Category Archives: Hiking

Santa Cruz weekend: Redwoods and the Boardwalk

Sunday was Katie and Matt’s wedding in Ben Lomond. To make a weekend out of it, gem and I decided to spend Friday through Monday in Northern California. After a late start on Friday, I drove to Ben Lomond in Santa Cruz County. Here’s a photo of our hotel, the Quality Inn & Suites Santa Cruz Mountains. The drive was relatively uneventful but fun given that I enjoy talking! We didn’t actually reach the hotel until about 11 o’clock, so this photo is from Saturday morning. It was quite beautiful. Unfortunately, there was an odd smell that caused us to keep our clothes in the car, but let’s not dwell on the negative.

Saturday morning we went to the Henry Cowell Redwood State Park for a hike. It was absolutely gorgeous! Southern Californian hikes are terrible by comparison.

It was about 10 when we got there, which felt like a late start. It wasn’t really. I’m just used to hiking in direct sunlight down here. It wasn’t hot at all, and I probably didn’t even need sunblock.

gem and I discussed wanting to see wildlife, and when we heard a train, our conversation segued into the idea of “wild trains” being native to the Santa Cruz area. You see, they spend their whole lives growing tracks and migrating across the lands. When they die, their offspring can use the tracks grown by the previous generations.

Look what else we found while hiking! What could that be?

It was a geocache! I fail at geocaching most of the time, so I was pretty happy to find this one in a tree stump.

gem and I signed the log.

After hiking, we went to the Best Western Plus Inn in Scotts Valley to meet with Marc and one of his friends. He drove us to the beach to meet his other friends, only running one red on the way. Okay, he caught it half way into the intersection and backed up. No harm done.

By the time we got to the beach, his friends were leaving to go back to the hotel. We walked around a little in attempt to get to the lighthouse, but after realizing we were on the wrong side of something, we just decided to leave.

We headed toward to Santa Cruz Boardwalk and strolled along the wharf after getting some delicious ice cream. Looking down through the pier, we saw some adorable sea lions! They were pretty cute. One kept trying to jump out of the water but couldn’t quite make it.

As the time approached that Matt and Katie were going to arrive at the hotel, we went back to meet with them and the rest of their friends. Here I am holding Katie’s wedding dress trying with all my might not to drop the dress. It wasn’t heavy or anything, but I couldn’t help but think about how horrible it would be if something were to happen. Everything was fine though!

We all went back to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Anela had recommended we check it out, and I know I went there as a kid but don’t really remember it. I’m glad Matt wanted to go; it was a lot of fun. I love taking pictures of colored lights, fairs, and the like, but for some reason I didn’t really take any pictures. I guess I was too busy having fun and meeting new people. Their friends are super awesome! gem did get this picture of me in line for the Giant Dipper rollercoaster though!

We ended the night at the arcade. How did the happy couple spend their last evening before getting married? They played some classic arcade games obviously.

After some air hockey, gem and I played Tetris against each other. I’d never played this version. She kicked my butt. I also played some Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-Man, my favorites!

Last year gem and I met with Katie, Matt, and Marc for the first time while we were in San Francisco. We took a few photos, but none turned out well. This time we had much better luck! From left to right that’s gem, Marc, me, Matt, and Katie. It was so, so good seeing them. My eyes are about to tear up just thinking about the wedding, and I wasn’t even planning on talking about the wedding itself until the next post.

You can view more photos in my Flickr album aptly named Matt and Katie’s Wedding.

You can read about the wedding itself here: Santa Cruz weekend: Matt and Katie’s wedding!

Goodnight, weekend

We really managed to pack in a lot of fun this weekend. I saw Alex for the first time in half a year, played some WoW, went on a 17 mile bicycle ride, talked comics with the waitress at California Shabu Shabu, hiked up Turtle Rock View Point, went to a BBQ, went swimming, indoor rock-climbed, worked on my game, almost finished a DIY vinyl toy, and watched Scott Pilgrim.

I’m beat.

Day 7 – Hiking, Swimming, Leaving

On our final day we went hiking in Mariner’s Ridge. On the way we met up with Alex and had some Loco Moco – rice, gravy, beef steak, and fried eggs. Mariner’s Ridge itself was a cool hike that went up to a ridgeline and then traveled between the mountaintops. It had an amazing view! Then we tried to go swimming one last time. It was a bit tough. We kept trying to find a beach, but there were problems at each. On the third or fourth beach, we found the one for us and went swimming.

After showering at home and packing, we headed to the mall to do some last minute shopping before heading to the airport. It seemed like we had a lot of time at the beginning of the trip, but the end came quickly! I hope we get the chance to visit again.

Day 2 – Black Friday

We started the day with an interesting twist; the Hurst fridge died, so we had to wait for it to be replaced. During that time, I shopped on the Toshiba site, taking advantage of a Black Friday sale to purchase TVs! That made me happy. After the fridge was installed, we decided to do some hiking.

