Tag Archives: California

Capture the Colour Photo Contest

27 Monday Aug 2012

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For the past six weeks I’ve been admiring other travel bloggers’ submissions to Travel Supermarket’s Capture the Colour Photo Contest.  Anyone can enter, but for some reason it took me until today to decide to do so using photos I’ve taken in the past few months. I was timid about not having my many photos from previous years on this computer, but now I guess I have a number of shots that are more worth including. Besides, it’s a really fun contest idea and it has a load of great prizes.

Red: Ayvalik, Turkey. We had just taken an 8-hour bus ride from Istanbul, and were ready to resume our tradition of watching sunsets. The first glimpse we caught of it was from a tiny alley just off the water, and I practically started running to the shore when I saw how brilliant the colors were, evident just from the reflections in the car windshield. Needless to say, the sunset itself did not disappoint, but part of the beauty was the teaser that got us there.
Sometimes the preview is just as good as the feature film.

 Blue: Ankara, Turkey. We were being guided by our friend’s good-natured brother (in the navy shirt in the back), and he was the perfect embodiment of Turkish hospitality. We became fast friends with him, and he happily did everyday things with us, like taking my boyfriend (in the blue smock) to his first Turkish barber shop for a beard trim.

First beard trim with our new friend looking on.
Yellow: Sonoma County, California. I had recently quit my job to travel and write for a year, and my extended family decided to take a trip to northern California. It would be the first time that I would fly abroad and they would not be able to see me off due to the trip, so every day we spent together was truly precious. This photo was taken at one of the beaches near our rental in Jenner. At the time of this photo being taken, my father was ten feet away from me creating beautiful sand art and my mother was reading under the umbrella. It was a beautiful day, and the sands were dotted with the bodies of jellyfish. 

White: Thessaloniki, Greece. We had taken a bus to the top of the town and explored, eating fruit and people-watching in a tiny square before meandering some more. Greece is home to many white-washed buildings and many stray cats, and here I found it fitting that we spotted both complimenting each other. The cat slunk through the alleyway with the power of a miniature panther. 

Green: Isle of Skye, Scotland. It was our first day near Glen Brittle on the Isle of Skye, and we had been told that among the countless sheep dotting the countryside there were also ruins of a clan long-established in the area. We ran into another hiker and he joined us for the trek, even giving us a lift to the trail head after having known us for 10 minutes. Here the stone remains look out onto the abundant green overgrowth in what had once been the courtyard of the castle. 

And now, as part of the contest, I nominate 5 fellow bloggers to participate in Capture the Colour. Sorry for the late notices, guys. :-/ My nominees are:

–Regina of ReginaRae.Com
–Tarreyn of TarreynLand.Com
–Kat Carney of Kat Carney Photography
–Lori from Random Road Revelations
–Lily from A Modern Writer’s Adventures and Misadventures

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My Favorite Five: Places to Eat in Sonoma County, CA

03 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Bumbling Bites, Destinations, Favorite 5

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Northern California is a great place for foodies. Wine country at your fingertips generally means great food to go along with it, and eat well we did! Here are a few places where we got some sweet eats. Check them out if you’re in the area!
Big Bottom Market,Guerneville, CA
This little market has been written up as an up-and-coming eaterie in Food & Wine, and it’s no surprise why. Head in to find a variety of creative and well-crafted sandwiches, homemade biscuits with honey, a great drink section and more! Plus, they’ll pair your sandwich with a wine they carry. Don’t forget to check out their specials, which feature locals! (I had the Ziggy last week, which featured a wine-marinated pulled pork that was out of this world.) How’s that for community building?

Howard Station Café, Occidental, CA
Good advice from Miss Piggy on the wall of Howard Station Cafe! 
Howard Station had been recommended to my mom, and I’m glad it was. We ate there one day for breakfast, and then went all the way back to Occidental for round 2 the very next morning! The laid-back atmosphere and friendly service couple well with the diet-friendly menu: looking for vegan? No problem! Gluten an issue? Fuggedaboutit! Known for their eggs benedict, they’ll serve it up not just traditionally (which they’ll still do), but the cooks at Howard’s get creative. When we were there, they served an Irish eggs benedict, with corned beef, which got great reviews at our table. The waffles are, in a word, perfect: light, fluffy, with a big dollop of homemade whipped cream and fresh fruit. They can be gluten-free, too, and you’d never know the difference!
Best gluten-free waffles!
Campo Fina,Healdsburg, CA
We discovered this new venture on a quest to eat at its big sister restaurant, Scopa. Campo Fina, just around the corner, serves family style Italian antipasti and small dishes, as well as some darn good desserts. Play bocce in the back while you wait for your food, or just enjoy some of the locally grown wines! Keep in mind that it is on the pricier side—the small dishes are delectable, but they don’t go very far, so be prepared to order a lot of them to feed a hungry party. It would be a perfect date place!
Wildflour Bakery, Freestone,CA
Along the highway, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, is a beautiful garden next to a bakery whose name plays with words and whimsy alike. Wildflour Bakery serves up hot bread of many flavors, and the garden that flanks it is full of flower and vegetables. Don’t forget to look for the cool elephant mural when you pay!

