Continuing north from Chico, we spent a week among the lakes and mountains of Mount Shasta in northern California. I don’t have an awful lot to say about Mount Shasta – we didn’t party the night away or see any Fields of Light, or visit any wineries. But we did enjoy plenty of the Great Outdoors.
But first, a bike ride and trail run along the way.
The only reason I’ve heard of Chico, California is because I read it on the side of a beer can. A Sierra Nevada beer can no less. So when we were looking for our next stop (usual criteria: co-working office, campsite, brewery), we dropped a pin on Chico. And while it IS home to Sierra Nevada brewing, it’s hardly smack bang in the middle of the Sierras. I guess maybe the northern foothills.
It started out kinda stormy in Chico. Which was actually cool because we don’t get a lot of those big beefy storm clouds back in SoCal. As long as it’s not actually raining on me, I don’t mind a bit of storm cloud and thunder drama.
What with that weather, it felt a bit like we were back in the UK. So we embraced the experience by going to a British pub. Which was actually rather nice. We enjoyed our scotch egg with brown sauce, Cornish pasty and a pint of bitter. I don’t want to sound picky but… But! I did have a few thoughts…
1. You couldn’t stand at the bar. You did have to go up to the bar to order but there was nowhere to hang around and drink – off to your table you go.
2. ‘The Bull’ pasty nailed it (chunks of beef, carrot, potato and onion cooked in a rich British Bulldog Brewery ale gravy). Still trying to imagine it being served ‘with a small house salad’ in England.
3. Woe betide the gastro-publican who makes a pie with ground beef and calls it ‘The Shepherd’. Have they no concept of what a shepherd is or does?
4. You risk getting ID’d for the ‘Drunken Duck’ English trifle pud, as it included almond poppyseed sponge soaked in sherry and was strictly 21+.
Of course, work is a constant in our lives and a productive working environment is important. Coffee helps. And almond croissants. Not to mention avocado toast. Yes, Stoble Workplace, which was attached to Stoble Coffee in downtown Chico quickly became my favorite office of the trip.
As the week wore on, the weather took a turn for the better. Not just sunnier, it got hot hot hot 🥵 Not so great timing for my half marathon long training run but I do love that having to train gets me out there experiencing more of a place on foot than I ever would otherwise.
We rounded off our Chico visit by driving up to Paradise Lake for a walk. The name Paradise rung a bell and as we drove along the Skyway highway, we remembered why. In 2018, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history devastated much of the town of Paradise and surrounding areas, causing 85 deaths and many more injuries. From what we could see from the Skyway, much of the town had been re-built, although there were patches of vacated ground zero land.
The surrounding mountains were also in recovery mode from the Camp Fire (ironically not from a campfire but a faulty power line), colonized by fireweed and lupines, the slate grey spindles all that remained for now of the tree trunks and the forest that was.
The hike around Paradise lake was serenely beautiful but hot hot hot.
And there’s nothing like a cool dip in the pool after a hot hike in the sun. While the campsite was somewhat resort-like, that came with the added attraction of a swimming pool.
…And… relax!!!
From the lesser known wine region of Paso Robles, we traveled north past the golden gates of San Francisco to the somewhat better known (and indeed more pricey) wine region of Napa. We based ourselves near Healdsburg in the Sonoma valley for the week, our 20 minute morning/evening commute taking us along winding country lanes past pretty vineyards.
The commute also took us past Riverside park which had the perfect-sized lake to get two laps in before work. Running that is, not swimming.
Every co-working space is a little bit different and they’re certainly getting much busier this year compared to deep covid. CraftWork in Healdsburg rather excelled itself with its pricing structure, it ended up costing over $500 for the week for the two of us. (I’m literally searching for a shock horror gob-smacked emoji).
The other oddity about this place was that I couldn’t find the microwave. I searched high and low, thinking it must be hidden in some random cupboard. I literally turned the kitchen upside down, flinging open doors and drawers – must be a cryptic game of hide and seek for the newbies. Kettle – tick; toaster – tick; plates, bowls & cutlery – tick; even a dishwasher. Surely there must be a microwave? 🤔 But nope.
