Surfing Sea Lions and San Fran

I just fled our apartment in a blaze of glory, and I mean that almost quite literally, because it’s 93 degrees out and our apartment does not have air conditioning. I repeat, does NOT have air conditioning. People keep telling me the weather out here is so much better than the east coast because there’s no humidity. Well, I don’t know about you, but when it’s so hot I can feel my scalp sweating, it’s time to get the hell out of there. Now I’m in the air conditioning haven that is the library, and I am finally in the right state of mind for a blog post.

Possibly the most ridiculous part of this hot weather is that just 9 days ago, Owen and I were somewhere in the Bay Area and it was so cold I wanted winter pants and a ski jacket. We had planned to go to the Golden Gate Bridge, but we got sidetracked and went looking for a sub shop. On our quick detour, we ended up driving on Highway 1 next to the Pacific Ocean. We were stopped in traffic at Half Moon Bay and saw tons of people staring out at the ocean, and Owen expertly spotted a whale from the car! That was enough to derail our original plans and we spent the afternoon whale watching. I hadn’t seen whales in so long that when I first spotted two of them coming up at the same time, I thought I was seeing two monster sized surf boards. Almost as enjoyable as the whales was a sea lion swimming around in the surf who gave us the spectacular pleasure of watching him surf a wave in! He puts us to shame; I’ve never seen a human look half as graceful in the water. We also drove further up the coast to the place where the surf movie ‘Chasing Mavericks’ was filmed, an area known for some of the largest waves in the world. PS- the water is so cold here that you have to wear a wetsuit to go in. We haven’t seen anyone without them yet!

Whale! (I promise)

Lily of the Nile blooming on the path to the ocean

On Tuesday I had my first experience with public transportation here- I rode the BART (a train) up the east side of the Bay to Berkeley for an informational meeting with someone in the stormwater industry. After that, I explored the UC Berkeley campus. My favorite area was a eucalyptus grove, made even better by the man doing an interpretive dance among the trees. There was also a clock tower which I went up in. I excitedly asked how many steps there were to the top since at Cornell where I went to school there was a clock tower we climbed with 161 steps. Apparently they don’t trust Californians to take the stairs, because you had to use the elevator. It was still worth it for the amazing view. I took the train back to the station near Owen’s work, and I got so hungry waiting for him to pick me up that I started sketching to distract myself. I don’t sketch. But it worked!

View of Berkeley 

I’ve signed up for a trail marathon in October pretty close to San Jose that starts in the mountains and ends on the coast (net downhill, baby!). So I’ve been going to a few group workouts a week to help with my training. There’s a Monday workout called BLAST, stands for butt, legs, arms, stomach toning, which definitely does not feel like a blast when your entire body is shaking and the instructor decides to take a photo of you just then. But it’s actually a lot of fun, and we commiserate together. Last week I met this awesome lady who is actually a grandmother and has a tongue ring and other piercings. This past week, I was next to an older man who was making such ridiculous grunting/moaning noises during the moves that on at least two occasions, I burst out laughing. Fingers crossed everyone thought that’s just how I was dealing with the pain?

This past weekend we had the special treat of hosting our friend Lowell! We explored the nearby town of Campbell and discovered a candy shop that had the most disturbing soda flavors, including peanut butter and bacon. They also had a huge selection of orange sodas that I will most certainly be revisiting after my long runs later this summer. Owen rented a Tesla for the weekend and we strutted our stuff at the valet parking at Santana Row, the upscale shopping/dining area near us. We got a fancy dinner at a bustling Asian restaurant that doubled as a club. Then we walked around, admired/made fun of the many dogs we saw in strollers, and listened to a live band.

The next morning Owen graciously drove us to a free yoga class at Santana Row. Afterwards, we regrouped and found out that conveniently there was a car show going on at Santana Row at the same time. I stared longingly at a light purple-colored Tesla convertible. There’s a negative percent chance that will be my next car, but hey, a girl can dream. Later that day we finally made it to the Golden Gate Bridge after being eaten up by San Francisco traffic. The three of us walked all the way across the bridge! We had great views of all sorts of activity in the bay, like sailboats, windsurfers, kite boarders, and best of all-sea lions. That night we had plans to meet Lowell’s dad for a fancy dinner in San Francisco. The traffic got us once again, and we all ended up changing into our dinner attire in the car while driving (including Owen, who was behind the wheel!). I had some decidedly unique things at dinner, including a cocktail infused with peas (delicious) and fried octopus. After we nursed our food babies, we walked around the city and saw another beautiful bridge- the Bay Bridge.

