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  • Category: California

    • angel island

      Posted at 7:00 am by jasminedesirees, on September 21, 2015

      It’s funny how you move to a new place, and for awhile every day is an exciting discovery, but then eventually, that new place becomes just the place where you live. When we first moved to California, we were exploring new places all the time, but after awhile we settled down to regular life, and most of our travels were to SoCal, or out of state.

      angel island

      angel island

      Angel Island has been on my list since I first found out we were moving and started creeping for fun things to do, but somehow it never happened. The nice thing is that we still have friends and family in the area and we go back to the Bay pretty often, so just because we haven’t done something yet (I’m looking at you Alcatraz) doesn’t mean we won’t.

      We ended up going to Angel Island this summer, finally, with Derek’s brother, his girlfriend, and their daughter. We left from Sausalito (one of my favourite places) and took the ferry across on a beautiful sunny Sunday in July.

      angel island

      angel island

      The ferry ride was $15/person, plus $1 per bike. If you are thinking of visiting and you have a bike, definitely bring it. Rentals are pretty expensive, so $1 to bring your own bike on the ferry is a steal.

      angel island

      angel island

      When you land at Angel Island there is a little pier area with a couple little restaurants (some of them look really good, and the prices weren’t terrible either) and a place to rent bikes. They also sell wine, which is a useful tip for after the bike ride is over.

      angel island

      angel island

      When you first start riding up you are on a narrow little dirt path that is very steep, and you last about 15 seconds before you get off and start pushing your bike, and wondering when the next ferry back leaves.

      angel island

      angel island

      But once you get to the top of that little area, the path widens out, and is paved, and is generally not very steep. There were lots of families doing the bike ride together, so it’s not super difficult but there were definitely a couple of times when I was exhausted but had to peddle really hard to beat a little girl up a hill. Not today, Pigtails.

      angel island

      angel island

      The only part of the ride that is really hard is when you are around the opposite side, with the best view of San Francisco. In order to get to the magnificent view of the Golden Gate Bridge, you have to ride up the side of a hill that recently made a cameo in Everest. It feels impossible, but the view once you make it to the top is worth it.

      angel island

      angel island

      After the hill, it’s mostly flat or downhill. It’s really the last place where you need to put in any effort, so keep telling yourself that as you struggle for breath and turn the colour of a cherry tomato.

      angel island

      angel island

      Angel Island used to be an old military base, so there are some really neat old buildings to look at as you pedal, and we had a rare hot day in San Francisco, so we stopped and hung out on one of the beaches while we ate lunch.

      angel island

      angel island

      If you are planning on checking out Angel Island, especially in the summer, make sure you bring sunscreen, there isn’t a lot of shade, and lots of water. Once you leave the pier area, there isn’t anywhere to get more water, although there are some picnic tables at the top of the aforementioned mammoth hill.

      angel island

      angel island

      angel island

      The BEST thing about our Angel Island trip is that my brother-in-law proposed to his girlfriend while we were there! So not only was it a beautiful fun day, but now I get a new sister, and I get to wear this dress to a wedding in the Spring. Wins all around.

      angel island

      angel island

      angel island

      And speaking of things I haven’t gotten to do in California yet, we are still deciding whether or not to spend Christmas there (I’m 28 and I’ve never not been with my family. Yes, I’m a baby.) but if we do, I am slightly cheered at the prospect of spending a few days camping in Big Sur between Christmas and New Years. We may die of exposure in our tents, but live dangerously or not at all.

      angel island

      angel island

      angel island

      Posted in California, exploring, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged angel island, bay area, California, San Francisco, travel
    • thousand steps beach

      Posted at 11:20 am by jasminedesirees, on September 15, 2015

      We were in L.A. last weekend for a birthday party and visiting some of The Boy’s family. On Sunday morning we got up early (we left Long Beach at 5:30 am, nobody knows why) and drove to Laguna to Thousand Steps Beach.

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      We were there for sunrise, it was pretty empty except for a few people doing yoga and some surfers and boogie boarders. I think it gets pretty busy there later on so it was nice to chill out and enjoy the quiet.

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      Thousand steps is a little misleading, it’s probably not even a quarter of that, so I wore my runners and brought a bottle of water, expecting a treacherous climb, but I wasn’t worried after Pura Lempuyang last year. That actually was 1,700 steps, and that was only once you were at the very top. So this wasn’t quite the workout I was expecting.

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      We walked down the beach to the end to watch the surfers and check out the tide pools, they are man made, with cement around them, and they are tucked away in the back corner of the beach. It’s such a great idea, I’m surprised there aren’t more around.

