This hike isn't part of any official state or national park. It's kind of off the radar and doesn't have any regulations, so I knew it would be popular with dogs. We were both a little worried about how Sammie would behave, since she's kind of socially inept, to put it nicely. Overall, she was surprisingly well-behaved! She became really attached to a little poodle mix dog and its family, which was really funny.






The water color was gorgeous, and we rode by Vikingsholm, which is another popular attraction in Tahoe. I'm not quite sure what it's all about, honestly, but it's some type of historic castle-looking house. The lighting made it impossible to photograph, but it was cool to see. Overall, we had a great time in Tahoe!


In other news, we have been going into San Francisco on our off weekends. It's not really enough for me to make a whole post about, but it's been fun. We got a burrito from El Farolito, which is one of the Mission's original burrito spots. It was probably the best burrito I've ever had.  I also went in one weeknight to meet a friend for dinner. I have to say, going on weekdays is much better for traffic since most people are leaving the city. I rode right in with minimal stop-and-go traffic (there's always some) and found a parking spot right in front of the Ferry Building. The weather has also become a little better, with less fog. It's been nice to actually see the city!

A couple of weekends ago, we did an "urban hike" in the Berkeley Hills. The hills of Berkeley and Oakland are nice neighborhoods and in Berkeley, there is a system of walking trails throughout the neighborhood. Pictures really don't convey how cool it was, but this is definitely something I would suggest as a Berkeley activity. The houses were all eclectic, which was interesting enough on its own, and the views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the bay in general were awesome.


The weather for our walk was so nice - probably 75 and partly cloudy. Berkeley is warmer than San Francisco, but not hot at all. The first time we went into Berkeley, we weren't really all that impressed. After watching the entire Parenthood series, I had high hopes (even though I don't really think it was filmed in Berkeley.) We also came on UC Berkeley's graduation day during our first trip, so the terrible traffic really didn't help our first impression. After this visit, Berkeley definitely grew on me. I probably wouldn't be too excited about living in Livermore for much longer, but I could definitely get used to the idea of living in the Berkeley Hills with views of the bay from my deck!


Last weekend, we decided to take a quick trip up the Redwood Coast. On the way up, we drove through "The Avenue of the Giants," which is a 31-mile road along Highway 101 that goes through tons of redwood groves. Again, it's so hard to capture how amazing things like this are with a camera. We drove a lot during our 2 day trip, and often times we were surrounded by huge redwoods that were right beside the road. I doubt we will ever see anything like it again!



We stayed in Eureka for the night, mostly because it was the only place in the area with vacancy for the weekend. July 4th in California is ridiculous. We wanted to go camping, so I started looking for sites and/or cabins weeks in advance, and everything was booked.

Eureka, I would assume, was originally a gold rush town (hence the name) and has lots of Victorian architecture. It is on the coast, so we got to take Sammie to the beach. This was definitely the highlight of the trip for her!




We don't have much time left in California! We have a trip planned to Lake Tahoe, and other than that, we just plan to see more of San Francisco and the bay area. We will be headed to LA on August 8, staying for a couple of nights, and then we'll start our drive back across the country.

Another one of our 3-day weekends has come and gone. This time we went to Yosemite, which was a must-do on our California list.

We stayed in Oakhurst, which is about 15 miles from the closest entrance of Yosemite. We were a little shocked when 15 miles from the entrance meant it took almost 1.5 hours to get where we needed to go.  In Yosemite, the really stunning views (AKA where you want to be) seem to be right in the middle of the park, with lots of woods and mountains surrounding.

The first afternoon, we just walked around Yosemite Village area on some paved paths. It was packed with people and very busy. We were lucky to find a space to park in, and it wasn't even a real parking space. (One of the many benefits of the Prius!) It was also surprisingly hot. My phone's weather app clearly got the weather in Yosemite wrong - I was expecting highs in the 80's and lows in the high 30's, and it was close to 100 each day! It was much hotter than Livermore has been. We were reminded of how thankful we are to be skipping the extreme Columbia heat, at least for the time being.


The hike we did took us to the top of one of Yosemite's famous waterfalls, Vernal Falls. Above is our first peek of the falls. The color of the water was gorgeous.

The Mist Trail is, well, misty. The mist creates a rainbow, which was really cool to see. Part of the trail was pretty wet and cold due to the mist, but it was refreshing during the hot, uphill hike. We weren't sure if the waterfall would be going full force because of the drought, but it seemed strong to me.



Once we got to the top of the falls, we had lunch overlooking the "Emerald Pool," which is what Vernal Falls is generated from. There is another waterfall further above that makes its way to the pool.


The squirrels in Yosemite are NOT shy and will approach fearlessly. Too many people have given them food, and they're not afraid to ask for more! There were 2 that wouldn't leave us alone during our lunch. I love animals, but the squirrels did lose their appeal after a couple of minutes. They kept coming up from behind and they were getting so close, I was genuinely worried one would crawl up my back. Luckily, this didn't happen!

We also couldn't leave before taking a look down the waterfall. Apparently 200 people per summer have to be taken out on a stretcher from the hike we did. After hearing this, I was cautious about getting too close, but they had a railing near the edge, so it seemed much safer than I thought it would be up there.




Later on Saturday, we headed up to Glacier Point to see sunset overlooking Half Dome.


A little later:

Visiting Yosemite was a lot of fun. It was great to be back in the wilderness. William and I both miss that from our Jackson days. Yosemite is gorgeous and the views are surreal, but Grand Teton still takes the cake for me. A lot of that is due to its remoteness and fewer crowds. I think Yosemite is so crowded because there are so many people living within easy driving distance that can get to Yosemite just for a day or weekend, which I can't blame them for doing. This isn't quite as feasible in GTNP and Yellowstone, which is a good thing, in my opinion!

Hello there! I thought I'd pop in with an update on how things are going in Livermore.

First, the weather. The weather in Livermore has been colder than expected, but overall it's really nice, especially for outdoor activities. The highs have been around 70 and the lows have been in the 50s, and unlike Columbia, the low is reached not long after dark and evenings are windy. We have heard that temperatures do get into the 90s and up at times... We'll see!

We have found a couple of nice hiking trails and parks in the area, which has been great since we don't have a yard to let Sammie out in. There are a lot of ground squirrels (Sammie thinks these are much more exciting than regular tree squirrels) in the hiking areas, so we can't let her off leash too much, depending on what's around. She'd be gone!

• There is a local doughnut shop that is open 24/7. One of their specialties is red velvet doughnuts.
• There are lots of paved biking/walking trails throughout town, as well as bike lanes and sidewalks beside the roads. The roads are really wide and people always stop for pedestrians.
• Overall, there is a vibe of family-friendliness and safety. (This is very different from San Francisco and parts of Oakland and Berkeley.) I've seen several kids here riding their bikes alone, which I don't see very often in Columbia.
• There are tons of wineries. We haven't been to any yet because we've been busy visiting other places, but we plan to soon.