best hikes

Ahoy,

The best hikes are easy and have waterfalls for you to dip your toes. I'm super duper happy E agreed to go on this hike to Switzer Falls with me. It's not too far off from LA, has a nice winding path driving up to it, and has a parking lot. Most of the trek was in the shade and flat, which is always delightful. Walking next to a stream is always delightful, and cooling off in a pool with a waterfall is the most delightful of all.

mucky pool

clean pool

You start off across a footbridge and walk next to a stream for some ~15 minutes. Then you start on a short up climb that is in the sun, this is the kind of path I've encountered on most LA paths - sunny, dusty, going around the side of a mountain, etc. In ~10 minutes you'll reach the peak, at which point you begin to go down the other side. It gets pretty steep near the bottom, so I would exercise caution. About 10 minutes down this side, you'll reach the bottom of a river and you follow this river, crossing it multiple times until you get to a waterfall with a mucky looking pool. Now look up to where that water is falling from. At the source of this waterfall is a cleaner pool, and if you scramble up the side of this lower waterfall, you can cool off in the cleaner pool with another waterfall up here. When I was up there, it was more like a shower head that needed repairing, but we were told it was gushing a lot about 4 weeks ago. Do it. And be careful. It's totally worth it.

We saw a lot of different people in terms of skill level - kids, elderly, serious hikers, everyone. A lot of people were hiking in their swim trunks and bikinis, so don't forget yours. This is a great family hike probably because it is easy and flat and the kids enjoy splashing around. I would love to do this hike again any day. This is not at all like that other disaster of a hike A and I embarked on a couple weeks ago. Also, I had trouble figuring out my water bladder hydration thinger, but luckily E brought tons and tons of water - so she pretty much saved my life. Yay for other people being far more prepared than I will ever be. It's like I never learn.

blisteringly moist,
jt

short run

Ahoy,

We stayed up late than we probably should have watching a movie on Netflix that was waaaay longer than we though it would be. We didn't realize how long it was until it was too late to turn back. I'm sure you know that feeling. As a result we had a really late start to Saturday and didn't get to fit in his study time. How unfortunate... So he woke up and told me he didn't feel like running and that we should go for a short run. We started out somewhere on San Vicente and ran to Santa Monica Pier and back, about 8 miles. It was sunny like the dickens at the beginning, and I made sure to sunblock everywhere compulsively because I was so sure I was going to burn on the car ride with the roof off. As we approached the shore, it got loads more overcast which was a relief to both of us because there was also some cool breeze action. The way back, though, the RRS was fading fast especially with the sun coming back.

I discovered this place with Mexican paletas while I was riding my bike the other day. We went to Mateo's for lunch. I love this place; it is super duper colorful and fruitful. And I love the ice cream, and the paletas, and the fruit, and everything. I love, love, love everything about this place. You all need to go. I could sing songs all day long about Mateo's if that is what you want.  

We hustled over to Target to pick up some stuff for his friend's barbecue, but let's face it - you can never just hustle through Target and you always end up with more than you came to get. And then we hustled to the beach for a bonfire. We were so late. I'm much better at planning and time management than he is, so I do not take full responsibility for today's events. I had just washed his jacket and he wore it to the bonfire and got it all smokey smelling. I can still smell the smokey in my hair when I wet it. This one time I went camping, I couldn't get the smell of smoke out of my hair for more than a week.

clammily adjoint,
jt

traveling v touristing

Ahoy,

I don't remember where I spotted this quote. I think it was one of the times I was traveling and it's been stuck in my head ever since. It took me a while to wrap my head around its meaning when I first saw it. I stopped in my tracks for a minute mulling it over word by word, but I think it's pretty spot on for a concept I've been quite familiar with.

“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.” 

– G.K. Chesterton

Philosophically, this is a concept that I've tried to carry with me in all my travels. In looking for a world beyond my own, nothing has offered the sort of fascination and discomfort that has come with traveling. There's a sense of discovery and exploration that comes with being in a foreign land- having to deal with signs, gestures, languages, people, and a culture unlike your own. To really see a new place involves all five senses, and to be unafraid of overwhelming those senses.

