Day Trip to La Jolla, CA

One more California post before I catch up to present day…

During our spring in Encinitas, we took a day trip to La Jolla. It wasn’t too exciting for Bryan, since he lived in San Diego for eight years previously. But it was quite exciting for me, as a San Diego novice.

We started the day at Fig Tree Cafe in Pacific Beach. We tried the massive breakfast sushi appetizer, followed by a customizable trio of pancakes and french toast (pictured here). Portions were very large and very delicious.

The next stop was my favorite, because seeing California sea lions never gets old to me! Even after we went swimming with sea lions earlier this year in Peru, I still love to see them anywhere and everywhere.

This time was a bonus because it was pup season, so there were lots of babies.

In the same area, we also saw tons of pelicans closer than I ever have before. These guys do some crazy things with their beaks and necks!

After that, we headed up the hill to Legends Gallery to admire some of Dr. Seuss’ original artwork. In case you didn’t know, Dr. Seuss lived in La Jolla for a few decades and there are many places to see his work and memory throughout the city of San Diego. Legends Gallery is one of them.

It’s a small place, but you could spend almost an hour there looking at all the different pieces. What a creative imagination!

We made one final stop on the way home. It happened to be National Donut Day, so we stopped at Sidecar Donuts in Del Mar (not exactly La Jolla) for a treat to end the trip.

Day Trip to Julian, CA

While we were spending the spring in Encinitas, we decided to take a quick day trip to Julian, CA. Julian is about an hour and a half from Encintas, but it feels like a completely different world! There are forests and hiking, plus the quaint small town of Julian itself.

We started the day hiking Volcan Mountain (about 5 miles). It was very hot that day, so the steep climb at the beginning was intense, but there was a winding trail that offered a decent amount of shade.

Bailey helped us navigate the route to the top:

After the hike, we found a cidery and winery close by at Storm Ranch. Julian is well known for its apple orchards and apple picking in the fall. I guess I was too tired to remember to take any photos, but the cider flight was extremely refreshing, and dogs were allowed inside.

The next stop was lunch at another dog-friendly establishment: Julian Beer Co, where we had a serious BBQ lunch to replenish after the hike. Everything tasted great.

The town of Julian was wildly crowded on a spring Saturday, but we managed to squeeze a spot at the picnic tables outside. And we couldn’t forget Julian’s staple: apple pie. The line at the cute pie shop next door was wrapped all the way around the building and into the street. Luckily, we figured out that there is a separate window where you can walk right up and order a pie to go. When we tried it at home later, I would totally understand why the line is so long. It was delicious!

Spring in Encinitas

Encinitas was one of the first places I visited in California. For a gal from upstate NY studying in the suburbs of Delaware, southern California was a true utopia! I discovered first-hand that Encinitas was one of the nicest (and most expensive places to live) in the country. I figured I would never live there unless I became an engineer-slash-software developer.

Well, flash forward about 15 years and I am not a software developer, yet there I was living in Encinitas! It is possible! Mind you, we were paying about $4,200 a month for a small cottage (technically mobile home), but it had two bedrooms, two baths, and multiple porches, and it was walking distance from the beach. I never thought I’d live in a mobile home park either, but it worked for us.

We found our place using the website, Furnished Finder. It was our first time trying that process, and it worked out well. Before we drove out there, it was a little stressful talking to landlords and trying to secure a place—one fell through at the last minute—but we were ultimately really happy with our landlord and the cottage.

We spent early April to mid-June working remotely, surfing, playing beach volleyball, eating tacos and burritos, and enjoying Encinitas. It was nice having a mini-home base again after a few months of bouncing around staying with family and in hotels. I joined ClassPass, took guitar lessons, cooked lots of meals in the cottage kitchen, and we got to reconnect with old friends, since both of us used to live in SoCal.

California has a serious appreciation and lifestyle preference for being outside. We loved how easy it was to include beach, hiking, or picnicking with friends into our daily lives. My only complaint was the east coast work schedule meant I had more early morning calls than I usually do, which definitely conflicted with my surf schedule. Those pesky jobs, and all.

Bailey loved it, too. There was a lively dog park right across the street, and most restaurants allowed dogs. In general, California tended to be much more dog friendly than New Jersey—it helps that you can eat outside for much more of the year.

