There One Where I Picked Fruit, Ate Oysters, Swam in River Canyons and Saw Some Big-Ass Trees

When the summer began, Nate and I made a sort of unofficial vow to not spend it doing nothing.  There have just been too many summers already spent staying indoors, him playing video games, me reading a book in bed.  And while those are totally legit things to do when 1) you're on vacation (read: him), or 2) you're unemployed (read: me), we always ended those three months feeling like we'd let it pass us by.

So, our promise to each other and ourselves: Get the hell outside this summer.

And so we did.

Our first adventure of the summer was camping in the forests just north of Tahoe.  That was a blur of beautiful mountain lakes, star-gazing while floating in warm springs, and trying not to get eaten by a couple million vicious, vicious mosquitoes.  The best time.

Then we decided at some point to go fruit picking.  A few of our friends are foodies who work in restaurants, or for celebrity chefs, or who have awesome food blogs, so getting the best and freshest of whatever we're putting in our mouths is high on the priority list.  And I'm pretty sure there's nothing better than eating a peach cobbler three hours after you picked said peach off the branch.  Best part?  Most farms charge you by the pound (say, $1.50 for each pound of cherries you pick), but don't necessarily charge you for the amount of fruit you're wolfing down as you walk through the orchards.  And some farms have ducks that like to take pictures.

Our third stop was along the blustery Northern California coast where this ocean-side-camping-pro realized not all beaches are created equal.  Here's the thing about the coast up here in our neck of the woods: that shit is cold.  Like, face- and ass-numbing cold.  But there are also fresh mussels and oysters.  So you accept the trade off, grab a few beers, and rally.

Finally, a few weeks ago we decided we wanted to see some giants.  So of course we headed down to King's Canyon and Sequoia National Park for more camping (or glamping, which is what we call it when we're being honest with ourselves).  While this was sort of a live-and-learn trip (a bit of drama, some inclement weather, a few bears), there's still so little that beats being in the Sierra Nevada's.  There's this image I have in my mind -- and I feel so stupid for not having my camera on me at the time -- of sitting along the river, watching it bend a few yards down, the sky sort of boiling over with clouds and flashes of lightening, and these huge peaks that rim the canyon we're at the bottom of.  One of those breathtaking moments, you know?  And the trees...holy cow the trees are HUGE.

At this point, I'm fairly certain that if you asked me to plan a Northern California adventure for you, I could almost guarantee you'd have the time of your life.  Just sayin.

It's Friday, and Camping is Good for the Soul

True story, camping is good for the soul.

So this past weekend, Nate and I packed up our car and went with a bunch of friends on our first camping adventure of the summer.  We headed up into the mountains, just north of Tahoe, to an area called Plumas National Forest.

It's breathtaking country up there.

Yes, there were mosquitoes this early in the season (we're newbs), but there was also beautiful sunsets, warm springs under a blanket of stars, the milky way, late night fireside chats, off-roading and trout fishing, lake swimming and hiking, visiting cute little tucked away mountain towns like Downieville, and just getting out and breathing the fresh air that you don't even realize you miss when you're in the city.

The Sierra Nevada's are one of my favorite things about California.  I can't wait to go camping again.

Wanna come with us next time?

Once Upon a Rainy Weekend

Every couple of weekends, Nate and I (and, okay, mostly just me) will get an itch to leave the city.  Maybe it comes from growing up in the country, maybe it's just human nature, but I'll start feeling claustrophobic, closed in, a little on-edge around all the buildings and people and noise and crowds, and I'll know that it's time to get out.  These trips aren't usually a huge deal -- they can be a short drive to a trailhead, or a day trip to Yosemite -- but they go a long way towards restoring balance in my little world.

So, given the craziness of the past month or so and the excitement of Friday night, Nate suggested that we go on a daytime date this past Saturday to Tomales Bay for a nice drive and some fresh oysters.  I said, "Where do I sign up?"  Unfortunately, the weather had other plans for us and, after waking up to the torrential downpour that ended up drenching these parts of Northern California the entire day, we decided to postpone the oysters for another day.  Instead, we pointed the car towards the coast and just drove.

In the end, plan B for our daytime date turned out to be just what we needed.  Because of the weather, there weren't too many people out and about in Point Reyes, so that's where we ended up.  As odd as it sounds, I love beaches in bad weather -- everything becomes so moody and tempestuous and a little romantic too.  Makes you want to curl up with some hot chocolate and spin stories, doesn't it?

We topped the day off with a late lunch at Sol Food, a Puerto Rican restaurant in San Rafael.  The food is really good -- Nate's a huge fan of the habichuelas rosadas (pink beans with Spanish olives) and I had the bistec encebollado (steak with sliced onions) -- but the restaurant itself can be super busy pretty much all of the time.  Still worth it though.

We hung around our neighborhood on Saturday night, caught up with some friends, had some pho, and I finished watching the second season of Downton Abbey at 1 a.m. (I've been using Downton Abbey to keep my mind from obsessing over The Hunger Games, and that would have worked out great if I didn't end up obsessing over Downton Abbey too).

