Doug McConnell

Since I was a little kid I’ve been traveling to and through Nevada on a reasonably regular basis. The state has changed quite a bit over the years. Las Vegas, Reno and Carson City have all grown like mad. And yet the old Nevada of wide-open and wild spaces and unvarnished western history remains pretty much intact.

Unfortunately, most people who go to Nevada don’t actually see it. Millions of people every year visit the pleasure palaces of Las Vegas and stroll the strip past clever imitations of Italy, Paris and New York and never venture into the authentic Nevada right nearby.

That’s too bad. They’re missing one of the West’s most fascinating and accessible regions. We’ve got some stories here on OpenRoad.TV that you might want to watch. If you’re thinking about visiting and then leaving Las Vegas. Here they are: Las Vegas to the Snow, Las Vegas with Elvis, Las Vegas’ Extreme Adventures, Leaving Las Vegas Introduction, Southwest Adventures Introduction.

Have a good trip.

Doug McConnell

Our renowned restaurant guide and world traveler, Janice Nieder, sent us another great dining recommendation in San Francisco. It’s probably possible to eat every meal every day of your life in San Francisco’s restaurants and never be disappointed. The culinary choices are virtually limitless and new restaurants are opening all the time. So much good food, so little time. But Janice soldiers on and keeps uncovering fresh delights. Here’s her latest report, and then check out our food stories in the column to the right of this blog. Janice and we will keep adding new spots all the time here in the Bay Area and throughout the West. And we hope you jump in, add your comments and tips, and help us all find good food and fun places to last a lifetime.

Fish and Farm Play Nicely Together

Doug McConnell

About two weeks ago I was contacted by an old friend I hadn’t seen in about 30 years. It was terrific to hear from Nancy Owens Barnes. We worked together for several years in the Planning Department of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough in Alaska. Check out our OpenRoad.TV story about Ketchikan and you’ll see Creek St., a former red-light district we in the planning department worked hard to save from decay and have declared an historic site. Creek St., “where men and salmon once came to spawn,” is now one of Ketchikan’s principle tourist attractions.

I remember Nancy as being a bright, talented, kind and wonderful person with stories to tell about her family’s fascinating life and journey to Alaska. Everybody in Alaska has intriguing tales to tell about living in the often uncompromising far north. Many have extraordinary stories about how and why they came to Alaska in the first place. I’ll write more about my own Alaskan odyssey and experiences now and then, but Nancy is way ahead of me. I encourage you to check out her website, www.southtoalaska.com, and read her book entitled South to Alaska, From the Heartland of America to the Heart of a Dream.

Doug McConnell

Winter is officially coming to the northern hemisphere, but here in northern California, though it’s been getting colder, it hasn’t yet been getting significantly wetter or snowier. I hope that changes soon.

For now, I can go to a few stories on OpenRoad.TV and see a little snow and ice and imagine the real thing. We have a story near Lake Tahoe about how to survive and enjoy a wilderness adventure in the winter. Someday soon the snow will fall in the Sierra Nevada. I can hardly wait. I just want to be prepared.

Doug McConnell

I just heard a report on National Public Radio about the power of volcanoes in Iceland. I’ve filmed in Iceland a few times and would love to get back soon. Iceland is ruggedly beautiful and its natural environment is as wild as many of the western landscapes we celebrate here at OpenRoad.TV.

Photo: Stacy Geiken

Iceland’s volcanoes got me thinking about our own. One of my favorites is California’s Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Lassen last erupted less than 100 years ago. Its plumes were caught on early film. Today, though Lassen is alive, it slumbers at the southern edge of the Cascade Range that stretches north through Oregon and Washington to southern British Columbia and includes Mt. Ranier, Mt. Shasta, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens and other volcanoes that might someday awaken.

You can see our story on Mt. Shasta here and we’ll have stories soon about some of these other peaks and would like very much to hear your own tales about exploring the volcanic wonders of the West. But for now, check out our story on Lassen and go visit when you have a chance. The crowds are low and the rewards are high.

