Joshua Tree National Park, about a three-hour drive from the city of Los Angeles, is home to Joshua Trees. If you have a day to spend, I would recommend a hike followed by the viewpoints. We started from the south entrance and went northwards, here’s what we did Lost Oasis Trail - An easy ~7.5 miles 3-hour hike close to the south entrance and you see a dead Oasis at the end ...
There are several caves at Lava Beds National Monument of varying levels of challenges. I would recommend starting with a few easy ones first before taking it to a higher level. The caves do get really shallow at times, sometimes, less than a foot in height, so, don’t go in if you get claustrophobic. Gears to carry HeadLamp Helmet - even a bike helmet would work Knee Pads Good hiking boots A small chart summarizing which caves to do Detailed report with maps of the caves Caves I started with the Balcony cave, it’s an easy fun cave with a 5-minute journey from entry to exit. The exit of Balcony cave is joined to the Boulevard cave, it was another fun cave to explore. ...
Lassen Volcanic Park has a lot to offer for everyone. The park has wide roads, and most tourist spots are easily accessible. Here’s what I would recommend Subway cave Lava tubes - easy 1/3 mile underground hike Hydrothermal Areas - Hydrothermal areas from where Sulpher escapes regularly. Some right next to the road and some accessible via a short hike. ...
Strenuous hikes Half Dome hike 17-miles 12-hours with a breathtaking dangerous climb holding chains on the majestic half dome at the end. This hike requires a permit for the final half dome climb. The Clouds Rest Trail 12-miles 7-hours hike. The trail ends at a point higher than the Half dome. One gets a great view of the park as well as the Half dome from here. ...
For the uninitiated, French Laundry is one of the best restaurants in the world. I got a chance to try the tasting menu. I had a vegetarian, or to be precise, a lacto-vegetarian (milk and cheese but not eggs) meal here. The restaurant looks nondescript from the outside, and it is easy to miss it while driving. It was an 8-10 course meal, depending on how you count a course. Portion sizes were small but delicious. And there was a gap of about 15-20 minutes before each serving. So, be ready to commit 3-4 hours for the full course. ...
We made this trip over three days in December; even then, Death Valley National Park was warm during the day and cold at night. Therefore, I would warn against going there in summer, where it could be unbearably hot. Day 1 We entered from the west side and started our trip with Darwin Falls. The falls are not massive, but given that the desert surrounds them, it is a site worth visiting. We only did the first falls, and those will four-wheel drive can drive 2 miles to the second falls. ...
Day 1 - Reach the Outpost Camp (3.8 miles, 10.4K ft) Day 2 - Started at 8 AM Reached consultation lake at noon Reached trail crest at 2:20 PM Reached summit at 6 PM Returned to Outpost Camp by 11:35 PM Day 3 - Head back to Whitney Portal Conditions It was all snow covered - knee-deep snow in some places. 99 switchbacks are not possible under such conditions, so, we climbed up the chute. The trail is dangerous beyond trail crest, don’t go alone. Do ...
“Give me your wallet, bro” he said in his heavy accent while holding a gun to my forehead. It seems, out of pure curiosity, I have walked into this shady neighborhood of San Francisco. “Pull out your wallet,” he shouted, “and count the cash,” this time bringing my full attention to him. I pulled out my wallet, carefully counted all the nickels, pennies and dimes and said, “13 dollars, 59 cents, and one Indian Rupee”. “That’s it,” he blustered at the peak of his voice while I stood sweating profusely on a chilly night. He was not amused and pulled the trigger.
