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...
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...
Around the turn of the last century, many forward-thinking folks in California tried to figure out how to harness power from the ocean. Several wave and tidal energy proj...
Lots of great things happen at Long Marine Laboratory, including marine research, marine education, and lagoon and bluff habitat restoration. The lab sits atop a beautifu...
The vista point parking area along Highway 35 sports a spectacular view. It’s about 8.5 miles south of Highway 84 and depending on the smog level or cloud layer, yo...
