This article showcases the beauty of my native state, California. From the redwood forests of the north to the sun-dappled beaches of the south, its many cities in all their variety, the state and national parks, from desert to ocean to mountains to mighty agricultural plains to alpine skiing — California has it all.
These photos are in no particular order. If you want to know more about a particular location featured in one of the photos, please drop me a line. I’ve traveled the state from end to end and I’ve lived from Eureka in the north to Los Angeles in the south, and multiple points in between. I’ll always love California. I hope you will, too.
Humboldt County’s version of the Twin Towers. Photo credit: M.D. Vaden
McWay Falls in Big Sur
Flower fields in Carlsbad, just north of San Diego
California is the home of many world-renowned colleges and universities, including CalTech (and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Stanford, the University of Southern California (USC), and many more. UCLA and UC Berkeley continuously duke it out for the honor of being the best of the “public Ivies”. Since I hail from southern California, I chose to feature UCLA’s Royce Hall for this album.
Lighning over Pigeon Point Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse on the California coast. It’s located about 20 miles south of Half Moon Bay.
Stormy sunset in Monterey
Bioluminescence in Santa Cruz. That blue glow is caused by high numbers of phytoplankton in the water. Their lights flash when they’re agitated by nearby predators. The lights allegedly startle the would-be predators, so it’s a protective mechanism. For photographers, it’s a lovely challenge. Shelly and I spent many happy weekends along the Santa Cruz beach, boardwalk, amusement park, and wharf. Photo credit: CC@P.
Lifeguard station at Manhattan Beach
Cypress tree overlooking Pebble Beach
Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe. Fanette Island and its surroundings are one of the most photographed spots along the shores of Lake Tahoe. Vikingsholm, a Viking-inspired mansion built by a stagecoach magnate in the late 1860s, is located along the shoreline of Emerald Bay and is available to be toured.
Mount Shasta, north of Redding. Shelly and I have skiied here.
Big Sur. The coastal drive along Highway 101 between San Francisco and Los Angeles has many gorgeous overlooks. McWay Falls, shown above and just barely visible in this photo, is easily seen from one of those overlooks.
Sunset along the Ventura coast, near my hometown of Thousand Oaks.
Jogger caught at low tide along the beach in Goleta (near Santa Barbara). I apologize for not being able to read the photographer’s name clearly and giving him credit.
Last light of the evening in a Napa County vineyard. Photo credit: Thomas Brichta.
A farm in Solano County
Playful dolphin in the waters off of Newport Beach.
No album of California scenery would be complete without a view of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge with Karl the fog rolling in.
Fern Canyon in Humboldt County
Curvy Lombard Street in San Francisco is another iconic site. Shelly and I have driven down this street. Our exchange students Yam (from Thailand) and Hansol (from South Korea) were with us. You usually see photos from the bottom looking up. I liked this view from the top looking down.
Bald Eagle returning to its nest along the American River Parkway. Photo credit: Tony Tiapon.
Sunset above the south bluff of Rancho Palos Verdes. We used to live in nearby San Pedro. Sadly, there was an historic landslide along the area of RPV known as Portuguese Bend in 2023. Several dozen homes were so badly damaged that they were selected for purchase by FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant program. The historic glass Wayfarers Chapel suffered from so much land movement that it was disassembled. Plans for its reassembly on a new site about a mile west of its original location are in progress.
The Merced River in Yosemite Valley
San Francisco’s getting more than its fair share of pictures, but I couldn’t resist this photographer’s shot of southern San Francisco Bay.
The “Pacific Flyway” between Yuba City and Sacramento attracts migrating geese and swans, among others. They’re attracted to the wetlands created by the many rice fields in the area. This photo was taken in the Gray Lodge Wildlife Area by MZ Photography.
California’s not all beaches and ski resorts. We also have lots of wildlife. The California grizzly bear may be no more, but Humboldt County has lots of black bears (they used to raid my garbage can and composter). Former Humboldt County Supervisor Jill Duffy shot this photo of a black bear in her back yard in Orick.
Jill Duffy captured this shot of a Great Grey Owl at Redwood National Park. On at least one occasion, I had one of these swoop low over my car as I was driving home at night. They’re majestic in flight.
Elephant seals at San Simeon, not far from Hearst Castle. The bulls can reach 16 feet in length and weigh up to 5,000 pounds. We humans are required to keep a safe distance.
Tufa towers at Mono Lake. They’re essentially made of limestone.
Did you think redwoods are old, with some living 2,000+ years? California’s bristlecone pines are even older, with the mighty Methuselah tree estimated to be almost 4,800 years old. Let that sink in. That’s older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt. The tree was already ancient when the biblical King David founded Jerusalem. The exact location of Methuselah is kept undisclosed by park rangers to protect it from vandals (this tree may or may not be Methuselah, but is representative of the bristlecones in the White Mountains). My friends tell me the road up there is a white-knuckler!
Roosevelt Elk are the largest elk in the lower 48. A herd of them usually hangs out at the historic little red schoolhouse in Orick, but this guy was hanging out in Jill Duffy’s backyard. He’s standing in the pond and Jill was afraid he’d get stuck because of the deep sediment there. Luckily, he finished his drink and got out just fine.
There’s nothing that says “Sutter County” more than a photo of peach blossoms with the Sutter Buttes in the background. The Sutter Buttes are often called “the smallest mountain range in the world.” Photo credit: MZ Photography.
Typical scenery along Highway 101 along the Pacific coast.
Strawberry fields near Oxnard. The snow-capped Topatopa Mountains are in the distance.
California poppies and lupine fill the hills outside Gorman, CA.
Surfers head out under stormy skies.
Agate Beach in Humboldt County.
A photo I took some years back of almond blossoms in Sutter County.
California valley oak, after which my hometown of Thousand Oaks was named.
Joshua Tree National Park. I’ve always been weirdly fond of their strangely twisted shapes.
Lovely aerial view of the Golden Gate Bridge. No fog this time.
Wildfires loom over Napa Valley vineyards. Photo credit: Thomas Brichta
Benicia under a smoky sunset
Saints Peter and Paul Church dominates the San Francisco landscape. I apologize that I can’t read the photographer’s name to give him/her credit.
“Evening Fire” at Lake Tahoe. Photo credit: Jon Thompson.
The Wave House in Santa Barbara sits on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean. It was designed to both look and sound like a wave. Built in 1980, it has curves everywhere, both inside and out.
The American River as seen from the Fair Oaks Bridge. California’s famous Gold Rush began after gold was discovered along the American River near Coloma. Photo by L.T. Freeman.
Surf crashes in La Jolla. Photo credit: Jonmichael Calhoun.
Yes, there is a herd of wild zebras in California! They graze along Highway 1 near Hearst Castle (San Simeon). William Randolph Hearst established a zoo on his property because he loved animals and wanted to entertain his many guests, but disbanded it in 1937 as he experienced financial troubles. Most of the zoo animals were sold or donated to public zoos, but others — like the zebras — were set free to roam the grounds. There currently are about 125 zebras roaming completely free and wild. There are also Rocky Mountain elk, deer, and barbary sheep still living on the property.
One of the tragedies of California is that it’s prone to almost all of the natural disasters: flood, heat, earthquakes – and especially wildfires. This photo shows farmworkers in Oxnard toiling under a sky heavy with smoke from wildfires.