Caves in Avila, Parking Lots in San Luis Obispo

This weekend we took a trip to our usual beach getaway, Morro Bay. It's quiet and beautiful and the hotels usually aren't too expensive. Target is about 20 minutes away in San Luis Obispo, but for a weekend getaway, that just fine. Lots of tasty food can be found on Embarcadero Road and there's an Albertsons around the corner for groceries.


Mostly we just relaxed, ate BBQ at Main Street Grill in Cambria, and walked the beach a bit. The workweek is long and it's nice to sit back and enjoy the ocean breeze.


There are so many hikes in the Central Coast area. About a year ago, we hiked to the top of Bishop Peak and since then we've been roaming around San Luis Obispo County, looking for other trails to do. This time we had our sights set on Reservoir Canyon Trail, but by the time we got to the trailhead, the parking lot was packed tight. A bit aggravated by the teensy parking lot for the most popular hiking destination in San Luis Obispo, we decided to save it for another day and found another hike in Avila, this one much shorter and with a bigger parking lot.


The trailhead can be found at the end of Cave Landing Road, right off the main drive to Avila Beach from the 101. There were lots of people already there, but we still found decent parking and roamed around the area. Trails go up and down and left and right, all over the hillside. One went to the top of the hill, which was covered in wildflowers and another went down to the water. We took a trail that led to the point where the rocks jutted out over the ocean, then took another that led to a cave.


None of these trails were particularly long, but it was a beautiful day with nice weather. It was good to just walk around and smell the ocean and wildflowers. From the rocks, we could see the beaches of Pismo and from the trailhead we could see Avila. It was a nice place to be.



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Disneyland with Erinn's Family, Lunch at Club 33

It's been nearly two months since we went to Disneyland. The demands of school and work have taken their toll on my extracurriculars, but I put together a short video from our trip and I hope you'll enjoy it.



Original Posting:
http://themanylivesofjules.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/disneyland-with-erinns-family-lunch-at-club-33/

San Francisco, May 11-13, 2012

I hadn't been to San Francisco to visit my sister (Megan) and her husband (Dave) since before they were married. That time, I had come up for a quick trip and the three of us saw a Ben Folds concert. It was pretty great, but I let myself get busy and never went back.  I'd always talked about going up to visit some weekend, but that never seemed to materialize because while I'm good at dreaming about running off someplace nice for a weekend, I'm pretty bad at making that happen. Erinn, on the other hand, is not.

A few weeks before that weekend, Erinn told me she was going to take me out of town, just as a fun trip for the both of us. She told me to request a few certain days off and she would do the rest. What I didn't know was that she had been messaging my sister the whole time, setting up a trip to San Francisco to visit her, Dave, and the city. We had a great time, I fell in love with the weather, the atmosphere, and the countless things you could do in a beautiful place like that. We went on hikes, ate fishwiches at Salty's, drove around town, saw the Palace of Fine Arts, and lots of other stuff.

What we didn't know then was that Meg'nDave were thinking about packing up and moving south. It turns out we picked one of the very last times we could have visited San Francisco with them living there, so thank goodness for Erinn planning a trip up there!

I'm just really glad I got to visit. I would have been bummed if they moved and I never got to see them and tour the city with them like we did.

Here's a bit of what we did.

Fisherman's Wharf - Boudin's Bakery, took a picture of a gold painted living statue, got frustrated with all the people there.

Drove up and down the streets of San Francisco - saw so many beautiful buildings, got just a bit lost but had fun doing it, eventually made our way to...

The Palace of Fine Arts - we were planning to just drive by, but it was too good to pass up, we walked around the lake and followed a path under the big dome, followed another path out and sat under a tree on the grass next to some flowers wishing we lived somewhere as great as this... what? Oh, I got lost there for a bit.

Golden Gate Park - it was nice, but we didn't stay very long and didn't get too attached to anything in particular there. We walked around Stow Lake for a bit.

Legion of Honor - we made our way to this museum after taking a snapshot of the Golden Gate Bridge from the nearby Land's End park, we walked right past a cast of Rodin's "The Thinker" without notice, ate a delicious sandwich in the museum's cafe, and roamed around the corridors for a few hours.

