Dave's Any Kine Blog

Last Few Days in the Bay Area

2010-09-18T10:05:00.002-10:00

August 12-16, 2009

Driving back from Tahoe, we took one last drive over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Later, we had one last meal at our favorite Japanese restaurant, Yuki Sushi, with two of our best friends, Tim and Dave.


Just a few of the maps we used during our road trip (yes, we used an Auto GPS too!)


Fanciest tamago sushi I've ever seen

Strawberry-filled mochi, with azuki beans

Jennifer at Ike's Place on 16th (now closed)

After a fun-filled six years in the Bay Area, we headed back home to Maui, leaving behind good friends but taking great memories with us.

Lake Tahoe

2010-09-18T09:49:00.001-10:00

August 10 -12 , 2009

We stayed at the cabin for one more night and even played one epic game of Mexican Train.

And took one last photo of the cabin before heading on out.

Jenn and myself headed up to Lake Tahoe, driving through a few CA counties we'd never been through, grabbing caches along the way. One of our favorites was near Kirkwood, where we had only been once before, a few years back to ski. No snow now, just great views of the lake.

Overlooking Caples Lake in Kirkwood, CA

We arrive in Tahoe and checked into Harvey's. We gambled a bit, while waiting for my parents to arrive. The next few days were spent gambling, driving around the Lake, caching, and of course, more gambling. We had our best luck at the smaller northern casinos, especially the Tahoe Biltmore.

Near Elev. 6555 geocache


Jennifer sure is strong!


Emerald Bay

Dusk at Tahoe

After a few fun days around Tahoe, we headed back to the Bay Area for one last hurrah, before moving back to Hawaii.

My Brother's Big Day!

2010-09-18T08:48:00.000-10:00

August 8, 2009

We woke up to a glorious sunny day, perfect for an outdoor wedding. But before heading into Yosemite Valley, my brother had given us a task. He needed large branches to form tripods from which the wedding flowers would be placed on. Luckily this cabin's surrounded by woods, so we tromped through the wilderness, looking for the branches. It took us a while, but we finally found some good ones. We used a rotary saw (which my brother had provided the night before) to cut the branches to good lengths for the tripod.

Dad hacking away at the wooden posts

After making sure we had everything for the wedding, since it'd be an hour round trip if we had forgotten anything, we headed back into Yosemite. Our destination was the Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite's top hotel. We couldn't check in yet although plans were made ahead to let us check in early so we could get ready for the wedding. The front desk said we could check in soon so while waiting we had a nice lunch at the hotel restaurant. We went back to check in and they said we still couldn't check in, even though the wedding hour was getting close. My brother was able to check into his room, but we still needed two more rooms to get ready. Eventually, they released the extra two rooms and we were able to get ready with plenty of time before the start of the wedding.

The wedding took place on the outside lawn of the Ahwahnee, with the sun shining and a cool breeze keeping things comfortable. I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story.


Everyone mingling before the ceremony

The tripods we helped build

Jeff and my parents waiting for the ceremony to start

Waiting for the bride

Jayne reciting her vows

Mr. and Mrs. Hayashida

Name cards

Origami crane tree

Cruising before the reception

Jenn and myself before the reception

Mom making a toast

Wedding sign

The buffet - yum!

Best man's speech


The beautiful wedding cake

First dance

The Hayashidas

After a nice ceremony and fun reception, we headed back to our room to recuperate from the busy day and to rest up for brunch.

Brunch at the Ahwanee Dining Room

Enjoying Yosemite Part 2

2010-08-19T23:32:00.004-10:00

August 7, 2009

We got up bright and early (not really) and headed back to Yosemite to check out the Visitor Center and meet up with Jeff, Jayne, and her family. We spent a bit of time at the Visitor's Center, checking out the displays and watching a nice movie about the park. We also spent a bit of time at the Ansel Adams Gallery, wishing we had enough money to buy an original AA print!


My dad taking a photo of Ansel Adams Gallery

After spending a few hours at the Visitor's Center area, we met up with my bro, his bride-to-be and her family at a nearby picnic area. While waiting for them, we walked down to the river and saw the backside of El Capitan looming above.

There's El Capitan above us!

We ended the night with a yummy Korean BBQ meal cooked right on the grill. Jayne's family also prepared homemade Korean sides to go along with the meat. Yum!

Kalbi ribs on the grill!

Tomorrow, the big day!

Enjoying Yosemite

2010-08-06T20:34:00.004-10:00

August 6, 2009

A year ago today, we were at one of our most favorite places in the world, Yosemite National Park. We had arrived in the area the day before, staying at our parents' friends' cabin outside of the NP, about an hour drive to the entrance gate.


Welcome To Yosemite!

We headed straight to the Wawona Hotel for a nice lunch with my parents and Great Uncle Ralph, who made the trip with us from San Francisco.


After our delicious lunch

We then headed to Mariposa Grove to check out the Giant Sequoias. Jenn and myself took a stroll along the trail, while my parents and Uncle Ralph took the guided tram tour.


Giant Sequoia

While they were taking the tour, Jenn and myself, drove over to Glacier Point, an overlook of the valley below and Half Dome across the way. What an awesome view!

Jenn at Glacier Point (doesn't this look Photoshopped!)

Dave and Jenn at Glacier Point with Half Dome in the background

I told Jenn she should go out on that ledge and I'll take a pic. She politely declined.


The Ahwanee Hotel down below, site of my brother's wedding in a couple of days

After taking in the awesome views, we headed back towards the cabin, stopping at the Iron Door Saloon in Groveland for some grub. While the service was bad (it took forever to order), the food was decent, the decor was electic, and the karaoke singing was amusing. After dinner, back to the cabin to get a good night's sleep before the big day.

S.F. Aloha Festival

2010-08-02T20:29:00.001-10:00

August 2, 2009

For the past couple of years, we made the drive up to the Presidio to attend the San Francisco Aloha Festival. Parking costs a few bucks but admission is free. There are lots of vendors selling Hawaiian goods and clothing, and entertainment like hula. But we go mostly for the food! The Hawaiian plate with kalua pig and poi! And a spam musubi too!

Watching the hula dancers at the Aloha Festival

Jenn and our friend Kris after she had finished dancing with her halau

After filling ourselves on the ono Hawaiian food, we drove over towards Ocean Beach and stopped at Sutro Baths, since we had never stopped before. We walked around the baths and took in the views towards Point Bonita Lighthouse and the Marin Headlands.

I'm Back!

2010-08-01T11:41:00.003-10:00

After not posting anything to this blog for a year, I'm back! I've been reading my old road trip blog, reading one post a day on the day of the original post. It brought back great memories of our road trip and has me longing for another road trip one of these days.

Between the end of our road trip and moving back to HI, we had a few more great experiences and I'll be posting those in the next few days.

July 31, 2009 - Riding the Cable Cars

Believe it or not, we had never ridden the SF Cable Cars during our six years of living in the Bay Area. So off we went to the end of the line near Union Square. We bought our tickets and waited in the long line to catch the cable car.

Jenn waiting for the Cable Car

It took a while, but we finally got on and made our way slowly up the hill towards the end near Ghirardelli Square. We didn't get a spot on the outside so we crowded in the inside. It actually worked out though, it was a little chilly that day!

Dave and the Cable Car

We stopped at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop, just to get our free piece of chocolate.

Jenn at Ghirardelli Square

We then walked around the Square a bit, then back to wait for the Cable Car to take us back. When we got to the waiting area, there was a sign that said a one hour wait from this point. The line wasn't moving at all and there weren't many cable cars coming to pick people up. We noticed that the ones that were coming, weren't full when they left. We thought, hmmm, we should walk up the street to the first stop and jump on the cable care from there. And so we did, and it worked out great. Only waited a few minutes, instead of an hour, to catch the first cable car. So that's the secret, don't wait in line, just go to the first stop and catch it from there. It'll save you lots of time!

