One of the more unique hikes around, this hike takes you up to and behind an iconic American landmark, the Hollywood sign. We’ve all seen it hundreds of times at the movies or on television and have the image of it burned into our minds. To finally see it in person and to use your lungs and legs to get up close and personal with it, is the best way to experience the sign. For locals, it’s a great way to get some exercise. For those unfamiliar with LA, it’s a great introduction to the area. Most people arrive at LAX and the sheer humanity of the place can be overwhelming. The airport is busy, the stores are busy, the freeways are crazy busy, and the line at In N Out Burger is long (but so worth it). So now that you’ve been introduced to the airport, to traffic, and the most popular burger joint, it’s time to see one of the sites that the film industry has made famous…the Hollywood sign itself.
The hike to the Hollywood sign is a great way to get acquainted with Los Angles. Sure there are other, easier ways to get a nice view of LA but this one you have to earn. The hike is relatively short (3.3 miles round trip) but the trek to the top is almost entirely uphill. The trail is very popular for both tourists and locals alike so don’t expect to have the place to yourself. Actually, it’s the type of hike where having other like-minded hikers adds to the uniqueness of it.
You can see the sign from many vantage points along the trail
Along the way, there are some nice views of the Griffith Observatory across the valley, downtown LA in the distance, and the Pacific Ocean just beyond. As the top nears, the views get even better. Once at the top, the views are incredible! Not just because you see the city and the ocean, but you’re seeing it through the backside of the Hollywood sign for a truly unique vantage point. A group of hikers has hip hop cranked on their portable speakers adding something that I’ve never experienced on any hike I’ve done and oddly, I’m good with it. So enjoy the view while you can because the notorious LA freeways await. Après hike at Golden Road Brewing in Glendale for some good food and beers, you earned it!
I work in Boulder Colorado and get to enjoy biking the Boulder Creek Path at lunchtime. Boulder has an interesting mix of people that use the path and it is quite popular. The path can get pretty crowded with lunchtime athletes, students, and tourists. As a courtesy, bicyclists commonly say “on your left” as they pass pedestrians or slower moving cyclists to avoid crashing into them. The pedestrian has the right of way and it is the cyclists responsibility to avoid them. Sometimes, you could expect to be scolded for not saying it loud enough or not at exactly the right time. So in the spirit of some of the great wars between outdoor groups like rafters versus fisherman, snowboarders versus skiers, and hikers versus mountain bikers, I offer my take on the cyclist versus the pedestrian. Here are my top five reasons for not giving the pedestrian the courtesy of the “on your left” shout out anymore:
The vast majority of walkers have their headphones on so loud with their favorite Justin Beiber song cranked up they can’t hear anything else. Or, more realistically, The Grateful Dead.
Your version of “Rocky Mountain High” is very different than what John Denver had in mind. Even though pot is legal here now, it still isn’t supposed to be smoked in public. Many people ignore this, especially in Boulder and they are wandering all over the path without a care in the world. Just the other day, a guy on a recumbent bike was smoking a joint and discretely put it to his side as he passed me by. Now that sounds like a great combination: biking and marijuana. I guess this guy must have a really bad back. So much so that he has to ride a recumbent instead of a regular bike and needs to smoke a joint instead of taking a Percocet.
You are a tourist and you’re oblivious to the fact that you are on a multi-use path where you could get plowed over while you look at the creek, the mountains, and the scenery. Admittedly, Boulder is a pretty cool place to look at but really people, pay attention.
You don’t know what it means when someone says it. This one I don’t fault people for. When I first hit the trails in Boulder, I had no idea why people were saying that to me. Now I know that I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed but I had honestly never heard that one before. Also, multi-use path rules and regulations can differ from one place to another so I know that it can be confusing. I know that on a trip to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge a couple of years ago, I was walking on the right side like I would in Boulder and had a cyclist yell at me for being where I shouldn’t be. When I think about that one, I still can’t figure out what I did wrong.
You think that “on your left ” means move to your left. I can’t tell you how many times walkers move to the left when I’m passing them, making it a close call for both of us.