Drove to Meg'nDave's place - sat around for a few, went to an Indian-Burrito-Fusion place called Curry Up Now, I had deep fried ravioli and Erinn had a vegan burrito, both were covered in curry and were very tasty, we drove to some park where we could watch the airplanes land and laugh at the local guys fishing and making fun of each other, did a quick tour of their neighborhood, and came back to their place.

Bonita Point Lighthouse - in the morning we drove up through downtown San Francisco again, drove across a very foggy Golden Gate Bridge, went through a single-lane tunnel, and meandered through the Marin County countryside to the Bonita Point Lighthouse. We got there a little early and couldn't go in yet, but it was too beautiful to complain so we just watched the seals on the rocks below and enjoyed the cool weather. Eventually, we walked through a tunnel, across a bridge, and checked out the lighthouse. Inside was a map of the area with marks where ships had wrecked before the installation of the lighthouse. It was quite foggy that morning, reminding us of the need for such a lighthouse in past times. On the way out we stopped at the Visitor's Center and grabbed some chips for snacking. Dave took us out a different way than we came in, giving us a fantastic view of the Golden Gate Bridge before crossing it back into San Francisco.

Salty's Famous Fishwich - After the lighthouse we ate lunch at Salty's and the living statue was back again, this time painted silver. We forgot to go to the Musee Mecanique, which has lots of antique arcade machines and music players and whatnot. Next time, I suppose.

After that, I don't remember the order of things, but we went to Castro, got some cookies from Hot Cookie, drove to the top of Twin Peaks, but couldn't see anything because it was so foggy and windy, and went back to Meg'nDave's.

We had a lot of fun that day and relaxed that evening with some pizza and House Hunters.

It was a great weekend. I got to visit my sister, Erinn and I got to peruse the city on our own for a while, and Megan and Dave showed us around to some great places, giving us an idea of what it's like living there.

The next morning we took our time driving back to Bakersfield. We stopped at the Gilroy Outlets, snagged some tasty fruit from Casa de Fruta, and meandered home, watching the scenery turn from green to brown and the temperature go from beautiful to blegh.

Wishing for someplace new is a common theme of my posts. I'll keep dreaming about moving and I'm sure Erinn will help us get there.

P.S. Here's a little video I made. I'll be extending it soon.



Original Posting:
http://themanylivesofjules.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/san-francisco-may-11-13-2012/

Bishop Peak, The Hunger Games, and Avila Beach

It might come as a surprise to some who know how much I love to sleep in till noon, but I really love the early morning. The air is crisp and clean, the sun is soft, and everything seems so fresh and inviting. And on top of all that, there typically aren't very many people out and about just after sunrise, so the world is all yours. This is how we started the day in San Luis Obispo and it was wonderful.

After a quick breakfast, Erinn and I drove to the trail head for the Bishop Peak trail and got started. The first bit of the hike is an easy stroll under some trees with a lot of wildflowers along the side, but just a few minutes later the incline changes pretty dramatically. To be honest, I thought I would do alright. I've been going jogging recently and I'm definitely in better shape than I was a month ago, but this first incline was a subtle reminder that I still have a long way to go. Nevertheless, Erinn and I continued, undeterred.



We did get a little lost early on when we came across a sign that read "Trail", but had arrows pointing in two directions. Neither of us were sure where to go, so we took the right fork, which was definitely the wrong way to go. We ended up on a horse trail and had to keep a close eye on where we were stepping. The good part is that we were ultimately headed to the top of a 1,500 ft mountain, and it's impossible to get truly lost with the peak right in front of you the whole time.



After going around some barbed wire and a cow pond we found ourselves walking through a nice grove of trees, which brought us around to the south side of the mountain. This is where the trail begins to wind back and forth as it takes you more directly up to the peak. There were lots of eager hikers here who were much quicker than we were and less out of breath. Lots of "Good morning"s were exchanged and quite a few dogs were on the trail. As we got closer to the top, we could just make out the ocean, which is right around 9 or 10 miles away.



