"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness… Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" – Mark Twain
Springtime in the Midwest… It’s the best and worst time of year here, with plenty of beautiful days with sunny skies and warm temps, but also an abundance of stormy days with severe weather. It’s the season for float trips when the water is up and the temperature is pleasant, but it’s also difficult to plan ahead for them due to a high likelihood of storms.
And thus, we had our weekend picked out this year, and constantly checked the weather for that day for 2 weeks in advance. Every day, the outlook changed, and it wasn’t until the day of that we knew for sure we’d be able to go.
Bright and early Friday morning, we packed our coolers and our dry bags with beer, water, sandwich stuff, chips, the works. We grabbed our tents and our sleeping mats and pillows. There were four of us and we hopped in two cars, and headed south to Buffalo River.
The state campgrounds are all first come, first serve. We knew we weren’t going to want to drive all over the place with limited cell service trying to find a campground after we were done floating, so we went straight to the Carver campground, a tiny campground but the closest one to where we would be pulling out on this float. We booked a site, and quickly set up a tent so that people would know it was claimed.
We then all hopped in one of the cars and drove off to the Buffalo River Canoes office in Ponca where we rented two canoes and shuttle service for our car. One more brief drive later, we were parking at Pruitt. We put our stuff in our canoes, and took off paddling.
For it being the middle of May, the water level was pretty low, but we only dragged once.
The Buffalo is always beautiful. While Steel Creek to Kyles Landing is my preferred float, Pruitt to Hasty was still quite pleasant, with clear water and the occasional bluff as your backdrop.
We were in no hurry, so we took our time, making lots of stops to swim and snack.
There were more people than we were expecting on a week day, but it never felt overcrowded.
After close to six hours, we arrived at Hasty, though we had to ask someone to be sure since there were no signs. We found our car, and headed off to our campground to finish setting up camp.
The Carver campground is very basic and there were ticks and mosquitos all over the place, but it was quiet and peaceful there. We had a pleasant campfire, had some dinner, and hung out and talked until bed time.
The next morning, we didn’t waste much time before tearing down camp and getting on the road.
We had around an hour drive to get to the starting point of the hike to Whitaker Point. Even though we had all grown up near northwest Arkansas, none of us had done this hike, the endpoint of which was the view that peppered any article about Arkansas tourism.
The way to the point was shaded and mostly downhill. Once we got to the edge of the cliff, there were endless views along the way.
Whitaker Point itself is a big beautiful rock that juts out over the valley below. Arkansas can be surprisingly picturesque.
We hung out and climbed around there for a while, taking too many pictures.
But eventually, we had to turn back and repeated the 1.5 mile trek back up to the parking lot, having a long afternoon of driving ahead of us.
Somehow my first time on the west coast, and I only had a few days to enjoy it. Fortunately, we landed in San Francisco early Saturday morning, about 8 am.
Our AirBnB was able to let us check in early, so we caught the BART to town and walked a few minutes to get there.
I was ready to take advantage of all the veg restaurants the city had to offer, so before long, we were walking 25 minutes to Haight-Ashbury district to grab veggie burgers and fries at VeganBurg.
Pleasantly full, we then caught a shared Lyft to the ferry building, which was alive with activity around the farmers market. Anthony had to keep pushing me along because I was enthralled and walking very slowly.
We didn’t have too long to linger, though, because we had a ferry to catch. We went straight up to the top deck, grabbed a glass of wine, and prepared to enjoy the ride to Sausalito. It was a hot day for San Fran, in the mid 80s, and I was concerned I was going to be too hot sitting in the sun. But as soon as we started moving, I was freezing. Anthony gave me his jacket, and I huddled up in it, enjoying the views of San Fran, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate bridge until the ride was over.
Since we had already eaten lunch, we weren’t quite sure what to do in Sausalito. We looked online and discovered there were a couple spots left on the last shuttle to Muir Woods that would be departing in an hour, so we booked that, and then went and grabbed some ice cream to eat while we sat and looked out over the water.
The bus to Muir Woods was windy, but not too bad. After around 30 minutes, we arrived, knowing we didn’t have long to explore since the last shuttle back was just over an hour later.
We basically sprinted along the path, trying to get as far as we could. I stopped quickly for a couple photo opps but then hurried on. Once we crossed the bridge and turned back, I realized we had plenty of time left, so we took things slow and enjoyed the beauty of the Redwoods on the way back.
It smelled like heaven, and the weather was perfect for strolling under the canopy of the trees. There’s nothing quite as humbling as standing next to nature’s tallest giants.