To travel is to create an authentic experience of immersion in another world. I understand that as a foreigner, I wouldn't know where to begin in creating something authentic of that which I know nothing. But, still, I feel like there are certain niceties of a tour group, for example, that nullify the experience of travel. Having a guide quip to you in your own tongue as you ride rooftop through a new city is to tourist. Being deposited for x minutes to snap a memory because everyone else is is to tourist. This experience deprives you of interacting with the locals, shopkeepers, streets. You have no moments of bewilderment with different customs, with new smells, with the architecture. Having someone talk at you, spewing facts and fiction, telling you what you have to do or not do - sounds like things out of a guide book I should have read before I made this trip. Traveling should be on your own terms, and if your terms are to have a real life guidebook hold your hand through this strange city - than it is not my place to tell you one thing or another.

Of the places I've been, some of my most memorable experiences are of endless winding streets, foreign accents, mixed up conversations, going somewhere I'm not sure I should go. Though I map out a path at the beginning of the day, I'm not sure how far off of it I will trail and I'm not sure what I'll encounter along it. Getting lost is one of my favorite aspects of traveling. The farther I get from tourists, and more strange looks I get from locals means I'm on the right path. In my mind, I am never lost - I'm exploring. 

wanderlustily afloat,

jt

bikinis

Ahoy,

This was the first time all summer I got to wear my bikini. I'm not sure about your ideas of summer, but August is simply an unacceptably late time to get to wear my bikini. We went to a beach party and everybody was wearing sweaters. There were the few, the brave that entered the water including the RRS, myself and 2 others. The RRS bucked up and invited me for a dip in the ocean. I was surprised he proposed this activity because he is always complaining about the arctic tundra of  climates here in Southern California.

We even saw a dolphin. Half the people on the beach were saying it was a shark, but that is how hysteria ensues. I'm positive it was a dolphin, looked like a bottlenose to me. Wild dolphin sightings are the best.

saltily rosy,
jt

dinner foods

Ahoy,

The drive down from the Bay Area can take up to 6 hours. There are little bits of traffic along the way, but it is usually not particularly chaotic on the straightaway so it's a good road for shutting down your brain. Whenever we make this trip down we aren't sure what to do about dinner once we get back. Sometimes we are sent down with a lot of food from his folks, sometimes we stop at Harris Ranch to pick up something to cook, and often-times A wants In n' Out.

A: What food do we have in the fridge?
Me: We have no food in the fridge except for leftovers.
A: Is there anything in the freezer? I feel like there was something I wanted to eat in the freezer.
Me: ...
A: It's-it! That's what I wanted, It's-it.

Yes, let's have ice cream sandwiches for dinner! I am always in agreement for ice cream for dinner!

fatefully frozen,
jt

overdrive

Ahoy,

This past weekend we zipped up the coast to visit A's family. We listened to the new Backstreet Boys' record something like 5 times. Lucky for him, there are no other cds in the car because I know boy band pop is his favorite. Little did I know, there was an action packed weekend of activities in store. We didn't spend a lot of time in the Bay Area. I usually look forward to revisiting old places in the SF-Bay Area, but there was no time for any such tomfoolery this weekend.

On Saturday, the family piled into the minivan for an endless car ride to Santa Cruz. I never enjoy sitting still for that long. At the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, we each got wristbands for rides all day. It was so much fun. We only got to ride the roller coaster 3 times given our time constraint, but that is probably the best ride there, and that line moves really fast. We didn't spend as much time on rides as I wanted and A never even got to go to the arcade, but it was a great day. I got the kids' dinner in a boat so there are worse problems to have.

Sunday included a trip to Davis and Sacramento. I've never been to either city, so it was really fun to explore these new places. A used his Peet's radar to locate a study place. Davis is a lot hotter than the Bay Area because it is inland, so it felt like real summer but without the humidity. UC-Davis is big on agriculture and they are surrounded by farmland - they even have cows on campus.

