Santiago Creek Bike Path

I am pleased to report that for the past two weeks, I've had remarkably successful Tustin Adventures. Yay!

Last weekend, I packed up my trusty bicycle and hit the Santiago Creek Bike Path for a leisurely Saturday morning ride. This is a great bike path that runs from Santa Ana, through neighboring cities of Orange and Tustin, all the way to the Santiago Canyon. I didn't go all that way as that is quite a trek. I made it to about Orange and turned around.

I've done my fair share of bike riding in LA and as one who has dealt with the traffic/potholes/garbage/yuck that city riding tends to offer, this bike path is SO NICE. Smooth, well maintained, flat, spacious, and runs along a cute creek where you can take a break and watch the ducks paddling in the (somewhat limited) waterway. Quite a few folks were out for the morning jogs. I even met a sweet old Jack Russell terrier named Sailor!

I'm so glad I went to explore the Santiago Creek Bike Path! Bonus: that I remember as a kid visiting Hart Park, which is a stop along the bike path. I'm happy to see that the park is still well used and maintained. It might have the biggest, nicest baseball field / lawn I've seen in ages. Check out the photos below:

Trail Map

Sweet Dirt Bike Arena

One of thee nicest lawns I have ever seen

Instagrammy

Headed back to Santa Ana

The Archery Range was the place to be!

Laguna Lake Park

So this is a little outside my 10 mile radius of South Tustin, but with good reason.

I visited a pal of mine who recently moved to La Habra. La Habra is located almost half the distance between LA and Tustin. It's a nice place to visit, and I enjoy seeing a friendly face in the OC as I'm either going to or coming from Los Angeles.

On this particular day, we set out for a trip to the park with her 8 week old bebe. Laguna Lake Park offered a quiet and cool setting for our afternoon stroll. We took our time catching up and walked for a while on the hiking / mountain bike trail that extends into Fullerton, all while her babe snoozed during our walk.

I neglected to take any photos, but the Yelp site for this park does a great job with the description and photos:

What a nice afternoon! I'm so happy I get to see my friend and her little dear one during my time in OC.

Laguna Lake Park
3120 Lakeview Dr
Fullerton, CA 92832

Free

Approximately 15 miles away

Benjies Delicatessen

(photo credit: eatingmywaythroughoc.blogspot.com)

I've probably driven past Benjies thousands of times in my life. Think about that. What registers in your psyche to pass by someone or something THOUSANDS of times in your life. I've either driven or been in the car passing by it on a regular basis since I was born, and until last week, had never been inside. Boy, what I have been missing!

I stopped in on a rainy afternoon and ordered a 7 & 7 in the attached bar, The Bamboo Lounge. Benjies advertises happy hour from 3pm till closing, which makes one wonder when exactly is it not happy hour in Benjies? I washed my cocktail down with a pastrami sandwich and side of macaroni salad. It was all delicious. Typically, Langers on Alvarado / 7th in LA is my go-to joint for all my pastrami sandwich needs, but Benjies was still pretty darn great. And given that it's almost a stone's throw away from my work, I can see myself exploring more happy hour drink and menu options in the near future.

Bonus points for the Bamboo Lounge decor and people watching.

Benjies Delicatessen
1828 N Tustin Ave
Santa Ana, CA 92705

www.benjiesdeli.com

~$17 for a cocktail, pastrami sandwich, and matzo ball soup
Approximately 1 mile away

Weekend Adventuring

Due to a case of the crud and sniffles, I opted to stay in Tustin for the weekend. I invited my sweetie to join me via train ride so I could show him what fun Tustin is (wooooo). It was a strange feeling to not be packing / plotting / planning my departure for the weekend. However, having been in Tustin for almost four months now and not staying one single weekend, I figured now was as good a time as any.

Our adventures began at the Tustin metrolink station, where I picked up my sweetheart after his ride south from LA. I'd never been to that station before as my work is closer to the Santa Ana station (Tustin stop is only for Metrolink trains, no Amtrack). Good to know.

Next order of business was lunch at an Indian joint I had read about on Yelp - Laxmi Sweets $ Spices.
It was delish! There are a bunch of Indian restaurants in my part of Tustin. Many more than any part of LA I ever lived in. This place serves vegetarian and meat options and for $8 you get all kinds of choices, as well as naan bread and a mango drink. My beau was so impressed. I was happy my first stop in the Tour de Tustin went over so well.

