Outdoor Adventures for Everyone!
CalActive.com has consistently grown more than 50% in traffic month over month. We recently achieved 5,000 unique visitors to the CalActive.com website in the month of May!
Congratulations to the entire CalActive team for their dedication and enthusiasm with the project. Thank you to all our visitors for the great interest in Southern California activities. We strive to offer only the best and we couldn’t do it without you.
So we just added Canyoneering to our activity list and I’m dying to go. I love adventure so this will be the perfect outing for me. Canyoneering involves everything from climbing to hiking, jumping, scrambling, rapeling down waterfalls… you name it, you do it. Sounds fun, right?! I found a great story about a Canyoneering adventure. Hopefully I’ll get to view the video too (sounds like it was a great trip). What is Canyoneering? Come discover for yourself what this crazy activity is all about.
Last Friday we received a visit from our friends and makers of the fantastic Go San Diego Card (click the link to order your very own card). Actually, they make Go Cards for many different destinations, such as Los Angeles, Boston, Orlando, Miami, Chicago and many others. It’s such an amazing idea, really. You purchase a card that comes with a free guide. The guide has tons of ideas for things to do locally and will get you in at no additional cost to about 50 different attractions.
The representative that paid us a visit was nice enough to leave us a couple of Go San Diego Cards to try out. At some point in the next couple of weeks two of us will be going to San Diego to enjoy the benefits of the card. Looking at the guide, there are so many different things to do, it will be tough.
Here are my initial thoughts:
Breakfast at the Cheese Shop Restaurant and Delicatessen. I LOVE CHEESE AND BREAKFAST. We get 20% off our breakfast and a Free Frisby! We need one of those down in Laguna Beach - Orange County!
Tour PETCO Park. I am a big baseball fan, and going to take a tour of the San Diego Padres home park sounds like a perfect thing to do. How could I miss this?!
Wine Tasting! Why would we not go drink some free wine?
You will have to wait to find out what we actually end up doing 
On Saturday, Heather and I went to our Military Flight Simulator activity in Southern California. First of all, when I left my house it was nearly 100 degrees. HOT AS CAN BE. So I was happy we were going to be inside in an air conditioned room.
When you first walk in to the location, there is a mural with a totally cool jet scene and three jet fighter seats. Take a look:
The mural:
The Jet Fighter Seats:
Heather sitting on the Jet Fighter Seat:
Our activity started at around 12:15pm. We walked to the back room and got into our flight suite. It was totally TOP GUN!
Heather and I in our suites:
After we were suited up, we were brought into a class room to learn everything we needed to know about flying a jet fighter plane. All I remember the teacher telling us is that we had a throttle, a button to load our missiles, a button to launch the missile, a button to shoot bullets (that are basically harmless unless you are 2 feet away, and ready to crash into, the other jet fighter), and a button to speak to our assistant back in the control center.
Learning how to fly:
Great, now that we know exactly how to fly a jet fighter (yeah, sure we do!), we are ready to jump into the cockpit of our Jet Fighters! It was so cool to jump in and really feel what it’s like to sit inside such a small area with complete control of this huge piece of machinery that can fly faster that the speed of sound. After I sit down, I hold on to the throttle on my left (which also has a button that works just like the Nextel/Sprint Push-to-Talk feature whenever you have something to say) and what looks exactly like an Atari joystick on the right. There is someone there to walk you through every step of the way as many times as needed to make sure you have a great time. While you are flying, back in the control deck, someone is on the headphones talking you through any problems or questions (they also give you more missiles when you run out, so don’t be shy, and ask for more!).
The Jet Fighters:
The Throttle:
The Joystick:
Getting more help:
Control Deck:
Check out the Missiles:
If there are guests that are not going to be flying, there is a great area right outside with 8 screens for the visitors to see all the action while it takes place (see below). There are also some simple rules, which are listed on the photo below, but no big deal.
Waiting Room:
The Rules:
This is really an amazingly fun activity that does not cost very much. You will not regret doing it! Oh yeah, and before I forget… Guess who won the dogfight?
Most Kills:
It’s nice when I leave my house in the morning to head to work and there is not a cloud in the sky and 65-70 degrees. A PERFECT DAY! So, a few days ago I am heading down to Laguna Beach (where our office is) and all of a sudden, as I drove down Newport Coast, it seemed as if I was driving straight down into the clouds. Seriously, it looked so weird. Take a look…
After about 2 hours, the clouds were gone and we were back to a perfect day. Weather Rules!
Anyway, this weekend we are going to try out the Authentic Military Flight Simulators in Anaheim… Will most definitely take some pictures and video and do a write-up on it.
This morning we went out kayaking in Laguna Beach (Thalia Beach to be specific), and what a perfect day it worked out to be. There is a reason why many people call Laguna Beach a Paradise. The water was crystal clear, the weather was perfect, and the sea lions were on the rocks tanning as usual. Sea Lions? Yup! They were so cute sitting there with absolutely nothing to do being as lazy as one could ever be. Regardless, they definitely made this trip that much more enjoyable.
