I hope you enjoy prowling around OpenRoad.TV for stories and tips about travel in the West, and that you pass along to us descriptions of your own journeys in the wide and wonderful West… all the way out to Hawaii.
I was asked by some friends who’ve developed another extraordinary travel site to write about my favorite places in this huge region of ours. It was tough to choose just five spots to describe, but I did somehow and here’s a link. I hope you enjoy it and then discover the terrific values of NileGuide along the way. It will be a superb travel resource for you wherever in the world you decide to go.
Loyd Schutte, friend of OpenRoad.TV and editor of Yosemite Blog, recently posted this great photo of California poppies growing in the Merced River canyon along Highway 140, my favorite route into Yosemite. The urge to play hookey on a Monday is getting very strong…
One of my favorite places in all of California is the village of Mendocino, up the coast a few hours from San Francisco. In some important ways, it’s a relic of the 19th Century with much of its character and many of its old wooden buildings intact from a time long ago when Mendocino was the first logging port on California’s north coast. Redwoods taken from deep forests nearby, where shipped south to help build early San Francisco.
In later decades, Mendocino has been frequently used by Hollywood to play the role of a seaside New England town in movies and on television…..and Monterey in East of Eden with James Dean. Check out our story here and see what else we have on the village of Mendocino.
And for sure, Mendocino has become a prime tourist destination over the years. We visitors come by the tens of thousands to enjoy its restaurants and galleries, stay in its lovely inns and soak up the rugged coastal scenery, especially across the street from the village on the open expanse of the Mendocino Headlands State Park.
The Park has given many of us countless hours of pleasure, and now we have an opportunity to give back to the Park in its hour of need. The land is overrun by trails and harmed by erosion. Historic landmarks are not being maintained adequately and are in danger of being lost. The terrific State Park staff and many loyal and hard working volunteers know what to do to solve the problems and take care of the Park, but they don’t have the money to do it. The State is broke. They need a little financial help, and that’s where we come in. The next time we spend the night in Mendocino, we can contribute a little money and together we can all help out a lot. It’s easy and painless.
To see exactly what the challenges are…….and to find out how we can make a difference right away, please take a couple of minutes to watch this video. Then join all of us in helping care for one of our beloved and vulnerable State Parks.
Then, if you’d like, please take another minute and go to the website of the California State Parks Foundation, now celebrating its 40th anniversary of providing help to our entire system of extraordinary parks. Some of us were interviewed about our favorite State Parks. I talked about Mendocino and you can find my podcast and many others at www.calparks.org/podcasts.
After watching the video and listening to the podcast, I hope you head as soon as possible to Mendocino and enjoy your legacy of protected lands and places of profound historic and cultural importance. Have fun.
