After a couple of days of apartment hunting in California, Sam and I were eager to go out and explore our soon to be new backyard. An hour and a half later, we found Vasquez Rocks. These beauties were formed by movement from the San Andres Fault, and at one time were a refuge to one of California’s most infamous bandits, Senor Tiburcio Vasquez.

We spent most of the afternoon exploring, walking around, and climbing on things. This place is pretty big and pretty awesome. Since it is so close to where we will be living, I imagine we will come here quite a bit.

After climbing around a bit, we saw some cool things like this picture below.

And this…

Driving out here made me seriously consider the idea of commuting an hour and a half to work so that I could wake up to this every morning. Alas, even though I grew up in Houston and am used to longer commutes, an hour and a half is stretching it. If only I could multi-task while driving, then maybe it would be worth it. However, I think multi-tasking while driving is frowned upon. Oh well. It was a nice thought.

Unfortunately, California has a horrible smog problem which I wasn’t aware of until this week. I have been reading about it, and Kern County has an especially bad problem due to heavy traffic by trucks, farming, and its meteorology. This makes me a little sad because on a clear day in Bakersfield you can see the outline of mountains around the valley, but on a smoggy day you can’t. Today was one of those exceptionally beautiful, clear days.

Besides the excitement that comes from starting a new job, Vasquez Rocks reminds me of some of the other reasons I am excited to be living in California. Skiing, climbing, hiking, camping… it’s just one huge playground.

I guess this kicks off our California adventures. I am sure you will be hearing about this place again.

Take care.