      The whole cove around the beach is filled with the most amazing houses, it would be the best view to wake up to every day.

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      Before we left, we walked down to the other end of the beach to check it out, and we saw a viking, Deadpool, and some kind of princess fighting with the cops because they had slept on the beach (it was Long Beach Comic Con last weekend).

      They were yelling, and I’m pretty sure the viking got arrested, but it was pretty hard to take his righteous indignation seriously when he was wearing a horned helmet and fur vest.

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      After the beach we grabbed breakfast at a little restaurant with a beach view in Laguna, and then headed for home. We ended up driving down the PCH instead, and added an extra 45 minutes to our drive, but it was worth it for the views, and to be by the ocean for a little bit longer.

      We basically decided then and there that we don’t care where we go after Arizona, but it needs to be near the sea.

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      thousand steps beach

      Posted in beach, California, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 2 Comments | Tagged beaches, California, hiking, pura lempuyang, thousand steps beach, tide pools
    • san francisco

      Posted at 8:55 am by jasminedesirees, on September 1, 2015

      I recently spent a couple of weeks back in the Bay area, working out of our San Francisco office, and I was reminded of how much I love that city, especially because the weather was amazing, and all I wanted to do was be outside.

      That got me thinking about other times I’ve been there, and things that have happened, so here, in no particular order, are the most memorable things that have happened to me in SF.

      -The time I walked around a corner to see a chubby, bearded man standing in front of me wearing nothing but a fuzzy purple vest (it was Bay to Breakers.)

      -The time I was walking down market and a random man tried to spit on my sister and I, and then a big group of large scary looking men standing nearby offered to kill him for us.

      -The time I was walking down a busy street and a man was standing off to the side, masturbating.

      -When I first started working in the city and I was lonely and friendless and would walk from 2nd street all the way to Haight because there was this little store that had the best Gingersnap cookies. I would get one and wander through the thrift stores looking at old jewellery.

      -The time I was walking down the street on a cold, rainy day, and a random man stopped and gave me his umbrella.

      -That time we did a Halloween bar crawl in North Beach dressed as a peacock, a parrot, a hippy, a pirate, a banana and Psy from Gangnam Style.

      -That time I was walking to AsiaSF and came around a corner to find the coolest building ever, covered in graffiti with furniture hanging out the windows.

      – The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer I did with my mom and sisters. The route took us all over the city and across the Golden Gate up into Marin county. Definitely the best way to see the Bay.

      Apparently I spend all my time walking around when I’m in the city, and I’m OK with that.

      Posted in California, San Francisco, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged bay area, San Francisco, travel
    • the last bookstore

      Posted at 8:51 am by jasminedesirees, on August 18, 2015

      On our way from Phoenix to San Francisco last weekend there were 3 things I wanted to do. One of them was to stop in at The Last Bookstore in L.A.

      I read about it a couple of years ago, and had been wanting to go, but the last few times I was there I ran out of time. This time I was looking for any excuse to break up the interminable dross of 11 hours in the car, and it was just what I needed.

      The Last Bookstore is in downtown L.A. As soon as I walked through the door, I was struck by what a cool place it was. It’s very big and open with rows of book shelves (obviously), and a big art installation made from paperbacks along one wall. The back right corner is dedicated to old records, and the entire upstairs section is more books, and art displays from local artists.

      There is a little stage/nook area where people were cuddled up reading in big comfy chairs.They often do author readings at the store. There were so many books I wanted to get, I could have spent hours in there, but unfortunately I only had a few minutes. I ended up picking Before I Die, a closer look and compilation of all the Before I Die projects walls, all over the world.

      I’d heard of the project a few years ago and had been wanting to check it out. It was between that, Letters of Note, a book based on a blog I’ve followed for ages, and an amazing looking veggie cookbook, but Before I Die won out in the end.

      We ended up stopping at Griffith park for a picnic afterwards so I got to spend a couple of hours lounging in the sun reading, before we headed to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to watch Vertigo. It was a perfect few hours in L.A.

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      Posted in books, California, exploring, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged before i die, California, reading, the last bookstore
    • hollywood forever

      Posted at 8:40 am by jasminedesirees, on July 6, 2015

      hollywood forever cemetery

      A few weeks ago we drove from Phoenix to San Francisco. I don’t know if you’ve ever done that drive before, but I have and it is one of the most boring drives ever. It is just unchanging desert for the first 5 hours, and then you get to L.A., and you’re like great we’re here. But you’re not there, and you still have about 6 hours left in the car.