One thing I love about ocean kayaking is that you can go easy or be more adventurous. Constantly trying to read the waves, the wind, and the current makes it all that much more exciting. There’s also another plus to kayaking that I just recently learned about. Kayaking is helpful for rafting. What do I mean by this? Well, rafting is a completely different activity, but the truth is that when you learn to kayak, it helps with your rafting skills. I will have to try this out myself!
On another note, we are just about getting ready to open our doors at the Montage Resort to those who want to go Kayaking, Snorkeling, or Buggy boarding, or even if you want to learn how to surf. The “life changing luxury travel” resort should definitely be a fun place to start a kayak tour from. Can’t wait!
Our starting point today:
Went to the Mayan Riviera recently in search of paradise. Cancun wasn’t the destination. Nor was Playa Del Carmen. I was going further south to Tulum, home of eco-chic resorts, and an oceanfront Mayan ruin. Sounded good to me. Flew into Cancun with my daughter, who was on Spring break from Paris. Had never been to Cancun, but kinda knew what to expect; ginormous resorts side by side, all-inclusive, ensuring the traveler the most inauthentic Mexican holiday imaginable. But more on that later.
We got the car and drove south through Playa del Carmen, rumored to have one time been cool. Gooch little beachside Italian clubs and restaurants (’course if I want to see Italians I’ll go to Italy). I’m sorry to report it is Cancun’s little brother Shit Howdy! Slightly more chill, but still one big tourist trap. The de riguer pedestrian walkway is now flooded with inauthentic jewelry, $120 bikinis, sunglass hut after sunglass hut, and the requisite Senor Frogs - and Starbucks. Everything you need for a drunken Spring Break.
So Tulum it was, one long line of eco-chic resorts nestled in the jungle, replete with charming casitas on the beach, open air restaurants, and the requisite hip “Mayan” spas. Much more authentic. No AC. No swimming pools. Just the shimmering Caribbean and her silky sand. And the almighty dollar! Who would of thought that eco-chic was really a way of saying “triple the price of the real Mexico.” Sure, the resorts were spotless with exemplary maid service. Paths were cleared, windows rid of sea salt each and everyday, beds made. But still they were primitive casitas with palapa roofs. The charm was in the rustic appointments, the sea breeze instead of air conditioning. But $325 a night at the Cabanas Capal? For studio Cabanas on a windswept rock ledge where there was no beach?
And the bargain price of $95 for their “garden” cabana? Some garden. A tiny dark room with no windows, surrounded by a thicket of jungle where the air doesn’t circulate? Sure, it would be charming and romantic to go without electricity if there was a breeze. But this was March, the wind was howling non-stop just 20 yards away, but the “charming” jungle had not been thinned and I sweltered like a Vietnam POW. I might even vote for McCain now.
At least get us an overnight fan! And the spas? I thought massages in Mexico were in the $20-30/hr range. But apparently nobody told these folks. Lowest price at any spa I saw was $70/hr. Eco-chic indeed.
Despite the gauging, the coast is lovely, the water an amazing turquoise, and the setting incomparable. When we were there the wind was pretty much constant and the water extremely choppy. We’re told this is common. It makes for great kite surfing, but ocean swimming and snorkeling is another story. And of course there are no waves for surfing of body boarding. I have to say one of the most interesting parts of the trip were the cenotes, the system of underground rivers that runs throughout the peninsula. Cenotes are the occasional holes in the ground where these freshwater oasis are found. The water is clear and drinkable, and you can snorkel through underground caves filled with stalacalites. Plus the sun comes underneath and through these caves casting a brilliant cobalt patina on the water. Capri’s Blue Grottos have nothing on this.
At the end of the trip I crossed to the other (Pacific) Coast of Mexico, where I got back in touch with my inner primitive Mexican soul. Flew to the southern Pacific coastal resort of Huatulco. La Bahias del Hautulco you say? Never heard of it? You will. This is a big time Mexican resort that was built in the 80’s, failed, and is now experiencing a resurgence. But I didn’t come to go there. I went north (or West) to the fishing village of Puerto Angel. Okay, the Pacific side may not have the turquoise water and the lush tropical jungle, but it’s dry and bug free and untouched and real and everything I was looking for. Zipolite is ther hippy beach that time forgot: same palapas on the beach as Tulum - OK maybe a little more rundown with less vigorous trash collection. But rooms for $20, and hammocks for five. A good meal with cervesa for $5. And that beloved massage on the beach for $20. Plus waves - big ones, that require some restraint. Still, El Pacifico is the place for me.
Take a break from getting radical and hang with Thor as he and friends impart musical mischief and poetic pandering on your hot sweet booties.
