humboldt Redwoods

Jedediah Smith

Prairie Creek Redwoods

CSHP - Santa Barbara Presidio

The Presidio was founded in 1782 to protect Spain's claim to the area and to provide oversight to the colonization project.  Much of the current structure is a reconstruction of the original based on archeological excavation.

El Cuartel, the guard house, which is currently across the street from the main complex is original, having been cared for by the family of one of the original soldiers.  They had lived in the rooms until 1924. 

The reconstruction includes a chapel and padre quarters, The comandancia, living quarters and office for the Comandante,  gardens, a kitchen and more. The Presideo aqueduct has also been located.

  

Santa Barbara SHP

Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation

Presidio of Santa Barbara - Wikipedia

More Pictures

Herbs

These have been hanging in the kitchen for years.  They predate the 1991 remodel, but have hung above the window since then.