Local Favorites: Indian Rock!

Even though I complain a lot about the lack of hot weather here, one thing that always makes up for the cool days is the view of the bay. Sam and I just love it. Maybe because we grew up in Georgia where most of the views consist of pine trees or fields, but we just love being able to drive up into the hills and see the bay stretching out to the ocean and all of the little cities in between. Our favorite view point is about a mile walk from our apartment at Indian Rock.

                         

Indian rock is a large rock outcropping in the Berkeley hills that provides an awesome view of pretty much the whole bay. To the south, we can see Berkeley's campus and the Oakland, to the north we can see Richmond, and then across the bay to the Golden Gate bridge connecting San Francisco to Marin. On a clear day, we can also see the bay's three largest bridges. 

                        

It is definitely our favorite place to stroll to on a Saturday morning for breakfast or with any out of town visitors. The rock is higher than the surrounding houses, so it gives a wonderful view of the neighborhood as well. It also provides rock climbing enthusiasts a place to practice and children a natural jungle gym. 

Indian Rock is also an awesome place to watch the sunset, but we have had some trouble actually making it there in time to catch it. We also thought it would be an awesome place to watch the fireworks set off from Berkeley's pier on the 4th of July a couple years ago... unfortunately, so did everyone else! We weren't able to see the fire works very well, and honestly, it was a little scary to have that many people crowded together on such a steep surface! 

I think we much prefer this little treasure on a quiet Sunday morning all to ourselves :)

Tidepool Exploring

It seems Sam and I must really like fish and other sea creatures since a large portion of my posts have to do with our aquatic friends! Well, to continue with our trend, we finally made it out to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve located at Moss Beach, just south of the city. This visit has been something we have been trying to arrange for a few months now as it is best to go during low tide, which tends to change / not line up with our weekend plans. Anyway, this time it worked out perfectly and coincided with the Coogan Siblings visit (more to come on that later!).

Unfortunately, the weather was not the prettiest, although we decided that the lack of sun may have actually helped since it wasn't super crowded. I just love the California coast line- it is such a different experience from the beaches in Florida that we are used to visiting. The water is also SO much colder, and the wind wasn't very pleasant either. Still, I am always in awe of the ocean and rocky coastline.

These sweet seals didn't seem to mind the weather though. They were all lying around just off the beach.

As I mentioned before, it's best to visit the tidepools during low tide, so the pools are shallow and you can really see what's hanging out in there. It is also best to wear water proof shoes, or at least ones that have good traction since the rocks are VERY slippery from all of the plants and algae. 

I honestly have no idea what most of the creatures we saw are, but I do know we saw a ton of barnacles, anemones, and little crabs. In true sibling fashion, Sam enjoyed daring his sibs to touch the squishy orange thing in the picture below. No, you are not suppose to be touching any of the wild life, but it's odd and sticky texture was just too enticing!

By far, our most exciting find was this star fish chilling on the underside of one of the pool banks. It was so camouflaged, I'm surprised anyone could even see it! It is difficult to tell from the picture, but it was about the size of my hand. So cool!

The area around the beach was also very pretty. We took a short hike along the coast enjoying the scenery and views from the cliffs. Even though in Berkeley it was wonderfully warm and sunny, we've learned that the coastline, and especially the wind, can be so much chillier. 

And of course, we had to get some group pics, and why not one in a creepy tree that didn't have any leaves?? Overall, I think Sam and I were a little disappointed that we didn't see a walking octopus or more star fish, but I would like to go back again and do a bit more exploring. It was certainly something fun and different to do with our visitings sibs too :)

"Hey, no hurling on the shell, dude, ok? Just waxed it."

Two and a half years ago, we moved out to Berkeley so Sam could attend grad school. It hasn't always been the easiest thing for me to be so far away from our families, but I have to say, some of his grad school perks have made it a little easier :)  This year, his research area's main conference took place in Maui! Thankfully, he also had a paper accepted to this conference, which means I got to tag along for the ride- woohoo!

Unfortunately, it took place between my two finals weeks of school, so I was writing papers and finishing take home tests on the flights to and from the island, but it was totally worth it. I felt like I was in paradise. I mean, in the first hour I was at the hotel, I saw a whale while eating lunch! Amazing!

