A couple of weekends ago, my hubby and I wanted to go hiking at a new spot. At first we were looking to head towards San Fran, but once we saw what the traffic was looking like that morning, we decided against it. Instead, we went the opposite direction and journeyed south to Pinnacles National Park. The park is named after the sky-pointed spires you can find all over that are the eroded leftovers of an extinct volcano. After driving through windy countryside roads for about an hour and arriving at the park, we paid the entrance fee at the visitor center and planned out our route. We decided to hike the Condor Gulch Trail, about a 5 1/2 mile loop with 1,300+ feet in elevation change. The weather was pretty mild at home, and was definitely warmer in Paicines where the park is ... [Read More]
hiking trails
Hiking at Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay State Park
Hi there! I arrived home a few hours ago from my wonderful getaway to Lake Tahoe. It was the first time I visited the area, and just as everyone who has been there had told me, it's breathtakingly beautiful! I surprised my hubby by booking us a getaway to South Lake Tahoe. We own a timeshare, so I exchanged a few of our days for a stay at The Ridge Tahoe. Our room was pretty nice, and the resort was around a 15 minute drive from downtown. South Lake Tahoe is about a 4 hour drive from our home in the South Bay Area, which wasn't a bad trip. We drove up there on Friday afternoon and zipped back home on this Monday afternoon. On Saturday, we wanted to go snowshoeing to explore the mountains a bit. Much to my disappointment, the snowshoe rental guy told us that because the winter there ... [Read More]
New Year’s Day Hike at Uvas Canyon County Park {Morgan Hill}
At the beginning of a new year, I find myself noting a lot of firsts for the year. When I made a green juice for breakfast yesterday morning, I was all, "This is my first meal of 2014, and it's so healthy. Go me!" I didn't wait long to accomplish my first exercise session of 2014. I figured what better way to ring in a new year than to go on a hiking adventure with my hubby and puppy on a nice day? Early afternoon we headed over to Uvas Canyon County Park, a 1,133-acre park in our current town of Morgan Hill that we had never been to before. The things that really intrigued me into visiting the park were: 1.) The fact that you have to drive through a private Swedish settlement called Sveadal to get into the park 2.) Waterfalls! Even though 2013 was the driest year on record ... [Read More]
Stile Ranch Trail in Santa Teresa County Park, San Jose
With the sun shining, a nice breeze drifting through the air, and temperatures hanging in the mid-70's today, I knew it was a perfect day for a weekend afternoon hike. I felt like doing a hike I'd never done before, so my little family and I headed to a park in San Jose called Santa Teresa County Park for the first time. We chose Stile Ranch Trail, which was described by other hikers on the Web as a moderate 1-3 hour hike. The park is located in pretty countryside. One thing I really like about hiking in the South Bay area is that it is never really crowded anywhere that I've been thus far. In San Diego, if you go for a hike on the weekend, sometimes you're practically being herded up the mountain with a crowd full of people. Here, that's not the case. We saw just a few mountain ... [Read More]
Best Easy Day Hikes San Jose: Miller Ruins Loop in Mount Madonna County Park
Now that I've lived in the San Jose area for almost 3 months, I've developed a couple of favorite spots for hiking and biking. But since I like to explore as much as possible, I recently made a trip to the book store to get a hiking guide for the area. I was a bit disappointed at the selection - or rather, the apparent fact that there aren't all that many awesome hikes in my immediate vicinity. A lot of the Northern California hiking books had mostly hikes that were hours away. This isn't good for me because 1.) I like to hike with a certain canine, but she's an absolute nightmare in the car, therefore I avoid long car trips with her unless necessary... and 2.) while I like to do all-day hikes, there are definitely a lot of times when I want to do a hike but don't have the whole day ... [Read More]
Muir Woods National Monument, Mill Valley
The first day of our Memorial Day weekend getaway, my hubby and I planned to spend the afternoon exploring the Muir Woods National Park, then head towards our hotel in Napa. In the morning, we dropped Harley off at the kennel - which was slightly traumatic because it's the first time we've taken her to a new kennel since moving. Our last kennel was pretty fancy schmancy and was called a ''pet resort" rather than a kennel. In contrast, this kennel is more like a ranch style kind of place where the dogs are allowed to run around together more freely. We were a little worried that Harley would display her typical only child syndrome and snap at another dog for taking a ball or something... but my excitement for our weekend plans overpowered my worry about my pup, and we quickly dropped ... [Read More]