Jenn at the End of the Line

We also took a pic of the front of our car, with all of the bugs we picked up along the way from the second half of our road trip. It took some elbow grease to get every last bit of bug off of the hood!

Day 46 - Back in California

2009-07-30T20:08:00.002-10:00

After 46 days on the road, traveling from hotel to hotel, we finally made it back to California. But not before a little more gambling/losing, a lunch stop at Ikeda's in Auburn, and a quick stop at the Vacaville Outlets.

Welcome (Back) To California

We drove over the Bay Bridge, amazingly enough, the first time we had gone completely over the bridge.

As we passed Treasure Island, San Francisco came into view, fog and all.
As we pulled onto my brother's street, the final mileage for our road trip was 11,177 miles.
As our road trip comes to a close, I'd like to thank everyone for following our blog and commenting on our travels. We saw amazing places, ate great food, and met many friendly people along the way. Definitely worth the hours of driving and daily packing and unpacking. For now, this blog is "temporarily disabled" (all you geocachers know what I mean). =)

Day 45 - Driving to Reno

2009-07-29T19:50:00.001-10:00

Not much to report today, just driving from Wendover, UT to Reno, NV. Gambled a bit, hit $75 on $1 Wheel of Fortune but pretty much broke even. Tomorrow, back to the Bay Area!

Day 44 - Great Salt Lake and Bonneville Salt Flats

2009-07-28T18:34:00.003-10:00

Checked out of our hotel and headed out to find a couple of Idaho caches, the last state we needed (other than Alaska) to find at least one cache in every state. There were a couple of virtuals nearby so we went looking for those.

Dave at the Where The Red Fern Grows virtual cache

We then headed toward Salt Lake City. We first stopped at the Burger Bar in Roy, UT, getting a Lime Rickey but passing on the buffalo and elk burgers. We then headed to see the Great Salt Lake. We stopped at the Salt Lake Marina and took a quick pic.

Jenn at the Great Salt Lake

We then headed to the Bonneville Salt Flats, to see where all the land speed records are set. Cool spot, lots of salt along the side of the road. Jenn said it reminded here of Hawaiian salt, although the granules looked larger to me.

Dave at the Bonneville Salt Flats

After finding a few caches at the Flats, we headed for Wendover, UT, where we're staying for the night. We did find a virtual cache at the plane where they filmed scenes for Con Air. Here I am checking out the inside of the plane.

And since Wendover is the UT/NV border, there were a few casinos. Decided to check out the Rainbow Casino. Walked through looking for some place to eat dinner but decided to save money and eat at Subway down the street. The Zeus slot machine tempted me though and I put in a $5, got up to $10, cashed out at $7. Stopped since we're saving our money for Reno, our next stop.

Day 43 - Grand Tetons, Jackson, and Idaho Falls

2009-07-27T18:34:00.001-10:00

Today we checked out of our hotel, grabbed a sandwich for lunch in West Yellowstone, then headed back through Yellowstone on our way to the Grand Tetons. On our way through Yellowstone it started to rain hard and even hailed.

Outside the south entrance of Yellowstone, for miles, the road is unpaved, as there is extensive road construction going on. This was our view for most of the way.
We eventually go to the Tetons NP, where it was still raining. It rained throughout our drive through but cleared up every now and then.

Dave and Jenn with the Tetons

After the Tetons, we headed for Jackson, WY and saw the antler arches in the town square.
It was pouring so we didn't stop, instead heading over the Teton Pass to Idaho. Once we crossed the border to Idaho, the sun came out!

Drove to our stop for the night, Idaho Falls. After checking into our hotel, we walked right across the street to see the Idaho Falls, a man-made falls for a hydroelectric system.
We took a stroll along the walkway for a bit, then headed back to the hotel to head out for dinner. Along the way, we spotted this guy sunning himself. What started a rainy and cold day, ended up a bright sunshiny day.

Tomorrow, Salt Lake City.

Day 42 - Yellowstone, Old Faithful Area

2009-07-26T18:16:00.001-10:00

Today we spent our entire time at Yellowstone at the Old Faithful area. There's so much to see there, lots of geysers, springs, and pools. When we got there, we went straight to the Visitor's Center, to see when Old Faithful was going to erupt next. It was in the next twenty minutes or so, so we sat down in the shade and waited. OF finally erupted and we got a few photos, but this was a short eruption so by the time we took this photo, it was nearing its eruption.

Dave and Jenn with Old Faithful

We then decided to find a couple of virtual caches above Old Faithful. The elevation kicked our butts on the hike up, having to stop a couple of times. But we got to the top and what an awesome view!
We then walked along the boardwalk and saw many cool geysers and springs. I liked this one, because of my aquarium hobby.

Anemone Geyser

We then walked back to Old Faithful, since it was going to erupt again. Along the way, we went over Firehole River.

The second OF eruption was a lot better than the first, higher and longer. We even got some geyser mist on us.

We then walked to Morning Glory Pool, almost 3 miles round trip. Got to see its colorful waters. Too bad it's this way because of trash being thrown into the pool. A park ranger even said that they once found a chair in there!

We then drove back to West Yellowstone and visited the Grizzly and Wolf Discover Center and got to see some grizzlies looking for their hidden food among their pen.
Finished the day with some pulled pork sandwiches at Beartooth Barbecue. And for once, no photos! =)

Tomorrow, Grand Tetons and Jackson, WY.

Day 41 - Yellowstone

2009-07-25T18:55:00.000-10:00

Today we drove from Billings, MT to the northern entrance of Yellowstone. Went to the Mammoth Springs Visitor Center to get my passport stamped, and what should we find when we come back out, our first wildlife of Yellowstone.

Elk munching on grass

We then checked out the Mammoth Springs.

We then drove to the Canyon Village to check out the canyon and falls.

As we were leaving the falls, this fellow lumbered through. When he walked toward our car, he sort of leaned toward us. We though he was going to hit the car but no, he just lumbered in the other direction and off he went.

Tomorrow, Old Faithful.

Day 40 - Sturgis, Devils Tower, and Little Bighorn

2009-07-24T19:15:00.001-10:00

After checking out, we drove towards Wyoming but not before driving through Sturgis since it was on the way. No bike rally this week so this is what Main St looks like without bikes.

And this is what it would look like if it was bike rally week, well in animated form.

Next stop was Wyoming...

...and Devils Tower National Monument, oldest in the US. It's quite impressive as your drive towards it, it just towers over everything around it. We even saw a few rock climbers climbing to the top.

Even saw some cute prairie dogs on the way out.

We then headed to Billings, MT. On our way to Billings, I saw that Little Bighorn National Battlefield National Monument was along the way so we made a short stop to see where Custer made his last stand.

Dave at Custer's Last Stand Hill

The hill looking downward. I think the markers are where the bodies of the soldiers were found. The black marker is General Custer.

Tomorrow, Yellowstone!

Day 39 - Wall Drug, Badlands NP, and Mount Rushmore

2009-07-23T20:00:00.001-10:00

Left Mitchell and headed to Wall, SD, home to Wall Drug, a huge tourist trap. You see Wall Drug billboards and signs for miles, with all types of quirky sayings. One of the things they're famous for is their "Free Cup of Water".

Jenn with her free cup of water
Of course I had to take a photo with the coords of the store:

And here's a photo of the giant green dinosaur welcoming you to Wall, SD and Wall Drug

After lunch at Wall Drug, we drove over to Badlands National Park. Quite impressive rock formations, I remember seeing similar formations at the Petrified Wood National Forest, but not as many.

