20 Hours in Amsterdam 🚲

Call me crazy! A 20-hour layover with vivid memories of Amsterdam still remains in my mind. Instead of sitting in a cramped seat for 8 more hours in addition to my already 11 hour trip from Kenya, I took a chance and made a quick stop into Amsterdam before heading home.

I stayed at XO Couture Hotel, an overpriced but nice hotel in a residential area. A 15-minute train ride and a 15-minute walk from Schiphol International Airport, checkin was via computer and I was able to easily rent a bike from the hotel. Biking through beautiful Vondel Park on a day filled with sunshine beats self-medicating with cheap wine to ease the leg pain on a full flight back to the U.S.

I headed to an interesting burger joint called Vegan Junk Food. I had a hipster kinda experience with paper drinking straws made to look like bamboo, a vegan burger with fake cheese that looks real, and an elderflower drink without sugar. The guy taking my order had a cool mustache and was really laid back and comfortably chatty.

Finally back to the hotel with limited channels and great internet. Morning brings a different perspective, in this order: check out, find a breakfast place that’s open, make my way to the wrong train station, find the right train station and finally check-in to get my flight on time. Still, it was all well worth the adventure. Next time if time permits I’m going to the Rijksmuseum. Maybe you can add this to your trip if you get in at the right time. Front Image: Hung Tran

3 Local San Francisco Markets You Shouldn't Miss 🌱

1. The most visited market in San Francisco and the one that some of San Francisco's best restaurants buy their produce from is the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, open on Saturdays from 8-2PM and Tuesday & Thursday 10-2 the market provides high-quality organic ingredients grown locally. 

2. Clement Street Farmers Market offers a large selection of goods, you can find anything from organic produce to tea, granola, sprouts, meat, almond milk, and food trucks. The market is open on Sunday's from 9 AM to 1 PM, two blocks long, you can find the market between 2nd and 4th Avenue. You can also check out the Mr. Foggy Mural while you're there and some of the cool shops in the area. 

3. The Sunset Farmers Market is a tiny market nestled in  an area between two buildings that normally is used as a parking lot. The market is open from 9 AM to 1 PM and offers organic produce as well as a selection of flowers, pastry's, and almond milk. Take a walk across the street and savor the homemade bread at the Arezmeni Bakery, a co-op owned bakery that's been around for years.

100% Plant-Based Cafe 🌱

Nourish is a 100% plant-based and Non-GMO cafe with a large selection of items, the restaurant offers Savory and Sweet Toast as well as salads, sandwiches, rice bowls, waffles, baked goods, soup of the day and juices. I tried the toast sampler, frittata, and almond pudding. The savory and sweet toast was amazing, I picked the lox, butter & jam, pumpkin, avocado toast. ( the sampler has 3 smaller toast). Both the lox and pumpkin were made with creamy nut cheese from Kite Hill. The butter & jam is made with a drizzle of Miyoko's Vegan Butter and the avocado was simple but my favorite. Well worth the $3.50 the frittata is moist and flavorful with hints of rosemary. I can't wait to go back and try the mock tuna salad and soup of the day. Nourish has two locations both with different menu's, Hyde St. and California St. and 6th Ave and California St.

So Much to See and Do In Pinnacles National Park

Established as a National Monument in 1908, In 2013 Obama signed into legislation and the park's name and specification was changed to Pinnacles National Park. This park is Southeast of San Jose and is the 9th unit of National Parks in the state of California.

I really enjoyed camping here. I booked online for the perfect spot, some of the sites are in complete sunlight which can make it miserable if it's the season for sweltering heat. The website says July and August but I've been here in April and it was Hot! Check out this little beauty, it's a website that provides images of all the campsites at Pinnacles, that way you can be sure to get a site in the shade. To stay cool you can go for a swim at the park's pool, its free for campers.

The park is host to wildlife which included bats, condors, deer, frogs, and Quail. Our early morning hike up to Condor Gulch Trail hike paid off, at about 7:00 AM on our way down the trail we saw about 15 Condors circling a rock formation. The flight of the Condor is like the flight of a kite, gliding on the wind and dropping in and out of air currents. The bat caves are yet another highlight of Pinnacles, around sunset we headed out to Bear Gulch Cave and  made our way through the caves to the other side just in time to watch some bats exiting through the closed area of the caves.  

Forested Urban Hike in San Francisco

Nestled between two homes on Stanyan St. and 17th, as soon as you finish climbing the stairs Mt. Sutro's Historical Trail opens up to a lush dense forest complete with Eucalyptus trees, fern, flowers, wild blackberries, birds, and climbing vines. Located in the San Francisco Fog Belt, Mount Sutro is beautiful in all climates but very magical during overcast days.  There are many ways to navigate through the woods each just as wonderful as the next. You can check out the map here to decide if you want to head back after the T junction or continue on. Be sure to look for the mysterious wood tiki carving of a man if you continue to the left of the T junction.

Historical Trail was named after a survey revealed a trail from the 1880's. The trails have been maintained by the Sutro Stewards since 2006, the group improves the trails through trail and habitat restoration.

Misty Morning Hike at Mt. Tampalias

This particular Mt. Tam trail starts near Mountain Theatre, in the summer the theatre hosts plays and concerts on weekends. We start our hike in the first parking past the venue, a moderate 3-hour hike with a diversity of plants and environments.

