A Weekend in Joshua Tree // May 2022

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Two LA natives in their late 30s, who had been to Coachella multiple times in their youth, had never been to Joshua Tree? Yup.

And for one of them specifically, it was their first time in any National Park, in California or beyond? Also yes.

For someone who can lean into California hippie/energy/crystals/woo ideals, both these things are surprising. Particularly the fact that my family growing up was relatively outdoorsy - camping, and driving to see family in the Bay Area, was pretty much the only vacations we went on, so I’m not sure why National Parks never managed to make their way onto our destination lists. (We covered a lot of the state parks, though, so there’s that.) As I got older and had the funds to travel on my own, my priorities were the big cities. I feel alive in the city, walking around with music in my headphones and feeling the energy of being around people, stopping into bars and visiting museums and urban parks. Which, fair - as a youngster, perhaps New Orleans and Portland hold more intrigue than Sequoia National Park.

But the other thing is that, well… I had certain ideas about myself and what I could/couldn’t do. I’ve covered some of this ground before - I didn’t believe myself to be an outdoorsy person, so I didn’t prioritize “outdoor” activities and destinations, and it became a self-reinforcing concept. I like to walk and swim, but heavy duty hiking, rock climbing, or trail running never sounded appealing. I’m slowly realizing that there are ways to engage with the great outdoors on your own terms, where you can sample it without getting sunburned or dehydrated. So while the fact that I made it to this age without stepping foot in a National Park, kinda makes me feel some type of way… I’m more focused on how I can get to another one again.

This Joshua Tree trip was short but packed in a lot of amazing activities:

Pappy and Harriet’s

Pappy’s has been a bucket list item since I first heard about Pappy’s, and I’m glad to say that the Big Thief show didn’t disappoint. For the uninitiated, Pappy and Harriet’s is a BBQ restaurant/roadhouse and concert venue who have a decent-size outdoor stage to watch bands perform in an Old West setting. Big Thief was a perfect band to see there, and I left with a great appreciation for the band.

The Integratron

I’ve been to a few sound baths, which is basically like a sound healing meditation session. The one at the Integratron, an acoustically perfect domed venue, had the sound vibrations penetrating deeper than I’ve ever experienced. Seriously, you can feel the sound vibrating through your whole body. I was super relaxed for the rest of the day and am probably still feeling the benefits days later.

Joshua Tree National Park

Obviously! With a 7-day pass only being $30 per car, this is an obvious and affordable must-do and we did a ton of research to figure out the best activities to do in a short about of time. The must-sees we landed on:

  • Barker Dam Trail - A 1-mile loop to see the now-dry remnants of a dam. Some parts were a little more uneven terrain than I was expecting, but overall it was easy. There are also petroglyphs (drawings on rocks) by an as-yet-unidentified Native tribe that were cool to see. We also saw a rattlesnake.

  • Skull Rock - Easy to pull over and see this one. It kinda looks like a skull.

  • Cholla Cactus Garden - The southernmost destination, we felt like we were driving endlessly and eventually came upon the garden, which was totally worth it. The Cholla Cacti appear out of nowhere and are breathtaking, especially at golden hour. More than worth the drive.

We got plenty of intel about the park using a narration app. It’s a pretty incredible place between the Joshua trees (they are so big!), rock formations, and wildlife.

Food, Drink, and Etc.

  • La Copine was really good. Probably the best restaurant in JT, so make sure to make a reservation.

  • Tiny Pony was a much-needed bar/late night eats spot with a cute patio.

  • JT Country Kitchen was a tiny small-town diner with the absolute nicest, quickest servers and shockingly great food. My breakfast burrito was so big that I didn’t need lunch or dinner - I should clarify, it was at like 11am.

  • Our Airbnb, Joshua Tree del Sol, was awesome. (No, we didn’t know the listing was that type of place with an IG presence when we booked.) It had a gorgeous backyard with a hot tub, hammock, and coolest of all… an RV for photo opps. We didn’t spend a ton of time at the Airbnb but made sure to have a couple of hours enjoying the backyard, under what we later learned was the super flower blood moon.