Wildflour gardens

Wildflour gardens

In the Wildflour gardens

Elephant mural in the bakery
There’s no place like Home.
A home-cooked meal is often the best way to cure homesickness, to learn a family recipe from a grandparent, or to have a relaxing meal on your own terms. We ate some great meals in the surrounding restaurants, but I come from a family of talented cooks, so I get spoiled at family meals, too. Fresh, local rockfish grilled by my dad (who taught me almost everything I know about cooking), my grandpa’s famous cream cheese scrambled eggs and more all were passed around the table to choruses of “Mmm”s. That is one thing that I will miss the most during my upcoming travels: sharing a meal with my family. Time to make some new friends and share the table with old ones, though!

My Favorite Five: Things to do in Sonoma County, CA

02 Monday Jul 2012

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My family vacation is over, and my individual adventure begins. I was lucky enough to spend 8 days in Jenner, CA with my parents and some extended family, although I missed my little brother a ton and wish he had been able to join us. Here are my 5 recommendations of things to do if you’re in Sonoma County! 
Go wine tasting in Dry Creek Valley near Healdsburg, CA:
The last time my family went wine-tasting, I was about 14 and not allowed to drink. Although I tasted a few wines there, it obviously didn’t compare to the full experience of driving from winery to winery, sipping from glasses and dumping out the untasted wine to prepare for the next taste.
Vineyards at Wilson Wineries

Wine barrels at Ferrari-Cardano
Explore Petaluma, CA:
On the day we drove in to Sonoma County, we happened upon a farmers’ market in Petaluma’s Walnut Square. There, we found a delightful and delicious assortment of vegetables, fruit, cheeses, hummus, bread and more.
Chocolate!
On one of my last days in the area, we went to Petaluma and got to walk around the main part of the town; there are so many great boutiques, antique stores, book shops, food (including a killer chocolate shop! Viva Cocolat!) and we even got to the movie theatre. Petaluma seems to have the comforts of a bigger place with the feel of a small town.
Walk through the Armstrong Redwoods outside of Guerneville, CA:
Be inspired by the strength and antiquity of these incredible trees. There are hikes and walks ranging from .5 miles of easy trail to strenuous 9 mile treks for the fittest of hikers. Admire the stillness and light filtering through the gargantuan flora.
Hang out with the seals in Jenner, CA:
View of the Russian River in Jenner, CA
Okay, so maybe “hang out” isn’t the right term, but “admire from afar” may suit. Drive down to Goat Rock Beach and walk to the jetty to inspect the seals (from the appropriate distance, mind you!) or rent a kayak and paddle to the nearby shore for the same privilege. The Nature Channel up close and personal, seriously! I, for one, never knew what weird croaking noises seals made until I heard them in person.
Survey the surf along the Sonoma Coast Trail in Sonoma County, CA:
Whether the fog is rolling in like a scene from a Hitchcock or it’s blue skies as far as the eye can see, it’s worth walking any of the paths that connect the beaches along the coast. We drove to Grill Way and walked about a mile south, all the while gawking at the beautiful view of the coastline. Even in the fog, it was impressive. Trails are well marked, and can vary in length; if you want, you can even connect it with your seal hangout by walking the path that goes all the way to Goat Rock Beach!

Thoughts on Wine Tasting

02 Monday Jul 2012

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My freshman year of college I took a fascinating intro linguistics class; one of the articles we read had to do with terminology in the wine world. Granted, it has been about seven years since I read this article, but this is what I remember about it: When a wine is described as having “nutty,” “citrusy,” “tropical,” “hints of cedar,” etc., according to this linguist, it’s all kind of crap. The language used to describe wine by sommeliers or wine experts or foodies or whoever is pretty personal to how they would describe it, but it’s very difficult to capture a common taste and define it.  I truly understood this on my trip to Sonoma County.
After lunch one day, we had headed back to Lytton Springs Road, and made it to Ridge. Their outdoor tasting flight featured a chardonnay, a zinfandel, a blend of 5 wines, and a syrah. Generally speaking, I know how wine tastings are supposed to look. You put your nose in the glass, breathe deeply, try to smell things like dainty rose petals and unicorn blood coupled with a rogue hint of chestnut. Swish it around a bit, make a comment about the “legs” of the wine. Take a swig, swish some more (this time inside your mouth), and again search for that elusive taste of aging hyena or what have you. Well, this time I actually could identify a taste to a smell and it wasn’t totally baloney.

