Sail On A Tall Ship

The Tall Ship, Star of India, at the Maritime Museum

You've probably watched the Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, or The Goonies, and have seen the beautiful tall ships (aka Pirate ships) that sail in them.

I got a killer opportunity to join my photography group to sail on a tall ship for $30.  

We arrived at the Maritime Museum and boarded the Californian.  Right before boarding the ship the boat fired a few fake cannons.  Ahoy, Matey!  My pirate game face was officially ON!

The Californian was built in 1984 (not exactly during the prime days of pirates), and is the official tall ship of the state of California.  The ship was a beauty; very clean, and in great shape. 

Since I was with my photography group I took a lot of photos.  I enjoyed taking photos of the little details that most people probably don't notice when sailing on the ship.  Unfortunately, I had no luck finding a treasure chest filled with hidden jewels or one-eyed Willie.  I was the closest thing I found to a Pirate with my collection of cheesy Pirate'isms.  Aarrrrrr.

Besides the joy of sailing, the views of my beautiful hometown only heightened my experience.  We sailed during sunset, and enjoyed waving at other boats, jet skiers, and even seals!  What a lovely way to see San Diego!

Date Accomplished:  August 21st, 2011

Destination Uncovered: Temecula Wine Valley // Temecula, California

October 8th, 2012

I feel like a bona fide travel blogger now.  This is my second blog posting while traveling through Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to be exact). 

Just two days before leaving for Pennsylvania I spent a weekend in Los Angeles to attend a bonfire, before heading back down to the Temecula Wine Valley.  I love Temecula. No, no, no...I HEART Temecula.

Here are five reasons why I just HEART Temecula:

1.  The Wine Tasting is generally a lot cheaper in Temecula than in Napa and Sonoma.  The biggest plus is that most places pour generously.

Does my face, which is still bandaged up from my cancer surgery, show how excited I am to go wine tasting?  I believe so.

At this winery, I nearly jumped for joy when they poured my glass halfway!  I know it's a TASTING, but the wine was so delicious here so I didn't mind.  Because most wineries in Temecula pour so generously, you can easily share one tasting among two people (that means you save MORE money!). 

2.  The Wineries are within close proximity of each other, so in approximately a span of a mile you can hit several wineries. 

Have you seen gas prices lately?  I don't think you want to drive too much, and too far to just get some wine.

3.  It's a great weekend getaway for Southern Californians.  It is completely drive-able from San Diego (one hour) and Los Angeles (1-2 hours). 

A group of us squeezed into our cars to make the trek down to Temecula.  There are several hotels and bed and breakfast joints in the area.  Just north of Temecula is the mother of all spas, Glen Ivy!  It also makes a perfect couple getaway.

4.  The Wineries are BEAUTIFUL! 

I can spend hours  just touring the winery grounds, or frolicking in the vineyards.

Most wineries offer great views, and great restaurants too.

5.  The biggest reason to go to Temecula, is that the wine makes MOST people silly, happy, or all of the above.  We all need a little bit of happiness in our lives, right?

The day before our Temecula trip my friend got majorly shit on by a bird.  It was ALL OVER HIS FACE. 

After a few wine tastings, we decided to make even more fun of the situation by practicing our new pose, "Do The Bird Shit."

Getting pooped on isn't fun, but drinking wine and pretending you are getting pooped on is fun.  Don't believe me?  I don't know how a group of people could look so happy to be pooped on, even if it's just pretend.

Wine tasting is best done with people you like, and because I like my readers, I am disclosing one of my favorite areas in Southern California.

Because I love you more than you could imagine, here are some of my favorite wineries....

• Mount Palomar- I love the whites and the cream sherry here.  They just opened a new restaurant as well!
• Callaway- Tastings are $15, but the pours are some of the most generous I have ever seen.  The whites here are so yummy!  They even have sparkling wine to try!  
• Miramonte- The Sangria here is amazing!
• Ponte- It gets a little busy, but I love the grounds, and I have had some yummy food at the restaurant.
• Leonesse-  This place has probably my favorite view of all of Temecula Wine Valley.
• Robert Renzoni Vineyards-  I haven't visited in years, but when I went Robert himself poured our wine.  The wine was delicious.

P.S.  A lot of the wineries also include a free wine glass with your tasting.  

Capture The Color

Thanks to Elle for nominating me for the Capture the Color contest. 

