- California, Independent travel, North America, Outdoor Activities, Photography, Travel Blog, USA, Walking, Wildlife
California: Chill Time Before We Head Home
Underfoot the ground is parched, rock hard and dusty, the sun shines hot from crystal skies and occasional breezes rustle the trees and send dust clouds up into small eddies while only marginally cooling the heat. Tufts of weed and grass remain but seem to be turning to pale yellow by the hour, some already sun kissed enough to disintegrate into more dust if we step on them. It’s all very different from the verdant forests and regular rain of the last three weeks. Spring is turning into summer into the mountains above Los Angeles. Acton, the small town which is my daughter Lindsay’s home, receives its hot days of…
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Before The Road Trip Begins: Early Days In California
With a four week full on tour of California ahead of us, our first few days here feel something like a warm up exercise before the green light goes on and we’re away on the tour. Shorter but varied walks, some steep climbs and a measure of acclimatisation have been in order, though not without some surprises along the way – never mind the whole of California, there is plenty of variety in LA County, it seems. Our first base before we commence our road trip is my daughter Lindsay’s home in Acton, some 47 miles north of Los Angeles – although in truth we are a couple of miles…
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Exploring Los Angeles
In the crisp clear mountain air, the peaks and ridges of the surrounding ranges seem almost impossibly well defined against the unchanging backdrop of the cloudless blue sky, now and again one more prominent peak glistens with white snow. The setting is of one of rural remoteness, yet the giant sprawl of Los Angeles starts just a few miles away; it’s only forty minutes drive to downtown LA. This is the small all-American community of Acton, founded by gold miners in the 1880s and a world away from the burgeoning metropolis we passed through en route here from the airport. It’s crisp and cold in the bright sunlight but the…
