Won herself a pass to some far off moon
It was second class but what’s to lose
While we all share this evening de la Super Moon, here are some other great moon shots from this brief but awesome lifetime!
landed on the moon?
I woke up with a wild hair this morning & decided it was high time for a new adventure! So we packed up the backpack and headed out to Fillmore, CA to check out the Tar Creek waterfall hike. Generally, I can make & execute plans pretty well, but this was not one of those times. The directions I had on my phone seemed good enough, but they really explained nothing & since I didn’t have a signal, we were lost 80% of the time. We fumbled our way all over the back country and never even found the purpose of the trip: the waterfall. FAIL. Better luck next time?
It was still pretty spectacular though – any sunny Sunday spent in a swimming hole is a fine day by me. I also started out the hike saying “I really want to see a snake today” and then I saw a snake!
Looking forward to seeing what else I can manifest this week!
Could not ask for a better day in the valley! Mik, Nate and I went out to Santa Ynez to go wine tasting at Demetria, Evan’s Ranch and Gainey (to pick up our Evan’s Ranch shipment), but I only managed to remember my camera at Demetria… A crowd favorite, be sure to check them out!
Demetria Estate – www.demetriaestate.com
We took a little extended weekend over Easter and stayed at Korakia Pensione – a fabulous boutiquey little hotel in downtown Palm Springs. They have two pools, a bocce ball court, free bike rentals, an outdoor projected movie every night, fire pits, day beds, free home cooked breakfast — you really can’t ask for more!
(All photos taken by me – Kelly Lane – don’t use without permission!)
(Not at Korakia, but a cute little coffee shop in town!)
Things look a little different around here – especially if you’re visiting on a smartphone or tablet! I just switched over to a responsive design so that every device has the best user experience while being here. Let me know if you see anything broken or acting strangely… If you have a site that you want redesigned to be responsive – send me an email!
Second rule of travel (behind sampling local fruit): take a hike! Palm Springs has a surprising number of options for hiking, but we settled on the Palm Canyon hike in the Indian Canyons Reserve. ($9/each to get in, but worth it… Thanks for sharing your land!)
When we arrived we were greeted by a solar halo – a really cool weather event that wraps a rainbow around the sun! After reveling in that for a minute, we followed the trail through a strange and sudden canyon of palm trees in the middle of the desert, and then on a loop that leads past scenic overlooks, cacti & endless switchbacks before reaching the Trading Post again. The trail is pretty stellar, and could be even better provided you bring a lot of water (we didn’t) and don’t go at noon (we did). Check out my pix!
We rented bikes from Banana Azul and went exploring first thing the next morning. The town of Puerto Viejo is probably 2km from the hotel, but you can ride all the way to the end of the road at Manzanillo – about 20km one way. (Which we did on this day!) We were really hoping to go snorkeling, but as we rode around it was obvious that the ocean wasn’t in snorkeling condition: fast sets on rough seas… Either way, we had enough to keep us occupied with beach scouting and scoping out the little shops along the way.
Pitstop for fresh squeezed papaya juice:
Back at our room to swim in the ocean & relax in this hammock all afternoon:
The drive from La Fortuna to Puerto Viejo takes approx 5 hours, so we were picked up by the Interbus bright & early to set out on the road. Since all of the roads are two-lanes and not very good for passing, when a semi drove across our lane and landed in the ditch, it added an extra two hours onto our drive. The joys of the road! We rode the whole way with two other people & the dude had a laugh that sounded like Seth Rogen’s, which I mistakenly pointed out to Mik and then we both couldn’t stop noticing it. For 7 hours… At least the drivers were great and we got everywhere we wanted swiftly and with all of our luggage.
Interbus pitstop for breakfast:
Spacious, clean vans:
One of many river crossings:
Our first view of the Caribbean! (on this trip, anyway):
We actually left La Fortuna a day early, anxious to get settled into Puerto Viejo and relax for the remainder of our trip. Nothing was available that night at Banana Azul, so we arranged to stay next door at Casa Las Brisas until our room was ready. It was only $70/night, so I went in expecting very little of the place and was delightfully surprised to find that it had ocean-front views and was super charming! Michel is very sweet and hospitable too, which doesn’t hurt. They even served us breakfast on the beach the next morning! Lovely.
More swimming, cartwheels, pina coladas, sunsets. Great place!
After another fantastic breakfast at Hotel Arenal Manoa, we took a cab over to check out the La Fortuna waterfall (approx $15 each way). Apparently I was too excited to read anything about this hike and just jumped straight to the photos, because I didn’t know about the major stairmaster workout ahead of us. Described as a “15 minute walk down a set of stairs,” they neglect to mention the hour it takes to get back up them! There are probably 500+ steps and my calves were wrecked for the next two days. Brutal, I’m telling you! (I run 3 miles every other day, so I’m in decent shape too.)
That said: it was freakin awesome! I went and jumped in the pool and fought the current to try to get close enough for a photo but didn’t have the power against the raging downpour. Workout #2 (of 4) for the day. The water was pretty cold, but the air was hot, so it was refreshing. If you scout around to the left of the waterfall behind some trees there is a crystal clear blue little swimming hole with fish in it & less of a current. Good place for a picnic and a swim!