I've always had a love for photography, and have no problem hauling my huge Canon 7D with me on my travels.  What is the best souvenir you can possibly take home from your trip but your photos....or a hot guy with an Olympian swimmers body (Okay seriously, I need to stop crushing on these swimmers bodies.  I feel like a Pedophile).  But I digress, you don't need a fancy SLR camera to take great photos, in fact, two of the photos I chose for the contest were taken with a small Canon Point & Shoot.  I won't tell you which two they are either.

>>>>Blue

This photo was taken in the Philippines on an island called Boracay.  I chose this photo mainly because it had several shades of blue, the deeper blue skies, and the almost teal-like colored waters.  What you don't see is my poor aunt next to me fanning me while holding my freshly cut coconut drink, because I was near the verge of dehydration. 

>>>>Green

This photo was taken in the Caribbean island of Dominica during our hike to Trafalgar Falls.  The whole island was filled with Green landscapes, even more so than my favorite country, New Zealand.  

>>>>Yellow

If you have seasonal allergies like I do then this photo is probably your worst nightmare.  I feel like sneezing just looking at it, but I also feel happy, maybe because I was drunk on lots of wine when I took it.  The photo was taken in Sonoma Wine Country in California during the winter.

>>>>White

For me, probably one of the most beautiful spots in the world are the Salt Flats in Bolivia.  There are no paved roads, strip malls, or traffic lights.  The photo was taken at a Salt Hotel (a different one from the one I stayed at).

>>>>Red

I had several photos that I wanted to choose for the Red Category, but the lady from the Himba Tribe in Namibia became an obvious choice.  While modern women are applying moisturizer on their face in the morning, the Himba women are applying otjize (a mixture of butter, fat, and red ochre) that causes the red hue on their skin and hair. 

I now nominate five other bloggers (including some new blogs I have recently discovered) to take part in the Capture The Color contest:

• Jackie from 6 Months To Live
• Ashley from Wanderscapes
• Celine from The Happily Ever After Project
• Fidel from Scene With A Hart
• Megan from Meganotravels

Dancing With "Where The Hell Is Matt?" (Part 2)

July 12th, 2012

Last year I told you about how I danced with Matt from "Where The Hell Is Matt?"

A few weeks ago he posted the 2012 Dancing Matt video and.....I didn't make the cut. 

Instead a seal from Sea World represented San Diego.  RUDE!

He did have some INCREDIBLE footage, so I kinda understand why he had to cut us for the seal.  That seal was pretty damn talented.

Today he did post a video of the outtakes, and I did make that cut, including my annoying laugh!  We also happen to be the first place represented!



Even though I didn't make the final cut, at the end of the day I can't hold a grudge on poor Matt.  He featured some of the most controversial countries (like Syria and North Korea), and brought us all together in 4 minutes and 53 seconds using dance.

Hike Torrey Pines Trails

After one of my favorite bloggers posted about visiting a place in her own backyard I decided to finally do something I've been meaning to do in San Diego for awhile. The Trails at Torrey Pines State Reserve are considered one of the most beautiful hikes in the world.   Most of the trails either lead to ocean views, or are right along breathtaking ocean cliffs.

My brother and I hit the trails at 8:30AM which was a perfect time since the weather was still cool and the trails weren't filled with people.  We started off doing the Beach Trail, which is just as it sounds, a trail leading to the beach.  You can access several trails from the Beach Trail, so on our way down to the beach we also did the Yucca Point Trail and the Razor Point Trail.  Both trails gave us stunning views of the picturesque cliffs.

Due to the high tide we couldn't walk all the way down to the beach, but we got pretty close.  After reaching the bottom we headed back up using the Broken Hill Trail, and once we reached the top we went up the High Point Trail (just guess...it reaches the highest point).

It definitely isn't the most intense of hikes, but its completely worth a visit if just to admire its beauty.  Most of the trails are loops, and all trails can be done in half a day if you're ambitious. Torrey Pines Trails is just another reason why I love the place I call home!  I'm already planning on going back next week!

Date Accomplished:  February 5th, 2012

Attend Comic Con

This one is for all my fellow dweebs and dweebettes...I have finally attended...Comic Con!   Comic Con started in 1970, and in the past few years has increasingly gained popularity due to the influence of Hollywood on the event.  In 2010 I decided I should probably finally get this crossed off my list.  I convinced my brother to also join me, and so the process to get tickets to Comic Con began.  For a convention filled with nerds, it was surprising that the ticket buying process had so many technical difficulties!  After several months of trying I was on the verge of giving up.  One day I decided I should check the site again, and this time  they finally got their shit together (not in those exact words), and a date was set for the tickets to finally go on sale.

