Back in grade school, you learned that the sequoia is the world’s largest tree. Located at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, the Sequoia National Forest features 38 groves of these gigantic sequoias. After your breath returns from the breathtaking view, check out the granite monoliths, glacier-torn canyons, whitewater rapids, and beautiful meadows.If fishing is your game, then the Sequoia National Forest is your place. Home to creeks of all sizes and Lake Isabella, regular fishing as well as fly fishing and options are available. Fishermen’s favorite destination is Lake Isabella, where they catch largemouth bass, bluegill, crappie, sunfish, catfish, rainbow trout, and even Chinook salmon. If you’re older than 16, you’ll need a license to fish on most days. Read the rest of this entry »

Anytime you visit (or live) in a town, you should take the time to get to know its history. In Bakersfield’s case, the history is as rich as the oil beneath its surface. There are multiple museums that showcase the city’s rich history.The Buena Vista Museum of Natural History houses original fossils found in the foothills of Bakersfield. Visitors will be awed by the remains of Triceratops and other dinosaurs, rare ancient artifacts from Native Americans, a life size interpretative Yokuts family area, a display of petrified woods, and a hand on discovery zone for kids. Read the rest of this entry »

If you enjoy white water rafting, the Kern River has a rapid for you. At Kern River Tours, Inc. you can book a rafting trip for any age and experience level. The tour group employs highly experienced and highly trained guides to ensure you have the ride of a lifetime. Better yet, they provide fantastic food. The river opens for rafting in April, as the snow from the highest peak in the US, Mt. Whitney, begins to melt and drains into the Lake Isabella reservoir. The accumulated water is then let out of the Isabella dam, forming a 21 mile stretch of white water rapids. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve heard of the Bakersfield Sound, you know it’s a genre of country music that combines the elements of guitar, drums, fiddle, and steel guitar into a fun loving sound. The Bakersfield Sound first took hold in the 1930′s, when families from Texas and Oklahoma fled to California to escape the ominous dust bowl. While folks in Nashville were producing orchestrated sound produced in the studio, westerners were singing along to the music famous Bakersfield Sound artists Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and Don Rich.These country music stars and the sound of their genre is honored in the Bakersfield Country Music Museum. Buck Owens has his own hall of fame, the Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, where live performances are often scheduled and the memory and music of the greatest Bakersfield Sound artist is played out for visitors to enjoy. If you like what you experience at Buck Owens’ Crystal Place, you should check out the other music clubs Bakersfield has to offer. Fishlips Music Cocktails and Grill is a guaranteed fun time great place to listen to the newest alternative and indie bands. The underground music scene is just one of the reasons to visit Fishlipsthe food and drinks Read the rest of this entry »

Skydiving has always been one of the most popular items people wish to cross off their list before they die. However, it is also one of the scariest. Stop thinking of skydiving as scary and start thinking of it as an exhilarating chance of a lifetime. It’s not often you’re given the chance to jump out of a plane 30,000 feet in the air and live to tell the taleunless you work at Skydive Taft. The highly trained instructors at Skydive Taft are certified to ensure your plummet to earth is extremely safe, and extremely awesome.If you don’t feel like dropping to the ground from 13,00 feet up at 120 mph then leisurely floating down to earth while enjoying a view unlike any other, you can choose to watch the festivities from the sturdy comfort of the ground. Skydive Taft offers a gorgeous picnic lunch area surrounded by green grass where you can enjoy a picnic lunch as you watch the colorful parachutes fly around the sky above you. Read the rest of this entry »