Yes! There are Cherry Blossoms in Los Angeles at Lake Balboa. I visited on March 18, 2012 and about 20 of the Cherry Blossom trees were blooming around the lake. Full bloom should be within the next couple of weeks. Watch the video to see what they looked like when I visited. Or take a look at some of the pictures that ocgirl took here.
Lake Balboa is located at 6300 Balboa Blvd., Van Nuys, CA 91406, near the intersection of the I-405 and the 101 freeway. More information on Lake Balboa can be found at the LA Parks website.
The main beach in Corona Del Mar is a 1/2 mile sandy beach in Newport Beach, CA.
This video is an overview for visitors to the Main Beach in Corona Del Mar. Corona Del Mar is popular with ocean swimmers, sun bathers, and body boarders. It is a great beach in Newport Beach that is often less crowded than the Balboa Peninsula.
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago at 9:31 pm. Add a comment
This unique and quirky California State Park is located at the southern coastal edge of San Diego, where the beach meets the border fence with Mexico. In this video, I hike from the entry gate at Monument Road, to the beach, and then along the beach to the border fence and border monument.
The Border Field State Park is a part of San Diego that very people see. It’s a most bizarre area that is characterized by farms, horse ranches, and the border patrol. On the United States side of the border, there’s really not much. However, Mexico is built right up to the border fence. The beach on the United States side is empty, and there are often signs that warn of contaminated water. On the Mexico side, the beach is always filled with people, having fun, laughing, swimming, etc. In addition to hiking to the monument, this park is also popular with bird watchers and horse riders because it is a part of the Tijuana River Estuarine Research Reserve.
Visiting the park can be a somewhat unwelcoming, but rewarding experience. Don’t let the lack of a grand entry/welcome deter you. I think most people get to the locked entry gate and just turn away. Armed with the information here, and in this video you’ll be able to make it to the monument and see a side of San Diego that most people never get to see.
The entry gate is located at the end of Monument Rd. In theory, the gate is supposed to be open from 9am-6pm on weekends. However, the road in the park is often flooded, and the gate is rarely open. While the state is seeking $4 million to fix the road, access is only via foot, bike, or horseback. You’ll end up parking at the entrance gate, next to the one sign that says “Border Field State Park.” When you arrive at the locked gate at the end of the road, you’ll be tempted to go on a path to the left, because it looks like a hiking path, and has a little wooden sign box that most hiking trails begin with. Resist your urge to go on that path on the left, because that’s actual a border patrol trail. Instead, continue on foot on the road you were driving on before hitting the locked gate. Continue on foot down the road for about 1/2 mile. You’ll be heading west towards the ocean, and will reach a point where the paved road makes a 90 degree turn to the south. Instead of following the road, continue west on the dirt path for another 3/4 of mile until you reach the beach. From the beach, look to your left, and you’ll see the border fence about 1 mile down.
Once you reach the border fence, head on up to the hill side on your left. There is *ALWAYS* a Border Patrol truck stationed on this hill for obvious reasons. This hill is known as Monument Mesa, because it’s where the 258th border monument is located. People used to be able to walk up directly to the monument, which straddles the border. Unfortunately a few years ago, the border patrol erected another fence about 20 feet back from the original border fence. Access to the monument itself is now only between the hours of 10am and 2pm on Saturday and Sunday. Bummer. To find the monument, Look for the gate, and sign that says “Maximum Occupancy 25.” The monument will be directly behind that gate.
Getting to Border Field State Park:
The easiest way to get there from Interstate-5 is to Exit Dairy Mart Road (exit #2)
Head Southwest on Dairy Mart Road. Dairy Mart Road will curve right onto Monument Road. Turn right (West) on Monument Road until you reach the park entrance.
Disneyland is awesome during the holidays, and Halloween is a great one!
Every year Disneyland decorates the entire park with pumpkins, ghouls, and ghosts. Visit Space Mountain, aka Ghost Galaxy, the Haunted Mansion Holiday, and take a ride down Main Street with all of it’s holiday decorations. Around the statue of Walt Disney, there are 7 pumpkins, each with a different Disney character carved in to it.
Posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago at 10:32 pm. Add a comment
Oct 2, 2011 – The Red Tide at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas causes the waves to glow a cool blue color. The glowing is caused by Bioluminescence from the algae in the water. It is called the “Red Tide” because the algae looks red during the day.
This video shows 7 waves. Each in “real time” and then in 50% slow motion for a more dramatic effect. No color correction was done to this video, this is truly how they look. To get these shows I went in the water about waist deep with my video camera. Pretty sure all the people on the beach thought I was crazy with a video camera just a few inches from liquid death!
For those in the Southern California area, you can see the Red Tide Bioluminescence Waves as far south as Mission Beach, and as far north as Huntington Beach. The best two places I’ve been to are La Jolla Shores and Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. I also stopped at Ponto in Carlsbad which was glowing, but the waves were breaking too far out to get on camera.
Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago at 11:19 pm. 1 comment
Amazing blue glowing waves at La Jolla Shores beach caused by the red tide that hit San Diego on September 29, 2011.
The bright blue color is caused by bioluminescence from an algae bloom. The algae is red in the day, hence the name Red Tide, but glows a bright blue at night when agitated, such as when a wave breaks. It’s a really awesome sight to see…. when people swim in the water, the entire water around them glows blue. Truly amazing!
No color correction was made to this video…. This is really the color of the waves. The final shot at the end is in slow motion.
And just as a side note — it is really difficult to get video of these waves. They seem pretty bright in person, but video cameras just have a hard time picking it up and focusing. Only took me about 90 minutes at the beach to get this 16 seconds of good footage .
Also received a message from ABC news to use my video on the Diane Sawyer show. Very cool!
Update 2: I went up to Huntington Beach on Friday, September 30 and the waves were glowing just south of the Huntington Beach Pier as well. So the Red Tide can be seen at least that far north. Although it didn’t glow as brightly in Huntington as it did in La Jolla.
Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago at 11:41 pm. Add a comment
This video is another oldie but goodie. Shot in 2005 — this is video from a day of really big waves at The Wedge in Newport Beach, CA.
The Wedge is at the southern most tip of the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. It is called the wedge, because of the wedge that is made where the sand of the beach ends, and a rock jetty comes out in the ocean. The particular angle of the jetty causes the waves to double or triple in size when the wave energy reflects off of the jetty. When the waves are big, the lifeguards only allow bodysurfing during the afternoon. But after 6pm, they allow surfboards and boogie boards, and all chaos ensues. Check out the video!
Peters Canyon is a hiking trail in Orange County just east of Irvine and Tustin Ranch in the city of Orange at the intersection of Jamboree and Canyon View. Going around the loop is about a 2 hour moderate hike with some cool views of southern Orange County from the top of the Eastern Ridge.
Posted 3 years, 3 months ago at 11:08 pm. Add a comment
On Valentines Day I had lunch at Tokyo Table — a fusion inspired Japanese restaurant that opened in the Diamond Jamboree shopping center in Irvine on October 2008.
Tokyo Table specializes in modern “Tokyo City Cuisine” which is essentially Izakaya style — think of a Japanese version of Spanish tapas — lots of small dishes for the group to share. The inside of the restaurants is very modern, with nice brown leather booths, and a very interesting wooden chandelier/sculpture in the middle of the dining room.
The menu contains much of the standard Japanese food you’d see at other Japanese restaurants, for example, sushi, ramen, and tempura, but also consists of a number of “fusion” items that are not your traditional Japanese Faire. The “specialties” at Tokyo table are 1) Tofu (our waiter told us they make fresh every 30-40 minutes) and 2) The sushi pizza (obviously on the fusion side of things).
Not being a huge tofu fan, we passed on the tofu, but we did order the sushi pizza as recommended by our waiter. We also ordered the pork Yakisoba noodles, and the shrimp Tempura.
The Yakisoba noodles ($8.95) were tasty — although it was topped with a bit too much of the Katsuobushi (fish flakes) for my liking. The amount of pork was also pretty minimal, but that is typical of most Yakisoba that I’ve had.
The Shrimp Tempura was also good. Fives pieces of shrimp for $8.95. It had just the right amount of batter, and not too greasy.
And finally — drum roll please……….. — the sushi pizza ($13.95). A pretty odd name for a dish, and let me start with saying that it was quite a bit better than I had expected. The sushi pizza starts with a layer of seaweed as the “crust”, is then topped with rice, crab meat, salmon meat, and a jalapeno. The sushi pizza is then baked, and served hot with a mini pizza serving spatula. The combination of the crab/salmon and jalapeno is surprisingly delicious. The jalapeno adds a bit of spark of the otherwise typical seafood flavor.
Tokyo Table is not your traditional Japanese faire, but it’s definitely tasty.
Tokyo Table is located at:
Diamond Jamboree Plaza
2710 Alton Pkwy.
Irvine, CA 92606
Posted 3 years, 3 months ago at 9:57 pm. Add a comment
Venice Beach in Los Angeles California is indeed a very interesting community. Street vendors, performers, and overall a bunch of really whacky people hang out on the Venice Beach boardwalk. If you haven’t been there, you really have to go.
Watch the video to see all of the insanity of Venice.
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 11:04 pm. Add a comment
Sab-E-Lee Thai Food is located in a little strip mall on the corner of Linda Vista Rd and Ulric St. The actual English sign on the outside says “Linda Vista Food”, but don’t be fooled by the English sign… this is the place to get authentic Thai.
The entire restaurant probably only has about 5 tables, and a maximum occupancy of 20 or so. The food was all very good — except for the Durian Candy — which when you watch the video, you’ll see that I clearly had a hard time keeping it in my mouth.
Sab-E-Lee is located at:
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111
For another review of Sab-E-Lee check out the mmm-yoso blog.
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 1:19 am. 2 comments
Tylers is considered by many on yelp to be one of the best burger joints in Palm Springs — everybody says be prepared to wait — we waited almost an hour for a table. Was it worth it? Well… not really. Was the burger good? Yes… but In-N-Out is still better
Tyler’s Burgers is located at:
149 S Indian Canyon Dr
Palm Springs, CA 92262
Note: They’re only open for lunch and only take cash.
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 12:50 am. Add a comment
Snow fun in Palm Springs at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. When we visited the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway on January 5, 2009 there were 3 feet of snow up on the mountain. The tramway is a pretty neat way to see snow because you don’t have to do any “mountain” driving — simply drive on the I-10 to Palm Springs — pay $22, board a tram, and 10 minutes later you’re in a winter wonderland of snow.
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 12:02 am. Add a comment
Balboa Park is home to a Unique and Historic Outdoor Pipe Organ.
The Spreckels Organ was first heard on New Years Eve 1914 for the opening ceremonies of the Panama California Exposition held in Balboa Park.The organ was built by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford Connecticut.The construction of the organ cost $100,000 and was donated to the city of San Diego by John D. Spreckels and was America’s first out-of-door organ.
The pipe organ contains over 4,500 pipes.The largest pipes are 32 feet in length, the smallest about the size of a pencil.The organ also contains other instruments including a harp, snare drums, bass drums, timpani drums, and a cymbal.There is no amplification or electronic tone generation with the organ and all sounds are produced by actual instruments or pipes.
Tea Station is a Taiwanese owned chain restaurant that specializes in drinks such as Milk Tea and Boba Tea, and Taiwanese snacks. Check out the video review below, or read ahead for all of the details.
I visited recently for dinner and ordered the Tea Flavored Pork Chop, an order of springs rolls, and takoyaki which is a new addition to their menu. My eating buddy ordered the Tea Flavored Teriyaki Chicken. To drink we ordered hot Royal Milk Tea in an “Urn.” The tea served in an “urn” is essentially in a large bowl, and you are given a spoon to pour it in to your drinking cup with. I have to say that this is a very odd method of serving tea…. with a spoon. The iced Royal Milk Tea is one of my favorite beverages at Tea Station, and this was my first time having it hot… but it was just as good. The goodness of the Royal Milk Tea is it actually tastes like it was made from tea leaves, as opposed to a powder, and there is a hint of a floral taste in there as well.