      So this time to break it up, we left early Saturday morning, hung out in L.A. for the day, and then drove the rest of the way on Sunday to break it up. Once I knew we were going to be staying, I immediately, as is my habit, checked the Cinespia website. I’ve been wanting to go to a movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for years, but they only do it during the summer, and only on certain weekends, so even though I’d been actively checking every time we went to L.A., we had never made it.

      I was so excited because they were showing a movie that night, and it was Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, which is really everything you’d want in a movie you’d watch in a cemetery. I bought tickets right away, they were $12 each, so not bad, and I also bought the parking pass, which is $10. You park in the Paramount Pictures lot about half a mile away, but I definitely recommend getting the pass, because otherwise parking is kind of a nightmare.

      I definitely recommend getting there early as well, we got there at about 6:30 for an 8:30 movie, and there were already people lined up almost around the block. Definitely bring snacks, people had amazing picnic spreads, and I saw more than one person balancing a stack of pizzas in line. You can bring low lawn chairs, there is a lawn chair section, but we just brought blankets and pillows to make a little nest.

      We saw a few people with tarps, and we were like, those people are doing too much. But then the ground was kind of wet, and our blanket got kind of wet, and we realized that those people were geniuses, who had obviously been there before.

      The movie itself was great, we had a really good spot, and could see and hear perfectly fine. It was such a fun summer activity because everyone was there with a group of friends to hang out and drink wine and watch a great film, and the weather was perfect.

      We decided to sneak out a little early because there were a lot of people there and we didn’t want to get stuck behind everyone, but once we were away from the crowd we realized we were alone. In a graveyard. In the pitch black of night. And we were lost. They don’t light up the rest of the cemetery, and they don’t really have signs or anything, but I knew there was a back way to get out that lets you out closer to the Paramount parking lot, so we were scrambling around in the dark trying to find it. It was basically terrifying, but we made it out alive (obviously).

      All in all, it was everything I thought it was going to be, and if you are going to be in the L.A. area in the summer, definitely check it out, at least once. Also, if you haven’t seen it, watch Vertigo. Because Jimmy Stewart.

      Posted in California, Los Angeles, travel | 1 Comment | Tagged California, hollywood forever, Jimmy Stewart, LA, movie, vertigo
    • grand island mansion

      Posted at 7:57 am by jasminedesirees, on May 5, 2015

      This last weekend I made a very quick trip back to California for a wedding. It was held at the Grand Island Mansion near Elk Grove. The wedding was really fun, and the venue was completely gorgeous, so I made sure to take lots of pictures to share.

      The Mansion was built in the 1920’s, and apparently it was a place where rich San Franciscans would take the steamboat for the weekend. It was also a place for people to drink without getting caught during prohibition, but we couldn’t find any secret passages. They were probably in the library, behind a bookshelf. That’s just science.

      I ended up staying the night there, and I’m about 98% sure it’s haunted, but it was still a really great weekend.

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      Posted in California, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged California, grand island mansion, San Francisco, weddings
    • sunny and seventy five

      Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on March 27, 2015

      image

      Spending this weekend in LA, rolling around in a big pile of girls. Excited for twisted tea by the pool, dancing all night, and no boys allowed.

      Not excited for the 5 hour solo drive to get there, but slightly cheered by the prospect of the epic 80’s and 90’s playlist I made to keep me company on the road.

      Posted in California, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged California, Los Angeles, road trip
    • san diego

      Posted at 9:17 am by jasminedesirees, on March 25, 2015

      My birthday was a couple of weekends ago, and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I’ve never really been a huge fan of birthday celebrations, it feels like a lot of pressure to get a bunch of people together so they can tell you that they like you, and people buy you presents and stare at you while you open them, it’s uncomfortable.

      san diego

      san diego

      I usually would rather go do something fun instead, so we decided to take advantage of our proximity(ish) and head down to San Diego for the weekend. If you’ve been reading along for any length of time, you’ll know that we are quite the fans of spontaneous trips, and generally just jump in the car and figure things out along the way. It usually works out fine.

      san diego

      san diego

      san diego

      In this case however, I forgot that I was born during what is generally considered to be spring break (also, the Ides of March, the day Julius Caesar was stabbed. Fun fact.) and also there were about four conferences in San Diego that weekend, so it was super busy.

      san diego

      san diego

      We stayed in Yuma the first night, just to break up the drive, and had supper at this amazingly delicious restaurant called the River City Grill, it had an adorable little back patio, and I had spinach ricotta ravioli and it came with alfredo, pesto and roasted red pepper sauces all swirled together on the plate… sorry what were we talking about? It was realllllly good.

