Fail Weekend

This past weekend didn't go quite as planned. We headed out on Friday late afternoon-ish to go to camping at Fremont Peak State Park. When we got there, it wasn't what we had in mind. We had brought along our bikes and were hoping for some trails but there were none. Just a handful of crowded sites at the top of a mountain. We decided to keep driving and try our luck at a national park with a campground about an hour south. On the way out, we risked our lives to get a picture of this little sweetie:

Really, we almost got plowed over. Apparently we weren't the only ones trying to get out of there in a hurry. 

When we arrived at Pinnacles National Monument it was pitch black and we had a difficult time navigating around the campground and finding an open campsite. But we finally did and set up for the weekend. When we got up the next morning it was h-o-t and everything was covered in dust. I have never camped in the desert before and was quickly realizing that I didn't like it. Not. At. All.

We hopped in the car and tried to find some cool areas that we could explore but weren't having any luck because: a) Hazel wasn't allowed to be on any trails and b) we were in the stinkin' desert and everything was dry, open, dusty land.

We decided to abort the mission and head back to the campsite where we could just relax and read in our camping chairs. So we got back and then it happened... Attack of the flies. These guys were EVERYWHERE. So we packed up our dirt-covered belongings in the million-degree heat (that's just a slight exaggeration) with flies swarming us and got the heck out of there.

We stopped in Hollister, CA on the way home thinking that there had to be something cool there if a clothing line named themselves after the place. Wrong. Oddly enough, though, we saw several yard sales with clothing laid out piece-by-piece covering the whole lawn like a giant t-shirt blanket.

We got home and unloaded our camping gear. We kept the bikes on the car and then drove to Quarry Lakes Recreation Area (about 20 minutes from our home). We rode along the trails and also read by the lake.

On Sunday we were heading to the water park and saw they were closed as we approached the gate. I'm sure we had the same feeling the Griswold's had when they got to Walley World, minus the moose punching.

The trip wasn't a total bust because we did get to see an afternoon karaoke session the park was hosting. I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera/video recorder when an older lady took the stage and sang Justin Bieber in full-out fan gear with dance moves. Hilarious!

(My Photoshop creation)

Then we went to a park by our house where we read and played with Hazel.

And finally, we did one of our favorite new activities, riding our bikes to the grocery store. I love this because there always seems to be just a couple things I'm missing to make dinner and it's way more fun than a trip in the car. Notice something in the following photo?

We have neighbors that steel shopping carts. On any given day, you could walk around the block and see someone pushing a cart to their house. Some leave them tucked in bushes while others keep them right out in their front yards. I know what you're thinking: Classy place they're living in...anything for sale?  

Marty Moose image found here.

The Rock

This post is about Alcatraz Island. So if you were hoping that I was writing about the wrestler/actor Dwayne Johnson who happens to also have the same nickname, you will be very disappointed. While my mom was visiting us a couple weeks ago we toured Alcatraz in San Francisco. This was something I'd wanted to do for a long time, so I was really excited. And since I like to have a soundtrack to my life, here's what's playing in my head right now:

I love the dog drinking out of the water fountain. And the abundance of mustaches.

We took a ferry from Pier 33 (about 20 minutes) and when we arrived to the island it definitely felt a little creepy. We were free to roam the island on our own so for most of our exploring there were very few people around us (the exception was the cell house). This, combined with the cold, wind, and fog made it seem pretty eerie.

The audio tour of the cell house was really good and much preferred over a guide with a canned speech. It was told by the actual guards and prisoners who experienced the prison firsthand and guided listeners around the cell house, explaining what each area was used for and also the stories of events that happened in each area.

 Between B and C blocks

Shower room

Solitary confinement cell

Regular 5x9 cell

 The cafeteria

When we finished the cell house tour, we walked around the grounds and saw several different buildings including the morgue and the residential apartments (where the workers' families lived). I thought the view of the city from the island was really cool. There are night tours of Alcatraz and if we ever go back, that is what we'll do. I bet the view of the city is really amazing then, and can you imagine how scary it would feel after the sun sets?!

Warden's house

San Francisco

The other "The Rock"  
Image found here.

Our First Visitor!

We just wrapped up a great week with my mom who came to visit. It was a busy week so here's the quick highlights. In San Francisco we biked the Golden Gate Bridge (into Sausalito where we also biked around and shopped), visited Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf, and also toured Alcatraz (we'll be back in a bit with more on that!).