“Fuschia. If fuschia had a smell, that would be it,” I said of the Zinfandel of their Funsten Ranch property. The only way I could describe it was fuschia. And then it hit me—the smell reminded me of those scented crayons, you know, the ones from when you were a kid and maybe took a nibble once, just to see if the snozberries actually tasted like snozberries. Waxy almost, but in a good way. But I’m certain that my father sitting next to me would never in a million years have picked that out as a taste. After I mentioned it, though, he agreed that he could see how the fruity crayons might play a part in my taste. Or maybe he was just humoring me, but I”ll take what I can get.
For the record, I do not make it a habit to eat wax. Or crayons.

A few days later…

The first winery we made it to after a TASTY lunch from Big Bottom Market in Guerneville was Ferrari-Cardano. Modeled like an Italian villa with beautiful gardens, it certainly fit the visual bill for a winery.
My dad and I shared a 4-wine tasting. Being the consummate documenter that I am (not), I forgot to write down the names of the wines we tasted. Definitely one was a Zinfandel. Maybe one was a Sauvignan Blanc. I know for sure we tasted a Gewurstraminer, because I requested it. And a sweet dessert wine called Baci, which was infused with chocolate.
The point of this is less to detail what we drank and when, but I do want to share that I actually tasted—and NAMED—flavors for all of them before reading the description on the tasting menu! Success! One had a hint of strawberries, another had an oaky flavor, and another was crisp. For a regular wine aficionado, maybe this is a small feat. But to me, it was pretty exciting!
We stopped at 2 more vineyards after that, both family owned and operated. The only memorable wine from those two, for me, was a really nice Zinfandel at Wilson Winery. And I usually don’t really like Zin!
Have you ever gone wine tasting? Share your experiences in the comments!

As Aretha once sang…

28 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Travel Musings

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Where the Russian River meets the Pacific Ocean in Jenner, California, there is a long strip of sandy beach. The coast is punctuated with rocks jutting up out of the surf. At sunset, the light is a certain indescribable golden hue that only beaches seem to have. Something else makes the beach special. Not just the photogenic driftwood or the accumulated clouds at dusk.

Goat’s Rock Beach is home to a seal harbor sanctuary. From March to July, mama seals come to the beach to have their pups and hang out. Curious juveniles swim up to kayaks (including ours today) to pop their heads out and watch before slipping back under the surf. On the river side of the shore, you can see dozens of seals laying out, peacefully soaking up the sun. 
Sorry this photo doesn’t really capture the seals. But they’re there. And they’re awesome.
I could sit for hours and watch the little gray, slippery heads venture out of the waters; it’s like having your very own Nature Channel. Just the other day I was enjoying watching the seals brave the curve in the current to make it to the other side of the beach. 
I considered framing this post as a rant, or as a “3 ways how not to ruin nature” deal. I wanted to rail against decisions I thought other people shouldn’t have made. But I decided against it; I’ll let the negative energy slide. The one thing I want to remind you, dear readers, without sounding too preachy or rude or whatever, is to be respectful of signage in nature preserves. Please, please, please.

 If there are a million signs asking to stay a certain distance away from the wildlife, follow those instructions. They are there for a reason, namely being the safety of the animals, and to ensure that they have a home to return next time they are there. 

Harbor seals do not move easily on land. When they are startled on land, they may abandon their pups to go back into the water until the area is safe again. If an entire group of seals is often disturbed by people, they may not go back to that location. Use common sense. Don’t disturb natural habitats, ESPECIALLY the ones that are all special and preserve-y and stuff. 
Okay, I’m done now with that part. But while I’m on the topic of seals, does anyone else remember that movie, Andre? About the seal that the little girl raises and she turned up later in Napoleon Dynamite? I loved that movie. The soundtrack was epic…

https://i2.wp.com/www.stargatecinema.com/images/magictoolbox_cache/22449-04_t_400.jpg
Photo courtesy of Stargate Cinema
Kayaking was great, though! I forgot what a good arm workout it is. We got to see the water and the beach and our house from another perspective, and then we ate a really big lunch. 
P.S. The weather here is perfect.
P.P.S. Here are wise words from our dear friend, Aretha. 