I spent the following day exploring Sacramento while A was at a meeting nearby. The streets are on a grid structure, which I loved! I haven't seen a grid in too long. Why streets are anything besides on a grid is still a question to me. Also, the streets are all tree lined, which is aesthetically pleasing to me in addition to being practical and environmentally friendly. Things I learned about Sacramento:

1. People are very nice, genuine and sincere when hitting on me.
2. There are no people.
3. There are no doughnuts.
4. Old Sacramento looks like Oregon Trail.

Maybe I'll be back, maybe I won't. I wouldn't be heartbroken either way.

itchingly neighbored,
jt

work tour

Ahoy,

I love going to visit K's work place. It's always so fun - it's like a combination of a botanic garden, playground and museum. All of it is so interactive. The campus is nearly 100 acres, and all of the buildings are connected indoors if you don't want to go outside. There's a treehouse, wading pond, gardens, outdoor sculptures, and it looks like construction is underway for a manmade river/lake system. Every building has a fun theme and there is an abundance of artwork everywhere. Finally, we got to show A. He was showing signs of envy at the niceties of this workplace (but really, who wouldn't?).

We made our way to Middleton, a small city near Madison for our scheduled brewery tour. First we stopped off at the local diner for a quick bite. Our server was shocked when we asked for the check sans pie. At Capital Brewery, we sampled their beer and filed in for their brewery tour. Their walls are lined with ribbons and awards of all sorts. They ferment their beer in 100 gallon milk jugs, and their facility used to be an egg packing factory - really can't get away from dairy in Wisconsin.

We went to explore downtown Madison, the capitol, and UW campus. There are many things about this area that remind me of Berkeley. I would describe Madison as what I would imagine Berkeley to be like with less pot and more bros. The UW campus has a ton of forest-land adjacent to the lake. There is an excellent running trail, woods to walk through, and they run a rental shop for water-crafts. Although the campus is quite unsightly, with dated and public facility style architecture - the rolling hills and lack of rigidity in building placement is reminiscent of the UC, Berkeley campus. State street leads up to the campus from the Capitol and it is similar to Telegraph Ave in Berkeley and has more bars. It is even complete with a plaza equivalent to People's Park. We tried probably the creamiest ice cream I've ever had here. Got to hand it to Wisconsin - they do know their dairy.  

It's always the most fun with my brother. Nobody is so my counterpart like he is.

disjointedly agog,
jt

my other favorite boys

Ahoy,

Upon visiting Chicago this time, I also wanted to show Madison to the RRS. So after he landed at 1am, I whisked him home to feed him the whole lobster and clams my parents had prepared for his arrival. We left horrifyingly early in the morning for an unusually traffic packed trip to Madison. I blasted the best of my pop music/boy band records on the way there. I'm sure he was delighted.

Upon arrival, my brother had very casually arranged with friends that were going top-roping to meet them. Devil's Lake State Park is rumored to have some of the best outdoor climbing in the midwest and my brother lives about an hour away. We drove blindly to the site and walked blindly through the forest looking for people. Being the extraordinary planner he is, my brother had no idea where to go or how to get there. We never ended up finding anyone and just went hiking around the park. We figured that there was an intermediate trail up a boulder scramble we never spotted.

We began up on the top of some cliffs where we could see many folks had set up for top roping and walked downhill through the forest to the edge of Devil's Lake. We walked around the Lake from the south shore to the north shore and went back up on that side. My mom had naively opted to come along carrying her purse and bakery goods (which I knew one of us would end up carrying, which is what happened). It was quite hilarious to witness my mom trudging along on our adventure. I'm glad she is so good natured about this exercise in torture (the only fitting name for what we had her endure, although to be fair - I did warn her).

Devil's Lake State Park is spectacular in many ways. It is what I'd always imagined hiking to be like and more - tree lined with sweeping views. The variety of terrain is fabulous. There are gradual and quick slopes, plenty of rocks and mountain-like features, while also surrounding a body of water, craggy boulders adjacent to the shoreline, sandy beaches, and trees all around. There are people of all shapes and sizes here and you can pretty much jump in the freshwater from anywhere along the trail. My only regret is that I did not bring my bikini.

