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Travel Post: San Francisco 2020

2/20/2020

On Friday, February 7th, Jeremiah, my Mama, and I set out for the city by the bay, San Francisco.

Sorry if this little clip makes you dizzy - sometimes Boomerang is a bit fast!

We were told several times that we'd be sitting in traffic, not that the idea bothered the two Denverites too much, and Mom didn't seem phased by the idea either.

However, we had a very quick drive to the city from Campbell, so we really lucked out!

We wanted to see the Oakland bridge, so we drove through San Francisco to cross it, and then looped around to the Golden Gate bridge.

Now, when I was in San Francisco in 2017, we had gone to this place right on the water that had great views. We couldn't remember what it was called, and Dad had referred to it as Presidio, but that ended up being a general name for a larger area.

After looking at the GPS, my mom and I determined it must have been down on Marine Drive on the San Francisco side, down by Fort Point. You can see the historical building under the bridge in this image taken on my cell phone. Don't mind our squintiness - it was bright outside!

I also took a selfie video... because #millennial.

One of the things on Jeremy's "List of things to see" for San Francisco was the Golden Gate bridge, so I am happy that my mom and I were able to remember this view point, as it truly is a great place from which to admire the bridge.

We had tried to go to the look out point on the other side of the bridge, but the Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point was not accessible due to construction. I bet it'll be open for tourist season!

That's okay, though. We got to the viewpoint I wanted for Jeremy.

Before we figured out how to get to Fort Point, we did find the Presidio parking area, as advised by my dad.

As soon as we pulled in the parking lot, my mom was like "This isn't it" and I completely agreed. We still took photos of the bridge from there, though.

This was Jeremy's first look at the bridge after getting out of the vehicle.

As you can see compared to the image above, we were much further away from the bridge in the Presidio parking area. There were trails to follow, but I knew we could make it by car to the spot that I had been to in 2017.

Jeremy stood like this for several minutes admiring the bridge.

I had asked Jeremy to turn around for a photo, but since the sun was so bright, he wasn't able to keep his eyes open. I handed over my sunglasses so he could face the camera in the shot below. He doesn't look bad in circular frames either!

The one thing my mom really wanted to tackle on this day trip to San Francisco was to see Ghirardelli. Since it was not tourist season, we were actually able to park in the parking garage underneath Ghirardelli Square, which is only a few blocks away from the wharf!

Doesn't my mama look so pretty?

We went into Ghirardelli, of course. It was still pretty early in the day, so we didn't get anything, but we all agreed we would stop by again before getting in the car to go home... after all we were parked right there anyway!

Visiting California from Colorado in February is definitely an eye opener when comparing weather. In Colorado, we were having snow showers that week. In California, it was 65-70 degrees in the San Francisco Bay area, and there were flowers!

I took this image of the flower on the walk down to the wharf from Ghirardelli Square. We had strolled through San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park on the way down to the wharf, which is where this flower resided.

While I would never want to live in San Francisco (sorry, San Franciscans), I love how each horizon is unique.

You have the bay, you have foothills, you have the steep and sometimes narrow streets, and it's almost as if the city builds the taller buildings on the taller hills!

We were walking along Jefferson Street down by the wharf when I looked up one of the seemingly endless streets to see this view.

Of course, there were crowds that got in the shot, but I waited for them to move out of the frame. I was left with this lone pedestrian, but I liked having her in the shot! And I was so gleeful that a few cable cars appeared in the background!

There was bit of haze in the air, which paired with the bright sun, created these two different intensities of contrast, which, in my opinion, gives this photograph a more vintage, or timeless, feel.

We wandered onto Hyde St. Pier, which houses a few historical ships and acts as a museum of sorts on your way out to the ticket booth. You can pay to actually tour the boats, but we decided that seeing them from the pier was good enough.

PS - I don't think that seagull paid the admission fee ;)

The boat below is called C.A. Thayer, and I pulled the following from Google:

C.A. Thayer is a schooner built in 1895 near Eureka, California. The schooner is now preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. She is one of the last survivors of the sailing schooners in the West coast lumber trade to San Francisco from Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.

