Sacramento

On a nightmare Thanksgiving eve, it took brother Rambob & Co. five hours to drive from home near Pillar Point Harbor at Half Moon Bay through San Francisco to Vacaville, where the traffic picked up a bit. That’s 75 miles with an average speed of 15 mph. Yep, five hours. For those planning to venture around or out of the Bay Area for Thanksgiving, everything is set up for a repeat of that Wednesday, with people heading out and a storm moving in. Our trip started with visions of Thanksgiving Day far afield. If the weather cleared, we’d be off to fish a mountain lake. If it snowed — an exciting prospect — we’d use the “Indiana Jones” method. That is, “We’ll figure it out as we go,” depending on the snow. More by Tom Stienstra OutdoorsBy Tom StienstraFires ruin some outdoor-recreation sites, other sites unscathedOutdoorsMonterey pilot might have spotted great white sharks’...OutdoorsBy Tom StienstraMillions of ducks, … [Read more...] about One day separates a heaven or hell for Thanksgiving travel

Back-to-back storms are in the forecast for the northern Sierra Nevada and snow is likely to fall every day for the next 10 days. None of the storms appear particularly extreme on the weather radar, but Eric Kurth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Sacramento, says the total accumulation of snow between Jan. 11 and Jan. 20 could be "impressive." "We'll be getting a consistent moisture stream," Kurth says. "I don't know if there will be much of any gaps between storms. By the end of the week we could get several feet. It could be quite a bit." With the snowy conditions in the forecast, he advises people to watch the weather closely before driving over the Sierra Nevada. This weekend the Sierra will see light dustings of snow Friday and Saturday and the impacts on roadways are expected to be minimal. The snowfall could pick up Sunday night. Kurth warns skiers returning to the Bay Area should try to leave early. The most extreme conditions are expected on … [Read more...] about Parade of storms to deliver 10 straight days of snow to Tahoe Basin

When Sacramento tearoom owner Linda French chose to downsize in 2011, she headed for the hills, trading her full-service shop with 12 employees for a small, self-run store in Pioneer, at 3,000 feet elevation, 18 miles east of Jackson. The new venture, a boutique called Possibili-Teas, has become a gathering place for art classes, clairvoyant sessions and Thursday-afternoon chair massages ($1 a minute, with tea, while you wait). French, now 67, is also a novelist, and has found inspiration to develop a “closet full of manuscripts” she brought with her from Sacramento. She has published 12 novels, which often hew toward mystery. She has also begun offering self-awareness and wellness retreats and workshops via the tea shop “to help women live their lives with passion, self-awareness and consciousness,” French says. She enjoys the changing seasons in Amador and makes a point of getting out whenever she gets the chance. “There’s something up here all … [Read more...] about Insider: Mystery writer Linda French explores Amador County

Nestled in the foothills that give way to the Sierra’s western slopes, east of Sacramento, is a cluster of quiet communities linked together by wending highways and appreciable history. And though the early settlers were drawn here by promises of striking it rich during the Gold Rush, today the allure of Amador County is its old-timey charm and mellow vibes. Bay Areans tend to say that Amador is “out of the way” because it’s not a stopover en route to Yosemite or Lake Tahoe. But they’re missing the point: Amador is a destination unto itself. And with an influx of young entrepreneurs setting up shop and an ascendant wine industry, there’s plenty of exploring to be done here. MORNING Start your morning off like so many locals do, with espresso and pastries at Andrae’s Bakery in Amador City. Set up at a table on the sunny rear deck spanning a burbling creek. (Get there early to beat the peloton of weekend road cyclists who swing through.) Tuck … [Read more...] about One Day, One Place: Amador County

It felt like an early spring Sunday across much of California. The surprise is that owls, ducks and some songbirds seemed to think so, too. Now is the time to set up your birdhouses, wood duck boxes and feeders, and plant a garden that will draw in birds and wildlife. At Civic Park in Walnut Creek, in a birdhouse known as a Wood Duck Box, field scout Brian Murphy found two Western screech owls. “I’ll continue to monitor those boxes and see when mates show up,” Murphy said. In many areas, mustard is already blooming. In the Sacramento Valley, the almond trees are budding. On Sunday, the temperature across much of the Bay Area reached or exceeded 70. It was in the 60s in Yosemite Valley and the 50s at Tahoe. Murphy has worked with the Boy Scouts in Contra Costa County to build wood duck boxes and post them along creeks and ponds to increase wildlife numbers. He discovered early-breeding owls also use the wood duck boxes as their birdhouse. “We will just add more … [Read more...] about It’s a good time to build homes for ducks, songbirds