Next we hit Eisenhower Park in Orange. This is a park I have fond memories of from my youth. In the spring time, there are loads of tadpoles that swim in the man-made creeks. I just loved scooping them up in glass jars with my brother and inspecting the little tadpoles before releasing them back to their tadpoley business. We took a leisurely walk around the lake where ducks were being fed and a few groups of men were fishing. I'm surprised I remembered where this place even was!

In the evening, we hit up a showing of Batman Returns at the Mainplace Mall. I totally went here all the time as a teenager. Mall + suburbs + teenager = prime territory. Movies here are only $2. TWO DOLLARS! All the time!! $1 on Tuesdays!!! I don't think these movies were always this cheap, but I'm pretty stoked they are now. Both of us had missed the big theater run of Batman Returns, and considering it was a rainy night, this was the perfect opportunity to make up for lost time.

Sunday we attempted breakfast at Cook's Corner, a biker bar in Trabuco Canyon. Unfortunately we hit the line RIGHT as breakfast orders were ending. I wanted breakfast, and eyeballing the leftover hashbrowns on the griddle did nothing but make me want breakfast more. So we made our way out of the canyons (which were gorgeous that post-rainy night morning) and opted for a trip to Downtown Santa Ana.

After a greezy breakfast at Norms - the sight of many a teenage-hangover breakfasts - we strolled down Main Street to see what we could see. We walked past the old Koo's Cafe, which I could still recognize from the green fence out front. I was attempting to steer us towards the Gypsy Den, and I thought for the life of me it was on Main Street, but it was not. It was on Broadway, a few blocks west of us. Ah well. We continued our stroll, checking out the historic heart of Santa Ana a little. By the time we made our way back it was nearing the end of our adventuring. Time to head to the train station.

Ending our tour at the Santa Ana train station, we putzed around and chatted until it was time for him to go. I was sad to see my sweetheart leave on the train that afternoon. I wanted to leave too, to get back to LA, to get the hell out of Tustin, even after having a fun weekend of adventuring. Although I wanted to leave, I knew I had to stay. And I guess I have to stay in Tustin for a little while longer.

Election Night Pho

Pho is my favorite food.

I can eat it on a hot day, I can eat it at night or in the morning. I like it just too spicy where my nose runs *just* a little. I can eat it when I feel great, I can eat it when I'm hungover, when I'm sick, after working out. I absolutely adore a big, brothy bowl of pho.

Therefore I was so pleased after moving from Koreatown, with it's vast array of pho joints, to Tustin that there was a pho place nearby my new apartment. YAY! And Pho Hung Vuong does not disappoint. It's exactly what I want in a pho diner - fast, cheap, nearby, no hassles and good pho.  I stopped in last week just as the election results were coming in. So I got to celebrate another 4 years of President Obama with my favorite noodley goodness. God bless America.

Pho Hung Vuong

14182 Newport Ave
Unit B
Tustin, CA 92780

Approximately 2 miles away

~$10 for Pho Tai and tip

Sarah May Downie Herb Garden

This tiny corner park in Santa Ana is hardly adventurous, but man, does it have some good juju.

I visited this park with a notepad and cup of coffee one Saturday morning. I finally realized it was much smaller than I had expected - simply just the corner of a very beautiful row of houses in Downtown Santa Ana. When I was growing up, we lived right on the border of Santa Ana and Tustin. I would venture to places in Santa Ana like Koo's Cafe and Norms diner as a teenager, but mostly there was no reason to visit Santa Ana. Now Santa Ana has a pretty cool art scene. I'm looking forward to visiting some of the downtown art galleries and the Gypsy Cafe.

Anyways, I sat down in this little park and started writing furiously for my kids-science theater show. I've been tormented with writers block for the last 6 months. It felt great to finally purge some ideas from my brain onto paper. Maybe it was the good vibes of the Sarah May Downie Herb Garden that helped out.



Sarah May Downie Herb Garden

2405 North Flower Street
Santa Ana, CA

Free

Approximately 4.5 miles away

http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/parks/SarahMayDownieHerbGardenPark.asp

Peter's Canyon

I am behind on my adventuring!