Here is the link to the National Park Service web page on the ship if you would like to read more: https://www.nps.gov/safr/learn/historyculture/c-a-thayer.htm

We stopped in several tourist shops on our walk down Jefferson Street. Jeremy found several good finds, and I had my heart set on a sweatshirt I saw in the very first store we stopped in - however I didn't purchase it in case I found it cheaper in one of the many other shops, and I didn't want to carry it with me all day.

Every once in a while the buildings would open up and you'd get a view of the marina and the buildings across the way. Alioto's is a seafood restaurant, of course, and is located at the front if Pier 45 along the wharf.

All along the wharf were flower beds full of tulips. Apparently there was an event going on called Tulip Mania.

If you shared your pictures using the hashtag you could win a Pier 39 Fun Pack and a two night stay at Hotel Zephyr... and while this year's contest is over, I guess it's an annual event!

https://www.pier39.com/?s=tulip+mania

We continued our way down to Pier 39 (which was the end goal for our trip to the wharf). We stopped at these crab stations to check out the menus, but I have to say - everything is so overpriced! When Jeremy and I visited Oregon and Washington, we could get fresh seafood for much better prices. San Francisco really price gouges you if you want anything but clam chowder and bread. Tsk tsk!

At last, we made it to Pier 39. The pier where all of the touristy fun hoopla is. Stores, museums, the aquarium, rides... it's all there! They even have a carousel towards the end of the pier. However, if you're planning on visiting, don't stop there! Go beyond it to get a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and sea lions!

When we made our way to the very end of the pier, fog was starting to settle in on the bay, and it started to enshroud the Golden Gate Bridge, which I thought made for a very cool effect. It even billowed up behind Alcatraz, which kind of just made it creepier than I already think it is (Shutter Island anyone?).

We were standing at the water's edge looking for the sea lions, that according to Jeremy's Google search should be there. He declared he didn't see any, and as if they were responding to his disappointment, they started barking.

There were only a few active ones. Apparently it was nap time for the sea lions, as many of them slept on the docks below. However, there were two that were very much active, doing somersaults around each other, giving each other kisses, some playful nips, and were just really entertaining to watch.

There are SO many things to do in San Francisco, that I have a feeling Jeremy and I could visit the city every time we visit my parents and sister in California and find something new to do every single time.

Jeremy already declared that next time we are in California that he wants to go to a Giants game. My mom added that we should go to Treasure Island too, so that's already two things to do in San Francisco for our next visit!

Looking forward to it!

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Travel Post: Campbell, California - 2020

2/13/2020

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I had every single intention of writing my travel post on Tuesday, which is my goal, but we were flying home, and then I was super exhausted. So, here I am, today, writing it a few days later than I wanted to, but here it is!

Last week, on Thursday, February 6, Jeremiah and I flew out to California to spend time with my family and go on adventures! Our first day was just a relaxing day - to hang out and spend time with family and explore the town a bit.

As you can see, Jeremy took relaxing to the max when we arrived and he found a spot on the porch.

It was a beautiful day in Campbell, with the temperatures holding out around 75 degrees with the warm sun. We had a few hours to just bum around until we had to pick up the kiddos from school and daycare (Jaqi's kids), so we unpacked our things and got ready to go shopping in the towns.

PS - look at my parents home they are renting in CA! Pretty nice right? They even have a pool in the backyard - thought it was a bit too cold to use at this time of year.

We went shopping in downtown Willow Glen while waiting for the schools to get out, and we picked up a few toys in the stores that were there.

My dad went to go get Giovanna from school, while Mom, Jeremy, and I went to go pick up Little O from daycare. Mom was a bit worried that he may be cranky upon seeing Jeremy and I, as she said he doesn't do well with people he doesn't know (he's going to be three, so we've seen him when he was a baby). However, I walked into the daycare with my mom, and little O came directly up to us with no issues.

