California Travel

California...the name conjures in the imagination stunning mountains, raging rivers, and dramatic coastal scenery. Hollywood, Disneyland, Yosemite, Redwoods, San Franciso, LA to name but a few of the many natural and man-made attractions in this huge state.

Other major features of California include Death Valley, the Mojave Desert, the San Andreas Fault, the romantic San Francisco Bay area and the majestic Sequoias.

The American River is where gold was discovered in the 1800s. Now, Sutters Fort in downtown Sacramento offers a glimpse into that illustrious past.

California has over 200 state parks and recreational areas. National Parks are Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Redwoods, Lassen Volcanic, and Sequoia. State-sponsored attractions include Gray Whale Cove State Beach, McArthur-Burney Falls State Park, Tule Elk State Reserve, and many portions of the Redwood park system.

California's Central Valley with itś huge agricultural production is the dominant part of the central portion of the state.

Southern California is home to the most important ¨image makers"in the world, and what happens in Californa often becomes the new trend for the world.

Neon Sign in New Market Virginia

Southern Kitchen, VA
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

There was a time when neon signs were considered a sort of gaudy and cheap form of promotion, but they have undergone a huge revival and are now shining beacons of history and culture whether they are leading you to good southern cooking, a bar and grille, or fancy nightclubs around the USA.

California Native Americans

Portrait of a Cahuilla Woman.

The Cahuilla are a tribe of Native Americans that have lived in California for more than 2,000 years. Cahuilla country covered some 2,400 square miles in the central part of Southern California.

Telling the history of Native Americans in the USA is complicated by the fact that there are few written or artistic histories, and most of the history was passed along from generation to generation through traditional stories and dances. Some of these have been lost or forgotten as disease, tribal repression, and mass migrations left their historical impact on all Native Americans.

Thankfully, many tribes are working to preserve the rich cultural histories in museums and with documents and websites.

Native American leaders

US Indian Wars

What history or travel would you like to see here?

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The Blimp Travel Era

Camp de Meucon. Balloon ascending.
France, circa 1918.
Air Service Photographic Section

Before the tragic explosion of the Hindenberg, Dirigible travel was poised to become a common mode, but safety concerns and other issues overwhelmed the Blimp business.



The Empire State Building's spire was originally designed for docking of Dirigibles!
www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2538.html

UK Holiday Guide from Telegraph

The UK Telegraph is one of the best news sources for all things Britain, and they just published their Summer Travel Guide to the UK here:
www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/760632/Britain-2008-a-summer-holiday-guide.html

For Americans, England offers the comforts of the English language and other western sensibilities but also has the critical historical background to the American Experience. Here in the USA the history of much of our western cultural sensibilities only goes back a few hundred years, where in England you are literally walking the same streets tred by Kings and Queens over a thousand years ago. Dover Castle, on the chalky white cliffs above the town of the same name, played a powerful role in World War II as well as in the reign of King John II circa 1200 AD.

If you visit Dover be sure to hoist an Ale at the White Pony Tavern, one of the oldest in England, located just below the Castle near the many Bed and Breakfasts that guard the street up to Dover Castle.

California Traffic Cams

One of the most amazing developments over the past decade has been how much "real time" data is now available online. One of my favorite types of travel information are traffic cameras and road cameras which are both practical from the point of view of planning a trip and getting to actually see the road conditions as well as from the point of view of just being .... cool.

We talked earlier about www.TripCheck.com , Oregon's excellent Department of Transportation Website that features close to real time imagery from dozens of cams all over Oregon.

Another good source for road cam imagery is the California CALTRANS website: http://video.dot.ca.gov/ this actually features a lot of video which won't work very well unless you have good connectivity, but I think represents a look at the future of how we absorb and report complex travel information. What better way to know the road conditions than to ... see them?