Hi friends! Hope that you had a great weekend. I've been back to the work grind on this Monday and have been busy, busy, busy! But I'm popping in to recap the highlight of my weekend with you guys: hiking to Potato Chip Rock! My cousin Michelle and I have been talking about getting together for a hike excursion for awhile, and set a date for last Saturday. She drove down from where she lives in Long Beach to stay the night at my place on Friday, and Saturday morning we set out to the Lake Poway Recreational Reserve. I hiked to Potato Chip Rock once before with my hubby 2+ years ago (recap here <-- throwback post!), so I was able to reference my blog post beforehand to jog my memory about the hike and see how long it took me the first time, as well as how I described the ... [Read More]
hiking trails
Hiking to Wind Caves at Gaviota State Park {Santa Barbara Area}
Happy almost weekend! What's the weather looking like where you live this weekend? I know that some of the U.S. is seemingly getting out of its polar vortex for the season, so I hope that all you who have been cooped up inside for awhile have time to enjoy some more mild temperatures. In San Diego it's supposed to be pretty hot and sunny - in the mid to high 80s all weekend - so I'm going to try to soak up the sunshine outside as much as I can! Speaking of being outdoors, today I'm talking about my favorite outdoor workout: hiking - more specifically, hiking to wind caves in California's Gaviota State Park. This outdoor workout was part of my getaway with my hubby a couple of weeks ago. First I told you guys all about the Danish town of Solvang that we stayed in, as well as our ... [Read More]
Cedar Creek Falls Hike Recap {San Diego Area}
"Climb mountains not so that the world can see you, but so you can see the world." Happy Friday! Any fun Super Bowl or weekend plans? Speaking of the weekend, today I'm hopping back a few weekends to talk about where I spent part of my MLK Jr. holiday: When I found out that both my hubby and I had no plans for the Monday holiday I had off, I decided that it'd be a great day to try a new hiking trail in the area. Since Southern Cali has gotten a good amount of rain recently (well, for here at least!), I thought it'd be cool to check out a waterfall hike. We decided to head out to the Cedar Creek Falls Trail - a hiking spot located in a town called Ramona about an hour from my house. ... [Read More]
Embracing What is | Monserate Mountain Hike Recap
Hiking is one of my favorite ways to clear my head, enjoy nature and practice mindfulness. I always consider it time well spent as I'm trekking up a mountain, feeling the breeze, and taking in the scenery, and every time I reach the peak, I do so with a grateful heart. (source) However, just as with everything in life, sometimes hikes don't go exactly as planned. This was the case last weekend, when I set out to try hiking a new trail: Monserate Mountain in the nearby town of Fallbrook. Sometimes when hikes don't go exactly as planned, it's because I get lost while I'm actually hiking; other times I get lost trying to get to the trail itself. The latter was the case last Saturday. One of the challenges of finding new hikes is figuring out how to actually get there, since I find ... [Read More]
Hiking & Camping on Catalina Island
Happy October! Tomorrow marks 5 years since I married my man. Normally I'm not huge on anniversary celebrations, but since 5 years feels like a milestone, I wanted to commemorate the occasion by doing something memorable and fun together. Instead of going on a relaxing weekend getaway to wine country or something obviously romantic like most normal couples probably do, us nuts decided to embark on what turned out to be the toughest endurance challenge of my life hiking around Catalina Island. Buckle up for this long weekend recap friends - it was most definitely an adventure with a roller coaster of emotions! Catalina is a gorgeous little island off the coast of SoCal that has this sort of Mediterranean vibe to it. I visited there for the first time earlier this year with my mom for ... [Read More]
My New Favorite Hiking Spot: Elfin Forest
Meet my new favorite place to go hiking: When I moved back to San Diego County a few months ago, it was funny because although I was back in a general area that I had lived in before, I'm 45 minutes north from where I had lived prior. It has been like learning the ins and outs of a whole new place, although the area is familiar. One of the first things I started searching for in my new area was new favorite hiking spots. After all, hiking is one of my favorite things to do. It's not only a way that I get exercise and exercise my dog, it's also a meditative practice for me. It's a way that I process things and clear my head. Often, I start off a hike with a dilemma or just something that I'm contemplating, and by the time I get back in my car, I've resolved it. Escondido's Elfin ... [Read More]