let's get serious.

california pt 3: waterfalls, america’s castle, citizen kane and best burrito ever bought in a liquor store

2012-02-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

We woke up pretty early again, which was good because we hadanother big day ahead of us. On the plate today was checking out McWay Falls atJulia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Hearst Castle, back to Piedras Blancas (timepermitting), and finally off to the ocean side town of Cambria for the night.

We headed out at about 8:30am after packing everything up. We decided to pick up a quick bite to eat at the Big Sur Bakery & Restaurant before making our way to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

The park about 10 miles south on CA-1. The plan was to be done by at most 10:30ambecause our reservations for Hearst Castle was at noon andSan Simeon, the town where it is located, is about an hour away.

We made it to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Like theother parks, there was no welcome center, etc. Fortunately, since we stayed atPfeiffer Big Sur State Park,it also covered the entrance fee for this park.

There were two parking areas upon entering; one that wasstraight ahead and the other where you had to turn right. We didn’t see anysigns and after going down each way (with each looking like it had a pathwayfor a trail), we opted to park at the one straight ahead because other carswere there.

We hopped out and started down the trail. After a couple ofminutes, I couldn’t tell if this was the right trail or not. All I knew wasthere was a stream to the right of us and I could hear what seemed like adistant gushing of water. (It could have also been my wanting to hear awaterfall in the distance). We kepthiking until we reached a point where we couldn’t go any further, except for crossingon makeshift rocks and branches across the stream. My mind was thinking, “Ohthis isn’t safe,” but my spirit was saying, “Oh cool.” We crossed the streamslowly but steadily. We made it to the other side and started climbing upward.The path was very narrow I thought. We trudged on until we had to cross thestream again back to the original side. Hmm, this is the most adventurous trailI’ve been on yet I thought again. It wasn’t until we got to a point where therewas no longer anywhere to go when I thought, “This can’t be it.” That’s when Itook a second to remember the pictures I saw on the Internet and swore thewaterfall looked like it was right off of the ocean. Then I thought, “We aregoing the exact opposite way!”

We backtracked hastily since we didn’t have muchtime, carefully crossing streams and maneuvering through narrow pathways. Wemade it back to the parking area. “It must be the trail on the other side, “Iconcluded. We started driving over there until we passed a sign that said ‘FallsTrail’ and an arrow pointing downwards. A staircase was right next to the sign.D’oh! There was a sign all along. Kicking myself for wasting time, we parkedthe Jeep and headed down the stairs. Less than 5 minutes later, we saw what wecame to see. (Note: When driving in for the first time, the stairs to the Fallsare to your right, right before the road forks into two separate parkingareas.)

To our left down below was McWayFalls, an 80ft waterfall that emptiesout into the Pacific Ocean. It is nestled in asecret cove that looks like a private beach. I strained to see if there wereany people below but it looked like the only way to get there was by boat.(Warning signs seen later dictated that trying to get down there was dangerousdue to crumbling cliffs and high tide.) The bluff that we were on was onlybarricaded by a wooden fence so as much as I could I kept my distance. Thewater below was an almost fluorescent blue-green color. We walked all of theway to the end where some benches were. Off to the side were informationalsigns; apparently a house used to be constructed right on that cliff.Apparently, right out of the window of the once master bedroom, one could see unlimitedviews of McWay Falls. Now, only the foundationremained.

We returned back to the car. It was now 10:30am. Hearst Castlewas still about 60 miles away and because CA-1 naturally prohibits you fromgoing over 45 (to avoid careening off a cliff), I knew it would take us atleast an hour. As we drove, it took every last bit of me from telling Bridgetto pull over every other turnout for a photo op. At least I was able to take acouple.

We made it to Hearst castle safe and sound at 11:45am. All Iknew about Hearst Castle was that it was deemed ‘America’sCastle’ and was owned by William Randolph Hearst. I knew it was a grand estateand even heard there were exotic animals like zebras running around.

To make a long story short, here is what I gathered from thetrip –

1) WilliamRandolph Hearst commissioned Julia Morgan, an architect/designer, for ~27 yearsto build this grand estate on top of a cliff.

2) Thegrand estate consisted off the grand house, two pools, a theater, tennis courtand guest houses outfitted with the finest and most antique European wares.

3) Hearstinvited all of the A-listers (e.g. Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Cary Grant,Clark Gable, etc.) during his day to hang out.

4) Hiswife would stay in NY while his mistress Marion Davies and he could ‘play’ in California.

5) Heonce had one of the most extensive private zoos in the world having collectedpolar bears, giraffes, zebras, etc. (They had to sell most of the animals whenhe ran into financial difficulty but the zebras actually still remain.)

6) OrsonWelle’s flim ‘Citizen Kane’ was actually about Hearst, after I believe Welles feltspited for either not being invited or getting kicked out from Hearst Castlefor being drunk (Hearst had a strict no plastered policy).

So what do I make of this? Basically, William RandolphHearst was a rich douchebag who invited all of the cool people to play in hishouse. Oh yeah, he was an only child. Okay, I might be harsh. He actuallydonated his estate to California State Parks so maybe he wasn’t that bad. It’sstill hard to look at the place and not say, “This is just a rich guy’s reallynice house.”

Onward we went to our next adventure which was going back tosee the funny looking elephant seals to see if we could witness a live birth.

I was enjoying this time with my wifey to be. She wasenamored by these strange creatures and I caught myself in the same state ofmind with her. I thought, all of this trip planning and creating itineraries isreally in hopes that she would enjoy herself. I was happy she was.