      san diego

      san diego

      The next day we were up early to get back on the road. As we were driving into our hotel parking lot the night before I remarked that it was lucky we were so close to a Chevron, so we could fill up in the morning.

      san diego

      san diego

      san diego

      But then we didn’t. And we were at least 30 minutes out of Yuma before we realized that we were basically out of gas, and the next gas station was at least 30 minutes away. It was a litttttle bit stressful, but we made it just in the nick of time, and didn’t have to spend any of our weekend stranded on the side of the road, which is generally a plus.

      san diego
      san diego

      san diego

      We spent the day wandering around Point Loma, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach and La Jolla, visiting different beaches, and stopping in at different bars along the way. Bali Hai had an amazing view, and allegedly the strongest mai tai that exists in the world (I think Smuggler’s Cove would beg to differ) and The Wood had an awesome roof top bar.

      san diego

      san diego

      san diego

      Around 5 o’clock we started looking for a place to stay that night, only to realize that a lot of places were totally booked up, and the rest were around $300/night. We briefly considered driving up the coast to L.A., but we were too lazy.

      We bought two pillows and a blanket, and found a dark residential street to snuggle up on, and slept in the car until about 4 a.m. It was really nice actually, it felt like we were back in Australia for awhile.

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      After that The Boy woke up and drove us to Ocean Beach to sleep on the beach so I could wake up beside the ocean on my birthday. We had a scrumptious brunch at the Fig Tree, hung out at the beach for awhile, and then started the drive back to Scottsdale so I could get a red velvet cupcake from Sprinkles.

      It was a great few days, I love being near the ocean, and the general vibe of San Diego. We were already thinking SoCal might be the next place we move to once we’re done creeping around Arizona, but after this weekend, it’s basically been decided.

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      Posted in California, travel, USA | 6 Comments | Tagged beach, birthday celebrations, California, Ocean Beach, roadtrip, san diego, travel
    • castello di amarosa

      Posted at 10:29 am by jasminedesirees, on December 10, 2014

      We spent Saturday being chauffeured around Napa in a limo, drinking lots of wine and enjoying the gorgeous December sunshine. We visited the Castello di Amarosa, a vineyard and winery, and also the most amazing castle I’ve ever seen.

      I’ve really only seen the Iolani Palace, and Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Disneyland, so I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but still.

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      We did the guided tour, so in addition to the public areas of the castle that anyone can visit if they come to the vineyard which includes a ballroom and a chapel, we also got to see the underground portion, including jails and a torture chamber, and many feet of tunnels stacked with barrels of wine.

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      It took fifteen years to build the castle, and all of the materials are authentic, sourced from ruins of castle in Europe. All of the iron work in the castle was recovered from ruins, and if they couldn’t find it there, they had it made in the authentic style as it would have been in 12th-16th century Europe.

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      We learned a lot about the wine they produce during the tour, and also about the castle itself, and it was really interesting.

      All of the stonework was done by a master stone mason, and different sections of the castle were done in the styles from different centuries, so they point that out to you on the tour, and explain what the differences were, and why.

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      For the last stop on our tour we stopped in a private underground tasting room that felt a lot like a dungeon, but at least there were bread sticks, and tried a bunch of the different wines that are made by the vineyard. I really liked a lot of them, I used to hate red wine, but in the last few years I’ve really grown to like it more and more, especially Zinfandel.

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      My favourites were Dolcino, it was a sweet white wine; Simpatica, which is a blend of Muscato and Riesling, and one called Fantasia, which tastes like melted frozen fruit punch juice mix. Our guide said he often uses it as a mix with vodka, which sounds like a terrible/amazing idea.

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      They have activities at the castle all year round, and every year for New Year’s Eve they have a black tie masquerade ball. It’s expensive, but it sounds like so much fun, so we’re going to try to do that for NYE 2016.

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      If you are looking for me at any point over the next 12 months, I’ll probably be gluing feathers and glitter onto my mask.

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      castello di amarosa

      Posted in California, exploring, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged architecture, California, castello di amarosa, castle, napa, Sleeping Beauty's castle, wine, wine tasting
    • bay

      Posted at 5:59 pm by jasminedesirees, on August 29, 2014

      As much as I’m loving life in Australia, this video is making me a teeeensy bit homesick for the bay. I’ve been lucky enough to live in some pretty cool places.

      Posted in California, San Francisco, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged bay area, California, San Francisco, travel, video
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