Secret San Diego: Mushroom Caves

There's this magical, unworldly place in Encinitas, CA (San Diego county) known as the mushroom caves.  It's narrow passageways and graffiti walls give way to great photographic opportunity, so Court and I decided to spend the morning of Thanksgiving here.

Take the 5 North from downtown SD, get off at an exit for Manchester Ave (I believe its 29 or 39, it has a 9 in it) and take a left at the light.  We parked in the MiraCosta College lot and crossed over Manchester Ave to get to a gate for San Elijo Lagoon.  When you get past that you'll walk until you pass under the freeway and keep walking along the path (stay right) until come up to a yellow "No Trespassing" sign nailed to a tree branch, then you'll know you're there.

There are holes dug into the wall that allow anyone with good footwear to scale some walls and land in a pocket cave.

Some parts get a little too narrow for the body.

A quiet hang out spot

Courtney was feeling very young, wild, and braless this particular day.

Some parts require a bit of a climb to get to the top of the caves to see out across the water.

Courtney couldn't get enough of flashing the world, not an uncommon sight.

It was a very unique way to spend the holiday and get the hunger pumping for our dinner, which was fairly sad to say the least, but we did make a ham!

7 Things to Prepare Before a Semester Abroad

I've been around the globe a time or two, not as much as many people these days, but I have wisdom and advice I think may be useful for other people, and I'm always here to share.

One of my best travel memories was my study abroad semester in Rome, Italy.  I was lucky enough to spend 4 months romping around the Eternal City and other parts of Italy and Europe.  When I was chosen I didn't exactly know where to go from there, like what to pack and how to prepare for the long stay.  You can't just pick up and drive or fly home whenever you want, so it is essential to get everything right before you leave.

I learned a lot from the study abroad office at my school, along with other people who had gone before me, and of course my own mistakes.  So without further ado here are a few things to do before leaving on your international adventure.

1. Getting all the necessary papers.

This is pretty much mandatory or your trip isn't going to happen.  Your study abroad office at your school should give you everything you need from the beginning, so when you attend all those orientation sessions, dear God keep all of those papers.  They'll give you folders filed with information on what to do when you arrive, how to get a room assignment, who to talk to,  basically everything.  Do not lose these.

Adding to that more importantly, STAY ORGANIZED.  Seriously, it's the number one thing I did wrong in preparation.  Keeping everything in one place will make it so much easier on yourself.  Get a calendar and mark all of the appointments you'll be going to.  Going to the consulate to get your visa, picking up your passport, orientation sessions; stay on top of everything because if you don't get it done, you're not going.

2. Passports and Visas

Having a passport is obviously not a choice.  If you don't already have one, do it now.  Like, right now.  It takes a while to get them processed so the sooner you jump on this the better.  Along with that you'll need a passport photo.  You can get them taken at a post office, Walgreens, CVS, or any other place like that.  It takes 10 minutes and they'll give you 2.  Hold on to them because you'll need to send them in to get the passport.

Now that visa, depending on how your school does it, you'll be doing one of two things.  1) absolutely nothing because the school will take care of it for you, or 2) like me you'll have to go to the closest city (it was New York for me) and get everything taken care of yourself.  The latter is such a pain in the ass, but here's how to do it.  You're gonna make an appointment over the phone (they charge you by the minute so do it quick) with the consulate of the country you'll be traveling to.  On the day of you'll have to bring your passport and the other papers your school will tell you to bring, dress professionally, sit in a waiting room for a half hour, get yelled at by someone in a terrible mood at the front desk when you finally get called up, and they take your stuff to be processed.

They will tell you when to come back and pick it up in person.  This all must be done a certain amount ahead of time, I believe it's 90 days but I could be wrong about that one.  It's a necessary evil.

3. Packing

Ah yes.  You may only be permitted one suitcase and you're probably thinking how on earth am I going to fit 4 months of clothes into one suitcase.  Don't fret that's what I'm here for.  There are these beautiful, wonderful things called space bags that save a butt-load of space.  They are plastic bags that you stuff everything into, zip them tight, and roll out the air.  For me this freed up twice as much space.

Get them at Bed Bath and Beyond

Pack for warm weather and cold weather, I don't care where you're going just do it.  Obviously though if your going to Mexico in the middle of the summer you don't need 5 sweaters, but bring one or two light jackets and a pair of jeans.  Places have air conditioners, and things cool down at night.