Did a quick drive through the Badlands NP, then off to Mount Rushmore. Wow, what an impressive sight! We got there late in the afternoon (or early in the evening) so the sun was almost behind the faces.

Tomorrow, Sturgis, Devils Tower, and Little Bighorn.

Day 38 - Driving and the Corn Palace!

2009-07-22T19:20:00.000-10:00

Woke up a little earlier today since we were planning on an extra 6 hour side trip to grab caches in Minnesota and North Dakota. We first went to MN, to grab a cache on the border. It's a good thing we found that one. I think the next closest would mean an extra 40 minutes of driving. We then headed for ND, which was about two hours and 45 minutes away. Got there and found a cache fairly close to the border. It was a sad and touching cache, hidden at the grave of the hider's two year old son.

Welcome to Minnesota!
Welcome to North Dakota!
And welcome back to South Dakota once again!

We then drove to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Pretty much a tourist trap but who doesn't love those!
And after the Corn Palace, I finally got to go to a Cabela's. I'd always wanted to go to one and so far we'd seen a few on our road trip but had to pass them up because we were always pressed for time. But today we had some extra time and we spent some time (but no $$$) checking out the displays.

Tomorrow, Wall Drug, Badlands NP, and Mount Rushmore.

Day 37 - Driving Through Iowa

2009-07-21T18:42:00.001-10:00

Today, we said goodbye to the Peebles, Hawaiian-style.

We then started our drive through Iowa, the first two hours in a storm. Stopped at the World's Largest Truck Stop on I80, since we had seen it on the Travel Channel. Thought it would be bigger, like the size of a mall or something. Guess things on TV look bigger!

Finally got out of the rain and had lots of sun along the way. Stopped in Nebraska to grab a cache and finished our day in Sioux Falls, SD.

Tomorrow, grabbing caches in Minnesota and North Dakota, and maybe the Corn Palace!

Day 36 - GPS Adventures Exhibit and Softball

2009-07-20T19:44:00.000-10:00

The GPS Adventures Exhibit was being held at the Putnam Museum in Davenport and even though we had already seen it in CT, we decided to take Aunty Betty with us to see it again. Lots of fun but the layout is still confusing. I could see muggles getting frustrated and just leaving instead of completing it.

Jenn and Aunty Betty

Later, we watched Jenn's cousin's Marisa and her Dirt Devil teammates win their softball game 11-8, which puts them into the semifinals.

Tomorrow, driving to South Dakota.

Day 35 - John Deere, Caching Along the Mississippi, and a Flat Tire

2009-07-19T19:52:00.000-10:00

Today we joined Jenn's aunty Betty, uncle Jon, and cousin Marisa for brunch at the TPC at Deere Run. While enjoying a nice meal, we watched Tom Watson as he tried to win the British Open. We watched him unfortunately bogey the final hole which left him tied and needing to go to a four-hole playoff. We left before the playoff started but later in the day found out he lost to Steward Cink.

We then headed to Moline, IL, and the John Deere Museum. Lots of cool equipment to look at and play on.

Dave on a Sugar Cane Harvester
Jenn on a John Deere Lawn Mower

Afterwards, we headed off to the Mississippi River to do some caching. We took Betty and Marisa along, to show them a little bit of what geocaching's about.

Walking towards the next cache

We didn't do too well, finding three and DNFing two. Our luck got worse when as we were backing up from our parking spot to head home, another driver told us our rear left tire was flat. We all got out and yep, it was flat.

So we called AAA, and within half an hour, the tow truck arrived to change our tire to the spare.
We then took the Prius to Walmart for four new tires. The tires that were previously on the car were getting close to the point of needing to be replaced so we decided to just get them all replaced now, since we still have to drive back to California.

Before dinner, David played with Smudge, the Peebles' friendly cat.

After dinner, we once again headed out for ice cream, this time to Whitey's.

Day 34 - Caching in WI and Driving to IA

2009-07-18T19:22:00.001-10:00

Today we drove from Illinois to Beloit, Wisconsin, to find a few caches before heading to Iowa. Found six and DNFed on that looks like it was in a construction area.

Welcome to Wisconsin! (And no, there isn't a fireworks ad on top of the WI sign, it's just the angle of the photo)
The rest of the day was spent driving to Bettendorf, IA, to stay with Jenn's aunty and uncle.

Welcome to Iowa!

Day 33 - Chicago, Pizza, and Public Transportation

2009-07-17T19:17:00.000-10:00

Got a late start today, as the place where we were going to buy breakfast downstairs was already closed by the time we got there. So off to Dominick's to get some OJ and milk. We finally left the hotel after 1pm and soon found ourselves in traffic heading to Chicago. So, after passing a subway station, we decided to park our car there and take the L (subway) into downtown. About half an hour later and we were downtown. We then got a transfer and headed to Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. No game today so we could walk around without having thousands of fans around us.

Dave and Jenn at Wrigley Field
Jenn waiting for the L near Wrigley Field

Our next stop was Lou Malnati's Pizza for some deep dish pizza. Since we knew deep dish pizza was filling, we shared an individual pizza, just enough for us.

Now we need to work that off, so we walked over to Millennium Park, to see the "Bean".

We took this from under the Bean. Can you find us?

While at the park, we were able to take in the views of the old and new, historic and modern architecture of Chicago.

We then took our second form of public transportation, the bus, to see Oprah Winfrey's studios.

We then walked to the nearest L station, got another transfer and a short while later we were back at the station where we parked our car. Drove back to our hotel but first enjoyed a nice crab and shrimp dinner at Moe's Crab Shack.
Tomorrow, off to Wisconsin and Iowa.

Day 32 - University of Michigan

2009-07-16T19:27:00.000-10:00

After packing up and saying goodbye to the Harnjos, we started our drive towards Ann Arbor, stopping to pick up a couple of caches along the way.

When we got to Ann Arbor, and the University of Michigan, we found out there was a huge art fair going on and some streets around the university was closed. We drove around for a while looking for parking, only to find signs with Parking - $20, Parking - $15, and so on. We finally found a $5 parking area, run by the Boy Scouts. Of course, it was further away from the art fair than the more expensive parking spots so we had a nice walk to the University. We found the M-Den, where Jenn bought some UM shirts, then had lunch, and then went looking for a couple of caches. One was an interactive cube sculpture that could be spun around. Kind of looks like the All Spark from the Transformers movie.

Jenn with the Cube

Got back to the car and drove over to the football stadium so Jenn could get a pic with a UM sign.
We were then off to Chicago, driving through Indiana.

We stopped in Michigan City, IN for a couple of caches...there's a cache hidden in the photo below.

Finally got into IL, after waiting out some passing thunderstorms in Gary, IN.

Tomorrow, off to Chicago.

Day 31 - Hangin' Out in Ohio

2009-07-15T16:22:00.000-10:00

Today was a nice relaxing day in Findlay. Slept in a bit, hung out with the family, and ice cream for dessert!

Dinner at the Harnjo's
Ice Cream!

Tomorrow, driving to Chicago.

Day 30 - Pro Football Hall of Fame

2009-07-14T19:40:00.001-10:00

We stayed overnight in North Canton and after checking out, we drove down to Canton to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I'd been to the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, PA before, but never to here so we were excited.

Dave and Jenn at the entrance to the HOF
This is the oldest football uniform. I think it looks like Princess Leia crossed with Jar Jar Binks.

Jenn with John Elway's uniform, helmet, and equipment

Dave with the shoe and football Jason Elam used to kick his record-tying 63-yard field goal
Jenn with Peyton Manning's rookie jersey
How's my throwing form?
Bronco's latest Super Bowl ring

We had a great time at the HOF and learned many new historical facts about the football leagues, past and present. If we read every single thing, we could have stayed there for hours!

