Beach Bum Day

Happy Father's Day!

After returning somewhat late last night from the Gorgonio hike, I took it easy today and took a walk around Carlsbad to stretch out my legs.

This is the entrance to the beach which is about a two-minute walk from Nikkie's house.

I called my dad to say happy Father's Day and got to hear about the fun day that he and my sisters had had out east on Long Island. It sounded like a beautiful day. I was sad that I couldn't be there.

Finished sand castle.

I was watching the sun begin to set and feeling really hungry (and thirsty), so I walked around looking for somewhere to get something to eat. Lo and behold...

Easy decision.

I got something called a boxty, which is like a potato pancake folded over whatever filling you choose -- I got corned beef. Oh my goodness...so delicious. I also tried a corned beef quesadilla which was absolutely amazing. And the Guinness....

I love this place.

"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek

Today, I climbed San Gorgonio Mountain for the second time -- this time, I took a different trail, and it was about 19 miles and 5,600ft elevation gain. It was a really beautiful day. I went with a large group, and the majority decided to go off trail, but I, along with two others, decided to just take the trail up.

All that cloudy-looking smoke down there is from a really big wildfire.

Woohoo. We sat up here for two hours waiting for the rest of the group because someone in the off-trail group was experiencing pretty bad altitude sickness.

Puppy at the peak!

Me and Nikkie

On our way downnnnnn

Nikkie and I went and got Mexican/Yucatan food at this really awesome place called Casa Maya after this hike. So good!!! It's the second time I've been here and definitely will not be the last.

Kickin' it in Carlsbad

My friend, Nikkie, invited me to stay with her for a while in Carlsbad, which is in North San Diego County. She lives right around the block from the beach and the weather here is pretty much always in the 70s during the day, 60s at night -- a far cry from the heat of the desert, for sure! Nikkie is super cool and accommodating and just a really awesome friend. I drove out last night and we went and got some dinner and just hung out. Here are a few photos from my first day walking around the area.

The beginnings of a really cool and large sand castle. There is some sort of festival going on tomorrow, but (of course) I am going hiking, so I won't be around!

It's a Regular Party Up in Here

This morning, I awoke to find a scorpion in the kitchen sink.

This didn't freak me out as much as the camel spider from last week. I started taking pictures of this little dude and he got pissed and put his funny little pinchy arms up, raised his tail and started coming at me, so I flushed him down the drain.

I'm going to go ahead and blame the increasing temperatures out here for the recent influx of arachnids. I don't know what else to think.

S2S

At 11:30p last night, I began a hike called "S2S", which stands for "Snow Creek to San Jacinto". It is approximately 11,000ft elevation gain in about 30 miles. The hike begins at Snow Creek Village and the majority of it is spent on the Pacific Crest Trail. It then meets up with Fuller Ridge and ends at San Jacinto peak.

It starts.

Chris, Nikkie and Jess.

I didn't take very many nighttime photos, but as the sun came up, the views, as always, were just beautiful.

Chris and Jess taking a break.

Nei taking a nap.

I might have taken a picture of this because it's Fuller Ridge, which is where we were heading. I also might just be making this up -- I can't remember.

Kelly, I know you love it.

Me and Sung. We were trying to make "S2S" with our hands, but it didn't really work out.

We gave up.

Honestly, I didn't really think this hike was that difficult. The hardest thing about it, for me, was simply the amount of time spent hiking. It gets to the point sometimes where you're not really tired or anything...you're just kind of bored and you've had enough and you want to be done.