Visit Northern CA

If you need some reasons to come out to California for a visit, here's an excerpt of a recent email I sent to friends, helping them with ideas for their trip. If any of it perks your interest, we can work on your visit next. It's written in a pretty shorthand method, but I think you'll get the idea.

Hotels

Monterey - Portola, I've stayed once, it's decent in the rooms, much liked because of its location to the wharfs, downtown, and ocean (as in Pacific)

Carmel - Mission Ranch - likely booked up, but could be worth a call, especially if you have time to plan

Monterey - Colton Inn - no frills, but reflected in the prices. You also may not spend a lot of time in the room... too much time sightseeing! 

There are so many hotel rooms in Monterey, it's obscene

Restaurants, all in Monterey (below, for now)

Alvarado Street Brewing - see below.

Mission Ranch - see above. Even for dinner, this place has views for days. They have sheep in a meadow. The crowd does skew older, but that's likely a testament to the place's longevity and hold in the community. They have a piano bar too. I'm not kidding

Revival - like a new hipster ice cream place, but good too

Hula's - I mean, a tiki bar is fun - c'mon!

There's a pretty vibrant modest downtown in Carmel-by-the-Sea too. They have tons of places to stop in and try. Their downtown promenade makes a wonderful and simple afternoon or evening (shops, eats, etc.)

Breweries

Santa Cruz/Soquel - Beer Thirty - I have not been yet, but I do hear people love it

Monty - Alvarado Street Brewing - I very much like the food, solid brews, but sooo many hoppy ones, which I'm not a fan of

Coralitos Brewing - tiny little spot, with a great big front porch. Often has a food truck out front

Watsonville - Wooden Nickel - hole in the wall, but so choice b/c of it. Good food, normal brews on tap

Like most of the US, there are many more breweries all around, most I've never been to yet

Wineries

Morgan Hill - Clois La Chance - I've never been to one yet here/locally, but they all look good/wine-ish. This one is a fave of boss/friend. Most of them have tasting hours F-Su, if not all week.

Hiking/Nature/Etc

Monterey - Monterey Bay Aquarium!! This is a huge draw in the area, and well-worth the trip, IMO. It is pricey, about $50 for an adult ticket, but the money does go to supporting their programs and ocean research... plus the sea otters  

Pacific Grove - This city is next to Monterey (you'd almost not know it's a new town). There's a very simple flower garden walk along the ocean here, I could easily spend an afternoon sitting on or near their beach and walking the coast. They have food and beer near too

17-mile Drive - this is a toll drive along the ocean, from Monterey to Carmel. It's very picturesque and affords opportunities to get out of the car and see the ocean. The price is modest per car. It also "ends" at Pebble Beach Golf Course, which is impressive and has their own fancy restaurant as well. 

Point Lobos - picturesque hiking, I've never been yet, always heard good things, little drive south from Monterey

Carmel City Beach - it's so great! Most of the beaches here can vary in quality by day and by weather. I've never been one to hang out all day and play beach volleyball with my shirt off (insert college buddy name here), but this one is so wide and such a variety of folks, can go at anytime. Sundown is very pretty.

I can do this all day. Let me know if you need more ideas. Bring your sunblock (or buy it when you arrive, TSA be damned).

Las Delicias Ice Cream y Botanitas, Morgan Hill, CA

I felt like we needed another post about ice creams. So, this one takes a new approach thanks to the town I now live in. This is a Mexican ice cream shop, that also serves a wide range of juices and smoothie-type concoctions. First, the ice cream bins...

It's a pretty unique ice ream offering, from my eyes. They have many of the "normal" flavors, plus many other fruit-based options, as well as a selection of what I would call Mexican-based flavors, i.e. Arroz con Leche, Bananas and Nutella, and an orange hued Vanilla (below).

Now, let's get to some money shots. These are the three trips I've made so far, but will definitely be going back soon...

Arroz con Leche (like Rice Pudding) + Chocolate

 Pistachio + Chocolate

Bananas&Nutella + Galleta (Cookies n Cream, aka Oreos n Cream)

The service is always easy as I've never seen anymore people than one other customer in when I've gone. Pricing seems fair for the area. Servings are appropriate. And the ice cream seems to be kept at the right temp and has a lovely melty, creamy, rich quality that all ice cream should possess.

Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras, Morgan Hill, CA

You know summer is starting to heat up when the first county fair, festival, eating thing starts opening in your neck of the woods. Well, here in Morgan Hill, that's the Msuhroom Mardi Gras. I understand it occurs every Memorial weekend, and this year was no different. What a mish-mosh of people, food, vendors, and entertainment. I'd go back in a heartbeat, and in fact did go back the next day for some other food options.

For the wine aficionado...

Don't forget the kids...

Now, let's a take a look at what's noramlly near and dear to my heart, er, stomach, the food. This is merely a small sample of what was on offer at this fair. In fact, they had two food courts...

You HAVE to try the TriTip cut of meat in NorCal. I've even Googled what it is already. Basically, it's the bottom of a sirloin. It's delicious. When grilled over open fire, with wood smoke, it's amazing.

Foot-long brat?

I think these snow-cone stands are genius...

Let the kids have at it themselves... and at kid-level too...

Stuffed mushrooms, less so...

These looked very impressive...

Finally, I couldn't help but notice and abundance of certain kinds of shops... like the hat in the top of the post. There must have been about 6+ straw hat vendors all over this festival. I mean, I guess they take their sun expeosure seriously here, fair enough.

One thing I could not understand was the toe-ring stands - yes plural. I'm not kidding...

Go West!

No, this won't be a post about the band Go West - I wish! This will be a post about my recent move to the west coast.

I wanted to write this trip recap down before the memories fade. The backdrop is that I was moving from Madison, WI to Morgan Hill, CA. To send my belongings, I used a Pods moving container. For myself, I chose to drive my vehicle along Interstate 80, basically all the way to the destination.

Though I had a slight "detour" the week before this to Minneapolis, I actually started this final leg on Saturday 03/17/18... and it took me almost an entire week to arrive at the final destination.

Day 1 - Madison WI to Glenview IL (2 hours)
Day 2 - Glenview IL to Omaha NE (8 hours)
Day 3 - Omaha NE to Cheyenne WY (5.5 hours)
Day 4 - Cheyenne WY to Salt Lake City UT (6.5 hours)
Day 5 - Salt Lake City UT to Reno/Sparks NV (7.5 hours)
Day 6 - Reno NV to Morgan Hill CA (5 hours)

It was about 34 hours of car time. It included one of the best chicken fried steaks of my life, a couple fun breweries (Accomplice & Wasatch), Western wear shopping (don't ask), lots of IG posts, copious food bars & drinks, almost daily caffeine for the car, and some interesting people.

The most interesting couple was probably the chicken fried steak night in Cheyenne, WY. A gentleman next to me at the bar just started talking and wound up telling me a lot. About his girlfriend (who soon joined), his trucks (that he restores), and his ability to withstand the cold (the most ever being 7 hours at -45F in North Dakota working on a oil rig). He wears little in the way of insulated clothing (fills with sweat) and just seems to be able to handle it. Yikes.

Here are some of the shots taken during the daily driving and nightly stops, in chronological order across the country and about 20 images in all: