(Not) All the California Things

I wrote all about the half marathon in my recap post, but I realized that I forgot to share about all of the other things we did in California! We saw a lot of the state, but definitely did not even dip our toes into all it had to offer.

(Well, before we got to California we stopped in a town called Quartzite. I was befuddled by all of the camel statues. My husband explained that the camel driver Hadji Ali had settled in Quartzite.)

We saw a lot of the California countryside on our drive to Oakland. I did not realize California had so many orchards: almond, avocado, cherry, citrus, olive, and more!

Oakland was an interesting city. Our hotel was downtown, and we saw a lot of poverty around the hotel, combined with some nicer spots just a few blocks further out. We walked through the First Fridays event to get dinner, and then I ran to Lake Merritt on the shakeout Saturday morning. Other than the bridge, that was about all we saw of Oakland.

We stayed at The Moxy, not the nicest hotel, but not the worst either. The rooms struck me as dorm-room like, with a small footprint, no plush furniture, and only a small fold-down desk. The room had a refrigerator, though, so win! Our window also looked out over the city, which I enjoyed.

Saturday afternoon, we traveled into San Francisco. This was a pricey trip! It cost us $20 each just to get BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) cards. I got confused trying to figure out which line to ride into the city. Fortunately my directionally savvy husband got us there. We planned to ride the cable cars when we got into San Francisco, but the line was very long, so we decided to book a Waymo down to the wharf. That was an added expense, but a good decision. (Side note: We use Waymo quite a bit in Phoenix, but apparently it is a wonder to others, as we got lots of looks at stop signs, and especially when I rolled down my window to take photos.)

As noted in my recap, I did not want to walk too far, so we settled for a short walk along the wharf and then lunch at Boudin Bakery. This bakery has a sit down restaurant, as well as a to-go counter (where we ordered). There is a glass window where people can watch bakers make the sourdough from outside. Inside the building, there is a store and also a bakery selling whole loaves of bread and other goodies (like the turtle I ordered). I one-hundred percent recommend a visit if in the Bay area!

We rode an old bus back to the BART station. (Thank goodness, as it would have been a long walk.) It was interesting to see more of the city as we went.

After the race, we drove down to Big Bear. We planned to stop for burgers along the way, but found the place we intended closed. We settled on In-N-Out, but the first one was packed. We found another location and it was packed, too, at 3 pm on a Sunday afternoon! I guess Californians really like their In-N-Out!

Driving to Big Bear was a bit of a shock to the system. After a beautiful sunny day at the ocean, we came to a forest with fresh snow! Thankfully our cozy little cabin had heat!

My husband booked our Sleepy Forest cabin through AirBnB. The cabin was essentially one room, but that one room housed a nice bed, couch, eating nook, jacuzzi tub, closet, bathroom, sink, and refrigerator. It was just right for the time we had.

We planned to go hiking Monday, but woke up to rain. Each hour, the forecast would predict the rain clearing the next hour, but then about 15-30 minutes in, the rain forecastwould extend. My husband suggested going to the grocery store for food to kill some time. While there, we saw lots of what appeared to be backpackers. We later learned that Big Bear is near the Pacific Crest Trail.

After walking around Von's for what felt like a long time, we returned home with our food. It was still raining. I prayed for it to lift as we drove around the lake and to the Discovery Center. The nice guide there told us about the local eagles and about places to go for a walk. The rain finally started to clear, and we headed for the Stanfield Marsh Boardwalk. This is technically over the marsh, but for an Arizona girl, it looked like a lake. It was so cool to walk out over the water. After reaching the end of that path we turned around the other way and walked out to a point on the lake. It was super cool. Thank you, Lord, that the rain let us get out!

We ate our lunch back at the cabin and I napped. We wanted to go out for Mexican food in the evening since it was Cinco de Mayo. I felt nervous about finding an open restaurant, but we had no trouble. We dined at Azteca Grill and were in and out in 30-45 minutes. Our waiter was so kind and attentive, which made the experience even more enjoyable. And the food, was overly ample and delicious! My husband got the Don Juan burrito with two meats. (He said he could barely fit it all in his stomach.) I got the mole verde and took half home. I have never had mole verde, but it was a delicious creamy sauce that went great with the chicken, and repurposed, made for great chicken tacos!

We went to bed early that night, as we needed to leave early in the morning. I got out just at daybreak to see the lake one more time and catch the sunrise. Driving out of Big Bear on the Rim of the World highway made me hold on for dear life (NOT because of my husband's driving, but because of the height and curves and fog), but we made it.

Other than the steep roads, I would definitely go back to Big Bear. It was so clean and fresh and friendly. We saw tons of things (like the mineshaft coaster) we would like to do, but did not have time to do this time. With Big Bear only about six hours from us, maybe we will make a repeat trip?

I would say we got our time's worth out of the few days we spent in California. There is certainly more to do, but maybe that is what means to have had a good vacation? That we budgeted our time and enjoyed it rather than packing things in because of the fear of missing out? Thank you, Lord, for an amazing trip!