We spent a day in the Napa/Sonoma area tasting wine and olive oils. The following picture is taken at Clos Pegase winery in Calistoga.

We also toured the Winchester Mystery House (really lame), saw The Help at the movies (really good), did some shopping, and spent a lot of time playing with Hazel. Here's a taste of these two love birds together:

My favorite thing we did was have tea at this adorable Victorian tea room. Along with our tea we had scones, tea sandwiches, and pastries. So cute (and delicious)!

So that was the trip in a nutshell! We had a great time and can't wait until our next visit.

Perhaps I Watch Too Much TV

And movies, too. Read on and you'll see what I mean. This weekend we set out for another camping adventure. We stayed in Sonoma County's Austin Creek State Recreation Area. That wasn't our intended camping location, however. Allow me to start at the beginning...

We first had reservations to stay at a campground just south of Austin Creek. We headed out early on Friday afternoon in an attempt to avoid the bay area traffic. Insert the wah-wah sound here. We are learning that it really doesn't matter what time you travel around here; Interstate driving is always sucky (yeah, that's about the best adjective I could find to describe it). So here's a picture to put to how the drive felt:

It took us almost 4 hours to get to our first destination (a trip we intended to do in under 2). But the traffic wasn't the only thing to blame. We actually missed our exit and managed to take the Bay Bridge into San Francisco, adding time and a toll to our trip that we really didn't want. The only good part about the unexpected detour was our ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. Any time I'm in San Francisco or think about the Golden Gate Bridge the Full House theme song starts playing in my head (you've seen this before in this post). And so I couldn't help pulling out my phone and playing the song from You Tube as we crossed over into Sausalito.

Oddly enough, our 4 hour trip seemed more grueling than the 40 hour drive from Panama City Beach to San Jose. Anyway, when we got to the campground where we had a reservation, we decided there was no way we could stay there. In fact, we peeled out of their parking lot so quickly that I didn't even have time to snap a photo. Picture an entire RV park of Cousin Eddie's. Then visualize our "campsite" being just an extension of the playground full of Cousin Eddie's offspring. So off we were to find another location.

Thankfully we found Austin Creek State Recreation Area about 15 miles north. This place had the campy feel we were looking for (read: no Cousin Eddies or even an RV in sight). Plus it was tucked in a redwood grove. We did all of our normal camping things: hiked around, built a fire, played cards, etc...

Among the Redwoods

The next day we headed to the town of Guerneville and walked around and down to the Russian River. We also went to the Sonoma Coast State Beach and Goat Rock Beach, where the final scene of one of my favorite movies, The Goonies, was filmed. It was a normal foggy day on the Pacific coast, so it was just like in the movie. It had me breaking out all kinds of Goonies one liners like "Goonies never say die" and "Heeey, You Guuuys!!" and "Rocky... Roooad?" The rocks along the coast were really amazing and while I kept expecting to see the pirate ship sail out from behind them, sadly, it never happened.

 Our Pic

 Movie Scene

 Our Pic

Movie Scene

 My favorite love seen ever in a movie.

We spent Sunday again at Niles Park. Hazel enjoyed the lake and we laid on our blanket and read. We came home and watched another great episode of Entourage. There are only 6 left until the series ends. That will be a very sad day.

Cousin Eddie, Goonie, and Entourage images found here, here, here, and here.

A Walk in the Park

Andrew and I were so excited to stumble upon our new favorite park this weekend, the Niles Community Park in Fremont, CA. A few things in particular had us super excited about our find. This park costs nothing (many around here have entrance fees plus an additional charge if bringing in a pet. Even our community dog park is $8 each time we take Hazel), is very pretty with lots of trees and green grass (a rarity around here), has a lake that pup is allowed to swim in, and is very clean. On top of that, it's close to our house.

For our day at the park we brought our new picnic blanket, another new "favorite" of mine. I'm in love with it because it has a waterproof backing that I can easily wipe off between washings and the other side is a soft fleece. It also came with its own carrier. We have had a couple other picnic blankets in the past that just pale in comparison. We also packed a cooler with snacks and drinks and brought along some special treats for Hazel. Andy and I like to break out the big guns to keep her entertained on long trips, so we packed one of those big, long-lasting chew treats and also a new toy.