San Diego Convention Center

So on a Saturday, I spent a few hours of my morning trying to get tickets.  I had originally wanted to go on Saturday, but it had already sold out.  The only available dates were Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.  I opted for the Friday tickets, and I am glad I did as I am sure Saturday was much more crowded.  Within 8 hours, the 100,000+ tickets were sold out.

On the day of Comic Con, my brother and I took the trolley down to the Convention Center, and we shared the trolley with several dressed up characters.  The trolley was so packed, that during several stops people were left stranded cause they couldn't squeeze into the trolley.  Once we got to the Convention Center it took us another 30 minutes just to cross the mob of people across the street.  My brother and I went through registration and got our badges and swag bags.

 Finally at Comic Con

We didn't prepare for Comic Con AT ALL!  I skimmed the schedule right before leaving that morning, but we really were just winging it.  We walked into the main area and were overwhelmed by all the people, and booths.  We didn't really know where to start so we decided to just walk aimlessly until something peaked our interest.

This was probably the most least crowded area

 Just Dance 3!

I'm not much of a gamer.   I do own a Wii, but I primarily just play the dance games.  I was excited to see the Just Dance booth, and I stuck around for awhile to see some of the new songs!  I am so excited, and October can't come soon enough (and for other reasons than Just Dance 3 coming out).  Within walking distance to the Just Dance booth was a big screen that showed the cast of the Big Bang Theory.  I realized that they were close by, so my brother and I decided to check it out.  The group of people that gathered around them was insane.   I received a call from my friend Jeff who I had met while traveling through Eastern Europe a few years ago, and he was at Comic Con so we decided to meet up by the Big Bang Theory signing.  That probably wasn't our most stellar idea because it was like searching for a needle in a haystack due to all the people.

 Big Bang Theory Cast

As I was waiting for Jeff, the cast of the Big Bang Theory started walking up to a spot where I had a better view of them.  The funny thing is that they had more fun taking pictures of us, than we did of them. They probably wanted a picture of the biggest collection of dweebs on the planet.    :)  The guy on the left was laughing hysterically at something or someone!  Then I saw her...yeah...a blast from my childhood past....

Blossom!

It was Blossom!  I should probably IMDB her real name, but she will always be Blossom to me, just like John Stamos will always be Uncle Jessie (who's career has now succumbed to Greek Yogurt commercials).  Anyways, she wasn't as friendly as the rest of the cast, but still cool nonetheless.  After Jeff and I finally found each other we decided to walk around together.

We walked around a few booths, and I saw a sign for Showtime.  I LOVE DEXTER!  Unfortunately, it was not Dexter that I saw, but it was Sgt. Angel Batista.

Sgt. Angel Batista from Dexter

We continued to walk around and enjoyed seeing all the crazy costumes that people had on.  I think my favorite costumes were ones when the people were in full character.  Fake accent and all!  As we were walking I saw an Incredible Hulk booth, with closer inspection I noticed the guy sitting at the booth was the original Incredible Hulk.  He had this sad look on his face like, "Yes...this is what has happened to my life."  I couldn't even take a photo because I felt so sorry for the guy. 

 I challenged this guy to a thumb wrestling contest.  I won.

As we were walking out to grab a bite to eat we passed by the booth that we had seen the Big Bang Theory cast.  The conversation went a little like this....

Bro: Hey it's Kevin Smith
Me: No It's Not...that doesn't even look like him.
*see's SMITH printed on the back of his jersey*
Me: Oh. I guess that's him.

Kevin Smith

We had lunch at Broken Yolk Cafe, and they had decorated the restaurant with comic inspired characters, and even made a special Comic Con menu.  As we were having lunch we saw this D-List celebrity walk by.  When we got back to the Convention Center we walked around for a bit, and saw The Walking Dead cast before heading to Hall H to stand in line to try to get into the Sony Panel.  The Sony Panel was a 2 1/2 hour panel with loads of famous people like Nicholas Cage, Emma Stone, Kate Beckinsale,  Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, and Andrew Garfield (the new Spider Man).  After waiting in line for almost 2 hours we were FIVE(!!) people too late!  FIVE!!!!!!  Little did we know that people had been camping in Hall H all day to see the Spider Man dude.  I don't know how that is fair Comic Con!  I was pretty bitter about the whole ordeal.  


