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i got to hang out in santa barbara a few weeks ago with my friend branden, who was out on business. thanks to tyler’s resourcefulness all the way back in ohio, we were able to find a place for branden to rent a motorcycle for saturday and sunday.

branden lived in santa barbara for about 3 years a while ago, and while he lived there only had his motorcycle for transportation, so he knew where a bunch of great rides were in the area. santa barbara is a beautiful area with some national park land, wine country, mountains, and the coast, so there was a lot to see.

usually i end up wishing i had taken more pictures, so this time i just snapped away. after spending most of the day saturday riding, we met up with some of branden’s friends for a bbq on the beach, then hung out with them that evening in downtown. lots-o-fun! and after getting home with about 400 miles of riding under my belt, i was beat!

my roommate usually spends his weekends at his girlfriends house in lake elsinore calling it his lake house. a couple weeks ago, they invited me out for the weekend to hang out and see the area. unfortunately, the weather was a little dreary so i didn’t take more than a couple pictures.

on the recommendation of a coworker, i took the PCH and headed down to san clemente today. i got to see quite a few of the residential streets of the town while i was trying to find a way to, and then [free] parking for the pier that i had been told to check out. there’s a story here that i won’t bore any one with. unless you’d like to hear about one of my (apparently) numerous mild adventures, then let me know and i’ll give you an animated account of my day in san clemente. if not… enjoy the pictures!

i may never get tired of riding along the coast! the pacific coast highway (PCH in cali-highway-speak… a discusion for another time) for the most part stays right along the coast and has non-stop views of the ocean, fancy multi-million dollar homes, and beach towns for a passenger to enjoy(not me, of course… i’m driving!). ok, so i take a peek every once in a while.

one of the things i love about riding, is all the different smells you run into that you wouldn’t notice in a car. along the coast, you get the smell of the ocean, but also the smell of tasty food at the fancy restaurants in the beach cities. i have a feeling i’ll be making this ride often!

those of you who i talk to regularly will know that after a few long months, i’ve finally been reunited with my two-wheeled love. now that my motorcycle lives with me again, its time to start exploring california! not being familiar with the area, its been kinda hard to figure out where to start. luckily one my my coworkers (the asian one that fed me balut.. maybe i shouldn’t trust him) also rides and suggested a few areas and canyon rodes that make for good riding.

the closest one is the ortega highway running between san juan capistrano and lake elsinore. so, being a beautiful weekend, i gave it a try. it was a great ride with lots of scenery, but being a canyon road there weren’t many places to pull off and take a picture. i was too busy enjoying the ride anyway. near the end, i stopped at the lookout roadhouse to take some pictures and enjoy a tasty bbq pork sandwhich.

ok, first of all, it was really just fear factor day for me. now the explanation… i work with two asian guys who love to discuss their cultures’ weird culinary delights. (mostly because of the reaction they get from the rest of us, i’m sure.) as the stakes got higher, statements were made like “i would eat [gross asian ‘food’ here] before i would eat [even more gross asian ‘food’ here]”. this led to them saying “oh, so you would eat [first gross asian ‘food’] ?”

so now you have a good idea of how our lunch times usually go since we usually eat together. finally, knowing my taste for unique foods, and my adventurous nature… it was decided (not by me now that i think about it) that they would each bring in the main gross foods to see if i would eat them. short story even longer… they bring them in and to the amazement of anyone in the office who happened by, i ate some of every crazy thing they gave me.

A warning to anyone brave enough to click on any of the pictures and proceed to the gallery: Some of these things are seriously gross and may make you vomit on your keyboard. I will not buy you a new keyboard. I will… probably laugh at you.
here is the menu for my fear factor friday (i’ll let wikipedia handle most of the explanations):

1. Durian Smoothie. After pouring me a cup full of this stuff, we were promptly asked to enjoy our treat outside… by everyone. It really didn’t taste that bad… just different… and very stinky.
Wikipedia: durian
Durian gets a C-

2. Chicken Feet. These were fried and had some sort of sauce that passersby said smelled like ham with syrup on it… unfortunately it wasn’t! The hardest part was putting a chicken foot shaped thing in my mouth. After that, it was alot like eating chicken wings, only with alot less meat, and alot more feet.
Wikipedia: chicken feet
Chicken feet get a D+

3. Century Egg. I guess I didn’t get any pictures of this one. It was kinda like a hard boiled egg, only black. The white was kinda like jello, and the yolk was really creamy. I could see why people would like this if they grew up eating it and didn’t know that EGGS SHOULDN’T BE BLACK!
Wikipedia: century egg
Century Egg gets a D

4. Balut. This was the grand finale. I am VERY surprised a few people didn’t toss their cookies when this one was unveiled. Each part of this thing tasted like egg, after mustering the nerve to eat it. My final motivation was that while it would be gross now, I wanted to be able to say I ate it, and that I could overcome the mental block that most everyone else would have about it.
Wikipedia: balut
Balut gets an F-