The conference took place on the sunny, southern coast of Maui in an area called Wailea. The area is home to four of the island's fanciest resorts (as in, we would never be able to afford this place without the conference rate...). We stayed in a suite at the lovely Fairmont. The place was gorgeous, and I swear our room was bigger than our apartment in Berkeley. Sam shared a room with another student for the first few days he was there without me, and then we had the place to ourselves for the rest of our stay.

The room included a big lanai that had a partial view of the ocean and then the mountains inland. Also, fun fact: those beautiful trees with the large canopies are called monkeypod trees!

While Sam finished up his conference stuff, I spent my first day lounging on the beach. Oh my, it was so wonderful! Especially coming from a foggy and cold San Francisco!

Thankfully, Sam only had one day of conference obligations after I arrived, so the rest of the time we were able to spend beach bumming together and touring the little area. The resorts were so beautiful with lush, green plants and beautiful, exotic flowers!

All of the hotels were completely open to the elements. Apparently it doesn't really rain much on this part of the island, so they didn't worry about any damage. The resorts were all decorated for Christmas since we were there in mid-December. It was sort of weird to me to see this beautiful sunny beach and then a big Christmas tree all decked out! At least they stuck with the beachy theme :)

The weather was a lovely 82 degrees just about every day, and the water was pretty comfortable. Speaking of water, it was the clearest and most beautifully blue water I have ever seen! Sam and I were able to go snorkeling right off the beach from the hotel, and we saw so many beautiful fishies and even a sweet sea turtle passing by- it definitely took my breath away! We were also in love with the beautiful sunsets. We made a point of walking down to the beach every night to watch the sun sink beneath the water.

We enjoyed all the snorkeling off the beach so much that we actually decided to take an early morning snorkeling trip, and I am so glad we did! We woke up around 5:30 to be at the beach for pick up at 6am. It was so crazy to be standing on the beach in the complete dark, and then see this shining light from the catamaran pulling right up on the beach.

The tour took us out to Molokini, a crescent volcanic crater right off the coast with a beautiful reef, home to tons of colorful fish. If you ever have a chance to go, I would strongly suggest taking an early morning trip. When our boat arrived, we were the only ones there except for one other group of scuba divers. It was amazing to be in the water watching all of these fish and then look up to see the sun rising over the crater. I just can't even convey how peaceful and perfect the whole experience was.

Unfortunately, our pictures from the underwater camera just do not do it justice. All of the fish were so vibrantly colored, and the water was so clear, we could see all the way down to the bottom.

I honestly thought I would be nervous to be in such deep, open water without a flotation device or anything, but I was not the least bit scared. We just floated on top of the water watching the peaceful little world below. I really did feel like I was part of Finding Nemo!

After an hour or so at Molokini, the tour took us over to Turtle Town, a little area off the coast known for being the home to green sea turtles who hide in the shelved reef, but come up to the surface every so often for air. We were lucky enough to see a few different turtles, one of which swam straight toward Sam. Again, these pictures just do not do them justice! Both of these turtles were about 3 feet across- so majestic!

The colors of the turtles were so beautiful and vibrant. Our tour guide also suggested we swim down under the water a few feet without our snorkel to listen to the whales singing to each other. Seriously. It sounded just like the whales in finding nemo! I think I could have stayed there all day swimming with the fishies and sea turtles!

The rest of our little vacation we spent mostly laying out on the beach and snorkeling- perfection.

Since we were only there for a few days and the cost was rather expensive, we decided not to rent a car. We were fortunate enough though to tag along with one of Sam's colleagues who did have a car on a drive to the top of the volcanic crater, Halaekala.  I was so not prepared. Even though it was a comfortable 80 degrees at the beach, it was VERY cold and windy at the top of the mountain. We drove from sea level, up to the top which was at 10,000 feet!

We also drove up during sunset, which didn't help with the warmth. It did make for a really cool view though of the sun setting below the cloud line :)

We decided to stay at the top and have dinner while waiting for the stars to come out. I am not sure I have ever been some place so remote that I was able to see so many stars! It was such a beautiful sight! If not for the cold, I could have stayed up there all evening. This was also during a meteor shower, so we were able to see a bunch of shooting stars from the summit and then later on from our balcony :)

By the end of the trip, I was totally in love and didn't want to leave. It is almost two years later, but I think Sam and I can finally say we had a honeymoon, and it was perfect :)