Time flies when you’re having fun. When I get too busy to write posts, I sometimes just jot down a few of the highlights real quick. I might be close to doing that, but I think I can come up with a couple of coherent paragraphs right now. Days are meshing together and I don’t know which day of the week it is anymore, but sometime this past week we started making our way up north. The first of many stops was at the bustling city of Brisbane. Australia’s third largest city has a really good vibe, and I wished I had had more time there, but because WiFi is not readily available in Australia as I would’ve thought, I spent some of my time using the one at their library, which was by far my favorite building in the city with their neon colors. Close to it is Queen Street Mall with tons of stores out of my price range and then across the bridge is South Bank Parklands with a beach lagoon near the river, right in the middle of the city.
Brisbane Beach Lagoon
Queen Street Mall
Brisbane
Brisbane Library
A couple of hours later we arrived at Noosa, another surfer’s town, but less backpackish than Byron Bay. While everybody went to the beach, I headed to Noosa National Park for one of their rainforest walks. As expected, mosquitoes had a feast with my legs. One of their trails had coastal views, and I could enjoy the tricks of many Australian surfers. I am always amazed at how many people are surfing right in the middle of the day. What do Australian surfers do for work? I guess it must be pretty similar to Tahoe snowboarders where they play during the day and work at night to cater for the tourists.
Growing up, koalas and kangaroos were my favorite animals with their cuddly faces and built-in purses to carry all their family and friends inside (well, that’s what I thought as a 7 year-old), so I knew going to “Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary” to see some of Australia’s animals was going to be a highlight of my trip. The first thing I did was, of course, cuddle up to a koala bear. They are so stinky cute I wanted to take one home. The one I held was called Happy Jay and he was the most adorable thing. Is it normal to be more excited about holding a koala than holding my friends’ newborns?
My little koala
The Sanctuary is not a typical zoo. Most animals are not enclosed and they have a hospital with big windows for you to see the animals they are rehabilitating. The kangaroo area was very impressive with dozens of kangaroos and wallabies you can pet and feed. And that’s not all: they have Tasmanian devils, wombats, and even a cassowary, which is the most deadly bird of Australia.
Petting a kangaroo
From Sydney to Byron Bay we were in New South Wales, but now we will be in Queensland for the rest of the trip. Surfers Paradise is the heart of the Gold Coast, an area where the sun shines 300 days a year. Perfect jogging weather again, and this time I was able to run for a little while. I’m very proud of myself, jogging in every town I spend the night so far.
Surfers Paradise
Unlike Byron Bay, this is not a quaint little town, but a city with high risers and a party scene like a small Miami. Apparently this is where people come for the Australian version of spring break. I did to go to a nightclub just to check it out, but the highlight of Surfers Paradise was a cabaret show called “Dracula’s”. It is a cheesy Vegas-style combination of random themes: burlesque, comedy, acrobatics, zombies, and vampires. However, the show is performed while we’re having a three-course meal, so if the show is not your thing, you’re sure to enjoy the Moroccan lamb.
On our way to Coffs Harbour we stopped at the beach town of Port Macquarie. Governor Macquarie was a pretty big deal in the 1800’s because everything seems to be named after him: streets, parks, that chair in Sydney, and now this town. It’s richsy, small and cute, plus it has a boardwalk with painted rocks by the community.
Port Macquarie Walk
In Coffs Harbour we stayed at a surf village (“Mojo’s”) where people go to learn to surf and work there in exchange for room and board. Everybody was gorgeous, blond, and tan. That night we sat by the campfire and drank a little, but instead of Jack Johnson, pop tunes and beer pong were going on for the 20-year olds in the group, so I didn’t have such a chill time as I was expecting at a surf village. Nonetheless, the next morning was fun trying to surf. All the instructors were very very very hot and super helpful. I did try to get on my surfboard a few times, but I guess I should’ve worked on my jumping at yoga more seriously. It is very hard, but I can see why a lot of people like it, especially because of all the eye-candy around.