After all of these top five humorous yet sometimes annoying reasons to not say “on your left”, I still find myself giving everyone the courtesy of saying it regardless of how many people may not know their left from their right (after possibly eating too many ‘special brownies’). I just make sure that they don’t have headphones in, aren’t high, they aren’t tourists , that they look like they have common sense, and that they know that having a bike crashing over them like a speed bump would be bad for them and the cyclist. But it will most certainly be the cyclists fault!
New Orleans is not usually the first place I think of going when I want to get away for a long weekend but the airfare was cheap and NOLA was a city that neither me nor my wife has ever to been to so why not? I am traditionally a pretty reserved person so the thought of cutting loose and getting hammered on Bourbon Street was probably not the experience I was going to have. Our goals for this trip were pretty simple: eat some Cajun food, hear some jazz, have a beignet, get out of the city a bit, and if we have time…tour a cemetery. Chances are that we wouldn’t get to everything but we’d at least give it a go!
After landing at Louis Armstrong International Airport, we made a beeline to our hotel just outside of the French Quarter to drop our bags off. Once that was done, we checked the maps and followed the hoards of tourists into the French Quarter. I normally don’t like to be in a group of “tourists ” but there are some notable exceptions to that. How can anyone go to New Orleans without going into the French Quarter right? So we did and we quickly discovered that this place a vibe all to its own. The people were friendly, uninhibited, and quite honestly a little weird. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, in fact it gave the area a unique quality all its own. The best way that I can think to describe it is like Paris meets Las Vegas meets Miami meets the circus.
We were hungry from the days travel and found some fast food on Bourbon Street (it was pretty good too). While sitting in the open storefront, we could hear one of the neighborhood parades that are common in the city coming up towards us. The sound was similar what a high school band would sound like if it were on steroids. At the back end of the parade is where we got our first taste of the bead throwing tradition during Mardi Gras. However, the is not the part of Mardi Gras where you had to “earn” your beads, you merely just had to catch ’em!
Beads, just before impact!
After the sun went down, we hung around and waited for one of the Mardi Gras parades to begin. We waited for quite awhile during what was actually a pretty chilly night. While we were waiting we watched from a distance as a heavily enebriated woman fell and hit her head on Canal Street. Medics on bikes were on the scene quickly to help as she waved to everyone who passed by, oblivious to the scene she created. The parade eventually made its way past us and was mostly comprised of local high school bands, youth dance academies, and some floats representing various organizations. After the parade ended, it was back to the hotel for some sleep before heading out of the city the next day to have a wild day in a much different way.
The following morning was sunny but cool for our kayaking trip into the swamp. We signed up with Wild Louisiana Tours (www.wildlouisianatours.com) for two hours of paddling through the Bayou, an environment I knew almost nothing about. The trip took us through a maze of waterways as our guide pointed out local flora, fauna, and history. One notably absent member of the fauna community was the American Alligator as it was a bit too chilly for them during this time of the year (late winter). I wanted to see gators but then again maybe I didn’t ! Our primary complaint about the tour is that we wished it would have lasted longer since we enjoyed it so much.
Kayaking Manshac Swamp
After the kayaking was finished, we decided to drive to a plantation since we were already about half way there from New Orleans. My wife Kimberly has always talked about visiting a plantation and we time to visit only one of them. I had done a little research before we left and it seemed that the Oak Alley Plantation would be the best fit for us and our time crunch. Oak Alley was a sugar plantation back in the day and the house is very well preserved and uses guides dressed in period costumes to make the visit feel that much more authentic. But make no mistake, this plantation is most famous for its Live Oak lined pathway in the front part of the property. The trees have grown quite large and create a tunnel-like feel as you walk underneath them.
Live Oak, Oak Alley Plantation, LouisianaOak Alley Plantation
Unfortunately, we mistimed our arrival back in New Orleans and had to navigate the streets during another Mardi Gras parade. This turned into a huge problem, or adventure, depending on your perspective. Since I am typically a very impatient person, this was a problem. For my wife, it was an opportunity to view some other parts of the city. To kill some time, we decided to stop by the NOLA Brewing Company for a couple of beers and some food while we waited out the parade. The app on my phone said it was 10 minutes away so we decided to go. The problem was that every street we tried to turn on was blocked off by the parade. So we basically tried getting to the left at every intersection, only to be thwarted every time. Eventually, we found one street that we could turn onto, only to immediately come upon another roadblock. Eventually, a police offer gave us some great advice to go through a parking lot and wait there until the parade ended, which it did soon after we got there. It ended up taking two hours to get to the brewery and we were able to wait out the rest of the parade from there.