Sadly, no baby elephant seals would be born in our timethere so we continued onward to Cambria, aquaint seaside town. I booked a room at a hotel right off of the boardwalkfacing the ocean so we could relax and wash away the filth from two nights of camping.

We checked in quickly and we made our way onto the boardwalkto catch our second sunset in a row. The lady at the front desk told us someharbor seals were spotted further down so we hurried up before they would getlost in the darkness.

We walked down some stairs from the boardwalk to the sandybeach. Filled with black smooth boulders, we could spot the seals in thedistance planked on top of their makeshift beds.

We took in the sunset (and photo ops!). We couldn’t actuallysee the sun go down due to the clouds but the colors in the sky made it uniquefrom the night before. Plus, unless it’s raining and storming, who doesn’t getenamored with a sunset?

Our hunger was starting to get the best of us so we headedout to a Mexican place called Medusa’s for dinner. When we got there, we didn’texpect it to be as hole in the wall as it was but once we got in we wereinstantly charmed. Simple 6 table setup with tacky knick knacs everywhere. Afloor to ceiling mural was painted on one wall. The waiter brought out chipsand salsa right away.

I opted for the nachos with carne asada and Bridget orderedfish tacos. Feeling adventurous, I also ordered an Horchata; lactose is not myfriend. I started to consider if we could live this Bohemian lifestyle, kind oflike living in a slower paced Chicagosuburb but on the water. Conversely, my dreams of a faster paced lifestyle in New York has somewhatsubsided as my age has increased. Regardless, at this given moment, I wouldn’tbe anywhere else. We finished up our dinner for two for $20 and headed back tothe hotel.

It was only about 8:30pm when we got back. We weren’t up forgoing out on the town so we rented some DVDs from the front desk. Ironically,they had the film we were supposed to watch at the Hearst Castleas well as our all time favorite rom com ‘When Harry Met Sally.” We changedinto comfy clothes, turned up the fireplace and fell asleep to Bill Crystalexplaining to Meg Ryan how men and women can never just be friends.

Refreshed and up early the next day, we started our trekback to LA. Our only stop was to another ocean side town south of Santa Barbara calledCarpinteria. Deemed the safest beach in the world (for no riptides or sharksightings), we had the best carne asada burrito ever to be had in a liquorstore at Beach Liquors. Stuffed and content, we headed home already reminiscingin all of the sights in the days past.

california pt 2: mountain lions, 8 minute showers, restaurant in the sky and secret beaches

2012-02-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

The two layers, top and bottom, were no match for the frigidcold that hit at about 3am. I should have known that it was coming; the samething happened last September at Yellowstone.My perception of California weather,even during winter, was sorely miscalculated. I cocooned myself into my sleepingbag.

We woke up at about 6:45am. The faint hint of sunlightstarted to peek through the towering redwoods. Luckily, whatever was rustlingaround the campsite didn’t eat us in the middle of the night.

After freshening up in the washrooms, we headed back to BigSur Lodge to get breakfast. The restaurant was a nice fallback for campers likeus who enjoy nature but don’t necessarily abide by the Man vs Wild handbook.Plus, the fireplace right by our table was the perfect remedy for sleeping inchilly temperatures the night before.

Both Bridget and I opted for omelets with a side of hashbrowns and toast. I’m not sure if it was the warm atmosphere and comfort level,but something as standard as eggs, potatoes and toast, it sure tasted great. Ialso added another hot sauce (Tapatio, brewed in California) to my list of faves; we haveabout 10 different hot sauces in our cupboard at home.

After loading up, we made our last restroom stop and headedto our first of two trails. The Valley View and Pffeifer Fallstrail are what is recommended for first timers. We parked the Jeep at a smallparking area right before the trails. The clerk at the general store told usthat Pfeiffer Falls Trail was closed so we headed in the direction of ValleyView. We asked her if we had anything to worry about. Her answer, “A mountainlion will see you before you see it. They typically stay away from humans butif you come across one, seem as large as you can.” Great.

Even though the Pfeiffer Falls trail was closed,you could still take the Valley View Trail to see the falls; the trails branchoff at a certain point. It didn’t take us long to get to the fork (roughly 45minutes). From there we headed to see the falls. 15 minutes from the fork, wewere there. The falls were unspectacular (compared to the 308 ft Lower Fallswaterfall at Yellowstone). At the very least,it was a nice reward.

We then headed off to see the Valley View portion. Thetrails were moderate in difficulty. It took us about half an hour to get to theend. The trail had a greater incline than the other one and coupled with itgetting later in the day, Bridget and I broke a mild sweat. Throughout thetrail we saw trees that were scorched black, evidence that Mother Nature can benasty when she wants to be. The trail is also a little secluded with trees andbrush outlining the left and only the tops of grand hills visible towards theright. Eventually we turned a corner andsoon the view lived up to its name. Right before us was a grand view of theunderlying forest and to our right in the hazy mist was the Pacific Ocean.

The view was amazing and tranquil. The only thing you couldhear in the far distance were the chainsaws from loggers and the periodicbuzzing of insects flying around you. We sat on the bench which is literally 6feet from you falling into the porcupine of trees and branches below. The throngof hikers past left their marks and insignias on the bench. I tried to take inthe panorama as much as I could, trying to suppress my fear of heights. Not long after we descended back down, taking in a couplemore photo opportunities and eventually getting back to the Jeep.

We headed back to camp. It was not about noon. I hadn’t toldBridget what the next two items on the agenda were. I wanted to keep it asurprise. All I told her was showering and changing into something presentablewould probably be a good idea.