Afterwards, we returned to Madison to check out K's rock climbing gym. I've always liked his gym, and A confirmed that the setting is really good here - the movements feel natural and interesting. But also, they set really hard - A says they set like outdoors, if not stiffer.

We drove back into the city to find our dinner spot. The restaurant had boardgames so we learned how to play Yahtzee. Alcohol seems to flow freer here, and A's eyes popped out when he saw the irresistible prices. We returned to K's apartment and the boys played video games.

agelessly defiant,

jt

my favorite boys

Ahoy,

Backstreet's back! I'm pretty sure this is my first concert. I wasn't cool enough in my youth to convince my mom to take me to teenybopper events. So last week, I convinced her to go with me, long after the craze began, but I'm sure my enthusiasm has not waned. 

The concert took place on the museum campus on Lake Michigan - at the Charter One Pavilion on Northerly Island. Pretty scenic spot, as far as concerts go (I can say this even though I've never been to another one). We picked up dinner to go and ate on the waterfront (so romantical - boys, take note).  I relish in telling my mom outlandish things that aren't always true. She usually believes me. This time though, my outlandish fact was true. Northerly Island used to be an airport. Mayor Daley tore it up in the middle of the night and converted to the park it is today. Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. 

Mom and I had a really fun time. The opening acts were a drag, but my mom was jumping around and dancing with everyone else. I was delighted to be breathing the same air as pop royalty. Unfortunately, the show got cut off early because Chicago Park District has an incredibly strict curfew of 11PM. Nonetheless, we walked away with a great memory. I always enjoy instances in which I have to spend time with my mom, but she can't talk to me. These situations don't come along frequently enough.

finely tuned,
jt

easy peel

Ahoy,

A is super lazy about peeling his oranges. He pretty much only buys easy peel oranges if I don't say otherwise. At the farmer's market, we got these super duper easy peel oranges. We refer to them as old man oranges, partly because the skin is so saggy and loose (like the fruit version of pulled pork) and partly because it'd be easy for old men with arthritis to peel them also.

At 99 Ranch, we got a bag of clementines. He was not so excited about them until I read that they are easy peel according to the label. Even so, he still had something to say about their easy peelness. Apparently we now have standards of easy peelness. Upon peeling his first easy peel from 99 Ranch:

A: Man, these easy peel oranges are more like easy peel if you're Chinese. If you're white, like me, they aren't so easy peel.

I think he dreams of easy peel old man oranges from the farmer's market. Add this to the growing list of things that make him white.

citrusily peeled,
jt

looking for home: mago man

Ahoy,

I'm not sure what their actual name is or what other people call them. The mago men are those guys that push around a cart of a cooler full of popsicles, or paletas. You know them. They have these bells attached to their carts so you can hear them before you see them. They gather where students are let out from schools, on playgrounds, beaches, parks, etc. When I was a kid, they were 50 cents each. Now, I find them for anywhere from $1 - $2. In the summers, I remember asking for one every time I got picked up from camp. You'd see all the kids run up to the mago man and loiter around the lot sucking on the cool melting popsicle after school. They must make a killing after school because every time I've seen them near a school, they are just drowning in a sea of children. They may be more beloved than Santa Claus or Justin Bieber. Grown-ups should make sure they always have change on them, I know I will when I'm a grown-up. The paletas came in all sorts of colors and flavors. By the end of my childhood - I think my favorite one was cookies and cream.

I don't remember noticing them when I was in NYC, but there was probably a lot I over-looked. Also, I spent most hours indoors and only went out after kids were already in bed. I have been delighted to see that they exist in and around my neighborhood. I can hear the mago man from our windows sometimes. We chased one down our alley one time, and now I"m convinced that the guy returns to call me out, which is not a bad problem to have.

In other ice cream news, we recently purchased a box of It's-it, which the RRS says was the cool frozen treat to have in his childhood. They're a Bay Area import, so it seems we've got all our bases covered in terms of nostalgic childhood summer treats.

hauntingly iced,
jt