Overall, we were very pleased to be back basking in the California sunshine (even when we were there during the marine layer months of May Gray and June Gloom). We almost didn’t want to come back to the east coast, but the next adventures were calling our names…

March Madness (Part Two)

I was back in LBI for a brief moment (and a sunset or two), and then it was back on another plane to California. What has it been like to travel during/post-Covid? I’ll say it has been crowded! All of my planes have been completely full. No social distancing in sight.

In some ways it’s nice to return to the feeling of normal travel. In other ways it leaves me wondering if we’ve opened the floodgates too soon. It’s like there were all of these immediate limitations that didn’t fully make sense, and now the lifting of restrictions makes even less.

I was surprised to hear that we’d be going to an in-person conference for work, but happy since I’ve definitely got the bug after a full year off from traveling. I thought about staying in LA between trips, but I also like going home and unpacking my bags for a few days.

California was much warmer this time. The desert already gets up to 80 and 90 during the day. Luckily, the conference was mornings-only and we had the afternoons off to roam free.

I definitely didn’t spend much time in the room (or get much work done on the computer). The JW Marriott had a ton of options for activities: fitness classes, walking and hiking trails, bikes to rent, swimming pools, and a gym.

We took a bike ride through a nice park, past the flamingos and all different sized turtles.

It was tough to adjust to the Pacific Time Zone, which also made it hard to stay up past 9pm. But I was always up early (like way too early, at 4:30am) to get a sunrise walk or a workout in.

I was sad to leave the desert! I wouldn’t want to be there come summer, but I’m dreaming of a painting class or a yoga retreat there someday. Now I’m fighting jet lag on the other side and struggling to fall asleep before midnight and wake up at 7! It’s funny how quickly our bodies adapt.

No more trips to California in the very near future, but I’ll be going to Colorado next week. See you again soon, travel life!

March Madness (Part One)

I just decided this needs to be a two-part post. After not traveling by air for a whole year, I went to California twice in one month!

Here’s how that happened… do you remember how I was supposed to be going to El Salvador in March to teach on a yoga retreat? That is now postponed to October 2nd. You can come.

Since I was already planning to take the week off and be away, I decided to make a trip out to LA. My friend, Pixie, decided to travel at the same time. So I stayed at her place to watch the dogs. Do you recognize these guys?

I also started a new job this month. Technically, I’ve been working with them since October, but we decided to make things full-time and more official. I’m excited!

While I was boarding the plane to fly out to LA, my boss called me about an opportunity. He would be leading a workshop in Southern California at the end of the month and wanted me to come along. Ok! I said.

I work from home, so I logged on for the early morning hours and had most of afternoon/evening free to explore. My friend came up from San Diego, and I got to see a few old friends in the LA area. Things were still pretty locked down and outdoor only— it was surprisingly chilly! But we did our best to meet up.

Pixie lives in such a beautiful area, and the boys were very well-behaved. I always feel lucky to stay there!

I threw any summer diet plans out the window for the week.

But we had some time for hikes and gorgeous views.

My friend Ashley had never been to LA, so of course we had to do the touristy things.

And we had a socially-distanced party in the park for a bulldog birthday.

The week went by too fast, with a lot of jet-lagged 4:30am wake-ups! It was so nice to see everyone again. I can’t believe it’s been a whole year. Sometimes it feels like six years and sometimes like six minutes. What a strange time, but I’m glad we’re getting back out there. Stay tuned for part two!

Disney Day

It feels weird to talk about Disneyland right now, but that’s where we went three weeks ago before it shut down until mid-April. It was my first time, and I was very impressed! My parents have always spoiled me rotten, so I’ve been to Disney World more times than I can remember. My sister and I even ran the Disney Marathon in 2012. We are old Disney pros.

I wasn’t sure what level of excitement to bring for the trip. My mom warned me that the California version of Disney was smaller with fewer adrenaline-inducing rides. But the park is less than an hour from East LA and we started out with the new Star Wars area, so that quickly raised the bar high.

The day got even better from there! We rode all my old Magic Kingdom favorites and saw new things like Mickey-shaped pretzels and the Sleeping Beauty castle. Since we were in the off-season, it felt like a chill rendition of the all-out Orlando experience.

We helped Katherine eat a giant turkey leg and hung out by the Louisiana-looking river. She and Nath have been living in LA for a few years, so this wasn’t their first rodeo. They showed me the fast pass system which rmeant we didn’t have to wait in line for more than an hour for most of the rides we wanted. We were bummed that the newest Star Wars ride was already booked for the day by the time we got there, but there was plenty else to do.