At this point we hadn’t showered for about 36 hours. Wechecked out the shower scene earlier in the day and for $1.75 in quarters, youwere granted a maximum amount of 8 minutes of showering time. Now whether thewater would come out hot or cold, that was a different story. Luckily I counted13 quarters and being the gentleman I am I gave Bridget the $1.75 and I keptthe $1.50.

We packed our toiletries and fresh change of clothes. Therewas only one problem. I didn’t bring any slippers with me and the thought ofgoing in barefoot into the shower stall was not an option. Fortunately, Bridgethad an extra pair of sandals. Unfortunately, I felt like a medieval Geishatrying to fit my size 11 feet in her size 6.

We stepped into our 6x4 foot stalls. With only a limitedamount of shower time, my only chance not to get stuck full of soap with thewater running out was to lay out my soap, shampoo , facial wash and towel allin order. Soon I was ready.

I popped the 7 quarters in. I had 7.5 minutes. The waterblasted out of the showerhead. That’s when I realized, there is no temperaturecontrol. Or timer, for that matter. Wonderful, I thought. I stuck out my handto feel the water and what do you know, we have hot water. I jumped into thestream of water. The force of the water felt like a deep tissue massage. Istuck to my game plan. Shampoo, then soap, then facial wash. I started to getanxious. Would the water run out? I picked up the pace and started to rinse.Then I hopped out from under the shower and waited for the water to stop. Theonly thing was it didn’t stop…..for probably a good 4 minutes. I know I takepretty quick showers at home but 3.5 minutes? Now I was just getting pelted bythe water that would hit the ground. I waited, unenthused by having to wait todry off.

After the last of the water trickled out of the showerhead, I dried off and put on a fresh set of clothes.I walked out of the stall only to see that Bridget was already done and back tothe Jeep. “Did yours not work?” I asked her. “No, I only stayed in for 5minutes, “ she replied. “D’oh!” I thought. So much for being a gentleman.

After our showering adventure we checked the time andrealized it was already 1:30pm. We had to run. I made reservations for 2pm at Sierra Mar, which is therestaurant to a posh and grand hotel perched up on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Iremember from last time researching Highway 1, I came across the website andcame away astounded by the priceless views. I knew staying at the hotel was apipe dream; hotel stays start off at $500/night ($1500/night for cliff views).I figured a good alternative was to grab lunch, which also afforded the same viewsat a discounted price.

Post Ranch Inn is about 15 minutes south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.When we approached we stopped at a manned kiosk. The lady asked us if we’d everbeen there. We shook our heads and she explained to us in an indistinct accenthow to get to the restaurant. All I heard was, “Go Left.” We continued onbending around a curve until we came up to a sign. The sign read “Reception”with an arrow pointing left. I followed the path until it lead to gravel road.“I guess it’s this way,” I thought. Not long on the gravel road did we bumpinto baby deer and wild turkeys (they do really say gobble, gobble, gobble).Thepathway was getting rougher. We continued on until we ran into an area withsmall cottages (not the grand hotel we were expecting). “Um, I don’t think thisis it, “Bridget wondered aloud. It didn’t seem right. I turned the Jeep aroundand headed back the same way we came and saw another small gravel road to ourleft. I followed the unpaved bumpy road down the path until we see more smallhouses. “I think we may get shot for trespassing,” I said. I backtracked again,thanking God we had a Jeep to maneuver us out of this mess; honestly, if we hadan economy car we probably wouldn’t have survived some of the small inclinesand declines on some of the rougher patches.

Finally we get back to the paved road and see a trail ofcars going up the hill. I stopped one of the elongated golf carts and asked ifup the hill was the way to the restaurant. He nodded. I followed the hill up andliterally passed by five parked Lexuses in a row. I guess it should have beenexpected. In another parking area sat a vintage convertible roadster and AudiVeyron. We parked the car and walked the rest of the way up the hill. Wefinally made it through a reception building and another flight of stairsbefore we made it to the actual restaurant. I felt like we were finally at thepearly gates. We stepped into the restaurant and were promptly greeted by thehost. “We have a 2pm, de la Cruz” I said. “Right this way, Mr. de la Cruz andby the way Happy Anniversary,” she said. Now it wasn’t really our anniversarybut anytime we go to a fancy place I always say it is, in hopes of scoringbetter seats, etc. In this particular case, we were placed right by the window.

The view lived up to all of the photos I’d seen on their website;it was utterly transcendent. The vast ocean had this sense of calm and oddlyenough also had this overwhelming sense of power. One of those, if I fell, Iwould either die from a massive body flop or get crushed by waves crashingagainst the rocks below.

We sat down to eat. The entrees ranged from $20-$30. Ofcourse BAM and I opted for themuch more economical sandwiches, ordering theburger and curried chicken salad sandwich respectively. We started out withfried duck spring rolls with plum sauce and a salty wasabi paste whichbasically were Asian version of Chili’s southwestern egg rolls. We receivedfour of them, all about a male thumb size, and taking into account the $16price, they were $4 a piece. We commented that we could get four extra valuemeals at Mcdonald’s for the same price. The real stars were the sandwiches,however. My sandwich had just the right amount of curry flavor and chunks ofapple and raisins mixed into the chicken salad to make it not overpowering. Thehouse cut wedge potato chips also added a wonderful complement.

