At Home In The Wasteland Travel Blog

This fellow was standing in the middle of California State Route 1 while we were driving from San Francisco to Eureka, California last year as part of our 1,500+ mile road trip up the West Coast. While the vast majority of California State Route One is devoid of livestock, this particular portion wound its way [...]

Here is another photo from January’s West Coast road trip, when we drove 1500 miles up the coast from Southern California to Seattle using a discount car rental we snagged online (here is a small bit of advice, though – if the rental agency gives you a Chevy HHR as your rental car, ask for [...]

The tallest trees in the world can be found in the Redwood Empire, the strip of land that stretches along California’s northern coast from San Francisco to the Oregon border. While driving from Eureka to Portland, we stopped in the Redwood National and State Parks to walk amongst these giants. Elk everywhere The redwoods were [...]

After leaving Point Reyes National Seashore, we continued our journey northward on California State Route 1 to Eureka, where we would be staying for the night. Sonoma Coast More happy cows An escapee Fort Ross was the headquarters of the southernmost Russian settlements in North America between 1812 to 1841. Unfortunately, Fort Ross was closed [...]

“It is no longer a question of whether or not we should set aside some more of the yet remaining native California landscape as ‘breathing space’…If we do not, we will leave our children a legacy of concrete treadmills leading nowhere except to other congested places like those they will be trying to get away [...]

After driving through Big Sur, we stopped for some delicious clam chowder in Monterey and continued north to San Francisco. The following morning, at my friend Adam’s suggestion, we drove to Battery Spencer, in the Marin Headlands, for some amazing views of Golden Gate Bridge and the city. Other than seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, [...]

When I was back in California during the Christmas holidays, we went hiking at Joshua Tree National Park. Much like the Salton Sea, Joshua Tree is another desert wasteland favorite that I try to return to every few years. During our recent visit to Joshua Tree we hiked the Lost Horse Mine Trail, a 4.5 [...]

More photos from our drive through Big Sur. It is hard to make out due to the lighting, but this is McWay Falls in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park Big Sur is home to several cattle ranches One of many reasons why California cows are the happiest in the world Bixby Creek Bridge We stopped [...]

“Big Sur is the California that men dreamed of years ago, this is the Pacific that Balboa looked at from the Peak of Darien, this is the face of the earth as the Creator intended it to look.” – Henry Miller On our way from Southern California to Seattle, we drove Highway 1 for the [...]

Although I’m a Southern California native, I’ve always thought Northern California, and specifically the Bay Area, is the better place to live (despite the incredibly high cost of living, of course). Visiting San Francisco can be quite expensive as well, but if you know where to look, you can find some inexpensive lodging and dining [...]