Mobile Food Trucks Unite

Today was a nice sunny day for eating lunch out in the sun.

Off the Grid in Alameda is open every Saturday from 11am to 3pm.

If you don't know what Off the Grid is, it's basically an organized gathering of various food vendors (mobile trucks) in one location. Many trucks are self-sufficient that doesn't rely on public utilities, which is why they travel from location-to-location bringing their uniqueness and delicious foods from many different places. This is also a great way to try out different types of food, wide-ranges from Peruvian to Vietnamese, many which are experimental fusion that came out right. If you were ever wondering where you can find a particular truck, many vendors have adapt to social medias to notify us of their whereabouts.

Today's street vendors at Off the Grid were: The Chairman, Cupkates, Koja Kitchen, Sanguchon, An the Go, Bacon Bacon, Sajj, The Waffle Roost, Smothered Fries

I got myself a bacon fried chicken at the Bacon Bacon truck. I mean, who can say no to bacon. The burger contained a giant panko encrusted chicken breast, bacon, spicy slaw and bacon mayo sauce.

It was quite delicious and I had a shock looking at the giant crispy chicken breast when I opened my food box. I do have to suggest a thinner slice of bread for the bun and some more of that bacon mayo sauce. Chicken breast is the dry part of the chicken and if you're like me, I like my meat dark. 

Bacon Fried Chicken

I also bought a side of Kamikaze fries from the Koja Kitchen truck. They are my absolute go-to fries. These are not your average french fries, these are the Kamikaze fries and they are made of criss-cut fries. I know it may not be the best types of fries, but the criss-cut is drizzled in red hot sauce and Japanese mayo topped with minced Korean BBQ beef, kimchi, sauteed onions, and some green onions.

It's a shame that I didn't take a picture. I highly recommend trying this, especially if you're a potato lover like me.

Can't get enough. More Off the Grid.

Last minute planning. What to do on Valentine's Day?

The city of Davis, also known for their UC Davis campus, has an Arboretum that runs along the side of Putah Creek, estimating about a 3-mile distance.

It was interesting to see that the students here in Davis started a trend of love locks on the small fence of the overpass bridge, similar to the London bridges. This would be a great place to take your significant other here to place a love lock on the fence. It may be silly but this is a great valentine day spot if you still have not decided what to do yet.

First Time: Oyster Shucking

Tomales Bay Oyster farm is one of the more popular oyster farms in California. They serve fresh farmed oysters, clams, mussels from Tomales Bay.

The morning started out fairly early for me. I thought it would be a good idea to arrive early since this place tends to get packed by early noon. I guess our timing was a bit off. Notice how deserted the place looks upon our arrival, that's how early it was.The benefits of our head-start meant our first pick at the picnic tables.

Our friendly greeter

Looks like I reserved the whole place to myself

Upon arrival, you may park in the free parking lot or outside of the area on the curb. There is also free valet parking for later in the day when it gets more crowded. Greeters will ask you to pay for the entrance fee for $5 per person. Two vehicles allowed per group and usually staffs only permits one table to be used by the group. 

After settling in our nice picnic table, we went off to the counter to purchase our oysters. My group went for the medium-size fresh oysters, a bag of 50 for $60. We decided to also give a try to the 2 pounds of clams and 1 pound of small raw oysters.

Our Menu of the Day

More oysters!

Medium-sized oysters

Time to grill the oysters/clams

While our delicious oysters were grilling, I rented a pair of oyster knife for my first oyster shucking experience. If you're like us, we didn't come prepared at all but everything can be bought at the oyster farm from lime to shucking gloves to Tabasco. The only missing ingredient they were missing is the Siracha sauce which I love with my oysters.  

My first time oyster shucking

My lovely oyster

Juicy!

Some hot dogs and clams

Throw your shells in the black bin for recycle

After eating all the oysters that I can fit in my stomach, I went by the shorelines for a stroll. I highly recommend coming by once to try out their delicious oysters and clams.

Pinnacles National Park

Destination Camp: Pinnacles National Park

Activities: Hiking Trails, Camping, Ranger Program, Rock Climbing, Talus Caves, Bird Watching
Animal Sightings: Bobcats, Coyotes, Black-Tailed Deer, Lizards, Snakes, Tarantulas, Mountain Lion

The main attraction for this campground is the formation of caves from volcanic rocks.There are two main caves, one is the Bear Gulch Caves and the other is the Balconies Caves. All campsites are located toward the East District, which is closer to the Bear Gulch Caves.