The bill came out to about $75, which is still a little upthere for lunch. The views, however, were priceless. At the amusement of anelderly waitress who called me chicken for not going out on a 4x4 clear glassbalcony, I stepped into the open air and snapped away. The experience wasamazing. “Not scared anymore, huh?” she asked when I came back in. I smiled andnodded hiding the urge to urinate on myself in fear.

We packed up and headed to the Jeep. There was one moresurprise I had in store. Now due my own selfish motives, I won’t disclose theexact location of our next adventure. Just know that somewhere in Big Sur, there is a secret beach, perfect for windingdown the day in front of picture perfect sunset. It was about 4:15pm. Sunsetwas at 5pm so we had more than enough time to get there.

The approach to the beach is somewhat rough; you are goingfrom roughly 5000 ft above sea level down to the ocean itself. Again, we werehappy with our rental of choice. It was nearing dark so some of the small sideroads and dimly lit houses seemed a little Deliverance-like. After about threemiles, we get to an unmanned kiosk. It seems that many of these state parkswork by honor code, where you put a fee into an envelope (typically $5-$10),tear off a slip to put on your dash, and place the envelope into a box.

We park the car and head out onto a sandy trail. Not longafter, we were graced by the most amazing beach I have ever seen. It wasreminiscent of the beach we discovered when on the Oregon Coastexcept we were flanked on both sides by monstrous bluffs and ahead of us weremassive rock formations. Peaking from behind the rock formations were rays of lightas the sun made its gradual and inevitable descent.

There were only a handful of other visitors on the beach,one of which was a lone seal who looked like it lost its way.

The scene was indescribably romantic; the setting sun and sparseclouds cast a golden orange hue off the water. The tide would come inches towhere we were standing and retreat calmly back again, revealing the oddlypinkish purple sand below it. It was peaceful. The only sounds to be heard weresquawking birds and the waves crashing against the ragged rocks.

I was busy trying to catch the perfect shot, when I realizedI was missing the whole point. I ran over to Bridget, put my priorities away,and watched the sun go down with the only person I would want to share it with.

Soon the sun disappeared into the distance. When we got up I realized I was missing thelens cap for my camera. I checked all of my pockets and bag and it was nowhereto be found. We looked all over the sand to no avail. I took it as a lesson;don’t get fixated on trying to get the best picture of something beautiful,because at the end of the day you might have missed the big picture altogetheranyway.

It was getting dark now. We headed back to the car andbrushed of all of the sand on our feet. It was about 6pm. We had one of those,“What do we do now?” moments.

We decided to fall back to our increasingly favorite place,Big Sur Lodge. We were somewhat dreadinggoing back to the campsite to be subjected to random noises. Then I had anepiphany. What better way to increase bravado than to get a little of Grandma’sold cough medicine in your system. A little liquid courage one might say. Wewalked away from the general store with three liter sized beers and two ramensfor late night eats.

We got back to the campsite and set up shop. Like a goodcaveman, I started up the fire and like a good cavewoman, Bridget got oursleeping arrangements (in the Jeep , of course) in order. As the fire startedburning, I popped open my beer and set the Ipod to play Alexi Murdoch. I setthe speaker to its highest setting, hoping the sound and my tipsiness woulddrown out paranoia. For about 2.5 hours it did.

Bridget and I stayed up chatting away. The warmth of thefire eased the bite of the cold. We were still full from lunch and beers werekeeping us bloated; the ramen would not be eaten tonight. We finished up our libations,I watered the tree one last time and we retreated to our makeshift paradise forthe night.

california pt 1: danish pancakes, dogs with fins and Law & Order SVU

2012-02-08T18:12:00.000-08:00

It was 6am. Dreary eyed and tired, Bridget and I musteredthe energy to get up, hop into our rented Jeep Liberty, and start drivingnorth. We had been in Long Beachsince Friday and since our friend Bonee had to work during the week, I planneda trip up to Big Sur. LA traffic is unpredictable to say the least, let aloneon a Monday morning, so we tried to leave as early as we could. We threw ourbags into the Jeep, made sure the Banh Mi sandwiches we picked up at Lee’ssandwiches the night before were packed, and took off.

I was excited to return back to the coast we drove down formy 30^th birthday whirlwind trip. In my opinion, Pacific Coast Highway and CaliforniaHighway 1 have some of the grandest views that America has to offer.

According to Google Maps, the drive on CA-101 and CA-1 to Big Sur should roughly take 6 hours. If our previousexperience was any indication that amount of time is vastly underestimated. Realistically,it would probably take us at least 8 hours, which taking into account we left alittle before 7am, put our arrival time at about 3pm. Sundown in mid-January isroughly 5pm and we needed to allow some time to set up camp. There’s nothinglike putting up a tent when it’s pitch black outside.

Traffic out of LA was horrid, even at the time we left. Ittook us about 2 hours just get out of LA proper, taking 405-N to 101-N. (Inhindsight, PCH may have been a better alternative.) We tried to use the carpoollane as much as we could, freaking out every time a motorcyclist would pull up inchesto our right, riding the line divider between us and the next lane. (Is thateven legal?)

It took us about 4.5 hours to get to Solvang, which is thismade up Danish town in the middle of California;think of it as the Danish Disneyland. The city was first settled by Danishpioneers, and the Danish style and architecture is mainly perpetuated toattract tourists to this faux Danish village. (Most residents gripe there isn’teven a really authentic good Danish restaurant in the city). Nonetheless, wewere amused by the fake thatched roofs and windmills (which makes cameos in thefilm Sideways).

