Mushroom Mardi Gras in Morgan Hill, CA

I love mushrooms! Love them! Hence, I was excited to go to a Mushroom Mardi Gras. Who cares that it's 2.5 hrs away from Fresno, we are going to eat mushrooms! Or not...

Here is a summary of the festival.
Positive:
1) street parking available within 3-4 blocks;
2) lots of food;
3) lots of vendors with expensive stuff;
4) drink ticket booths are throughout the festival;
5) no cover charge.

Cons:
1) few booths actually have anything with mushrooms. I chose rice with mushrooms, and it was good, but I expected lots of different dishes with mushrooms at a mushroom Mardi Gras;
2) premium wine tasting is a joke. You can get a Groupon a few bucks off the tasting, buy on their Facebook page or on site with cash. $30 gets you 10 tastings. Only those who bought the tickets can go in, but if there are two people in your group, you can buy one punch card with a "complimentary" festival glass and just alternate who goes in (as long as you ask for the wrist band for each person). There are 4 wineries; each offers 2 reds and 1 white. Not a great selection, but wine is great.
3) everything is extremely overpriced, but I guess this is a festival...
4) few things to pick for a vegetarian. You'd think at a mushroom festival that would not be an issue, but it is.
5) some vendors are a bit annoying trying to cover you with their cream products without consent.

Overall, a bummer, don't think I would go there unless I lived nearby.

I wasn't even motivated to film, because there was not much to film, but here you go...

What? Blueberry picking again? Yes!

I loved picking blueberries two weeks ago at Big L Ranch, so we came back! At $5 per pound, you cannot go wrong with organic blueberries. And this time I fully comprehended the idea of "organic".

As we arrived, the parking lot was relatively empty. On Memorial Day weekend, many people must have gone out of town or just decided to enjoy the extra day off on their couches. Not us! We work for our food! Especially, food that is so delicious.

Two weeks ago I got about 4 lbs of blueberries. We came for the opening weekend, and many blueberries were still green. This time they were ripe and plentiful. The only thing is insects, lots of them! Little flying bugs were all over the bushes. As you reached for some blueberries and accidentally shake the branch, dozens of them would fly out, scared for their lives.

There were also some lady bugs, not as many. I kind of liked how graceful they are, and tried not to disturb them. If these blueberries were sprayed with something, bugs would stay away. So glad to have got the full picking experience, and kudos to Big L Ranch for farming organically!

Attempted hike to Mitchell Peak

From the title itself, you already understand that the hike did not completely happen. Well, it did, but not to Mitchell Peak. As we were driving to the trailhead, the road was closed due to washouts.

We parked right next to the gate and were planning to at least hike a little bit, if not to Mitchell Peak. As we were hiking, there was a service truck driving on the road. The guy said that they were also going to be doing prescribed fire, so we would see some smoke shortly. Strike two! And what did we do? We proceeded! It was a nice day, and we didn't want to drive all the way out to the national park to just turn around an hour later.

We found a nice waterfall and took a short break there. If you were driving, you probably would never have stopped by that spot.

The air felt thin due to elevation, and 4 miles into the hike, we decided to turn around. In the meantime, we discovered small elevations on the ground. As I looked closer, it was dirt coming out from the ground, probably from ants or worms digging their tunnels. I have never seen such a thing! Very interesting.

It was a peaceful, and for some reason exhausting hike. I guess it was thin air, but I was really tired. We stopped by the School House restaurant on the way back to have lunch. I have heard quite a bit about it, but it was about 45 min driving from Fresno, so I never had the desire to drive that far to try it out.

Read Christy W.'s review of School House Restaurant & Tavern on Yelp

Upper Yosemite Falls Trail, Yosemite National Park

"This is gonna be tough," I said to myself. I have done trails with 3,500 ft elevation gain and 7 miles in length, but it does not get much easier even if you hike often like I do. In addition, it was going to be really warm, mid 70s, and in the sun probably even high 70s. "Here I come, Upper Yosemite Falls!"

Originally, I signed up with a group that was going to El Capitan, but I decided it was not for me (17 miles round trip). I arrived at the trailhead at 7.45 AM and started the hike around 8 AM. It took me 6 hours of pretty much non-stop hiking (except 25 min at the top) and by 2 PM I was back to my car.

The way up was hard. In the blazing sun with no shade as you reach the second half of the trail (pretty steep uphill) you just hope the end will come soon. On the way down it is much easier, but now you have to be careful of where you step because some portions of the trail are pure sand, others are covered in trickling springs flowing downhill. My knees were sore and the next day I felt like I have never exercised my calves. Was it worth it? Yes!

The views on the top were really incredible, and the waterfall full with water during this time of the year. As you hike near the falls, closer to the bottom of it, you are gently sprinkled with mist coming from the powerful waterfall. It felt incredible on skin and refreshing enough to continue going.

A few tips:
1) get at least 2 L of water;
2) bring sunscreen, and reapply constantly;
3) wear hiking shoes with good traction on the soles;
4) wear a had and sunglasses;
5) bring your good camera. I didn't and some pictures came out not so great because of lots of sunlight.