We start our hike and follow the signs to the Potrero Meadow by way of Lagunitas Rock Spring Fire Road. It’s so quiet you can hear the nearby stream and the wind blowing through the fall leaves that haven’t dropped yet. A variety of fungi and mushrooms spring up near the trail's edge as we make our way to the meadow a light fog rests on the meadow floor and leads to a quiet trail called Bernstein.

The fog gets thicker and amplifies the greens and turns the forest into a light green color. I’m stuck inside a giant Bonsai pot with a perfectness that seems crafted by a giant human.

Following Northside / International / Miller Old Grade Road we finally reach West Point Inn, an old Inn that provides bathrooms, and an observation deck with picnic tables that look out to the hills. Hummingbirds dart around the feeder attached to the deck as we take in the view. You can rent cabins here Tuesday-Saturday and I fantasize about staying here for a day or even a few days and taking in all the beauty of the forest. Nowhere to go and nothing to do, the slowing down of time.

We finally head out using Rock Springs Trail as our exit, parts of it run through slippery serpentine rock and the manzanita with its shiny burgundy marbled bark sticking out in the newly sparser scenery.

There are many trails in Mt Tam that lead to West Point Inn and the Mountain Theatre, check out this map before you go. The loop we took was Mountain Theatre (second parking lot) / Lagunitas Rock Spring Fire Road/ Bernstein Trail / Northside / International / Miller Old Grade Road / Rock Springs. International Trail is off Northside, when you get to the top of the mountain where all the trails split be sure to continue on Northside you’ll see International a few yards ahead.

Urban Remedy

Urban Remedy offers pre-packaged food, juices and protein bars that doesn’t use dairy, gluten, white sugar, white flour or unhealthy oils. One of their website’s tag lines is “Food Thats Healing to People and the Planet”.

Enter the Sun Square my first experience with Urban Remedy. These chocolate squares are made with sunflower butter, raw cacao, coconut oil and sweetened with organic coconut sugar and Stevia. It’s a relief to finally read a label that you don’t need a degree in chemistry to understand.

You can buy Urban remedy products in Whole Foods, online or at its sit down locations across the Bay Area. Last week I sat down at their Hayes Valley location in San Francisco for a salad, the staff was super sweet and helpful. I picked up the black rice umeboshi bowl; it was colorful, tasty and energy packed. Its a bit expensive but makes up for its higher cost by only using high-quality ingredients by providing local, non- GMO food products.

The companies goals also include sustainability and reducing waste, packaging is BPA free and made from recycled PET. I am looking forward to seeing what this company has planned for the future.

Fish Lake Valley Hot Springs in Western Nevada

We are driving down Highway listening to some tunes that match the desert landscape and keeping our eye out for a small sign. The sign says Mineral Gold Ridge, we make a quick turn and make our way down a 7-mile dusty road. A beautiful western Nevada day, we find the site empty except for a water truck filling up at the other end of the lake. An observation of lake reveals a school of common Goldfish, dozens of orange and blue dragonflies buzz overhead as the wind rustles the nearby reeds. A group of ducks has made the warm lake their home. The main hot spring water is diverted into a small cement pool.

The hot springs are called Dyer / Fish Lake Valley Hot Well and are located off NV264 in the town of Dyer. This man-made hot springs pool is 7x7 and 3.5 foot and the water is heated to 105 degrees. You can also wade into the lake which is heated by the geothermal water.

Owned and maintained by Esmeralda County the park is open to the public for free camping and swimming. The county has installed a pit toilet and BBQ’s grills. Recommended by many websites sites for RV’ers; there’s a lot of room to spread out. Try a weekday to avoid the weekend crowds and be warned of the possibility of overflowing trash cans from the weekend. Be sure to pack out your trash.

If your heading towards Yosemite; check out our friends’ recommendation: Whoa Nellie Deli. We hear they make some great sandwiches.

Caving in Utah

If you are interested in cave exploring, Utah is a great place to visit. Utah is the host of over one hundred caves with names like Indian Burial, Lucifers Liar, Silly Putty (closed) and What the Hell Cave.

We visited Mammoth Cave Lava Tubes and Bowers Lava Tubes in Dixie National Forest. The caves were fairly large and impressive. Don’t forget your flashlight, it can get really dark and muddy in the caves. Please, please check out cave safety and ethics of caving before you go. The caves are closed off in the winter for hibernating bats.

To get to the caves you need to travel off the Forest Highway 050 onto a dusty dirt side road. As a truck passed us on the road, I can see a whirlwind of dust in my mirror.

Upon arriving at Bower Lava Tube we parked in the designated area and began our short quiet hike into the woods. In the middle of the landscape, you will find a hole in the ground where you will descend an 8-foot ladder. You can stand in the cave, but at about 100 feet you’ll need to crouch, look up and you will see a unique silver glitter residue on the ceiling.

Mammoth Cave Lava Tube area must have had some type of Mad Max event going on while we there. Upon arriving we were immediately assaulted with the sounds of buzzing motorbikes and off-road vehicle engines, riders decked out in full motor cross gear and dust holding thick like fog in the air. As we approach the mouth of the cave, it is congested with children and adults. Once climbing down into the cave the sound disappears and you are left with cave explorers, flashlights grazing the cave walls. The Mammoth Caves can become very small at some points where you might have to crawl and squeeze your way through, we went back after the crouching halfway. There are at least three ways to enter the cave and 2100 feet of exploration.