Here, have some pictures…

Pappy and Harriet’s

Tucker Zimmerman sang a song about Santa Rosa

Big Thief

Joshua Tree

Skull Rock

Cholla Cactus Garden

The Airbnb’s backyard

Very Happy Hour

Spud Extraterrestrial

Sound Bath

Come in and browse the stupidest (in a good way) bumper sticker collection ever

Central Coast Road Trip // Fall 2021

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Well… been a while!

I might have things to catch up on. The insanity of our modern times demands reflection, and I’ve been mostly reflecting privately. But for now, I’ve been living a very similar story to other people my age/class/profession. WFH since March 2020. An extremely careful year spent getting deliveries and taking walks in masks. Adjustments made such as drive-ins, patio hangs, parking lots turned into dining rooms, beach and park days. Lysol. Animal Crossing. Watching Dodger games in a makeshift beer garden, the high five with a stranger after the World Series win being the only time I touched anyone other than my husband for over a year. Partying like hell on November 7. A vaccine and its promise. And a slow return to, if not normalcy, more of the things we missed in 2020. There’s obviously a lot more here, but that’s the short version.

During all this, we hadn’t traveled too far afield - San Diego, Palm Springs twice, and Santa Barbara for my birthday weekend. Easy driving trips, Airbnbs, outdoor dining. We’ve made some other travel plans for more large-scale trips (on planes!), and in the meantime I had a few Central Coast destinations on my wishlist for 2021. I grew up going to the Bay Area and Monterey, but I hadn’t been on the Monterey Peninsula for probably 20 years and felt like it would be great to plan a trip around there and the other destinations I wanted to check out.

It had been years since I planned a proper roadtrip and this one had a lot fewer details, but it’s a unique style of travel that involves more planning than most trips. Figuring out an itinerary and packing a little lighter, moving on from lodgings quickly, and generally just not having that much time in any given location. I wished we could have stayed longer everywhere, and as much as we packed in, there were still things we missed. But a road trip is meant to be a sampler platter, not an entree.

Day 1: Santa Cruz

The whole trip was conceptualized around visiting a brewery whose beers we love, Humble Sea. In the pandemic, we’d come to do regular hauls at our local bottle shop, Hop Merchants, and we noticed Humble Sea’s hazy IPAs were consistently excellent. We offhandedly talked about going up to their Santa Cruz outpost, which then turned into “Well, why couldn’t we actually do this?” It’s about a 5-hour drive to Santa Cruz if you leave in the morning, not the most pleasant drive but being there by lunchtime was extremely satisfying. We enjoyed a couple of brews on their spacious patio, taking our time and getting some pizza from a nearby shop. We also bought some cans to bring home. Then we headed to Natural Bridges State Beach ($10 day use parking or free street parking), a small beach with a natural arch rock formation - the first of many rock formations we saw in the region. Then, we took a slow drive down the coast to the boardwalk, stopping at a lighthouse which turned out to be a museum of surfing. All the rides were closed at the boardwalk, but it was fine. We saw seals on the pier.

We didn’t want to be constantly packing up and moving accommodations, so we picked a couple of Airbnbs as home bases to stay at for a couple of days each. The first was a guest house of a mid century modern Redwood near Pebble Beach, and honestly, the Monterey Peninsula isn’t exactly rife with Airbnb options. Despite splurging on the Airbnbs, we barely spent time in either one. Oh well!

After heading to downtown Pacific Grove, we sought out somewhere to watch the wildcard NLCS game (Dodgers v Cards). Part of the appeal of Monterey over, say, Sedona, was that COVID sensibilities would be similar to Los Angeles, and we’ve been way more comfortable sticking with outdoor dining. Somehow, we happened upon a sports bar with an outdoor patio and TV, with sound on! And even better, the Dodgers won.