Surf Camp Crowd
Learning to surf
Next was the small bohemian town of Byron Bay. If Port Macquarie was like Carmel, Byron Bay was like Santa Cruz. There were tons of healthy and alternative restaurants and that’s where I ventured. I just kept going from one place to the next on main street, trying different treats, like a roasted vegetable gluten-free quiche and a passion fruit and apricot gluten-free muffin.
Meal from “Fundies”
Byron Bay is also the most eastern point in Australia. If you go to the lighthouse, it’s a short walk to where the sign is and if you’re lucky, you can see dolphins and whales from there. Byron Bay is very popular with surfers and the sandy beach is long with a couple of lookouts that blend with the rocks.
Byron Bay – Lighthouse on the back
Look at all those surfers!
Most eastern point in Australia
Besides eating at the different cafes, reading, and jogging by the beach, I also decided to be a bit social and joined the group for an outing. The first stop was at the “Beach Hotel” where we played musical bingo with a very excited DJ. Then off to “Cheeky Monkey’s”, where there is no choice but to dance on the tables since there is no dance floor. Oh, and get your face painted like a 5 year-old.
Sydney is very walkable and easy to get around. Although I feel you could see everything in two days, you could also easily spend two weeks exploring. Most of my time was spent outside, but I did go to one museum, the Art Gallery of New South Wales where I fell in love with the paintings of Australian artist Lloyd Rees, who does landscape with an impressionist feel.
Sydney Opera House is the iconic building with white sails you see on TV every New Year’s Eve with the fireworks behind it. I went there at least five times because it’s smack right in the middle of everything. Built in the 1960’s, it was very controversial at first, but now it’s loved by all. Inside, it has a very minimalist style with geometric shapes and no decorations. In one of the theaters I visited they were tuning pianos and on another theater they were rehearsing for a future production, so I could experience their impressive acoustics.
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The Harbour Bridge is another recognizable Sydney landmark, connecting the north side with the south side of the city. Instead of just driving across it, I climbed to the top. For $265 you can walk across the arch of the bridge to the summit and then back for amazing views of the city, but unfortunately you can’t take your own camera, and they only give you four photos and a short video with your package. There is also no thrill. You have a harness on, and the steel platforms are very wide and secure, so I didn’t think it was that exciting. You can get the same views by walking on the bridge at car level, which is free and you can take as many pictures you want.
Bridge Climb
The best view of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge is from the Royal Botanical Garden in the morning, near Mrs. Macquarie’s Point, which has a stone chair built in 1816 for the governor’s wife to read and watch the ships go by. Then walk past the Opera House to reach Circular Quay and wander around the historical neighborhood of The Rocks to get a glimpse of the first buildings of the city, the ones that were built after the first ships of incarcerated people arrived from England in 1788.
Opera House
Mrs. Macquarie’s chair
The Rocks Neighborhood
Just a few miles away from Sydney, you can go to Blue Mountains National Park for a short hike to Wentworth Falls and then to Echo Point to a geological formation called “The Three Sisters”. Those rocks are sacred to the Aboriginal people because it is said three sisters tuned into rocks after a fight three brothers who wanted to marry them had with a sorcerer.
Wentworth Falls
Three Sisters
Blue Mountains
Finally, when I think of Australia’s east coast, I think of the beach. I absolutely hate hot weather, so coming to Australia during their winter has been great. We have blue-bird skies and temperatures in the 60s – perfect for a beach stroll and reading a book. Manly beach is easy to get to on the ferry and has a great boardwalk with water fountains, restrooms, restaurants, and art sculptures on the way. I am reading this book by Bill Bryson called “In a sunburned country” which is perfect for me because it mixes history with funny travel stories. While I was laying on Manly beach, I was reading a chapter about Sydney and its sites, including the one I was at, and it is just awesome being able to read about something and then look up to actually see it right in front of you.