On Sunday, we went for a hike at Castle Rock State Park, not too far from us. We saw gorgeous views of the Santa Cruz mountains and rationed water on the dusty trail with the sun beating down on us. After we finished our 6-mile loop, we hightailed it in the car and drove straight to Saratoga, the nearest town, where we proceeded to stop in every coffee shop to find the coldest, most delicious water.

Don't let the smiles fool you- we were parched

I finally got to use my rusty Spanish with a lady cleaning the laundry room at our apartment complex. She started speaking to me in a language that was not English, and I had to slow her down and explain my outdated Spanish skills. She’s from Brazil so her first language is Portuguese, and she knew some Spanish and English. It was rough at first, but we ended up having an actual conversation! She’s a huge fan of NJ. Never been, but loves the place. After getting ruthlessly made fun of for years in college for being from NJ, this was a nice change.

Unfortunately, I’ve run out of funny tidbits to share and it is time for me to go back home to the hotbox. Until next time!

Pooping My Pants

Something prompted Owen and I to start our weekend at the wicked hour of four o’clock in the morning last Saturday… Yosemite National Park was calling our names! We made the three hour drive to the park’s entrance, and I limited myself to say ‘Oh my god’ only about 200 times. The drive there was so beautiful that I announced a few miles from the park that I’d be fine just turning around and going back home. Boy, how I would come to feel differently.

We drove through almost the entire park that day, stopping at several pull-offs to better see our surroundings and take photos. The best way I can describe it is… “I kept shitting my pants, sorry- pooping my pants.” Well put, I thought, by a lady at an overlook where you could see Half Dome in the distance. I overheard her say that, and we caught each other’s eyes and giggled. The scenery was just something else. I’ll let you see for yourself instead of babbling on incoherently.

View of Half Dome

We planned to camp in the park that night, and one of the reasons we had gotten up so early was to nab a first-come, first-serve site at a place called Tuolumne Meadows. I read that they recommend you arrive by noon to guarantee a site. So you can imagine how my stomach dropped when we saw the ‘campground full’ sign upon arrival around 11am. After Owen diagnosed my hanger, not making the situation any better, we stopped at this beautiful meadow cut by a babbling stream, ate lunch, and hatched a plan. At this point, all the campgrounds in the park were full. We now directed our attention to a group of campgrounds just outside the park. Though the park ranger working the exit told us not to get our hopes up, we managed to snag the last site at a peaceful walk in (read: no RVs) campground in Inyo National Forest.

After Owen took his second nap of the day (he was a driving champ), we set off on a hike. Our steep climb showed us magnificent views of the surrounding snow-covered mountains and brought us to the large Gardisky Lake. The land was teeming with pikas, these adorable squirrel/mice looking creatures. We enjoyed a delicious second lunch up there, and then out of nowhere, Owen declared he wanted to swim in the lake. Now, at this point I was wearing my jacket and wishing I brought my gloves- the windy, cool air did not scream ‘swim and sunbathe’ to me. But he insisted on doing it, so I dutifully cheered him on and snapped photos of the whole endeavor. Note the snow in the background. Yup, he's crazy. 

Have you ever gone to bed so early that you had to take off your sunglasses to do so? Well, we did! Around 6pm we called it a night and tucked into the tent. About 12 hours later we emerged into the light of day. We drove to a part of the park we hadn’t been to the day before (Yosemite Valley) and saw another view of Half Dome, our first sighting of El Capitan, several waterfalls, and the beautiful Merced River. I dragged Owen on a short waterfall hike; he dragged me to the museum. Then, sadly, we had to hit the road. Owen didn’t have to drug me as he thought he would’ve to get me to leave the park, but I was essentially ready to go back the moment we left.