After the HOF, we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch (again), then off to Findlay, to stay with Jenn's cousin Yoko and family.

Day 29 - Leaving PA

2009-07-13T18:33:00.000-10:00

Today was our last day in PA. We packed up the Prius and said our goodbyes. We had a great relaxing time staying with my grandma in the retirement community.

Our next stop was Pittsburgh, where we stopped for a late lunch at Primanti Brothers. We had one of their famous sandwiches. This was a pastrami and cheese, with tomatoes, coleslaw, french fries and a fried egg. Yum!

Next, we were off to Ohio.

After checking into our hotel, Jenn's cousin Ken and his wife Jennifer drove down to meet us for dessert.

Tomorrow, Football Hall of Fame.

Day 28 - Classic Car Show and Just Relaxin'

2009-07-12T17:42:00.000-10:00

Our last full day in PA before heading back west. There was a classic car show in the local community park so we checked it out for a bit. Lots of awesome cars in great condition. Took a few photos.

David with a 1941 Packard Club Coupe
Jenn with a 1957 Chevy Bel Air Hard Top
1916 Ford Fire Truck

1914 Ford Roadster

For you Jeep fans - 1942 WWII Jeep

1933 Ford 3 Widow Coupe

After the car show, we had lunch, then played another game of Hand and Foot. Over the past week, my grandma's kicked our butts nearly every game!

After a yummy dinner of meatball sandwiches, we headed over to neighbor Edna's place to say goodbye.

Tomorrow, packing up, saying goodbye, and heading to Ohio.

Day 27 - Pretzels, Ice Cream, and Pitch and Putt

2009-07-11T18:24:00.000-10:00

We started the day by going back to Kitchen Kettle Village for some more jellies, another birch beer, and another soft pretzel from Immergut.

Had to have another one!

When we got back to the Village, we picked up neighbor Jean and went off to Lapp Valley Farm for some ice cream. Lapp's makes their own ice cream, bottle their own milk, churn their own butter, and offer other dairy products.

David (chocolate marshmallow), Jenn (butter brickle), Jean and Doris (black cherry)

They also let you walk around the farm, looking at the newborn calves, peacocks, and milking building.

Moo!

When we got back to the Village, it was still early for dinner so off to the Pitch and Putt course we went. It's a nine hole, par 3 course. Jenn had never really golfed before but she wanted to give it a try. She didn't do too shabby, even got a legit par before I did!

I missed this putt...think I missed the next one as well.
Fore!

Tomorrow's our last full day in PA, so it'll probably be a relaxing day around the cottage. Plus, nothing's open on Sundays in Amish country.

Day 26 - Philadelphia and Game Night

2009-07-10T18:00:00.000-10:00

During our last trip to PA (July 2008), we did a day trip to Philadelphia. We visited the National Constitution Center but didn't visit Independence Hall so that's where we wanted to visit today. We got there midday and went to the Independence Hall Visitor Center, only to find out tickets for the tours were already all gone for the day. What a bummer! So we visited the Liberty Bell again and walked around Independence Hall.

Jenn with the Liberty Bell
David in front of Independence Hall

There was one room near Independence Hall that you could visit with going on the tour. It was where the U.S. Supreme Court once convened. The park ranger said the only thing that was original in the room was the large chair in the middle, although the other furniture and items were of historical value.

We were getting hungry so we next walked a few blocks to Reading Terminal Market.
We went straight to Rick's Cheesesteaks, where we had eaten cheesesteaks last summer. Unfortunately, they were gone! Apparently, when their lease was up last summer, the market forced them out and they relocated somewhere else in Philly. So, we walked up and down the many vendors and finally settled on roast pork sandwiches, with garlicky spinach and Provolone cheese. It was very moist and the spinach added a nice flavor to it.

And after lunch, Jenn had to have her Basset ice cream, mocha chip.

After enjoying the ice cream, we headed back to New Holland, where we had a nice dinner. Then it was game night! First we played carpet ball, where you try to knock your opponent's pool balls off the board.

Then it was a game of eight-ball.
And finally, shuffleboard.

Not sure what we're doing tomorrow, but it does include a trip to Lapp's Ice Cream.

Day 25 - Geocaching and the Waffle House

2009-07-09T17:50:00.000-10:00

We decided to go to the Lancaster Outlets today but before that we wanted to do a little bit of geocaching around the area. Our first cache almost turned out to be our first DNF even though we could see the nano cache. The cache was on the bell at the top of this pole-climbing exercise equipment at a park.

To get to the top, it was at least fifteen feet up. There's no way either of us was going to be able to climb up. There was a picnic table nearby but even if we took that over, and I boosted Jenn up, we still wouldn't be able to reach it, if the old table would've even held. So we walked away dejected until I saw a long branch that had fallen from a nearby tree. I took the branch and knocked the nano cache down, know that I somehow needed to replace it back up there. After signing the log, I lodged the nano in between two branches, then tried to get the magnetic side to stick to the bell. After a couple of tried, the magnet attached and the nano was back in place! So I used my brain muscles instead of my arm and leg muscles.

After finding a few more caches, we were hungry so we stopped at our usual Waffle House across from the outlets. We finally tried the waffle and man, was it delicious! Too bad I didn't take a photo of it.

After lunch we headed to the outlets where I bought a new pair of sunglasses (since I just snapped my other pair in half) and Jenn bought a couple of shirts from Banana Republic. Then after DNFing a nano cache in a covered bridge (hundreds of hiding places = difficulty 4), we went to look for a cache near this very popular sign.

We DNFed it, looks like the landscaping crew had been there recently. Then off to another couple of caches and we had a nice view of the nearby Amish farms.
After getting back to my grandma's, my uncle Bill from Delaware showed up and we went out to dinner. After dinner, we walked over to a nearby geocache and showed them where it was. He had a long drive back to Delaware so we took a quick pic and off he went.

Tomorrow, Independence Hall and Reading Terminal in Philadelphia.

Day 24 - Ice Cream Social

2009-07-08T16:52:00.001-10:00

Today was the Garden Spot Village Ice Cream Social. Free ice cream so of course we went. It was a nice warm day so ice cream hit the spot.

David with Grandma Doris and neighbor Jean

Jenn with the Giant Turkey Hill Ice Cream Cow

Got there when it first started and got in line to get our ice cream. Only got a small scoop so after eating it quickly, went to play some of the carnival games they offered.

David trying to dunk a GSV employee, two misses so no dunk
Next, David tried putting. Three misses so no prize. Grandma Doris made two out of three putts from the same distance, wow!

After the ice cream line got a little shorter, we went back to check if they had any more. Yep, they had lots and the scoops were huge this time. I got vanilla and Jenn got chocolate. After tasting the vanilla, Jenn liked it better than the chocolate so guess who ended up eating most of the vanilla?

After spoiling our dinner, we went to the New Holland Family Restaurant for dinner. At 5:30pm! We're getting used to these early dinners but by the time 10pm comes around, we're hungry again!

Here's David's dinner - chicken croquettes with corn nuggets

Tomorrow, maybe some shopping at the outlets and some geocaching.

Day 23 - Scrapple and Kitchen Kettle Village

2009-07-07T16:30:00.000-10:00

Woke up a little later than usual today, just felt tired for some reason. I bought some scrapple yesterday and decided to fry up a piece today for breakfast. For those that don't know what scrapple is, it's made of pork scraps and cornmeal. When I was younger, I didn't like it at all. But as I got older, I started liking it more.

Mmmm...scrapple!