Fair enough, it was a nice contemporary professional space to work in and they had really good coffee. You didn’t have to smell the milk or check the date before putting it in your coffee, nor did you have to make it yourself. And they had free snacks galore – tangerines, trail mix, breakfast bars, nutrition bars, popcorn and chocolate. And yes indeed, we did attempt to eat our body weight in snacks to get our money’s worth!
The campsite we were staying at in nearby Forestville was also a little, shall we say quirky. We were in a spacious, secluded site nestled among pine trees by a river. Barely another soul around, just the odd fellow traveler came and went during the week. Meanwhile, at the other end of the campground, there were the residents. These trailers were going nowhere – they were practically fenced in by the inordinate amount of firewood they’d obtained. And there was some rather odd decor, including a life size skeleton, that made you really not want to hang around.
In the middle between the two areas was the restroom and shower block. One of those unheated buildings where you wouldn’t want to spend a single minute longer than you had to. And yet, they felt the need to post a whole host of rules on the entrance, including No Co-Ed showers. Think they’re pretty safe with me on that one. And No Food. Damn, that put paid to eating my breakfast in the toilets.
Not forgetting we’re in wine country, so we did make it out to a winery. And a brewery. Oh and a rooftop bar.
Weekends in the winelands are perfect for cycling. So that’s what we did. The End.
Leaving the salty sea air behind us, we set our sights on the central SLO Cal town of San Luis Obispo. Again, short notice availability got the better of us and we split our week between SLO and the nearby winelands of Paso Robles.
But I’m getting ahead of myself – along the way we spent the night at a Harvest Host winery, Dark Star Cellars. The chickens scratching around our feet kept us company as we worked our way through a wine tasting. The afternoon drew on and before we knew it, we had the place to ourselves. Well, us and the chickens. A delightfully warm and pleasant evening sipping wine amongst the vines.
San Luis Obispo was light on recreational activities but we had the most awesome Hipcamp camping spot.
Back in Paso and no more excuses. I got my running legs on and pootled along the winding country lanes, those adorable slopes of converging vine lines whichever way I looked.
Now that Covid restrictions are in the rear view mirror, we treated ourselves to a night out in Paso Robles. I have been known to get quite excited about good pizza. And this indeed was good pizza.
Come the weekend and Darren suggested we escape the heat in favor of a coastal walk. I wasn’t exactly convinced about escaping the heat – it was forecast to be 82 Fahrenheit (28 Celsius, easiest conversion to remember ever), which happens to be my absolute perfect temperature. Albeit perfect for hanging out, rather than perfect for hiking. I begrudgingly agreed, as the rugged yet beautiful Montana de Oro state park was only an hour or so’s drive away and promised some cool hiking opportunities.
So there’s cool and there’s cooler. Would you believe it, as we neared the coast, the temperature dropped from the low 80s to the high 50s and in rolled the fog. Boom! Our plan of hiking up Valencia Peak was a non-starter, lost in the clouds. Ever versatile, we ditched the mountain hike in favor of a bluffs walk.
I made Darren take me to a winery on the way back to make up for it. One in the sun and in the 80s. I’ll take it.
But my absolute favorite thing about Paso (ok the Della pizza was close but this was more unique) was the Sensorio Field of Light experience. We’d heard it was optimal to arrive before sunset, but we didn’t know quite what to expect. “If you build it, they will come”. Oh no hang on a minute, that’s Field of Dreams not Field of Light. But sure enough the people came.
The first thing we saw through the throng of people was an airstream bar – made us feel right at home. We got a couple of (plastic) glasses of wine and made our way past the open fire pit tables and live music.
To this…
Yes – a gorgeous sunset and striking tree silhouettes. But in the foreground, the slopes were awash with a sea of white. A closer look revealed they were as yet unlit lights – bright white iridescent globes on stalks, like alien wildflowers.
