Yesterday I went hiking with my best friend at a Mount Tamalpais Trail that is one of my favorite hiking trails in the Bay Area, a trail called the Matt Davis – Steep Ravine Loop. It’s a moderately tough trail that’s about 7.5 miles long and starts off with some serious climbing that I thought was going to beat me. In the end, I climbed the mountain and was rewarded with the last half of the hike which is a meandering, relaxing hike. The trail goes through beautiful redwoods with a creek running along most of it, the vegetation is lovely and there are views of the ocean that surprise you here and there throughout the trail. I brought back some photos for you.

Tags: bay area hiking, matt davis steep ravine, mount tam

I’ll be spending the day hiking here:

The photo is a 2009 picture I took from the same trail. New photos to come after the hike!

Tags: hiking, hiking trail, north bay, San Francisco

Here are some photos of the trip to Vegas that I’ve mentioned a million times this week.

Getting There

We had a super early flight and couldn’t check in yet when we got to Vegas so I was grumpy.

But after I took a nap I was a happier camper.

Inside The Hotels / Casinos

I already showed you all the free things we did at the Bellagio. Here are some other highlights from indoors:

The Pinball Hall of Fame

We went to see this free museum which is off the strip. It is filled with old arcade games, mostly pinball machines. They have index cards on them telling the history of the machine, a bit about the game, info on the artist and game designer, etc. You can get quarters to play the games, which we did. I also played Ms. Pacman, which I excel at, and I beat the high score on the machine. (I had about 112,000.) Woo-hoo.

Out on the Strip

The new City Center buildings are so wacky.

Tags: las vegas, Travel

I have dropped hints here and there that my vacation over the past few weeks exhausted me. I tried to remain upbeat because I definitely value the time that I got to spend with my siblings. That’s always a joy. But the truth is that I don’t like vacations. You aren’t supposed to say that. Everyone loves vacations. You aren’t supposed to complain about having extended time away from home. But I love my home. And although I love to see new things, I don’t love traditional vacations.

I Love My Life

I have set up my “real life” in such a way that it really is the life that I want. I love the city where I live. I love the schedule that I keep. I love the work that I do. I love the friends that I have. I’m not saying that I never want to get away but for the most part, I want to be living the life that I’m living. I’ve got no desire to get away from it and miss it when I’m not in it.

My Ideal Vacation

I do want to travel. I want to see other things and other places. I want to spend time with people I know who live in other parts of the world. But the truth is that my ideal vacation is an impossible one. Because what I would love would be able to take a vacation once every month or two but one that only lasts for three days and requires absolutely no travel time. Let me explain.

Travel Problems

I have had more than my fair share of travel problems and it always makes me kind of dread the travel part of a trip. This sounds like an exaggeration but I kid you not … family and friends often wonder if they should book a separate plane from me because I have had so many problems. Like that time a group of us tried to take the normal one hour flight from San Francisco to Vegas and there was a freak snowstorm so we circled over Vegas for awhile and ended up in Phoenix for the night. Doesn’t sound bad? Last year when I was coming back from the East Coast, I went to check on to my plane and was told that the plane didn’t exist. What? I had my boarding information and the confirmation number and the exact info on the plane’s times and everything printed directly from the site but apparently there is no such thing as the flight path that I was booked on; my plane literally did not exist … it took me more than twenty four hours to get home. So, I’d prefer to avoid travel. I’d like to just be able to beam from my home to the spot I want to be in, spend three days there and beam back.

Why Three Days?

I love doing new things. I love seeing art galleries and live performances and various sights. I like walking around in new places and encountering new things. But I don’t like doing it day after day after day. I guess I’m an introvert at heart. People assume I’m extroverted because I’m personable and I do love talking with people but I get my energy from the time I have alone to process and reflect … being with people drains me a little bit at a time and too many days in a row of doing thing after thing after thing makes me cranky. I think it would be ideal to spend about three days in a cool place doing all of the fun things like aquariums and hiking and urban exploring and so on and so forth, then to beam home and have time to process, write about the experience, relax, organize the photos from the trip, etc. And get back to my real life.

Since This Isn’t Possible …

Obviously, this isn’t possible. I can’t beam myself from one place to another. And I’m not going to go to far away places that I want to see (Reykjavik, New Zealand) for only three days because I realize that’s a waste of time and money. I’d rather waste a little energy and have the longer experience. Nevertheless, I wish it were possible and I’ve been thinking a lot about what types of general vacations I prefer that would be more in line with my travel style. Some ideas:

• Travel to close by places for three days. Weekend trips are fun. I can see flying to San Diego for three days (minus that whole plane travel problem) and enjoying it. If I can get people to meet me for three days in a place then I’d be happy. Actually, I think the Vegas trip I just did for four days with Mom and Sis would have been ideal if it hadn’t fallen right on the heels of so much other travel.
• Plan downtime. For longer trips, I think I actually need to start planning several days of downtime in a row each week. It’s hard for me to do this because if I’m traveling with someone else then it feels like such a party pooper to say I’m staying in my room alone for three days. But the truth is that I’d be a much happier travel if we did stuff together for three days and then I hid in my room for two or three days and then resumed doing stuff.

So we’ll see. I don’t have any trips planned for the near future. I try to go somewhere for my birthday each April but that may not happen this year. And the next big trip I have planned is just a summer weekend at Yosemite. So it’s a non-issue for the time being. And I did enjoy my trip, despite these gripes.

Tags: ideal vacation, introvert extrovert, Travel, travel styles, vacation

We spent some one of our mornings in Vegas at the Bellagio to check out some of the free things that there are to see there. Of course, everyone knows about the water fountain show, which we actually didn’t get to see because we were there too early (although I’ve seen it in the past) but there are also lots of other free things to see at this Las Vegas hotel right now:

Chihuly in the Lobby

My mom is a big fan of glass artist Chihuly. I have seen his work at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, the botanical gardens in Phoenix and the lobby of the Bellagio. Here’s what it looks at the Bellagio right now (with my mom and sis):

Chocolate Fountain

One of the chocolate shops in the Bellagio has a 27 foot tall chocolate fountain on display behind glass. Delectable!

Conservatory of Flowers

I’ve seen this free floral exhibit before but only at Christmastime. Right now the display is set up for Chinese New Year and it’s totally different from what I’ve seen before. Beautiful.

Cirque du Soleil Sculpture Display

There’s a great art gallery exhibit right now at the Bellagio called The Art of Richard MacDonald. The artist makes stunningly detailed bronze sculptures inspired by the acrobatics of Cirque Du Soleil shows. I’ll do a full post with lots of pictures later but here’s a sneak peek:

Tags: bellagio, free things to do, las vegas

People who have extra room to spare in their homes have started to take advantage of that fact to earn a little bit of income. They rent out their space to short-term travelers, offering them better deals than local hotels with the added touch of a personal stay in someone else’s home. This works best for people living in tourist destinations because there is an endless stream of visitors who want to pay to stay with them. It also works best in cities like San Francisco and New York where many of the visitors are from foreign countries as staying with locals seems to be something that Europeans and other foreigners find more appealing than other Americans do.

Two new bits of news came out about this recently that show off the differences when it comes to doing this in New York and doing it in San Francisco:

1. AirBnB founder staying in others’ homes throughout 2010. The first bit of news is that the founder of the website AirBnB has decided to spend the rest of the year staying in the homes that are listed on his site. AirBnB is a San Francisco based website that allows people with space to connect with travelers. It’s a great site that I’ve used myself. It offers some measure of safety and security for connecting strangers from different locations and many of the homes on the site are homes that are ideal for visitors to stay in. The guy who runs the site is going to test it out himself by staying in various homes throughout San Francisco for the rest of the year and reporting back on his experiences. Most people that I’ve heard comment on this think it’s an interesting, fun experiment.
2. New York may legislate against short-term vacation rentals. The second bit of news comes from New York and is about new legislation there that may stop people from being able to use sites like AirBnB. If it passes, this bill would ban all short-term rentals that are for less than one month at a time. This means that individuals who are interested in renting out their room to travelers aren’t legally going to be able to do so. Plenty of people in New York are riled up about the controversial legislation but it does point to a difference in general between how this type of thing is dealt with in NY as compared to CA.

Tags: airbnb, ca vs. ny, renting out room to travelers, west coast vs. east coast

I’ve recently started checking out the details that are available on Jetsetter, the travel section of the Gilt Groupe website. Gilt Groupe is a deals site similar to Groupon except that the deals are immediately available (rather than requiring a minimum number of purchases before going live) and the deals are for high-end luxury items.

For example, the deal that’s happening right now is a deal that gives you a low cost on rooms at La Valencia in La Jolla (just outside of San Diego). La Valencia looks like a stunning resort with ocean views, lush landscaping and a history of association with Old Hollywood stars like Greta Garbo. You’re the one that will feel like a star with plush accommodations like these though. The deal allows you to book a room starting at $205 / night which is low for the San Diego area especially for a nice hotel like this one.

Amenities at this hotel include:

• Amazing rooms, many of which have ocean views.
• Whirlpool tubs in some rooms.
• Plush linens that you can sink into for comfort.
• Pool and jacuzzi on site.
• Fitness center.
• Aromatherapy toiletries.
• Concierge services.
• On-site massage therapy services.
• 3 terrific restaurants on-site.
• Walking distance to the beach.

I’ve never actually stayed in La Jolla but I’ve spent time there when staying in San Diego and definitely think it’s a great place for a vacation. The last time that I was in San Diego I went kayaking on the ocean at La Jolla, a popular activity here along with surfing and other water activities. La Jolla also offers shopping, golfing and other resort-style activities.

This is just an example of the types of deals that are offered on JetSetter. They’re offered for a few days at a time (this one can be purchased for another three days or so). They are available in exotic locations as well as easy-to-reach American cities. For people who want to enjoy luxury travel, this seems like it could be a smart buy. What do you think of Jetsetter so far?

Tags: gilt groupe, jetsetter, la jolla, luxury hotel deals

I recently wrote a couple of articles for HubPages about the history of Alcatraz. The first was a general history of Alcatraz. The second was a more in-depth look at the period of time during which Alcatraz was taken over by Native American activists. Hopefully you’ll be interested enough to take a look at those articles but if not I thought I’d share with you some of the key points in the history of Alcatraz.

The history of Alcatraz basically progressed as follows:

• It was named by Spanish explorers who didn’t even land on the island at the time due to the rocky choppiness of the waters surrounding it.
• In the middle of the 19th century the military realized that this island could be useful. They turned it into a military fort.
• Alcatraz switched from being a military fort to becoming a military prison.
• The military abandoned its use of the island. However, it was still considered to be a good place for a prison. That’s when the Alcatraz federal prison was established there. This is the most famous time during Alcatraz’s history. What most people don’t realize is that it only lasted thirty years.
• There were several years during the 1960′s and 1970′s during which it was taken over by Native Americans. The land had been abandoned and activists took it over as their own. They started a Native American education center. A fire ran everyone off of the island in the early 1970′s.
• It became obvious that this would make a good tourist attraction. That’s what it is today. Periodically people talk about turning it into something else – like a big casino – but so far it remains just a place for guided tours.

Tags: alcatraz, alcatraz history, history of alcatraz, native american alcatraz

Weburbanist recently had a terrific article about the history of car/planes. These are vehicles that can both drive and fly. The article caught my attention because it wasn’t all that long ago that I wrote about the Terrafugia Transition which was being dubbed the world’s first flying car. What I learned from the Weburbanist article is that this is not the first car of its kind at all!

Some of the other stuff I learned from the article:

• The first working prototype of this type of vehicle was made way back in 1917. That’s almost one hundred years ago! It didn’t actually fly but it did get off the ground. Amazing!
• These types of vehicles were commissioned during the Great Depression because it was believed that they could be built for less than normal airplanes. Hm.
• One of the leading designs of the the twentieth century ended up scaring people off because it crashed during testing and killed the pilot.
• One guy, Paul Moller, has been working on his driveable plane design for over four decades.
• The Terrafugia Transition looks a lot like a design called The Aerocar which is arguably the most successful design to date.
• The biggest problem with these car designs to date is that they’re too heavy on the air and too slow on the ground. If that issue can be remedied then these vehicles may just take off.

Tags: airplane car, car plane, driveable plane, flying car, roadable plane

Yesterday I went on a really amazing walking tour of some of the murals in the Mission District here in San Francisco. I mostly went to get outside, see my city and learn something new. I had no idea just how much new stuff I would learn. Turns out that murals are more complex and interesting then I ever knew!

Here’s ten interesting facts about murals that I learned yesterday:

1. Murals are so much more than pretty pictures; they have a much deeper meaning. The artwork in a mural is very well thought out. It is designed to represent a specific community at a specific point in history. It is often designed to make a political and / or social statement. The details in the murals add up to a bigger message.
2. Murals are not designed by one person; they get input from a whole community. One person might head the project and one artist might even do all of the work but designing a mural usually involves groups of people.
3. San Francisco has over 1000 murals. There are 200 – 300 murals in the Mission neighborhood alone. As far as I am able to tell that’s the most number of murals in a single neighborhood anywhere in the world.
4. There are many different styles of murals. These styles include cartoons, fine art, mixed media, mosaics, 3d cutouts and graffiti art.
5. The main difference between graffiti and murals is that people who do murals have permission from the property owner to do them.
6. Graffiti artists almost never tag on murals. This is because the murals are part of the community and they respect that. Tagging on murals does happen of course but the social message of murals and their ties to the community tend to prevent this problem from happening on a grand scale.
7. There are three muralists from Mexico who played an important role in bringing murals to the U.S. They were called Los Tres Grandes. They are Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros and Jose Orozco. These are guys to learn more about!
8. Many murals change over time. They may represent a specific time in history but they decay and are repainted and change a little bit. There’s actually a community mural in the Mission that features a bunch of portraits of people who live in the neighborhood. It was done in the 1970′s. When it was updated in the 90s there was one man pictured who still lived in the neighborhood and they changed his image so that he looked the way he did twenty years after the original image was painted.
9. Murals may be painted indoors or outdoors. They may be big or small.
10. Murals date back to the caveman era. Some eras have been particularly important in certain areas. For example there were a lot of San Francisco murals made in the 1930s and again in the 1970s. Murals can be found all around the world today.

Tags: mission murals, mural art, mural facts, murals, san francisco murals