Winters, CA lies about 30 miles west of Sacramento, CA, just over ‘the hill’ from Napa Valley. As the Wikipedia article says, its primary claim to fame seems to be that legendary cartoonist R. Crumb –(official site, wiki) – he of Fritz the Cat and the cover of Big Brother and the Holding Company’s Cheap Thrills (see graphic).
Winters is about 55-75 miles north-northeast of the San Francisco metro area, including places like Berkeley, Palo Alto, Livermore, Haight-Ashbury :D, and so on – the Big Western Liberal Establishment.
Other points in the region (within say three hours or so driving) include:
- Santa Rosa (41 miles to the west)
- Stockton (55 miles SE)
- Modesto (81 miles SE)
- Lathrop – where Sammy lives, if we hook up – 60 mi SE
- San Jose 85 mi S
- Fresno 170 mi S
- Reno, NV 135Mi NW
Beyond that, but within 8 hours’ drive or so:
- Bakersfield, 270 miles
- Las Vegas, 400 miles
- Los Angeles, 370 miles
- Anaheim, 400 miles
- San Diego, 480 miles
- Portland, OR, 480 miles
Within a day’s drive:
- Seattle
- Salt Lake City
- Phoenix
- Basically the entire states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona, and parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Montana
Within a LONG day’s drive:
- All of Wyoming
- Most of Colorado including Denver, Grand Junction, etc
- All of New Mexico
- A tiny bit of far west Texas including El Paso
- Most of Montana
- Calgary
- Vancouver
Obviously I’m going to be playing the tourist quite a bit. I don’t know how long I’ll be “out west” – my home is still Kalamazoo, and that’s where I’ll end up (and sooner rather than later), and when I move back to MI I may never see this part of the world again. I haven’t taken nearly as much advantage of living where I do in NC while I’ve been here, and I don’t want to make that mistake while I’m in California.
Of course, much of that depends on funds.
Anyway, that’s where I’m going, in a nutshell. I’ve embedded a Google map (again) if you’re the sort who likes to play around with such things.
Coming up: Across The Country with Google Earth