And as sunset turned to dusk, the lights started to take on a life of their own.
And then we realized we didn’t just have to stand in the same spot to view the awesomeness. We could stroll on the trails that meandered their way through the Field of Lights. A walk that took us through 15 acres of illuminated hillsides, lit with 60,000 solar powered fiber-optic lights. We got a top up from the airstream bar and immersed ourselves.
They also had a new exhibit for 2022, the Light Towers. In deference to the hundreds of wineries in the Paso area, the Light Towers celebrate not with alien wildflowers but with wine bottles. Over 17,000 of them.
So there you have it. Lots of photos because I just can’t help myself. But quite honestly this is less about viewing art than feeling art. I was blown away by this exhibition and would recommend it to anyone remotely in the area. And we weren’t even VIP.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There are few better places to be in the Spring than California. We tend to get blue skies and warm (but not too hot) weather. The days are getting longer and the wildflowers are out in force.
The return to the office is still optional and quite frankly those in-office days have been few and far between. No real need to stick around for that then. And the feisty Basecamp was raring to go after five months of chilling out in the back garden. It gave us a look every time we went out in the garden “C’mon then, what are we waiting for? Let’s get out there and enjoy it!”
With a resolution to stay closer to home than last time (that Alaska trip kinda took it out of us), we decided to check out the coast practically on our doorstep, starting off with a week camping in Carpinteria and working in Santa Barbara. Oh and not forgetting Ventura, because our last minute plans meant we couldn’t get a camping spot for the full week. Literally last minute, as in we only thought about this trip on a Friday evening and by Sunday morning, we were packed up and on our way to the beach.
So bring on week one!
And with that, it was time to turn our sights inland once again. Next up: San Luis Obispo.
As far south as we could go – all the way down to the very fingertip of Mexico’s Baja peninsula, got us to the resort of Cabo San Lucas. Right up there in the top 5 places to visit in Mexico and a key destination for our cruise ships, oh yeah, Cabo is a proper party city. And we were there on the weekend, so we were ready to party!
Bars and restaurants and more bars lined the marina, so that’s where we started. Our view as far as we could see was yachts and super yachts, hmmm maybe we should re-assess the mode of transport for our next trip…?
But for now, we’d have to make do with a sunset booze cruise. Us and a hundred or so others. That’s ok, I can share nicely.
So yeah we had to put up with having to share our experience a bit. But it was exactly the holiday party feels we were looking for.
While the service was excellent on the boat and the drinks were flowing, they’d perfected the art of catering for those who only ever drink on a party boat. Meaning they were somewhat cautious on the tequila pouring. Leaving us with a search for the best shoreside margaritas in Cabo.
Outpost restaurant offered a margarita flight – not your average margaritas either. L-R below… Avocado margarita with coconut cream, serrano pepper, tequila and gran marnier. And avo obviously. In the middle you have a black margarita with tequila, chipotle syrup, activated carbon (I have no idea what that is other than guessing it’s what makes it black) and lemon. And last up – a smoky hibiscus margarita with mezcal, hibiscus, ginger and house bitters. Seems you can call any cocktail a margarita providing it’s got tequila or mezcal in it.
After all those margaritas, somehow I made it up for a morning run around the marina. Nothing too hardcore you understand.
And it‘s not often I proper treat myself but I decided to splurge some of my birthday money on a massage. Not just a massage but a full on full body deep tissue thumb, knuckle and elbow massage. I could barely stand up afterwards so I lounged in the hotel swimming pool lapping up the sun instead.
End it did, and next up was La Paz for a week. And here pretty much our Mexico fairytale came to an unfortunate end. Put it this way, this was my view for most of the week…
Yeah I got sick. And then Darren did too. When you think how much traveling we’ve done, it’s kind of surprising we’ve not been more ill along the way. Negative Covid tests when we got home but not felt so fatigued in a long time. Suffice to say, a few days knocked out in bed in La Paz and hence not much to write about.