Bishop Peak is not the hardest hike we've ever been on, but it's also not the easiest. Going up that mountain was a nice workout and gave us a very rewarding view from the top. Once we got to the peak we took our time resting and sat down to enjoy the view for a while. On the top, there are two benches to sit down on and lots of big boulders to climb around on. Erinn and I found our way to the top of one of the boulders and took in the view.

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Eventually, we scrambled down off the rocks and began the hike down the mountain. By this time it was mid morning and there were a lot of people on the trail. There were lots of golden retrievers, a couple dachshunds, and a giant group of people that was carrying a cross up the trail. Going up, I only had to carry my own weight and that itself was enough to keep me out of breath. I can't imagine how much harder the climb would be with a full sized cross on your back. I'm sure they traded off, though. There must have been 80 people in that group. For a few minutes we stood on the side of the trail letting the group pass and then continued on our way. It was a very pleasant stroll down.



It ended up being a 5.5 mile hike round-trip and it took us just over 3 hours. We high fived each other and drove to downtown San Luis where we ate pizza and watched The Hunger Games. A note about that: Solo Pizza has a delicious Pesto Chicken Pizza. I recommend it.

To finish off our quick trip, we drove to Avila Beach to stroll along main street, watch the waves, walk on the pier, and get a snack. We stopped at a candy store and I got the tastiest caramel apple I've had in years and Erinn got some toffee and coffee ice cream. It was a nice way to celebrate the end of a very busy ten weeks of school. It was good to have this trip to look forward to and we had a lot of fun.

Can't wait for the next one.

Untitled from James Walker on Vimeo.


Credit: Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood

Original Posting:
http://themanylivesofjules.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/bishop-peak-the-hunger-games-and-avila-beach/

A San Luis Obispo Weekend

By the end of the week I will have finished my second quarter at CSUB and I will be just a teensy bit closer to graduating. There are all sorts of obstacles to overcome there, but as for this quarter, things are going well and I'm looking forward to the end.

I am especially excited about this Saturday. Erinn and I will be heading to San Luis Obispo to hike around, watch Hunger Games, and generally enjoy the beauty of the central coast. We won't be there long, but it's certainly a long-awaited trip after the busy schedule of the last ten weeks.

The plan is to hike Bishop Peak, which is just northwest of downtown San Luis Obispo. It's a beautiful place (as all of San Luis Obispo is) and should bring with it some amazing views of the area. Bishop Peak itself is the tallest of the "nine sisters" and should be a pretty fun little hike.

After the climb we're going to go relax in downtown San Luis Obispo and watch The Hunger Games so it'll be a nice getaway from the busy schedule of home. I'll be sure to post some pictures.



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Original Posting:
http://themanylivesofjules.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/a-san-luis-obispo-weekend/

A Quick Recap of Post-Las Vegas

I never got around to telling the story of our trip after Las Vegas, so I'll just recap it here.

After Las Vegas, Erinn and I saw the Hoover Dam, the London Bridge down at Lake Havasu, The Grand Canyon Caverns on Route 66, and we ate at Cracker Barrel twice. We also saw the casinos in Laughlin and lost a few bucks at the slots there. It was a nice little trip across the northwest Arizona countryside.

We both agreed Arizona isn't a state we'd like to live in, but we can't wait to go see the Grand Canyon. That will hopefully be our next big trip.

I intend to elaborate more on our trips, but this one kind of got away from me.

On to the next one!

Original Posting:
http://themanylivesofjules.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/a-quick-recap-of-post-las-vegas/

2012 Began In Vegas

Simply put: I don't know what to do with myself in Las Vegas. I don't gamble. I don't go to clubs. I don't drink much.

Nevertheless, Erinn and I joined my two roommates and a couple others on a trip to Las Vegas for New Year's Eve and we really enjoyed ourselves. Erinn and I haven't been to Las Vegas since we were kids so this was our first Vegas trip as adults.