One place in Tustin that I adore is Peter's Canyon. $3 for parking gets you access to a wonderful set of hiking and mountain bike trails, and top notch people watching. I like to go Saturday mornings. My routine has been to pack for LA, head to Peter's canyon, climb up the big hill in the middle to look out over the landscape before making my way down the hill and off to Los Angeles for my weekend activities. It's a very nice meditative place. I dig it. Here are some photos from my last trip.

Peter's Canyon Regional Park
8548 E Canyon View Ave
Orange, CA 92869

Approximately 5.5 miles away

$3 Parking

The Great Park

I was SO excited for my visit to "The Great Park" in Irvine. I'd heard a lot about the building of this park, the contention, the controversy, the history, the back and forth over the development of this giant swath of valuable land that was once a former marine base. I am so sad to say that it was horribly disappointing. So disappointing that in writing this entry, I feel genuinely sad about this park.

The park is hot, bright, with little shade and a bizarre design that feels mostly like a parking lot at Disneyland. Completely tucked away off a large avenue in Irvine, the only way to get into the park is to drive. There are not even bike paths or for that matter road shoulders that one could ride a bike into the park safely.

Once you're there, it seems an awful trek from the asphalt parking lot to the concrete plaza pictured above. There is a hot air balloon that takes visitors 400 feet into the air and back down again. There is also a carousel for the young and young at heart:

I realize all this seems like GREAT fun! Great Park with hot air balloon and a carousel?! What's wrong with that?! And granted maybe I caught the park at a bad time of day, but it just seemed...unfinished. Too sunny, too hard, lacking the softness and inviting qualities of other parks. It was hard to get excited about a space that seemed like a parking lot redesigned to be a public park.

Such a bummer. Sorry, Great Park. You were a Great Disappointment.

The Great Park
Sand Canyon at Marine Way
Irvine, CA

~7 miles away

Free

Woolett Aquatic Center

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It's hot! I took a trip yesterday to the Woolett Aquatic Center in Irvine for an early afternoon swim. With plenty of lanes and only $4 per session, this place is a gem. I can defiantly see myself returning until Tustin finally cools off.

Woolett Aquatic Center

4601 Walnut Avenue

Irvine 92604

$4

Approximately 6 miles away

Lunch With Dad

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One thing about being in Tustin is that I am much closer to where my parents live in Northern San Diego. Last week I had lunch with my Dad a Zocalo on Tustin Avenue. Nice place for lunch. Made a mental note to return for their happy hour. We worked our way though a chicken burrito (Dad) and chicken soup (me) and caught up on all things familial. Nice to see my pops for a bit.

Zocalo

301 N. Tustin Ave
Santa Ana, CA 92705

Free! (Dad paid)

<1 mile away

Quinn's Old Town Bar and Grill

This is from a while ago, when I was attempting to use Tumblr. I never could figure out to get it to work properly, so I said eff this, and went back to blogspot.

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Last week I went for happy hour at Quinns - a local bar in Old Town Tustin. I bike past it on my way to the office. Quinns is where my company has our annual holiday party. I can't say it's my bag as far as a scene goes - tends to be occupied with Jaguar driving baby-boomers killing time. But the happy hour menu looked good so I stopped in after work on a Wednesday.

I had a seat at the bar and before long was in conversation with a regular. A long time divorcee, she had married and had her son long ago. I ordered the sliders and she had the beef morsels. She told me about her son meeting his Swedish wife during a European backpacking trip when he was 19. She told me about her marriage and her friends who have started to get cancer. I told her how I grew up in Tustin, she told me about how much she loved living in Tustin. 

Talking with this woman was delightful. She's been blessed with good health and a happy child who grew into a responsible, successful young man. She didn't seem wanting for much if anything other than a refill of white wine.

The sliders were terrific, but I overspent. Left the bar with just over $21 spent and a head full of life stories. 

Quinns

405 El Camino Real
Tustin, CA 92780

Approximately 2 miles away

RA Sushi Happy Hour

I went to RA Sushi in The District last Thursday.
I had a wedding to attend in the desert on Saturday.
Two days between this visit to happy hour sushi and wedding.

I stress this time difference because upon taking the first bite of sushi, I immediately calculated how long would it take me to recover from food poisoning should I fall horribly ill from this weeks Tustin Adventuring. I did not get food poisoning, thankfully, but neither did I particularly enjoy my visit to RA sushi. At the time, I did not know RA was a chain. Only that when googling "Tustin Happy Hour" this place caught my eye.  Think of it as the PF Changs of sushi. Fishy, greasy, with sort-of fancy fake dark wood decor.  The happy hour was busy with lots of office-worker types pushing the ginger scraps around on their plates. I did not stay long and pretty much avoided making eye contact with everyone at the bar.