After lunch, my grandma's neighbor brought over a Lhasa Apso she was dogsitting. Her name was Ginger, and she was the sweetest dog. Didn't bark at all. I walked her around the courtyard a couple of times so she could get some exercise.
Then we were off to Kitchen Kettle Village, a tourist trap with a jelly shop, smokehouse shop, and other places to spend all your money.
Our first stop was the jelly shop, which has free samples of jellies, jams, marmalades, relishes, salsas, pickles, pies, and other yummy stuff. You can make a meal out of everything you sample.

David trying out the jellies

After purchasing a few jars of jellies, we picked up a cool refreshing birch beer before heading to Immergut Pretzels. We usually share just one but this time we had to have our own.

While we were sitting there, eating our pretzels, we saw this sight at the bank across the street. I bet you don't see this every day at your bank drive thru window:

Not sure what we're doing tomorrow, although there is an ice cream social at the main retirement village building. Mmm...ice cream...

Day 22 - Just Relaxin'

2009-07-06T18:31:00.000-10:00

After finally getting to sleep in a little, we decided we were just going to relax today. Of course, that also included getting the Prius serviced and going grocery shopping at Yoders. We got our apple cider, sweet bologna, and of course scrapple! Watched a few too many episodes of Wizards on Waverly Place, then played "Hand and Foot", a card game we always play here. My grandma kicked our butts, her score was almost as much as Jenn and mine combined! Ended the day by going to the village's computer room for a bit, although I was disappointed that I couldn't install Adobe Flash on the machines because I didn't have administrative priviliges. So no Facebook games for me!

Tomorrow, off to Kitchen Kettle Village for some birch beer and soft pretzels!

Day 21 - Driving to Pennsylvania

2009-07-05T18:02:00.001-10:00

Woke up today to rain and after finding a cache in WV (after DNFing another one), we headed for PA. It was cool, driving through the WV mountains and seeing the mist/fog all around.
Along our drive, we came across some carnival trailers. Here's the pizza trailer, there were also cheesteaks and fries trailers.

Got caught up in some very slow holiday traffic going through Maryland and after not listening to our auto GPSr and taking another route (a better way at that), we made it to PA.

Welcome to Pennsylvania, our halfway point

We pulled into Garden Spot Village about 9:30pm, with our trip (CA to PA and everywhere in between) odometer showing:

Here's a map of the route (more or less) we took. Not quite directly from CA to PA!

And finally, here's our States Found map, we plan on hitting the missing states on the way back to CA.

We'll be spending time in PA for about a week, mostly just relaxing so we'll see if I have anything exciting to post. Thanks to everyone for all the great comments and for following along with us on our adventures across the USA!

Day 20 - Great Smoky Mountains and the very first KFC

2009-07-04T17:27:00.001-10:00

We woke up today in the city of Asheville and made our way to the Great Smoky Mountains. Before getting to the National Park, you have to pass through the town of Cherokee. It was pack with tourist, checking out the Native American stores and Fourth of July festivities. After moving slowly through the town, we got to the NP visitor's center. I got my passport stamped, including one upside down (oops). Then we started our drive through the Mountains. There were only a few places to stop so we didn't get many photos. But here's one with Jenn and the Smoky Mountains.

The bluish haze gives the Smoky Mountains its name.

After leaving the NP, we passed through Pigeon Forge, TN. My mind was practically blown by the amount of attractions and things to do, including Dollywood. There were tons of mini golf parks, pancake houses, country music theaters, magic shows, etc. The town seemed to go on forever...it must've taken us 15-20 minutes to drive through.

An example of what you can see in Pigeon Forge.
Or you could stay at this hotel.

We finally made it through and headed to Kentucky.

One the way to West Virginia, we stopped at the very first Kentucky Fried Chicken, in Corbin, KY. We didn't buy anything to eat but we checked out the museum they have within the restaurant's building.

Sander's Cafe
Jenn with the Colonel
The First KFC Kitchen

Throughout driving through Kentucky and into West Virginia, it rained, which didn't keep the fireworks from being shot off. Apparently, thing thing to do is go to the rest stops in WV and shoot of your fireworks there.

Tomorrow, off to Pennsylvania!

Day 19 - Driving, driving, driving, and BBQ (yes, once again!)

2009-07-03T17:09:00.000-10:00

We checked out of our hotel after our first hot breakfast of our trip (made-to-order omelettes!) and were off in search of an Alabama cache. The first cache we DNFed and since I only had two AL caches on our GPSr, I hoped we'd find the second. We got to the second and Jenn made the find. Phew!

As we've been driving through the midwest and south, we've notice fireworks stands, stores, and warehouses. This one claims to be the world's largest fireworks store. It was a huge building so I can only imagine how many fireworks were inside. And these stores are open year round!

We were then off to Georgia, where we finally got to eat at a Chick-Fil-A for the first time this trip. We wish they had them in the Bay Area! We zipped through Georgia, and got to South Carolina. Stopped only to grab a cache, then off to North Carolina, where we had BBQ for dinner. Yep, you must know by now we love BBQ. So now we've had KC BBQ, Memphis BBQ, and North Carolina BBQ. And yes, we've also had Texas BBQ, just not on this trip. The restaurant we ate ate had a stage and there was some great entertainment tonight, a bluegrass band and cloggers. Definitely brought some authenticity to the area.

Welcome to Georgia!

Welcome to South Carolina!

Driving to North Carolina

Pulled pork, coleslaw, sweet potato fries, hush puppies and a bottle of cherry wine!

Tomorrow, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Day 18 - New Orleans and Driving Through Florida and Alabama

2009-07-02T19:10:00.000-10:00

After checking out of our hotel, we drove down St. Charles Ave. to see the wonderful old homes.
We then drove back to the French Quarter to pick up a muffuletta sandwich from Central Grocery Co. Salami, mortadella, ham, Provolone cheese, and olive salad, yum!

On the way through MS, we came across this sign, are we in Hawaii?

We then drove through Alabama, on the way to Florida to grab a cache.

We then drove back up to Alabama, spending the night in Montgomery, AL. Tomorrow, driving through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

Day 17 - New Orleans

2009-07-01T17:38:00.000-10:00

After checking out, we drove south through the rest of Mississippi to Louisiana. We came across the first welcome sign in another language.

It was a fairly short drive to New Orleans, including a portion over swampland.

The drive took about a couple of hours and after doing an Earthcache and grabbing some lunch, we checked into our hotel and headed to the French Quarter for some early dinner. We asked our hotel bellman what restaurant he would suggest and he said Denny's. We thought it was quite funny, but he said, no not THE Denny's but another Denny's, a local seafood restaurant. We discovered it was actually Deanie's. Instead of bread, they give you potatoes they boil in the water they use to boil the seafood in. It was good but we discovered the the potato skins themselves were HOT!!! Jenn ordered the barbecue shrimp appetizer for her dinner since it was a big portion and I ordered the stuffed crab.

Jenn with her bib
Stuffed crab!

After dinner, we walked over to Bourbon Street and walked a portion until we had enough of the "2 for 1" beer specials being offered to us up and down the street.

Bourbon Street (I didn't take photos of the non-kid friendly establishments)

We then headed for Cafe Du Monde, for their beignets and iced cafe au lait.

We finished up the night with a walk along the riverwalk and the mighty Mississippi River and a short (losing) trip to the Harrah's Casino.
Tomorrow, Alabama and Florida.

Day 16 - Vicksburg National Park

2009-06-30T19:16:00.000-10:00

Today we left Memphis for Mississippi. After seeing what there was to do in MS, we decided to head for Vicksburg Military National Park.

Welcome to Mississippi!

Along the way south, I saw this obelisk along the side of the freeway and had to take a photo. Apparently it's a cell phone tower!
We got to Vicksburg and it was hot, almost 100 degrees! So we headed for the Visitor's Center, which was air-conditioned. Spent some time there, learning about the 47-day siege that took place here and what was called the turning point of the Civil War, as the Union defeated the Confederacy here.

