Vroom over to Vacaville

Panoramic view of Lagoon Valley Park in Vacaville, California, USA, featuring oak tree and a lake and pedestrian walkway around it, from above

Lagoon Valley Park, Vacaville.

Sometimes the places in our own backyard are the least explored. And for many Northern Californians, Vacaville, a familiar name on Interstate 80, is one of them. Read more.

Northern California Sled Dog Rescue 2012

The folks at NorSled—Northern California Sled Dog Rescue are out scrambling to help Nordic-breed dogs in need. Covering most of northern California, and helping shelters in central California and western Nevada, NorSled has placed an average of over 200 dogs annually for the last four years. While NorSled rescues many beautiful huskies, Malamutes, Samoyeds and mixes of these breeds, they also take in the "not easy to place" dogs from the shelters—the ill or injured, or dogs needing some additional training. While vets do give discounts to many rescues, they cannot provide services for free—and dogs like Sir Galahad (pictured) incur many additional costs: supplemental vet visits, rehabilitation, medical costs, sometimes special foods. But the effort is worth it when a happy, healthy boy like Gallo finds his "forever" home. Please check out NorSled's website www.norsled.org and go the available dog page to see the dogs currently looking for homes. Read more.

North State Havens

Eighteen national forests encompassing 20 million acres of land are found in the Golden State. In Northern California, national forests blanket the spine of the Sierra, the crest of the Cascades and much of the far north. Forests most accessible to the Bay Area and Sacramento are listed below. Photo: Janet Fullwood Read more.

Strait Talk

What’s a waterfront town without a dog-friendly beach or two? The pair of splash spots on the Carquinez Strait at the end of First Street in Benicia are nothing spectacular, but hey, they’re wet—and the community spirit behind them counts for a lot. Dogs swimming at First Street beach - Gretchen Burgess

Bark for Benicia

Photo by Cristina Glebova.

Yelp, we thought that seeing this Solano County town in the No. 4 slot on the Dog Fancy list would elicit yowls of surprise. Yet behind all those happily wagging tails in Benicia is a community of dog lovers who worked hard to create amenities such as Phenix Community Dog Park, and a pair of leash-free beaches on the Carquinez Strait at the edge of downtown. Read more.