When I lifted him into his car seat to get buckled in, instead of being crabby that bearded man was in the back seat with him, he pointed to Jeremy and asked me "Who's that?" and then proceeded to share his dinosaur stickers and toys he received in daycare that day with Jeremy.

After we got back to the house, Dad and G were still not home, so we entertained the tiny human. Jeremy was playing with his yo-yo, and O really wanted to try it, so Jeremy started to teach him how to play with one.

Jeremy was trying to teach Little O how to yank the yo-yo up so it goes back to his hand, but it turns out the little man was a little too short for the toy. He had to hold his hand above his head, and even then, the string was too long and the yo-yo would hit the floor.

They both had a lot of fun trying to make this scenario work, with Jeremy showing him which finger to put the string on, and then trying to pull his arm up to get the yo-yo to retreat back up.

However, the height factor prevented any successful retrievals, and so we began the hunt for O's yo-yo, as Mom had stated he has one of his own.

We searched and searched for the yo-yo. Mom searched their toy box, I searched the kids' desks and crafting area, Jeremy entertained O in the meantime, and we had zero luck.

However, this auntie came up with an alternative solution to the height problem.

If you can't find a yo-yo with a shorter string, make the kid taller!

This stool was sitting in the kids' play area, so we perched the little man on top, and as you can see, the yo-yo no longer hit the ground before reaching maximum length.

Little O was very good about getting the string on his finger and dropping the yo-yo down, but still struggled a bit to yank it back up to his hand. The yo-yo would always get within inches of his grasp, and then fall back down and start to spin.

At this, O would go "Oh, no" and start winding the string back around the yo-yo to start over.

Jeremy is a very good yo-yo teacher, as I have never been successful with the toy, but was able to pull off one up-and-down before handing it back to the toddler.

When O got bored of the yo-yo, he went and found a bottle of bubbles, so we went into the backyard.

While we were outside blowing bubbles, Dad and G came home. She wanted to join in on the bubble festivities.

O's hand-eye coordination is pretty good for an almost three year old! I love the look of concentration on his face as he focuses on the bubble between his hands.

G made several attempts to catch a bubble on the bubble wand, and eventually succeeded, and as you can see, she was pretty excited about it. That was a good sized bubble to catch, too!

Giovanna did ask me to photograph the short palm tree in my parents back yard, so I went over to the plant. I was totally expecting the leaves to be soft, but they aren't! They are extremely stiff and pokey! However, it still made for a pretty picture.

I will be writing of our day trips to San Francisco, Sequoia National Forest, Yosemite National Park, and coastal towns soon, complete with images and perhaps a few videos! Stay tuned!

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Travel: Yosemite National Park (2017)

2/4/2020

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In 2017, my parents decided to fly me out to California to get me away from a negative situation I was in. I was able to go on a lot of adventures while I was out there, but one of my favorite places that we went to was Yosemite Park. I have wanted to go to Yosemite Park for a long time, ever since I started studying film photography and came across Ansel Adams and his inspiration, John Muir.

It is said that these two knew more about Yosemite than anyone else, having documented it through photography for years. It held a special place in both of their hearts, and as soon as my parents and I arrived, I could see why.

El Capitan, pictured above, is one of the most photographed cliff faces on Earth. It is one of the welcoming landmarks when entering Yosemite Park, and you can see Yosemite Falls to the left of it in the image above. These sights are extremely easy to get to, as this area of the park is the most visited by tourists, it features paved roads and scenic paved trails that are easily accessible for those with mobility issues.

My parents used to live in California (and now they do again), so it was extra special being able to enjoy Yosemite with them since they had experienced eyes and knew where to go.

Love my parents! Also, here's proof below that I do, indeed, exist. My dad had dared me to climb this rock... so I did.

Yosemite Falls is the most well-known waterfall of Yosemite National Park, hence the name.

It has gorgeous drops in the falls, and you can venture further in if you want to see the falls from different angles. In the image below, I am standing on the bridge that goes over the river created by the waterfall, and I am photographing the last drop of Yosemite Falls.

There is one other major waterfall I was able to admire during my time at Yosemite National Park in 2017.

