The California buckeye (Aesculus californica) is the smart spring bride of the dry canyons of the central coast ranges and Sierra Nevada mountains to about 4,000 feet. Sh...
It was a clandestine military post, a mysterious mountain tower, and a secret control room filled with the blips and bleeps of sci fi-worthy technology. During the Cold W...
The Pogonip is a beautiful city greenbelt located in Santa Cruz, California, on the eastern edge of the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) campus. It contains a v...
The tops of UCSC’s science buildings have three high-tech greenhouses that make them a botanist’s paradise in the sky. All three facilities are computer-controlled...
In 1904, the Salton Sink was merely a dry lake bed. But in 1905, it became a huge inland sea almost overnight when the Colorado River was accidentally diverted into the b...
From 600 to 1300 AD, the ancient pueblo people (sometimes called the Anasazi) lived in Mesa Verde, Colorado. Sometime around 1190, they moved their homes from the plateau...
Jekyll Island is a spot frequented by tourists on the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia and home to a picturesque boneyard beach. Barrier islands are long, thin, a...
Spanish ships visiting Monterey Bay in 1769 released a bunch of domestic pigs, hoping they would go forth, multiply, and be a plentiful food source for restocking their s...
Until 1920, the Upper and Lower Plazas of Mission Hill in Santa Cruz, California were both the town center and a popular neighborhood. Schools, businesses, and hotels wer...
Have you ever ridden a sand wave? Chances are you probably didn’t ride this one. It’s not at Mavericks, and it’s 200 million years old. Originally a sand dune up to...