So instead of moping around and feeling sorry for myself I decided I wasn't going to leave Comic Con until I was able to attend a panel.  The True Blood panel was just about to start, but I heard the line was just as horrible if not worst than the Sony Panel.  My brother and I went through the schedule and saw that their was a Spartacus panel.  I had just started watching Spartacus a few weeks before Comic Con, so we decided to go to that.  I loved it!  They were such a funny cast, and Lucy Lawless (aka Xena the Warrior Princess) was more hilarious than I would have expected.

 Spartacus Cast

Thankfully, my Comic Con experience ended on a high note, and I am already planning to attend for a day or two next year!

Date Accomplished:  July 22nd, 2011

Dancing With "Where The Hell Is Matt?" (Part 1)

July 3rd, 2011

Do you know "Where the Hell is Matt?"  If you don't...familiarize yourself with his videos that have  topped 70 million views on YouTube.  I've been a fan since his first video, and I remember showing my mom the video back in 2006 and telling her that I would travel all over the world just like him.  She looked at me and kinda gave me that "Girl, You Be Crazy" look.  Well...5 years later, I haven't even remotely traveled as much as him, but by the end of this year I will have surpassed 40 countries visited.  So not too shabby when in 2006 I had only been to 3 countries total after growing up in a sheltered bubble most of my life.



I had signed up to be on his newsletter so that I would be emailed when he was in my town.  I got an email a few weeks ago saying he would be in San Diego.  Oh Mah Gosh...I am gonna meet my traveling hero!  A week before his visit my friend posted his video on Facebook.  I asked her, "You do know he is coming to San Diego, right?"  She had no idea...so we both decided that we should go!  It being 4th of July weekend the parking at the beach was atrocious.  I easily spent half an hour trying to look for parking, and arrived ten minutes late.  I was for sure I had missed it, but Matt hadn't arrived either!  From a distance we saw this man that looked exactly like Matt running towards us.  People started cheering and taking photos of this guy.  The man looked so confused as to what was happening.  In my mind I was thinking, "Wow...he kinda looks different from his video."  As people were filming this guy we turned around and saw the real Matt hauling a big cooler full of water down the beach.  I yelled to people, "That guy isn't Matt...that guy is Matt (pointing to the real Matt)."

Matt explaining the dance shoot process

 

 Matt making sure that we're all in the frame

Matt was exceptionally nice, and the kids just absolutely adored him.  At one point when he was talking, a 2 year old kid ran up to him and just clung onto his leg.  The kids spoke to him as if they had been friends their entire lives.  We were able to do a few dances with Matt (who I was dancing right next to...so I should be pretty easy to spot in the video when it comes out!).  In Matt's next video he is learning how to dance, so we first did his silly dance, and then did a few choreographed dances.  Some of them proved to be difficult to do in sand, and some people ended up falling on their faces!

Getting ready to dance with Matt

He then asked us if we had ideas for dance moves.  A few of the kids had some input too....



Our last dance we decided we wanted to run into the frame towards Matt doing his signature dance.  I video taped it, and I apologize that the camera is chaotic, but I was busy dancing my butt off!



After our dance shoot we were able to take pictures with him, or record ourselves doing his signature dance with him.   I had to peace out to head to a BBQ, but I was so glad I was able to share the experience with other fellow San Diegans.

Go Hiking In Yosemite

 Me in Yosemite...Finally!

It really is a disgrace that it took me 20+ years to finally make it to Yosemite.  It's not so much a disgrace if you don't live in California...like I do.  I'm just pathetic, really!  Now that I have finally visited Yosemite, I sit here wondering why I didn't start visiting Yosemite years ago! 

My friends and I planned a quick weekend getaway to visit one of the worlds most famous national parks.  On an early Saturday morning we were on the road headed towards Yosemite.  We piled the SUV with our day packs, a cooler filled with drinks, and a bag full of snacks to keep our tummies happy.    As soon as we arrived at the park, we were handed a map accompanied with some useful tips in the rare chance we would encounter any bears or lions.  The info sheet regarding the lions said, "If attacked, fight back!"  My info sheet would say, "If attacked, Shit yourself!"  Thankfully, I didn't get into any cougar fights during this visit.