But there’s always photos. Some from before, some from after. No more of the fan I promise. So here you have it, the last of the trip is a photo summary…
There were two inspirations for our Mexico trip. The first was the friendliest grey whales on the planet. Ticked off on the way down and totally lived up to the hype. The second was a kayaking trip in the aquamarine waters of the Sea of Cortez around the rocky shores of the island of Espiritu Santu. Unfortunately, the lurgi put paid to that. But we did make it down to the beach to see where we would have gone. I guess it just means we’ll have to come back sometime!
The big thing 1,000 miles south gets you… is warmth. We hadn’t been short of sun in Tijuana but it felt a bit like that British sun, you know – the one with not much heat in it. Now we were darn sarf, we really felt like we were on our hols.
The Airbnb wasn’t quite as palatial as the one in Tijuana, but we were smack bang in the middle of the Pueblo Majico of Todos Santos. The town had a vibrant arty feel to it, with striking Mexican skull art adorning the walls and bright colored flags flapping exuberantly in the street, all adding to the fiesta feel.
Todos Santos is on the coast, backed by the picturesque Sierra de la Laguna mountain range. In contrast to the hard-packed sand at Playa de Tijuana, and the seafront esplanade in Loreto, there were no such easy running options in Todos. The terrain favored hiking instead, so hiking we did.
I couldn’t avoid the running forever though. I just had to run the gauntlet past the crazy Mexican dogs. Arriba, arriba. Luckily the worst ones were tethered behind gates or fences but I managed to attract quite a pack at one point. Four or five of them gathered around me, yipping and yapping, leaping and bounding. Quite excitable that they found some poor unsuspecting gringo to take them for a free walk.
There was no shortage of top notch Mexican food in Todos… in particular, they really rather excelled themselves on the taco front.
Meanwhile, the margaritas came thick and fast. As did the ceviche and the molcajete.
Um, not sure how much of a Mexican tradition pizza and salad is, but it was delicious.
We soaked up the holiday feeling and chilled out with the holiday flow, enjoying sunset from the Skylounge bar. There’s something that feels just so damn decadent about a rooftop bar! I switched out the Tequila for a Hendricks G&T, garnished with cucumber and rosemary, and served in a wine glass. A refreshing change after all that lime. Truth be told, we might have spent a few evenings up there.
The walk we did before work was so enjoyable, we did it again. At the weekend. Only this time we were able to explore a little further without the need to cut short to get to work. So we brought along our old friend the drone, which hasn’t seen much daylight recently. Simple pleasures. 🙂
Ooh, we do love a good roadtrip. Over 1,000 miles was on the cards for us over the weekend, so we took the Friday off to give us some time to play along the way. Our goal was to get to Todos Santos, all the way down in the south of Baja, by Sunday evening to check in to our next AirBnB. And to take in a bit of the Mexican countryside – the real Mexico, along the way.
Countryside is probably not quite the word for it. Wilderness is more like it. Of the desert type. The type of desert with cacti in, not the sand dune type. Lots and lots of cacti.
After leaving Tijuana, we drove through the tourist trap of Ensanada (do not pass go, just get the hell through there) and continued down ‘The 1’ (pretty much the one and only main road down the whole of Baja). After skirting the west coast, our route took us inland past El Rosario, where there was unfortunately no room at the inn due to a large contingent of bikers in town.
We pushed on, realizing that there was a whole lot of nothing for the next few hundred miles. Nothing is maybe a tad unfair to the Joshua Trees and Saguaro cactus, but nothing in the way of civilization.
Until that is, we arrived at the ‘town’ of Catavina. Four side streets, a petrol station and get this, a hotel! That’ll do nicely.
The next day took us past more cactus. I think in Mexico there are more cacti than there are grains of sand on the ground or stars in the sky.
It was a delight to arrive at the oasis that is San Ignacio, a small town (but not quite Catavina small) surrounded by lush date palms, centered around a striking Mission church. They also happened to have a bar offering the best margaritas in Baja.