We met Pooh and Eeyore and got more drenched than expected on Splash Mountain.

Riding “It’s a Small World” was a bit surreal for me when we saw the koalas and kangaroos in the Australia display. Had I actually been in another hemisphere only a week before? It really was a small world after all.

It looks like we won’t be visiting any amusement parks for a while now, so I’m glad we went when we did. LA Disney turned out to be 10/10, would definitely do again.

Marina del Rey

Thus far, 2020 has held a lot of uncertainty. I think we’re all feeling it in the first quarter, and I know the small ripples are being felt in my own life. In January, I was feeling restless. I’d planned to join my lovely friend Echo on her yoga/snowboarding retreat to Japan in March, but something wasn’t feeling right. I didn’t think I would be able to relax and enjoy another trip after hanging out in Sydney with nothing to do for two months. The Bali workshop was already booked. Too much vacation is an easy problem to have, and I’m sure from the outside it looks like I’m never working (!!!), but I do eventually get fidgety if I’m sitting around twiddling my thumbs for too long.

It was time for the plan to change.

The day after I decided to pull out of the Japan trip (pre-Coronavirus scares!), Pixie, my El Salvador retreat leader, started messaging me. She wished we could still teach on her trip together and keep some consistency from year to year. I, of all people, realize that I’m scattered and often too non-committal, so I was nervous to tell her that my plans had changed yet again. But the wheels were already in motion.

“…What if I said I might still be able to go?”

And with that, we locked it all into place. I would land at her new apartment in Marina del Rey. She needed someone to watch her dogs for a week. I would have time for visits in LA, and we would depart for El Salvador on February 29th.

Sometimes things just click, and this felt like one of the clicks. Here’s the view from her new apartment:

I think I made the right choice.

Still fuzzy from the long flight, I walked on the beach to view the Pacific Ocean from the other side. Pixie introduced me to her new rescue baby, and we became fast friends:

Gouda (on the left) is new. Oscar (on the right) is my old pal.

I made new friends, caught up with old friends, played beach volleyball, and took some of the best walks I could have imagined. I was reminded of my old life here, and I sure did miss it.

California, there is just something about you.

Oh hi, LA

After my mom and sister kindly dropped me off at JFK airport during the very early morning hours, it was time to begin the journey around the world. I landed at LAX with plenty of day in front of me. My friend Katherine had gotten out of work early, so we went to lunch at my favorite place to come home to (Homestate Tacos). It’s a little reminder of Austin right in my old neighborhood in LA. Sorry no taco photos; we were too busy eating them!

We caught up on some work in the afternoon and I got to settle into Katherine and Nath’s amaaazing new house! Then we tried a sweet little new place for dinner. It felt great to be back!

Our LA time was cut a bit short, because we had an epic wedding to attend! On Friday, Katherine and I got our nails done while eating bagels, naturally. We picked up Nath early from work and drove about two hours north to Ojai. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a raging fire in between, but we skirted around it and held our breath when the sky got smoky. Yikes!

The wedding zone was unaffected by the fire and smoke, lucky for us as we partied through the weekend, celebrating one of my favorite couples of all!

Ojai is kind of like if Palm Springs had a cuter little sister that you don’t hear as much about. It offers picturesque mountain views and has a way of feeling totally remote from LA in spite of its proximity. The wedding venue was a secluded desert oasis with about ten retro-style airstream trailers for guests to stay in, which we sure did.

It was the perfect spot to celebrate love, gather with friends, and partake in my last California hurrah (for now)! It’s nice to know so many people all over the country that make it so hard to leave.

Before I knew it, it was time to drive back to the city and repack my bags (and eat some chicken and waffles) for the next, way longer flight!

Cross Country

On the first night at our B&B in Yosemite, I grabbed a book off the bookshelf called, The Prophet. It’s a book of life wisdom about a man, or a prophet, who has lived abroad for years and is about to make his journey back home. It felt wholly appropriate to be reading it in that time and place, as I was about to do the same.

As you know, I drove a lot during the California sister’s trip (ahem, no thanks to my partner-in-travel), and after that I decided to just keep on driving. After Elayne left, I joined my housemates for our last round of Highland Park food truck nights and sold my bed at exactly 8pm. The next day, it was time to drive my fully packed car to Phoenix.

