California Wine & Cheese

Earlier this month, my roommate and I had a wine and cheese night at our apartment. Most of the rehab staff came (about 10 people) and we told everyone to bring either a bottle of wine or cheese or a side dish. Cat and I made a cheese board with fruit, chocolate, cheese, almonds, and salami.

The crackers in the middle were topped with goat cheese, a drizzle of honey, and a blackberry. They were probably my favorite treat. Cat also made delicious baked brie topped with a maple pecan glaze. We had many other plates full of cheese, crackers, grapes, and more of the crackers with the goat cheese and berries. It was such a fun night! Others brought nachos and cheese, spinach dip, Brie dip, apples with bleu cheese, and different kinds of wine.

We had a blast trying all the different snacks and wine, and hanging out together outside of work.

On Saturday my roommate Cat and I went to Murphys, which is a cute little town about 45 minutes from Sonora. Murphys is known for its many small wineries. We went to a bunch of them over the course of the day and got lunch and dinner in town. It was a fun relaxing day of eating and drinking. My favorite winery was Vina Moda. We had one white wine, one rose, and three reds there, and liked every single one!

Cheers to the Freakin Weekend

I spent last weekend in San Francisco with Emily and Ross. It's great to have friends that love to travel, and it's great to see some faces from home. We had planned to hike in Yosemite, but due to flight delays, we decided it would be more time efficient to spend the whole weekend in SF.

Day 1: We walked around Union Square and Chinatown. I got some free skin care samples at some shops in Union Square, and we got lunch in Chinatown. Then we rented bikes and biked across the Golden Gate Bridge. On the other side of the bridge is a cute little town called Sausalito. Biking around Sausalito was my favorite part of the weekend. There are cute little shops and it's right on the bay. We took the ferry back to SF and had dinner that night at Gott's Roadside, a burger place in the Ferry Building Marketplace. We relaxed at the hotel pool Friday night.

Day 2: We had delicious made-to-order omelets at the Embassy Suites. I highly recommend them for the rooms and the breakfast. We drove into town and wandered around Fisherman's Wharf for awhile. We got to see the sea lions at Pier 39. Then we got in line for the main event of the day: Alcatraz. I'd been once before, but Emily and Ross had never been. It was fun to see it again. We took the ferry across and did the Cellhouse audio tour. The audiotour at Alcatraz is great because it's narrated by former guards and prisoners. It was super cold outside at The Rock and we got hungry since we hadn't eaten lunch.

We made it back on the ferry and ate at WipeOut on Pier 39. Ross and I got the Chicken Teriyaki bowl and it was amazing- lots of fresh vegetables, chicken, and grilled pineapple! After lunch, we went back to the hotel for a bit and got changed for dinner. When we headed back downtown, we stopped at a cafe/bar to meet up with Ross's cousin. Buena Vista is famous for their Irish coffees. While we were waiting there, we saw the bartender making dozens of them. We got dinner at McCormick and Kuleto's seafood restaurant, which was our nice dinner of the weekend. After that, we wandered around Ghiradelli Square, got some free chocolate samples, and got some delicious ice cream. 

Day 3: We just had the morning on Sunday to do some sightseeing before Emily and Ross had to fly out. We ended up going to see the famous Painted Ladies houses and Golden Gate Park. We walked around the lake at Golden Gate Park and saw baby ducks and a waterfall. It was a nice peaceful end to our trip. We squeezed a lot into 2.5 days!

Our song for the weekend: Cheers -Rihanna 

Local trails near Sonora

I'm loving this California assignment! There are so many things to do in the area, and I work with a lot of travelers who are always wanting to get together and do things. These are two of the local hikes that I frequently go to with my co-workers:

Table Mountain:

Natural Bridges:

View from the top of Table Mountain:

San Fran

Spent the weekend in San Francisco.

Discovered a new SF favorite: Ferry Building Marketplace. Lots of specialty shops, including a cheese shop, coffee shop, ice creamery, olive oil shop, gluten free bakery, and a shop that only sells pig parts. I tried a cheese plate from the cheese shop, coffee, specialty ice cream, and a burger at Gott's Roadside over the course of the weekend. I just kept ending up at the Ferry Building! On Saturday they had an outdoor farmer's market and I got some fresh fruit.

Biked all over SF. The city has plenty of bike lanes and even though some parts are super hilly, it was way more fun to bike around the city than to drive. I really enjoyed biking through Golden Gate Park especially.

Hiked at Point Reyes National Seashore. The trail along the bay wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped, due to all the fog (but that is only to be expected in San Francisco). It was a long drive to the other end of the park to see the lighthouse. I got there just as the trail was closing, but still got to see the views of the shore and lighthouse from above.

Mirror Lake

Last weekend I went to Yosemite again for some more hiking. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! I'm really loving all the California sunshine! I did an easy 5 mile round-trip hike to Mirror Lake. It was a little muddy since it had rained the day before, but the trail was pretty flat compared to last week's hike.

It was kind of hard to get a good picture of the reflections, since California is having another drought year and the lake isn't as full as normal.

Still, I love how these turned out! There were several places along the lake where you could see various reflections of the surrounding mountains. It was really cool.

I love Yosemite. It seems like I see something new and awesome each time I go back there!

Yosemite Falls Hike

I am on my third assignment now, in Sonora California! This little town in Northern California is only about an hour from the entrance to Yosemite Park, so I'm planning to visit a bunch while I'm here. A couple years ago, when I visited California for the first time, Yosemite was the highlight of the trip!

Last weekend was National Park Day, so I got into Yosemite for free! I took the opportunity to do a day hike to the top of Yosemite Falls. It's one of the hikes that I didn't get to do last time.

Distance: 7.2 miles round trip
Time: 4 hours (2 hours to top, 1/2 hour for lunch, 1.5 hours down)

It was a strenuous hike, and it got especially steep near the top. I was determined to make it up with as few rest breaks as possible. I made it into a competition to see how many people I could beat. I passed a lot of people on the way up without getting passed once (of course no one else knew they were in a competition)! The views at the top were worth every step.

I hiked over the rocks to the source of the waterfall. There were less people over there and it was a great spot to eat lunch and enjoy the view. There's also a few stairs that you can walk down to look over the ledge where the waterfall drops- but be prepared to get hit with some spray!

I loved this hike, even though I had to walk an extra mile to and from the parking lot which added an extra hour of walking time. On the way there I had to walk because the shuttle was full, and on the way back, I decided to walk and look around a little bit more. The valley floor was somewhat crowded due to the free park day. After my hike, I stopped in the visitor's center for a bit and then got a sandwich at Degnan's Deli (their chicken salad is delicious!).

I can't wait to go back to Yosemite for more hiking! I still want to do Lower Yosemite Falls and Mirror Lake (shorter, easier hikes) and Glacier Point (almost 10 miles round trip, which will be an all-day hike).

Country songs to put a smile on

These are my current country faves because they make me happy!

Sam Hunt - Leave the Night On
"It's still early out in Cali, baby don't you wanna rally again?"

Billy Currington - Don't It
"Get on it, take a shot you can sip on it, find a floor we can dance on it, slow song it"

Zac Brown Band - Homegrown
"Small town and it feels like home, I've got everything I need, and nothing that I don't"