All of the entree items seem to say that they are “Tea Flavored” — I think that is really more of a gimmick phrase than anything, as I really didn’t taste any tea flavor in my pork chop. Regardless of the lack of tea flavor, the pork chop was most tasty… I’m sure the fact that it was fried had something to do with it. The steamed rice was served with minced pork on top… and there were a couple side “salad” items to go with it… oh, and a fried egg was hiding under my pork chop. The spring rolls were tasty and served with a sweet and sour sauce. The takoyaki was also quite good… although it didn’t have quite enough mayonaisse or that orange colored flakey stuff that goes on top.
Tea Station is located at:
7315 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 12:16 am. Add a comment
In Downtown Los Angeles at Hill Street between Third and Fourth Avenue is the Angels Flight Railway, which is nicknamed the shortest railroad in the world. It was built in 1901 to take people from the “old” part of downtown to the “new” part of downtown on top of the hill. The price? 1 cent!
Unfortunately the Angels Flight Railway has been closed since 2001 due to a fatal accident in where the brakes failed.. but the cars have been refurbished with a $3.2 million private grant and are set to re-open soon.. The new price… 25 cents! Inflation is killing us!
Next time you’re in downtown Los Angeles, check out the Angels Flight Railway… it’s pretty neat!
Location:
351 South Hill Street
Los Angeles, CA
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 2:18 am. Add a comment
Kirk K pointed out over on his mmm-yoso blog that the Vien Dong Vietnamese supermarket on Linda Vista Rd has been replaced by a Thuan Fat (Shun Fat) Supermarket. Looks about the same as the previous… except brighter and cleaner. I’m most excited about the “Yum Cha” Dim Sum coming soon. Check out the video.
Thuan Phat is located at:
6935 Linda Vista Road, San Diego, CA
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 1:11 am. 1 comment
Din Tai Fung Dumpling House in Arcadia California is considered the mecca for Xiao Long Bao — or in English, Soup Dumplings. Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese chain restaurant that has opened a location in Los Angeles in Arcadia in the San Gabriel Valley. A wise man once told me that you can always tell a good restaurant when they have a line going outside the door… well Din Tai Fung is one of those restaurants!
If you’re coming to Din Tai Fung on a Friday or Saturday, be prepared to wait… and wait… and wait. But oh, it’s worth it! Now, Din Tai Fung veterans will arrive before the restaurant opens for lunch and dinner, and be the first people seated. We arrived at 4:55pm (they open for dinner at 5pm) and we were lucky, as we were given the last available table. Anybody who arrived after us had to wait at least 45 minutes for the first table to clear — Bummer to them. So if you are planning to visit Din Tai Fung, arrive a few minutes before 5pm for dinner, or a few minutes before 11am for lunch. Note: they recently opened a “new” location… in the same building as the original, just on the “back” side.. they are both Din Tai Fung, and both serve the same food. I’d suggest to go wherever the wait is shortest.
Din Tai Fung has a number of items on their menu… but stick to the Xiao Long Bao, as that is what they are famous for. Watch the video to see how they make the Xiao Long Bao and to see how to “properly” (or not) eat one of these morsels of delicious goodness.
Din Tai Fung is located at:
1108 South Baldwin Avenue Arcadia,California 91007
Balboa Island in Newport Beach California is known for some of the most elaborate Christmas light decorations in Southern California. The island itself is about 4 blocks wide, by 14 blocks long and is one of my favorite places to go for a walk in Orange County. A stroll around the island takes about 45 minutes and is an even greater joy at Christmas time. This video was shot on Christmas Eve, 2008… and shows about 10 houses on Balboa Island.
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 4:25 pm. Add a comment
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