The drive itself would take about 5.5 hours, but I’d been thinking of stopping at an art installation in the desert called Salvation Mountain. I was undecided about going, because it would add almost two hours and take me on a more remote path. However, a friend of mine had done it before on her solo road trip and she agreed that it would be worthwhile. I changed my course and headed southeast of the interstate.

The first scenic viewpoints I passed were of the Salton Sea (pictured above), which is this kind-of-creepy and very isolated body of water that seems very out of place in the desert. I stopped in the nearby town of Bombay Beach—population 295 and apparently the lowest community in the United States. “Community” might be a bit of a stretch because the town seemed to be made up of abandoned trailers spray-painted with anarchist messaging and signs saying “Hipsters go home”. It definitely had a spooky scary movie energy, but the kind you can’t help but keep watching.

I wound a little further past that town and mapped my way to Salvation Mountain. Its bright colors were easy to spot from the rest of the flat, sandy scenery. The air was steaming hot, but I was too impressed by this artist's and community’s dedication to mind.

After about half an hour of sweating in Dr. Seuss-land, I got back on path and continued the journey. Pretty soon, i found myself in the midst of some surprise sand dunes that extreme Star Wars fans probably know more about than me. Nonetheless, I was very excited to park the car again and stop at an overlook.

Later, I had to stop at a border checkpoint and nervously explain my intentions. It went fine, and the terrain kept changing and keeping things interesting. I was well on my way to Phoenix… (to be continued).

Sisters in California: The rest!

I’m sorry to tell you, but most of the glorious highlights of our trip stopped after Yosemite. It was a boring drive back on the 5, however we adjusted the plan and went west to Santa Monica so we could at least enjoy a bit of beach time and our last donuts (some of my all-time favorites). After that, it was hard to keep my mind off the cross-country move that would be taking place TWO DAYS LATER. I forced Elayne to come with me to get my oil changed, which she did not really enjoy, but we did try a yummy coffee shop in Atwater Village. But then we walked over a mile in sweaty summer LA sunshine, so win some, lose some, ya know?

We tried to go bowling, and unfortunately there was a two hour wait, so we could only eat tacos. (Note to self: reserve your spot for the bowling before getting the tacos.) Then that was that. I brought Elayne to the airport and packed my car up to leave the very next day.

What a trip, though! I’m glad we could pack so many awesome activities (and donuts) into our week together. Until next time… maybe in another five years?

Sisters in California: Yosemite!

Anything I have to say about Yosemite seems very minuscule when compared to the beauty of the place itself. Our hostess was a true park expert, and she gave us great advice for planning the day, not to mention preparing a delicious and above-and-beyond breakfast in the morning. The park was crowded, of course, on a Sunday in summer, but it didn’t hinder our explorations at all. We parked at the far end of the village loop, rode the shuttle back in, and started by hiking the Mist Trail.

As we were climbing up the stairs and getting drenched by the waterfall, we saw a lovely little rainbow. iPhones are all waterproof now, right?!

After our hike, we rode the shuttle back to the car and drove up to Glacier Point. The views were breathtaking! I’ve been to Yosemite twice before (once as a baby), but this time felt like a whole new experience.

There was a little bit of traffic, and it takes a while to drive around the park at any time, however with these views we certainly didn’t mind. We added an extra hike in at the end by taking the Sentinel Dome trail. At the end of the day, we were glad to have taken the extra two miles, because it was much less crowded and offered similarly incredible vistas to Glacier Point.

Sisters in California: Day 4

After our few days of fun in LA, it was time to head up the coast for further adventures. Maybe I should have organized the itinerary a little better so that we didn’t do the bulk of our driving on a Friday, but of course, hindsight’s 20-20.

We left early in the morning so that we would have time to make a few stops. First, we checked out Solvang, a sweet little Danish that seems straight out of a storybook.

And you know we had to find more donuts! Nothing to see here…

After a long drive and a bit of traffic delay, we made it to Napa and our tasting reservation slot at Domaine Carneros. Elayne had organized this portion of the trip, but I’m always happy to sit by and sip sparkling wines on any Friday afternoon.

This vineyard ended up being our favorite in Napa.