Next up after a long and bumpy dirt road (somewhat regretting that margarita) was a night on the shores of Laguna San Ignacio, winter sanctuary to hundreds of Pacific Grey Whales and one of the reasons we wanted to do this whole trip. We’d booked a whale watching trip the next morning, and in the meantime enjoyed an idyllic sunset and a few more margaritas.
At this point, putting up the tent in what had turned into a howling windy evening was not seeming like a viable option. So we settled for a night in the truck instead.
Rise and shine was early doors. What with the time zone change as we entered the southern State of Baja Sur and on top of that, there was the change to daylight saving time. So it wasn’t just one but two hours earlier we had to get up. Or so we thought. With diddly squat phone signal, we were none the wiser. But it turned out that the summertime change across the whole of the US didn’t affect Mexico at the same time – they do it on their own terms, a few weeks later.
The combo of sleeping in the truck and the fake two hour time change left us a little bleary eyed. But one look at the choppy water in the lagoon soon woke us up – we were convinced our boat trip would be canceled. The boats they use are kind of tiny and they weren’t just bobbing around on their moorings, I would more say they were careering uncontrollably.
Luckily, a bit of patience helped, as we whiled away that extra hour.
The waters eventually calmed somewhat, miraculously enabling us to board the still vulnerable-looking boat. Well, a bit of sea water spray flying in your face and sloshing into the boat never hurt anybody. We were on a mission: to find the friendliest grey whales on the planet.
The pictures paint a thousand words and I can’t possibly compete.
Suffice to say, we were privileged to have the most amazing whale interactions. Both mothers and babies approached the boats to glide alongside, blanketing us in spray as they exhaled through their blow holes in unison. A little further away, a cheeky whale head popped-up – an inquisitive look-see to check out what was going on.
Overall, this was one of those truly memorable experiences that make it all worthwhile. Yes, even with that rocky little boat.
All that remained was to continue the journey south for our next working week in Todos Santos. Including a night camping on the shore of Conception Bay over on the east coast and popping in to the town of Loreto for a quick hello. Oh and in case you’re in any doubt, yes there were more cacti. Always.
What no Basecamp? The truck was loaded to the brim for a month long road trip and yet we felt half naked as we rolled out of the driveway with no airstream in tow.
We didn’t just forget to hitch up though, it was a conscious decision. Our destination? Baja California – the little sticky out finger protruding into the Pacific on the west coast of Mexico. A round trip of around 2,500 miles in less than a month, on a route not exactly flooded with co-working office options. And have you seen the price of fuel lately! So the BaseCamp got an extended vacation in Santa Clarita instead.
Since getting back from our Christmas/New Year UK trip in January, we’ve been home nearly two months. We caught up with friends and I even poked my nose into the office, which was still far from back to normal. Those itchy feet were inevitable. Mexico is practically on our doorstep and it’s been a few years since we made it down there. And so ARRIBA!!! Off to Mexico we go.
But first, a wee weekend jaunt in Newport Beach along the way. Just enough for a breezy hike in Crystal Cove State Park, a picnic meet up with one of Darren’s work colleagues, a run/bike ride round Back Bay – stunning with spring flowers, and the must-do bone marrow and pizza at Mozza. Newport Beach, done!
The Mexican border was a breeze, no queue to get in, no strip search, no check for blueberries. We didn’t even have to show our passports. Yes, I’m acutely aware this is going INTO Mexico and it won’t be quite the same getting back into the US, but still, I’ll take it for now.
Our first stop – an airbnb in Playas de Tijuana, just a hop, skip and a jump into Mexico. From where we could work and play for the week. It might not be the most upscale of towns but the ocean views right from our doorstep could not be beat. It was quite distracting seeing dolphins frolicking past while we were on work calls.
The pre-Trump border wall is an ever present reminder that even though you can see San Diego right there, the American dream is to some, just that.
One of my favorite things the whole week was being able to step out from the Airbnb before work, and run along the hard-packed sand of the Playas de Tijuana.