Too soon, we were shuttling back to Sausalito. We ran to the ferry back to the city, grabbed some dinner and some drinks, and made it back to our apartment in time to hop in bed.
We grabbed some coffee from Peet’s in the morning, and then at 7:30 am, our tour guide pulled up in a van to pick us up for our Redwoods and Wine Country tour.
There were 11 of us total on the tour. Our guide drove us through town pointing out things he thought was interesting, and then we were crossing the bridge and then driving up to a viewpoint.
We were hoping to spot whales as well, but none showed. The view was a worthwhile stop on its own though.
Afterward, we had a long drive to get to Armstrong Redwoods, excited to have a little more time to enjoy the redwoods than we had the night before. These redwoods are taller and older than the ones at Muir Woods, and since it’s further outside of the city, it’s less busy.
We got there before any other groups showed up, so we got to walk along the trails with no one in sight.
Sunlight was streaming through the trees, casting a different light no matter where we looked.
We had plenty of time, so we got to do most of the trails. We even took a trail that climbed up into the trees for a different perspective.
The group met back up in the parking lot, and then we were driving past grapevines backing up to redwoods. It was truly stunning, and I was wishing we were in our own car to pull over and take pictures.
We arrived at our first winery, Harvest Moon Winery, and they escorted us out back to their patio by the pool.
Wineries in the Midwest are always full of overly sweet wines, so I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked the wines at this winery. We all got to know each other while sampling 7 different wines, making sure to drink water in-between.
It was a hot day, and Anthony and I decided to purchase a nice, refreshing white, their Gewürztraminer, to take back to the city with us.
The next winery was Taft Street Winery, a small, unassuming place out in the middle of nowhere it seemed. But it was friendly conversation and tasty wines, and that’s all we really needed. I fell in love with the Lodi Zinfandel, a big, oaky red, so we bought that to take back with us too.
Our last stop was the beautiful estate of Kendall Jackson. The grounds were gorgeous, and I almost didn’t want to sit down for the wine tasting so that I had more time to explore.
But then they poured an ice-cold glass of chardonnay, and we all sat down on the patio outside and enjoyed the sunshine.
Eventually, our tour guide was having to push us along back to the van. We had a long ride back to the city, watching cheesy movie clips of the Golden Gate Bridge. We made one more stop for one more view of the bridge and the bay, and then we got dropped off in the Mission District for dinner.
We had dinner at a very busy and very cozy vegan Mexican restaurant called Gracias Madre. It was getting late and chilly, so after dinner, we made the 20 minute walk back to our apartment where we popped open one of the bottles of wine we bought.
The next day was less exciting. Anthony had his work conference, and I had to work remotely. But, I did find this cool company called Spacious that partners with local restaurants (currently just in SF and NYC) that don’t open until dinner-time and turns them into office spaces during the day. This means fast wifi, unlimited coffee and tea, easily accessible outlets for every seat, and a safe place to sit with my work laptop without worrying about it getting snatched. I went to the one closest to my apartment that day, taking a seat at the window so that I could stare out and people-watch while I worked.
Sometime in the afternoon, I heard someone behind me say “Hi Brenna.” Shocked, because I could not think of anyone I knew in San Fran, let alone in a building with maybe three other people in it, I turned around. It was my AirBnB host. “You look surprised to see me,” he said. Uhhh, yeah. Turns out he works for Spacious, and he was my “host” at that location for the afternoon.
After the workday was over, I met up with Anthony at Shizen, an incredibly creative vegan sushi restaurant. The interior was charming, but the specialty rolls were the real stars of the show. They were absolutely delicious. We got three specialty rolls, and the avocado nigiri, and I loved every bite of everything.
We had wanted to go to Twin Peaks to walk around and catch views of the city after dinner, but it was going to take us over 40 minutes via public transport to get there, and I was tired. So instead, we went to the touristy Pier 39 to see the sea lions that hang out there.
Honestly, it was well worth it. We caught a quick look at Alcatraz before walking over to the dock.
The sea lions were funny, funny creatures with their grunting and their barking and their(I think?) playful fighting. They were stretching out under the sun, some of them happily snuggling together while others wanted entire planks to themselves and chased off anyone who tried to hop up.
Smelled awful though. We watched them for quite a while before the cold got to be too much for me. We caught another shared Lyft and went back to our apartment to enjoy our remaining bottle of wine.