Bridalveil Falls is across the way from El Capitan and Yosemite Falls, and the amount of mist it creates at the bottom of its drop almost seems to transport you into another world.

It's kind of interesting how the coloring of the atmosphere changes when you're in the mist. All of a sudden the world becomes more purple-blue, and the mist rises all around you almost creating a haze.

It's very surreal to stand there, but forewarning - you will get wet from the spray! There were some tourists there who were complaining about getting wet from the waterfall, which I found amusing. Waterfalls are made of...water... after all. Plus, you can literally stand at the edge of the pool of Bridalveil, but that doesn't mean you have to!

The image below is of Bridalveil from the trail to Yosemite Falls.

The image to the left is of a redwood and a young great Sequoia tree growing right next to each other .- pretty cool right? Eventually one will probably win in the battle for survival. When I go this weekend, I plan on checking on these trees and seeing the progression of their growth. They are at the base of Bridalveil Falls!

Yosemite is home to so many beautiful sights. Looking through the photos below, I remember how humbled I felt standing amongst the tall cliff faces with the trees and open meadow spaces surrounding me.

It's truly a magical experience, and if you're lucky enough to ever visit Yosemite, please take the time to enjoy yourself. I'm so excited that I get to share this experience with Jeremy this weekend, plus we will be getting a National Park Pass as well.

We will also be going to Sequoia National Park this weekend (literally the cost of an annual National Park Pass is less expensive than paying the admission to both parks). Plus, we have Rocky Mountain National Park right at home!

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Adventure Stories: Standley Lake

9/8/2018

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Beautiful view. Beautiful lake. Ugly beach.

I wish the city and suburbs of Denver could appreciate what they have a teensy bit more. This beautiful lake with these breathtaking mountain views was surrounded with a beach covered in trash.

Jeremy and I took the golden girls to this lake today for an adventure. It was enjoyable getting out into nature. Per usual, Jeremy took charge of walking the puppies, his backpack full of water bottles and a collapsable dog bowl, while I carried my photography equipment.

Sequoia, the little one, has been learning to walk on her leash, and we have her wear a leader to help slow her down. When she becomes full grown we will get them harnesses so that they can't get tangled in their leashes on these walks (we had to untangle them a couple of times).

As you can see, the lake was very blue. It was gorgeous. There were several people boating and fishing, enjoying the water. I just wish the beach was more well taken care of.

At the end of the beach we had to climb up to the main trail. The trail itself is very pretty, with nature surrounding you on either side, and there were plenty of benches for people to relax and enjoy the view of the mountains and the lake.

There were several picnic areas as well. It's definitely a place with a lot of recreational potential! I can definitely see why it is a popular trail, now for the beach to become more clean and enjoyable!

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Daniel's Park

8/27/2018

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I have a mental list in my head of parks I love and will or have returned to repeatedly, and a list of parks that I'll never go to again. Sorry, Daniel's Park of Castle Pines, Colorado, I won't be returning to you.

I personally felt that Daniel's Park was lacking a lot of potential for the amount of land it has. Basically, you enter the park and follow a gravel trail that runs alongside the road. There were only two place to leave this trail that went out to overlooks, but they were short and the two overlooks gave the same view.

I'm not trying to be snarky or anything, just realistic. I won't be going back. It's a great exercise park (for walking or biking back and forth on the trail), but not much for photography purposes.

With that all being said.... I still had a wonderful time with my honey bunches of oats, Jeremiah, his brother, Nathan, and the Golden Girls, Autumn and Sequoia.

Nathan and Autumn

Jeremiah and Sequoia

If there had been trails that went into the canyon or more trees (shade, please), we probably would have been in love with this park.

Also, it was Sequoia's first big walk on the leash. She did relatively well. The lead (the part that goes around her nose) helped a ton with her pulling, but she kept trying to get it off. What else would you expect from a puppers?

Nathan and Sequoia

I did enjoy that we got to see bison, even if they weren't wild. They were so far away that even my telescopic lens had a little trouble getting a closer up shot.