IN THE PEACE AND SOLITUDE of this mountainside overlook, a westerly breeze rustles through gray pines, and then dwindles away. A mile to the west and 1500 feet below, the farmland of the Salinas Valley is an expanse of pastel browns and pinks, with lines and clusters of trees scattered upon it. Beyond the farmland is the Santa Lucia range, its lowest slopes emerald green with vineyards of pinot noir and chardonnay, its flanks a bluish green wall up to the clouds.

This is just one of the views from Gloria Road, an unpaved mountain back road that twists its way over coastal California’s Gabilan Range between Highway 101 and the parched remoteness of San Benito County.  More

WINTHROP, WASHINGTON, is a time machine.

As it enters town, Highway 20, part of the Cascade Loop, crosses a narrow bridge over the river and jogs left. Beyond that turn, directly ahead, is an 1870's town. Old-west false fronts line the main street. Board sidewalks amble under wooden canopies. Corrugated tin roofs gleam in the sunlight. Hand-painted ads for patent medicine decorate the buildings.

The fact that most of these buildings are vintage 1970, rather than 1870, doesn’t diminish the effect. No matter when crafted, a plank sidewalk makes a delightful creaking sound when you walk on it. The warm colors of the wooden buildings, the old-fashioned lettering of the signs, and the whimsical zig-zag of the false fronts add to the town's frontier ambience.  More

ON A FALL MORNING in the village, wisps of clouds filter through the greens and yellows of the forest, and drift in front of the gray wall of the mountains. The stores in the old town center are shuttered. Under the carved wooden balcony railings, all is quiet. The sun has yet to reach the peaked roofs. The timbered store fronts are in deep shade. But later in the day, colorful banners will be set out. The restaurants will serve wiener schnitzel and sauerbrauten. Store windows will tempt with chocolates and pastries. Beer and wine will be sampled, and the music of a brass band will drift from the plaza.

No, this isn’t the Bavarian Alps. Nor is it Switzerland. It’s Leavenworth, USA, on the Cascade Loop in Washington’s North Cascades.  More

IT’S 10:00 SATURDAY MORNING morning in San Francisco’s Marina district. On Steiner Street the first of many food trucks is making a delivery to the restaurants. People are out and about getting coffee or walking the dog. Or enjoying a choice spot to sit and read the paper.

The cafes are posting the day's specials, and the Italian deli is sending its enticing fragrances out into Chestnut Street.  More

IN THE CRISPNESS OF October, the fires of autumn come to Washington’s Cascade Range. Along the Cascade Loop, the big-leaf maples trace golden trails down the stream canyons. They make flaming yellow plumes by the hundreds among the green conifers, and along the river there is a madness of yellows among the reds and oranges of vine maples. On a drive across the range on an autumn day, each bend in the highway reveals a new, dazzling display of color.

The Cascade Loop can dazzle, whether in October or the rest of the year. It encompasses Washington’s Puget Sound, the Cascade Range and the Columbia River. Along its 400 miles are glacially sculpted summits, deep blue lakes and cascading mountain streams, a German-style village, apple orchards, an Old-West mining town, and fishing hamlets on a wooded island. Trail heads lead to back country hiking, and there is whitewater rafting on the Skagit and Wenatchee rivers.  More