On Sunday morning, as a nice way to end the weekend, we headed to East Ocean Restaurant in Alameda for some dim sum.  Being half Chinese, Nate's fairly picky about his dim sum, and this was the first time we were trying this restaurant.  It definitely did not disappoint.  Friendly staff, huge variety, and the desserts were especially yummy.

Unfortunately, I spent the rest of the day in pain bed dealing with some reoccurring back issues.  I'm seeing the chiropractor later this morning to get a massage, some x-rays and a chiropractic evaluation, so hopefully we can get to the bottom of what's going on because this is just not okay.

I hope you all had a great weekend too!

The Last Few Weeks: Part Deux

There's little in the world that's more important to me than my sisters.  They are my best friends, my favorite people, a constant source of fun, support and worry.  I'm the middle child, smack dab in between a sister three years older and another three years younger.  Our big sister is a rock.  She's someone I know I can count on to take care of something if I can't do it.  I can just lay whatever burden I have down at her feet and she'll handle it, no question about it, no problem.  Our little sister is our baby.  She's young and funny (she's always making me laugh) and it's been this insane privilege watching her grow into this responsible young woman who doesn't need us to baby her as much as, perhaps, we need to.

But, of course, we still do.

So when her life took an unexpected turn and she needed to move from Texas to Hawaii earlier this month, I hopped a flight over to San Antonio to take on the first leg of the trip with her.  Our route:  San Antonio, up through El Paso, stop in Albuquerque, head over to the Grand Canyon, stop a night in Lake Havasu City, drive through the endlessly boring Central Valley (I'm sorry if you're from the Central Valley, but you have to know what I mean, amiright?) and end back here in the Bay Area.  At that point, my older sister would fly in and spend a few days with us as we went sight-seeing around Big Sur, and tried to sort out sister, dog and car, then they would all take the next trip -- sans me -- back to Hawaii.

This all happened in a week.  A week of subsisting off of M&M's, Chex Mix, sodas and fast food.  A week of rest stops and driving in a straight line for hours.  A week of realizing my baby sister is all grown up.  And a week of incredible country, most of which I've never seen before.

The thing about the desert is that you think it's all the same.  You do.  I mean, it's brown, right?  Dirt and sand with small shrubbery?  That's it, isn't it?  That's what I thought until I spent so much time staring at it, and until I drove through four states' worth of desert.  As it turns out, it isn't just brown.  It's a million shades of brown and tan and red and orange and white.  It's different in Texas, in New Mexico, in Arizona and California.  And it's beautiful.  I wish I took more pictures, of the desert, the trains, the red rocks in Arizona, the hot air balloons rising above Albuquerque in the early morning light, the Sierra Nevada's.  Of everything.

And the Grand Canyon is...well, humongous.  It's wide and deep and unlike whatever I thought it was going to be in my mind.  It was one of those moments in my life where I felt small, but not in a bad way. I felt small in a kind of awestruck way that was sort of...humbling, and definitely comforting.  It reinforced for me that life is so much bigger than me and whatever I was thinking was a huge deal at the moment (i.e. the fact that I was hungry, that I had to pee, that my legs were cramped in the car, or that I was tired).  No, life is BIG.  So much bigger than me.  And I should try to live it as big is I can as well.

We also saw wolves while at the Grand Canyon.  It made my day.

The Last Few Weeks: Part One

 

About three weeks ago, things started getting busy.  Like, abnormally busy.  I didn't realize it then, but it was going to be a good almost-four-weeks before I could take a breath, let my mind clear and just relax.  I was about to embark on a whirlwind Southwest roadtrip with my sister, spend some mad dervish days here at home preparing that sister for the second leg of her trip, host a birthday party, attend a film festival, throw my back out and, apparently because I was bored?, redesign my blog.

Sigh, c'est la vie.

I'll get to most of that other stuff in the coming days but, for now, I just really wanted to share with you all the beautiful pictures my dear friend Serena took when we went on our first "California Appreciation Day" hike a few weeks ago.  It's days like these, when you can go for a walk in a tank top along the coast in the dead of winter, that make appreciating the Bay Area not too difficult (even if it is because we're destroying our planet through climate change).

Our day started with a drive around the Bolinas Lagoon and estuary, and I'm so sad I didn't take any pictures of it because it really is one of the most peaceful places I've been to.  If you're ever in the area and it's a nice day, I would definitely suggest checking it out!  When we got to the Palomarin Trailhead, after a winding drive along the coast (not loads of fun if you get car sick like me), we headed out on the 4 mile trek to our destination: Alamere Falls.  The trail down to the actual falls, which empties on a beach, is a bit sketchy in some places -- and by "some places" I mean the part where you have to use a rickety old rope to scale some scraggly cliffs -- so my friends and I decided to go down about halfway and stay there, just above the beach.

I can't begin to express how breathtaking this place is.  From our perch, we could see the coastline stretch down the way we had come and up all the way to Point Reyes Station.  We could watch the waves come in and swallow up the beach as the tide rose, and we could listen to the stream bubble it's way into several pools before hitting the falls and the sand below.  While there was a boy scout troop down at the beach while we were there, it was still a really quiet and restful place to be.

A perfect way to spend the day with great friends.  And a very nice start to more California adventures!

[Photos courtesy of Serena Quiroga]