We headed to Manana trail after picking up some new board shorts for me that actually fit this time. The trail was great – very scenic with some challenging parts. We eventually hiked to Waimano Falls, which was a great little waterhole for some refreshing swimming and a sweet rope to swing out over the water. We had to climb up some rocks with the help of a rope to reach a place from which we could jump. Surprisingly, I found that my week doing in-door rock climbing at Rockreation helped prepare me for climbing this rock! Anyways, jumping in was a lot of fun, and the swimming itself was invigorating.

While we were swimming, a full thunderstorm rolled into the area. It was really sweet honestly, and I guess we were technically hiking in a rainforest. There was a rock overhang, so we moved our stuff out of the rainfall, sat down on the rocks, and enjoyed our lunch. We had packed leftover Thanksgiving dinner sandwiches, which were quite delicious. The whole afternoon was pretty magical in my opinion!

After the storm subsided, we hiked for a bit more before heading to Aulani to see Darnell. I’m glad we got to see her at work! We walked around a bit, taking into the sights, and even swam in an infinity jacuzzi and saw a music and dance performance! Aulani had great architecture and design. The Disney magic can be found here as well. I enjoyed seeing the Menehune sculptures, the legendary people of Hawaii who are craftsman and build many things when no one is looking. We had some fruity drinks before heading to Just Tacos for Mexican food. It was a fun evening.

Crystal Cove

We went to Crystal Cove last week, which was very fun and beautiful. I thought I’d share some of my photos.

While looking at the tidepools, I only managed to fall once. That’s good, because my butt hurt for a few days after that.

Stairs might not be that fun to climb, but I always like photographing stairs. I don’t know why!

This looks like it should be in Myst. Is there a Crystal Cove age? Maybe there’s a page hidden there somewhere.

This photo was enhanced a bit, but I think it still looks pretty. You can view the rest of my photos from the trip here!

Jackie and Kenneth

Thanks to Jackie and Kenneth visiting, we had an eventful weekend. Friday night we went out for Korean tofu. I hadn’t had it in a few months now, so it was about time.

The menu happened to list “ocotopus” as one of the possibilities. I’m not sure what an ocotopus is, but it’s now my favorite animal.
After dinner we decided to see if Mochilato was still open. It’s a mochi/gelato store. We cut through Mitsuwa, where I found this sign.

I swear, I wasn’t the only one who giggled. That looks a bit like a certain part of female anatomy, doesn’t it? Anyways, Mochilato was still open, and it was tasty. It was very packed though. The last time I had eaten there, it was a relatively new restaurant and not that popular. It’s not amazing, but it’s a fun little place.
On Saturday we went to a picnic at Corona del Mar with Jackie, Kenneth, and some of their friends. There were a couple people I knew, but no one else I knew very well.

We decided to take a break from the picnic to go out on the rocks of the jetty. gem had a bit more trouble than me, but we managed to make it to the end. My photos are here. I got to take some cool shots, which is always fun.
On Sunday, we went to Metro Pointe to watch Men in Black III. As expected, it was really fun. It had the same MIB humor and high quality as the first movie. The second movie was not as good. I saw some people complain about time travel plotholes in IMDB, and I’d like to point out that it’s Men in Black. Just enjoy the crazy humor. Will Smith’s awesome.
Afterward, we stopped by Color Me Mine to pick up our completed pieces. They wouldn’t give me the shards of the broken piece at first. Why call and let us know they’d save the pieces for us if they were going to throw them away. She eventually let us keep them though. Then we headed to Barnes & Noble where Amanda was working. We spent a few minutes catching up, which was very nice. She seems to be enjoying it there. Now I just need to find time to stop by Rich’s new store.

Hiking in the Limestone Canyon Wilderness Park

gem and I went hiking in the Limestone Canyon Wilderness Park on Saturday. We were supposed to go with Carrie and Edward, but Edward forgot somehow. I guess signing up in advance wasn’t enough of a reminder (nor was the e-mail reminder from them). We signed up in advance for the Wilderness Access Day, which comes up every month or so and allows self-guided hiking. I don’t know why anyone would ever want to go with a guide.
It was a beautiful hike, and I’m happy that the trails were very clear. I still had a cold though, so that caused some difficulties. I had to stop occasionally when the hiking was upsetting my throat. I also gave me the chance to take a lot of photographs!

Hiking! and Other Stuff!

On Thursday I went hiking with Jessica and Andrew! It was a lot of fun! I’ve already uploaded a couple photos of some of the things I saw. There was a turtle crossing the street that Jessica kept scaring while trying to get a picture of it. On the way back to the car, we also came across a snake in the middle of the road. I was… less keen on the snake. Ugh. There were a few cool caves and lots of great scenery, including the tree and cave of which I posted photos. I also took some photos of them while we were out for them to use as engagement photos!
Speaking of Jessica and Andrew, we’ve hung out a couple other times recently. We’ve watched a few movies because Jessica realized that gem hasn’t actually seen anything, and we played Cranium with a few other friends too. We also failed at opening a bottle of win; Jessica had to ask one of her neighbors for help. Andrew wasn’t too happy about that when he found out, heh. Anyways, it’s been a lot of fun hanging out!

Cave

Cave, originally uploaded by theuser.

I thought this cave was pretty cool.

Snake!

Snake!, originally uploaded by theuser.

Snakes aren’t nice. But this one didn’t bite me.
So we’re okay.