The next day I tried out a different Spacious location, near to where Anthony’s conference was. This location was fancier, but also colder and with no people-watching.
From there, I had to catch the BART straight to the airport for my harrowing flight home. I highly doubt that’ll be the last I see of San Francisco, but I’d say it was a pretty good intro.
Colombia had been on my radar for several years. Back when I was planning my trip to Guatemala, I was frequently coming across people who would compare the two, mentioning that they were their favorite countries in all of Latin America. But with the ongoing battle between the government and FARC and all the drug cartel crime, Colombia was always under a Travel Warning, and I just wasn’t sure I was comfortable with the safety level there yet.
Then the peace deal with FARC was made, and the safety continued to improve in the country. I felt like now was the time to see it, just on the cusp of the tourism industry expanding. We never once felt unsafe while we were there, but we also would go days without seeing a single other tourist. It was perfect.
Highlights
Barichara – Everything aligned perfectly in Barichara. I fell in love with the beautiful Spanish colonial architecture and cobblestone streets. I fell in love with our house. I fell in love with the wonderfully fragrant park and the vegetarian-friendly restaurants around it. I fell in love with paragliding, at the nearby Chicamocha canyon. I loved the peace, the beauty, the wonderful weather. I loved the people. To be honest, I can’t think of one complaint. Well, maybe the unpredictable hours of when the restaurants would be open. But that’s pretty minor.
During our entire stay, we started hatching plans of when we’d come back and who we’d bring with us to introduce to this beautiful place.
The people – It always seems to be the places that have a reputation of being “dangerous” and crime-ridden that we find the warmest, friendliest people. We (well, mostly Anthony, given my ineptitude at speaking Spanish) interacted with more people on this trip than any other, and all of them were kind and helpful, always smiling.
The driver in Salamina, eager to show us the sweets and sites of his country. The old woman and her family, excited to show off her English and Italian skills to us in tiny San Felix. The hotel staff worker who spent 10 minutes showing us a map of Jardin and recommending which hikes or tours we should do and how to start them. The Uber driver in Medellin who was excited to have Anthony’s help in learning English so that he could better serve his English-speaking customers. The veg restaurant owner in Barichara who took five minutes to go over the menu with us and made sure everything was to our liking. The man on the Camino real who seemed genuinely happy to see us and tell us what all we had coming up on our hike and how much longer it would be. The girl on the bus who quickly alerted me to Anthony leaving behind his wallet. The paragliding guides, who through our communication barriers still managed to reassure me that Anthony was fine and taken care of and made me feel the same while I was with them. The woman at the Bucaramanga airport, dealing with the same flight delays as us but still smiling and initiating conversations with us, wanting to be sure we were enjoying her country.
All of them wanted to know what we thought of Colombia, what we thought of the Colombian people. I hope our enthusiasm came across to them.
Samaria – While most people go to Salento to hike the Valle de Cocora, Anthony and I had the wax palm forest of Samaria all to ourselves, our guide – the owner of the farm – giving us his undivided attention, his adorable dogs entertaining us all along the way.
Seeing the wax palms in person is truly special. Towering over us as high as 200 feet, lining up and down the beautiful green hills of the region. There are few sites as beautiful as that with blue skies and sunshine forming the backdrop.
What I Would Do Differently
Fewer destinations (or more time) – Honestly, one or two extra days would have been perfect for this trip. Though then I would have wished for just a couple more to add another region. But alas, I only had the 11 days, and I wasted too much of that time sitting in airports waiting out flight delays or sitting on buses. Doing either a combination of just Medellín and Jardín, or a combination of just Salamina and somewhere near Manizales (I did find an awesome looking glamping place just south of Manizales…) would have worked out better. But trying to do it all, considering the treks it took to get to and between them was just a bit much.
Stay in Getsemani – We picked a place right in the heart of the Walled City in Cartagena, and it was really a wonderful location. Anthony and I, though, preferred the Getsemani neighborhood, which is just outside the Walled City to the south. We found ourselves gravitating to that area again and again, to enjoy the restaurants, the liveliness of the locals, and the variety of street art. The historical center of the walled city was just too much hurrying down the sidewalks, repeating “No gracias” to all the street vendors over and over again. Though it’s definitely worthy of time spent there.
Colombia is a beautiful country, and we were barely able to scratch the surface. Whatever your timeframe, prioritize your interests, try to have a minimum of two nights everywhere you go, and plan it from there, knowing you won’t be able to see everything you want to see. I have a whole list of other places for us to visit whenever we make a return trip :).
