Growing your own food can be intimidating and time consuming if you’re new to the idea. However, the health benefits of growing your own food and immediately eating fruits and veggies after you harvest them are totally worth spending a little time, energy and money into growing your own food.
Just 45 minutes from Edinburgh lies Stirling, a pleasant medieval town and a castle that is arguably the most important castle in Scottish history.
As the saying goes, “he who holds Stirling, holds Scotland.” Due to its geographical location, if a king was in control of Stirling castle, they could rule over and defend Scotland.
To get to Stirling, you can take a guided day tour via large tour bus from Edinburgh, you can rent a car and go on your own, or you can take a train.
I recommend having the freedom to explore the castle, town and surrounding areas on your own, because you may also want to stop by the National Wallace Monument or meander around the walled city and have lunch in a nice cafe such as the Darnley Coffee House in the cellar of a 16th century house.
The castle offers guided tours included in the cost of admission, starting at 10 AM and leaving every hour after that until 3 PM, so you can plan your visit to coincide with the start of one of these tours. We thought our tour was great, just enough information and explanation of each part we visited from an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide.
The other exhibitions at the castle were also very interesting, and certainly worth a bit of extra time after the tour.
If you have any interest in learning a little more about Scottish history, if you are a fan of Braveheart, or if you just want to see a cool castle with beautiful views over the countryside, Stirling Castle is definitely worth a visit.
The castle is a must see site while visiting the city. 
It’s a great way to learn about the history of the city, the history of Scotland, and to take in beautiful views of Old Town, The Royal Mile, New Town, Arthur’s seat and the rest of Edinburgh. 
(Tip: once you purchase a ticket, you have the option to take a free guided tour (leaving every 10 minutes during peak season or 30 mins during non-peak season) or you can purchase an audio guide to enrich your visit. The audio guide will definitely have a lot more information than the guided tour, but it is also an extra expense and the guided tour is a great option to learn about most important parts of the castle and see most of it in a shorter amount of time.) Continue reading 
We’ve been traveling quite a bit recently, so it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to write a post on the blog. I thought this subject for the weekly photo challenge would be the perfect topic to reconnect.
Located between La Jolla and Del Mar, Torrey Pines State Reserve is a fun coastal hiking, running or biking playground. The hiking is pretty easy, but it’s also fun and comes with spectacular views up and down the San Diego coastline.
You can basically hike all of the trails in the park in half a day, and then hike down to the beach to spend a few hours in the sun and water.
Torrey Pines State Reserve is also one of two places in the world where you can see the rare Torrey Pine Tree. They grow naturally only here and on Santa Rosa Island in the Channel Islands National Park off the coast of Ventura and Santa Barbara.
When we visited, we parked along the coast, and walked into the reserve via the hill from the north entrance. If there is parking available, you can park in the lot at the top of the hill, at the bottom by the beach, or in another lot off Carmel Valley Road, however, fees are charged for parking in the lots in the state reserve.
Of Note, there is drinking water available at the north vehicle entrance to the reserve by the beach bathrooms, and at the start of the trails near the lodge. At the time of writing this, most of the other water sources (sinks & showers) have been turned off because of the drought in California.
We entered the park at the north entrance and walked in up the hill. Three quarters of the way up the hill, we stopped at the Guy Fleming Trail to check out a few overlooks and then continued on to the Torrey Pines Lodge (visitor center) to grab a map. The visitor’s center itself has a lot of great info about the area, especially if you are into finding out more about the animal and plant species around.
From the Lodge we hiked down the “Beach Trail” to Red Butte and then down Razor Point Trail to Razor Point.
From Razor Point we met up with the Beach Trail and headed down to the water to check out “Flat Rock” on the beach. It’s exactly what it sounds like…a big flat rock.
I highly suggest adding a stroll along the beach after hiking the trails of Torrey Pines. This stretch of coastline is particularly beautiful. I would recommend checking the tides, and walking on the beach at low tide because it can be a bit tough to navigate the rocks during high tide.
We decided to walk south toward La Jolla on the beach. You can basically walk as much or as little as you would like on this stretch of the beach. If you do chose to, you can walk all the way along the beach to La Jolla Shores (about 5 miles). However, about 1/2 – 3/4 of a mile or so south of Torrey Pines is a beach known as “Black’s Beach.” If you have little kids or just don’t want to be surprised by the sudden appearance of naked people, I would suggest turning around after about half a mile down the beach. Instead of walking toward La Jolla, you can also walk north along the beach toward Del Mar as an alternative. If you’re into it, by all means, venture through the unofficial nude beach and explore the beautiful coastline.
If you like walking, beautiful views and beaches, I highly recommend a hike in Torrey Pines. It’s not very physically demanding and it’s a great way to explore and see a beautiful part of San Diego.
Have you ever been to Torrey Pines? If you have any tips or want to share your favorite trail, comment below!
The Whitsunday Islands are located off the coast of Airlie beach on the Southern end of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Airlie Beach is a small beach town in Queensland, pretty much 8 hours from civilization to the North (Cairns) and to the South (Hervey Bay). Let’s be honest…Rockhampton doesn’t count.
If you are interested in visiting the Whitsundays, there is an airport near Airlie Beach (Whitsunday Airport) or there is the Great Barrier Reef Airport on Hamilton Island. Although a bit difficult to access, with the long drives south from Cairns or north from Hervey Bay, in my opinion the effort is worth it.
We didn’t have enough time to go all the way to Cairns or Port Douglas, so enjoying a few days in Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays to see the Great Barrier Reef and Whitehaven Beach was an amazing experience.
The Channel Islands National Park. One of the least visited National Parks in America…lucky for us!
Even though I spent 7 years living in Santa Barbara, I sadly never made it out to the Channel Islands. Ironically, now that we have moved down to San Diego, we made the trip to visit and camp on the islands.
In order to get to the Channel Islands, you have to take a boat across the approximately 26 mile wide channel. Island Packers have a monopoly are contracted with the National Park Service, and operate the ferries back and forth between the islands. The boats leave mostly out of Ventura Harbor, but they do have some that leave out of Oxnard.
If you’re camping on the island, the round trip fare is $78 per person. Also, you will need to reserve a campsite through Reserve America in addition to purchasing your boat ticket. So, as far as camping trips go, it is a bit on the expensive side due to the cost of the boat ride.
Tip: Be sure to check the availability of both the boat, and the campsites before booking anything, as there are more spaces on the boats than there are at the campsite!
Fit To Wander 