Never tire of taking in California’s wonders

We’ve been all over Europe, Mexico, Canada and the United States in such wonderful places as Williamsburg, Va., Sedona, Ariz., New Orleans and Hawaii. But I love driving in California, my home state.

This summer, it will again be a repeat of Sonoma and Napa wine country, and that wonderful Castello di Amorosa winery, which is like stepping back in time. Nothing beats the feeling of drifting along our home state, discovering always new things along the beautiful sentimental Big Sur Highway 1 along the coast, and eating at Nepenthe overlooking the ocean, once owned by actors Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles. Or returning on the awesome inland Highway 395 and stopping at nearby Lone Pine at the deeply moving Manzanar Historical Site, the desert internment camp of Japanese families during World War II. Or on the eastern side of the mountains, the Hollywood Museum and site of countless movies filmed near there, at the foot of those beautiful mountains, movies like “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman — supposedly set in Spain) or “Gunga Din,” with Cary Grant (supposedly set in India).

It seems like every time I see an older movie on TCM that is supposedly filmed in other parts of the world, I recognize the true locations were there, right near Lone Pine.

California has many beautiful spots, many moods, many memories that we accumulate, and, over the years, we keep in our hearts forever.

I’ve traveled many places, but our state is home, and I never tire of visiting many parts of it, even if those I’ve traveled with are long gone. And even if I travel to those familiar places with a catch in my heart.