Sunday, July 13, 2008

Solvang, Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo


Scuba diving was more tiring than what we had expected. H and I slept till noon before we headed back to the Bay Area. Despite the late start, we felt we could drive at a leisure pace and get back to Bay Area at a reasonable time.

Our first stop was unscheduled. Hunger struck and we detoured to downtown Santa Barbara, looking for a place for lunch. I spotted a Left At Albuquerque and we sat down for a meal of Gulf Coast seafood enchiladas and chicken mango quesadilla with soup.

Our planned detour was Solvang. Located about an hour northwest of Santa Barbara off Hwy 154, Solvang is a Danish town. The downtown area are filled with European architecture building. We stopped by a candle shop, then walked over to the Hans Christian Anderson Museum, which also housed a coffee shop and a bookstore. I had wanted to tried some Danish pastries, and the lady at the coffee shop directed me to Solvang bakery. We tried some pastries, but were not impressed.

We walked around the downtown area more. There was an interesting doll house store, a Christmas store and a Thomas Kinkade gallery. We stopped by Kinkade's gallery so I could explain to H about "The painter of lights".

After a fairly pleasant stay in Solvang, we continued on our way until we reach San Luis Obispo where we stopped by Madonna Inn. We had seen this building on our way to Ventura and had wanted to visit on our way back.

Madonna inn is located by Hwy 101. We drove around the compound a little and the hotel to have less rooms than we had thought. We also found the building a little run down. Then we went to the lobby to check out the rates.

That's when we realized what Madonna Inn was all about. Each room was individually decorated around a different theme. The most unique room had to be the Caveman room. This room had an all rock interior, including the ceiling and the floor. The bathroom had rock walls and a rock covered shower area. The lobby sold post cards of each room, and there was a book describing the story behind Madonna Inn.

H and I also visited the restaurant. The dining hall was decorated with hot pink table cloth, booth seats and roses. It was too tacky for the both of us.

We continued on a uneventful drive back to the bay area. Normally, when we made out trip south, we took Hwy 5. This was our first trip on 101 and we found the drive pleasant and interesting.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Scuba diving at Channel Island

H and I went to Channel Islands National Park, near Santa Barbara, CA for a scuba diving trip. In fact, this trip was the reason I got certified. Since this is my first dive after certification, I was quite excited, but also a little nervous at the same time.

We booked our dive boat and rented scuba gear through http://www.calboatdiving.com/. This saved us a little work, as the rental gears were delivered directly onto the dive boat:)

We woke up at about 6am and boarded the Spectre dive boat at 6:30am. While the Spectre had beds below the deck for sleeping but we did not sleep there. H tried on her last trip but found the bunks smelly. I toured the lower deck and noticed the same thing. In spite of the crews effort in forcing air below the deck, the sleeping quarter still reek like musty damped cloth.

After checking in with the dive master, we were each assigned a dive station. We inspected our rental gears, then sat down for a leisurely, cooked to order, breakfast in the galley. Channel islands are about 12 miles from the mainland and it took the dive about an hour to reach there, so there's plenty of time to relax before the first dive.

On this day, we were diving on the mainland side of east Anacapa Island. Our first dive site was Landing Cove Point. The captain informed everyone to get ready about 20mins before reaching the site, so we were all ready to go when we arrived. After a quick site briefing from the dive master, we were on our way!

The dive began with a giant stride entry off the side of the boat. During our lessons, we had done giant stride entry in the swimming pool only. Here the drop was about 1m. It was a little terrifying thinking about this drop... The actual entry went fine though.

From the side of the boat, we swam to the back of the boat and descended following the anchor line. Since this was my first "real" dive, we decided to take it easy.

There was a kelp forest under the water. We swam around the kelp forest. There were many marine life, including Garibaldi, star fish and sea urchins. The visibility was about 40 feet, and there was not much wave. It was a great day to dive!

As we slowly used up air in our tanks, we found ourselves floating to the surface slowly. Both H and I dumped all the air in our BCD, but was unable to stay submerged. We had to swim back to the anchor line and pull ourselves down. We dive for another 20mins, until I ran out of air.

We boarded the dive boat was via a platform on the back of the boat. We knelled on the platform while Mike, the dive master, remove our fins. We then climb up a ladder to get back on deck. Mike saw how I was struggled with buoyancy and suggested a buoyancy check. I crossed my leg and dumped all my air, then sank to a eye level. I was carrying the correct amount of weights.

After the first dive, both H and I felt our throat were dry from breathing air from the tank. I had similar problem during my lessons, so both of us drank lots of water before our next dive.

The second dive site of the day was at Cathedral Cove. This dive site is partially over a kelp forest and a sandy beach. We dive along the edge of the sandy beach and kelp forest. There was a group of playful sea lion in the sandy beach area that were swimming to check us out! It was less than a meter from me.

There were also lots of sea cucumber, Sheephead fish and a school of small shiny fish. We were also able to stay dived the whole time and a great time. Again, I ran out of air before H and we had to surface. H continued diving near the platform, while I got out of my scuba gear and snorkeled with her.

After this dive, it was time for lunch! We were served barbecue tri-tip, with bread, beans and orzo. It was delicious!

After lunch, the captain announced we would be diving in the same spot. H and I were a little disappointed. We wanted to see some other sites. We decided to skip this dive and relax instead.

We took off our wet suit and dipped in the hot tub. But the hot noon sun and the hot tub was too much for me. I ended up sleeping in the galley.

Our final dive site of the day was the Canyon. This dive site had features of underwater valley, deep canyons with sidewall. It was still mostly kelp forest. I saw a beautiful blue snail like creature with bright orange "fur". I found out later it was a nudibranch: Spanish shawl.

