Resuable Bags - A Start

I knew about the Pacific Garbage Patch. And we have been in the process of reviewing the way we use products, seriously, for a couple of years now. But I was sadly under informed about the scope of the problem of waste from single-use disposable plastic packaging until just recently. Did you know that we globally use around a trillion disposable plastic shopping bags every year? Or that in the US we use between three to four hundred billion? Neither did I. Or that we throw away almost thirty billion disposable plastic water bottles a year in the US alone? Most of this throw away plastic either sits in landfills, leeching toxins into our water and food chains, or winds up in our waterways and ultimately our oceans, where it does even more damage.

So what can I do? I only have direct control over my own choices, and once I am informed I do my best to make good ones. I decided that the best thing I could do was share what I had learned with my co-workers. I put a new, recycled, reusable shopping bag in the mail slot of all of my co-workers and sent them this email:

Hi,

I apologize for intruding on your day, but I have recently become aware of the serious problem created by single-use disposable plastics like grocery bags and water bottles and I am trying to raise awareness by providing you with a handy reusable shopping bag (you'll find this in your mail slot). Conservative estimates suggest that over 300 billion disposable bags are used in the US each year, and only a small fraction of these are ever recycled. Most end up in landfills or waterways and oceans. They leech toxins into the environment and contribute to the deaths of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of marine creatures and birds each year.

If you already use reusable shopping bags, kudos to you and just add this one to your supply. If not, please throw this one in your car and try to get in the habit of using it when you run in to pick a few things up. It's an easy habit to get into and I hope you'll find yourself buying and using more of them and refusing the disposable bags. The environment will thank you.

If you want more information on the growing problem of single-use disposable plastics, please let me know. Here are some links that will help you learn more.

http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/

http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php

http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater

I got some good feedback, even from friends that recycle and were unaware of the scope of the problem as I was. It's a big problem, but I'm trying to do my part.

I'll leave you with a link that I hope will make you think about this...

http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=11



Terry

Mercey Hot Springs - The Road Less Travelled Pays Off

A long story about a short trip 2/14/2010

They say the best laid plans often go awry, but fortunately that means that they often don't. If you know much about me and my wife you know that we love to travel on roads and routes that we have never been on before, and this story is an example of why. Last year we were headed home from Salinas and decided to take the route over Panoche Pass (it's the one south of Pacheco Pass). As we dropped into the foothills on the Valley side, we came upon Mercey Hot Springs, nestled in the only stand of trees for miles around. Naturally curious and easily distracted, we stopped in to check it out and decided we should make a point of coming back to stay someday.

We didn't really have plans for the weekend, but we also didn't have the kids. Weeks of rain and uncharacteristically grey skies had given Nicole a severe camping bug but our normal spur-of-the-moment places are all in the mountains and under much snow, so where to now? I had a rare flash of brilliance..."how about that crazy little hot spring we passed last year?". A few hours drive at most, and the idea of soaking in a hot tub all day was sounding pretty good to both of us. We made reservations for a campsite, spent most of Saturday getting our gear organized, and I waffled on driving the VW long enough for Nicole to get her car cleaned out really nicely (you're welcome honey).

We woke up Sunday well rested and (mostly) ready to go. We had hoped to be on the road by 8:00 but it took a bit longer to get out than we expected and by the time we stopped at the corner for ice it was already after 9:00. No worries. As soon as we were rolling down Highway 41 we were both glad we had taken the Campmobile. There is some amount of faith involved in cruising an almost 30-year old vehicle off to points unknown, but this machine is pretty funky and cool. The iPod chipped in with a random Grateful Dead song and we chipped in with big dumb smiles. Yeah, life is good.

We hit Fresno and jogged over to 99 just long enough to take the first offramp and a 2-lane road that would get us almost all the way to Mercey. There are hundreds of miles of roads like this in the San Joaquin valley. It was a bit foggy and there wasn't much to see unless you count Firebaugh. We did pass a carnival storage yard, full of scary looking carny rides and cotton candy stands, and what looked like a fox hunt getting started pretty close to our destination. Nicole tells me they don't actually hunt foxes anymore but rather a fox-pee-soaked rag that gets dragged on the ground. This is good news for the foxes.

By the time we had passed I5 and the fox hunters we had outpaced the fog, and we rolled into Mercey Hot Springs to a beautiful sunny day barely two hours after we left home. Now, when we stopped here the first time to scope the place out it was pretty deserted and almost spooky, but today it was bright and inviting and well stocked with staff and guests. Our campsite wasn't ready yet but we passed some time talking to the woman in the office, whom we hit it off with right away as she was Scottish (by ancestry at least) and I was wearing both a Utilikilt and a t-shirt from the Celtic Festival in Grass Valley last year (she had been to that show before).

