Tag Archives: California

10 GREAT CRUISES OUT OF LA

By Chris Meyer/ cmeyer@ocglobetrotter.com

If you’re a cruiser, chances are that you know that you can hop a ship in San Pedro and head to the Mexican Riviera: Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan. This “Love Boat” route is as old as the modern cruise industry.

But you may not know about the more distant destinations, from Australia to Rome, you can access from LA. So here are 10 great cruises from LA:

  1. ALASKA: You can boacolerd the ship in shorts and flip flops, but pack warmer clothes as you will will be chilling with massive glaciers as well eagles, bears and whales. These 12- and 14-day itineraries are the easiest and most economical way to experience the Great Land.
  2. COSTA RICA AND THE PANAMA CANAL: New this year are 19-day round-trip voyages that blend the engineering masterpiece of the canal with Central America’s unspoiled rainforests.
  3. HAWAII: Plenty of relaxing sea days and visits to four Hawaiian Islands make this an epic 15-day round-trip from SoCal.
  4. TAHITI: The ship keeps going after Hawaii for a second tropical paradise – Tahiti, Bora Bora and other fabled French Polynesian wonders – on this awesome 28-day voyage, which returns you back to where you started from.
  5. SOUTH AMERICA: Mexico, Central America and all the way down the South American coast with time to visit Machu Picchu on the way.  After 17 days, you can get off in Santiago Chile and fly home or continue on the ship around the cape and all the way to Rio.
  6. NEW ZEALAND: Rather than making a U-turn in Tahiti, this ship powers on all the way to New Zealand. After 21 days at sea, you can continue another four to Australia, stick around or fly back to LA.

    Overwater bungalows are alluring but stationary.

    Overwater bungalows are alluring but stationary.

  7. ROME: Travel from La La land all the way to the Eternal City on this 31-day epic traversing the Panama Canal and Atlantic with plenty of fascinating ports of call along the way.
  8. VANCOUVER: A little closer to home, but a lovely 9-day voyage up the coast with stops in San Francisco, Astoria and Victoria. You can continue to Alaska on the luxury ship or catch a three-hour flight back home.
  9. LONDON: Take a very British ship through the canal and across the pond on a 29-day journey to England.
  10. AROUND THE WORLD: If you have 111 days you can circumnavigate the globe without visiting and airport. This is the ultimate LA cruise!

Here’s a link for searching cruises out of Los Angeles:  HomeportLA

Contact Chris Meyer for more information and exclusive Expedia pricing.  (800) 745-4015 or cmeyer@ocglobetrotter.com.

Old-school tiki bars from Montana to Florida

It’s good to know that you can still find old-school tiki bars around the country – even in Montana. Imagine escaping the bitter cold of Great Falls one winter’s day for a little slice of paradise.

tiki

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s why I love this linked article from Expedia company Orbitz.

Old-school tiki bars from Montana to Florida.

Check it out and be sure to stop by for a mai tai when your in each given town.

Avalon fish art shop packed with unique finds

This abstract fish was made by Encinitas artist Rodrigo.

This abstract fish was made by Encinitas artist Rodrigo.

By Tom Gordon

We have noticed many cruise passengers don’t even bother to get off the ship in Avalon, Catalina. They have been to Avalon and done that.
But mixed in among the souvenir shops selling “Catalina Lifeguard” sweatshirts is a little gallery called Afishinados.
They bill their merchandise as  “Original Folk and Fine American Fish and Design.”  The store is packed with original art and prices range from $10 for a glass Garibaldi fish necklace to thousands for a large work of original art. Most of the works of art fall into the affordable category. The cool thing: they are unique and different.
A halibut birdhouse made by artist Rick Riley from the San Diego area. Part of the proceeds go to fight Parkinson's disease and Wounded Warriors.

A halibut birdhouse made by artist Rick Riley from the San Diego area. Part of the proceeds go to fight Parkinson’s disease and Wounded Warriors.

It’s one of those stores where everything sold has a little story behind.  Most of the pieces created by Southern California artists.

Afishinados is the beachfront walkway at 203 Crescent.  For more information: www.afishinadosgalley.com or 310-510-2440.

 

Stepping back in time to Yosemite’s High Sierra Camps

Yosemite’s High Sierra camps offer the opportunity to step back in time. Actually, it takes many steps to reach the remote high-country sites.

The camps, established in the 1930s, allow hikers to lighten the backpacking load in exchange for a fee comparable to a very nice hotel room. Here, your accommodation is a semi-permanent tent outfitted with four single beds, a card table, folding chairs, two candles for light and a wood stove for heat.

The waterfall next to the Glen Aulin camp.

Camp staff also prepare excellent meals. The response to this statement usually goes something like, “The food always taste better when you’re tired, dirty and hungry.” But these meals are excellent beyond that measure. Freshly made soups, fresh baked bread and a steak prepared as well as at a fine steakhouse. Really!

And the provisions are packed in along the same trails we hiked to the remote camps — on mules!

The scenery along the Tuolumne River is similar to that found in Yosemite Valley.

That means we did not have to carry food, tents or sleeping bags. And we did not have to sleep on the ground or cook dehydrated food on tiny backpacker stoves. It was just enough to coax my wife, Susan, onto the trail after “retiring” from backpacking 25 years ago when my friend, Mike Reed, scored four elusive beds in the High Sierra Camp lottery. Susan and Cathy Reed we able to carry day packs while Mike and I lugged our full-size packs below capacity. (We would learn weeks after our wonderful August 2012 visit that several of the camps we did not visit and Curry Village in Yosemite Valley experienced exposure to hantavirus with tragic results for a few unfortunate campers).

