Wildflowers and Women of the Night

Staying true to my style, I’ve spent the past several weeks doing what I do best: hiking, running, camping, and exploring new places. And I’ll get into that soon. But perhaps the biggest excitement recently: Owen bought an adventure motorcycle! I haven’t ridden with him yet, but eventually we will ride “two up” and hope to take it to some wild places.

It’s been awhile since I posted, and we’ve been on some sweet adventures. Back in March (wow, it really has been awhile) we finally headed south, way south, to Death Valley National Park. We left at the bright hour of 3am, Owen’s idea, and drove through a desert sprinkled with Joshua Trees and little else. Total no man’s land. We arrived at the park late morning and met up with Doug, a friend from high school living in LA now. Saturday we did the driving tour of the park with a few pit stops for short hikes. Typical weather in Death Valley in the spring is a pleasant 70s-80s but we happened to choose the weekend the temperature climbed to over 100 degrees, which nearly set a record. So some of our short hikes turned into run out of the car, snap a photo, run back into the air conditioned car. At Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America, it was brutal. I felt like I was being thrown around in a clothes dryer- somehow the wind made it even hotter. To make matters worse, Owen decided to wear jeans and drink barely any water. Lesson learned there. That night we headed to higher elevation and camped at Wildrose Campground, tucked into a canyon up in the mountains. We had a “lady of the night” experience: some woman tried to come into our tent in the middle of the night! I guess she was just disoriented in the dark and had the wrong tent, but we were all a little shocked when we realized what was happening.

Owen dragging at Badwater Basin (that's a salt flat!)

Feeling better

Hiking to our lunch spot

Sand dunes in Death Valley

The next morning I was waiting for the bathroom and who walks out of it but Tori, someone I had gone to school with back in New York. She’s living in the Bay Area too now- what a coincidence! That day we hiked Wildrose Peak along with two new friends, a couple from Texas who had been traveling the West Coast the past few weeks. I think they were jonesing for some conversation with other people. On the way to the top, we had an impromptu snowball fight. Who would have guessed that one day we’d be in a 100 degree desert, and the next day we’d be in the snow?

Charcoal kilns

At the summit of Wildrose Peak

Our little car doing some off-roading

Another weekend we took Dave, one of my college friends, camping. We went to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, tucked into the Santa Cruz Mountains near us. He’s a relatively new camper, and it was really rewarding to see how basic stuff like making a fire and cooking s’mores was so exciting to him. So exciting, in fact, that he decided to burn all our leftover marshmallows and empty beer bottles to see what would happen. We created a monster! Owen was in charge of the food for the weekend and he outdid himself: we feasted on hot dogs and sausages cooked over the fire for dinner and breakfast burritos the next morning with bacon, eggs, cheese, salsa, onions, and peppers. I think Owen was a backcountry chef in his former life.

I was grateful to see two other friends from high school this spring. Maureen’s visit was relatively short but we did sneak in a pretty gnarly trail run at Wunderlich County Park on a rainy Saturday morning. Kristen visited just last weekend and we gave her the grand tour of the Bay Area: the ocean, the mountains, and San Francisco. The highlight of the weekend was our trip to Pescadero State Beach. Kristen and I saw something/someone swimming in the marsh, and went back and forth about 10 times (it’s an animal! no, it’s a person snorkeling!) before we realized it was, in fact, an animal. Many animals actually. I’m still not sure if we were seeing sea lions or harbor seals, but we watched them swimming and playing for about an hour. 

Wish I could claim credit for building it, but we just found this fort on the beach

Seals? Sea lions? You tell me.

We saw more marine activity on our day trip to San Francisco, and this time I knew what they were: sea lions. They were actually kind of scary; they barked at each other and tried to push each other off the piers. Even scarier yet was our Uber ride across the city: we got dropped off at Lombard Street, known for its steep, hairpin turns. I should’ve been expecting steep streets on our way there, but nothing could prepare me for what we experienced. At several points I was certain we were going to roll right back down the way we came. Later that day we took a boat ride out to Alcatraz, Island, previously home to a federal prison, and actually had a very enjoyable afternoon taking an audio tour, enjoying views of the city, and browsing the gardens.  

View of SF from Alcatraz

One weekend, Owen and I spontaneously decided we wanted to go camping. Now, normally that wouldn’t be a problem. But in the Bay Area, if you want to sleep in the woods for a night you have to make that decision months in advance and reserve yourself a spot. I scoured the interweb and luckily found the one place in the Bay Area that was first-come, first-serve at Castle Rock State Park. Owen and I thrive on first-come, first-serve, and snagged a backcountry tent site with no problem. I spent the weekend photographing wildflowers, and Owen spent the weekend trying to push me ahead on the trail.

There is also that thing I do 40 hours a week…I can’t believe I’ve been with San Mateo County for over four months now. Last week I drove out to the coast for a field visit and spent the morning hiking in the hills and walking along the beach with my coworker and her dog. I really can’t complain. 

All in a day's work

Spring Shenanigans

You know it’s spring here in San Jose when all three sketchy icecream trucks are back in action! The weather the past several weeks has been pretty out of control, so Owen and I had to get creative with our travels. We finally explored a few places in the East Bay that had been on our bucket list.

One day we drove out to Mount Diablo, about two hours northeast of us. After the last intense stretch of white-knuckle driving, we finally made it to the top and could easily see the Bay and even some snow covered mountains. Apparently Mount Diablo has one of the largest viewsheds (the area of land you can see) in the Western United States. After getting battered by the wind at the summit, we headed to lower ground and did a short hike through rolling, green plains. Our picnic lunch was followed by one of the best outdoor naps I’ve ever had.

Can you tell it was windy? Owen's hair does not normally do that

Another day we planned to hike Mission Peak, near Owen’s office. I’d heard of people running to the top of it so I figured it wouldn’t be anything too intense. Ha! We went in the midst of the heavy rains the Bay Area got battered with, and had to battle a trail that was essentially one big mudslide. On top of that, we arrived at the trailhead starving and had brought just a single banana with us. When we finally made it to the summit, we were too exhausted and drenched to even eat the freakin banana. However, I’m a big believer in the motto “It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun” and this hike was the perfect example of that.

Just two drowned rats

It’s been awhile since Owen and I have been backpacking together, and that was clearly evidenced the first few miles of our trip at Point Reyes National Seashore, north of San Francisco.  We were practically running down the trail, we had so much energy. We arrived at our backpacking site early in the day so we explored the beaches, and, I’ll never forget this moment: I turned my head to look down the coast and in the distance saw a waterfall cascading directly on the beach!  We spent the rest of the afternoon hiking out to the waterfall. In our usual camping fashion, we turned in for bed around 7pm.

The rocks were dying the water crazy colors!

That night I heard a pack of coyotes howling and yelping. Immediately my stomach dropped when I thought of the food in our bear box… the bear box that didn’t close properly. They never came for it, but it turns out I had good reason to worry. The next morning, when I went to grab our food our oatmeal packets were shredded up and something had nibbled on a corner of our cheese block. I can only guess it was a mouse! Despite our lack of food that morning we made it out fine, though I was nursing wounds from my pack irritating my hips. That prompted me to bring my pack to REI to get it properly fitted. A man so old, if REI were named after a person this would have been him, worked his magic on the 50 different adjusting straps. Hoping this helps!

Our campsite by the beach

Now that the flooding has subsided and roads are starting to open up again, I’ve gone on a few pretty sweet trail runs. I’m ramping up for a 50K in July, and getting back into training has been rough at points. At Almaden Quicksilver Park, I made my usual mistake of letting myself get way too hungry and thirsty. But eventually a runner’s high kicked in and I enjoyed myself. Last weekend, at Henry Coe State Park, I was simply unprepared for the 1600 feet of elevation gain and by the end it was all I could do to stumble back to the car. Luckily a Shamrock Shake revived me later that day. So on that note, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Chasing vert (aka running hills) at Quicksilver 

Northbound

I was going to open this blog post with how it already feels like spring in California: the air has that fresh, damp, earthy feel. Then I realized that later in the post this would be coming:

13 feet of snow and counting

That doesn’t quite go with the whole spring theme. But that’s California for you. Drive a few hours in any direction and you’re in a completely different world. That’s exactly what I did the past few weeks.

I had a long weekend off in January, whilst Owen was in the UK on a business trip. Evan, who’s living in Oregon now, and I scoured maps to find a place to meet up halfway and finally settled on Humboldt Redwoods State Park, on the coast of northern California. On the way up I drove through wine country, Bigfoot-themed tourist traps, and best of all: Avenue of the Giants, a scenic route that snaked through hundreds of giant redwood trees. We had the park almost entirely to ourselves and spent the weekend hiking through ancient redwood forests, trying to trip each other by see-sawing fallen sticks, and searching out the best lunch spots. On one hike, overcome by our growling stomachs before we could find a better spot, we dined in a dark, cold corner of the forest hunched on the ground over our food. We spent the rest of that day making up for our sub-par lunch by snacking at every overlook we came to. Other highlights included playing volleyball with a clump of moss and gorging on pizza at a local restaurant one night. The biggest highlight of all was just hiking underneath the redwood trees and experiencing the feeling of being a tiny blip alongside these prehistoric giants.

I filled the rest of my time while Owen was gone running with friends and coworkers, going to yoga, and I even took a bike repair class at REI one night. I got insanely lost getting to REI, despite the fact that it’s about three miles away and I’ve biked there several times. It is NOT the same in a car.

Last weekend Owen and I drove (or shall I say got driven? We took a Tesla) to Lake Tahoe for my birthday. Over 13 feet of snow had dumped on Tahoe this winter so far. It was more snow than I’d ever seen in my life. The snow drifts on the side of the road were higher than our car. Saturday we went cross country skiing through silent, snow blanketed forests and along Lake Tahoe itself. The running joke all day was that whoever fell first got the first round of drinks. Neither of us fell! That night we piled on layers and dined outside under a heat lamp, then walked into Nevada, just a few blocks from our hotel. The next day, while the Tesla was charging we killed time and hung out in a local coffee shop, had a snowball fight, and watched some gnarly sledding wipe outs. Despite the fact that we almost clawed our own eyes out after sitting in 3 hours of traffic to go 3 miles, it was an amazing weekend. Plus, as my sister put it, I'm now closer to 50 than 0. Cheers to that. 

This weekend we hunkered down for an intensive "get shit done" weekend. We had particular fun on our apartment purge. Owen had somehow ended up with almost every mixed CD from his 7 siblings’ teenage years and we experienced a blast from the past listening to blink-182 and Avril Lavigne and making bets on whose girlfriend wrote an intensive love note on one CD. Still haven't figured that one out yet.

I'm hoping to title the next post "Southbound"...stay tuned...

The Adulting Life

A lot has happened in the past month: I ran another trail race, made a trip back to the homeland for the holidays, and OH YEAH, got a full-time job!

I am bursting at the seams with excitement when I say I just finished my first week working for the County of San Mateo in their Office of Sustainability, in Redwood City. I’ll be working on water and energy projects, and for the other stormwater nerds out there, I’ll be making sure we comply with the NPDES stormwater permit. My first day, I took one look at the standing desks that everyone had and knew I’d fit right in.

The job search has been a long and winding road, to say the least. I started this whole shindig 10 months ago and applied to over 30 positions. One job I applied to required an online logic test, with questions like “Bob, Don, Pete, and Mike work at a factory. There are three workers a day. Bob and Don work four days a week. Mike works Saturdays. Who works Fridays?” For another job, I was to destroy any notes I took during the interview and was to assume that the interviewers had never read my application and knew nothing about me You know the phrase ‘jumped through hoops?” I get it now.

The past six months have been challenging, but one thing that helped me get through the unknown was consistently running. This fall has been one of my favorite running seasons yet and I capped it off with a 10K trail race at a park near us in December. The race was one of the most laid back races I’ve done: I was still taking off my sweatshirt and hugging Owen while the gun went off! My only goal, to enjoy myself, was easily accomplished. I could not wipe the smile off my face as I flew down beautiful single track the last two miles of the race.  

Our trip back to the homeland (New Jersey) for the holidays was packed with family, friends, and East Coast goodness. One day Kelli and I made our annual pilgrimage to Ithaca for Mexican bagels from CTB. If you’ve known me for more than approximately 10 minutes, you’ll know that I’m obsessed with Mexican bagels. For those that haven't been enlightened yet, it’s a bagel with jalapeño cream cheese, salsa, and melted cheese. You can try to make it yourself, like I do all the time, but you’ll end up with a sad, phony version of the real thing. While I have no problem sitting in a car for eight hours just to get a Mexican bagel, we had to justify the trip to others in some way, so we met up with Kelli’s college friend from Ithaca and went cross country skiing with him. I've got to hand it to Cameron, first for supplying us with gear, but mostly for not laughing his ass off each of the hundred times that I fell while trying to go up the first hill. I’d like to say that Kelli and I eventually got the hang of it, but that just wouldn’t be true. We were in the backcountry, not following any semblance of a trail, and things were pretty hairy. I enjoyed every second of it.

A rare upright moment

Another day my dad, Kelli and I hiked at a local nature preserve. It was very cold out, and we kept joking that our brains were freezing, which may explain some of our antics. We came up with trail names for each other: Dad was Shroom, I was Scat, and Kelli was Snow Steaks- she misheard Dad say “no snakes” and wildly invented the concept of steaks that you cook in the snow. At one point, I was leading us in a dance/chant to warm up and I was getting really into it- using a weird accent, bobbing my head, twerking, and the like. All of a sudden, Dad announced “we’ve got company” and I looked up to see a small group of people descending the trail.

From L to R: Snow Steaks, Scat, Shroom

Though Owen and I joke that the west coast is the best coast, there is one thing the west coast doesn’t have: our family and friends. I sincerely appreciated every second we got to spend with my family, Owen’s family, and our friends. Until next time, Jersey.

The result of hours of toil with my mom: not too shabby!

As soon as we got back to California, we began busying ourselves with the task of-wait for it... buying a car! I am happy to report that we traded in Jasmine, Owen’s Jetta, for a Toyota Yaris hatchback! Though I’ll share, it’s technically my car and I am still mildly freaking out that I actually have a car again. It’s been a year and a half since a man named Tyreek Cabbagestalk (no joke) totaled Ole Faithful, the Oldsmobile Cutlass that I was quite fond of. I actually have to thank Cabbagestalk, as he opened my eyes up to the joys of life without a car. But frankly, I’m over it. And more excited than ever to have a proper set of wheels again.

‘Yota Yaris was quickly broken in as we drove to Owen’s coworker’s house that night for a laid back New Year’s Eve. A few days later, we took her on her first mini road trip to Muir Woods, north of the Golden Gate Bridge. She handled well on everything we threw at her: freeway, windy mountain roads, traffic, wind, downpours. I couldn't ask for more. 

Muir Woods

Now, Owen is off to the UK for work for the next two weeks and I’m relishing in the freedom of having a car again and the excitement of my new job. After six months here, I'm finally feeling more settled in to California life. 

She's a Beaut: Road Tripping New Zealand's South Island

Over six months ago, my mom and I had just booked our flights to visit my sister, Kelli in New Zealand at the end of her study abroad semester. My mom was so nervous she felt like she was going to throw up. Kelli was exhausted from helping us with the logistics of where and when. And I was so excited, expletives were just pouring out of my mouth. Fast forward to November 8, Election Day, a crazy day for several reasons, one being that we were embarking on our trip to New Zealand! After I rocked the vote, I met up with my mom at the airport and took her on a mini adventure in San Francisco. We rode the iconic cable car, wandered through Ghirardelli Square, saw the Golden Gate Bridge, and even met up with Owen for In-N-Out burgers. The last treat of the night was taking my mom to the airport in a Tesla, which she loved/was afraid of.

