About California

Fresno:

• Forestiere Underground Gardens, 5021 W Shaw Ave, Fresno, CA 93722-5026, 559-271-0734.  Take a tour off Highway 99 and visit Fresno’s best kept secret.  A hand-built network of underground rooms, courtyards and passageways reminiscent of the ancient catacombs. Unique fruit producing trees, shrubs, and vines growing underground – some over 90 years old!  Ancient Roman architecture – arches, vaults and stone-built walls.  Underground micro-climates – temperature variations of 10 to 30 degrees!  Underground home of Sicilian visionary and self-taught artist/builder Baldassare Forestiere.
• The Shinzen Friendship Garden,114 E Audubon Dr, Fresno, CA 93720-1512, 559-840-1264.   A traditional northwestern American Japanese Garden. The Garden was constructed to honor Fresno’s Sister City, Kochi, Japan, celebrating the spirit of understanding and promoting educational and cultural awareness. The beauty, grace and serenity of Japanese design is present in the use of varied plant material, rocks and stones, and water throughout the five acre garden. The garden is designed around the four seasons of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter; granite markers identify each section. In the Fall of 2015 we were proud to be chosen to house and display the world-class Clark Bonsai Collection, which is now on permanent display in the garden, offering a seasonal rotation of some of the finest Bonsai in the United States.
• Historic and quaint Old Town Clovis, only 7 miles away from Fresno, is home to more than 11 antique stores, boutiques, gift and home stores, fashion, bridal salon, day spas, Clovis Appliance Store, Sassano’s Menswear, eateries, restaurants, watering holes and much more! The Sierra National Forest is also located here, entrance at 1600 Tollhouse Rd, Clovis, CA.

Oakhurst

Oakhurst is about 15 miles from Tenaya Lodge on Highway41. Sierra National Forest is nearby as is Bass Lake.

• Fresno Flats Historic Village – Fresno Flats Historic Village and Park recaptures the flavor of 19th Century life in the Sierra Nevada foothills and mountains of Central California. The museum complex is built around two restored and furnished homes dating back to the 1870s.
• Ahwahnee Hills Regional Park – A few miles north of Oakhurst, is Ahwahnee Hills Regional Park.  It is a 400-acre nature park in the community of Ahwahnee on Highway 49 in Madera County. It serves as a natural oak habitat resource for recreation and education for Madera County and the surrounding counties.
• Children’s Museum of Sierra – This museum is the latest “fascination station.”  The 4000 square foot museum is packed with a variety of activities to occupy the hands and minds of young people of all ages.
• Idle Hour Winery and Kitchen – They focus on single-vineyard designated wines: Pinot Noirs from select Santa Lucia Highlands and San Benito County Vineyards, Madera County Viognier and Syrah and Clarksburg Tempranillo,  Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah  and Cabernet Franc.  Their wines are produced in small lots. They use sustainably grown grapes and make the wine gently, using native yeasts, gravity flow and other traditional methods.
• Shopping, grocery stores, banks are all available here in Oakhurst which is the closest to Tenaya Lodge.
• History of Oakhurst – http://www.historichwy49.com/oakhurst/oak.html

San Francisco

https://www.sftravel.com/

• Alcatraz – Alcatraz was the site of the first lighthouse in the Western United States but became a federal penitentiary from 1934 to 1963.  It is now part of the National Park Systems and can be visited by tourists.
• Golden Gate Bridge – The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean.  Pedestrians and bikers, as well as cars, can cross the bridge.
• Coit Tower – 210 foot tower sits atop Telegraph Hill, built in 1933.  The ground floor features a series of fresco murals, and you can ride the elevator to the top for a 360 degree view of the city.
• Cable Cars – San Francisco is one of the few places in the world where people can ride on a national historic landmark. The cable cars are the world’s last manually operated cable car system, a tramway whose cars are pulled along by cables embedded in the street.
• Painted Ladies– One of the most photographed locations in San Francisco, Alamo Square’s famous “postcard row” at Hayes and Steiner Streets.   A tight, escalating formation of Victorian houses is back-dropped by downtown skyscrapers, providing a stunning contrast.
• Fisherman’s Wharf – Fishing boats, sea lions basking in the sun, seafood stalls and restaurants, steaming crab cauldrons, family entertainment and sourdough French bread bakeries … you know you’re in world-famous Fisherman’s Wharf. The historic F-Line streetcar and two cable car lines terminate in the area and sightseeing boats and boat charters link to Alcatraz (“The Rock”) , Angel Island and other points around San Francisco Bay.
• Muir Woods – Not far from downtown San Francisco, you can walk among old growth coast redwoods, cooling their roots in the fresh water of Redwood Creek and lifting their crowns to reach the sun and fog. Federally protected as a National Monument since 1908, this primeval forest is both refuge and laboratory, revealing our relationship with the living landscape.