At the other end of the day, we reveled in the awesome sunsets from the comfort of our balcony.
The balcony sunsets really gave us that holiday vibe, way to end the working day! We also checked out a couple of other establishments in the local vicinity… margaritas and tacos going a long way to cement that feeling of experiencing a different culture.
On what had turned out to be a 16 week ‘Go Big or Go Home’ trip, it was time to do the Going Home bit. After Grants Pass in Oregon, we eked out our last few weeks of the trip on the California coast, with a week in Santa Cruz and a week in Santa Barbara, before finally heading home to Santa Clarita.
What a wet write off of a weekend driving down to Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz:
As the weather transitioned to more of what we expected from California, we made the most of the waning after-work light to enjoy a brief sunset walk along the bluffs.
Other pleasant evenings gave us an opportunity to enjoy al fresco cooking and dining at the BaseCamp, it felt a long time since we’d been able to do that. I was well chuffed to find both Wholefoods and Trader Joe’s supermarkets within spitting distance of NextSpace (after what seemed like an eternity of sub-par grocery stores!). And for pre-dinner snacks, I was still working my way through the Canadian salt and vinegar crisps stash.
In keeping with our trend of bumping into friends and work colleagues, we met up with one of Darren’s Twilio buddies for a lighthouse promenade and beach walk.
As luck would have it, our penultimate week coincided with the reintroduction of Flex Fridays, meaning I got to take Friday off work. Which meant a sunrise walk and an opportunity to explore a bit more of Santa Cruz.
The Weekend:
The driving distances from one place to the next seemed tiny down here after Alaska. Getting to our next destination was measured in hours, not days. However, the rugged coastal drive down Big Sur, one of the coolest highways in California, is notoriously slow and winding with lots of scenic viewpoint distractions and hikes along the way. It’s been a few years since we’ve done the drive and we had the time, so why not.
Luckily, we checked on the roads before committing to the Big Sur drive. All that rain in last week’s storms had caused erosion and landslides, putting paid to any through trips. Plan B it is then.
We didn’t actually have a Plan B, so we pulled in for coffee and biscuits and a little chill out in the BaseCamp. Out came the phones, and while Darren was diligently doing some Google research, I had a quick skive on Facebook. I did a double take when I saw a FB post from our good friends Brian and Lindsay. They were in Monterey for the weekend celebrating Brian’s birthday. And we were about 10 miles from Monterey. Not days or even hours away, we were like right there.
A few frantic back and forth messages of the “No way?” “Way!” variety later, and we’d arranged to meet up for brunch. Yet another of those bizarre yet fortuitous meet ups – and we got to wish Brian a happy birthday in person. Cheers Brian & Lindsay, so great to see you!
With Big Sur out of the question, we headed inland and down the alternative 101 route. The wineland area of Paso Robles was just a few hours south, and we set our sights on nearby Tin City, a little huddle of wineries and other artisanal outlets, including gelato (ice cream), cider and Barrelhouse Brewing.
Santa Barbara:
Santa Barbara is only an hour and a half away from home (Santa Clarita), but we’ve never spent a full week there before. Nestled in the Santa Ynez mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean, SB is an upmarket resort destination, often referred to as the American Riviera. If you want any more indication of its poshness, Meghan and Harry live in them there Montecito foothills.
I’m going to have to do you another stock photo, because yet again we were cursed by the weather. This time the gloom and doom of thick all-encompassing fog, with occasional clearer yet overcast patches.
We did have one evening – ONE – when it was clear. Perfect for a sunset wander along the Mesa and Arroyo Burro beach.
And then it was back to this…
My mum asked me to take a picture from the pier. She’s been here before and has a bit of a soft spot for Santa Barbara, being called Barbara herself. I think she was expecting something along the lines of the stock photo above. Sorry mum, here’s what we got!
And with that, it really did feel like it was time to call it a day. Go Big or Go Home? I’m officially renaming the trip Go Big AND Go Home!
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