Tag Archives: California

Weekend at Joshua Tree National Park

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Joshua Tree at Sunset

Back in April, I had a work trip planned to San Diego. As a bonus, I was able to plan a weekend in Joshua Tree NP, a little ways from Palm Springs. This worked out very well as I ended up planning some work stuff the week before my original trip as well so would have had to fill up a weekend. I picked up a rental car Friday morning in Thousand Oaks (a little north of LA), spent Friday and Saturday night near JT (in a very so-so Super 8, there wasn’t much to select from), and then drove back to San Diego Sunday for my meeting that started Monday. I ended up not getting into the park until fairly late due to the drive, waiting for my room, and then some car issues. (My rental ended up needing 4 quarts of oil over two days!) I ended up doing the following:

  • Fri – Got into the park around 3:45, made some stops for photos along the road, drove down to Cholla Cactus Garden, did hike to Arch Rock and Heart Rock, back to hotel (some photos of sunset on way out), stop at Wal-Mart for Sat lunch, dinner at Las Palmas (decent)
  • Sat – Up early, sunrise at Quail Springs, hike to Barker Dam (which had water), hike to Wall Street Mill (kind of reminded me of Big Thunder Mountain in Disney World), drive up to Keys View, lunch at parking for Lost Horse Mine Trail, hike to Lost Horse Mine, continue to do all of Lost Horse Loop Trail, quick stop at Cap Rock, left park around 3 (glad I got there early as the line to get in now was massive), relax/photos at hotel, dinner at 2 Guys Pies pizza (good pizza and local beer)
  • Sun – Up early, pack up and check out, hike to Fortynine Palms, leave park around 9am and drive to San Diego (with a stop at In-and-Out burger on the way), at my hotel in SD around 2.
Sunrise at Quail Springs

Trip to California

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For our main trip this year, we headed to the San Francisco Bay area, including San Francisco itself, Napa Valley, and Monterey. While I had been to SF before, I had spent only a total of two days in the city over the course of four work trip. I had been the Monterey area way back in 1997 but didn’t actually visit Monterey itself. Suzanne and Kyle had never been. It seemed a good time to revisit some things while seeing some new places.  It was an excellent trip and we had a great time.

Golden Gate Bridge from the Presidio

Photos from California

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A few weeks back, my group at work did a week long tour of the west coast. It was very hectic and busy, but I took an extra day or so on either end. I posted a couple of pages of photos. I flew into San Diego on Saturday afternoon, spending the night at the Hotel Cosmopolitan right in Old Town San Diego. This was an old stage coach hotel built in 1869 (as the second floor of a house built originally in 1827 by Juan Bandini). Back in both 1997 and 2002 when I visited, I ate here when it was Casa de Bandini. I ended up spending all afternoon and much of the next day right in Old Town, enjoying some great Mexican food, the history, and the warm sunshine. Sunday afternoon, a colleague picked me up for the drive out to the “burbs” for a workshop on Monday and a user meeting on Tuesday.

In Old Town San Diego In Old Town San Diego

Wednesday morning, we had an early flight to San Francisco where we had some meetings on Wed followed by a user visit and workshop on Thursday at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and a meeting with a collaborator on Friday morning (also at LBNL). Finally, Friday afternoon I was done for the week, so headed back to San Francisco and spent a couple of nights at the Club Quarters hotel in the Financial District.

After checking in Friday, I did a bunch of walking around town, seeing Chinatown and Fisherman’s Wharf. On Saturday, I had hoped to visit Alcatraz, but tickets were sold out by the time I got around to thinking about buying them. Instead, I took a cable car ride up California Ave followed by the bus to the Presidio. Here, I walked a ton eventually reaching the Golden Gate Bridge, crossing it (and coming back of course), before heading back into the city after lunch. I then headed back to Fisherman’s Wharf, visiting the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and heading back Pier 39 and then the hotel. I had an excellent dinner at Sam Wo in Chinatown. I turned in early as I had a 6:30 AM flight the next day (involving a car pickup at 4AM). I ended walking around 14.5 miles over the two days. Even though I really only had a couple of free days total, it was nice to bookend the stress of the trip with some relaxation. I also enjoyed my first real visit to San Francisco.

Golden Gate Bridge from in the Presidio in San FranciscoIn Chinatown in San Francisco