Sausalito day trip & Mazda 6 saves the day

Mazda-HeaderWho needs a reason to go out and explore, especially when you’re living in California? The minute I get a vehicle delivered, I pop back into the house for a quick minute, leash Alfie up and we’re on our way.

Alfie-in-windowAnd because I can’t say no to this cute face! Usually I do this first so I can take photos while the car is spic-n-span and free of dust, but also — hello sport mode fun! I just discovered this over the weekend, that when you put cars in sport-mode… it’s automatically jumped up from being: okay this is fun, to: whoa this is awesome.

Mazda6Also, I’ve noticed lately a lot of review cars are red. I wonder if there’s a reason for that? 

I got the Mazda 6 last Thursday for review, so that’s when I took Alfie on a jaunt around town, exploring neighbourhoods. Since my husband was working on Friday, I decided to venture out to the climbing gym and meet my internet climbing buddies, turned into real life climbing buddies. You might know Esther and Jacob from their blog Local Adventurer! Esther-and-Jacob

BoulderingWe bouldered for about an hour, then left the gym to meet up with Lauren, and Jessica for lunch at the new Eureka restaurant in Cupertino. No photos taken, only Snapchat videos that are forever deleted (ahem, unless you follow me). But wow, what a gorgeous little area to hang out in! We were there for a couple of hours, and since it’s a new build that I haven’t checked out for a while, they also added a Phil’s Coffee (which is so picturesque it’s insane).

I only took photos of the palm trees, because I still feel like a newbie tourist here. I love it.Palm-tree

Saturday was pretty low-key and we didn’t do too much. Yawn! OH WAIT. CHANGED MY MIND. Except for the morning when my husband called me mentioning he got a flat tire on his bicycle and it was unrepairable due to the tube busting out of it.

Mazda to the rescue!Mazda6-to-rescue

Alfie and I hopped in the car and drove 30 minutes north on the highway (he wasn’t on the highway, I obviously had to exit lol) to bring him gear to fix the tire. He didn’t want a ride home! So we hung around with him as he fixed his tire, and we watched all the other cyclists pass by (a lot of them stopped and asked if we needed help), it’s a hotspot area for cyclists for sure! Wow. Mazda-to-Rescue

Sunday, we ended up checking out a new-to-us pizza place called 1000 Degrees Pizza since we had a free coupon to go try it out. We ended up doing a build-your-own 10″ pizza to split between the two of us and we added SO much stuff.1000-pizza

The regular cost would’ve been $8.95 which is a decent deal for a nice wood-fired thin crust pizza — my ultimate favourite kind of pizza. It was cooked super fast (assuming because it’s in a 1000 degree oven) and by the time we finished paying (for our drink) it was cooked and plated.pizza-up-close My husband really liked it, and I liked it too but I think I added too many toppings and I wish the center of the pizza wasn’t gooey/watery.

Eat-the-pizzaMaybe too much sauce? I’m not sure. I did enjoy the rest of the delicious pizza, since we polished off 3 slices each. Hee hee!

I told my husband I wanted to take him to the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge and check out the views of the city and the bridge from that side. Precisely what we did — and hundreds of other tourists. I guess I forget what it’s like in the city on weekends, especially long weekends! I usually take our visitors (or even myself) up to the city on weekdays. Definitely not as crowded.Alfie-smilesAlfie’s “I’m ready to go!” excited face.

Mazda-insideHere I am snappin’ photos of me turnin’ on the tunes and adjusting the power seats in the Mazda6 before the ‘long trek’. A lot fancier than my own Mazda!

Our first stop was to a vista point along the highway, we rarely do this – so I pulled in and checked out these gorgeous views of the hills. views

vista-point

Then we made it across the Golden Gate bridge and down to this spot. One view I will never tire of:Golden-Gate

Alfie-Me-Golden-GateOnce we hung out at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge for a while, I drove us up to Sausalito, which is a small city in Marin County north of the Golden Gate.

sausalitooLittle history lesson here for ya, but back in World War 2, Sausalito was a shipbuilding center.