In operation in some form since the early 1900's, the resort is a combination of hospitality, comfort and funk, with many of the original buildings and cabins still on the grounds. A small, 5 site campground nestled in a cottonwood stand right next to the main deck, a small RV park area and a half dozen cabins provide lodging, but the real draw is of course the hot springs, and the facilities do not disappoint. There is a large pool, heated by the springs but comparatively cool, a sauna, beautiful bathrooms with hot spring showers, and rows of individual soaking tubs with hot and cold faucets. Near the cabins is a bath house with indoor tubs, and another enclosed deck with more tubs for the "clothing optional" crowd. One of the unique things about Mercey is that they aren't on any grids; power is generated by solar panels and fry-oil-burning generators, and even the phones are satellite. Kudos to them!

When our campsite was ready we pulled in and got set up. We are expert campers and this takes us no time at all especially when we are by ourselves and in the VW. We had a quick lunch of leftover cioppinno (Nicole's homemade and very delicious) and decided to start off by enjoying the sunny day with a hike. We headed off after consulting the office and were quickly struck by how green it all was. There were even wildflowers sprouting already. Once we got out of sight of the grounds we truly felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, green hills rolling everywhere broken up only by an occasional ravine or flood wash. If you are into bird watching this would be a good place; we saw many birds including 2 (we think) Peregrine falcons and 2 pairs of ravens. Bird sounds were everywhere and we listened to a song of peals, croaks, caws and chirps all the way back to the campsite. As we walked back in, there was a couple peering into a pine tree by the old hotel, watching an owl perched there. These are the only trees for miles and birds take full advantage; at one time while we were there that same pine tree had no less than 8 owls in it.

OK, enough bird watching and wandering around. Time to get to the hot water. We hit the bathroom/shower to rinse off and change. The showers are fed just by the hot spring and the temp was perfect. The water had a typically sulphurous reek to it but it wasn't unpleasant at all. Nicole would later inadvertently invent a word for it by accidentally combining smelly and funky; the water was smunky. But smunky in a good way. There were a lot of bathers in the individual soaking tubs so we shared one for a while; being close is a sacrifice we are always willing to make. We met a guy from Newfoundland who was playing a guitar by the pool and he played us a great Celtic folk song (he had heard there was a guy in a kilt running around and that got us to talking). The rest of the afternoon was spent going from the tubs to the pool to the sauna in various order, and by the time we decided to go cook dinner we were really relaxed. Our campsite was literally just on the other side of the pool and we're pretty sure we made people hungry smelling steaks and veggies grilling. I got the curtains and the sleeping bags squared away while dinner was cooking and we enjoyed our meal by a nice fire. It doesn't get a lot better than this, all of our favorite things about camping with a kick-ass pool, sauna and spa tubs just steps away.

I do have to rant briefly about inconsiderate people. We've been a lot of places and seen our share of them, but we are always amazed at what people think is OK. Sitting down to dinner we hear one of the other campers fire up the engine of his RV. Why there was an RV in the tent spaces is not known, but what is known is that if the guy needed to charge his batteries he should have done it earlier in the day when there was noise and people weren't winding down. I don't get RV'ers that camp anyway; if you need a hotel on wheels you should save all of us campers the grief and just go to a hotel. The same guy had strung up floodlights that rivaled a streetlamp and was happily dumping his light pollution over everyone that wanted to stargaze anywhere near his "campsite". Another group over by the RV spaces had decided to fire up their RC airplanes...WTF? STFU and GTFO! (If you're a gamer you'll know what I mean, my apologies for the abbreviated profanity. If you're not a gamer just use your imagination). End of rant.

After dinner we played Milles Bornes and I enjoyed a rare win, a good old fashioned ass-kicking even. We headed back to the tubs and despite the floodlight pollution we had a great time laying back and looking at the sky. They say Mercey is a great place to come watch the meteor showers and we may plan on doing that in the fall. We did the tub, pool and sauna rotation again for a while and then headed for the funky comfort of the VW. We had had a great day doing many of our favorite things all at the same place and ended it by doing another one of them, curling up together and drifting off to sleep. Yeah, life is still good.