After Hazel spent time swimming in the lake, we laid our blanket out, ate our picnic, and read for the rest of the day.

Our beach chairs have been re-purposed and are now our park chairs.

Birthday Weekend

Andy and both turned the big 2-7 in the past few days. To celebrate, we did a weekend in San Francisco. There were a couple of "touristy" items that we still hadn't done and wanted to cross off the list. These included a visit to the Haight-Ashbury area, a stroll through China Town, and a photo op at the base of Lombard Street.

The famous legs above Piedmont on Haight Street

In Chinatown

Lombard Street

After that, we wanted the rest of the weekend to be about getting to know the "real" San Francisco. This would require us to do a lot of walking and exploring. And since we were staying at a hotel in the city (as opposed to just day-trips we had previously taken) we had two full days to do just that. I know there are hundreds of thousands of die-hard San Francisco fans out there and they probably would hate me for this, but I don't love this "city by the bay." It's too busy, crowded, smelly, expensive, dirty, and loud. In just a day's time I had been yelled at and taunted by a homeless man, cursed out by a woman when I politely declined to eat at her restaurant, and witnessed another woman doing drugs on the floor of a McDonald's restroom. Andrew and I both left on Sunday slightly confused as our discussion was based on what all these SF lovers see in this city of theirs. When I got home, I couldn't help but see if we were the only people that feel this way. We're not the only ones. There are hundreds of blog posts and sites that have a distaste for the city, a few are here, here, and here.

I will give you this, San Francisco. You have some cute stores and you can somehow make a non-shopper like me want to shop. Here's Andy displaying one find that I thought was particularly charming:

So while we will be back (my mom will be visiting in a couple weeks and we'll be showing her around the area), we'll be sticking to those touristy attractions and letting the native San-Franciscans keep the "real" city to themselves.

And in other birthday news, although we promised each other no gifts, we lied. Andy gave me a gift certificate for a massage and also a new Bluetooth speakerphone for my car (hands free calling in CA!). Andrew got an ice cream maker, recipe book, and a little custom art I made.

And here are a couple of other things that were surprises on the big day:

 Yum!! A huge cookie bouquet from Jacqueline and Karen.

 Loose leaf tea and infuser from my mom. Seen here with my going away gift from Mary and Marissa.

It's like a match made in heaven!

Thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes to us. We are very lucky to have so many thoughtful people in our lives. Here's to making 27 the best yet!

Taking It Easy

That's what we've been doing the past couple of weeks. Andy had a medical procedure done and so our activities are slowing down for a bit. We have gone on a couple picnics and also spent some time trying to pick up geocaching again.

 Lewis and Clark with their handy GPS

Geocaching was something Andy and I started while living in Destin. For those who don't know (or aren't as big of nerds as we are), geocaching is sort of like a treasure hunt. You follow a GPS device to a pair of coordinates where you then search for the "treasure." To me that sounds way cooler than it is. In too many cases, we have been led to areas where we have to trudge though tons of brush, risking thorn scrapes and lots of ant bites, then arrive at our destination and often don't even find the cache. On a recent journey, the coordinates landed us right under a tree. Seeing a whole at the base of the trunk, I figured that would be exactly where we would find the cache. A snake also liked the idea of this cozy little hole, too, and I'm very glad I decided to take a good peak in there before sticking my fingers in to fish for the treasure. And since I'm on the subject, I have another big beef about geocaching (besides the terrible locations these things are most often placed). It's just not fun to simply go to a set of coordinates and blindly look around for a tiny film canister that you open and write your name on a piece of paper that's tucked inside (or worse, when you end up realizing the cache isn't above ground and you have to dig for it). If they all had clues or some sort of mental puzzle that had to be done to find the item, geocaching could be something we could get into. But alas, I think it's safe to say that Andy and I are throwing in the towel on this hobby.

To keep the odd activities flowing, how about a trip to the Bigfoot Discovery Museum? Yeah, there's such a place. We happened upon this little gem after an afternoon at the Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

This place was full of Bigfoot pop culture items and also the more "scientific" items: plaster casts of footprints, teeth and their DNA testing, etc... 

Are we any more convinced that there is a Bigfoot? Not so much. That furry 4-year old in the Weekly World News is pretty convincing though, right? But we do live in the land of Sasquatch so we'll let you know if we have any sightings of our own. Until then, we're taking it easy and allowing Andrew some time to recover.