After spending 13 hours on a plane with over a hundred other people, something odd happens. People don’t give a crap. I saw a man with a candy wrapper stuck to his butt, a woman brushing her teeth in her seat, and a guy with a window seat who tried to leap over his two snoozing seatmates to get out. He ended up smacking them both in the face and waking them up, but what a move. My mom bet me ten bucks that I wouldn’t skip around the entire plane. I said what the hell. No one even noticed. By the end of the flight, the plane was totally trashed: there was a thin layer of debris covering every surface.

Our first taste of New Zealand was exploring downtown Auckland on the North Island. About 60% of our thoughts involved shock that they drive on the left side of the road. We hopped on one more plane, a short ride to Dunedin, where Kelli lives. They gave me a hunk of cheese bigger than anything I ever let myself eat in one sitting. I was liking New Zealand already.

Relaxing in downtown Auckland

After a quick reunion with Kelli we headed over to the rental car counter to pick up our wheels for the next two weeks. We were still giggling and catching up with each other and didn’t listen to half of what the rental car lady told us. No matter, Kelli had driven loads in NZ already, and for my mom and I, it’s like riding a bike, right? We drove through rolling, green hills dotted with sheep and farms and I was in love. We made it to Dunedin just in time to drive up to a place called Signal Hill, only a few miles from Kelli’s flat, to see the sunset over her city.

We spent our first two days exploring Dunedin and the areas around it. In the city itself, we played the part of convincing locals, wandering around the halls of her university, shopping at the farmer’s market, strolling through the Botanical Gardens, and downing Tim Tam slams, hot chocolate that you drink through a Tim Tam cookie. In the areas surrounding Dunedin we went full on tourist and saw some amazing natural wonders. I even drove for the first time! All went well, except when I was frazzled, I’d turn the windshield wipers on instead of the blinker, making me even more frazzled (since everything is opposite, the windshield wipers are on the right side of the steering wheel, blinker on the left).

Baldwin Street in Dunedin, world's steepest residential street: 35% grade

Tunnel Beach, named after this tunnel I was obsessed with

Nugget Point, see the rocks or ‘nuggets’ in the water?

Sunday morning, I convinced myself I could run up Signal Hill. Signal Hill, the long, winding, hilly road we drove up to get to an overlook of the entire city. I turned around in defeat maybe a mile from the top, thighs and lungs burning. Nothing like an early morning workout to start our first road trip! After a few hours of driving we made it to Lake Tekapo and I promptly started going on a photo frenzy. The blooming lupins, the blue water, it was a photographer’s dream. We pulled ourselves away from the lake to drive to Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand, which can be viewed from a one way in, one way out road. The drive did not disappoint. The clouds cleared at times throughout the drive and on our hike for spectacular views of the iconic snow-capped peak. 

Moeraki Boulders, thought to be over 56 million years old!

Lake Tekapo

We named our car Chad, after Chad from the Bachelorette because he loved food (roadkill)

The next few days were spent getting very cozy with Chad and hiking out to two of New Zealand’s most accessible glaciers. At Fox Glacier, we arrived on one of the least accessible days…It was pouring and all these waterfalls and streams started popping up. We were so wet afterwards that we just stripped down right in the parking lot. Kelli showed up at our hostel that night wearing only a towel from the waist down! The next day Chad faithfully got us to Christchurch, where we spent the night in jail and saw the rebuilding efforts from the 2011 earthquake. We broke up the long drive from Christchurch to Dunedin with a stop in Oamaru, a coastal town known to have rare yellow-eyed penguins. We hunkered down in a viewing hide along with 10 or so others for an hour and a half, constantly scanning the beach for activity. When we were finally ready to give up, someone murmured they had seen a penguin. Mass chaos ensued for the next ten seconds- I couldn't find the penguin. Finally I realized the penguin looked like a tiny white toothpick! We eventually got a better view and I saw, for certain, my first penguin in the wild. 