Bridalveil Falls

 Creek off of Bridalveil Falls

Our first stop was at Bridalveil Falls.  When we arrived at the parking lot to walk to the falls the first two things I noticed was 1) Oh crap...it's cold!,  and 2) The powerful sound of the falls.  The mist from the falls made its way into the parking lot, and obviously the closer we got to the falls the heavier the mist got.  As we headed towards the falls I noticed people soaked, or wearing ponchos.   Amy and I decided to opt out of walking to the foot of the falls because we weren't prepared to take a cold shower in the morning.  Lily & Sam had brought their rain jackets and were able to walk closer to the Falls. 

Yosemite Valley

 Yosemite Valley & Yosemite Falls

After Bridalveil Falls we headed towards Yosemite Valley.  It was absolutely breathtaking!  No photo can really give it justice, it is 360 degrees of pure beauty.  We walked along the Valley and crossed a (not so) dangerous creek, we laugh about it now because it took three of us holding hands and crossing twigs to get across.  It was pure comedy to anyone that witnessed the fear in our faces trying to cross a 6 foot wide,  and half foot deep creek.  We saw a few deers, and of course our first views of Yosemite Falls! 

 The Clan at the Tunnel View

After our little walk around the Valley we headed towards the Tunnel View.  The Tunnel View is a viewpoint where you can get an amazing view of the Valley.  You can see El Capitan, Bridalveil Falls, and Half Dome from that point.  What you don't see in the photo is the busloads of tourists swarming the area, and the parking lot filled to the brim with cars.  We headed to our Lodge at the South end of Yosemite for some lunch.  Our lodge was surrounded by trees, and right outside was a 12 foot pile of snow!  After relaxing and checking into our rooms, we headed to Mariposa Grove to see some Sequoia trees!    After our hike at the Grove we headed back to our lodge to get ready for dinner.  We drove South of Yosemite into this little town to find some eateries.  We settled for a not-so-great steak house, and none of us were able to finish our food that evening.  Maybe we were just too exhausted to even eat...or maybe the food was just THAT BAD!

Now we're ready for Bridalveil Falls!

 The Girls at Bridalveil Falls

So the following morning we headed back to Yosemite Valley, and stopped at Bridalveil Falls again.  This time Amy and I were a little more prepared to get closer to the Falls.  We put on jackets, took off our shoes and wore flip flops (cause one of the worst things in the world are wet socks), and then headed on our little adventure.  Two words...ICE COLD!  The closer I got to the Falls the more numb my feet got.  Thank goodness for our jackets for keeping us fairly dry.  Such an amazing experience, and I wish I still had my waterproof case for my camera!

We easily took 20 shots trying to get a picture of Yosemite Falls.  Failed!

 Lower Yosemite Falls

We then headed to see Yosemite Falls.  Yosemite Falls is one of the tallest waterfalls in the world, and the highest measured waterfall in North America.  The Falls consist of three sections, Upper Falls, Middle Cascades, and Lower Falls.  Since the lower falls was so easily accessible we went there.  It was still amazing, but it wasn't as impressive as Bridalveil Falls to me.

 Half Dome

I salute anyone that has climbed Half Dome.  The thought of that near vertical climb up that rock makes me a tad nauseous.  I think I'd much rather encounter a lion than climb that thing.  Half Dome became an ongoing joke throughout our trip, anytime we saw a generously large rock we would joke, "Okay guys...let's climb half half half "Half Dome."  Maybe in a next life buddy!

 Mirror Lake

Since we were running out of time, we decided against the hike to Vernal Falls and instead do the quick hike to Mirror Lake.  Since we were near the entrance to the hike from Vernal Falls we started our hike to Mirror Lake from there.  We somehow veered from the path and made our way along the Merced River.  We finally hit a road and noticed we were still pretty far from Mirror Lake.  Sam was not interested at all in seeing the lake, but the rest of us gals were all for it.  We gave him the choice of going back to the car, or to come walking with us.  We won.  Most of the way to Mirror Lake was on a paved road.  When we were a little over a mile away from Mirror Lake we saw a sign to reach Mirror Lake from a trail.  We didn't go to Yosemite to walk on a paved road, so we took the trail option.

When we got to Mirror Lake we had one side of the lake all to ourselves, while the other side was filled with people that had taken the paved road.  We sat on the edge of a boulder and just enjoyed the scenery.  It was about a good 45 minutes before we got back to our car, and by then we were pooped!  We drove around the Valley one more time before saying farewell to our new found love, Yosemite!

Date Accomplished:  April 30th, 2011