My Best Man, Antonio & I will be taking a mini-adventure back to Minnesota for a quick trip to the family, followed by a long, slow journey on Amtrak back to California.

We take off on Tuesday morning. A quick stop in Las Vegas for lunch and a layover before heading the rest of the way to the Twin Cities.

After some fun days with my family, we will pack up and start the first leg of our train trip, stopping in Portland.

Another quick lunch and layover in Portland allows us some time to check out the city before we board the train for our final section, arriving in Martinez on the morning of my 27th birthday. I took the day off on Monday, so it should be a nice, relaxing weekend before I get back to work.

What: My childhood best friend is getting married! on December 2nd!

Where: Minnesota

Who: Me, maybe a +1…?

My first time to the state of Washington. The plan is to hopefully see our longtime family friends, see some mountains, and get some Seattle Kraken gear!

Dates Tentative

What: One Day to summit the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. My first 14,000+ mountain!

Where: Sierra Nevada

Who: Me, Mike

What: Driving down to Southern California to spend some time visiting with friends and exploring the landscape of Los Angeles and San Diego for a week+. Hopefully the Getty Museum is open for me to check it out!

Where: Los Angeles, perhaps even a jaunt down to San Diego to skate in La Jolla

Who: Me, Seb, Sean

What: Short overnight trip for one full day of Snowshoeing/sledding and one night for camping.

Where: Yosemite Red Hills Recreational Management Area

Who: Me, Antonio

Summary: Unfortunately, California is still in a stay-at-home order (ended up being lifted on Monday), so there was not going to be an overnight excursion whether we wanted to or not (technically, we could’ve determined whether the price of a citation would’ve been worth it). To throw another wrench in our plans, Yosemite was closed due to damages from high winds, we noticed it on a sign on the drive over (you know the one, driving east of Manteca that is over the road). In California, unless you live in the mountains, you have to drive to the snow, so snowshoeing was out of the picture.

Antonio scrambled to find another suitable location for our (now) day hike. Several options came up, but many were closed due to the stay-at-home order. We ended up going to a place called Red Hills Recreational Management Area - Yeah, we thought the name was kinda weird too.

We popped into the parking lot, and noticed several horse trailers. Now that’s cool. I want a horse. Anyway, we decided not to follow the horses and forge ahead in our own direction. It was a nice hour and a half hike, through some beautiful terrain with absolutely gorgeous red rocks. A hidden gem, certainly, we ended up finding our way back to the car, and had lunch at a park table. As we headed home, we stopped for Coldstone - that was a highlight - and made it back in time to watch UFC. Not really my thing, but it was a cool event.