We stopped in Paula’s Pancake Shop which is a popularbreakfast spot in the area. I’m not sure what made it necessarily Danish otherthan the Old World wooden décor and the “Danish”style pancakes, which were larger and thinner than American flapjacks. Theyalso coat the top with powdered sugar and give you a small glass cup of syrup. Imust say they are more enjoyable than their domestic cousins. We finished offthe meal with Eggs Benedict and biscuits and gravy.

It was around 12:30pm and we decided to take off instead ofstrolling around this quaint European village. From Solvang, it should take usonly 3.5 hours to get to Big Sur.

Halfway to Big Sur, we sawa number of cars parked off to the side; a sign read ‘Elephant Seal ViewingArea’. This was the infamous Piedras Blancas and around this time of the year Iread that elephant seals migrate to this area to give birth. Once we pulledover, we were astounded at the sight (and smell) before us; hundreds of massiveelephant seals beached on the sand in full view. The creatures were definitely odd.The males can reach up to 6000 lbs while females can reach up to 2000 lb. Everysound you can imagine was being emitted; barking, screeching, growling, roaringand every now and then and best way I can describe it, the sound of flatulence.I felt like I was in high school locker room.

According to one of the guides, the males can have up to30-40 partners, which would definitely make Wilt Chamberlain proud. The malestook this role seriously, growling and posturing at any potential threats totheir harem. Additionally, the name elephant seals stem from the males having alonger elongated nose that is designed to reabsorb moisture from theirexhalations. Since the males do not leave the beach during mating season, whichcould take a couple of months, their only source of hydration is this moisture.

It didn’t take long for BAM and I to be mesmerized by thesemammals. The newborns, with their incessant barking, actually looked likepuppies with fins. Some moms were too tired to react to their yelps. Otherswould bark back which I could only translate to, “I just gave birth to you.What else do you want?” The males had the same simple minded desires of a dogin heat; they would try to mount the females (some already pregnant or some whohad just given birth) or pass out in exhaustion if unsuccessful. Imagine tryingto mount an unwilling victim as a human; that would earn a swift kick to thegroin. Needless to say some of these females were having none of it.

We started to monitor the moms who were having contractions,in hopes of seeing a live birth. Unfortunately it was getting late and we hadto get to camp before sundown. We vowed to return if we had time coming backdown.

The next 60 miles were amazing and dreadful at the sametime. This was the real Highway 1, where one wrong turn would send you rightoff a 40 story cliff. I always say that part of experiencing Big Sur is thedrive alone; the hairpin turns under signs that say Sliding Rock Area, themajestic views of the Pacific Ocean, themagnificent calm of the sun’s reflection off the water.

The speed limit was 55 mph which I found way too high forthis area. Realistically, I probably averaged around 45 mph which is actuallyhigher than what I would have wanted to drive if not for the strict timeline wehad.

It was about 4:30pm when we neared Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. The sun wasalready coming down. My main objective was to acquire firewood and set up camp.Luckily, near the front of the park was the Big Sur Lodge which was arestaurant, café, gift shop and general store all in one. (They also offercabins and other lodging for those who want to take it easy). We picked up somefire starter logs, a lighter and some ice; the firewood we could pick up at thecamp host which was at every camp site.

When we first entered the park, we were greeted to anunmanned kiosk. After crossing a one way metal bridge, we were greeted toanother unmanned kiosk; I guess we would have to find our campsite on our own.Luckily, at the second kiosk, there was a map of the campgrounds. Next to thekiosk was a large sign that labeled each tent site with the party that reservedit. “Site 162: De la Cruz, ” it read. There was only one other line marked asreserved. Too many Criminal Minds and Law and Order SVU episodes already makeme paranoid and now being in the middle of the woods with no phone receptionmade for a ripe plot line.

It was a little less than 5pm when we found our campsite.Bridget set her efforts on setting up the tent while I started the fire. The sun was coming down quickly now. I parkedthe Jeep facing the campsite so we could use the extra light.

It took us about a half hour to get situated and at about5:45pm we finally sat at the picnic table facing the campfire. Then we heardit. Crumple, crumple. Rustle, rustle. “Did you hear that?” I asked Bridget.“Yeah,” she responded. Our campsite was littered with leaves from thesurrounding trees. Crunch, crunch. “What the hell is that?” I remarked. Iturned my headlamp on and surveyed the area. Nothing to be found. A few minutespassed. It was pitch dark aside from the luminescence of the campfire. Rustle,rustle. The scenes of the newest episode of SVU were unfolding in my mind. Theheadlines would read, “Two bodies found in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.” I looked atBridget. She seemed much calmer than me. The paranoia had soon set in. My mindcouldn’t relax and take in the calm night. Instead, I was fixated on either aserial killer or Bigfoot emerging from the darkness and claiming its prey.Without shame, I asked Bridget, “So……..do you want to sleep in the jeep?” Thejeep would be our home for the next two nights.

It was only 6:30pm when we got all of the sleeping bags,pads and pillows into the jeep. “What do we do now?” Bridget asked. I shruggedmy shoulders. The only place we knew that was open was back at the Big SurLodge. We decided to head back; at least we were familiar on how to get back tothe campsite.

There were only a handful of people when we got to thelodge. It was offseason so it was expected. In the restaurant, some folks were havingdinner. I ordered a hot tea from the café to warm myself up and Bridget and Icozied up to the fireplace in the lobby. I tried getting back into “On theRoad” by Jack Kerouac, which essentially is about road tripping with parts ofit in Big Sur; a perfect read one would think. King of the Beatnik generation,his writing style is widely revered but I have a hard time keeping up with hisjumping all over the place mentality. I always forget who did what and whereand find myself rereading pages constantly. I tried to pass the time until Ihad enough and Bridget I jetted out of there at about 8:30. Back at thecampsite we called it a night.

michigan pt 2: ghost town and gay capital of michigan?

