Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden - San Francisco, CA

March 9, 2012

I decided to welcome 30 by spending a weekend in San Francisco checking things off of my places to visit/things to do list. After visiting the Conservatory of Flowers, I headed over to the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden, which is located at the edge of Golden Gate Park, on the ocean side. Since tulips are early bloomers, March was the perfect time to visit! The garden is full of variously colored tulips and large orange corn (I think) poppies. A large dutch windmill stands at the edge of the garden, which once served as the irrigation system to pump water to the plants in the park, but is no longer in use.  Word on the street (or here on the internets) is that the garden is named after Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands because she donated the windmill in 1902. The garden is quite beautiful and I can imagine it would be a lovely place to sit a spell and read a book. My birthday shenanigan cohorts found the bench a suitable place to engage in serious conversation while I ran around and took pictures. I just couldn't help myself...tulips are my favorite!

Snoqualmie Falls - Snoqualmie, WA

September 2, 2010

While staying in North Bend, Ann and I took a quick little trip over to Snoqualmie to check out Snoqualmie Falls. It is a 270-foot waterfall with easily accessible views from two viewing platforms. Unfortunately, while we were visiting, the hiking trail to the base of the falls was closed. Also there seemed to be some kind of construction going on just upstream of the falls. So there really wasn't much for us to do other than snap a few shots, check out the gift shop, eat our lunch and go.  This is not to say it's not worth going, just don't plan a whole day around your visit. It's more like a stop on the way to do something else.

Since we had some extra time to spare, we decided to walk around the cute little downtown and check out the shops, then poked around a bit at the Northwest Railway Museum. I'm not any kind of a train fanatic (and this was about two and a half years ago), so all I can say is... there were some neat trains there. I'm sure it's some place my nephew would have really enjoyed.

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park - Big Sur, CA

February 16, 2013

The past few days in Monterey have been incredible as far as weather goes. Sunny and warm with only a light breeze. Strange for Monterey, right? Well, it's winter, and in between those rainy days and cold spells, this is usually when we get our summer. I feel like it's our reward for putting up with the deep fog in the actual summer.  According to the forecast it's supposed to start cooling down again, and hopefully even rain on Tuesday. So this was of course the best day to get out of the house for a little adventure.

I took the cousins along, and since the only waterfalls they had seen were when we visited Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in September, I chose another waterfall hike. Everything I had read said this was an easy to moderate hike, about 3 miles round trip, including a small side trip to a vista point along the valley view trail. What I did not read about was the 400ft+ elevation gain. The entire trail is uphill with the exception of the last 0.2 mile. It's not terribly steep and completely doable. However, for those of us with asthma who forgot their inhaler (me) and those of us with bad backs (my cousin), it was a bit challenging. Plus, it's been a while since we've been on a good hike like that. So we just took it slow and took breaks when we needed it and we all made it to the top. 

The day was great and the views at the vista point and along the way were spectacular. I always love hiking in the redwoods, with the huge trees and the sorrel growing underneath. The Pfeiffer Falls, however, was a little lackluster for me. Don't get me wrong, I love me some waterfalls in all shapes and sizes, but I was expecting something a little bit bigger. Granted, there hasn't been much rain since the end of December, so it's not surprising it wasn't so full.  Also since so many others had also decided to get out an enjoy the day, the viewing platform was a bit cramped. There's not really much opportunity for people to spread out to see the falls, since it's somewhat recessed behind some rocks and there's trees framing it. So the only place to see the falls or get any good pictures is from the center, which places you directly in front of others trying to see and photograph them. 

Being the courteous people we are, we snapped a few shots and moved on to the valley vista point to eat our lunches. There is pretty much the same situation going on there too. You come out of the trees to a small open area that looks out over the valley and highway far below and can see all the way to the Point Sur Lighthouse. But there's just room for a small bench and some other standing room. When we arrived no one else was up there, but as we ate our lunch many people came and went. Which was slightly awkward while you're shoving food in your face.

The trip back down the trail was great though. To quote my favorite line from the movie Medicine Man "Downhill. Yeah!" (if you haven't seen it, the way she says it is hilarious).  Once at the bottom, we stopped in at the nature center and the store at the lodge, then decided to take a stroll along the river via the Buzzard's Roost Trail. We only did the flat part of this trail though, since it takes about a 700ft climb over a mile and we weren't up for it. But the river was wide and beautiful and it was a nice little cool down. I will definitely be coming back someday to finish this trail though, since there is a 360 view from the top of both the valley and the ocean!

Oh! And before I share some pictures, I must tell you of our fantastic experience with one of the park rangers. My cousin's husband is in the military, so we asked if they gave a military discount like so many places around Monterey. He said they didn't, but he would instead give us the senior's discount and then even threw in the trail guide for free. He was extremely friendly and just made our experience that much better!

Pfeiffer Falls:

  Valley View vista point:

Point Sur Lighthouse!

Early bloomers:

Big Sur River:

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park - Big Sur, CA

September 30, 2013

I've made several trips down to Big Sur since living in Monterey for the past 12+ years. I haven't camped there since high school, but now being only 45 minutes away allows for easy day trips. I usually end up either just stopping at all the pullouts along the highway or heading to the Big Sur River Inn to hang out on the lawn by the river. I've taken a few other trails, but they have been few and far between. So I've decided it's high time to start exploring all of the different parks and trails the area has to offer, especially since I my cousin and her husband recently moved to the area and I get the pleasure of playing tour guide for them.

Not long before our trip, my cousin had informed me she had never seen a waterfall. I could hardly comprehend what she was saying. Growing up in California I've seen my fair share of waterfalls. But she grew up in Michigan, where they ski down what Californians would consider a "sorta big hill". I suppose if there's no place high enough for water to fall from, you're probably not very likely to see a waterfall, right. So I knew I had to take her to see McWay Falls for our Big Sur adventure. From what I hear, it's one of only two waterfalls in North America that fall into the ocean (the other the other I just learned is at Point Reyes National Seashore). And it's gorgeous! We also took the short easy hike back to the Canyon Falls, which is pretty small, but you can walk right up to it. The trail to the Canyon Falls is a pretty easy, nearly half mile,  hike that winds up through the redwoods. It was quite a peaceful hike, especially since there weren't many people on the trail.

On the Trail: 

Her first waterfall:

Canyon Falls:

McWay Falls: 

Big Sur Coast: