Winterbreak in California!!

OVERVIEW

There has been a large interest among club members to get to California at some point in their life to experience all the beauty it has to offer. How does this winterbreak sound?!
If you have never experienced California before, then this is a great opportunity. I’ll be setting up this trip for 5 club members between December 27 and January 1. We’ll stay at my house in Carmel (right on the coast) and explore what I like to call home.

This is going to be a no holds barred, 5 day adventure, which might include, but not limited to:

**Hiking/Backpacking in Big Sur, a virgin redwood forest that goes right up to the jagged ocean cliffs. Beautiful hiking trails and even some natural hotsprings!

**Ocean kayaking in Monterey, a historic sardine-canning town, with great coastline, kelp beds, sea otters, sea lions, and pristine beaches.

**Depending on weather and equipment availability, surfing in Carmel or up north a bit in a town called Santa Cruz (where surfing found its roots in the US).

**Mountain biking in some of the trail systems around the area.

**Skydiving in Monterey, offering amazing views of the ocean

**Relaxing at the beach

**Taking a day trip to San Fransico / Santa Cruz surfing museum / other cultural events.

**We’ll be there for New Years, so we can celebrate in historic dowtown, perhaps see some fireworks over the ocean, go crazy, etc.

**Whatever else we can think of, possibilities are endless.

The trip is going to be small, for the obvious reason that my house can only accomodate so many. Because there are so few spots and I’m guessing that the demand will be high, it seems unfair to take the first 5 that get to their computer and sign up. So when you join, you will automatically be placed on the waitlist. I will not add anyone to the trip until after the signup/drop deadline.

Conditions for signing up for this trip:

1) You must be willing to travel on, and only on, the morning of the 27th and the 1st(any time).
2) Although the club will probably pay some of the food costs, you must accept every other cost as your own responsibility. This includes airfare, transportation from the airport to my house (if for some reason I can’t pick you up), cost of renting equipment for various sports, food beyond what the club will pay. I’m also thinking we can all pitch in to rent a van as our outdoor vehicle for the week. Of course it is your choice whether you want to participate in the expensive stuff like skydiving, etc.
3) Willingness to buy your airfare within a week after the signup deadline. Prices on Orbitz right now from DC to San Jose are between 300 and 400 roundtrip. Might be cheaper if you look hard.

If these conditions are met, then please sign up. Once I have a count of interested people, I’ll contact each of you about logistics. If there is an enormous response, then I’ll run a lottery for the spots. Then you can buy a plane ticket.

So this should be a good time, if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me. It might seem like a big cost, but after airfare, you’ve got a free place to stay. We’ll try to keep costs as low as possible once we are there. Rock on!