2011-12-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

The next day we woke up a bit sluggish; the greasy food andbeer didn’t help the night before. We were to head down to Saugatuck for theday and night before we headed back to Chicago.We packed up all of our belongings and headed upstairs. Nate was already awakeand told us Carrie stepped out to get stuff for breakfast. You could tell Natewas in better spirits from his untimely sickness. “Hey, did you know you haveanimal prints in the snow in your backyard?” I asked. “Yeah, it could have beena dog or a wolf,” he responded nonchalantly. Interesting.

Carrie returned soon after and her and Nate preparedbreakfast. Throughout the weekend we had joked about city vs country life so Iwas interested to see what they were cooking. “Eggs in a window,” said Nate.“No, eggs in a basket,” quipped Carrie. Regardless, it was a piece of breadwith a hole, buttered and an egg cracked into its center and fried. I mustadmit they were pretty good. I told them that was the country way of cookingbreakfast but in the Asian way we would have substituted the bread for rice. Wefinished up breakfast, shared a few more laughs and were soon on our way. Theyhad been more than gracious hosts and Bridget and I were happy we will alwayshave a place we could escape to when life gets too routine.

As we were making our way back to the highway, what do wepass up but Vito’s itself. Goddoggit (that’s a country saying right?). I textedCarrie, “We just passed up Vito’s. I bet it’s delicious.”

It took us less than an hour to get to Saugatuck. We decidedto head straight to Saugatuck Dunes State Park. I read about a trail that lead you straightto the beach and since we had still not seen Lake Michigan,it seemed appropriate. When we got to the parking lot, I expected to see avisitor center. What we got was a trail map and two outhouses. Yellowstone, how you spoil people! I partook in theouthouse; nothing like being in the middle of the forest being as cold as itwas and having to go potty.

I finished up and soon we were on the beach trail. Thesurroundings were nice and serene; the white snow on the trees and the groundinvoked some sort of cleansing (get it? No nevermind). It was peaceful,however. I almost half expected a wolf to come out and eat us but really all wegot was a pack of deer crossing in front of us that was cool in itself. Wewalked less than a mile and off in the distance I saw a hint of blue. “OMG,it’s the ocean (well, lake)!” I shouted. We quickened our pace and there was Lake Michigan in all its beauty. The great thing about visitingthese areas other than summer peak season is we literally had the beach toourselves. I snapped a few shots to try to capture the experience.

We walked back to the car and headed down to Saugatuckproper. It was around 2:30pm. All I knew about Saugatuck was that it wassupposed to be a cool small town nestled right up to Lake Michigan. Thanks to Carrie, apparently it is also a haven for thegay community. As Bridget would say, “You knew all along.” Um no. Our firststop was our hotel on Butler,their version of State St,named Bella Suites and Spa. We droppedoff our bags, parked the car and took a much needed shower. After freshening upwe were back out again. The receptionist told us we could see Saugatuckdowntown in 20 minutes. If I didn’t stop to take pictures, it may have beenless. Long story short, Saugatuck is a ghost town this time of year. Half ofthe shops were closed and there were no boats on the pier. Almost no one was on the streets. Granted itwas a Sunday and it was cold but it really did seem eerie.

Bella Vita Suites and Spa

Where are thou boats?

Saugatuck City Hall

I swear I didn't know.

We finally decidedto stop in Phil’s Bar & Grill, which had rave reviews on Yelp andTripadvisor. It was only about 4:30pm. Luckily we were able to score a seatright by the bar where they were playing the Bears vs Tim Tebow and theBroncos. Phil’s wasn’t all that big but it was cozy and intimate. Therestaurant was furnished with all espresso brown wood furniture, from the barto the seats and tables. Earlier at a wine shop, a patron remarked on howremarkable the blackened burger (topped with bacon and gorgonzola cheese) was,so Bridget ended up getting that while I opted for a Lobster Cobb Salad. Wealso ordered the Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo and Gorgonzola Beer Cheese Dip forstarters. The soup was amazing but the Cheese dip not so much. I had a hardtime determining whether the dip should be sweet or salty; the dip had driedcherries and pecans to add sweetness. After awhile, I decided it was anacquired taste. Bridget enjoyed it thoroughly though. As for the main dishes,my Lobster Cobb Salad was unspectacular. You figure they add lobster to it andit would take the normally good tasting dish to space and beyond. Instead, Idon’t think it ever took off. It was just a standard Cobb Salad. Now as forBridget’s burger, I’d have to say it would make my top five list of burgersalong with Longman and Eagle, Shake Shack, In & Out and either a BigMac/Whopper (keep it real woot woot). Wefinished up our food just in time for half time to start. We asked for ourcheck and our waitress returned it with their staple after dinner treat, animalcrackers. Nice touch, I thought.

With nothing left to do, we ended back at the hotel by 6. Wenever really ended up going back out, partly because we were trying to find theBears game (fortunately, we didn’t; we got Tebowed 13-10) and also because wewere done with the cold.

The next morning, after feeling like lame-o’s for not doinganything the night before, we decided to stop at one last place before we left:Uncommon Grounds Café. It was your typical quaint coffee shop but what gave itcharacter were the lines of pictures of the owner and their family traveling toEcuadorand the like to support free trade coffee. I know a lot of bigger places likeStarbucks like to promote they do, but the pictures were a nice and subtle wayof saying they were passionate in their life’s work. I nestled in with a sliceof pear almond coffee cake and coffee and Bridget had oatmeal and apple cider.