A few years ago when someone would tell me they were going on a 15-hour hike I would absolutely think they were crazy (yes, I’m thinking of you, K.N.), but this year I was like, “yeah, sure, this sounds fun.” And it was! I went with my Achieve Fitness hiking group, and it was the culminating hiking trip after our 12-week training program. I arrived at Housekeeping Camp in Yosemite National Park after an easy 5-hour drive from Reno. This also included a 30-minute stop at Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining for a burger. Lucky me, there was no traffic, but I hear it can get backed up near the park entrance. By 8 pm I was already in bed because we had to wake up at 3 am the next morning to start the hike. After a ride from our leader’s husband, we were ready with our headlamps on at 4 am at the Happy Isles trailhead.
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Half-Dome is one of the most iconic landmarks in Yosemite, rising 8,800 feet above sea level. With an elevation gain of 4,800 feet from the valley floor, most people do this 17-mile hike in 12 hours, but it took us 15 because we stopped a lot, took tons of pictures, and enjoyed some time soaking our tired feet near the Little Yosemite Valley Campground on the way back. We took the John Muir trail up and the Mist trail down. The John Muir trail is longer but less steep than the popular and scenic Mist trail. I totally recommend this trail if you’ve done Half-Dome thru the Mist trail before, as it will be easier on your quads, but if you’ve never been to the Mist trail before, you must do it for the amazing views of Nevada and Vernal Falls. Be careful though, on our way down we had rain and hail besides the waterfall mist, and it was very slippery.
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The hike is relatively easy (well, for those of us who have been training for a while at least) until you reach the base of Sub-Dome, where they check your hiking permits. It is a good idea to contain your excitement before you start this last part of your hike and actually spend some time relaxing under the shade of the trees. We watched squirrels trying to steal our food and even helped the park ranger with the permits when he had to go to the bathroom. After you start on the Sub-Dome, the heat will be excruciating. BTW, you will need really good traction on your shoes and hiking poles for this part. Many say this 400-feet ascent is the hardest part of the hike, even harder than the cables up Half-Dome. Once you summit Sub-Dome, you have a 30-minute arm work-out pulling yourself up the cables to summit Half-Dome. You must wear rubber gloves and you will have blisters on your hands!
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Besides always staying on the trail, another good idea is to never try anything new on a big hike like this. Unfortunately for me, I had no choice. The hike to Half-Dome requires a lot of water – I consumed a total of 4 liters, but I could have used even more. I had brought my UV SteriPen to sterilize my water, but of course it did not want to work that day. I had to use some iodine tablets I had never tried before to clean my water and refill my Camelback around the middle of the hike. I don’t know if it was the iodine or the extra electrolytes I had to put it in the water to offset the taste, but nausea and diarrhea set in, and by the time I finished the hike up Sub-Dome and reached the cables to get to the very top of Half-Dome, I was not feeling good at all. My dilemma was: should I just go ahead and pull myself up thru those cables since I had gotten all the way there already or should I listen to my body and take it easy since I already had another 7 hours ahead of me going back down? What do you think I did? Take the poll below!
The hike down was miserable for a while. Every time I took a sip of my iodine water, I would get nauseated again, but if I didn’t, I would be so thirsty! Not even the beautiful waterfalls of the Mist trail could cheer me up, but one good thing of hiking with a group of relatively unknown people is that I couldn’t just throw a fit like I would have done many years ago while hiking with my ex-husband (sorry K.N.!!) Eventually, I was able to get filtered water, and my stomach started to get a little better. We made it back to our campground at 7:30 pm. At the end of the 15 hours, I felt such a sense of accomplishment I didn’t even care about my water/stomach mishap or that the showers were closed and I had to go to bed all filthy!
Panoramic view of Half-Dome from top of Sub Dome
It was an incredible amazing experience and I can’t wait to do it again! After you complete a challenge like this, you just feel exhilarated. The views were breathtaking and being in the wilderness is inspirational (especially if you grew up in the city like me). However, I hate when people just talk about how great their experience was (like when everybody was telling me India would be so awesome…), so let me warn you: this hike was HARD! If you decide to do it, please train, train, and train: it is good for your mind since because of my training I knew I could do it, and for your body, since the day after I was barely sore. Oh, and bring a back-up UV SteriPen for your water!