By the way, if you want to see the longest-running volcanic show on earth, leap on a plane and fly to the Big Island of Hawaii. The Kilauea Volcano has been erupting there continuously since 1983. But if you can’t get to Hawaii right away, no worries. You can feel the heat on OpenRoad.TV and join me just an arm’s length from molten lava. Out West, many of our mountains are very much alive and in the process of creation.

Doug McConnell

I don’t claim to be a particularly good writer, but I’ve always enjoyed the process of writing. In my first television job, back when big American cities had maybe six stations, color was new and film was the thing, I was a researcher and writer for KTLA in Los Angeles. I was mentored by an amazing television and radio veteran and proud “hack writer,” Don Bresnahan. I’d work twelve hours a day doing all kinds of scut work for KTLA’s news department and its lead anchor, a former chief of police of the LAPD (that’s another story,) and then Don would send me home with back-breaking writing assignments. I faced a different challenge every night. He pushed me hard and tore my work to shreds day-after-day. He shed my blood, didn’t spare my feelings, and taught me more about writing for television and other media than anyone else ever has. He knew he had a willing student who privately enjoyed the painful struggle. He gave me his time, talent and encouragement, not to mention his old typewriter. Another hack writer was born. Don’s gifts opened the world to me.

I’ve always found that I work best and most quickly in public spaces: restaurants, bars, coffee shops (especially,) parks and plazas of all sorts. I don’t know exactly why, but I like being surrounded by social hub-bub while I dive into my solitary little world of words. I can and do write in quiet places, too, but I’m usually found around a coffee joint scribbling in my little pad or typing away. Maybe I’m too social to be a lonely writer. The buzz of humanity probably combines with the buzz of caffeine to keep me going. Whatever it is, I’ve been working this way since Johnson was President (Lyndon not Andrew, I’m not that old.) I’d be frightened to know how many gallons of java I’ve consumed. Don’t ask, don’t tell.

I suppose the only reason for bringing all of this up is that we feature quite a few places on OpenRoad.TV that are good eating, drinking and writing environments. If you go to the food category on the column to the right of this blog, it’ll take you to some terrific tips. We’ll be adding many more as we move along and we hope you’ll send us your best writing and dining suggestions.

By the way, I’m writing this at La Boulange in Marin County’s Strawberry Village Shopping Center. Good food. Friendly people. And fine lattes. Don, this one’s for you.

Weekend Sherpa’s Brad Day gives Doug (and himself) some tips on getting away from the computer and how and where to enjoy life outside the box in the San Francisco Bay Area: Angel Island, the Marin Headlands, Mt. Tamalpais and the San Mateo coast beaches.

Doug McConnell

I recently saw a flock of pelicans gliding slowly in formation just above the water of San Francisco Bay. They were cruising for food or for the fun of it just the way pelicans have for millions of years.

Pelicans look like miniature pterodactyls, envoys from a lost planet. And they themselves were almost lost in the twentieth century, pushed to the gates of extinction by us human newcomers. Fortunately, we changed our destructive ways a little just in time to help nurture pelican populations back to better health. It’s always exciting to see wild things following their ancient rituals, and we have quite a few stories about places to see wildlife in the West. Go to the wildlife category in the column next to this blog and take a look at what we have. And then please send us your best wildlife stories, pictures and video, too. The more we can all see and know the wonders of wildlife the more we’ll care for it. Pelicans point to what’s possible.

– Carl Bidleman

I grew up in Detroit in the 50’s when the town was called the “City of Champions” (at least we still called it that) based on world titles earned by Joe Louis in boxing, the Tigers in baseball, the Lions in football, and the Red Wings in hockey. I loved all those sports but since some of my earliest memories were of my dad standing outside on frigid Michigan nights using a garden hose to make a skating rink for the neighborhood kids, hockey became my youthful passion.