After taking a couple more photo ops, the fearsome duo wereback on the road and ready to face the realities of life once again.

michigan pt 1: wineries, breweries and bang for your buck.

2011-12-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

It was time for some rest and relaxation. Taking advantageof a 4 day weekend, the wifey and I headed up to Michiganto visit our good friends Carrie and Nate in Grand Rapids. We also wanted to do a quickstop in Saugatuck, which Budget Travel magazine had deemed one of America’scoolest small towns.

The long weekend also afforded me to take one last trip withBubba, our trusted van. Unfortunately, he wanted to stay home. With a turn ofthe key and not even the slightest hint of turning over, we knew we needed abackup plan. Jayne Honda (a play on Jane Fonda), Bridget’s car, to the rescue!We loaded up the car and were on our way.

I was pretty excited to be taking a trip up the westerncoast of Michigan.I’ve heard plenty of good things about the place.

Grand Rapids is about 3.5hours away from Chicago, which is much longerthan the drive to Michigan City,which Bridget first said they lived. “Why didn’t they just stay in Chicago, “I rememberasking Bridget when she first told me.

It was about 10am. The plan was to stick to the coast. Thatis, of course, after we passed Gary, IN. There is a fine line betweenrandom adventure and just asking for it; running into a bear while hiking atrail in Yellowstone is different than wandering around on the South/West sideof Chicago.After we passed Garyon I-90, we exited off on 20 and then veered left on the fork to 12 (Dunes Highway). From Google Maps, it looked like the closestroad to the shore but let me tell you, we did not see one hint of coastline allof the way up to South Haven. (My friends tell me it’s much better scenery upnorth. I hope so). We soon traded the industrial smoke stacks for forest; thelight layer of snow that had fallen the previous night looked serene lying onthe tree branches.

It didn’t take us long to drive into Michigan City proper, passing theSimpsons-esque nuclear power plant and what seemed like the tallest buildingthere, Blue Chip Casino.

The next town north was New Buffalo. The only recommendationwe had were burgers at Redamak’s and the ambience at The Stray Dog Bar &Grill. I checked the time on my phone. “Um, why is it an hour later….d’oh!” Yesfolks, Michiganis on Eastern Standard Time. It was now noon instead of 11am. Factoring in thelost hour, we decided to cut east to I-196 and head down to our first stop:wineries.

Round Barn Winery and Tabor Hill Winery were the only two onour list. My team member at work raved about the bison tacos at Tabor Hill soour deprived stomachs dictated that to be our first stop. Unfortunately, we sawa sign that read Round Barn Winery Exit 6 and decided to exit since Tabor Hillwasn’t until Exit 12. When we pulled up the buildings didn’t look like themassive white round barn I saw on the website. Regardless, we stepped into thewinery. We didn’t have time for wine tasting so I asked one of the workerswhich ones were the sweetest; my rudimentary wine palette only allows for winesthat taste like grape juice. I picked up one called Edel Roux and a bottle of vodkamade from grapes, as requested by my coworker. We then made our way to thebrewery which I was more excited for. I knew they had a cocoa stout which theywere known for but I also picked up an darker amber ale (think Sam Adams) andone just for its name called Bob’s Your Uncle (According to Wikipedia: Bob'syour uncle is an expression commonly used mainly in Britain and Commonwealthnations. Typically, someone says it to conclude a set of simple instructions tomean, "And there you have it", or "You're all set". Forexample, "To make a ham sandwich, just put a piece of ham between twoslices of buttered bread, and Bob's your uncle".).

We were famished at this point. We hopped back onto thehighway until we got off on Sawyer Rd. We were now on some country backroad and thehalf plowed snow made me wish we were driving Bubba. The single lane roadsseemed to never end; either we were just super hungry or Tabor Hill didn’texist. Finally, we made a right turn and up a small hill was the winery. Wesnapped some shots and then headed in for lunch.

Tabor Hill was really nice. It reminded me of a FrenchChateau mixed with a ski lodge, with the stonework on the outside and the largecedar beams on the inside. The wine tasting was situated in the front and thedining area towards the rear. Once we sat down, we could see the whole vineyardand sprawling countryside through the floor to ceiling windows.

Now, prices. The place is quite expensive for our tastes($25-$35 per entrée). I couldn’t fathom paying that for lunch so luckily theyhad a Chorizo Guacamole Burger and Ahi Tuna Slider with Chili Wasabi Sauce for$14 a piece which Bridget and I ordered respectively. We also each opted forthe Potato and Ham soup (with bacon on top) to quell our hunger. I enjoyed thesoup and my dish mightily. Bridget wasn’t feeling her burger all too much; itreminded me of the extra lean elk burger I ate whilst in Yellowstone.All in all, it was what we foodies like to call a perfect example ofdestination dining in the heart of Michiganwine country.

Chorizo Guacamole Burger

Grilled Ahi Tuba Sliders w/ Chili Wasabi Sauce

I picked up a bottle of Demi-sec sweet white wine (I alsolearned a ‘Dry’ wine has no sugar) and then we were on the road again. It wasnow about 3:30pm and Grand Rapidswas still an hour and half away.

Sally, our GPS, told us to take the country roads back up to196 and as we did, lo and behold, we passed the real Round Barn Winery. Theplace we stopped at must have been an outpost.

