A Comprehensive Guide to California’s 20 Remarkable National Forests

collage of four images of California national forest scenery

The National Forest Foundation has declared July 8 to 14, 2024, as National Forest Week. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about the 20 national forests in California, which protect a whopping 20.8 million acres of federal land. The Golden State comes second only to Alaska in national forest acreage.  California’s national forests cover […]

Museum Monday: The Exploratorium, San Francisco

closeup view of the Rolling Through the Bay kinetic art sculpture at the Exploratorium, one of the top museums in San Francisco

The Exploratorium, an award-winning, science-meets-art museum in San Francisco, checks off a lot of boxes on visitors’ wish lists. It’s one of the best places to go with kids in San Francisco, yet the museum is equally fun and engaging for all ages. Designed as a public learning laboratory for science, art and human perception, […]

12 Beautiful Botanical Gardens in California

A clearing and dry creek bed under a shady oak tree at Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens in California
Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens

Here’s an easy way to feel like you’ve cleansed your soul, just a little bit – take a stroll around your local botanical gardens.  There are around 100 botanical gardens in California that are open to the public, according to Botanic Gardens Conservation International. They vary considerably in size and scope, but all have in […]

Museum Monday: The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum

Dwight Brooks ship models and more displays inside the main exhibit hall of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has a mission to preserve and celebrate over 13,000 years of human interaction with the ocean. It’s quite the scope, narrowed by a focus on the local coastal region, the Santa Barbara Channel and the Channel Islands. The museum showcases centuries of interaction between human inhabitants and the rich coastal […]

Museum Monday: An American Christmas Story at the Reagan Library

A closeup of ornaments on the California Christmas tree at the Reagan Library's An American Christmas Story exhibit in 2022

Every holiday season, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley presents a special exhibit of Christmas trees decorated to fit the year’s theme. In 2022, the theme is An American Christmas Story. The 5,000-square-foot exhibit features more than 60 trees representing each U.S. state and territory. Also on display are rare artifacts, gifts and […]

A Guide to the Scariest Spiders in California

A closeup of a spider against a blurry yellow and brown background

Are you an arachnophobe? Do creepy black spider Halloween decorations freak you out far more than any witch, bat, ghost or thing that goes bump in the night? Perhaps some factual information about our arachnid neighbors here in California could ease that fear. As this guide to the most dangerous spiders in California explains, spider […]

Museum Monday: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

The exterior of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum with banners

There are many popular museums in Los Angeles, but the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County stands out among them with its comprehensive and broadly appealing exhibits housed in a historic building in Exposition Park. The museum boasts almost 35 million items spanning billions of years of natural history in its vast collection, just […]

Museum Monday: Point Mugu Missile Park, Ventura County

An F-4 Phantom 2 jet mounted on display next to palm trees at Point Mugu Missile Park in Ventura County, an open air museum in Southern California

If you’ve ever driven along the stretch of PCH north of Point Mugu State Park and south of Oxnard, you might have noticed a curious display of grounded vintage fighter jets and missiles in the distant corner of an otherwise empty field. It’s clear that they have a military connection due to the location – […]