I had been home for 2 weeks without going somewhere more than 30 miles away and I was beginning to itch, so I went to see my friend J.S. in the Bay Area. Instead of driving, I took the Megabus, which has new, comfortable, reliable buses to San Francisco (and Sacramento) starting at $1 each way. The trip took 4.5 hours, one hour longer than driving, but it was totally worth it as I could relax, listen to music, and read a book. Upon my arrival we went to the Japanese restaurant B-Dama where I had a sea bass with a delicate sake lees sauce. Then off to a cheesecake place for dessert.
The next day we drove to Big Basin Redwoods State Park, the oldest state park in California, but on the way we stopped at a Persian restaurant in Saratoga to grab a sandwich and some baklava. I love going to the Bay Area to see all the diversity. In Reno I am probably the only foreigner for miles.
Berry Creek Falls – Big Basin State Park
J.S. and I on our hike
Cute banana slug
Some of the oldest and tallest trees alive
The hike to Berry Creek Falls and back took 4.5 hours. We started at the Skyline to the Sea trail to the waterfall and took the Sunset trail back. Definitely the way to do it since most of the time it was an easy downhill. The map says this is supposed to be a strenuous hike, but I think even my mom could do this one. Besides the obvious tall redwood trees, the best part of the trail are the little yellow banana slugs. So cute.
After our hike we had some wine at Soif in Santa Cruz. I tasted a couple of their organic wines and had some manchego cheese and membrillo (quince paste), which reminded J.S. and I of the time we spent in Spain.
The next morning was raining in Santa Cruz. A couple of weeks ago my yoga instructor asked the class who didn’t like rain: I was the only one who raised the hand. She then said we have no control of the rain, so the only thing we could do is love it or hate it. In Santa Cruz I decided to love it. The fog and the mist lent a whimsical feel to the town and I felt relaxed and inspired. It was a welcoming break from the hot weather and non-stop days I had been experiencing in Reno. Speaking of Reno, I took the bus back and felt so hippiesh. There is something about taking a trip on a bus or a train with a backpack that just yells freedom. It helped that I was reading The Quiet American which also reminded me of all my free-spirited adventures in Vietnam.
Santa Cruz
Mori Point on our way to San Francisco
Ps.: I forgot to mention one more thing – the Lobster Roll from Sam’s Chowder House. It is one of the Top 5 Sandwiches reviewed by the Today Show. Just toasted bread, lots of lobster, and melted butter. No mayo!
This past spring I joined a hiking group because I wanted to learn about new hikes in the area. I had done Mt. Tallac and Mt. Rose a few times before, but those trails were the only ones I was familiar with and I needed something new. My sense of direction, or lack thereof, prevented me from going on my own, and although I had joined a Meet Up hiking group before, I never went because I didn’t have the motivation to wake up early on a weekend. That’s until I saw an e-mail from Achieve Fitness. For $250, a leader would show us a new hiking trail every week, for 12 weeks. Money I didn’t want to lose: I had found my motivation.
As expected, the best hikes were in Tahoe, not Reno. Most of them were good training for the Yosemite trip I’ll do next week, but probably the only one I would do again and again would be Christopher’s Loop because of the easy to follow path and the nice views of Sand Harbor.
Hunter Creek: ends at a waterfall, but hike itself is very blah.
Jones Creek: near my house, lots of switchbacks, which is good for training, but I feel I would get lost easily on my own.
Peavine: right in Reno, very challenging steep terrain. Not worth it for the view.
Loch Leven Lake: off Hwy 80, beautiful set of lakes but very difficult to find the trail. I would never do it on my own, especially because someone from our group fell on the slick granite and had to be evacuated by helicopter.
Christopher’s Loop: beautiful scenic loop, but long with lots of bikers up to Twin Lakes. Trail was covered in snow in May.
Granite Chief: trail starts at Squaw Valley. Nice, but we didn’t make it to the peak because of the snow. I might try again in the fall. It was my birthday hike and the wildflowers were beautiful.
