This beautiful field guide contains photographs and the natural history of 91 species of butterflies that live in the Monterey area. 

Local author Harrison How has published a fun and easy guide to creating beautiful ink drawings of your favorite outdoor spots, from redwood forests to tidepools to beach dunes and more. Drawing outside is a wonderful way to calm your mind and learn to appreciate the little details in your favorite parks.

Explore all the beauty nature has to offer with 20 awe-inspiring land and seascape sketches. In this accessible, step-by-step guide, artist and nature enthusiast Harrison How shows you how to effortlessly capture the ancient wonders of the world in stunning panoramas. Harness the tenacious spirit of the arid deserts as you form Ever Shifting Sand Dunes. Hear the call of the wild as you chart the weathered rock and eroded slopes of the world’s most dramatic mountain peaks with Majestic Volcanos or Cliffs and Rocky Ranges. Unearth the mysteries that hide beneath the waves in Otherworldy Tide Pools.

Harrison breaks the most complicated scenes into mini-tutorials so you can master every detail with ease. You’ll also learn how to seamlessly layer everything together from the smallest shrubs to the largest canyons for picture-perfect drawings. No matter your age or skill level, all you need is a pen to bring the outdoors to life.

Get to know some of of your less familiar wild neighbors with this beautifully-illustrated field guide! 

In the same lighthearted yet scientifically accurate style of Fylling’s Illustrated Guide to Pacific Coast Tide Pools, this portable guidebook reveals the splendidly strange animals and plants just outside your door. Marni Fylling’s full-color illustrations make species identification a snap, and concise descriptions include fascinating (and sometimes grotesque) factoids about frequently encountered plants, insects, arachnids, birds, and mammals. With Fylling’s guidance, the everyday becomes extraordinary: Pigeons share nest-building and egg-sitting duties, and mate for life—with occasional dalliances; squirrel teeth grow about six inches per year; spiders owe their characteristic creep to their “hydraulic” legs; poison oak and poison ivy’s itch-inducing oil is also found in pistachios, cashews, and mangoes; and much, much more.

This book is a treasure trove for locals and visitors alike! Written by a long-time Santa Cruz resident who is passionate about walking and hiking, it includes 44 detailed maps and clear step-by-step route descriptions that are easy to follow, as well as more than 130 photographs of secret spots, plants and animals likely to be seen by the walker. All walks are rated by distance and elevation gain and range from one to more than six miles in length.

Though generally a peaceful coastal city, the dark stains from Santa Cruz’s past still linger. A former Spanish Mission, Holy Cross Catholic Church harbors a dark history of a brutal revolt of native Ohlone Indians that killed the cruel Father Andres Quintana. Frequented by mobsters and celebrities in its heyday, the famous Brookdale Lodge’s most talked-about guest is the ghost of a little girl who died nearby in 1892 after nearly drowning. Terrorized by three different serial killers during the 1970s, the city earned the nickname of “the Murder Capital of the World.” Local resident Alfred Hitchcock derived inspiration for his iconic film Psycho from the haunted mid-nineteenth-century Hotel McRay. Tracing the city’s eeriest incidents back to their roots, historical researcher and paranormal investigator Maryanne Porter details these and many more stories of local legend and lore.