Display of Cannons
The Site of the Surrender

After the park, we headed further south and stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner, our first time there but we always wanted to eat there. We had the chicken and dumplins', with fried okra, corn, green beans, tossed salad, vegetable soup, and buttermilk biscuits. We forgot our camera in the car so no photo.

After dinner we checked into our motel, America's Best Inn, which turned out to be America's Worst Inn. The first room had ants all over the bathroom, the second room already had a guest in it, the third was dirty and we could hear the TV next door. So after three strikes, we got our refund and headed to the Hampton Inn, much, much, much nicer!

Tomorrow, New Orleans!

Day 15 - Graceland and BBQ (again!)

2009-06-29T16:28:00.000-10:00

Got woken up today at 6am by our motel telephone ringing. I picked it up and just some beeps, not even a human on the other side. And to top it off, I was dreaming about Disneyland. I was pissed to say the least. Back to sleep and slept through our alarm so by the time we woke up a little bit before 9am, the free breakfast was over. Oh well, ate some stuff we had with us, got ready, packed up and hit the road. Before heading over to Memphis, we found a cache in Arkansas, our seventh new state. Then onto Memphis and Graceland!

Tennessee Welcome Us
First stop, Graceland!

We had bought our tickets online so all we had to do was pick them up and wait for our tour time to begin. The basic ticket lets you tour the mansion and that's about it. We bought the platinum tour ticket which lets you go on the mansion tour and lets you also visit the auto museum, the airplanes, and a couple of other exhibits. I think this was the best value. For an additional $36, we could've gotten the VIP ticket, which includes the above + you get to board a shuttle to the mansion right away (instead of waiting in line for ten minutes) + some special exhibit + a keepsake backstage pass thing. IMO, the additional $36 is not worth it. You could use that cash to buy lunch plus buy some souvenirs.

Here's Jenn waiting in line to board the shuttle. She's wearing the headphones and audio player that allows you to hear the audio tour at various parts of the mansion.

You board a shuttle, then they drive you across the road to Graceland Mansion. The mansion itself was much smaller than I expected. I expected something the size of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland!

Dave in the Living Room (awesome peacock stained glass!)

Jenn with a Fan Painting in the Trophy Room
Jenn with the Famous Suits

At the end of the mansion tour are the graves of Elvis, his parents and grandmother.

After the mansion tour, we were starving so we had a great lunch of meat loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, and Dr. Pepper (a fave of Elvis). We then headed to Elvis' Auto Museum to see his many cool cars.

Dave with the 1960 MG

Jenn with the Pink Cadillac

After the car museum, we went to the Sincerely Elvis exhibit, where they show lots of memorabilia from his movies. You're not supposed to take flash photos anywhere in the mansion or exhibits but Jenn used the flash on this pic.

Dave with the Girls! Girls! Girls! exhibit

We then went to see the Lisa Marie, Elvis' private jet. One interesting story we learned about was that since Lisa Marie had never seen snow, Elvis took her to Colorado. They landed, Lisa Marie played in the snow for a couple of hours, then back to Memphis.

Checked out the gifts shops, bought a few things, got a cherry Icee since it was so hot, then took one last photo at the entrance to Graceland.

We left Graceland and headed to East Memphis and the Doubletree Hotel. Only $42! Gotta love Priceline! After checking in and finding a cache in the parking lot, we were off to Interstate Barbecue. We ordered an order of pork ribs with baked beans and cole slaw and a side order of BBQ Spaghetti. Everything was delicious, although the spaghetti was quite spicy. I had to eat lots of cole slaw to cool off my mouth.

Pork Ribs with Baked Beans and Cole Slaw

BBQ Spaghetti (with pulled pork mixed in)

After stuffing ourselves, we drove back to our hotel. Off to Mississippi tomorrow.

Day 14 - Driving Through Missouri and Arkansas

2009-06-28T17:39:00.000-10:00

Today was mostly driving. Drove from MO to AR, with a short trip to OK to grab a cache. Tomorrow, onto Memphis and Graceland!

Welcome to Oklahoma!
Welcome to Arkansas!

Day 13 - Kansas State University and BBQ

2009-06-27T18:01:00.000-10:00

Today we visited Kansas State University, where my dad went to college. We drove around the campus and bought some stuff from the bookstore. I tried on a purple T-shirt but nope, purple's not one of my colors!

Dave at KSU

While in Manhattan we also found the Cache Across America - Kansas geocache, our second CAA cache after CAA - California. I know I won't find all 50 but it's fun to find them if you're in the area.

Dave finding the cache while Jenn waits atop

We then drove from Manhattan to Kansas City, Missouri.

Our first stop was GC37- Missouri's First - Watts Mill geocache. It had just rained so all of the plants were wet so we got soaked from brushing up against all of the leaves. But we preservered and made the find of this old cache first hid in 6/2000.

Our next stop was Arthur Bryant's, a famous barbecue joint in Kansas City.

We ordered a pound worth of meat - beef brisket, pulled pork, and burnt ends. We also got some baked beans. We got everything to go and they wrapped the meat and half a loaf of bread into some paper. That was their take out tray! As we drove south, Jenn opened the paper on her lap and this is what she saw:

Looks really messy (and it was) but it was so good! We ate about half of it before we had to stop. Leftovers for breakfast!

Tomorrow, driving through Arkansas to Memphis, TN.

Day 12 - Invesco Field and Driving Through Kansas

2009-06-26T18:54:00.000-10:00

Today we woke up with the weather being a lot better, very warm and sunny. After checking out we drove over to the Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium, where the Denver Broncos play.

We visited the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, where they had many exhibits and info about famous Colorado sportsmen and sportswomen.

Jenn with Broncos locker

After spending spending some time and a little bit of money at the Broncos team store, we headed out of Denver toward Kansas. About an hour into our drive, we saw some passing thunderstorms. Definitely different than what we're used to as you can see where the showers are.

After driving for a while, we made it to Kansas...
...where we saw lots of cornfields.

Along the way to Hays, our stop for the night, we stopped for the oldest active geocache, GC30, Mingo. It was an easy find, just had to follow the geotrail. Dropped off a few traveling geocoins and some other shiny stuff. =)

Tomorrow, driving past more cornfields, and Kansas State University, where my dad went to college.

Day 11 - Rocky Mountain National Park

2009-06-25T16:48:00.000-10:00

Today, we drove up to the Rocky Mountain National Park. About halfway there, it started raining and we realized we were dressed in T-shirts and shorts, and didn't bring jackets. During our road trip, we usually had all of our stuff in the car with us but since we're staying in Denver a couple of nights, everything was back in the hotel room. Oh well, maybe it won't be too cold we thought. Of course, it was a little cold, not too bad, but add in the rain, and our umbrella being back at the hotel room, didn't help either. But we made the most of being there and drove around taking in the views.

Rocky Mountain National Park

On the way back to Denver, we spotted 8 Island Hawaiian Barbecue so of course we stopped for dinner. Mochiko chicken, rice, and mac salad, yum!!!

Day 10 - Garden of the Gods

2009-06-24T19:33:00.000-10:00

Today, we planned on going caching for an "oldie" cache (hidden 7/2000) but first we had to have some fuel. So we drove up to Colorado Springs to eat at King's Chef diner, another diner Jenn had seen on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network (see a pattern?). This place was cool. First off, it's a purple castle! It seated only 10 customers but when we got there there were only a dad and his two sons. Everyone was real friendly and we talked a lot. We ordered a half plate of The Grump. Hash browns on the bottom, then bacon and onions, then scrambled eggs, then gravy, then cheese.