The next day was checkout day and we asked for a late checkout so that we could get in one more thing before the next round of parades started up. Kimberly has always wanted to see an above ground cemetery and closest one we could find within walking distance was the St. Louis Cemetery Number One. It was on the outskirts of the French Quarter and was in an area that looked a little bit run down, so use caution when walking around there. As it turned out, buried in this cemetery was the Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, who I actually knew nothing about but I do now. Perhaps just as interesting though is that actor Nicolas Cage has purchased a plot here. The plot has a pyramid on it already (very National Treasure-ish) and I must admit that it looks grossly out of place in the cemetery that dates back to the late 1700’s.
So then it was back to the hotel to get the car and then try to get out of the city before all of the roads get blocked. We decided to get out of the city altogether while killing time to catch our flight home. We ended up driving from New Orleans out towards Bay Saint Louis Mississippi only to be stopped again by another parade on the outskirts of the town. This forced us to head toward the gulf and through the small town of Waveland. From there we found a long pier and walked out to the end of it where we at least got some fresh air and exercise before heading back to the airport. We managed to avoid the city by taking the causeway across Lake Pontchartrain and made it there with just a little time to spare.
We did not get to see and do everything we wanted to but we did try beignets at Cafe Beignet, as Parisian a cafe as you could imagine and the beignets were delicious. So we missed out on the jazz clubs and Cajun food but we’ll cross that off the list next time. That’s right, we’ll be back, just not during Mardi Gras.
Living at the relatively high altitude of a mile above sea level in Colorado, sea level hikes usually just don’t sound too tough. So when my daughters boyfriend Anthony agreed to hike the Ka’awaloa Trail on the Big Island of Hawaii with me, I figured we were in for a fairly routine four mile or so hike. As you can see from the sign above, it basically says that you should be a superhero to safely complete this hike. I’ve seen signs similar to these before and they’ve ended up being pretty tame considering the warnings (spoiler alert: this sign was spot on). The hike is primarily known as an alternate method for getting to the Captain Cook Monument. You can kayak there yourself and try navigating all of the rules (and there are many) set forth by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (which we did do too), you can pay to have someone guide you by boat or kayak (which we did not do), or you can hoof it in your Keen’s like me and Anthony did.
The trail down to the water was tougher than I expected it to be with awkward sized stones making the footing loose. So loose in fact that Anthony wiped out pretty hard right in front of me, drawing blood (which I hear can attract sharks 😉). He was fine to continue and we made it down to the monument without further incident.
The view along the trail
So a little bit about the monument. The Captian Cook Monument is said to mark the spot where Europeans first made contact with the native population of the Big Island of Hawaii. Not far away, it is also known to be the spot where Cook met his end at the hands of the Hawaiians over a disagreement about a stolen boat. There is a white obelisk to commemorate the landing spot and an “X” to mark the spot where Cook was killed. Some of Cook’s remains are said to be in small caves on the cliffs to this day. I decided to ask a local native Hawaiian who was sitting right beside the white stone monument what he felt about the fact that this area was set aside to memorialize Cook and his achievement with a large white stone pillar and he said that he wished he could paint it black. Sore subject apparently (I thought it might be, but felt compelled to ask). There is obviously also some non-European Hawaiian history here as well. The ruins of the village of Ka’awaloa can still be seen in the area just a few paces away from the obelisk.
Cook’s Monument
So the hike is nice and the history is fascinating, but the main reason most people go down to monument is for the snorkeling in crystal clear Kealakekua Bay. We saw lots of colorful tropical fish, coral, and no, Anthony’s wounds didn’t lure in any sharks. Dolphins were sleeping off in the distance (don’t ask me how dolphins sleep, I have no idea) but we didn’t get close enough to see them while in the water snorkeling.