There were more star fish, sea cucumber, sea urchins and shell fish with different colors. It was amazing.

Again, I ran out of air before H and we surfaced. H swam on the surface with the rest of her air and I joined her with my snorkel. The ocean life on the surface was not as exciting as the bottom of the sea, but still it was quite interesting.

After the last dive of the day, we took off our wet suit and soaked in the hot tub again. It was about 3pm and the sun had started to set. It was nice relaxing in the hot tub after a fairly tiring day. I always thought I was a strong swimmer, but I was tired with the underwater kicking, as well as carrying the weight belt and tank.

The trip back to the mainland was fairly uneventful. We saw oil rigs in the distance. The only thing missing were dolphins. H saw them swimming along the boat on her last trip.

After we docked, we were able to leave all our rental gear on board and drove to Oxnard, where we spent the night. We showered and then grab a quick dinner at "Hook, Line and Sinker". We ordered a grilled Mahi Mahi and Kamikazi salad with Yellowtail. Dinner was decent, but we were so tired that we did not do anything after dinner. Just hit the sack and slept.

It was a wonderful but tiring first dive trip for me. Conditions were perfect, not too hot, water was relatively warm, no wind or waves. I saw some interesting marine life and beautiful colors. The variety of the dive site was somewhat limited, but that just means I have more to explore on future trips:)

Friday, July 4, 2008

San Francisco Beer Tour


After watching Beer Nutz-San Francisco, my brother and I decided to spend July 4th to visit all the bar/brewery mentioned in the show.

Unfortunately, we were unable to get tour reservation at Anchor Brewing. Also, Magnolia Brewery was somewhat out of the way. In its place, we added Thirsty Bear brewery.

Our first stop was Beach Chalet. Located at the edge of Golden Gate Park, right next to the Pacific ocean, Beach Chalet is housed in a beautiful historic building, upstairs from the Golden Gate Park visitor's center. The restaurant had large windows facing Ocean Beach, looking out into the Pacific. Even though it was a foggy day, we enjoyed the view.

Beach Chalet offered 6 beers on their circle of ale selection: Hefeweizen, IPA, ESB, Red, Porter and 2 other beers I don't remember. Our favorite was the ESB, with the IPA a close second. The banana flavored Hefeweizen was actually decent, but I am not a fan of fruit beer in general.

The second stop of our beer tour was Rouge. Based out of Oregon, this brew pub had a San Francisco outlet located in North Beach. We ordered a 4 beer tasting set consisting of 200m IPA, Dead guy Ale, American Amber and a dark beer. We found the beer at Rouge too "hoppy" and not quite our taste. Their IPA, in particular, was too bitter. This was unusual, given I generally like a little hop in my beer.

Next stop was San Francisco Brewing Company. They did not have a taster set, so we ordered a small glass of all their beers: a lemony Hefeweizen, Albatross Lager, Emperor Norton Lager, IPA, Esteam, Brock, Ale, Stout and Porter. The Heferweizen here was too tart, in a bad way, so we quickly gave up on that. Both lagers was good. We especially like Emperor Norton. More malty than hop, it was a good change of pace. Their dark beers were all very strong. The stout was almost undrinkable. We liken the taste to Chinese medicinal stew. The porter was also bitter, but had a mild sweet after taste to make it more palatable.

Both Rouge and San Francisco Brewing Company are located a "touristy" North Beach. On most tables, we saw people with guide books enjoying their brews. Both venue were located in older buildings, but these buildings were not very well maintained. Instead of charming, both locale felt a little run down.

18 beers later, we came to the third stop of our tour: Thirsty Bear. Located next to the now defunct Hawthorne Lane restaurant, Thirsty Bear is located in the more modern/hip part of town. As we were tasting beer and having dinner, a steady flow of young professionals were coming in for food and drinks as well.

Thirsty Bear brew 8 beers: larger, wheat, brown ale, golden vanilla, ESB, IPA, Stout and the season brew Belgium white. Golden vanilla was quite special. It had a strong vanilla flavor on the nose and went down smooth. The Belgium white was golden in color, but had double the alcohol of most beer. It was quite good too.

We also ordered food off the Spanish inspired menu: grilled asparagus and spring onion with romesco sauce, ceviche and Valencia paella. The grilled vegetables with romesco sauce was great. The ceviche liquid was too tart, and overcame the sweetness of the seafood. The paella was tasty, but a little watery. We would prefer if it had a socarrat(the crusty bottom).

Our last stop of the night was 21st Amendment. Located near the base ball park, the brew pub looked modern. 21st Amendment offered the 8 beers: Blonde, Watermelon wheat, motor oil, darkness, cherry cider and 3 more which I could not remember.

I was looking forward to this stop because 21st Amendment offered a watermelon flavored beer. H's favorite fruit is the watermelon and I was wondering if she would enjoy the beer.

Unfortunately, at this time, both of us were feeling quite full from all the beers. We had paced ourselves and not drank on empty stomach, so we were not drunk or even high. But empty calories are still calories. Between the 2 of us, we could not finish the taster set! The watermelon beer came with a wedge of watermelon which gave the drink a strong watermelon smell. Upon removal of the garnish, we could still detect a hint of watermelon on the nose. I would have enjoy it more in a different occasion.

The cherry cider was not something I enjoy. It tasted like NyQuil.

We walked around the ball park area after our drinks before heading home.

Thus end our San Francisco beer tour! 34 types of beer in a day. This is definitely a personal record, one I don't want to break anytime soon:)