Campsites had to be reserved within 12 months of advance. Yikes! My group with a total of nine people reserved a group site. The group site costs about $75/night. There is also a required entrance fee of $3/person for national parks. The first vehicle was free but any addition cost another $5/vehicle.

Our campsite was #131 and a very nice one. We pretty much had the whole area to ourselves with the exception of the one family that were located pretty far out from ours.There were two picnic tables, bear box, and a fire ring. The current conditions at Pinnacles is announced as "extreme fire hazards" and the use of any charcoal or firewood was prohibited. We ended up bringing our own propane gas stove top to grill our meat and fried our eggs.

Bathrooms were mainly used by my group. It was pretty clean and the only dislike I had about it was there were no lights at night. You will have to bring your own flashlight to the bathroom, which spooked me a few times going there. Drinking water area were labeled on the map next to the restrooms but every time we tried running the water, there is a discoloration of a light yellow coming out of the faucet. To be safe, we didn't use the water to cook our food. The last thing we need is food poisoning.

Day 1 
Headed out around 9am and arrived around 1pm with one pit-stop break. Setting up our tents became one of the hardest thing to do with the scorching heat at the peak of the afternoon. It was probably near 90F degree weather with humidity. My body was dehydrated after that. We decided to drive out to the visitors center where the empty swimming pool awaits us. Note that it was a Friday so many families did not visit yet.

First glimpse of the Campground

Visitor Center

Bear Box...but I think it's meant for racoons

Stairway to our home for the next few days

Ta-da --- Group site #131

Setting up our tents

Day 2
Had our breakfast---ate egg, bacon, and croissant, maybe even a hot link. After that, we headed out for the hike.

No firewood or charcoal so
resorted to propane gas stove

My group ended up driving to the edge of the location (see map) to start the hike for the Bear Gulch caves and ended up at our stop point at Chaparral ranger station. It was around a 2 hour hike. Bringing at least 3+ bottles of fluids will save your dear body from crying out for thirst. Be sure to pack on sunblock and bring hats and sunglasses to prevent sun radiation.

Start Point at Purple Dot
End Point at Yellow Dot

The caves and reservoir was definitely the highlight of the hike. Although we never made it to the Balconies Cave Trail or the Chalone Creek, it was worthwhile to go again another time. Unfortunately, there were no bats during this time and some of the cave areas were closed. We returned for another swim at the pool but this time around, there were way more people and children to begin with.

First sign of Bear Gulch Cave

Entering the caves

Nice and cool but no bats

Climbing up

More climbing

Look how far up we gotten

A really cool stone bridge

Bear Gulch Reservoir

Volcanic Formation mountains

More mountains

Lovely view

Day 3
Ate breakfast, packed, and headed out.

Pinnacles has been a memorable experience despite the hot weather. The animals that I have seen such as racoons, fox, deers, blue jays, woodpeckers, wild squirrels, lizards, etc has capture the essence of wildlife for this national park. Did I mention the miraculous night sky that were covered in stars? It is truly an awing experience to see. It was a shame that I couldn't capture it on camera. And how fortunate for me, I was the only person to spot a meteor shower, in fact I saw two.

Woodpeckers

Mohawk bird

Blue Jay

Desert Flower

Cute

Goodbye!

Do you want to build a snowman ♩♪♫♬

I am not a big fan of the winter season. Yet, there are many wondrous occasions that fall under this season, the family oriented Thanksgiving, black Friday no-sleep shopping, joyous Christmas, the beginnings of a New Year, etc.

Yet the biggest joy of winter is the first glimpse of snow fall. What better way to start of the new year in a bit of snow. Here’s to a mini trip to Tahoe, NV for a bit of snowboarding fun.

A group of 10 of us set off the trip in two cars.

Welcome to Nevada

We finally arrived at our cabin! It was bigger than what I expected it to be.

Forest Pines Condominums

My home for the next two days

Our cabin consists of three rooms and two bathrooms.

The Living Room with a cozy fireplace

The Kitchen

We made a great first night home-cooked meal. Starting with some salad.

Let's start out with some salad

This is what I get for not liking Alfredo. My alternative was a wannabe Chipotle bowl consisting of chicken, sausage, sweet beans, and some mash-potato looking rice.

Our Hearty Meal

On the side we have a tray of garlic bread.

First Night's Dinner

Our second day was all about snowboarding. For a first timer, I think I had a pretty good start.

Mount Rose

Off to get my snowboard gear on

The Lift

It was a super fun experience for a beginner snowboarder like me. I hope to go at least once every year if given the chance.