We slept in the next day until 9:30 or so, something we almost never do when we are camping. We did a quick breakfast of Irish oatmeal (quick cooking kind, not bad at all), did some preliminary organizing of camping stuff and then headed back for...the showers, hot tubs and pool. We stopped long enough to finish packing up and vacating the campsite at the appointed hour of noon and then went for one last round with the deliciously smunky water. By the time we had gotten dressed, chatted with the Scottish lady again, evangelized the virtues of the Utilikilt not only to her but another woman who really wanted one for her job as a rigger, and petted the hot springs kitty, we were so completely relaxed and happy that is was hard to say goodbye and head back home. But it was off for home we went.

We took a different route home, deciding to go through Kerman to try out a taqueria there. Taquerias are like a holy grail for us, we will seek them out and try even the most dangerous looking ones on our quest for great tacos. The last time we had travelled in this area was the trip where we discovered Mercey in the first place, and we had stopped at a very auth, very tasty and very questionable place in Firebaugh (lived to tell about it). Nicole had scoped things out and found a place in Kerman...imagine our shock when we pulled up and found out it was a chain! Robertito's has taco places all over the Valley, but if you know much about me and my wife you know we strive to never, ever eat at a chain. But, seeing as Kerman is pretty small and we were pretty hungry we decided to give it a chance. We were not unhappy, the tacos were good, the portions were (too) large and they even had spicy carrots and peppers. We left feeling OK about compromising our "no chain" rule. One note about this part of the trip: we travelled past many, many orchards on the way to Kerman and there were dozens of beekeeper boxes out. We sadly collected a number of bees on the windshield and wished we could have avoided that. Bees are hurting and we didn't want to add to their troubles.

The rest of trip was a comfortable cruise in the VW...it's old and has a lot of "character" but we were pleased with how it made the trip and we only had to use a couple of turnouts on the way up the foothills back to Coarsegold. We chugged up the driveway and rolled to a stop, still as relaxed and happy as we were when we left Mercey. We had had a great trip...because we hadn't been afraid to take a new route on some other trip or be afraid to stop and check out something that looked funky and cool. We never would have discovered the place if we did the same thing every time. Take the road less travelled; it may just lead to some of the best times of your life :)

Details:

Mercey Hot Springs

Utilikilts - the most comfortable garment I have ever worn. Buy something from the store :)

Robertitos

Trip - Santa Barbara and Cardiff by the Sea (San Diego) 7/24/2009

Last weekend we headed over to Santa Barbara for a "family business" trip. Nicole moved from Santa Barbara to Oakhurst when she was a kid and still has family there. Her aunt and uncle from the Seattle area were also going to be there, so while it wasn't our typical pleasure trip we were looking forward to seeing everyone and having an opportunity to catch up.

Friday we had so many things to do before we could leave that I wound up taking the day off from work. It was late afternoon before we finally had picked up her mom Allyson and headed out. Our first stop was in Fresno for gas and...a Spicy Jumbo Dog from AM/PM. OK, I know this isn't the kind of restaurant recommendation you might be expecting, but this is a pretty damn good dog (with "the works" and a few jalapenos tucked along the side) and we weren't planning a real meal stop for another several hours.

This is a pretty long boring drive down Highway 41 to 46 and then over to Paso Robles to catch the 101, and by the time we got to Paso we were getting pretty hungry. Sadly none of us has an iPhone, but with a laptop, aircard and Yelp.com I was quickly searching for restaurants in San Luis Obispo (no, I was not driving at the time). We decided to try a Mediterranean place called Jaffa but when we pulled up we discovered that the kitchen was closed. No fear! As fate would have it there is another Mediterranean cafe right next door, and it turned out to be really good. It's called Petra and as soon as we walked in and smelled the food we started to smile. We tried the lamb and chicken shawarma (great flavor although the lamb was a bit dry) which came with hummus and cucumber yogurt salad and fresh baked pitas. We also ordered some tabouleh which was quite good, although Nicole likes mine better. Combined with some great sauces and great service this was a real find and I would definitely eat there again. Reasonable prices and huge portions. We were still full when we rolled into Santa Barbara late that night.

Knowing that the family would have things to do and discuss I had decided to head down to Cardiff by the Sea near San Diego on Saturday to see my youngest son Sam (it also happened to be his 19th birthday, a welcome coincidence). I got a later start than I wanted so my breakfast consisted of some leftover jerky and a bag of Cheezits. Yum. I rarely travel alone anymore and it was a little weird yet a little cool to be rolling along by myself. I passed the time with a lot of NPR and BBC radio and got to Cardiff around noon. Lunchtime, perfect timing. After discussing where to go Sam decided on El Callejon in Encinitas. I lobbied for the Cuban place, but hey, it was his birthday. El Callejon turned out to be quite a surprise, not your average Mexican restaurant but more what I would think of as Southern or Yucatan style. Sopas, moles, pepper dishes and a whole variety of meats including spit roasted Pastor. I did some Cochintas Pibil and Pastor tacos and with some great salsa and freshly made chips (and a Dos Equis) I went away very happy. Mid priced and generous portions. Too generous...restaurants in this country serve too much food. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking and driving around the beach towns north of San Diego, a repeating cycle of pretentious yuppydom followed by welcome and comfortable beach town funk. I miss beach town funk.

Sam had tickets to see Slighty Stoopid, Steven Marley and Snoop Dogg so I said my goodbyes and headed back to SB. NPR, BBC, and from a bit South of LAX, traffic and lots of it. I wasn't going to make SB before 8:00 or 9:00 so I decided to hit Junior's Delicatessen in West LA on my way past. I have eaten at Junior's many times (my first wife is Jewish and I've never met a Jewish deli I didn't like) but I hadn't been there in maybe 20 years. Must be getting old. Like the beach town funk, there was something pretty comfortable and familiar about the brown vinyl booths and the old Jewish couples that seemed to fill most of them. As I sat down the busser brought a bowl of pickles and sauerkraut...I'm in heaven already. I ordered a bowl of borscht, cole slaw that Colonel Saunders could only dream of, and a half chopped liver and onions sandwich on rye. I wouldn't typically go with chopped liver but I can get pastrami or corned beef at home and the food did not disappoint. I watched more than one old couple stop and talk to other patrons as they left their tables and was reminded how friendly and familial these people are. Junior's was a good call. Time to hit the road and get back to my wife who I had been missing all day. The girls had moved from business to party mode by the time I got back so we all headed off to State St. to have a drink and do some dancing.

We stayed up a bit late on Saturday so Sunday was off to a slow start. We (or maybe it was me) had already decided where to go for breakfast...Sambo's! This is the original and only remaining of a once large chain, some of which still operate as Denny's. It's right on the beach on Cabrillo and there is always a wait, always a good sign. We managed to muster up a party of 9 and while we were on the sidewalk taking pictures there was a slight buzz as Dennis Miller went in for his table. I didn't see him but I loved his HBO show, liked to see him struggle on Monday Night Football but don't care much for his ranting right politics these days. We were soon seated and ordering, getting by on chocolate chip mini muffins and surprisingly good coffee while we waited for the meal to come out. They have a great selection of standard breakfast fare, pancakes, waffle, omelets and so on, and are somewhat famous for their mimosas, but we had a long drive ahead so no hair of the dog for us. Nicole had Eggs Benedict with homemade English muffin and hollandaise sauce and I had the same except the California version with spinach and avocado instead of Canadian bacon. So good and way too much food again. Great food, friendly and very energetic service and landmark status makes this a must if you are ever in SB looking for a good breakfast.

We said our goodbyes and crossed the street to hang out on the beach for a few minutes. It was such a beautiful day and the sand felt so good on our skin that we really really didn't want to leave and come home to the 100+ degree heat. Oh well. We made one last stop and did a little nostalgia driving tour past the grandparent's old house and then headed back up 101 towards home. Using the trusty aircard and laptop again we located a Thai place in Paso Robles that got great reviews, Basil Thai on 11th St. right by the little park. The service was good and the food was good, but we eat a lot of Thai and I wouldn't rate this as the best, especially at upper-mid prices. The curry was pretty but oddly bland, which is a not good thing for a curry dish, while the ginger duck was actually really tasty. But we enjoyed it and it filled the void. I took the last driving leg (the boring one) and we rolled home around 10:00 tired and ready for bed. Smudge, the abandoned cat, was alternately very happy to see us and mad for being left alone for the weekend, but she was curled up on the bed pretty soon with all forgiven. Yes, bed...travel is fun but there's nothing like laying down in your own bed again after a trip.

Details:

*** AM/PM, at an Arco near you, Spicy Jumbo Dogs. Really...try one :)

**** Petra Mediterranean Pizza and Grill, 1210 Higuera St, San Luis Obipso CA - Gyro, felafel, shawarma, pizza, medium priced, huge portions, great service. 5 stars if our lamb wasn't a bit dry.

**** El Callejon - 345 S Coast Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024 - "Southern" Mexican, sopas, moles, peppers, chilaquiles, pastor and other meats, great salsas, good service, mid priced.

