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A few weeks ago, Hanie and I visited Anza Borrego Desert State Park to do some hiking and check out the desert wildflowers, which were blooming for a short time after a generous amount of recent rainfall. Roughly an hour and a half drive outside of San Diego, Anza Borrego is the largest state park in CA and the second largest in the US. The majority of the park is located in San Diego county, with a few parts that bleed over into Riverside and Imperial county.

The drive out to Anza Borrego is a relaxing and fun drive, comprising of curvy mountain roads, small towns, and scenic views. The best part of the drive is the descent from the mountains to the desert floor via S22. The road has an 8% grade and gives you a wide view of the desert all the way out to the Salton Sea. S22 continues through to the town of Borrego Springs, which sits quietly outside of the park and the park visitors center.

The Anza Borrego Desert State Park visitors center is actually one of the best visitor centers I’ve been to. It has a very pleasing, low profile southwestern architecture that compliments the desert scenery. The visitors center has a small trail that winds around and nearby, presenting the various plant and animal species within the park grounds. Informative and well executed, you can tell this part of the visitors center was never an afterthought and an integral part of the center’s design. The interior of the center continues the same theme, with nice displays of the history of the park and its environs. Most importantly, it was properly air conditioned and contained numerous bathrooms.

Prior to checking out the wildflowers, Hanie and I hiked the popular Borrego Palm Canyon trail, which starts near the visitors center. A little over 3 miles roundtrip, the trail follows a creek and ends in a massive group of native California palms. Surrounded by boulders, Hanie and I had fun climbing and scrambling up the various boulders. The weather was perfect the entire hike, staying in the high 70s. During the heat of summer, even an easy hike like this could be punishing.

After the hike, we drove to the outskirts of Borrego Springs, which lies adjacent to the park, and took pictures of the desert wildflowers as the sun was setting. We chose the easy spot for picture taking, off of Henderson Canyon Rd., as we only had a 2WD drive vehicle. The other wildflower spot, Coyote Canyon, has a more varied collection of wildflowers, but a vehicle with 4WD or AWD was recommended as the road isn’t paved. Our good friend Val actually went out to Coyote Canyon, with the help of some good ole 4WD.

I definitely plan to return. The park is massive and there is a lot left to explore and hike. Here are some teaser photos from our trip, following with the link to the entire gallery.

Anza Borrego Desert State Park

It’s been 2 months since returning from spending Thanksgiving in Prague, and I can say without a doubt that it’s fueled both my desires to travel more and to ultimately return back. I have fond memories of cobblestone streets, confusing alleyways, intricate architecture, friendly locals, rich foods, unbelievable beer, and Absinthe. Although virtually unscathed by WWII, the city bears the scars of years of Communist rule with soot-laden, graffiti-ridden buildings. However, to say that Prague is a dirty or ugly city would be a mistake. The city is in fact incredibly beautiful, with a healthy mix of modernness peppering the landscape of various old world architecture. Even though the city has an excellent rail system, its history and beauty beckons you to walk and explore it.

The cuisine in Prague is heavily centered around fresh, wild game meats: duck, rabbit, venison, etc. The generously portioned dishes are very rich tasting, but never overwhelming. Even though I have never lived in Prague, the dishes have a strong sense of hearthy nostalgia, which is very befitting of the cold, snowy weather and beautiful locale. Although simple in construction and straight-forward in taste, the ubiquitous dish of Czech goulash with dumplings is tasty, satisfying, and never monotonous. I certainly miss it.

Cheaper than soda, the beer is plentiful, palatable and smooth. Nearly every local beer, from dark to light, was excellent, including craft beers like coffee beer. It is a travesty that these beers are non-existent stateside aside from Pilsner Urquell. Aside from bottled water from the local market and an occasional cup of coffee, all I drank was beer. It compliments well with the food, prepares you for the cold autumn air, and never leaves you with a hangover.

Anyways, I could writes pages about Prague, but I’ll just cut to the chase with some photos and a link to the full album. Enjoy.

Photos of Prague

Better late than never…

Hanie and I took a trip to the Bay Area a few weekends ago. Hanie had a bridal shower to attend and I hitched a ride, and we made an awesome trip out of it. I stayed with Johann, while Hanie stayed with Ju Yon and Stella. Johann lives right in the heart of the Marina District, while Ju Yon and Stella live literally at the corner of Haight and Ashbury. Both places are totally pimp. I can definitely see the draw and charisma of city living. Overall, the weekend was a total blitzkrieg.

