Two day trip: Day 2 - Point Reyes National Seashore

Early in the morning I left my AirBnb and headed out to get some breakfast. On the way to my planned destination, I stopped at the lookout point right off Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. It was a bit foggy, but certainly worth $5 toll.

I had breakfast at Theresa & Johnny's Comfort Food, probably the least favorite part of my trip. I then was on my way to Point Reyes. Since I only had about 5 hours to spend in the park, I asked the guide at the Visitor's Center which trails would be the best to take. She suggested that I visit the lighthouse and stay in the area for the sake of time.

There is a parking lot less than a mile from the lighthouse, but it does fill up very fast. The best time to get there is before 9 AM. Hiking towards the lighthouse is picturesque and very easy.

When you get to the lighthouse, there is a staircase leading down, estimated over 300 steps. Downhill it makes no difference...

... and the views make all worth it.

Uphill, on the other hand, you really feel those 300 steps...

Another area I stumbled upon is Elephant Seal Overlook. Unfortunately, I did not see that many seals, but quite a few pelicans and birds. As I later found out, Point Reyes is famous for its rich diversity of birds. I saw many people with binoculars and high-end equipment searching for birds all over.

The road less traveled by...

Historic house

Spider of the historic house

Where I would like to live...

Finally, I went to the beach...

Two day trip: Day 1 - Fairfield and Napa, CA

I have finally found a cat sitter! That meant that I could leave my house overnight and travel somewhere farther than I am used to. I have to say, I was nervous to leave Kitty with anyone. However, I met the person in advance and saw she was kind and sweet, so I figured if not now, then when?

I planned a two day trip leaving on a Saturday morning and coming back on Sunday. This post will describe Day 1.

I headed out at 7.30 AM and arrived at Fairfield, CA around 11 AM, which is when my tour at Il Fiorello Olive Oil Company was scheduled. Oddly, I was the only person on the tour... I felt that the tour was designed to my own interests, so I took advantage of learning as much about olive oil production as possible.

You would be amazed how much we DON'T know about olive oil. Did you know that most olive oil in supermarkets is not extra virgin, and most of the time contains a mix of vegetable and olive oil? How about that each bottle should have a date of production and bottling instead of simply an expiration date? Well, neither did I.

At first I was a bit skeptical since the tour was given by a biased party, but after tasting real olive oil and Trader Joe's kind that I bought a month ago in a supermarket, I realized how much I was missing out. Surprisingly, false advertisement of the grade and purity of olive oil is not actively followed by FDA.

Going back to the tour, it lasted about 1.5 hour and consisted of the tour of the facility and trees...

as well as the garden and the mill.

At the end of the tour I did olive oil tasting paired with bite-size portions of food. You could also do wine tasting there as well, but I drove, so no wine for me.

Very cool experience! I brought home a bottle of olive oil and a jar of jam produced locally. As a bonus, I also met with the chef who showed me how to bake pumpkin mandarin cupcakes and I even got to try one!

I then headed out to go to Napa. I was not planning to do much wine tasting, again because I was driving, so I booked a segway tour. In Minneapolis only 4 months ago I tried segway for the first time and really loved it. It is a convenient way to see the town/city if you only have limited amount of time. This tour did no disappoint either.

Gale, the owner of the company, was my tour guide. Again, I was the only person on the tour, yet she was absolutely fine with just me. Since I did not require too much training, we went straight to see the attractions of Napa.

I have absolutely no idea why the parking limit is 24 minutes... Why not 23? 25?

World Trade Center Memorial

View from the bridge

Gale was so knowledgeable about history of the town and local places to eat. Even though it was not part of the tour, we stopped at a local Italian take out spot Clemente's at Val's where malfatti are skillfully cooked by the original creator and his family.

Malfatti - the most amazing Italian food I have had in a long time!

I would absolutely return for another tour with Gale and her segway company. This time I would go for a food and wine tour though :)

Before leaving Napa, I stopped at Oxbow Public Market, a popular place for restaurants and fancy stores.

Spice shop at Oxbow Public Market

I had delicious sushi rolls at Eiko's Japanese restaurant recommended by Gale, super fresh! On the TV set you could also watch your sushi being made:

Really cool, but a bit tiring day. It was time to go to sleep...

Ostrander Lake Trail in Yosemite National Park

Another weekend, another trip to see the beauty of California... I really did not want to go on this hike. Waking up at 4.15 AM did not appeal to me before going to bed early on a Friday night and was pretty unattractive when I actually woke up and got dressed.

The sun does not rise until 6ish AM, so the darkness outside before that time just entices you to go back under the blanket. That is especially when you anticipate to hike 12.5 miles without previous hiking for that many miles in months. But I was strong... or so I thought.


I was squeezed in to carpool with one of the Meetup members since they did not have a National parks pass and sat uncomfortable for 2.5 hours while we drove to the trail's parking lot. The day was not starting as I wanted...

Ostrander Lake trail is located off the road towards Glacier point in the Yosemite National Park. It is a decent day hike to view Ostrander Lake and be completely engulfed in the wilderness of Yosemite.

I anticipated that I was not physically prepared for this hike. Even though most of Meetup group members considered the hike a beginner to moderate level, for me it was strenuous. I guess I need to go back to the gym...

The first few miles of the trail were quite easy and flat, but then the reality of "1700ft elevation yet to conquer" started to kick in. Not that it was overly steep, but that it was steep for long periods of time. Well, several miles.

A few miles after the beginning of the trail

 It seemed like we would never get to the top as we hiked hill after hill. But then we saw a sign "0.5 Miles to Ostrander Lake", so the picture below illustrates my excitement. Or, and the view is alright too ;)

About half a mile from Ostrander Lake, or so the sign said...

Finally, we reached our destination! What a relief!

Ostrander Lake and exhausted feeling, "I am here!"

Gotta pretend I enjoyed the way up ;)

...actually the view is not that bad after all :)

After a half an hour break at Ostrander Lake and multiple bees trying to steal my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, we headed back. The way back was obviously downhill and not as painful, but this was not what my feet told me. I need a better pair of hiking shoes...