Adventure-us

🚴 Beach Bike Ride from Marina del Rey to Redondo Beach & Brunch

Sun, Jul 12 · 9:00 AM PDT

Dock 52, 13509 Fiji Way, Marina Del Rey, CA, US

Join us for a bicycle ride on the beach bike path from Marina del Rey to Redondo Beach. There's always a cool breeze at the beach!

E-bikes are welcome.

This beautiful beach bike ride is 26 miles roundtrip on flat bike paths and roads. See a map of this route here

QUALIFICATIONS:

All bike riders are invited who are comfortable and experienced riding on the road and bicycle paths for 26 miles round trip and can keep up with a group riding at a speed of 12 miles per hour for approximately 2 hours.

IMPORTANT:

*** You are required to wear a helmet to ride with our group. ***

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MEETING PLACE AND TIME:

Arrive at 8:30 AM to park your car and get ready for the ride. There is free parking at Dock 52 parking lot.

Meet Patrick at 8:45 AM in the first row of Dock 52 parking lot for a safety talk and introductions. Louis' cell phone number is in the RSVP question (which you can see by clicking on the blue box under "You're Going.")

We will depart at 9:00 AM.

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BRUNCH:

We will stop for brunch at Quality Seafood Fish Market in Redondo Beach King Harbor at 130 International Boardwalk, Redondo Beach, CA 90277.

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PLEASE FOLLOW THESE GUIDELINES:

RSVP: If you can't come please change your RSVP to "No" so we are not waiting for you.

BICYCLE: Make sure your bicycle is in good working condition with the tires properly inflated and the chain lubricated prior to the ride.

RULES OF THE ROAD: Safety is always our first concern. Use standard hand signals for group rides.

SPARE TIRE TUBES: You need to know how to change your own bicycle tire tubes if you get a flat tire. Please bring 2 spare tire tubes, levers, a small bicycle pump or CO2 cartridges to fill your tires with air once you change the bicycle tire tube. If you don't have spare tire tubes you might have to call a taxi to take you and your bicycle back to your car!

MONEY: Please bring money for your lunch and taxi if necessary.

BIKE LOCK: Do not leave your bicycle unlocked at any time. Please bring your own bicycle lock.

HELMET: Please be advised that you are required to wear a helmet to ride with our group.

WATER and FOOD: Please bring water to drink so you don't get dehydrated and food to eat, such as a protein bar, in case you get hungry.

WAIVER OF LIABILITY:

Please read this important disclaimer: This Meetup group, it's organizers and members take no responsibility for any injuries nor accidents that may occur during events. By joining this ride you take full responsibility for your own safety. Please ensure that you are in good health before participating and understand that there is risk involved in your participation. This Meetup group does not certify the qualifications of any of it's organizers or trip leaders, and they are not responsible for your safety. We are all just participants.

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This bike ride is crossposted on other Meetup groups.

The main group for this bike ride is Southern California Cycling Group at https://meetup.com/cyclegroup

Santa Monica Scavenger Hunt

Sat, Jul 25 · 12:00 PM PDT

Meeting Location by Pacific Park, 1624 Ocean Front Walk, Santa Monica, CA, US

This is going to be a fun one!

Let’s go on an adventure where we’ll solve riddles, figure out puzzles, and complete missions on a 1.2-mile scavenger hunt around Santa Monica.

We’ll all download an app that will guide us through the hunt, and we can do it either as one team or as separate teams competing against each other.

The whole circuit is 1.2 miles and should take us 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. As always, when we finish, we can go grab a bite to eat somewhere in Santa Monica. It’s going to be a beautiful summer day, so let’s make it a day!

We don’t need to bring anything. Just download the app in advance, show up, and pay for the game ($11.69).

The hunt will take us to Pacific Park, Chez Jay, the aquarium, Muscle Beach, and more as we complete the challenges.

We’ll also be competing for the highest score against all-time teams.

THE PLAN

We’ll meet at 12:00 at the start location: officially 1624 Ocean Front Walk, Santa Monica, 90401, which I think is right at the beginning of the pier. Then we’ll activate the game on our phones and get started.

MAKE SURE YOUR PHONE IS FULLY CHARGED!

Make sure to download the Let’s Roam app on your phone ahead of time. Each person will buy their own ticket on https://www.letsroam.com/and then enter the code in the app. I suggest buying it ahead of time, but if you don’t, just make sure you have your credit card with you, or whatever you need to make an online purchase.

I’ll send my phone number to the RSVP list, so you can call me if you can’t find me for any reason.

All right, let’s have all the fun we can handle on a scavenger hunt!

Eduardo

Perseid Meteor Shower at Annie's Cabin in Arrowbear​

Fri, Aug 7 · 2:00 PM PDT

Annie's Cabin, Running Springs, CA, US

Perseid Meteor Shower at Annie’s Cabin

The Perseid meteor shower is one of our favorites! It happens every August, which is a great time to be outside at night, and it is one of the brightest and most prolific meteor showers, with 50 to 100 meteors per hour.

We haven’t been to Annie’s cabin in Running Springs in a looooong time, so why not combine the two? Dark skies, a fun cabin, and tons of stuff to do during the day — that’s going to make for the perfect weekend!