Really the draw for us was the Paris Casino and a few other themed casinos. Paris, the Luxor, the Venetian, and New York look so cool because they've created a sort of miniaturized version of the places they represent. The Paris hotel has a scaled down Eiffel Tower. The Luxor is a glass pyramid. The New York hotel is a grouping of famous New York skyscrapers. And the Venetian has canals where you can take a gondola ride with a man who will sing to you! All of these novelties are very fun to look at when you're walking around the Vegas Strip with very little cash.

For us, it started at the Gold Coast Casino buffet, which is where we met up with our other New Year's companions Mike, Laura, Tyler, and Garrett. They had all gotten to Vegas the night before and didn't get much sleep. The popcorn shrimp and cheesecake was pretty good, but not much else.

We then split up with plans to regroup later that evening. Erinn and I walked to the strip, got lost in the Bellagio, and made our way to the Paris Casino. The Las Vegas strip has a number of walkways that take you over the street to decrease pedestrian congestion at street corners, but there were so many people there on New Year's Eve it was chaotic. We had a fun time dodging crowds, avoiding those people who hand out flyers with naked people on them, and finally found the front of Paris.

The Paris Hotel is very beautiful. The exterior is made up mostly of a replica Eiffel Tower and a building in the shape of a hot air balloon. And everything is covered in lights. Once you get inside, you feel like you're walking down a parisian street complete with restaurants, cafes, and shops each with their own street-like facade. The ceiling is designed to look like the sky and the outdoor lights and benches really complete the scene. This is typical of many of the hotels on the strip which have a distinct theme like those I mentioned earlier. New York, The Venetian, and others have a Disneyesque feel to them on their main levels, each unique to their respective names. However, drift a bit from the main rooms with all their simulated streets and you'll come across black jack tables and slot machines like you'll find in any other hotel.

There's an elevator in the Paris Hotel which will take you up the Eiffel Tower for something like 18 bucks, but Erinn and I decided to save our money. I enjoyed walking around the hotel feeling like I was in some smokey, Americanized version of Paris, but I know we'd both prefer to save our money to see the real thing. The crepes looked delicious, but if I'm going to pay 10 bucks for one, I'd rather be doing it in France.

We continued down the strip, but very slowly. Walking the sidewalks on New Year's Eve is a bit like going to Wal-Mart on Black Friday, except with more booze and snakes. Did I mention the snakes, yet? At several (yes, several) points along the strip, there were snake handlers hoping to get some money thrown into their hats. Also Wonder Woman, bagpipers, and some guy trying to sell his burnt cd for 5 bucks. Finally we made it to the New York Hotel.

Our afternoon continued on this way until we met up with Tyler and Garret and started walking back to our hotel. What's great is that at this point, the strip had been closed down to vehicles and was open only to pedestrians. This made our walk much faster. By around 5pm, we had gotten down to Excalibur, which put us about 2 miles from our hotel. It took us a few hours to get that far south on the strip that afternoon, but it only took about 50 minutes to walk back up.

We met in the room with Mike and Laura, split up again for dinner, met again in the room and started walking to the strip again around 8 or 9 (Erinn and I were singing songs from The Little Mermaid for some reason).

This is when the celebration for New Year's Eve really started. People were everywhere and there was this party feeling even though everyone else was just walking around like we were. The six of us lost each other a few times, but we just kept moving, looking around. We ended up in front of the Bellagio so we could watch their fountain show until midnight when fireworks were supposed to start. So here we sat, watching the fountain, watching people, talking with each other. When midnight came there was a countdown on a big screen overlooking the strip, and a fireworks show began. It was pretty impressive. The fireworks were being shot off eight different hotels all along the strip. We were right in front of the Paris Hotel, so these were the ones we paid the most attention to, but it was pretty amazing looking up and down the street to see all the towering hotels shooting fire from their rooftops. When the fireworks eventually stopped (and they seemed to go on for ages) we said "Happy New Year" to each other once again and walked slowly back to our hotel.

The next morning, after checking out, Erinn and I said goodbye to the group and headed off on our own adventure in the pursuit of delicious food.

It was definitely different from most of my other New Year's celebrations. Usually I end up at some friend's house for a New Year's party. I think last year a few of us had a shindig at my house and we played Rock Band all night. This was a fun change of pace and Erinn and I love getting out of town. I don't plan on going back to Vegas for another New Year's Eve, but I'm glad I went this time.

