Tag: california
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Our Jewish Ceremony
I converted to Judaism after a year-long course put together by four local temples. I found the perfect rabbi after meeting four San Jose area rabbis in the process. She was the one who also helped me convert to Judaism, and officiated our wedding ceremony. For the wedding ceremony, we needed candles, kiddish cups, and…
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Our sweet elopement
Casey and I decided to have a pandemic elopement. We don’t regret it, because we would have chosen a small, intimate ceremony anyway. Despite the ceremony lasting about one hour – it was still nerve-racking! So many moving parts. The flowers, the booking of the park, the rabbi, getting everything together. The ceremony was a…
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Sanborn County Park
We had planned a long engagement but with our out-of-state move looming closer, and no end to the pandemic in sight, we decided to have a tiny ceremony. We figured we’d have a larger party later. The most important guests, my grandfather and Uncle Joe, live in California, so it was a good location and…
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Scrapbooking winter break
I love getting done with a scrapbook! Then it gets to go on my shelf, with all my other travel memories. I create one even for in-town trips. I have been sharing pages from Katie and Casey’s Winter Break Adventure 2020! We were socially distant on all our adventures this winter break. More pages to…
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Almaden Quicksilver Park
The best part about living in South San Jose is that you are right up along the mountains. It can’t get any better than that! I’d take Northern California landscapes over Southern California beaches any day. Alamaden Quicksilver Park is less than fifteen minutes from our house. There is a grueling uphill loop. We did…
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Monte Bello Preserve
Monte Bello is a special hiking spot Casey and I go to near Palo Alto. It is our favorite place because it is never crowded and the loop is just at the appropriate level of difficulty. By the end, I am complaining, and we finish right when Casey gets tired. So it’s a win-win for…
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Nisene Marks State Forest
Casey and I visited Nisene Marks at the beginning of our myceulium obsession. We were just learning about mushrooms and getting excited when we could identify basic roussulas. Now, we’ve gotten pretty good and can identify many things! We went to Nisene Marks this past week. With Covid, it was crazy the amount of bikers…
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Capitola Beach
We’ve been living in the Bay Area for four years now but we have yet to spend too much time at any of the beaches. This winter break from distance learning, I set out to change all that. Capitola is an urban beach with a low-key beach town. It is near Santa Cruz. The drive…
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Oakland/SF
Quarantine makes me nostalgic for places I’ve been, even if they’re not my favorite places. I haven’t left the house really, since March. As I clean out my house, I find little snippets of life before quarantine – maps, ticket stubs, flyers, and more. Last August, Casey and I saw a comedy show in Oakland.…
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San Luis Obispo
My friend was living in LA and I was a new transplant in San Jose. We wanted to meet but didn’t want to drive over nine hours to see each other. We settled on San Luis Obispo, a cute town right in the middle. San Luis Obispo was having a poppin’ weekend. They were having…
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Marin County
Marin County is the area north of San Francisco, on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. I had heard a lot about that area from fellow mushroom collectors and identifiers. It is moist, mountainous, and has great trails. My boyfriend and I shared a special weekend there this Valentine’s day. We liked Mount…
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Yosemite National Park
I went to Yosemite for the first time in October. I’ll be honest – I don’t like the idea of Yosemite. Apple (and capitalism) has ruined the name for me. The kind of affluent, oblivious Colorado-loving kind of American that I despise – really love going there. Two super cool documentaries were even made this…
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Berkeley/SF
I moved to San Jose three years ago. San Jose is an hour south of the world famous San Francisco. Every movie and TV show takes place there, everyone abroad dreams of visiting San Francisco. However, in my three years here, I’ve only managed to visit SF a few times and sort of end up…
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Davis
One of my favorite travel partners is my grandpa. He and I have been to countless places… Brazil, Hong Kong, Canada, Northwestern United States, just to name a few. It had been more than a year since we went to Brazil, our last trip. So it was time for another trip… I got the idea…
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Monterey
For our four year anniversary, my boyfriend and I spent the weekend in Monterey. We saw the infamous aquarium, went to the beach, had fish and chips, went hiking at Aptos State Park, and even kayaked alongside otters. Monterey is a beautiful coastal city only an hour south of San Jose. While driving down, you…
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Big Basin State Park
We had our first visitor to in the Bay Area! My boyfriend and I moved here in 2017 and we never miss “home”. For our first visitor, we wanted to welcome him to our California. It wasn’t the theme parks, or bars, or cool restaurants we wanted to take him to. What we define as…
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Castle Rock State Park
Another beautiful day at a State Park, hunting for mycelium and breathing the fresh air. I think this park is too close to the city because it was quite crowded. Is that just an American thing – a crowded forest?
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Los Angeles
I’ve visited Los Angeles many times as a kid with my family. I knew it for the beaches and Getty Museum, which was a memorable place for me as a kid. I finally got to go back, as an adult. I was in Los Angeles to reconnect with an old friend. She was working at…
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Long Beach
Long Beach is one of my favorite places in LA. I love the colorful horticulture and the perpetual ocean breeze. It embodies every idea of the concept of California. With the perfect temperature year-round and the low-key vibe of the entire city – makes it a perfect place to visit. I had an awesome vegan…