The tents are not luxurious, but you don't have to carry them and they come with a mattress.

We stayed two nights each at two of the five camps. Many people do the complete circuit, getting up every morning to trudge to another camp. I found our pace a nice alternative to my 50-mile traditional backpack from Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite Valley.

Our first day was a 6.2-mile trek from Tuolumne Meadows, where we left our car near the Tioga Pass Road, to Glen Aulin (beautiful place). Here our tents were set near a picturesque Tuolumne River waterfall. The area is marked by lush forests, huge granite edifices and flowing water — similar to world-famous Yosemite Valley, but without crowds and cars. (Note: several of the High Sierra Camps we did not visit as well as Curry Village in Yosemite Valley experienced exposure to the hantavirus in summer 2012, with some tragic results).

The food, brought in by mules, was really good -- and not just because we were tired and dirty.

A day of hanging out in this peaceful place, walking along the river and taking a bracing and cleansing swim turned to be a perfect respite before the challenging 8.2-mile uphill climb to May Lake. Mike tried his hand at fishing and caught a small trout that he released. Catch a fish big enough and the staff will cook it for you. We even spied some rock climbers high on a remote granite dome.

The water is still at May Lake, which strikingly reflects the granite peaks above. This camp’s motto: “Defining utopia since 1938.” The same chef has been at it for more than a decade. Everything we ate was fresh and delicious. And two 20-something staff members equipped with guitars and harmonicas belted out Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash standards before dinner.

Picturesque May Lake.

Many of our fellow campers were from the Bay Area, but there also was a strong Southern California contingent. In fact, one night everyone around the campfire was from south Orange County. The drive up U.S. 395 to Tuolumne Meadows is an easy one.

If you love nature but not a heavy pack, the High Sierra Camps are definitely and option to consider. But know that you will face  price that seems high and limited capacity. The camps are only open from about July 4 through mid-September and there is high demand. So go to XXX, enter the lottery, keep your fingers crossed, and save up some cash.

 

 

 

 

 

Trans-Sierra Trek: Spectacular Challenge

“It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of nature I was ever permitted to enter.” — John Muir

 

The superlatives flow swiftly when you set out on the John Muir trail in the Ansel Adams Wilderness near Mammoth Lakes. “Awesome” and “spectacular” would be overused hyperbole if the scenery wasn’t so, well, awesome and spectacular.

After a few days of dirt, fatigue and sensory overload, the rare sights that had awed seem almost commonplace, because they are in this most uncommon place. “Look, another sparkling mountain stream. Soaring granite edifice number 32. Ho, hum. I’m really sore from carrying this 50-pound pack.” It’s so easy to get spoiled.

I’ve long wanted to do a trans-sierra backpack. But it’s not easy to coordinate my friends’ schedules for a poker game, so what are the chances of organizing a weeklong trip?

Enter the OC Hiking and Backpacking Club. I’ve been on the e-mail list since earlier in the year when the Register partnered with the club for outdoors coverage. In July, an alert caught my eye: A 7-day, 50-mile trek from Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite Valley on the northern stretch of the famous John Muir Trail. The trip was full, but I put my name on the waiting list on the off chance a spot would come open. It did, and, ready or not, I had to get ready in little more than a week.

I did not know any of the nine people I would live with 24/7, but I figured this type of challenge would attract folks with a good spirit and sense of adventure. And I liked the fact that a club-certified leader had worked out logistics, such as wilderness permits and transit back to our cars in Mammoth.

It turned out to be a fantastic and physically challenging experience. I even made some new friends along the way.

The trip’s climax — Half Dome and Yosemite Valley — provides a second wind and brings back my sense of wonder. But full appreciation for the experience doesn’t set in until after the return to freeways and e-mail when, clean and shaven, I review photos of the amazing territory I had the privilege of roaming. What a wonderful display of nature’s beauty, complexity and synergy! Want to see for yourself?

 

Our group on the John Muir Trail.

The Orange County Hiking and Backpacking Club holds a variety of events, from local day hikes to extended backpacks. For more information or to join for free click here.

The Lyle glacier a the source of the water that flows spectacularly through Yosemite.

The first three days were mostly uphill and grueling as we made the steep incline on the granite slope to 11,000-foot Donohue Pass. Once over the pass, it was a rocky climb back down into the grasslands of Lyle Valley. It wouldn’t be all downhill from here, but any respite from the uphill was welcome.

 

After three nights in the wilderness we arrived at Tuolumne Meadows and treated ourselves to burgers and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, a nice respite from trail food.

It probably wasn’t a bear that attacked Bob Randall’s fanny pack while he slept. But this was a good reminder to keep all food in bear-proof boxes and away from our tents. We did have three bear encounters on the trip. When we hiked by a mother and her cub on the trail a companion stopped to get his camera. Not wanting to tempt fate, I said the sight was fixed in my brain.

 

 

 

 

 

Yosemite's grandeur is big and small.

 

 

 

 

 

Cathedral Lake made a nice place for a cold swim after un uphill slog out of Tuolumne.

Holy smoke! We're gonna climb that big rock?

The last hour up Half Dome is within these cables at a 55% vertical angle. Click on the photo for a closer look.

See more photos on my Facebook page.http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=100891&id=740202157

I'm not at all fearless when it come to heights. So I was intimidated at the base of the cables. I actually contemplated just waiting there, but then I spotted one of my companions, Lewis, sitting on a rock. He expressed what I was feeling, telling me he was going to wait at the base. That stirred resolve in me. "Come on, Lewis. Let's stop thinking and just do it."

Exhilarated and on top of the world. Well, Half Dome anyway.