Day 2: Big Sur/Monterey

This was my favorite day of the trip and we packed in so much. Big Sur pulls you in from the drive, when rounding every corner makes you gasp, and even though it’s at least 45 minutes from Monterey it feels like part of the journey. We did:

  • Pfeiffer Beach ($12 parking) - So the first thing we noticed about planning stuff to do in Big Sur was that everything is named after Julia Pfeiffer. Kind of confusing when you’re planning a trip, but after sifting through many badly-written/sometimes incorrect reviews on Yelp and Google, I managed to piece together what the differences were. Pfeiffer Beach is, unsurprisingly, a beach which had somehow slipped past my family’s awareness growing up - probably because of the additional parking fee. Set back a couple of miles on a one-lane dirt road, the semi-treacherous drive was worth it for the end result of arch rock formations, driftwood, a secluded feel, and silvery-purple sand. It wasn’t a place I’d spend hours and hours but it was lovely and if you were so inclined, you could have a pleasant picnic or chilly beach day there, perhaps with a kite.

  • Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park ($10 for a State Park day parking pass) - This is the Big Sur State Park and if you can only do one thing, it’s this. I’d been as a kid and remembered the redwoods and the creeks. You could spend hours here and while we didn’t have that kind of time, I definitely put on my water socks and got knee-deep into the freezing cold stream. We walked and hiked around, dipped our toes into the water, saw birds, and wished for binoculars. If we’d had more time maybe we would have gone to the swimming hole. Next time!

  • Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park/McWay Falls ($10 for a State Park day parking pass) - Told ya everything was named after Pfeiffer! Confusingly, this is a state park a little further south which mainly functions as a way to see a waterfall that falls directly on the beach. A gorgeous scene to be sure, but not necessarily worth a special trip if time is tight.

  • Nepenthe - A very beautiful, very famous restaurant. Possibly a tourist trap, definitely one of the only options, probably still worth experiencing at least once. Service was quick and friendly (they want to churn you through, I reckon) and the food was pretty good, for prices that seem insane but in that setting you just shrug and sign the check instead of thinking about how their burger costs more than the one at Father’s Office. We also enjoyed a terrible Mai Tai. And I do mean enjoyed.

  • Drive-bys of the Henry Miller Library (new life goal is to see a show here) and the Bixby Canyon Bridge, all with a region-specific soundtrack.

The long day in Big Sur tired us out, but we still managed to see a few key spots on the 17 Mile Drive before scooting back to Pacific Grove and seeing Lover’s Point, a spot I remembered from our visits there as a kid. We grabbed dinner at a brewery in a converted train station and got some really good cocktails elsewhere before heading back.

Day 3: Paso Robles

Somehow, we’d never been to Paso - if we feel like visiting a wine region and can’t get to Napa, we have Temecula and the Santa Ynez Valley a lot closer. Alas, here we experienced one of the sad pitfalls of a road trip, which is that sometimes you just blow through town and don’t have much time to really explore. We got on the road from Monterey early enough to get lunch at Tin City, which is a multi-building industrial complex of breweries, wineries, and restaurants. We hit BarrelHouse Brewing and the namesake Tin City cidery and wished we could have had much more time there, since there was so much to see (much like a more expansive Los Olivos). We had a tasting at Sculpterra which was very nice, and then got to explore the grounds and taste grapes straight off the vine.

Nearing sundown, we headed to Sensorio, a light exhibit in the rolling hills. I was poorly attired for the wind and for some reason we’d spent extra for early admission, which was mostly pointless as the lights didn’t start turning on until later. Nonetheless, once they did start turning on it was a breathtaking scene that had my photos looking like something from someone far more technically skilled than I am. Once we’d taken enough pictures, we headed to dinner in downtown Paso Robles and still had to drive to our next Airbnb 30 minutes away. It was an Airbnb Plus, which meant there were scones.

Day 4: Morro Bay/SLO

In the morning’s light, the Airbnb’s private patio was a nice place to have a coffee and breakfast. We had a slow morning and eventually made our way to the Madonna Inn, basically just to take a few pictures. After that, we headed to Morro Rock, another place I’d never once visited! We saw otters in the bay, explored around the rock, and hung out on the beach where we got playfully chided by Giants fans (we were 1 game into the NLDS). Then we explored the wetlands of Morro Bay State Park and went back into the main drag to grab late lunch and a beer.