X marks the spot where Captain Cook was killed
After being totally refreshed snorkeling, it was time for the 1,300′ hike back up to the trailhead. What I have learned through the years is that almost every place you travel to, there is always some great equalizing force to make things difficult. At home in Colorado, the lack of oxygen as you rise can be substantial. In Hawaii, the proximity to the equator and humidity were a substantial challenge comparable in difficulty to the oxygen deprived mountains of my home state. I have never sweat that much on any hike, anywhere in my entire life. I was outwardly embarrassed by how soaked my shirt was, but was secretly grinning from ear to ear at the experience. Anthony proved to be a great hiking buddy, the hike was as tough as advertised, the history, the snorkeling, and thankfully no sharks.
My wife and I talked the night before about our plans for the next day and talked each other into the long drive to the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland from Castlebar in the western part of the Republic of Ireland. The gas station attendant said it couldn’t be done in one day. It was going to take approximately four hours just to get there but the experience seemed worth it, if just a little on the crazy side. So we got up early, had a hearty Irish breakfast and piled into our rented Fiat for what promised to be some quality time together on the road.
We drove generally northeast through County Mayo and then through Yeats country in Sligo before entering the last county, Donegal, in the Republic before reaching Northern Ireland proper. The weather that day in the late winter/early spring was a little nasty but added to the character of the scenery. As we got farther to the north, some of the peaks were even capped with snow giving the area a more Scottish feel than Irish but that also added a sense of wildness that we hadn’t seen in the other parts of Ireland we’d visited.
After crossing a bridge near the Irish town of Bridge End that once would have been heavily guarded by British troops during The Troubles, we crossed the border into the country of Nothern Ireland without a soldier in sight. In fact, the only indication that we had crossed into another country was the presence of several Union Jacks flying from east side of the bridge. Admittedly, I was a little unsettled thinking about the possibility of crossing what I thought might be a heavily guarded border. After crossing the bridge, our first order of business in the U.K. was to get some British Pounds since we only had the Euros needed in the Republic. We were now just outside of the town of Derry/Londonderry and about an hour from our goal.
Once we arrived at the parking lot of the Giant’s Causeway and got out of the car, we were hit by a cold North Sea wind that was both terribly cold but refreshing after the long drive we’d just been on. After checking out the visitor center, we headed down the trail to the water where the stones were. In the distance, misty islands could be seen in what I thought surely must be Scotland. After about a one mile walk down, we made it to the waters edge where the famous rocks and the sea meet. The formations are truly unique, so much so that the area has become a UNESCO World Heritage site. They are arranged in such a way that it looks like someone put them there, like you would place stones in your backyard, only better…way better. But since we had so much driving to do still, we didn’t linger for too long. We were there long enough to get some great photos though and to sit on the rocks for awhile but were not there long enough to do the place justice. Once we were back at the visitors center, I was curious about whether the islands we saw were truly Scottish or not and asked a couple of park employees but none had the answer. Finally, they rounded up one of the more senior employees who confirmed that the islands were indeed in Scotland and were part of the Inner Hebrides. After thanking him, I overheard him in his Scottish accent (with pride I might add) that there were more whiskey distilleries on that island we saw (Islay I believe), than on the whole of the island we were presently standing upon, Ireland.
The Giant’s Causeway
After seeing the Giant’s Causeway, we decided to try to look for some unique trees that my daughter saw on Instagram before we left on our trip. After having to stop in Armoy for directions, we were able to find the Bregagh Road and the famous Dark Hedges. The trees are amazing, even though it was still too early in the season for leaves. Even without the leaves, the beech trees create a tunnel-like cover over the road. The trees have been there since the eighteenth century and are a photographers paradise, which is why we’re here, so my wife can take some pictures. She took about 200 pictures in a little over an hour and there were a few really good ones in the mix. For me, the best part of traveling with a photographer is that you really slow down and get to see details that you would might otherwise miss. You really get a sense of the place that you wouldn’t get if you just spent five or ten minutes just taking a couple of pictures for your Facebook page.