After the tasting, we checked into our fancy hotel—a little too fancy for the amount of time we were able to spend in it, but still a nice escape from LA. We drove into the nearby town of Yountville for pizza and, obviously, more wine. When in Rome…

Sisters in California: Day 3

It’s nice to have a visitor in LA, so that you can do all sorts of touristy activities that you might not necessarily do on a normal day. Like take a Warner Bros. studio tour:

And hang out around Batmobiles:

I think this was the day we made waffles for breakfast at home using my mini waffle maker. And went to yoga. And were there donuts, too? There probably were.

At night, we met a few friends for dinner at Grand Central Market, a good option for visitors since it’s casual and everyone can get something different. We opted for mango beers and Thai food. Elayne rode a Bird scooter for the first time. Then it was time to get home and rest up for our big weekend adventure…

Sisters in California: Day 2

Wednesday had to be one of the best California days I’ve had yet! We woke up early to eat breakfast at my number one neighborhood haunt, Kitchen Mouse. Then we hiked up to a secret swing in Elysian Park.

I think we must have had donuts, too, since that seemed to be the theme of our trip.

After that, it was time to get ready for the wine safari. You heard that right. In Malibu, you can visit a farm/winery where they will drive you around in a safari bus to visit a giraffe, zebras, alpacas, etc.

Of course we paid extra for a meet and greet with Stanley the Giraffe. It was the highlight of our trip.

Look at that tongue! I think the animals are more of the draw than the wine at this particular wine safari, but the grounds are lovely to walk and ride around. And the sun came out exactly at the start of our tour.

When the tour was over, we likely needed something to absorb the booze, so we decided to revisit one of the stops from our first California sister’s road trip five years ago, Neptune’s Net. It was just as good as we remembered, though we probably didn’t need to eat this entire plate of fried seafood right before dinner, but we’re on vacation, right?

We stopped at Point Dume on the way back to take in some gorgeous views of the coast. Then it was back into the city for dinner. I wasn’t doing it intentionally, but I realized I’d added mainly vegan restaurants to the itinerary. My sister and I aren’t vegan, but the options here are just that delicious!

Oh yeah, of course while we were in WeHo, we had to stop and see some more “famous walls of LA”. Here’s the one whose fame shocks me the most. But, when touristing, you gotta do what you gotta do!

Sisters in California: Day 1

My sister, Elayne, landed at 10am last Tuesday, so, most appropriately, I met her at the airport with donuts and immediately brought her to take pictures in front of all the fancy, brightly-colored walls in Los Angeles. Just kidding, but not really…

We ate breakfast at my favorite Venice breakfast place, and I thought we would spend the day at the beach because I forgot it was still June and how LA gets very sad, cloudy, and rainy at this time of year. It was too cold and not exactly sunny vacation weather, but no matter; we strolled around to the Venice canals instead.

Yup. Did you know that Venice has peaceful little canals just like Italy? They don’t have any gondolas to hire, but apparently you can bring your own paddle boat or stand-up paddle board and use it at your leisure.

We walked the boardwalk after that and saw a pretty OK but also pretty drawn out street performance. It was still too chilly to enjoy the beach, so we had a snack and took a pretty nice and necessary yoga class to work off the donuts and said snack before dinner.

Dinner was at THE BEST RESTAURANT, The Butcher’s Daughter. Have you been there yet? They have one on the east coast and the west coast, so New York or California, no excuses. You have to go!

Although it was a little chilly to our liking—especially since Elayne has been working in a hectic veterinary internship all year and hasn’t seen the sun or light of day in a while—we made the most of things and had ourselves a nice west side day. Nevertheless, we were still crossing our fingers for some sunshine later in the trip.

The Calm Before the Storm

Well, actually, it’s almost always a wild storm for me, because I have trouble sitting still for days at a time. But, here’s what’s happening: my sister comes to California for our likely-traditional every-five-year road trip; I somehow manage to sell all my furniture and pack all my belongings into my car by the time she leaves; I leave the very next day to drive across the country to my mom’s house in New Jersey, where I’ll stay for the rest of the summer. No sweat.

So, before that happens, I wanted to enjoy my last remaining solo days in LA (for now) by doing whatever seems worthy of my last days. I went for a glorious nature hike at Chantry Flats. Can you believe that such a place exists so close to this gigantic of a city?!

I drove down to Carlsbad to visit with friends, sing karoke, and spend a cloudy morning at the beach testing my new surfing skills. (And noticed they don’t quite hold up to California waves).