Blue Pools

The silver lining to exploring the glaciers in the rain 

Jail converted into a hostel...very realistic

Art demo in Christchurch, referring to the rebuild

We had a relaxing day in Dunedin before we were off on another road trip. First stop: Queenstown, to run a half marathon! The day before the race we wandered around the tourist shops downtown. One store was selling NZ air for $25. Have we tourists really gotten that stupid? The morning of the race I tried to calm Kelli’s nerves as she embarked on her very first half. I don't think she knew exactly what she was going up against...only a few days before the race, she asked me how far a 10K was, and when I replied 6.2 miles she confidently said, I could do that. Anyway, my goal for the half was to pay attention to the scenery, since I usually get so caught up in running I never look around. It was hard not to be amazed, with the Remarkables mountain range in sight the entire race and gorgeous views of Lake Wakatipu. I even heard a yodeler and had a race volunteer stick out his butt for me to slap! Not bad for my first race abroad. Once my mom and I collected Kelli after she finished, we all treated ourselves to burgers as big as our heads from a restaurant called Fergburger. Finishing my burger was almost as hard as running the half!

After stopping for directions we finally found our ‘hotel’ for the night way out in farm country, which we realized was actually someone’s house. We arrived four and a half hours before we said we were going to, so naturally the place was locked and no one was home. So we camped out in their parking lot for awhile until we realized how creepy we were being and went to the nearby town instead. When we finally did go back for the night, I loved the place. It was a gorgeous spot to relax post-race. The next few days were jam packed with various athletic pursuits: biking in Wanaka on Sunday, hiking Roy’s Peak on Monday, and kayaking in Milford Sound on Tuesday. We even saw a fiordland crested penguin swimming in the water while we were kayaking! Along the way we stopped at a bra fence, stopped at a shoe fence, and saw hundreds of sheep being herded which was surprisingly cool. 

Back in Dunedin for our last day in NZ, we ended with a bang. Mom and I drove out to the peninsula to try to see penguins one last time, and the trip wasn’t complete without us getting lost. I missed a turn, mom couldn’t read the tiny map we had. Finally we made it out to the penguin refuge and spent a few hours wandering around covered trenches and viewing hides, hoping to see some yellow-eyed penguins. We got extremely lucky: three converged on the beach and then waddled down a path into the woods, passing pretty close by us. At one point, soaking wet during a steady downpour, I asked my mom if she was cold. Her response: I wouldn’t care if I was naked right now, I’m so happy we’re seeing penguins. Ha!

We left on Thanksgiving morning and celebrated with a meal of fast food in the airport. Strangely enough, I also got home on Thanksgiving morning. I call it the space-time continuum, and I’m still very confused by it. Back here in California I’ve been in full-on holiday mode. Owen and I chopped down our Christmas tree, decorated it, and I’ve spent several hours admiring our work while writing this blog post. As much as it sucks that our New Zealand trip is over, coming back to California (and Owen) ain't so bad. 

Will You Go Out With Me? "Opting Outside" on Black Friday

I should not be trusted with a saw...

Leaving the Country

I will keep this post short and sweet since I am leaving in a few hours to meet my mom at the airport and get the hell out of this country (aka to visit my sister in New Zealand)!

Fall has finally shown itself around here, I found it when I biked to a nearby town last week. Though I’m still learning how to pronounce Los Gatos correctly, I absolutely love this small town. It’s tucked in the mountains and packed with shops and restaurants.

 

En route to Los Gatos

We sort of went trick or treating on Halloween. By that I mean we walked around admiring kids’ costumes, it wasn’t creepy, I promise. Then I hit the jackpot: a neglected, run-over, lonely Kit Kat in the middle of the road. MINE! I call that a success.

Last weekend we volunteered our time and muscles to do trail maintenance at a county park a few miles south of us. I’m still sore. We broke up hard packed soil and leveled out sections of trail. The soil here was so dry it was like concrete! But it was worth it, for the gorgeous views of green hills and the free Chipotle lunch afterwards.

Objects in photo are sweatier than they appear

That evening we went to a Tesla party, in honor of their last quarter being profitable and we saw the infamous Elon Musk himself give a speech. He said that the better the company does, the better the parties will get. For this one, he had rented out a stadium with the largest indoor bar in this country. I can’t wait for what’s next.

 

The new Model 3

The last few days I’ve been carefully plotting how to pack everything for a two week trip on the other side of the world in a carry-on bag. I’ll tell you how that goes when I get back!