The food was awful, but at least the drinks were cheap. $7 for a beer and hot sake. And this week's adventure included the exploration of "The District", Tustin's answer to "The Grove" or "The Americana". I'm not big on outdoor malls so the whole experience left me feeling Meh, coupled with a bit of a bellyache. Ah well. I suppose that not every week can be an outstandingly successful adventure.

RA Sushi

The District
2401 Park Ave
Tustin, CA 92782

~$13

Approximately 5.5 miles away

Sanctuary Yoga

In short: I like this yoga place.

There are two yoga studios very nearby my work - Purple Yoga and this place, Sanctuary Yoga. Both have comparable introductory deals - two weeks for $25 at Purple, $30 at Sanctuary. I went for several sessions at Purple Yoga and just did not like the vibe there. I'm not a hardcore yoga fanatic but I'm not too terrible either. One of my least favorite traits in a yoga instructor is persistent fussing with my body while I'm holding a position. I know my down-dog isn't perfect, but hey, please stop hovering and skootching my fingertips ever so slightly wider, thank you. All the extra attention makes me self conscious.

Thankfully, Sanctuary Yoga is nothing like this. My first class was Restorative Yoga with Colleen and I could not have loved it more. Plagued by a perpetually tight upper back, this yoga class really helped ease my sore muscles and settle my busy mind. Sanctuary offers a wide array of different types of yoga classes - even yoga babysitting!

While not exactly within my $15 budget, I went to several classes so I feel like this qualifies under the Tustin Adventuring rules. I'd like to keep going to more. They even have massage and aromatherapy and other fun stuff to relax the busy adventurer.

Sanctuary Yoga
505 W 1st Street
Tustin, CA 92780
http://www.awakensanctuary.com/

$30 for two weeks unlimited classes

Kayaking

It's now been two months in Tustin...eight weeks. So far I have
1.) hiked Peter's Canyon
2.) swum at the Wollett Aquatics Center
3.) had lunch with my Dad
4.) visited Quinn's Old Town Grill for Happy Hour
5.) taken yoga classes at Purple Yoga (not a fan)
6.) visited my friends The Limburg Family
7.) hiked Peter's Canyon...again (repeat adventuring...moderate cheating)


I can't believe I cheated at my own challenge! While repeat activities were not expressedly breaking the rules of Tustin Adventuring, I feel in the interest of posterity that repeats should be avoided. That said, I'm pretty proud of myself for completing last week's NEW adventure, rounding out my second month as a resident of Orange County. I went kayaking in Newport's Back Bay Estuary.

I woke up early on a Wednesday and got to the Newport Aquatic Center (NAC) before many people were out on the water. The NAC is pretty awesome - they have a little gym inside and you can rent single and double person kayaks as well as standup paddle boards by the hour for pretty cheap. They have monthly memberships that appear to be a pretty good deal as well.

There are paths carved out in the tall reeds of the estuary where one can explore either the wildlife, or tootle around the adjacent marina. I chose the wildlife path this time. It was pretty righteous out there in the cool morning. By the time I returned my kayak, groups of fellow adventurers were drinking coffee and getting ready for their morning sessions on the water.

Newport Aquatic Center
1 Whitecliffs Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660

$14 per hour single person kayak rental

Approximately 10 miles away

Purpose

I’ve recently moved back to my hometown of Tustin, California. For the past two years I’ve been commuting to Tustin from Los Angeles. I am tired of driving. I am tired of the drudge of commuting. I gave up my apartment in Koreatown for a small bedroom near my work with the intention of paying down some of my enormous student debt. I’m writing this blog in order to document my time spent exploring my hometown as an adult. I swore I would never come back here. Swore up and down, crossed my heart, hope to die if I ever found myself in Tustin again.

Well I’m here.

So instead of mope and pine for my life in Los Angeles, I’ve challenged myself to find special places, fun activities, and unique adventures in and around Tustin. A park, a coffee shop, an art museum, an old friend. The only rules are that the adventure has to cost less than $15, and be less than 10 miles away from my apartment.

One activity per week.

$15 or less

10 miles or less from south Tustin.

Ready. Set. Go.