Sausalito-maiIt’s a gorgeous little spot with tons of character, tons of rich people (just bein’ honest!) and a lot of beautiful and huge sail boats.

Palm-trees-dog-walk

SausalitoWe walked around the main street and had a bit of a snacky-picnic right along the water. It was such a beautiful day!

I was so tired yesterday from our walking around, and me driving all along the coast, but we ended up finishing up our weekend by going for a 6km run with just the two of us. Usually Alfie comes with, but since he was out with us in the sun the entire day and we didn’t want him to get too overheated. I am pooped!

Not only that, this week is going to be a scorcher here in San Jose. On one of the days this week, it’s reading it’s going to get upwards to 39°C (which is 102°F), I’ll definitely be on the lookout for a pool/beach to swim in on that day. Wowzers!

How was your Memorial Day Weekend?

Mazda-wheelThanks to Mazda for loaning me the vehicle for the week, and for allowing these adventures to happen! And thanks to you guys, reading my blog – because this wouldn’t have happened without your help!

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Snowshoeing in Pippy Park

GrinI’m going on week 7 of being here in St. John’s Newfoundland, and I’m making the most of spending time up here in my old hometown during this super cold Canadian winter. Last weekend my climbing buddy Lori (who visited me last year for our Yosemite Climbing trip!) and I went snowshoeing around Pippy Park.

NancysnowshoeLori already owned snowshoes, and me being illprepared for how long I was going to be home, didn’t have much snow-gear besides a winter coat and hat. So just like old times, she brought over everything for me to wear to snowshoe.

PippyParkI wore her Arc’teryx snow pants, and her two shell jackets that were super warm, along with a buff to put around my neck, and I even wore her mittens. Man, what a pal… let me tell ya. I had a time! I didn’t even have proper footwear to wear (I leave my UGGs at home, and I only brought my riding boots which aren’t insulated). So I popped on my Mother’s winter boots and went off for a bit of snowshoeing.

LoriNancyoutAt Pippy Park you can rent your gear whether it be cross country skiis, or snowshoes + poles by the hour. They keep your ID and once you get back you pay your fee. It’s so inexpensive too: $5.00/hour. We ended up doing all the loops of the trails (about 4 or 5 loops) and we were going at obviously a walking pace, stopping to take photos, and to chat – and it still was only about an hour to do it all. So for $5.00 and a bit of fun, it was well worth it!

NancyArmsUpI filmed some footage of our adventure, but I don’t have the software here on my Mom’s computer to upload it to YouTube, so that’ll have to wait until I get back to California.

InCar(By the way, had a family friend ask me if anyone in St. John’s was paying me to shout out to local companies. They are not. No one knows I am writing about them … and I don’t get paid for ANY blogging I do – so I suppose you can honestly say you can trust my judgement when I mention places? Lol)

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Driving Lexus performance vehicles on Chuckwalla Valley Raceway

Photos marked with an * were professional photos from the event. 

I’m sure you’ve all been wondering how the whole Palm Springs trip came about, and how it all went down!

PassportI have to tell you, this little Canadian was excited to hop on an airplane and head down south where the palm trees are taller, and the weather it hotter. Giving my praise and appreciation to Jasmine of Simply Real Moms to trust someone she’s never met, to represent her and her brand for an entire event.

Delsey-luggageI packed my Delsey luggage to go on its second airplane ride (my husband used it first to go back to Canada for a few days), and surprisingly it received a lot of attention. Four different people came up to me to compliment the suitcase!

DesleyWore a silly Hello LA tee, and layered my Superdry hoodie over top for extra warmth, since no matter the temperature I seem to have a constant chill.

RCFWhen I first arrived to the Ritz Carlton, Rancho Mirage in Palm Springs I paired up with Melanie the first afternoon to drive in this Lexus RC F 2 door coupe right before we got ready for the presentation and supper.

12357114_10156261513955176_5289841702882844679_oView from my room!

