California Dreaming

Nevada City

After such a fun time in Tahoe, we drove into the sunset, through some beautiful woodlands until we reached Nevada City, CA.  Nevada City is a cute town that used to be one of the largest Gold Rush towns.  The main street is lined with little shops and restaurants.   At the Thai restaurant, we dined in a multi-level garden with candle lights hanging over head in the trees.  Afterwards, we ate ice cream at the local parlor (of course) and headed back on the road.  

About 2 hours later, we were driving down a curvy country road through farms, forests and valleys. We had no idea where we were and if we should turn around or keep venturing on! 

We finally made it to our destination, a small campsite in the middle of nowhere.  Since it was pitch black out, we quickly set up camp, not knowing exactly what our surroundings were.  The next morning, we awoke to Geese honking and splashing in water.  They were having a good ole time, partying it up at DAWN.  We unzipped the tent to the site of a immense, blue lake in the horizon and tall trees peering over us.

After breakfast, we drove down side roads, through Palo Alto into San Francisco. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, where Brock took this amazing photo.  

 

isn't he cute?!

We didn't feel like touring the city so we spent the day in Sausalito, a small island near the city. This coastal town has an eclectic variety of galleries, shops, and restaurants.  We bummed around, enjoying the sunshine and laziness of the day.  

Sausalito via homepage

We then drove up the Pacific Coast Highway, along the coast of California.  As you drive, you look over the cliffs onto the ocean and completely melt with relaxation. We stopped at a few spots, taking in the sites.  The stillness and the majestic view was incredible and breathtaking.

We stopped into a small town on the coast and ate at the Sand Dollar Restaurant.  All fresh ingredients, we enjoyed a tuna tar-tare with avocado and a seafood pasta, with scallops, shrimp, and lobster. We cheers our brews and set off to find a place to stay.

 

With the sun beginning to set, we decided we didn't want to miss an inch of this view so we needed to find a spot quickly!  This time, we found a spot in a forest lined with Redwoods, but we weren't in the Redwood Forrest (yet).  The large trees canopied the sky, causing it to become dark much faster. 

The next day, we woke up early and hit the road for Napa and Sonoma -Wine Country!  What's the first thing we did? Yep, we wine tasted around the square. The first wine tasting we went to, we went in depth in trying to find what kind of wines we were both looking for.  We found that Brock likes very earthy, full bodied Reds, while I like the medium bodied, mild Reds and buttery Whites.  This was all opposite to what we thought we liked.

creepy baby doll in store window

Next we went to a cheese shop where we tried all different infused cheeses, such as peppercorn, jalapeno, garlic and Lavender.  We enjoyed some wine with our garlic cheese, while waiting for the Farmer's Market on the Square to begin!

Once our bellies were full, we drove to our rented Cabin in Cobb, Mountain.... quite possibly one of the best things we did all trip.  Until next time!

We're going back to Cali...

Brock here checking in and providing the next installment of our blog. After jumping out of a plane we made our way to Goblin Valley State Park in Utah where we did some hiking around and exploring the unique landscape that the desert has created.

Next we drove through Capitol Reef National Forest and were awestruck by the huge canyon walls and the fertile valley floors. Once we had driven through Capitol Reef we made our way to a camp spot to crash for the night before continuing on. 

On our way, we caught a glimpse of these metal pieces in front of a motel.

In the morning we drove outside of Beaver, UT to an old mining town called Frisco. We explored the terrain of the mine and took some pictures.

This massive lizard decided it was going to waltz right up to us and check us out. This guy had been living large on desert bugs for sure!

We continued our way into Nevada on the US 50 which is called the “Loneliest Road in America”. 

We soon found out why... as Kayce ended up fast asleep in the passenger seat while I looked ahead at the straight road that seemed to disappear in the horizon. We drove through a few small towns that started as mining towns and now were just trying to survive. 

While driving we came upon a random cottonwood tree in the middle of know where with thousands of shoes thrown in the tree branches. It was crazy to see shoes of all sizes and we had to stop for pictures.

 After a few more hours on the loneliest road we found ourselves arriving in Truckee, CA just outside of Tahoe where we linked up with my good friend and homie Greg Terziev for a brew. 

We made plans for the next day and called it a night as we crashed at my other good friend, Dave Brumm’s house. Next morning we got up and made our way to Tahoe City where Greg and his buddy Earl had the horse shoe pits raked and the charcoal firing for the ultimate BBQ on the beach. The lake had all sorts of different blue and green colors that are pretty amazing. We grilled and threw shoes till it got dark. We heard a house party was happening just down the road so we headed over to see what was going on. After a long night of meeting new people, an intense bad mitten game and laughing around the campfire, we headed back to Greg’s to sleep for the night. Greg has a pretty interesting dog who doesn’t like it when people look at him so we entered the house looking at the walls and paying no attention to “Inky”. All was well and “Inky” was ok with us so we made our beds and hit the hay.

Not Inky

 In the morning I got up to go snowboarding at Alpine Meadows with a handful of my Tahoe friends. Everyone pitched in and gave me random assortments of gear to ride since I didn’t bring anything. With one 9.5 boot and one 10 boot I strapped in at the top and bombed the mountain with a posse of about 10 dudes. It was fast slushy snow and we rode till closing. 

Later that evening we met up with Dave at his work and he hooked us up with sushi and drinks. My buddy Chris Galvin, Andrew Irwin and Jeremy Tidwell all joined us for dinner and we caught up on snowboarding and summer plans.

Best Bloody Mary Ever

Chocolate Martini

The next day we met with our friends for breakfast before heading to the beach on the Nevada side with Dave, Christy and their black lab Jake who loves to play catch. We laid out on the nice beach and threw the ball out in the water for Jake until our arms were sore. Dave and I decided to jump in the lake and soon jumped out with a serious case of “ice balls”. The water was still pretty cold in May!

After the lake we said our good-byes and hit the road heading for more exploration and adventure in California.