Original Posting:
http://themanylivesofjules.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/2012-began-in-vegas/

SeaSET

Erinn and I drove to the coast last week so she could take the CSET. The actual test wasn't much fun for either of us, but it's always nice to get out of town for a bit. She lost her mind scraping her brain clean during the test while I read at a park down the street. Alright, I guess my part sounds pretty nice.

We then took a short drive south to Solvang to walk around and soak in all its Dutchiness, ate a Cream Puff at a local dutch bakery, and continued down highway 101 to Santa Barbara. Again, we parked, walked around the town, and soaked in its niceness. There's no comparison between Solvang and Bakersfield or Santa Barbara and Bakersfield. There aren't any places in town where one would go simply to walk around and window shop.

That particular evening, Santa Barbara was having a farmer's market on State Street. Erinn and I made a few passes at one of the stands getting a bunch of samples of cheese before giving in and buying one called Garlic Jack that is super delicious. I bought Erinn some daisies and she bought some tangerines.

I'm sure Erinn would like me to point out that tangerines are hard to come by in a typical grocery store. You can get "cuties", clementines, or "small oranges" any day, but tangerines must be too tasty to keep around at Albertson's.

We then walked back up the street to our car in time for parking to be free (ah, yeah!) and started a lazy drive home. I love slow drives with no rush. We get to talk, listen to music, listen to movies play in the car, make stops whenever we want. When we got to Valencia, we made an impromptu stop at BevMo and picked up a handful of rootbeers. Then we stopped at Islands for a burger before heading north for Bakersfield.

It was a nice, quick trip. Solvang is pretty, but kind of boring on a weekday, especially if you're not hungry. Bring an appetite and walking shoes. Santa Barbara and the whole area that surrounds it is beautiful.

Original Posting:
http://themanylivesofjules.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/seaset/

Yosemite: Oct 27 - 29, 2011

     Most of our trips are pretty quick, usually only one night away, sometimes even working the morning before we leave. This trip we wanted to be able to take it easy and not have to worry about wearing ourselves out, so we stayed two nights. It was a fantastic idea. That first night we stayed in Curry Village again and played Trouble. The next morning we made our most ambitious hike yet; we took the Mist Trail to Vernal Falls. Again we showed our inexperience, getting passed up by the old and young alike, but we eventually made it to the top! It was really exciting being able to finish that. There were moments toward the end that we both wanted to stop or turn around, but we pushed on and it was definitely worth it.
     That afternoon we relaxed, strolled around the valley, and fell asleep very, very early. It was great not having to make the drive back down the mountain after a hike like that.

Yosemite: Sep 12 - 13, 2011

     This trip marked the first time we actually camped in Yosemite. Normally we stay in Curry Village's tent cabins, but this time we were staying with family, and besides, we wanted to camp out in a real tent anyway. Much more fun!
     We made s'mores, cooked hot dogs, and kept a keen eye out for bears! Then in the morning we hopped on our bikes and toured the valley (Erinn and I rented ours from a place in Yosemite). Toward the end of the day a storm rolled in and threw some lightning around, but it wasn't dangerous, just fun to watch!

Sequoia National Park - General Sherman: Aug 1, 2011

     It's hard, really, to appreciate how massive these trees are when you just look at them in pictures. Even now, looking at my own pictures, I have trouble appreciating how exceptionally big these trees are. I don't think it was until we were driving through Colorado and Wyoming, looking at all the beautiful trees there, that I realized how small most trees really are. We're spoiled, living so close to the giant sequoias of Sequoia National Park or the amazingly tall redwood trees of northern California, and I often forget that this is not the norm.
     On this trip, we visited the famous General Sherman and all the surrounding giants. Some of these massive trees stand on their own, such as General Sherman or The President, but others stand in awe inspiring rings, like The Senate and The House. It's really a trip worth making.

Running for Senate?

