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Loving - The Movie. A beautiful portrayal of a forgotten civil rights story

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Ruth Negga (2 nd from right) stars as Mildred and Joel Edgerton (right) stars as Richard in Jeff Nichols LOVING, a Focus Features release. Credit : Ben Rothstein / Focus Features   Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving grew up in the rural unincorporated town of Central Point, Virginia. They met in high school, spent time together, and eventually, when Mildred became pregnant, decided to marry. But this was the 1950’s and Mildred was African American and Richard was white. Virginia had anti-miscegenation laws which made their marriage illegal. How did these two young people get beyond Jim Crow and fall in love? Well that had a lot to with Central Point VA. Central Point was and is still a very rural area. At a distance of about 90 miles south east from Washington DC it was community with a history of poor farmers, black and white, ignoring the rules of segregation, living together. According to a 2012 article in the Washington Post , Central Point and Caroline Count...
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Hike the Redwoods in Guernville, California

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  Entering into a redwood forest just feels different, especially since I come from the northeastern part of the United States of America. So when I returned to Sonoma County, the Armstrong Redwood State Natural Reserve was near the top of my “to-do” list.   The Armstrong Reserve is an old growth forest, covering 805 acres in the Russian River valley. James B. Armstrong  (1824-1900) was a real estate developer and lumber baron in Santa Rosa, California. His mills were producing as much as five million board-feet of lumber per year. In 1878 he sold 600 acres of his forest to his daughter Kate, who set them aside as a nature reserve and a park.   James B. Armstrong by unknown via wikimedia What makes walking through a redwood forest so enjoyable for me is the lack of heavy undergrowth. You can see clearly through the trees. It offers wonderful views of life under the giants, along with the ability to enjoy the amazing shapes that are formed by trees that have fallen o...
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Location: Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, 17000 Armstrong Woods Rd, Guerneville, CA 95446, USA
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Visit the towns that inspired Hitchcock's movie The Birds

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Bodega, CA   For any fan of Alfred Hitchcock, a trip to Sonoma County, California, requires a special day trip. Hitchcock filmed his masterpiece “Birds” in the towns of Bodega and Bodega Bay. So I headed to these two towns on a recent trip.   Bodega Harbor The towns of Bodega and Bodega Bay are named after Spanish explorer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, who was the first European to sail into its protected harbor in 1775. At the time there were villages Coast Miwok Native Americans. The first Europeans to live in the area, in 1809, were Russians, who settled most of the Pacific coast in the early 1800’s. The Russians left California in 1841, as the profits from traders were declining, and the cost of maintaining the colonies was growing. In 1843 a saw mill was established on the site that would become the town of Bodega. John A. Sutter bought the land in that area from the Russians at around the same time.   Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra by Unknown  The...
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Location: Bodega Bay, CA, USA
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Sonoma Botanical Gardens. Glen Ellen, California

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    I am usually a very open-minded traveler. I enjoy new experiences. I rarely am judgmental about the ways in which different places present themselves. But there are times when the biases I have from living my life in the northeastern United States come through. My visit to the Sonoma Botanical Gardens was one such time.   When I imagine a botanical gardens, I see lush vegetation. Lots of trees, flowers, and manicured lawns. But Sonoma has a Mediterranean climate. It is hot in the summer, and averages less than one inch of rain per month from April through October. Because they are dedicated to bringing the native flora to the forefront, and because they are in California, which is constantly short of rain and ground water, these gardens are just not what I expected. My walk started through open fields that, in August, were mostly brown grass. I walked along the main path, and followed it up hill, toward a stream, with two ponds. Here the plant life changed to trees w...
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Location: 12841 Sonoma Hwy, Glen Ellen, CA 95442, USA
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