Here’s How to Get Your Pass
If you’ve been putting off a visit to one of California’s state historic parks because of the entry fee, here’s some good news: for a limited time, you don’t have to pay it.
California State Parks is giving away a special edition of its Historian Passport — normally a $50 annual pass — completely free. The catch? You’ve got to grab it before Monday, July 6. Once you’ve downloaded it, you’re set for the rest of 2026, with unlimited admission for up to four people per vehicle at more than 30 state historic parks scattered across the state.
I get inspired the same way I learned to write—by doing it. When I was a kid, I just wrote because nothing was standing between me and a blank page of onion-skin typing paper loaded into a Smith Corona typewriter.
I used to be a writer, and the best thing about it was that there was no expectation; I wrote, and no one expected anything. It was private work—messy drafts, late-night notes, parcels of thought I could toss out or keep without explanation. That freedom is the engine of getting better: you try things that look stupid on the page, you fail fast, and you learn what’s worth rescuing. There’s a calm in knowing nobody’s billing you for your honest mistakes.
OC Parks opened Crawford Canyon Park with a ribbon-cutting today. Nestled where Newport Boulevard meets Crawford Canyon Road in North Tustin, the new 2.5-acre park was planned with the community’s voice in mind and officially unveiled for families, walkers, and neighbors to enjoy. Two nature-themed playgrounds, exercise stations, picnic tables, a quarter-mile paved loop, ADA parking, and improved sidewalks make it easy to stroll over and spend an afternoon. Supervisor Donald P. Wagner called it an inviting, walkable space for making memories, and judging by the kids testing swings and neighbors trading smiles, that’s exactly what it’s already doing.