Explore the beauty and diversity of California with this lyrical and inspiring book. From the majesty of Yosemite to the sun-kissed shores of San Diego, Markham captures the essence of this extraordinary state with vivid descriptions and heartfelt poetry. An essential read for anyone who loves California. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

How do you step into a live fairytale with aerial dancers, opera singers, and a huge rabbit? Where can you walk on a beach covered with broken pottery? What is the Institute for Abnormal Arts? Who will show you evidence Bigfoot is real? Find the answers to these questions and many more in Secret California: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. This is a book for travelers who love to meet quirky characters, discover oddities, and experience littleknown aspects of the Golden State. Learn the fascinating tales behind all the points of interest and discover some new places to look for adventure. Learn where to spend a night in a museum, explore an underground city, and watch silent movies in the same theater where Charlie Chaplin premiered The Tramp. Find out about the country’s only perfume museum, how a wall became covered in frogs, and why a colorful garden will not grow. Whether it’s an ancient society’s crypt or the second city underneath the capital, this guide leaves no stone unturned. Author Ruth Carlson uses her years of experience as a Californian to fill you in on the hilarious, the bizarre, and the beautiful in this unusual guidebook so you can experience the hidden treasures locals would like to keep to themselves—if only they knew about them!

While spending the summer on a Scottish island, three cousins find themselves reenacting a strange legend involving one of their ancestors and the seals.

Excerpt from California the Wonderful California is well-nigh as familiar to me as my garden paths: I spent forty years and more within her boundaries. I was there as a barefoot boy, picking wild strawberries in the fields near Vacaville, herding sheep on the Suisun Hills, plowing the little valleys between the ridges for wheat and barley, and following the thrashing machine in the time of the harvesting. There also I made my way through school and college, and spent my after years in the service of education and literature. My traditions are all of the Far West. In April, 1847, my parents, with all their worldly goods loaded on an ox-team, crept out of Michigan, headed for Independence, Missouri, where they joined an ox-train that was going overland to Oregon. After many adventures in the wilderness, they trailed down the Columbia River in October, and found their way into the Willamette Valley. My first home was in Oregon City, in a huge brown house under the great bluff. My eye has a keen memory of the white rush of the Falls, and my ear has a clear memory of their eternal thunder. I have also an early and vivid recollection of having been lifted up in the sanctuary of a church in that city and of looking down on the dead face of the famous Dr. John McLoughlin, "the Father of Oregon." I can never forget the hush and the solemn pomp: it was my first sense of the dark mystery of death. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.