California Dreamin’: Day 1 in Sonoma County

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Destinations

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My arrival in Oakland was met with a cool breeze and sweater weather. SWEATER WEATHER. (Remember, dear readers, my native home of Tucson, where the usual “cold” winter consists of maybe needing a scarf and close-toed shoes. Maybe. On the day I left, it was about 115 in Phoenix.) We drove from Oakland into Berkeley, the fabled land of crunchy granola hippie-dom and intellect.
Lunch was at La Note, a French restaurant famous for its authentic Provencal cooking. All the laudatory magazine articles and certificates hanging on one wall were deserved: the service was attentive and personal, despite the long waits at times (it was PACKED); the menu was creative without straying too far from its original French canon; the meal was tasty as heck. Hot chocolate was served—as it should be—in large mugs more like bowls than cups. The reason? To dip in bread, of course!
Chocolat
Slowly but surely we passed through miles of California coast. Farmer stands on the side of the freeway, cows, even a llama seated in some field watched us as we zoomed by. California’s landscape is breathtaking sometimes in its simple beauty: the tawny grass against the blue of the coastal skies alone rendered me speechless.
I love the starkness of the lone tree. This photo isn’t edited yet, this is the natural clear blue of the sky!
At Petaluma, we veered off to go grocery shopping. Earlier in the day, my parents had pined for a farmers’ market or organic, local produce from somewhere other than Whole Foods. Well, kids, ask and ye shall receive. Turns out, Saturdays from 2-5:30, Petaluma has a farmers’ market in the town square! Produce is not the only thing sold there—hats, granola, handwoven baskets, Master Gardener advice, crystals, and the kids can even get a ride on a pony! Plus, the live music was a great touch. Our trunk filled with groceries, we went on our way.
Farmers’ market veg!


By 5ish we got into Jenner, population 107 and elevation 19. At the mouth of the Russian River, Jenner is stunning, if not a wee bit isolated. Many of the homes around us seem to be vacation rentals, but I could see why. With no cellular service (seriously, even with 4G I was SOL) and the nearest grocery store 15 miles away, Jenner is the perfect haven for someone wanting to escape it all.

View from the deck of the house.

 Other than the cell phone thing, our rental is virtually perfect. The deck overlooks the Russian River pouring out into the Pacific, and the closest beach, Goat’s Rock, is home to a seal pup refuge. Plus, this is what it looks like. Not a bad start to a week, I’d say. 

Goat’s Rock Beach

California Dreamin’: Thousand Oaks

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Friday’s itinerary went something like this:

  • ·         Wake up at 8:30 a.m. Be able to sleep IN because of fancy light-blocking shades.
  • ·         Be leisurely. No rushing breakfast, no rushing to find driving directions, no rushing, period.
  • ·         Intend to drive to Malibu to get to the beach. Instead, go the wrong way and end up asking a postman for directions.
  • ·         Get recalibrated and drive to El Matador Beach in Malibu. Admire scenic California highways.
Exhibit 1: On the way to Malibu!
  • ·         Arrive at El Matador. Find perfect spot on the shore.
  • ·         Run into freezing cold water, mostly just to say you did.
Exhibit 2: In freezing cold water!
  • ·         Look at cool rocks and birds.
  • ·         Drive back to Thousand Oaks.
  • ·         Go on super long hike through hills and dales and valleys and to waterfalls, all the while panting behind your boyfriend’s dad, who is clearly in way better shape than you are.
Exhibit 3: Waterfall in Wildwood Park

Exhibit 4: I think we walked this entire thing. (It felt like it, at least!)
  • ·         Be concerned about hiking Mt. Olympus. Decide to “train.”
  • ·         Grill for dinner. Be proud of the amount of knowledge you actually have about cooking, including meat. Girls at the Grill power, man!

Where I Am and A Nice Video!

22 Friday Jun 2012

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Sorry I’ve been so delinquent in posting! This past week has been full of preparing for my trip. A new laptop came in (Dell Inspiron 14z, I know it’s not the smallest on the market, but it came at the right price and is still pretty light!), I’ve been scrambling to pack and prepare for my trip to California, which happens before my big trip, etc. etc. And, of course, trying to spend good time with friends before I take off for a long while.

So! I’m currently in Thousand Oaks, California to meet Boris’ dad, stepmom and grandma. I’d never been to Thousand Oaks, which, depending on traffic, is about an hour from LA. The landscape here is really beautiful; their deck in the backyard looks out onto a valley with pseudo-plains and mountains. The fields are the color of straw, and in the sunset light yesterday, I couldn’t help but think of that song, “Fields of Gold,” by Sting.

I’ll try to get some photos up soon!

Tomorrow morning I’ll be flying into Oakland to meet up with my family. We’re going to be hanging out in Sonoma County, where we’ll be lounging, canoeing, birding, hiking, beaching and wine tasting. It’s gonna be pretty sweet.

In the meantime, check out this video by a dude named Matt. Matt has gone around the world dancing. This is right up my alley, and my friend Regina knew that and sent it to me. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend watching it!