I took the Transcendental Meditation course in Los Feliz and had a few days there to explore a new-to-me neighborhood. And eat ice cream every day of that week. I’ll have to keep you posted on how TM differs from the mantra meditations I’ve been practicing daily for almost two years now, but I’m pleased with the results so far.

The following week, I drove down to Newport Beach to fulfill all my teenage OC TV-show dreams. It’s been nice when the sun finally pokes through the clouds around 2 in the afternoon to combat our month of June Gloom.

I hosted a see-ya-later bonfire in my backyard [tears]. I wonder if my grandma knew when she gifted me this vintage picnic basket that it would someday become the home of the perfect Pinterest-esque s’mores bar.

Last, but of course not least, friends and I scuttled over into the valley to eat the fluffiest pancakes in the world. These were worth the trek!

Later we spent the day climbing over rock beaches near Malibu and shopping at kooky vintage shops in Topanga.

I’m sure going to miss this place!

Finding Your Tribe

I was sad to leave El Salvador and all of the adventurous, chill, and fun people I met on the retreat. Lucky for me, a lot of them live in LA, so I was already able to get ice cream with my new friend, Teri, and do more Buti yoga with Pixie. However, I’m a little bummed to feel like I’m finding my tribe in this city right as I’m about to leave again… [*life update here].

It’s been so fulfilling to find other people who want to build their lives into a grand adventure and who aren’t afraid to try something new on their own. I feel complemented and supported by others who aren’t cool with the, “Grow up and settle down” message in our society and who want to grow up and live their dreams while maintaining the playfulness and curiosity of childhood.

When I got back to LA, I spontaneously made a trip down to San Diego to see my friend Sara. We spent Saturday night singing karaoke songs in her living room and Sunday at the beach testing out our surf skills. We got tumbled by some waves, but that was OK. We were doing what we’ve always wanted to do and having a great time doing it.

On the drive home, I got a message from my friend inviting me to a PRIDE dinner party at her house. Everyone was requested to bring rainbow foods or drink to celebrate the opportunity to be oneself and the gift of love for everyone. I wasn’t planning to go home or to the grocery store; I had brunch plans with another friend. What do you know, during brunch that friend told me she had a collection of rainbow superfood powders and we could definitely put together a rainbow menu item. We spent the afternoon making colorful tie-dye waffles (she also happened to have a peace sign mini waffle maker!) and I had the perfect thing to bring to the party.

I’m going to miss all of these people so much! But if there’s anything I’ve learned from living in different places, it’s that your tribe doesn’t die when you leave. Sometimes it gets even stronger as it spreads out and new members are added. And then you end up feeling like you can land anywhere and find a sense of belonging.

Skiing in Squaw Valley

I didn’t think I could enjoy a ski area as much as I’ve enjoyed Mammoth, but, think again, because my dad and I found another outstanding competitor a few weeks ago. Spring skiing in Squaw Valley has made it’s way to the top of the list of best trips ever. I mean, Spring skiing almost anywhere is my favorite kind of skiing—60 degrees, blue skies, and soft ice-free snow—but an early May weekend at Squaw really made me feel spoiled.

Ok, this is coming from a mainly Northeastern skiier up until last year, but I was amazed to find that there was still SO MUCH snow! Most of the mountain was open and stayed open until 1pm, when it would get a little too slushy to carry on, but the highest part would remain open until 4pm, i.e. the entire day… in May!

The Saturday that we were there was the day before Cinco de Mayo, i.e. Cuatro de Mayo, so there were a lot of other fun happenings going on (like the annual pond skim) and tacos to eat. We were hesitantly ok with calling it quits around 1 o’clock, but it would have been easy to keep going. However, we had to move on to partaking in one of the other benefits of Squaw Valley—its proximity to Lake Tahoe!

Wow, wow, wow! Check out these aprés ski vistas! I’m beginning to think I could consider living in other parts of California besides the southern third.

Birthdays

I turned 31 this month. I know, can you believe it?! Life is always rushing past at full speed, and I’m doing what I can to make the most of all these moments. Since a birthday is really a reason to go BIG if there every was one, I decided to do a very SoCal particular thing and try to ski and visit the beach in the same day. Of course it’s possible, the mountains and the beaches are a little under 3 hours apart, but in reality with LA traffic, you can never be too sure. I had to test it out for myself.

