Pinnacles National Park got an upgrade from national monument status in 2013 (thank you, President Obama). A pinnacle is a high, pointed piece of rock. These particular pinnacles are eroded leftovers from an ancient volcano. Although the pinnacles formed long ago, Pinnacles National Park is one of the newest national parks in the United States. …
La PurÃsima Mission State Historic Park is the most extensively restored mission in the state (shout out to the Civilian Conservation Corps). It is also one of only two missions that are not governed by the Catholic Church. When it was founded in 1787 it covered 300,000 acres and housed over 2,000 inhabitants who cared …
San Buenaventura Mission was founded on Easter Sunday, 1782. It was the last mission that the Spanish missionary, Saint Junipero Serra, founded himself as he worked his way north, converting indigenous people to Catholicism. The mission has a tiny museum with some pretty interesting relics, the most noteworthy being two large, hand carved mahogany bells …
Buddy Todd Park is one of fifty six Oceanside parks, but in 1929, it was the first. Buddy Todd is Oceanside’s oldest park. It was renamed Buddy Todd in 1947 to commemorate the first local resident to die in World War II. Perched atop Mesa Drive, with views of the ocean and the Ecclesia Rosicrucian …
As of this month the San Diego Zoo has two new reptile exhibits, appropriately located very close to the Reptile House. Interestingly enough, the Reptile House actually used to serve as the entrance to the zoo when it opened in 1923. The hummingbird and Komodo dragon exhibits cost ten million dollars and took over four …
The nonprofit, Butterfly Farms, was established in 2012 out of concern for the decline of native butterfly species. How fortunate that the owners had so much forethought to comprehend that education, conservation, and research is going to be necessary to save these beautiful pollinators. Monarchs alone have diminished from millions to thousands over the past …
When the owners of Cheval Winery were looking for a property to house their show horses they found more than they bargained for. The area and piece of land that they loved came with a winery. Their winemaker started wine production in the 1980s, with Robert Mondavi. All of these puzzle pieces came together to …
Summer has officially begun, and we found ourselves spontaneously at the beach, greeted by a cluster of keelboats. Keelboats are yachts that have a permanent keel rather than a centerboard. I could tell they were keelboats instantly, the moment I looked at events in Oceanside and discovered that every Wednesday from 6:00-8:00 the Oceanside Yacht …
Frangipani Estate was founded in 2005 by Don and JoAnn Frangipani, two years after their wine label was started. The tasting room was built from ground up by Don and JoAnn, whose vision was to create an Old-World feel. Don’s winemaking skills were perfected at a different Temecula winery, Cilurzo, where he began working in …
The Seabird is Oceanside’s newest beach lodging. This stylish Hyatt family resort is located right next to the pier in Downtown Oceanside. Curated by the Oceanside Museum of Art, it houses a gallery in the southernmost room of the lobby floor. Every public space in the hotel, however, is like one tremendous art exhibit. The …