By sheer coincidence, some of my extended family happened to be visiting the area at the same time, so we headed over to their rental to caravan to Montaña de Oro State Park. With bluffs, steep cliffs, chaparral, and tide pools, it was such a lovely scene to catch up with my cousins and their kiddos. We also saw a raccoon.

At night, we had probably the nicest dinner of the trip at Granada Bistro. Great drinks. We thought about trying to go to a bar but it was a Saturday night in a college town, so we took a slow walk back and only got a little bit lost.

Final Day: Pismo & the Slow Drive Home

Not a ton to say about this day - we packed up and got breakfast sandwiches at Beachin’ Biscuits. There was a hell of a wait even with an online order, and with good reason - these breakfast sandwiches were AMAZING. We took them over to the beach to eat, then walked on the pier. There’s a famous place called Old Town Cinnamon Rolls which we really wanted to try, but truly didn’t have the stomach space.

We then slowly made our way south, and decided to stop in Los Olivos and enjoy the grassy patio at Figueroa Mountain. Then we ambled down the 101 to Ventura and stopped at the In-N-Out right off the freeway, and finally got home at a reasonable hour.

Stray Observations

  • Our refrain of the trip was “We’re outdoorsy!” Traditionally, we’ve been more into cities - taking transit, trying as many bars and restaurants as possible, visiting museums and culturally enduring locations . With COVID, the idea of having one of those old-fashioned nights somewhere unfamiliar seems unappealing, unless we’ve done some heavy-duty planning, so shifting to locations where it’s easy to be outside in your own space is, for the moment, the way to go. Spending a day in athleisure and showing up to a restaurant (for lunch) that way? Not my typical style. But I guess this is just the domain of us outdoorsy types, baby.

  • My IG likes correlated to my enjoyment of each location: Big Sur > Santa Cruz > Paso > SLO > Monterey

  • Despite the whirlwind, I don’t think this was too much to fit into the time frame. We covered a lot of ground and got some ideas for what to spend more time exploring next. I think a proper Paso Robles trip is probably in order!

Boston // July 2019

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I lived in Boston for a semester, during a university exchange program or what I now call “study abroad for sheltered kids.” No disrespect - even though now I have vague regrets about never having done a study abroad semester in college, I truly never had a desire to at the time. An exchange at another US university was perfect for me. We had to rank our choices for placements, and mine were: 1. Suffolk University (Boston), 2. Hunter College (NYC), 3. UMASS Boston, 4. University of Missouri, St. Louis - my primary concern that I get to be in an urban environment. I got placed at Suffolk and had the best semester ever. At 21, for the first time I was living away from home, navigating a city, and getting a taste of what it was like to live as an independent adult. I was sad to leave and had only been back once, the following summer, when my family flew in and out of Boston and drove into Canada, back before you needed a passport to drive to Canada.

The prospect of seeing the Dodgers play the Red Sox at Fenway this past July was very intriguing, and I’d always wanted to take Edward to Boston and show him my old stomping grounds. Even though Boston is best experienced in the fall, we felt like we could brave the weather for the game and see everything else at the same time. Here are some of the highlights:

The historical/tourist stuff

Because it was Edward’s first time in town, we had to go on the Freedom Trail, tour the State House, and spend time in the Common/Public Garden. We also explored Beacon Hill (where Suffolk’s campus is) and the downtown region, Back Bay, the North End (Mike’s Pastry), and the JFK Library.

The Frog Pond

The Frog Pond

The swan boats which move very very slowly along the pond at the Public Garden.

The swan boats which move very very slowly along the pond at the Public Garden.

Acorn Street

Acorn Street

The beautiful JFK library. It was my 3rd time there! (Over 18 years.)

The beautiful JFK library. It was my 3rd time there! (Over 18 years.)

It’s really a lovely space.

It’s really a lovely space.