This week, I drove into work with Owen one day and biked from his office to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge. Before lunch, I wandered around on foot and on wheels and went on a guided nature walk. In the afternoon, I did a 5-mile bike ride, around a man-made salt pond. There was zero shade, temps rose into the 90’s, on one half I was being pushed almost backwards by the wind, and on the other half there was no trace of a breeze, making it even more unbearably hot. In short, it was a ride from hell. I was so tired after that I had no choice but to just sit on a bench to while away the hours until Owen was to pick me up after work. I did strike up a conversation with what seemed to be an angel of the surrounding land, who knew every trail, every hill, every bike path, and I definitely got re-inspired from him to keep exploring. Though that would just have to wait until another day.

Overlooking salt marshes

Ride. From. Hell. 

Stay with me for this story: Owen and I discovered this dip in our grocery store in South Carolina, chipotle cheddar cheese dip, that we became utterly obsessed with. Then, all of a sudden, our grocery store stopped carrying it. We looked everywhere for it- nothing. Owen had already told me he’d searched the grocery stores in CA high and low for it and couldn’t find it. I actually looked it up on Amazon and was pretty damn close to spending $20 for one packet. We used to pay like, three bucks for it. That’s how much we loved it. So, I was grocery shopping while Owen was at work one day and I FOUND IT! I piled five of them into my basket before scaling back to only two. Anyway, Owen and I inhaled it that night with a TON of chips. Then, he declares that he brought home the craziest, the fastest Tesla and was going to take me for a ride. Are you thinking what I was thinking? I was destined to vomit. We went anyway, and on a deserted back road, he put his foot to the floor: zero to 60 in 2.6 seconds. I literally screamed and for whatever reason, put one foot up on the dashboard. That’s the Tesla roller coaster, I call it. But, I did not throw up. Breann: 1, Tesla: 0. I had Owen read the draft of this post, and he reminded me that we also drove the car in autopilot. Whilst Owen's hands were off the steering wheel and his feet were off the pedals, the car accelerated, decelerated, and changed lines, all of its own accord. This was so frighteningly futuristic that I had erased it from my memory. 

The week was rounded off with several runs (I found a running group nearby!) and a trip to the library. Last week, when I tried to use self-checkout for the first time, I spent about 10 minutes trying to scan the wrong bar code on a book. This time I was determined not to act a fool. Instead, I repeatedly scanned my grocery store card instead of my library card.

I will leave you with this: I chatted with my neighbor briefly as he was leaving one morning. I said something like, ‘How’s it going?’ and he replied with a sullen ‘You know, the daily grind.’ I laughed in agreement, but to be honest, that couldn’t be farther from the truth for me. I really am ready to have a job again, to meet coworkers, pursue interesting projects, and make that necessary moolah. But, one thing that I’m certainly not struggling with right now is a daily grind. And for that, I’m grateful.

Welcome to the Sunny State!

I tried sitting at home eating bonbons all day, I really did. I guess I didn’t try hard enough though, because my efforts were thwarted by the fact that I don’t actually know what a bonbon is.

I moved to San Jose, California just 10 days ago from Sumter, South Carolina. However, this move has been months in the making. It started back in January actually, on my twenty-fourth birthday. Owen (my boyfriend, also referred to as ‘Superman’ sometimes) and I were lounging in a hotel that morning on a trip to Asheville, NC when he got a call from someone at Tesla, saying he had made it through the rounds of interviews for a body repair instructor position in California and they wanted to hire him! The selfish me immediately thought ‘Are you effing kidding me? This news on my birthday?’ But the supportive, loving girlfriend me (I know, I flatter myself) knew just how excited Owen was for this opportunity. The truth was, this job meant we’d be long distance again, and for anyone who knows a thing or two about Owen and I, you know that we could write the book on long-distance dating. So in the weeks that followed, as Owen prepared to move cross country to California, I made the decision that if I hadn’t found a job out there by mid-June, well fuck it, I was going out anyway. The days apart crawled slowly by, and finally I couldn’t deny the inevitable: I didn’t find a job yet, and I needed to hunker down and prepare for the move anyway. So one yard sale, several days of packing, 5 stuffed-to-the-gills boxes, and one bottle of Bailey’s later, I found myself flying across the country. After a pitstop in South Bend, Indiana for Owen’s brother’s wedding, I had officially made it to California. And I have decided that to keep you, my reader, following my every exciting word, and to keep me from resorting to eating bonbons every day, I am going to document my adventures, misadventures, explorations, and job search in California.