Here it is half eaten (we shared once again).
Jenn in front of the King's Chef Diner

After not finishing all of the Grump, we were off to find the 7/2000 cache. It was a little over an hour or so away around Pike's Peak. A nice drive all the way but then our Auto GPSr routed us to a dirt country road. But it agreed to Google Maps so off we drove in our Prius. After twenty or so minutes of driving really slow and getting bumped around, we saw a rocky area ahead and knew it was time to give up and turn around. We were really bummed but knew it wasn't worth wrecking our car. So back to Colorado Springs we went. After visiting the Garden of the Gods (the next part of the blog), I decided to check the map to the cache again and saw that there was another paved road that we should have taken. I briefly thought about going after it but thought better. But half an hour later, on the way to Denver, we were talking about it and thought maybe we should go after it. But it would have put us in Denver at a late hour and we were already tired so we decided not to, and had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen instead.

But, back to Garden of the Gods. And amazing collection of rock formations just outside of Colorado Springs. We drove the loop, found a few Earthcaches, took a few photos.

Garden of the Gods with Pike's Peak in the background

Then off to Denver, with the first rainbow of our trip
Rocky Mountain National Park tomorrow!

Day 9 - Albuquerque and Santa Fe

2009-06-23T19:21:00.000-10:00

After spending the night at the Doubletree Albuquerque for a very good rate (thanks Priceline!), we were off to the Intl Rattlesnake Museum. Unfortunately, I guess they only have one employee, and he or she was sick so the museum was closed. I was so bummed. So we went to go find a nearby virtual, which turned out to be very cool.

Old Lady of the Tree, a carving, done inside of a tree.

After walking around Old Town Albuquerque for a bit, we were off to Santa Fe. We passed MANY casinos but this time we didn't stop, as we didn't see any billboards offering free slot play. Our first stop in Santa Fe was Bobcat Bite, a place Jenn saw on the Food Network. Their specialty was Green Chile Cheeseburger so that's what we shared.

Yum!

Then we went to the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. The exhibit on display were paintings from the Santa Fe Indian School from the 20s to the 40s. There was no photography allowed so we couldn't take any photos. But here's the sign with an example of what one of the paintings looked like.

There were a few caches around the area, so we decided to go find them since we hadn't found a traditional cache on our road trip yet. Found three of them and Jenn found this cactus, but no cacher was hurt during the hunting.

Our last stop in Santa Fe was the Plaza. We stopped at Todos Santos Chocolates for some truffles. We also found some interesting Pez displays.

We then decided to drive up towards Denver until we got tired. We finally ended up in Pueblo, CO, where we called it a night.

For calling itself Colorful, it's not a very colorful sign, is it?

Day 8 - Petrified Forest National Park

2009-06-22T17:45:00.000-10:00

Today, we left Holbrook and were off to the Petrified Forest National Park. We bought a National Parks annual pass since we'll be visiting other NP's across the country. We didn't buy one at the Grand Canyon because it was a "free" day at National Parks.

Jenn at the Painted Desert

Dave and Jenn at the Crystal Forest

Cool piece of petrified wood - 225 million years old!

Jenn's favorite piece of petrified wood

Agate Bridge
Even saw this cool dust devil (video)

On the way to Albuquerque, we saw many signs for the Sky City Casino saying you'd get $10 free slot play if you signed up for their player's club. So of course we stopped and after using the $10 each, we cashed out up $14, enough for dinner!

Welcome to New Mexico!

Day 7 - Sedona and Meteor Crater

2009-06-21T19:17:00.000-10:00

Today we decided to backtrack a little and go to Sedona since we ran out of time yesterday. Before that, we stopped at the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, AZ. It's along historic Route 66 and some of the ideas from the movie Cars came from this motel (or the one in Rialto, CA).

Me with the teepees and the classic cars (including our Prius - it'll be a classic one day!)

Is this the inspiration for Mater from the movie Cars? Maybe a combo of both?
Historic Route 66

Then we were off to Sedona. Our first stop was the Sedona Visitor's Center. I highly recommend stopping at the Visitor Center if you're unsure of what you want to do in the area you're at. We knew we wanted to see certain rock formations, we just didn't know how to get there. The helpful folks at the Visitor Center gave us a map and directions to where we wanted to go. Jenn wanted to see Snoopy Rock. The guide at the Visitor Center told us to turn around and look out the window. There it was! Pretty funny!

Jenn with Snoopy Rock - can you guess which one it is? Hint: it's one of the smaller formations

Next was the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a chapel built into the surrounding rocks. Quite impressive!

On the way to our next stop, I spotted this local:

And these crazy creatures:

Actually, it was the Ye Olde UFO Store, a museum/shop in Sedona. We did a quick walk through and saw some interesting things!

Then it was off to the Meteor Crater, a 50,000 year old impact crater in the middle of the Arizona desert. It's a National Monument but since it's privately owned, the admission was $15 each! But we really wanted to see it so we paid and took in the views.

Jenn walked all the way down into the crater. I said no way, I'm staying at the top!
Just kidding! This is a photo taken with a backdrop at the museum.

Day 6 - Grand Canyon

2009-06-20T20:29:00.000-10:00

I woke up today feeling a little weird. Not sick, something just didn't feel right. I think it might have been that we had stayed overnight at nearly 7000 feet and the altitude got to me a bit. But as the day went on, I began to feel better, so I was able to enjoy the canyon.

When we got to the Grand Canyon parking area, the skies darkened and it started to drizzle. By the time we got to see the canyon, here's the view we had:

So we spent a lot of time checking out the visitor's center and the bookstore, while using the restroom hand dryers to dry ourselves off in between. But as the day went on, the rain moved on and the blue sky and sun came out. We checked out a few spots, like the Yavapai Observation Station, then we transfered to the Hermit's Rest route, where we checked out Mohave Point:

Then we went to see the Abyss:

Nearby I saw this cactus flower:

And of course, here's a view of straight downnnnnnn.....

Only saw two animals all day, a squirrel and this raven chick:

We thought we'd have enough time to visit Sedona but we spent so much time at the Grand Canyon, we didn't have enough time. So, a change of plans for tomorrow. Instead of heading off to New Mexico, we decided to go back to Sedona and see the red rock country.

Day 5 - Driving to the Grand Canyon

2009-06-19T20:14:00.000-10:00

Not much to report today. Did a bit of gambling (lost a little of course), then headed out to Arizona. Drove over the Hoover Dam, then straight to Tusayan, where we're staying for the night before catching a shuttle to the Grand Canyon South Rim tomorrow.

Welcome to Arizona!

Day 4 - Hoover Dam and the Strip

2009-06-18T20:59:00.001-10:00

Today we drove over to the Hoover Dam from Vegas. We didn't do any of the tours, just bought tickets so we could go through the visitor's center, mainly displays about the history of the dam and a higher observation deck. We also walked across the dam and looked way downnnnn....

Dave and Jenn at the Hoover Dam (I wish when strangers took your photo they'd take less of you and more of the attraction)

Here's a better photo (taken by Jenn)

Even though the dam was impressive, I thought this was cooler. A gigantic bridge being built to alleviate traffic over the dam.

On the way back to Vegas, we stopped at Boulder City for a few virtual caches. Here's the first virtual, the first cache found of our road trip!

Later that night, we drove down to the Bellagio to check out the conservatory and the fountain show. Every trip to Vegas, this is the one hotel we have to stop by, not to gamble, but to check out what's new.

Jenn underneath water at the Bellagio Conservatory

A very old ferris wheel at the Conservatory

Jenn with her favorite glass sculptures near the Bellagio front desk

Fountain display at the Bellagio (song was Viva Las Vegas by Elvis)

Tomorrow, off to the Grand Canyon.

Day 3 - Disneyland and Vegas, Baby!