My old haunts

I lived in Allston, the student ghetto, which at the time boasted plenty of cheap eats, concert venues, and bars. (Here is a great Allston photo series I found years ago, by Bill T. Miller.) Since it was summer, it wasn’t as teeming with students as I remember, but man was it crazy to get off the B line at Harvard Ave and walk those streets again. I showed Edward the sights - my old apartment, Twin Donuts, the Model Cafe (which was unfortunately closed) - and we had a drink at a dope bar that wasn’t there when I lived there, Deep Ellum. I also wanted to show him places I hung out in Cambridge and by Suffolk. I can tell a thousand stories about my time in Boston, and every place we saw set off a memory, but I won’t get into most of them here.

The Allston pad

The Allston pad

Why did Charlie’s Kitchen become my spot in Cambridge? It was always a great time.

Why did Charlie’s Kitchen become my spot in Cambridge? It was always a great time.

The New England Aquarium has a sea lion tank outside the building, which you can view at no charge. I did that so much when I first moved and was homesick.

The New England Aquarium has a sea lion tank outside the building, which you can view at no charge. I did that so much when I first moved and was homesick.

The Beer Gardens

One thing I really admire about cities that have awful winters - they know how to make the most of their summers. We went to FIVE seasonal beer gardens throughout our trip:

  • Boston Seasons, set up near City Hall

  • Trillium Beer Garden on the Greenway

  • Night Shift Brewing’s Owl’s Nest (in Allston, along the river)

  • Aeronaut Brewing Company (in Allston)

  • Cisco Seaport

They were all fantastic, but my personal fave was probably Owl’s Nest. It was remote and hard to find, and the humidity made it feel like New Orleans, but it was scenic and relaxing at that late afternoon golden hour. There’s another Owl’s Nest on the Esplanade, closer to town, but it was unfortunately rain-delayed when we tried to go. No worries - five beer gardens was more than sufficient.

Hazys on the Greenway

Hazys on the Greenway

Aeronaut. Live music, pizza, and outdoor lights. ‘‘Twas a magical evening until the skies opened up and everyone had to go home!

Aeronaut. Live music, pizza, and outdoor lights. ‘‘Twas a magical evening until the skies opened up and everyone had to go home!

Night Shift Owl’s Nest. Simply perfect scenery and great vibes.

Night Shift Owl’s Nest. Simply perfect scenery and great vibes.

Dodgers Cruise/Game at Fenway

The main reason for the trip was technically to see the Dodgers at Fenway which, for all you non-baseball folks out there, is a rare event. They were playing a three-game series over the weekend, and we were far from the only Angelenos who wanted in on the action - both flights were rife with other Dodger fans flying in for the event. It actually caused a bit of a disruption in the city and at the game we attended, because people were flummoxed that there were so many Dodger fans there. Luckily, they won the Saturday game we attended 11-2, and we were surrounded with other Dodger fans who I high-fived after each run. Our tickets also came with admission to a clubhouse called the Royal Rooters club, so we got to see artifacts and mementos from Red Sox and Fenway’s storied history. I LOVED being at Fenway, from the history to the surrounding area to singing Sweet Caroline.

Earlier in the day, we went on a harbor cruise organized by Pantone 294 and had a fantastic time taking in the sights! It was so fun to pre-game out on the sea.

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Other notes

  • We stayed at an Airbnb downtown which was a pretty great. There are a bunch owned by the same property management company, and it’s significantly cheaper than a hotel - Boston hotels are NYC-level expensive.

  • It was jarring to have lost so much familiarity with the city! My life back then was pretty contained to Allston, the Suffolk campus, and wherever I could go on the T, and I’ve never been great at orienting where I am to the city at large (regardless of what city we’re talking about). And obviously, it’d been a while since I’d been there, so stuff had changed. But the T smelled the same, and I remembered how it works.

  • The humidity was no joke. Woof.

  • Boston is a great city and I was so glad to have an excuse to visit!