As I stated on Simply Real Mom’s blog post (read my article here), we all (bloggers, influencers and car enthusiasts) gathered for an all women’s Lexus Performance Driving experience in the Lexus F-Sport vehicles (the RC F coupe, and GS F sedan) on the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway.

But before the adrenaline rush of driving on a track in the desert happened, there was a presentation showing us some behind-the-scenes happening at Lexus. They’re actually coming out with a designer line of women’s clothing for their associates to wear, to feel more stylish in, rather than wearing polo shirts to work all the time. The professional photographer snapped this one below*. _JD41619

And just outside the presentation room, there was this gorgeous Lexus LFA.

spiffykerms in Lexus LFAIt’s my husband’s favourite car, and as soon as I sent him this photo of me sitting in it, I knew immediately what his reaction would be: jaw dropping emoji’s flooding through. It’s a $500,000 car, made almost all out of carbon fiber and only 500 of them available in the WORLD. My husband and I visited a Lexus dealership with an LFA in the showroom in Canada when we lived there, but we weren’t allowed to sit in it. Just look. So sitting in it this time, was pretty incredible. Now you see why I mentioned the jaw dropping emojis? Lol.

_JD41995The next morning we were instructed to follow the Lexus GPS and drive out 70 miles east to the racetrack. Rene from Good Enough Mother, and I getting ready to hit the road!*

ChuckwallaEveryone teamed up in two’s to drive 70 miles to Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. Rene and I ended up taking the IS 250 out and once we got to the track, we had to do those obligatory photos. You know it!!

_JD42069The Heels + Wheels ladies lined up ready to drive*

Two types of the Lexus F sport vehicles, the Lexus RC F coupe, and GS F sedan were just waiting for us to take them out for a spin on the track. But firstly, everyone needed to learn how to drive on the track properly, and efficiently so professional driving instructors took us all under their wings and showed us the ropes roads. I don’t know much about cars to be honest, but I do know I love to drive them. So hearing that the Lexus F-brand vehicles are the highest Lexus performing vehicles allowed on roads! Nuts, and so awesome at the same time.

12375121_10156261550885176_6243242416865427425_oLexus lunch tent*

Lunch was served, and we all gathered in for a buffet style feast — everything tasted excellent and was top notch. Though, I must admit I wolfed down my lunch in order to get more track-time in under my belt. You couldn’t hold me back! I wanted to learn everything I could, not to mention I have the need for speed.

4-ladies-lined-up

helmets-onEach loop I went out on, on the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, I requested a professional driving instructor to come with me. I wanted to learn as much as I could, as I drove. Jeff was my favourite instructor, as he had some excellent tips to fine tune my driving, not for the track racing, but for the regular streets too. Not to mention the fact, because when with someone I could play a little harder and push the pedal to the metal when I knew there was someone telling me that I could giv’er on the straight-aways. I’m not-so-surprised that I’ve been told I was a confident driver. I suppose it’s all the Canadian winters I’ve driven in since moving to California, knowing exactly when to let off the throttle if I was going in for a too steep of a turn.

_JD42729

_JD42602A couple of photos of me in the RC F, and GS F out on the track!! *

Lexus, I gotta say you make some exceptional vehicles. It was definitely a spirited driving experience out on Chuckwalla last week. The F-Brand sport vehicles certainly hug your curves while hugging the turns and bends in the road, and what fun it is to drive. I felt confident in the cars ability to make each turn without thinking of its lack of performance.

My adrenaline rush is coming back through my hands, reliving the moment as I type this out. I mean, can we do it all over again? I’m ready for it!

Chuckwalla-Raceway

Leaving-Palm-SpringsCouldn’t wipe that smile off my face even leaving the Ritz Carlton in Palm Springs. But don’t be fooled by my grin. I was sad to leave, but happy that this experience happened, and I’m still on Cloud 9 you guys!

Delsey-ChateletDon’t forget to check out the videos I posted: Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 on my YouTube channel.

Huge hugs and huge thanks to Jasmine for sending me to represent Simply Real Moms, and to Delsey luggage for supplying me with gorgeous luggage.

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