The American Riviera by train

The Pacific Surfliner skims the Southern California coast. Tip: If you're traveling north, sit on the left side for a view.

I look out from the Pacific Surfliner at Pacific surf riders: longboarders and shortboarders, paddle surfers and surf kayakers. There are dolphins too, glowing in sunlit waves.

I imagined that the train would race by unnoticed, but the surfers turn toward the tracks. One straddling his board raises his arms, both hands splayed in an enthusiastic shaka salute.

It's official: Salmon fishing season is a bust

MONTEREY - Wildlife regulators on Friday canceled most of the salmon fishing season in the Central Valley, a potential $20 million hit for the state's already struggling economy.

The unprecedented restrictions make it illegal to fish for salmon with one exception: a stretch of the Sacramento River from north of Woodland to Red Bluff, and only in November and December.

Even then, limits will be strict: just one fish per person per day. A normal season would see up to six months of fishing with two fish per day.

Ski, hike and surf: It's all in a California day

The slopes above looked treacherous with a thin layer of icy snow worn brown in patches. The sun was rising from behind the peaks, the temperature was in the low 50s and it would only get hotter. I decided to ski in a T-shirt. I got on my first lift about 9 a.m., 30 minutes after the resort's opening. Climbing higher on the lift, I felt the wind bite into me and regretted my cockiness

Headwall, an ultra-tough black diamond run, was not too icy, and it was empty. It was mine for the rest of the morning. A brief detour to Silver Springs, however, proved a bad idea. It was rocky, dirty, and precipitously icy.