The Barkyard at Petco Park (San Diego, CA)

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I’m glad I was born and raised in LA, and if you ask me, one of the selling points of LA living is proximity to San Diego. Sure, the drive can be horrific (that’s why the Surfliner train is a good alternative), but being able to get to paradise in a mere 2 or 5 hours (depending on traffic) is an underrated perk of living in LA. I grew up going to San Diego for family trips, and every time I visit as an adult I’m like, why don’t I come here more often? The city has perfect weather, breweries, dog-friendly patios and rooftops, and burritos with fries inside.

All these elements combine in their baseball stadium, Petco Park. In a small section of center-left field called the Barkyard, 6 private, dog-friendly boxes accommodate 4 people and 2 canines each. Many stadiums have an annual Bark in the Park/Pups in the Park (I enjoy going to that, too), but the Barkyard is open for every single Padres home game.

Access to the Barkyard doesn’t come easy. For one, your pet has to be pre-approved before you can buy tickets- you must fill out an online application where you verify information about your dog and provide vaccination records. More notably, the prospect of bringing the dog along to a baseball game is appealing to many in a dog-friendly town such as San Diego, so there’s a waitlist, and a few people we spoke to said that they purchased multiple games a year or more in advance. It’s definitely meant for local Padres fans who can enjoy the experience more readily, not necessarily LA interlopers like ourselves.

However! We’ve now been a couple of times, most recently on Good Friday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds. We are Dodgers fans for life but predictably, those Padres-Dodgers matchups are a hot commodity and we weren’t able to score tickets. I think the key is to not give a hoot about which team the Padres are playing and just get whatever tickets you can, for the experience.

Other than the novelty of having a box to yourself and being with your dog, one major draw of the experience is in-seat concessions from none other than Carnitas Snack Shack. You can order from a limited menu of food offerings, as well as beers/cocktails, and a server will deliver right to your box.

The food menu- carnitas tacos, queso fries, burgers, and sandwiches.

The food menu- carnitas tacos, queso fries, burgers, and sandwiches.

Carnitas queso fries are divine.

Carnitas queso fries are divine.

The Barkyard’s drink menu is simple and gets the job done.

The Barkyard’s drink menu is simple and gets the job done.

They also have cute mascots that come by during the game.

They also have cute mascots that come by during the game.

Since it’s a long drive, we have to stay overnight and this time stayed at the Hotel Indigo, just a couple of blocks from the stadium. I loved this hotel! The room was nice, and the facility has a 9th floor rooftop lounge and dog run. It was so convenient to take the dog out without ever having to leave the hotel.

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Roof Boys

Roof Boys

See ya soon, San Diego. No current trips to SD planned, but I never stay away for long.

Puerto Vallarta // August 2018

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(Author’s note: I originally started this post in fall of 2018 and am finally getting around to finishing it, in very early days of 2019. When I talk about “this year” I am referring to 2018. Happy new year! )

We couldn’t figure out what to do for our vacation this year. Europe was thrown around; itineraries were casually brought up. I got recommendations for Greece from a colleague. We eventually crunched the numbers and realized that this wasn’t the year for Greece/Italy jaunt.. maybe Hawaii? Maybe Panama? My coworker had been to Puerto Vallarta for her honeymoon and suggested that. We looked into it. Did you know that PV is only about a 3-hour flight from LAX, and flights were roughly $300 round trip? We found a resort that looked perfect. Elizabeth Taylor used to vacation there, and her imprint is all over the town.

7 nights was probably a bit much - if I were to do it over, 5 is more than enough. I also think that given how close it is to lots of the southern U.S., it would be a great long weekend (3-4 night) trip. Every day we woke up, Ubered or walked to breakfast, went to do the day’s activity, came back and lounged in the pool, cleaned up for dinner, and spent the evening indulging in great food and drinks.  By U.S. standards, everything was shockingly cheap (except for activities specifically marketed towards tourists) - we had a couple of very luxurious meals that were about half the cost they would have been at home. Most importantly, everyone was so nice. You expect that at a resort catered to Americans, but we spent most of our time off the resort, and everyone from random folks in the fishing village to bartenders and restaurant owners in town were incredibly friendly. When we went on our honeymoon a few years ago (in Cancun), we didn’t really get off the resort much so it was nice to feel a sense of authentic Mexico. Here are some of the highlights of the trip:

Playa Mislamoya / Snorkeling at Los Arcos

I have always been squicked out by fish - not sure why, but there’s just something about them that’s always made me shudder a little. However, if you need proof that humans are resilient and can overcome their fears when pursuing a larger goal - this was one of my favorite parts of the trip! We arrived at Playa Mislamoya, a small fishing cove made famous by the film Night of the Iguana. Like all Mexican beaches, this one had a lot of people trying to sell you things - not a problem, as by then I’d gotten used to giving a firm No and didn’t find it annoying to be asked. A few people offered us boat trips, but the woman who came by a few times and offered us 1 hour on her boat for 800 pesos ($40 USD) won our business. We bought beers and waters from the restaurant we were sitting at, and headed out into open water. I was really nervous at first, but had a great time and felt really free. Maybe every vacation, you should do something that scares you a little! Anyway, after we’d snorkled, we sailed around the arcos and then went back to the beach.

Only pic we got of us actually snorkeling with the arcos in the background, lol. Bless the sweet woman who took us!

Only pic we got of us actually snorkeling with the arcos in the background, lol. Bless the sweet woman who took us!

The arcos

The arcos

I feel kinda free

I feel kinda free

Playa las Gemelas

Going into our trip, we knew that the beaches weren’t going to be those vibrant blue Cancun waters, nor the calm aqua Hawaii beaches we’d experienced the previous year. However, we did our research and learned that very nice beaches were only a short Uber away. Gemelas was down some steps that lead into a sparse, but gorgeous, small cove-like beach. There were people selling coconut water and umbrellas, but otherwise no amenities. With a beach this nice, not much else was needed.

Forgot to take many pics here, probably because I was enjoying myself so much! (Plus… it’s a beach. You know what a beach looks like.)

Forgot to take many pics here, probably because I was enjoying myself so much! (Plus… it’s a beach. You know what a beach looks like.)

Sunset Cruise

One of the highlights of our Hawaii trip was taking a mai tai catamaran - I love being in the water and on boats - and I knew I wanted to do another one. This was the aforementioned expensive activity (about $100 USD a person, which is obviously geared toward American/Canadian tourists) but included drinks and a bento box. It was us and a half dozen other couples, all of whom were mellow. We spent about 2 hours on the water enjoying the legendary PV sunset and even saw dolphins. It was a blast.

Foodstuffs

Foodstuffs

My god.

My god.

Beautiful sunset and dolphins!

Food/Drink

Because Puerto gets so unbelievably humid and hot, summer is considered “off season.” Not as many people want to visit in the hot summer months. The downside of this, other than the obvious perma-sweat and frizzy hair, is that some places (really just a handful) are closed for the season. The upside is that things are way less crowded. I’m sure that the lack of crowds had a little something to do with the great service we got everywhere we went, but at the same time, everyone was SO friendly that I think it must just be part of who the people are. Restaurant owners gave us free bites and drinks; bartenders who found out that I speak some Spanish would converse with me in Spanish, helping me recall the many (many) words I’ve lost since I last spoke it; people were just generally really nice. Here are a few highlights of the restaurants and bars we went to:

Casa Kimberly

We were only planning on having drinks here, but were so taken by the space that we spontaneously decided to have dinner, and they were able to accommodate us without a reservation (that “low season” thing probably comes into play here). Seriously, it felt like we were in some village in Italy. I bet a sunset cocktail here would be amazing.