THE PLAN

We can get there at any time after 2:00 PM on Friday. Both Friday and Saturday night should be great for meteor watching. The moon will be at 10–20% illumination and will only rise at 1:19 AM and 2:22 AM. We’ll already be in the mountains, which have darker skies to begin with, and we can go on a very short walk to a spot where we’ll have almost no light around us. Perfect! We’ll set up our beach chairs, bring some wine or hot chocolate with brandy, and enjoy the meteor shower under a dark sky.

During the day we’ll go swimming at Lake Gregory or Green Valley Lake. In the afternoon we can head up to Big Bear, or down to Arrowhead for some pizza and beer or a hamburger and beer. We can also go to Magic Mountain park for the Alpine Slide; that’s always fun!

IMPORTANT STUFF

• Group size: Up to 8 people, including Annie and me.
• Cost: $30 to cover utilities and Annie hiring someone to clean the cabin afterwards. Also, we might also decide to do a community breakfast. If that’s the case, I’ll go get the supplies, and we’ll share the cost. It shouldn’t be much, though.
• The sleeping setup is going to be very casual. Her cabin has two floors, but only one official bedroom. The mezzanine/second floor serves as a bedroom, and it’s very cozy. The whole thing will be very cozy, but it will also be casual. She has some inflatable mattresses, but my favorite way to sleep at Annie’s is to bring a sleeping pad, a sleeping bag, and my own pillow. If you’re the type who can’t do casual, this is not for you.
• If we have never met, we’ll need to get on a Zoom call, because this will be a small group in a small setting, and I want to make sure we’re a good fit. Fun, easygoing, and low-maintenance is a must in all my groups. If that’s not you, that’s OK. It just means we’re not the right group for you.

All right, let’s have all the fun we can handle under a meteor shower, in a cabin, in the mountains!

Eduardo

Summer Camping in the Sierras, Meteors, Hikes, Hot Springs, Potluck, and More!

Fri, Aug 14 · 2:00 PM PDT

Four Jeffrey Campground, Highway 168 and South Lake Road, Bishop, CA, US

I got four campsites at one of our favorite campgrounds: Four Jeffrey, by South Lake in the Sierras. And this year we are in luck, because we will have two good weekends to catch the Perseid meteor shower. On the weekend of the 7th, we’ll be at Annie’s with a small group. Then, on the weekend of the 14th, we’ll go camping in one of the places with the darkest skies in the universe!

The sky in the Sierras gets so dark, you can see the end of the universe. That’s a proven fact, verified by the Flat Earth Society. 😂

Four Jeffrey’s is close to Bishop and close to many amazing hikes, including Bishop Pass and many others with different difficulty levels.
The Perseids are one of the brightest and most prolific annual meteor showers, peaking in mid-August. They are famous for producing 50 to 100 swift meteors per hour, along with colorful, long-lasting streaks called fireballs, as Earth passes through the dusty debris of Comet Swift-Tuttle.

THE PLAN

We’ll have the campsites starting Friday at 2:00 PM, so we can arrive any time after that. I’m planning on heading out around 12:00 PM and getting there around 5:00 PM. I can take up to three people with me.

On Friday, we’ll just hang out by the campfire. At 8,300 feet of elevation, Four Jeffrey will probably be nice and cool even in the middle of August, and we should be allowed to have a fire. If not, we’ll sit around a lamp and pretend it’s a fire. 😝

The meteor shower is going to be amazing both Friday and Saturday night. The moon will be setting at around 9:00 PM on both nights, so we should have a completely dark sky, with meteors coming down at a rate of 50–100 per hour. At around 10:00 PM both nights, we’ll set up our chairs, make some hot cocoa with brandy, and enjoy one of the most beautiful shows in nature.

On Saturday, we’ll have breakfast and go on a hike. Those of us who want to tackle Bishop Pass can do so. That’s a strenuous hike: 11 miles round trip, with 2,300 feet of elevation gain, and it should take 5–7 hours total. Those who don’t want to go all the way can stop at Long Lake, which is only 2 miles in. It’s beautiful, and you can actually jump in.

I might choose to do that myself, because I’ll be recovering from shoulder surgery and might not be up for a steep hike if I still can’t move my arm very well. Either way, there will be options for all tastes. 😊

We can also go to Keough’s Hot Springs, which has the largest natural hot springs pool in the Eastern Sierra.

In the evening, we’ll do our traditional potluck dinner, which is always super fun, and then get ready to lie back and enjoy another amazing meteor show.

Sunday we’ll play things by ear. We are only about an hour away from Mammoth, so we could break down camp and head up there. We’ll see how we feel. A stop at Erick Schat’s Bakery is always a must whenever we are close to Bishop, no matter what else we decide to do. 😉

IMPORTANT STUFF

• Group size: 16–20 people. I don’t put more than four tents per campsite, so the final number will depend on how many couples or people sharing tents we have.
• Cost: $30 per person.
• Carpooling is going to be a must. Each campsite has two parking spots, and people who carpool will have priority for those spots.

All right, let’s have all the fun we can handle camping, hiking, and watching meteor showers in the Sierras!

Eduardo