Mt. Tallac through Lake Gilmore: one of my all-time favorite hikes, so I went on my own and took Slick to Lake Gilmore. The trail to the top was still covered in snow mid-June.
Spooner to Marlette Lake: good short hike, but always too many mosquitoes. They have a trail for bikers and a trail for hikers, so it is a nice one for dogs to be off leash.
For my 29th birthday I went skydiving in Sacramento. Yay! Of course the freefall was super thrilling, but my favorite part was when the parachute opened and we just peacefully glided. It was so quiet and beautiful!
It’s crazy to think I jumped out of a perfectly functioning airplane 12,000 feet above ground. The first couple of minutes are very loud and windy, but you’re so excited you don’t have time to feel anything, not even fear or cold. Then you just float for about 8 minutes until you reach the ground. I want to do it again, but don’t worry Mom, it was very expensive so I think I’ll pass.
I wasn’t going to write about my trip to Houston because I went there to go to a baby shower, not to go sightseeing, but I think some of it does pertain to this blog as it relates to running. My new thing is to run a few miles in every big city I travel to. I’m not being very consistent though… I did jog in San Francisco, but not in Portland, etc. Well, in Houston I was determined to go for a quick jog so my friend’s husband dropped me off at Memorial Park. It’s one of the largest urban parks in the country, and I felt at home sharing that spaced with so many joggers, although it was no Central Park. After ½ mile I saw some dogs in kennels and I stopped by thinking it was an adoption fair from the Humane Society. Instead, it was a “run, jog, or walk a dog” day from Friends for Life, a No Kill Shelter. Once a month they have the “Running 4 Home” program at Memorial Park where anyone can take the shelter dogs for some exercise. I just had to do it. I picked a dog that looked like my Slick, signed some paperwork and left my expensive sunglasses as collateral. The pup was a little old and overweight and could not run, but I was more than happy to walk/jog with her. What a great idea! It just made my day (although the high tea baby shower I went to later was pretty awesome too).
Friends for Life’s “Running 4 Home” in Houston, Texas
Friends for Life’s “Running 4 Home” in Houston, Texas
Friends for Life’s “Running 4 Home” in Houston, Texas
A couple of years ago (2010) I started a blog called My Couch to 5K Challenge to help me get motivated to start running. The feedback from my friends/readers really worked and kept me going throughout the program, but I’ve never updated the blog after I reached my 5k goal. Here’s what happened since then: I finished my first 5k, then my first 10k, and then my first half marathon! I guess I can say I’m a runner now, and it’s such a big part of my life that most of the time I make plans around my running schedule. I am planning on running a marathon soon, but this thought still scares me, so I decided to write this blog about my marathon training to keep me motivated to achieve this goal. Thanks in advance for your support!
If you know a little bit a me, you probably know I absolutely love to travel, and I am not happy unless I have my next trip all planned out. Last year I wrote a travel journal by e-mail to my friends and family. Apparently, my travels and pictures are quite interesting and my adventures were a hit, but now, instead of sending e-mails, I’ll just post my writing and pictures to this blog. I’ll start with a post about my last trip soon, but expect lots of posts in July while I’m in Australia and New Zealand. If you want, you can click on the “Follow” button below to get updates on your e-mail every time I post something new.
Finally, the eating part: I’ve always loved going out to eat, but lately I’ve been trying to cook as well. It all started when I bought a house last year and decided I had to start using my fancy kitchen. My experiments with organic food, healthy eating, and not so healthy desserts have been quite successful and instead of sharing my recipes by e-mail like I was doing, I will just make them part of this blog. Please be advised that my love of eating is so strong that many recipes are good only by my standards. If you are an experienced cook, I’m sure you will find many flaws with them, so feel free to modify them to your taste, adding more salt, garlic, or whatever you thing they may need.
Even though I am getting out of my comfort zone and posting personal information throughout this blog, I still don’t have Facebook. If you want to contact me, please do so by e-mailing me or thru the contact form below.
Run, eat, travel, and more 