Los Angeles

https://travel.usnews.com/Los_Angeles_CA/Things_To_Do/

San Diego

https://www.sandiego.org/explore/things-to-do.aspx

• Cabrillo National Monument & Point Loma – The west side of San Diego Bay is embraced by a long rocky peninsula that merits a visit for jagged topography, thrilling history and views you won’t soon forget. In 1542, this was the landing point for the first European expedition to what is now the West Coast of America.  Cabrillo National Monument is a park with trails, tide pools and exhibits on California history. Sunset Cliffs Natural Park is a popular spot to watch the sun go down while Liberty Station, a former Naval Training Center, has buzzy restaurants and shops. Seafood eateries dot the nearby Shelter and Harbor islands, and Humphreys Concerts by the Bay hosts live music.  This area has great tide pools to walk around and see sealife.
• Beaches – With 17 miles of coastline and 4,600 acres around Mission Bay Park, San Diego offers a wide variety of beaches and amenities. San Diego Lifeguards patrol the beaches from nine permanent lifeguard stations (Ocean Beach, South Mission Beach, Mission Beach, North Pacific Beach, Pacific Beach, Children’s Pool, La Jolla Cove, La Jolla Shores, Black’s Beach) and dozens of seasonal stations during the summer.
• Gaslamp Quarter – There are 94 historic buildings in this 16 block heritage area in downtown San Diego, bordering Petco Park and the Convention Center.  The Gaslamp Quarter, heralded by a gateway arch on Fifth Avenue, dates from 1867 when the real estate developer Alonzo Horton envisaged a new city centre nearer the San Diego Bay.
• San Diego Zoo Safari Park – Located about 35 miles from downtown, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park immerses you in an active, hands-on safari experience where herds of animals roam natural habitats in a vast reserve. Choose from a variety of exciting safari expeditions by caravan truck, cart, zip line – there’s even an overnight option.
• Coronado Island – The pride of Coronado is a magnificent Victorian beachfront hotel and National Historic Landmark, now owned by the Hilton brand.  When the Hotel del Coronado opened in 1888 it was the world’s largest resort hotel.  There are four main beaches — Central Beach, South Beach, Silver Strand State Beach and North Beach.
• Mission Trails Regional Park – This 5,800-acre natural preserve is inside San Diego’s city limits to the northeast, and is the sixth-largest municipal park in the United States.  Snaking off into this rugged wilderness of scrubby hills and canyons are 60 miles of marked hiking, cycling and horse riding trails.  One route will take you to the summit of Cowles Mountain, the highest point in San Diego at 486 metres and with a panorama of San Diego County that merits the climb.  You can also track down a riveting piece of San Diego’s early history at the Old Mission Dam, a National Historic Landmark.
• Embarcadero – San Diego’s walkable harbour-front is brimming with shops, interesting sights and eateries, and looks across the bay to Coronado Island.  A lot of the Embarcadero’s interest is literally floating on the water, at the USS Midway and the heritage ships belonging to the San Diego Maritime Museum.
• Balboa Park and San Diego Zoo – Home to more than 16 museums, multiple performing arts venues, lovely gardens, trails, and many other creative and recreational attractions, including the San Diego Zoo.
• Old Town – The historic heart of San Diego. Created in 1769, Old Town San Diego was California’s first settlement with only a mission and a fort.  San Diego’s Old Town is a visitor-friendly neighbourhood with historic adobe buildings from the city’s early days between 1820 and 1870.

Sacramento  https://www.sacmag.com/50-things-to-do-in-sacramento/

Death Valley National Park https://www.nps.gov/deva/index.htm

Napa Valley and wineries  https://www.visitnapavalley.com/wineries/

Pasa Robles and wineries  https://pasorobleswineries.net/