Topanga State Park: July 30, 2011

This was a surprise trip. Erinn is very good at things like that. Planning things out, organizing them, surprises... Erinn's got that down. I get lost in the details, but she pulls it all together and it's always great. This time she just told me to be at her house nice and early so we could hit the road before the sun came up. I had no idea where we were going except that we were headed south.
A little after sunrise, we pulled into the parking lot of Topanga State Park, which is right in the middle of a very nice neighborhood near Santa Monica, CA. We pulled on our hiking shoes and headed for the peak. It was a beautiful hike. I'm sure true hikers wouldn't say it was very strenuous, but for novices like us it definitely tested our resolve. We made it halfway, myself drenched from sweat, and we sat for a few minutes before continuing for the top of the mountain. It's a good thing we came as early as we did, because not only did it get quite warm as the day wore on, but the trail got very busy.
After the hike we took it easy down in Santa Monica. It was a great day and a wonderful surprise trip.

Trail of 100 Giants - Sequoia National Forest: May 20 - 21, 2011

    This trip came about spontaneously. We both had Saturday off so we decided to find a place up in the mountains to camp. We drove to Lake Isabella, CA and headed north, looking for a decent campground to stay at. The Kern River runs from the north down into Lake Isabella and we were following it upstream. There are countless little campgrounds to stay at along this route, but we weren't impressed by any of them so we just kept driving. After a long drive we got a bit lost and came across a bulletin board on the side of the road with a map of the area on it. We used that to get our bearings and headed north again.
     I honestly couldn't tell you how we got there, but eventually we came to Redwood Meadow Campground, which is a lot higher and a lot colder than we had planned for, but it was perfect. It was located right across the street from a little hike called The Trail of 100 Giants. It's an easy hike among some of the biggest trees in the world. That night we set up our tent, cooked up some hotdogs, and hit the hay. The next morning we roamed around an adjacent meadow and then walked the Trail of 100 Giants. They are truly impressive. After the hike we still had a lot of time, so we drove lazily through Sequoia National Forest, zig-zagging our way through the beautiful trees, eventually driving highway 190 down to Porterville and then home. Highway 190 is a beautiful route and I definitely recommend it. Porterville and Lake Success are brown and boring and I definitely recommend driving right past those.
     Also, I just remembered that this was the weekend the world was supposed to end, according to Harold Camping. I remember seeing at least one sign inviting everyone to expect the end of days come May 21st, 2011. Good thing it didn't end. I've still got lots of places to see!

Cambria: March 18 - 20, 2011

     The beach is always a great getaway from the heat of California's central valley. On this trip we visited some of our favorite towns along the central coast: San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, and Cambria. It rained all weekend, but it was still beautiful, relaxing, and fun.

Yosemite: Feb 11 - 12, 2011

     Back again in Yosemite, and of course back in the tent cabins at Curry Village. One of the great parts of staying in Curry Village is that you get cheap tent-style lodging, but you don't have to set up the tent or sleep on the ground. But one of the drawbacks is that you're not allowed to make a fire or cook your own food. We were both satisfied with bananas and sandwiches, though.
     On this trip, we ventured out a little more. First, since it was winter, Yosemite had an ice rink set up, so we strapped on some skates and fumbled around on the ice for a while. It was pretty fun, but neither of us were that stable on the choppy ice. We then took an easy hike to Mirror Lake. NPS.com lists the hike as easy, but icy in the winter and this is definitely true. I remember slipping around on the ice in my sneakers. We were definitely not prepared for serious hiking. But it was beautiful. Everything was covered in snow and felt cool and fresh.

Yosemite: Nov 5 - 6, 2010

     One of our first trips together was to Yosemite National Park. We both love the outdoors, yet we're not the most experienced campers or hikers. We're less enthusiasts and more enjoyers of the outdoors and Yosemite is perfect for folk like us. We rented a tent cabin at Curry Village and had a great time wandering around the valley floor. On our way home, we stopped at Glacier Point to get a panoramic view of the valley. It's a must-see for anyone who is going to Yosemite for the first time. It's as breathtaking as the Grand Canyon.
     Note: we totally saw a bear strolling across a path in one of the busier areas of Yosemite. It was awesome!