Paso Picacho Campground

Our last camping trip in October got cut short by a family emergency so in February we decided it was time to redeem ourselves.  Our go to campground is closed for the winter so we found Paso Picacho Campground in Cuyamaca State Park south of Julian that is open on a first come first serve basis year round (note you need reservations April-October). We drove out on a Saturday morning, took about an hour and 15 minutes from the coast. It was a great, quiet little campground.  I swore I'd remember this but I'm not sure if it's correct, I think we chose site number 34.  It had a great peek view of a meadow down below where we saw tons of white tail deer and amazing views of Stonewall Peak across the road.  However the best (to us, most private) sites looked like they were at the back of the campground but that area was closed for some reason.

Site #34?

View of Stonewall Peak

We had hiked Stonewall Peak before so we decided to do Cuyamaca Peak, out the back side of the campground.  It's a longer hike with a steady incline, I think about 6 miles round trip.  We ended up taking the fire road the entire way up because we couldn't find another path that we were sure went where we wanted to go. The lower half of the hike was through the still burnt out trees of the fires that swept through this area a few years ago, kind of eerie looking at times but beautiful.  Once we got up a little higher the greenery started filling in.

Happy Hikers

Almost to the top, looking west

Husband face

This is definitely a campsite we'll come back to.  We also want to try Green Valley Campground right down the road, it has a little stream running through it but it closed in the "winter." Julian is about 10 minutes up the road if you want your apple pie fix.

Italy-Ischia

I realized that I never posted about the second half of my trip to Italy. After Positano and the Amalfi Coast we ventured out to Ischia Island for 3 nights. Ischia Island is known for it's natural hot springs and thermal baths which are said to have healing properties. They have a big hot springs garden there (called Citara)  but we didn't visit that. We took a ferry from Positano directly there. It left bright and early and we were a little hungover due to overindulgence in wine (weird) so we napped on the boat.

Napping on boats, Ischia bound. One of my favorite photos from the trip

The ferry took us to the main port (Ischia Porto) on the northeast side of the island.  After some searching online we decided to stay in Forio which is on the west side of the island. Forio has a sort of laid-back, village vibe.  There's some shopping and restaurants and bars but it's not a late night sort of place.  We found Hotel Providence online after a lot of TripAdvisor searching. It had good reviews and was across the street from the beach.  It had a wonderful outdoor pool with amazing views.  The rooms are nothing special but clean and we didn't spend any time in them except to sleep. The staff was friendly, it was definitely a very quiet hotel that seemed to cater to an older crowd. It's also slightly outside the center of Forio but it's a beautiful walk along the water to get into Forio, takes about 10-15 minutes.

The view from the pool deck at Hotel Providence

We only had 3 nights and two full days in Ischia so we didn't get to do as much as we wanted to. Looking back I am really disappointed that we didn't find the time to hike up to the peak of Mt. Epomeo.  When we arrived we relaxed at the pool at the hotel for a few hours and then walked into the town to eat and drink more.  There's a little row of restaurants across from the water, all of the ones we tried were delicious.

The next day we took the bus over to Ischia Ponte to check out Castello Aragonese, one of the main tourist attractions on Ischia.  It's an old medieval castle just of the northeast side of Ischia and connected to it by a foot bridge.  We spent hours wandering around and taking in the amazing views...and checking out torture chambers. We even went for a dip in the water off the foot bridge on our way out. 

Magnificent Castello Aragonese

The view down onto Ischia Ponte from Castello Aragonese

The beautiful gardens

Our last day on Ischia was spent at the beach across the street from our hotel, Cava dell'isola.  We were told by the bartender at our hotel that it was the "young beach" and he was right. It seemed like the "high school hangout" with many over-groomed dudes in speedos playing soccer. I can't say I'm a fan of the speedo look but the beach was beautiful.  The water was extremely calm and warm but still cool enough to be refreshing. We baked all day then ate a late lunch at the restaurant on the north end of the beach.

Cava dell'isola

Speedos!

That night we ate and drank as usual and accidentally went on a date with two Italian dudes who quickly fell in love with us. What an uncomfortable evening that was. We went to a small romantic town called Sant'Angelo and got gelato.  It was a beautiful and classy little place however we were under the impression that we were going dancing at a club and I think we were dressed a little too risqué for the crowd there.  We got quite a few disapproving looks and I'm fairly certain that the crowd there thought we were paid companions. By the end of the evening we couldn't wait to escape back to our little hotel room.

The next day we took a ferry back to Naples where we had to spend the night for our 6am flight home. We got a little hotel room near the airport and Naples is not a safe place for 2 chicas to be walking around at night so we settled in, got some takeout and attempted to sleep before the long flight home back to reality.

Hong Kong

The fun part of my work trip to China was the day and a half we spent in Hong Kong.  China works 6 days a week so on Saturday afternoon we headed across the border into Hong Kong to spend the "weekend" there. We arrived and checked into our hotel and then wandered around Hong Kong.  I am not a city person and HK is crazy and hectic and crowded but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't get to do much in my short time there but at least I got to see it.

The amazing bridges of Hong Kong

Hong Kong streets

Dorky selfie, HK

After wandering and eating (oddly) at an Irish bar in Ocean Center, a massive mall on Victoria Harbor, we took a ferry from Ocean Center across the water to...well I don't know where to.  I was with two people that spend a lot of time in Hong Kong so I just followed them around. We wandered for hours and by the time we caught the ferry back to Ocean Center it was dark and cloud were hanging low and it made for some AMAZING photos.  We sat at a bar along the water with the thousands of people milling around and watched the light show, A Symphony of Lights,  they play on the buildings on the bay there.

On Sunday we took the tram up Victoria Peak to see Hong Kong from above, a really awesome experience.  The tram leaves out of this little building and goes up, up, up, very steep.  There's amazing views and the top and gardens to wander around.

The tram goes up

Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

Back view, Victoria Peak

High above Hong Kong

When we got back down we were supposed to head back to Dongguan but the bosses decided we should stay in HK for one more night.  We moved hotels to the W on Kowloon Bay.  Let me tell you, if you every have a chance to stay at this hotel DO IT.  It costs a fortune but if I ever go back to HK I will stay there.  It's the epitome of luxury and good design with amazing views and a rooftop pool. I', not normally a luxury traveler but I got a taste of the good life here. and I definitely wouldn't mind doing that again. We spent the afternoon at the rooftop "pool party" where they split the pool area in half, a quiet area for guests staying at the hotel and a party area with a DJ for people coming in to drink too much.  It was a bit gloomy but still plenty warm

The view from our room at the W

View from the rooftop pool at the W

I'm on the 76th floor, so that building behind me is TALL

After an afternoon and evening in the hot tub high above Kowloon Bay we paid a visit to Ozone, touted as the tallest bar in the world (118th floor). It's on the top floor of the Ritz Carlton it was swanky and big and man was it high up.

The rainy view from Ozone

After our night at Ozone (and maybe a few too many glasses of wine) we woke up and had to go back to the reality of work in China. Until next time Hong Kong.