Casa Kimberly, aka the hotel in Liz Taylor’s former home

Casa Kimberly, aka the hotel in Liz Taylor’s former home

La Palapa

On the first day we arrived, the weather was the worst of the whole trip - just pouring rain all evening. We’d had reservations at a beachfront restaurant called La Palapa, and had to change our plans because of the weather. It was a major bummer, because that seemed like such a nice way to kick off the trip, and I was also worried that the weather would be that bad the whole time - which it wasn’t, btw. Every other day was reliably similar - clear and cloudless day, clouds rolling in in the afternoon, gorgeous dramatic sunset, and humid evening giving way to lightning storms. Anyway, we were able to reschedule La Palapa for the next night and it was absolutely worth the wait. The food and atmosphere were great, and we saw our first of many beautiful sunsets.

Dobladitas (an empanada-esque appetizer that I had never tried or heard of before this)

Dobladitas (an empanada-esque appetizer that I had never tried or heard of before this)

Every second was more beautiful than the last

Every second was more beautiful than the last

Cafe de Artistes

This is one of the finest restaurants in PV. Though their famed rainforest-esque patio was closed for the season, we enjoyed the dining room and gorgeously-presented food.

Salmon

Salmon

Beets and polenta

Beets and polenta

Other spots we enjoyed a lot:

  • River Cafe/Cafe Rio - there’s a river that runs through town and there are a few spots along the river, including this pretty well-known place. I had an absolutely amazing breakfast that came with memorable strawberry french toast sticks.

  • Bar la Playa - we ended up coming here a couple of different nights because it was so cool. Mixology-inspired cocktails, many of which were spicy.

  • El Sonador - lotsa Americans at this rooftop bar both times we went - they were actually playing the Dodger game. Actually, that was another thing we kept noticing - many people had connections to Los Angeles/the United States, either having lived there at one point or being an American citizen of Mexican descent, spending time in Mexico.

  • El Barracuda - they’re famous for their fish tacos, which we devoured with a couple of beers right on the beach

  • El Andariego - this spot was right by our hotel, so we had a couple of breakfasts here. They’re well known for “divorced eggs” (eggs with both green and red sauce), and one of my breakfasts came with a side of both chilaquiles AND hash browns. **suffice it to say that the breakfasts in Mexico were enormous and often came with a bread basket or some other starter. They were also, like, $20 including tips.

All in all, we had a great time and are definitely planning to revisit this town at some point. Hasta Luego, Puerto.

Vegas, baby. Vegas.

in ,
 
Ever since I left the city (center)

I like a to go to Vegas once a year - no more, no less. Vegas is one of those places that you're always super excited to visit, but even more desperate to leave. The days go so quickly - especially in the winter - and the nights are endless. It's freezing in the winter but things are still busy. But it is a great place to be if you're into the excess - which I am, but only in moderation. Plus we got a wicked Black Friday deal for the Cosmo. What could we do.

I don't feel like doing a full-on recap of everything. Days tend to blend together in Vegas - eat, drink, lose your money. Take a taxi somewhere. See the Bellagio fountains. Some highlights are as follows:

  • Absinthe at Caesar's Palace: holy WOW this show is great. Hilarious in a way most Vegas shows are not, great talent, big variety of acts. Ask me more about this one in person.
  • The High Roller: the world's largest observational wheel (for now anyway) was fun with a bar in the pod and a bunch of nice people who wanted to watch the sun go down. My only complaint is that it was too short - a full rotation is 30 minutes, and I could have easily done another go-round.
  • Regular Vegas stuff: certain things you always want to see - the Bellagio arboretum/fountains, the Eiffel tower, the Linq. And new to this visit: The Park at New York New York, an outdoor space not unlike LA Live or the Grove. They have some nice public art and a lot of potential.
  • Food & drink: we didn't bother with any special/fancy restaurants this time, though Vegas is a great city to do that if you so choose. We had Eggslut breakfast sandwiches both mornings, Secret Pizza, Jose Andres's Jaleo, and went to a place called Beer Park which would be super fun on a warmer evening. We'll have to go back and experience it at its full potential. As always, we enjoyed the Chandelier Bar at the Cosmo.  Gorgeous as well as inventive drinks.
Actually, who are you not to be. Bliss Dance by Marco Cochrane.

Actually, who are you not to be. Bliss Dance by Marco Cochrane.

Snaps from Day 1

Snaps from Day 2