Cupcakes and Wine
Delicious cupcakes at Enjoy Cupcakes in Los Olivos and equally divine wine at Deep Sea on Stearn's Wharf.
UCSB Labyrinth
Quick hike out around the lagoon at UCSB to check out the labyrinth... my newest favorite spot in Santa Barbara!
On the Subject of Super Moons
Won herself a pass to some far off moon
It was second class but what’s to lose
Tar Creek Hike, Sespe Wilderness
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?
Demetria Wine Tasting
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!
Korakia Pensione – Deluxe Desert Getaway
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!
Palm Springs – Palm Canyon Hike
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!)
Getting the Lay of the Land
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.
Travel Day: La Fortuna to Puerto Viejo on Interbus
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!
Last Hours at Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica
More swimming, cartwheels, pina coladas, sunsets. Great place!
La Fortuna Waterfall
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.
Afternoon at the Hanging Bridges
We arranged for a tour over to the Hanging Bridges in the afternoon & two other couples from our hotel went along with us… we had all been at the pool together all morning so we were fast friends!