From the Dark Hedges, we made our way to Belfast to get some food and to see a little bit of a city we’d heard so much about growing up. The city has the feel of a city going through a revival of sorts. The main part of center of the city has a very modern feel with lots of trendy shops and restaurants. Surrounding its center, was a city that looked like it had been through some tough times. But honestly, we were only there to grab a quick bite and a cider before the long drive back to our hotel. We’d been trying to eat local dishes whenever possible and always tried to avoid chain restaurants when traveling. We found Irish food to be hearty and tasty, especially the stews but the ciders are truly the best. Our favorite cider was made by Armagh Cider Company and we liked Madden’s Crisp and Madden’s Mellow the best but have been disappointed that it isn’t available in the States. Now it’s dark and raining and we still have three hours to go to get back to our hotel and made it back by midnight. We heard during breakfast the next morning that Belfast had a heavy snowstorm that night that caused power outages throughout the city. Tiring, but we made some great memories for our short day in Northern Ireland and have great photos that will last a lifetime. One day in Northern Ireland was certainly not enough!
I decided to start a blog primarily to give myself an outlet for the things in life that I am passionate about. Travel is one of the things that get a hold of you and pulls you along on an adventure where you see new places, people, foods, and cultures. It started when I was kid, pulling the maps out of National Geographic magazines and just staring at them trying to figure out where I wanted to go in my lifetime. I still haven’t been everywhere that I saw on those maps yet but I’ve seen some amazing places so far. While living in New Jersey as a kid, my parents took us camping all up and down the east coast and that helped develop my love of the outdoors (seriously, even living in New Jersey). As a teenager in Colorado, we continued to travel around and got to know the state quickly. I think the Great Sand Dunes ended up being my favorite destination in the state and it still is.
After I got married and had kids, the way we traveled (and how often we did) changed but we still managed some camping trips and the occasional escape without the kids. As the kids started getting older, we had more and more opportunities to get out and now that they are all in college and beyond, we are able to travel quite a bit more.
So what type of a traveler am I? I usually like a trip that has a blend of the outdoors and a little bit of the city. For example, on a recent trip to New Orleans, we stayed near the French Quarter during Mardi Gras which was fun but there gets to be a point where you just need to get away from the hectic life of any big city, but especially New Orleans during Mardi Gras. The perfect antidote to that was a day trip to do a little kayaking in the Bayou and visiting a former sugar plantation along the banks of the Mississippi. On the drive back to New Orleans that night, we had to dodge Mardi Gras parades while trying to get back to our hotel (unsuccessfully I might add). After about an hour and a half of trying to get around the parade, we ultimately ended up at NOLA brewery while waiting for the parade to end. All’s well that ends well!
Speaking of breweries, they are another passion of mine. For one, I like to support local businesses whenever possible and the small micro breweries are almost always locally owned and operated. It can be fun trying local takes on brews, which sometimes use local ingredients to create unique tastes. Additionally and most of the time, I have found the food they serve to be better than many established restaurants would serve. Lastly, the atmosphere at many breweries can be the best part. Recently, I was able to visit Kona Brewing Company on the Big Island of Hawaii and I would say that the beer, food, and tiki torch-palm fringed laid back atmosphere made it the best brewery I have ever visited.
I will say that I am not a natural writer but I hope to make up for it by writing about interesting places with interesting things to do. The blog topics will be diverse but will stay within a few primary genres: travel, outdoors, beer, and occasionally food. We’ll see what else comes to mind but that’s what I intend to focus on for now. I hope you like it!
Living at the relatively high altitude of a mile above sea level in Colorado, sea level hikes usually just don’t sound too tough. So when my daughters boyfriend Anthony agreed to hike the Ka’awaloa Trail on the Big Island of Hawaii with me, I figured we were in for a fairly routine four mile or so hike. As you can see from the sign above, it basically says that you should be a superhero to safely complete this hike. I’ve seen signs similar to these before and they’ve ended up being pretty tame considering the warnings (spoiler alert: this sign was spot on). The hike is primarily known as an alternate method for getting to the Captain Cook Monument. You can kayak there yourself and try navigating all of the rules (and there are many) set forth by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (which we did do too), you can pay to have someone guide you by boat or kayak (which we did not do), or you can hoof it in your Keen’s like me and Anthony did.
nativetrekker.com 