When traveling to a new place, most of us are bound to purchase souvenirs as a reminder of the special places we’ve been to. Unfortunately, not all souvenirs are created equal. I can attest to this since I’ve got a few laying around the house collecting dust. Here are some useful tips to purchasing souvenirs for both yourself, friends and family. Continue reading
The Quick and Dirty:
Location: Joshua Tree National Park
Schedule: 2.5 hour drive, one way from Orange County to Joshua Tree National Park. We had time to do several hikes (total about 7 miles) before sunset.
Dogs Allowed? No dogs are allowed on trails inside the park with the exception of the Oasis of Mara Trail near the visitor center in Twentynine Palms.
Good to Know: Like many other national parks, there are several entrances for the park. Plan out your driving directions to eliminate the amount of driving within the National Park.
Entrance Fee: $20 per vehicle, it is good for 7 days.
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The Quick and Dirty:
Location: Wild Rose Peak located at the west side of the Death Valley National Park. The trail head is about an hour drive from Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.
Hiking Distance: 9 miles round trip with over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Overall the hike took us 3.5 hours with 2.5 hours spent ascending and 1 hour descending.
Good to know: Wild Rose campground near the trail head is a great campsite for those who are interested in exploring the west side of the Death Valley NP. Situated around rolling hills with a seasonal water source, the campsite feels very different from the rest of Death Valley. At a much higher elevation, we felt it was too cold to camp here in the winter time but would be a great campsite to escape the heat in the summer. The best part about this campsite is it’s free!
Charcoal kilns at the start of the Wild Rose peak trail
After doing lots of driving the last couple of days, we were happy to leave our car for a longer hike in the park. Since more technical snow gear was needed for the nearby Telescope Peak (the highest peak in the park), we opted for the Wild Rose Peak instead. We stopped by the Charcoal kilns at the start of the trail. These kilns were built in the early 1900s to supply charcoal for silver mining nearby. They were designed by the Swiss and built by the Chinese. Unfortunately, their use was pretty short lived due to the decrease in demand of charcoal. A walk inside these kilns is definitely recommended, the sign at the trailhead indicate these are some of the most well preserved charcoal kilns in North America. Continue reading
To celebrate Louis’s 30th birthday, we flew to London and Paris for a 10 day vacation. We flew the budget Scandinavian airline because it was a direct flight in their new Boeing 787, Dreamliner, The flight to London was as pleasant as one can expect on economy class, food was purchase only and the economy seats had very limited amount of sitting room. Thankfully, the flight was direct from LAX and it was a straight shot to London. Continue reading
Southern California winters can be one of the best times to go to the beach. With small tourist crows and high temperatures around 90 degrees this past week, we couldn’t resist spending a day with Dakota lounging at the beach!
Woods Cove is located a couple miles south of downtown Laguna Beach on Diamond Street and PCH. From September 17th through May 31st, dogs are allowed on the beach all day as long as they are leashed. During high tourist season, June 1st through September 16th, dogs are only allowed on the beach before 8AM and after 6PM. Parking is metered around Diamond Street and the maximum allowed time is 1 hour. It is best to come with a friend to have someone feed the parking meter without losing your spot on the beach!
As like most coves, the beach area in Wood’s Cove is small. But on a Friday afternoon in February, the place was not overly crowed.
Hike Now, Work Later 