• Oktoberfest By The Bay - Held at Fort Mason, it was a pretty awesome Oktoberfest. The only other Oktoberfest I’ve been to was at an outdoor park in Carlsbad, so this massive indoor one was a new experience for me. A little pricey, but you can’t beat the atmosphere and company. And beer.
• Ju Yon & Stella’s - After Oktoberfest, we all hung out at Ju Yon & Stella’s with a few rousing games of Taboo and a run to Escape From New York Pizza. I am bad at Taboo.
• Cal/OSU - Before the game, we toured the campus a little bit, gorged on beer and killer nachos at Raleighs, then made an obligatory and necessary stop at Top Dog. I then proceeded to attend my very first college football game, and partake in my very first college football game loss. =( Regardless of the outcome, it was a killer and memorable experience.
• Brandon & Cat - After the game, Johann and I met up with Brandon & Cat for some more gorging with some deep-dish goodness at Zachary’s. We went back to Brandon and Cat’s place, just down the street from Zachary’s, to digest and shoot the proverbial shit. After some deliberating, we decided to end the night with some ice cream at Fentons in Oakland, which will put you into a certifiable food coma. Good food, great times.
• The Rock - Johann and myself met up with Hanie, Stella, and Doris to check out Alcatraz. It was an awesome experience, highlighted by the need for Johann and I to bastardize The Rock quotes the entire time. The prison cells were surprisingly smaller than I had imagined. The cells were narrow, dank, and lacked any sort of privacy. I was also surprised by how aged and weathered Alcatraz was as a whole. The walls were worn, dirty, and even moldy sometimes. Most the windows were frosted with dirt, scratches, and fingerprints from both tourists and former residents. On the way back on the ferry, we all passed the time by flicking unsuspecting, annoying flies into oblivion, which turned out to be an extremely hilarious and pleasant experience.
• Pompei’s Grotto - After Alcatraz, we all had lunch in the bar area in order to watch the Chargers/Raiders game. The food was fairly decent. The highlight of lunch was the bartender. He was friendly and charming in the loud, wry, talks-to-you-like-he’s-known-you-for-25-years way. The lowlight was also the bartender. He was a huge Pats fan and couldn’t stop gushing over how good they were. I wanted to shake his hand and punch him at the same time.

The only photos I took over the weekend were at Alcatraz, so enjoy.

A few weeks ago, I took a trip out to Lake Mead with my sister, her boyfriend Mike, and his family and friends. It was a ton of fun and I would totally do it again. We rented a spacious houseboat. Mike’s sister and her husband own a super nice Malibu Wakesetter VLX wakeboard boat and a SeaDoo supercharged jet ski.

We stayed near Echo Bay, which is a little over an hour’s drive outside of Vegas. We left San Diego around 11PM and drove all night to get there by morning. Needless to say, it was blazing out there, well past 100 degrees during the day. However, the lake provided the perfect refreshment. The lake’s water temperature was in the high 80s, so it felt nice and cool compared to the air temperature. I was surprised at how clear and clean the lake water was. Definitely not like swimming in the ocean or anything. Lake Mead has some incredible views, especially during sunset.

It was my first time on a jet ski and first time wakeboarding. I can now say I’m totally addicted to both. I took the supercharged SeaDoo out and I wasn’t quite prepared by how powerful it was. The thing accelerates unbelievably fast. I ended up doing 65 MPH over the water, which was a total trip because you can barely see the front of the jet ski, so it literally looks like you’re flying over the water.

I also tried wakeboarding. After a flurry of tips from all the experienced wakeboarders and about 10 tries, I was able to get up out of the water, stand, and cruise around for a while. It’s really a lot of fun and surprisingly tiring. Every muscle of your body is working to keep you balanced. I’m sure I’ll be doing mid-air 360s in no time…

Also did some fishing, swimming, and kayaking. Played some horseshoes and made s’mores over a campfire at night. Oh yea, and I also rode shotgun in this inflatable raft thing that got towed around at high speed by the wakeboat. It was so much damn fun.

Great trip. Now I’m super tan.