Manage your finances Use Mint for getting a complete view of your finances. CreditSesame, Credit, CreditKarma, and Quizzle for free credit score tracking. Quizzle always tries to sell something; others are better. The score they provide is not the same as the FICO score but is highly correlated. Use Splitwise or Buxfer for splitting bills with friends. Vanguard has a great selection of index funds. Matrix ITA for airfare prices. Yapta for tracking airfare prices over time. Get three free credit reports every year Set a Google Calendar event to get a free report every four months, rotating among Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian (major credit report providers) via annualcreditreport.com. Each company is required to provide you with one free report each year. Return policies are really lax in CA (and the US in general) Buy almost anything, including electronic gadgets like phones and laptops,s to try. If you don’t like it, return it within a set time period, usually 15 days or 30 days, for free. Healthcare The US has one of the most expensive healthcare systems in the world. Employers provide health insurance - medical, dental, and vision. For healthy individuals, usually, the less expensive plan (HMO) is a better option. Dental insurance usually covers two teeth cleanings per year for free. Vision insurance covers one vision test, which is usually not free but with a nominal co-payment. Medical insurance usually covers a physical checkup. To be continued in part 4 (Retirement accounts, investing, Things to do in and around California)
Buying a car Due to the deliberate destruction of public transport, driving a car is cheaper on the West Coast compared to taking public transport unless your employer subsidises your commute via public transport. Decide which car you want to buy, Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla are value for money for singles. Honda Accord and Toyota Camry are better for people with families. Especially those who have young kids who require child safety seats. On the luxury end, Toyota Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, and Tesla are the popular ones. A car’s average age is considered to be 200, 000 miles. So, be wary of that while buying a second-hand car. Do check the car’s mileage (miles per gallon) on fueleconomy. Car model years are a bit misleading, model 2013 usually came out in June 2012, and for some companies even earlier) If you are buying a new car, then go to multiple dealers and bid them for the best price, it is usually easy to get 10% or more off the marked price of the vehicle. If you are buying second hand, ask for a Carfax report, which gives the detailed history of any recorded accidents the car has had. Check the price of a second-hand car at Kelly Blue Book, in my opinion, they are marked upwards by 10%. Craigslist is still one of the best sources for buying and selling cars. Avoid buying cars with non-California license plates since you have to register them next year. Specifically, avoid cars coming from cold states since they might have been corroded by salt, which is used to prevent ice from melting on roads in these states. Go to the DMV and inquire if that car has any pending fees/parking fines that are unpaid. Buying second-hand cars from individuals, as opposed to dealers, is usually cheaper. But dealers will sell second-hand cars with a warranty to justify the premium; do get details of the warranty. If you are buying from an individual, do get a thorough inspection done at a car mechanic (costs < 100$). Car insurance (Auto insurance) Do hunt around for multiple quotes, try insurers to match quotes from others. Good companies are AAA (recommended) and Geico (they never gave me a good rate, though). Smaller companies like State Farm]( https://www.statefarm.com/), Farmers, and Provident (to name a few) might give better rates as well. Usually, phone calls will return better rates than the websites. If your driving history in the US is not long enough, be ready to buy expensive insurance for ~6 months and then buy a new one. Have minimum liability of 100K/300K (meaning 100K per individual in an incident and 300K per incident). If your car is new, get comprehensive insurance with a high deductible, like 500$ or 1000$. Maintain emergency cash The usual rule of thumb is to maintain 6-8 months of expenditure in a safe place. Checking and savings accounts are insured by the FDIC up to $250, 000 per customer per bank. So, keep it in a high-yield savings account ( Barclays offers 1.0% - which is high by US standards). A more elaborate list is available at fatwallet. Another alternative is to buy Series I Bonds by the US Treasury. The purchase is limited to $10K per individual, and they have to be held for at least 1 year after purchase. They are inflation-protected, meaning their value will go up with inflation. They are not taxable by state and city governments. First tax filing California has state taxes. Both state and federal tax filings are due every year in April for the previous year. I used to use pen and paper for a couple of years. It was a great learning experience, but it was unsustainable in the long run. So, I started using TurboTax instead. Keep an eye out for TurboTax deals. If you are paying full price for anything, you are probably paying too much All marked prices, whether it’s rental cars or food, there are deals/discounts going on all the time. Whether it’s worth spending the time to look around for discounts is a personal choice. As a rule of thumb, looking around for discount coupons/deals when you are paying more than 100$ is not a bad idea. If you work for a big company, they will usually have an internal perks site. Also, you can check out perks eligibility at larky based on your employer, city and state of residence, insurance, and credit cards. Eating out Use yelp to find good restaurants. The tipping norm is 15-20% for food served on the table; anything less than 10% looks ugly. Taking food out as “to go” has no mandatory tips. Subway is a great, healthy place for “to go” sandwiches. Starbucks fulfills the national coffee addiction. Mogl provides 10% cash back on selected restaurants in California. Continue to Part 3 (free credit reports, managing finances, health care …)