I strongly advise against a ton of hair products, because you might (like me) be sharing an apartment with 5 other girls who have decided to pack a whole beauty salon with them. Walking shoes are necessary in Europe, I brought a few pairs of flats and burned through them all by the end of the trip.  Europeans walk plenty of miles a day so get good shoes and keep up.

I aimed to be fashionable, but savvy.  One good warm coat was enough.  I got sick of seeing it, but only packing one meant I could pack so many other lighter layers.  For me I planned on the fact that I knew I was going to be throwing out something by the end of the trip.  This meant I could squeeze souvenirs in there on the way back because I freed up that space.  I suggest this if you plan to do the same.

Also, don't forget to get an adapter and converter because the outlets will be different than the ones where you live.  They make 2 in 1 adapter/converters now to save space.

4. The money situation

I spent way more money that I expected to in my study abroad semester.  If you have parents that are helping you out, great!  You're a lucky kid.  For me I was spending on average $100 a week.  This covered food, museum and monument passes, tours, souvenirs, bars, and drinks.

If your school schedule allows it, get a job for the year or semester before you go.  Save every penny.  Put down that Ben and Jerry's now and you can gorge yourself on gelato later.  You'll be kicking yourself if couldn't see the Colosseum because you were a few euros short.

Many people like to travel for the breaks, and in somewhere like Europe that's incredibly easy, and usually fairly cheap compared with anywhere else, but it stills costs something.  My budget only allowed me to leave Italy once (Greece for spring break) but my roommates were traveling here and there every weekend without me because I couldn't swing the money.  I still have regrets to this day I didn't save more and travel with them.  Don't let that be you.

5.  Stay up to date with the news

It's good to know what's going on somewhere before you go live there, that's just good sense.  For instance, before I went to Greece for spring break, I found out there had been dozens of fires in Athens and huge political and economic turmoil.  Not that that stopped me from going but I'm glad I knew to be extra careful when walking around Athens.

Know before you go.

6. Roommates

If you find out who you'll be rooming with before you leave, it might be wise to contact them via email or facebook and try to coordinate who can bring what.  For instance, if you say one of you can bring a hair straightener and one can bring a curling iron, then you'll both save space in packing and wont have too many appliances laying around.

My beautiful roommates

Another great reason to reach out would be to get to know them of course!  Find out what kind of things they like and make some plans on what you should visit together.  Bonding with roommates is one of the greatest college experiences and getting to do that in a foreign country is that much more exciting.  I still speak with all of my roommates and we try to get together once a year.

7. Understand things will be different

This is a good idea for all forms of travel, but if it's your first time out of the country for an extended period of time, just understand it's not like home.  You won't have the same appliances (I had to learn to live without a microwave and dryer), the language is a huge boundary if you don't speak it so learn a few phrases, you will have to adapt to the means of transportation, and the overall culture shock of a different way of life.

It's all what makes travel so exciting and mysterious.  Just be ready for a change and open to new opportunities and you'll be fine.

If anyone ever has questions I am always open to them!

A Slice of San Diego

 San Diego is a little slice of heaven.  It's sunny and 75 (cue country song) all year round, cloudless skies, clean, uncrowded beaches, and the most beautiful people.  The part of SD I reside in is called Pacific Beach (PB for short), and it is the more "youthful" of area of town.  College kids and post grads have taken over here and are running rampant with their beach cruisers, toting surfboards and flocking to the dozens of bars lining the beach.  It's a beautiful dream world I only imagined before, now come to life.

The Cove in La Jolla

Just north of PB is La Jolla, an incredibly wealthy, quiet town.  Cliff-side mansions lined with palm trees grace every corner and peak my jealousy, no worries I'd rather be over here with my $2 taco and small apartment.

$2 taco you say, Shawn?  Yea, every Tuesday is called Taco Tuesday and most of the bars around have $1 or $2 tacos and crazy cheap prices on drinks, like margaritas.  People get all turned up about it and go totally wild, but people also do the same on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as well.  The bars are pretty packed all the time.

We stayed with a friend for a week when we first got here and went to a billion apartments looking for the right one, but we finally settled on one about 13 or so blocks from the beach, not too bad.  We have enough space and are far enough away from the noise of town but close enough that we can walk, it's a win-win.

The view out our window

Courtney also showed me a couple places around like Sunset Cliffs, Ocean Beach (OB), and other great places, but I'll go more into depth on them later.

Crystal Pier

Crystal Pier is great to watch the sunset from and you'll always catch a glimpse of surfers, and if you're lucky you'll see the elusive Green Flash (it's a tiny little flash of green as the sun dips down over the horizon).  Most nights there are beautiful colors swirling through the sky just before and after sunset.  I like to carve out a little place in the sand and watch the show.

