I marvel all the time that we get to live in such a beautiful place. It is a true privilege to live in California, with the acknowledgment that we are on the unceded lands of Esselen, Rumsen, Costanoan and Ohlone people. Last month, Alex and I were able to borrow a California State Parks Pass…
Well, I’ve never encountered a foggier day atop Mt. Tam. But Chrissy and Aaron have already been through many difficult challenges in life together: surviving a pandemic, caring for ailing family members, and also grieving great losses together. So this layer of cold, windy fog certainly didn’t rank anywhere on their top challenges list. Rather,…
We have been all about the California road trip this year. A couple months ago, we headed south, about three hours south of San Francisco, to Paso Robles and the surrounding Central Coast areas. It made for a wonderful long weekend excursion. Our first stop was Bruce Munro’s Field of Light at Sensorio. It’s a…
After a couple glorious days in Yosemite, we drove north to Lake Tahoe, where we had camping reservations for the rest of the week. We had such a wonderful time in Emerald Bay, and we really loved our campsite in the Eagle Point Campgrounds. Would 100% do it again, pandemic or not. We left through…
Oh, how quickly things change. The hallmark of August was my first-ever backpacking trip, which just happened to coincide with the very unexpected and extreme lightning storms that subsequently lit California on fire. Well, I’m glad to report that we are totally fine. But here’s a look through another wild month of 2020: Garden bounty…
I usually don’t get around to posting these recaps until the end of the following month, which is quite unfortunate, because 2020 is quickly outpacing my ability to remember what these past realities were like. But here goes, a look back to July, a month in which we took four different outdoor excursions around California…
The weekend after my birthday, Alex and I took a road trip to Monterey for a quick getaway. We started with a lunch stop in Moss Landing at Phil’s Fish Market & Eatery. Next, a visit to Pacific Grove and heir Monarch butterfly sanctuary. We spotted a few up in the trees, but Monarch counts…
Upon our return from Hawaii, we asked ourselves what we should do for New Year’s. One day later we were en route to the northwestern corner of California, about six hours north, to Redwood National and State Parks. Unlike most National Parks, this one is inextricably entangled with its neighboring state parks and the two…
For Fourth of July weekend, I embarked on a lovely four-day road trip up north through Sacramento, Chico, Redding, McArthur Burney Falls, and eventually Lassen Volcanic National Park, before circling back down to the Bay. The trip starts with a visit to the California State Capitol… because as of last year I started visiting state…