Owen lives in an apartment in San Jose (that’s “South Bay” of the San Francisco Bay Area) and I have spent the past week and a half exploring the area on foot and on bike, since I don’t have a car. Some interesting things I’ve encountered along my travels thus far: fake grass lawns, black squirrels, and a huge ass couch pulled onto a second floor balcony, our second floor balcony to be precise, via two skinny guys and a rope. I’ve learned not to go into the park at night, that ‘the city’ is now San Francisco, and that if I don’t like avocados yet, I better fake it til I make it. In all seriousness though, I’ve really loved what I’ve seen so far. There seem to be a lot more active people here, bike lanes on most major roads (!!) and an overall attitude of openness. I’ve already seen 60-something year old women wearing less clothing than I’d dare to in public, and people of all kinds enjoying themselves on the beaches and trails. Which brings me to my next point… Owen and I have done some awesome exploring recently.

Better get used to seeing these more often

My first full day here, Owen got a Tesla to use from work- thinking about how much that car is worth makes me afraid to breath in it- and we drove out to the Pacific Ocean! It was about an hour drive from where we live, and the drive there was almost as cool as the ocean itself. We took windy roads through golden hills and mountain forests. Owen’s goal, I think, is to make me sick in a Tesla. My theory is it’s some sort of rite of passage among him and his coworkers, but those cars can accelerate so quickly and with no delay at all, that I’ve heard it’s possible to make grown men puke. Anyway, I successfully made it through at least my first drive with all my guts intact. The ocean itself was spectacular. Way more wild than I’m used to seeing back east, complete with bonfires, driftwood, and my favorite of all- seals!

My first steps in the Pacific, ever!

Last weekend, after scanning a map of the area, seeing a park with the word ‘redwood’ in the name, and choosing to go there, Owen and I arrived at Big Basin Redwoods State Park. This drive wasn’t in a Tesla, just in Owen’s old Jetta, so no chance of me vomiting this time. But what a drive it was. I swear, they don’t make roads in California like they do anywhere else in the world. As if the twists, turns, blind curves, and steep climbs aren’t bad enough, they also decided that cars should share the road with bicycles. And there are people here crazy enough to try biking these hills! I can only call them crazy because I’m jealous and one day would like to try and bike it myself. Anyway, Owen and I were grateful to arrive in one piece. The park itself was magic-level cool. We found a grill to whip up our venison-burger lunch, and deemed it the best grilling spot in a park ever. Although the park was completely packed with tourists (damn you, Fourth of July weekend), we were completely alone amongst towering redwoods in our little nook of the park. After an awesome lunch washed down with watermelon beers, we took a hike to a scenic lookout, suggested by an enthusiastic volunteer. The hike started in thick redwood forest but quickly climbed to what reminded me of high desert scrub. (Disclaimer: I clearly don’t know the ecosystems in California well enough yet, so bear with me through this blog as my descriptions get more accurate.)

This week started with a scare: my phone informed me that I had used about 3000% of my data, and I might want to upgrade to a larger plan, it kindly suggested. I went into minor freak out mode. I’ve never even been close to using my measly 1 GB of data every month. Apparently I had been punked though, because when I went to brag/panic to Owen about it, my data usage had plummeted down to my normal 0.1% level.

The week was wrapped up with an after-work trip to Santana Row, a super upscale shopping/restaurant sanctuary only a few miles away from us. I felt cooler than ever just peering into some of the fancier bars. If any of you visit us, it has already been decided we are taking you here. As Owen and I could not afford to even look at most of the food there, we stopped at Walmart on the way home and bought a gallon of ice cream each.

So, in summary: I don’t have a job, a car, or a properly functioning computer (my charger makes hissing sounds, heats up to about 700 degrees; understandably I don’t leave it unattended for fear of it starting a fire). I can’t even drive Owen’s car, for Pete’s sake. It’s a manual and my skills + California roads does not end well. Asked by several people if Owen is going to buy a Tesla (in his words): “I can’t even afford toilet paper, let alone a Tesla.” So. This situation might make some people nervous. But I am determined to adventure my way through this awesome state on my quest to find a fulfilling career and a new life with Owen!