Youngmeeism

Hiking No. 10 on Nov. 30, 2013

This week we took a couple of our friends with us on our hike. We always wanted to share the benefits of hiking with them and it finally happened. Mike originally planned to go to Portola Redwood State Park where the old giant tree is, but ended up changing plans to Castle Rock because one of our friend wasn't feeling well.

As this was their first hike, we wanted to ease them into hiking. So, we first took them to see the Castle Rock, and from there we picked up the trail leading to the Goat Rock and then turned back around.

Since this was Thanksgiving weekend, the park was very crowded. However, it worked out well for us since our friend who is new to hiking preferred to be near other human beings vs. totally isolated in the nature. The park has a good mix of vegetation and trails -- lush woods, amazing vistas along the ridges, challenging trails and above all very interesting rock formations called "tafoni." Tafoni which looks like swiss cheese is a result of gradual weathering processes reshaping the sandstone over a long long period of time. The tafoni rock's steep and swiss cheese-looking faces provide a plenty of finger and toe holds for rock climbers and thus makes the park a popular hang-out for rock climbers and boulderers in addition to hikers.

One downside of the hike was that some parts of the trails were quite narrow with rocky and steep ups and downs. However, our novice hiker friends managed them really well :D -- we were so proud!

We finished the day with the super yummy dinner at the Pacific Catch Campbell for the first time followed by the two kids successfully finishing the computer game, Portal 2 -- whose ending credits song "Still Alive" (Portal 1) I love so much that I adopted it as the ringtone for my cell.

Our Friends And Us

Easy To Guess Who is Mike Here :)

What Do You Mean This Is Not Castle Rock?

Maybe This Tree Needs Chemo

Who Invited The Fingers?

Well-Deserved Dinner At Pacific Catch Campbell

Edamame And Little Fish Crackers

Cabo Calamari And Thai Coconut Shrimp

Spicy Mahi Mahi Sandwich

California Salad

Grilled Mahi Mahi Special

Fried Dulce de Leche "Spring Rolls"

Hiking No. 9 on Nov. 23

Mike's original plan was to explore the Tarwater trail of Pescadero Creek Country Park. Unfortunately, he missed the turnoff from Alpine Road, and we ended up driving longer way past our destination and I developed motion sickness which led to me tossing my cookies :( So, we re-directed ourselves to the nearest park -- Sam McDonald Park again!

Nevertheless, this turned out to be one of our most favorite trails with several good points: (1) the most comfy trails covered with tons of cushy fallen leaves, (2) very diverse and interesting mix of plants from the marvelous virgin redwood trees to ferns to Douglas firs (i.e. Christmas trees) to open golden meadows, (3) close encounters with not one but eight banana slugs of every size, shape and reaction, (4) not-so-close encounter with a deer and interesting chat with Doug whom we met twice along the hike.

Shortly after we started hiking, I noticed a bunch of fallen pine boughs along the trail and was thinking these would make perfect Christmas wreaths.

Y: Look these fallen pine boughs. They are every where! Perfect for our Christmas wreath! Smell soooooooo good, too! Can I take a few home with me? I guess we're not supposed to take anything out of the Park?

M: They say. "Leave only foot prints and take only memories." In your case, thousands of photos :P

Y: Okay, I'll at least take pictures with them! I'll even carry them with me throughout the hike and part with them later.

Life Goes On

Look What I Found -- Fallen Pine Boughs

So Perfect for Our Christmas Wreath...

They Are Everywhere...

In Such Good Quality and Color With Lovely Smell...

Can I Bring This Whole Pine Tree With Me Home?

How About These Tiny Ones?

Okay Then... I'll Just Touch Them

Hug Them...

Smell Them...

Super Soft and Cushy Trail --

Even The FiveFingers Were Happy :)

Fat Chance Dear, Nice Try Though...

Where is Youngmee?

We Were Here

Eight Banana Slugs We Met

No. 1

As soon as we got close, this one retracted its tentacles super quickly. Also, bunched up (tensed up) its body so much so that the size reduced by half...