California's Gold Season 21

Huell travels to the Mojave Desert’s El Mirage Dry Lake, one of the world’s best spots for land sailors. Land Sailing is a sport in which a wheeled vehicle powered by wind moves across land with the aide of a sail. Huell explores the history of this unique tradition and even gets the opportunity to ride a sofa through the desert!

Huell explores the history of Rain Bird, a sprinkler manufacturer with a remarkable history beginning with a Glendora citrus farmer named Orton Englehart who invented the first impact sprinklers in the 1930s. Rain Bird also demonstrates their latest in sprinkler technology.

Join Huell as he gets a tour of this historic and controversial piece of land… all 7500 acres of it! Located way up north by the town of Eureka, Huell sees some of the rusting remnants of Falk, CA an old logging town, and walks among 1000 year old growth Redwoods, and learns about the other flora and fauna that make this spot such a great piece of California’s Gold!

Coit Tower was built on top of Telegraph Hill in 1933 at the bequest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit to beautify the City of San Francisco; Lillie bequeathed one-third of her estate to the City of San Francisco “to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved”. Huell spends the day exploring all aspects of this San Francisco landmark, including the beautiful murals that adorn the lobby with the descendants of one of the original artists.

Huell gets special tour of a California icon: the Catalina Casino. It has been the focal point of Santa Catalina since it opened over eighty years ago on May 29, 1929. Completely restored just a few years ago, the ballroom retains its original romantic style – with beautiful rose-hued walls, an arching, fifty-foot ceiling and five Tiffany chandeliers.

Huell visits the Elvis Presley Estate in Palm Springs and gets a tour of one of only five homes in the world actually owned by Elvis Presley — and was his ‘get-a-way spot’ from 1970 until he died in 1977. Today it has new owners who respect its past history and are lovingly preserving it for future generations to visit and enjoy. It is a rare peek inside the 5100 sq. ft. mansion that is called Graceland West!

Join Huell as he travels to the western-most point in California in search of the Cape Mendocino Lighthouse which was activated in 1868 and finally abandoned in the 1970’s. After over 20 years of neglect a group of locals banded together to move the light house to Shelter Cove and restore the lighthouse to its former glory. Huell also stops at the entrance to the Humboldt County Fairgrounds where a full-sized replica of the lighthouse actually houses the original fresnel lens.

Huell travels to Central California to visit the 80 acre Masumoto Family Farm. Huell’s host is David “Mas” Masumoto and his family who have a deep connection to the land. Mas is an award winning author of such books as “Epitaph for a Peach” and “Wisdom of the Last Farmer, Harvesting Legacies from the Land”

Huell travels north to the Yosemite Valley to meet up with Michael Adams. Michael is the son of Ansel Adams, arguably our countries most famous photographer. They travel through the valley and learn about why this place was so important to Ansel. Huell gets some very personal insight into the mind of Ansel and also learns about the family’s early history in Yosemite. The backdrop to this adventure is as good as it gets.

Huell travels to the small town of La Grange to see an amazing part of our states history. The Tuolumne Gold Dredge sits abandoned right of the highway and is an incredible site. Huell and some local historians visit the dredge and the now virtual ghost town that was once home to the many workers that kept this behemoth running around the clock in search of gold.