2009-06-17T20:59:00.000-10:00

Our day started with repacking all of our stuff, checking out and jumping on the Candy Cane Inn shuttle to Disneyland.

We started at DCA, where Jenn got to ride her favorite ride, Tower of Terror. Then after riding Monster's Inc, we were off to Disneyland, where we noticed it wasn't as packed as the previous day. We think it's because half of LA was at the Lakers victory party.

We were a bit hungry so we enjoyed a yummy hand-dipped corn dog for a snack. Stood in line for a while to ride Peter Pan, then one last ride on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. And finally, our last ride for a while was of course, Pirates of the Caribbean. Then one last stroll along Main Street before heading back to the hotel and taking off for Vegas.

Main Entrance

Enchanted Tiki Room

For all you geocachers, doesn't this look like a giant nano?

Drove up 15, through Barstow, then past Primm, and finally into Vegas. After checking in at the Main Street Station (free room, yeah!), we went straight to Market Street Cafe at the Cal for miso butterfish, fruit punch, and guava juice, yum! Gambled a bit, actully ended up $2.50! Off to Hoover Dam tomorrow.

Welcome to Nevada!

Vegas through the raindrops

Day 2 - Disneyland

2009-06-16T20:59:00.000-10:00

Our first full day at Disneyland and man were the parks packed! We didn't get to ride as many rides as we wanted to because the lines were just too long for us! We started at California Adventure, riding Toy Story Midway Mania:

Then we watched "It's Tough To Be a Bug":

After riding a couple of other rides at DCA, it was off to Disneyland but not before visiting our Brick in the plaza between the parks.

Main Street was packed!

Then after a break, it was back to DCA to play Midway Mania again. We did better this time, pretty decent scores:

The Paradise Pier construction is going well, with the Mickey's Fun Wheel redesign and the new World of Color fountain show being built.

Then we watched our favorite parade of all time, Disney's Electrical Parade:

Then back over to Disneyland to ride Haunted Mansion, and Buzz Lightyear:

Here's something I saw in one of the windows along Main Street that I thought was sort of funny:

Dave and Jenn's Road Trip - Day 1

2009-06-15T20:59:00.000-10:00

Today was the day we moved out of our apartment, packed everything we owned (except for stuff we shipped back to Maui) into the Prius, and hit the road. We thought we were going to leave around 9:30am but of course that didn't happen. First, Jenn made a short trip to the dentist, then we underestimated how long it'd take to clean the apartment, pack everything up, and load the car. We ended up leaving around 1:45pm.

The Prius loaded up

We dropped some stuff at my brother's office, then started down to SoCal. We also stopped at our favorite rest stop before the Grapevine. Why is it our favorite? I have no idea!

A few hours later, we were at our first stop, Disneyland! By the time we got to the park, it was just enough time to eat a nice fried chicken dinner at Plaza Inn, while watching the fireworks show. Then off to Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, then Buzz Lightyear. Then back to the hotel to get a good night sleep after a long day one.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle lighted in LA Lakers colors

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Waiting for the Candy Cane Inn shuttle

Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

2008-10-10T20:14:00.000-10:00

The Major League Baseball regular season was coming to a close and with no playoffs in sight for the Giants or A's, we decided to take in one of the last regular season games. The Giants tickets were too expensive (around $50) but I found some cheap tickets for the A's on StubHub. I found a discount code too which knocked the cost to around $17 per ticket.

We also wanted to see the Maui boy, Kurt Suzuki, catcher for the A's play, as well as Ichiro Suzuki, who plays for the Mariners. Unfortunately, Kurt wasn't starting but we did get to see him play a couple of innings. Ichiro played the whole game but didn't do much. The A's ended up winning and since they scored more than seven runs, we each got a couple for a free liter of Pepsi, yeah! We also tried to find some Kurt Suzuki T-shirts but I guess they didn't anticipate so many people wanting them, as one of the vendors said they only printed 50 of them earlier in the season, and a big group from Hawaii bought them all.

Ichiro batting with Kurt catching

Jennifer After The Game

David After The Game

Since it was a nice game, we did a bit of caching afterwards, at Oyster Point near the Oakland Airport. Found a few caches, saw some birds dive bombing the ocean for some fish, and came across a vulture eating a skunk (yech), but that's a story for another time. =)

The Omnivore's Hundred

2008-09-17T20:45:00.000-10:00

I was reading another blog On My Plate (onmyplate.org) and found this list, The Omnivore's Hundred, a list of a hundred things to eat. So here's my list, with things eaten in bold, and things I'd never eat italicized. Of course, there are some thing on the list that I've never heard of!

Dave's Hundred

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper Too hot for me!
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar I could do the Cognac, but not the cigar, yech!
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake Yep, yep, yep, and yep!
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill Heck no!
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse Nope, no way, no how.
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

A Day In The City

2008-09-14T17:03:00.000-10:00

We decided to spend a day in the City yesterday, well at least half a day as we didn't get there until the afternoon. Our first stop was for a couple of geocaches, Alamo Square and The K-Leave Me Cache, which was our 1900th cache found. They both overlooked the famous Painted Ladies, the victorian homes that are used in many TV shows/movies.

While there, we also spotted an unusual sight, plants growing in different shoes. The local gardener/caretaker of the park must find shoes left at the park and uses them as pots.

After taking in the views, we were off to the Exploratorium. There were tons of hands-on activities for kids of all ages, including magnets, fish, sight, hearing, light displays, etc. We spent a couple of hours there trying different experiments and probably could've spent another hour there but we were getting hungry.

So off to Chinatown we went to eat BBQ pork buns from the various dim sum shops and then over to North Beach for some tiramisu at Victoria Bakery.
After walking up and down the streets of Chinatown, we walked down to Union Square for some shopping at Macy's, then at the Westfield mall. We finished the day with a dinner at Coriander's, Sweet Chicken with Crispy Basil and Chicken Pad Thai. Yum!

Vegas Baby!

2008-09-12T20:31:00.000-10:00

We just got back from our annual trip to Vegas with the Hayashida clan, including my parents, brother and his fiance, grandparents, aunties and uncles. We stayed at the Fremont Hotel for the first time, since our usual hotels, California and Main Street were booked solid due to an Asian basketball tournament taking place that weekend.

Since we were born in Hawaii, we're eligible for the kama`aina discounted room/meals package, $310 for room and all meals for four days. Not a bad deal and I was surprised that our hotel room at the Fremont was nicer than the ones we've stayed in at the Cal and Main Street, although a bit smaller. We ate most of our meals at the Market Street Cafe at the Cal, although we had a great breakfast buffet at the Paradise Buffet at the Fremont. We also had the Seafood Buffet at the Paradise Buffet. We're shown below after filling our bellies with crab and dessert.

I won't go into much detail about the gambling as we deposited a small amount into the casinos' banks but we did pretty much all our gambling downtown. We only went down to the Strip once, to see the Bellagio conservatory and fountan show. We lucked out, seeing our favorite fountain show/song, Con Te Partiro. Jenn also got to see her favorite lobby fixtures.

Since we're trying to find geocaches in as many states as possible, we decided to make the drive north to Arizona and Utah. We also decided that if we were going to drive all the way to Utah, we might as well drive to Zion National Park. I figured that it would be three hours up, a couple of hours at Zion, then three hours back. Well, it was an 11 hour trip, after stopping for lunch, dinner, and a few caches, including about 45 minutes at an Earthcache in Utah featuring dinosaur tracks.

Zion was cool, with all the colorful rock formations. I also finally gave in and bought a National Parks passport and stamped it with the Zion cancellation stamp. I wish I had bought one earlier since I've visited many other National Parks/Monuments.

All in all, we had a great time, getting to see all of our relatives. We didn't lose too much money and got to eat a lot of great food. Time to diet!