San Diego is a spectacular place and I'll be reporting from here for the next year, giving out the scoop on where to go and what to do.

San Francisco and All It's Glory

If you're thinking about up and moving to San Francisco just for the hell of it, let me be the first to tell you to stop right there and evaluate yourself.  The city by the bay was our original place to settle in once we got over to the west coast, but plans change.  For weeks before we left we both had been scouring Craigslist to find an apartment that was both cheap and didn't force us to have roommates, but unfortunately we figured out the hard way that that is just not possible.

As we drove over the fog-draped bridge for the first time, excitement filled both our hopeful little hearts; this was our new home.  Nearing the end of the iconic bridge, the fog cleared and the city came into view; we zipped back and forth between streets inspecting the different neighborhoods we had been reading about for the past few months.  The Presidio really is wealthy and gorgeous, Market is for business and shopping, and the Castro is lined with rainbow flags.  All of the stereotypes fit.

It wasn't long before the realization hit us that we didn't have a place to go.  We had nowhere to sleep tonight.  Trying not to let this rain on our parade, we found a little coffee shop and sent out more emails to landlords and tenants, until one finally answered us.  It was for a co-op in SoMa (South of Market).  They were having an open house that night and it was shockingly in our price range (under $1700 total for 1 bedroom), so of course we told them we'd be there.

Fisherman's Wharf

After securing a spot that night, we tried to enjoy some time in the Haight, a colorful hippie-vibe neighborhood, by exploring the overwhelming number of thrift stores.

At the open house, we quickly realized we were out of place.  1. We were the only girls  2. We didn't work in tech  3. We were definitely younger than everyone else.

Once a hotel, this co-op, which was still under construction, was turned into a home for 30-some people.  At the time they were looking for another 50 or so.  80 PEOPLE.  That's outrageous.  We toured the place, massive industrial kitchen, community living room, and floors with dozens of tiny rooms.  When they told us it was $1700 for a single and $1250 each for a double, we found an equally disappointed friend and went drinking.

That night we didn't know where to go, so we slept in the car.  Parked it in the parking lot of a Safeway, and commiserated with the homeless.  We both barely got a wink of sleep, and when the cops told us to move around 3am we were pretty much out of options.  We drove around until we found a street spot and waited until sunrise.  I don't know what was keeping us going at this point.  Exhausted from camping and driving, starving, haven't showered in Lord knows how long, and craving a warm bed that we didn't have to share.

Ain't she a sea fox

We spent a few more days in San Francisco in the car and cheap motels, but when we finally realized it wasn't going to happen for us we went to get some real food and collectively decided to head down to San Diego the next day.  It was a moment of joy and relief; we knew we had to go and were excited to be back in warm weather, a place we both had been before, and a place we would lovingly call home.

Once we had our new destination charted and the relief of finding a home in SF off our shoulders we could actually enjoy it.  We visited Fisherman's Wharf, Girardelli Square, Parks, saw the Golden Gate etc.  It is a beautiful, interesting city that I would like to see again.

Off to San Diego!

If a Redwood Falls in a Forest...

Have you ever been to the Redwoods? No? Well let me paint you a picture.

There you are standing in the middle of an empty road, flanked in every direction by trees, but not just any old trees.  These are mammoths; millions of colossal-sized plants surrounding you that date back hundreds, even thousands, of years.  It's a bit humbling to stand in the middle of of them, so vast and unbelievable.  Words escape.

After driving down the Avenue of the Giants (the main road of the Redwoods National Park) for a few hours, we found ourselves a campsite that definitely overcharged us, but it was one of two choices, neither cheap.  We set up camp and headed back out for another drive as the sun was setting.  The trees form a very dense wall-like barrier between you and the outside world so it never gets too bright in there.

 We had some fun running wild through the woods.  Plenty of tree-hugging was involved.

 

We did find one of the famous drive through trees, though the poor thing is barely standing.  There are tons of wires holding it up, the top half is completely gone, it's cracked down the center, and totally hollowed out.  I feel so bad for it.

Me and my beautiful Kia just barely made it through; you've gotta pull those mirrors in!

Much fun was had here, and it is another place I plan on seeing again.  Hopefully I get some better shots next time.

Anyone else out there have any good photos from the Redwoods? I'd love to see them!

A Stint in the Northwest

As our time in Canada came to a close, Courtney and I began to chart the next portion of our route.   We knew that we wanted to head down the whole West Coast, and try to see Olympic National Park in Washington and Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, so we headed south into Washington and stopped at the first hotel we came across.  Metaline Falls, WA was maybe 20 minutes after we crossed back into the states, so we stopped there and got a cheap motel and a meal at a little diner in the middle of nowhere.  The only thing we'd eaten the two days before that were 2 or 3 juices so needless to say we were cranky and voracious.

The next morning we sped off for Seattle, excited to see a city finally.  Myself and Court were completely delighted by the surprising hipster bohemian feel of the section of the city we landed in; plenty of cool restaurants and bars around, with the typical shopping stores implanted between them.  We found ourselves at a diner, something like Lucky's Diner or some Irish name.  We were over the moon about the food (we're diner big freaks), and both enjoyed omelettes with a homemade biscuit on the side.  Stuffed to the brim with food for the first time since we left, we explored the quirky street and people-watched the tourists and locals. We spent so much time in Seattle we forgot to look for a campsite nearby until it was too dark, so again we found a motel.  At this point it felt like we were doing motels more than camping.

We quickly realized that night in our room that I had miscalculated how far Olympic was from Seattle, while I thought it was only 2 hours, it was something more like 6.  Though when I look at it now on google maps it does say a little over 2, either way we got our wires crossed and decided 6 hours was too far out of the way, so we tearfully skipped it and headed for Oregon.

After another brutally long day of 9 hours in the car we were greeted with the beauty of Oregon.  Our goal was a campground at Crater Lake, and after hours of driving in the wrong direction, missed turns, hidden signs, and ultimate confusion we gave up on the idea that we were going to find the campground before sunset.  We ended up staying at a little state campground for pretty cheap, which was plenty nice.  We were one of two people with a tent, and the rest consisted of retired couples in their RV's.

We walked the campsite, waved to our friendly neighbors, played a few rounds of poker, got baked and hit the hay.  It was a long frustrating two days and I most certainly plan on doing a trip back to the northwest so I can really spend some time there.  From the little I saw it is a gorgeous place and I intend to see it all.

Oh, Canada

 Canada, the very little I've seen of it anyway, is spectacular and awe-inspiring.  Driving along the Canadian Rockies, brisk air jetting through the windows, would make any heat miser fall in love with winter, including myself.  I always have been, and most likely always will be, a true hater of cold and snow, which I thought would make the drive up to Canada a struggle.  But alas, after one glimpse at the beautiful landscape in Alberta and I loved the idea of bundling up in a tent in almost freezing weather.

After we left Glacier, we started the 6 hour trek up to Banff National Park.  This is the stop we were both most excited for.  Courtney and I both knew we wanted to get some cold weather in before we headed down to Southern California for a while.  Crossing the boarder is pretty simple, but here are a few tips to make it as easy as possible.  Tip 1: have your passports ready to hand to the officer, tip 2: they will ask you a ton of questions, don't freak out, and tip 3: this is not the time to crack jokes, they take their position very seriously, and could take a joke the wrong way.

 After arriving in the final frontier, we had a few more hours of driving to reach Banff.  When we finally reached the park border, we still had another hour of driving inside the park, because apparently there are many different national parks inside including Jasper, Kootenay, and others.  If you have time I definitely suggest taking a day or two to check out some of these other parks, because judging by the brochure, it is seriously not something you want to miss.

It gets incredibly dark and the sky lights up with stars so if you're into photography/astrophotography this is time to break out the camera.  I'm still learning a lot about it, and besides being a bit over saturated and having too much chromatic aberration, the photo below is not a terrible start.

The town of Banff is something out of a fairytale.  It has small town charm and whimsy, along with a kick-ass backdrop of snow-capped mountains, that together gives it that feeling of Christmas. There is something magical in the air here.

We had planned on seeing Lake Moraine the next morning on our way out, but we weren't really prepared for how majestic it would be.  Standing at the bottom next to the lake, it looks pretty grey and dull, but when you climb up a large pile of rocks and look at it from a different angle you get a beautiful turquoise color revealed.  Crowded by mountains on the perimeter, the scene is a piece of landscape porn, if you will.  It's a sight unlike many others I have seen in my few short years, but one I hope to see again.

Lake Moraine, Banff National Park

 Canada, Alberta specifically, is a wondrous place that I truly want to revisit in the future, and one that I think everyone should see before they kick the bucket.

Has anyone been to Banff, and if so did you love it as much as I did?