On April 9th, I rose before the sun, tucked my skis into the trunk of my car, and drove up into the mountains. Well, actually drove an hour on the highway and then a steep and windy hour and a half to Big Bear. One of the most important reasons for attempting this feat was that Big Bear Mountain offers a free lift ticket on your birthday. I had a birthday that blissfully coincided with a day off work, so I HAD. TO. GO.

I made it onto the mountain by about 9:30am, minus a brief stop for second breakfast since I’d donated blood for the first time the day before and was feeling a little woozy. There was not a tremendous amount of snow left this late in the season, but there was certainly enough to ski on. I’ve definitely seen less snow on other ski trips in my life.

This was my first time going skiing by myself, but iPhone & headphones were there for me, and it was a truly excellent morning. At around 11:30, the snow was getting pretty slushy, so I decided it was an appropriate time to make for the beach.

I stopped for lunch (an egg salad bagel, naturally) from what used to be my favorite bagel place but is now my second favorite bagel place since this one opened a few weeks ago. It’s really kind of unfortunate because the new one is way closer to my house and my bagel intake plus my waistline have probably both quadrupled or more. Anyhow, egg salad in tow I carried on my way.

One of my friends is a high school teacher who had a half-day field trip, so she kindly agreed to meet in Venice to make the day extra special. We grabbed a beer and scurried to the sand as fast as we could. It was still kind of breezy for LA spring, but that didn’t stop us from dunking in the water. I always try to get in the ocean as much as I can whenever I’m near the beach, even if it’s chilly, just so I don’t take it for granted.

My view had changed from snow to sand in a matter of hours. Unreal! Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember that I seriously live here. I wouldn’t say the ski & sea voyage is completely reasonable for a regular day, unless you feel like LA driving for 6 hours, but for a special occasion with plenty of free time it was perfectly doable.

Ben & Jerry’s must have known it was my birthday, because on the walk back to our cars to try to beat the wild rush hour traffic, they were giving out free ice cream cones for no reason at all!

What a sweet ending to a perfect day! It was followed by a night of loungey cocktails with lovely friends and then a very satisfying sleep.

Winter Wonderland

If you’re at a standstill wondering if you should go on a ski trip or be practical, stay home, work, and not go on the ski trip, I’m here to tell you that you should most definitely go on the ski trip. Even if you just got back from Mexico City and are leaving three days later for another continent, just go on the ski trip.

I was invited to go skiing with a group of friends last month, and I immediately wanted to go, because Mammoth, of course, and what a dream it was to be there last year. As the trip got closer, I started having doubts because 1.) all this travel means I haven’t really been working (ie. earning money) that much, and 2.) I was feeling wildly disorganized by the lack of time between trips. I couldn’t make up my mind about going, but I guessed that it had been made up for me since we’d already purchased lift tickets and booked the Airbnb.

Then, sort of miraculously, a * normal * person from Craigslist decided to sublet my room for the month. She came on the last day of February—she was the only one I showed the room to and mine was the only room she looked at, but we were both ready and it seemed like a good fit (and still does). Around the same time, I got an offer for a new freelance writing job to bring in a little side income while I flutter around teaching yoga for two hours a day. Two loads off my shoulders. Whew!

(I’m sure many of you who read this wonder how I can afford to do the things I do, and the answer is somewhere between my grandma giving us an early inheritance along with my being a bit reckless and very resourceful when opportunities for adventure present themselves.)

So all that could’ve fallen into place did, and the ski trip was happening. We drove the 5 hour trek up to the snowy mountains (not a problem for Suzie’s Suburu Impreza) , checked into the very 80’s ski condo, and sipped some cocktails, because, well, of course. There were four of us in the first car, waiting until later in the night when the rest of the group would arrive. Once the second car made it to the condo area, they got stuck at the bottom of the hill, and we had a bit of an exciting time putting chains on their tires (ie. me holding my phone flashlight while the guys did the work).

The first day of skiing was hampered by the biggest blizzard I’ve seen in a while, so many of the lifts were closed. We drank Irish coffees in the lodge and almost called it quits, but as we were about to pack it in, we found an open chair with great conditions and did laps there for the rest of the afternoon.

On Sunday, we decided to avoid the crowds and possible windy conditions and opted to check out June Mountain, which is still as much of a gem as the first time I saw it. What a perfect day!

Anyway, the moral of this story is to stop all of your non-skiing nonsense, expect everything to fall into place, and go on the ski trip.