***** Junior's Delicatessen, 2379 Westwood Blvd, LA, CA 90064 - Traditional Jewish deli food, soups, sandwiches, bakery, not cheap but huge portions. 5 stars for tradition, great service and great food. I just discovered that they will FedEx food to you...hmmm.

***** Sambo's, 216 W. Cabrillo Blvd, Santa Barbara, CA - Traditional breakfast fare, pancakes, waffles, omelets, benedicts, mimosas, a bit pricey but great food, great service and a real landmark. Don't miss this if you are in SB looking for a good breakfast.

*** Basil Thai, 828 11th St., Paso Robles, CA 93446 - Traditional Thai menu, satay, tom yum soups, curries, noodles, nice atmosphere and good service but pricey and the food just didn't live up to the expectations going in. I didn't provide a link because I couldn't find a website for them.

Camping Trip - Big Sandy Campground July 10, 2009

So we had been planning on camping this particular weekend for a while. This would be our second camping trip of the year, the second in the new ('82) VW camper, and our first one alone without the kids this year. We have camped all over the Sierras south of Yosemite and the area between Mammoth Pool, Bass Lake and the Ansel Adams Wilderness and were looking for a place we haven't been yet. Consulting our trusty forest service map, we spotted Big Sandy which is near Fish Camp and decided to give it a try.

Being very close to Yosemite we decided that Nicole would go up early Friday and reserve a spot for us, and this turned out to be a really good idea. She located an empty spot right on Big Creek with a beautiful horseshoe of aspen and pine shade trees. It even had grass in the campsite, a welcome change from the usual silty dirt. This was spot #20. She had to go over to Fresno Dome to find the campground host, four miles of really terrible road. We met back up in Oakhurst and after stopping for supplies, we got to the campground around 5:00 only to find that someone was in our spot! They hadn't noticed the "reserved" tag, and while clearly disappointed they very kindly moved to another site.

We camp a lot and are pretty efficient at getting set up, especially without the kids and now that we have the VW camper. So about 20 minutes after we started unpacking we were sitting comfortably and contemplating dinner. We made some really really good cheesburgers and then spent the rest of the evening with a nice fire, some wine, a little music and a couple of board games we brought along.

Saturday we slept in (no kids) and then got up for breakfast. Our usual agenda is to put on swim suits and water shoes and go river hiking in search of a good swimming hole, but we actually spent the day relaxing at the campsite, reading, napping a bit and just generally enjoying the day and each others' company. Nicole grilled up some shrimp and veggies for lunch and we had a big bowl of spicy chili with grilled bread for dinner and were probably asleep by 9:00.

Sunday, after a quick fire, breakfast and coffee, we put on the water shoes and headed downstream in search of swimming. We found a great spot where Big Creek starts to descend into a gorge about 1/4 mile downstream from the campground. The water was pretty deep, extremely cold and there was a big flat rock for sunning and drying off. Good times. We headed back to camp, had some lox and bagels for lunch and then packed up and started for home. We stopped for a short hike out to a waterfall and then made for Oakhurst and El Cid, our traditional post-camping/backpacking Mexican meal stop. Mmm, chips and salsa. We've camped so many times but this was one of the best trips we have done.

Details:

Big Sandy Campground - 10 miles North of Oakhurst up Highway 41 to Forest Rd 6S07 (just before the Tenaya Lodge). Turn right and go approx. 6 miles.

Best campsites - #20 has great shade and is mostly grass. 18 and 19 are also pretty shady and grassy. There are other bigger, flatter sites but they aren't as close to water.

Swimming - Downstream approx 1/4 mile there are a number of nice pools with flat rocks for sunning. Also good spots upstream (take the road towards Little Sandy or river hike) but they are close to the road and seemed to be more crowded.

Camp Host/Fees - There is no campground host on site, they are located at Fresno Dome campground about 4 miles away (terrbile road). They came around once a day while we were there. Fee is $17 per night.

Travels and Other Stories

I've been a lot of places, especially in California, and most of the time I really love travelling. Great little restaurants, cool (or at least off-beat) hotels, the best campsite, roads less travelled...easy things to forget as the years go by. I've always had a strong desire, one which my wife also happily shares, to go places I have never been, take roads I have never driven, and to never, ever eat in a chain restaurant on the road unless it can't be helped. I want to start writing about some of these great finds as a way of sharing them with friends and also recording a bit of personal history. So look here for news of a great campground or the best little Thai place in San Jose...I'll add retrospectives as I can and will do my best to label them by city or activity or maybe even ethnicity (i.e San Jose, camping, Thai).