About an hour later, we made it to Grand Rapids proper, safe and sound. I wassurprised to see it was an actual city, with a downtown and tall buildings. Forsome reason, my simple mind expected otherwise. We exited off on Plainfield and passed aTaco Boy and multiple Asian buffets, including one that served sushi for $4.99lunch and dinner. We vowed to come back just for that. We got to theirsubdivision and had a little trouble finding Carrie and Nate’s place, as it wasperched on top of a hill, but fortunately we found it before dark.

Once we got in Carrie and Nate gave us the tour. It wasmassive. Coupled with it being away from the other homes, it was a perfectgetaway literally and figuratively. I thought, “This is exactly what I needed.”

We ended up heading down to Heritage Hill/Eastown. Nateexplained, as we passed these massive Evanston-eque houses, that the familiesof the furniture makers (Eames, Herman Miller, etc) used to live in thosehomes. I quipped, “These have to be million dollar homes, right?” Nate smirkedand said, “These are about $250k-$300k.” Whaaaaaaaat??? I reflected on how muchmy monthly mortgage payment was and had a slight urge to drop everything andcome live there.

We made it to Vivant Brewing which is the second breweryI’ve been to that has converted a church into a fine dining/drinkingestablishment (the first one being Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh, PA). Therewas a bit of a wait so we headed across the street to the Green Well Gastro Pubto grab a beer at the bar. That place was packed too. We eventually ordered andI indulged in a Black Cherry Porter which tasted like a Dr. Pepper espresso.The thing with porters and stouts are, since they are so heavy, they sometimes serveas meal replacements. Our buzzer started blinking and we headed back to Vivant.We were promptly seated and I partook in the 4 beer flight. Bridget and Idecided to order the Duck Confit Nachos and the Garlic Pomme Frites (fancy wayof saying French Fries). I’m not sure if I was buzzed but we devoured ourdishes. The rest of the night we sipped on our beers and talked about ourlatest and greatest bucket list of travel destinations. I love talking toCarrie and Nate about traveling because like us they are huge travelers. Carriestudied in Indiaback in college. Nate slept in the same school bus in Alaska where Chris McCandless died in asrecounted in the book/film ‘Into the Wild’. We also tried to devise our wayinto Cubabefore the floodgates of tourists are eventually let in. Also, did you know BFEstood for Bumble F*ck, Egypt?Why Egypt?Oh, what you learn in the country!

Duck Confit Nachos

It had already been a long day so we decided to just headhome after dinner, crack open some beers and have a fun board game night in.

Before we went to bed, we stared out of the large glasswindows in Carrie and Nate’s three season room and couldn’t help but get caughtup in all of the stars that were so luminescent in the dark sky. I thought,“This is what life should be about. Just simple and peaceful.”

The next day we woke up around 9am. We scurried upstairs to the first floorfrom the basement bedroom we were staying in. The morning sun was filtering inthrough all of the windows. Carrie got up a short while later and informed usthat Nate wasn’t feeling too well; he threw up in the middle of the night andNate rarely pukes. That was strange, I thought, because Nate was DD and didn’thave much to drink. Carrie thought it may have been food poisoning.

The trooper that he is, Nate decided to get up anyway tojoin our morning festivities. The plan was to hit up this breakfast spot called‘The Electric Cheetah’ and then head over to the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.

The Electric Cheetah, although adult entertainment sounding,is a restaurant in Eastown, which is the hipster neighborhood in Grand Rapids. You couldtell by the pastel painted houses almost in every color that we were nearingour destination. (I asked Nate how places around there were going for and hereplied 100k – 200k. FML.) Once we gotto the restaurant, I wasn’t sure what to make of the place. The graphic of acheetah in a bowtie and top hat was a nice touch but the place wasn’t necessarilyhipster; eclectic, if anything. It had the jungle motif down with a cheetahmural painted on one wall and a 3 foot bronze cheetah up on a ledge. Whatdidn’t fit the motif was the Zen paper lantern lighting. Nonetheless, we werehere for the food and the entertaining names to their entrees (not to mentiontheir offering of 26 different types of root beer, both locally produced orfrom other states). I settled for the Beastmaster which were breakfast potatoestopped with ground sausage, spicy ketchup and fried egg to boot. I also ordereda plate of fries with garlic aioli and char chili aioli. Bridget ordered theHuevos Rancheros when she really meant to say Breakfast Burrito; therefore, shereally wasn’t feeling her meal. Carrie ordered peanut butter and bananapancakes and Nate played it safe with a salad to not upset his stomach more. All in all, the meal was pretty good; notoutstanding, but good fuel for the day.

The Electric Cheetah

Huevos Rancheros

Peanut Butter and Banana Pancakes

The Beastmaster

After breakfast, we headed to the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park (Meijer as in the person whostarted up the Meijer Store chain). Nate, who used to work there throughoutcollege, explained that Meijer donated the park, his entire sculpturecollection and ungodly amounts of dinero to construct what the author of ‘1000Places to See Before You Die’ deemed one of the top 30 museums to see in theworld.

Now I’m not one to get excited over horticulture; what I wasexcited about was seeing Leonardo di Vinci’s sketches of a horse materializeinto a two story behemoth. Regardless, we did our due diligence and checked outthe whole park. Here are the highlights.

"Grand Rapids Arch"

"Mad Mother"

The cold had finally done us in and we were ready to getback to warmer surroundings. Before we headed home we decided to give Meijersome patronage and headed to his store. Now, before heading out to Michigan, I convinced myself that all I needed was myfleece and my trustworthy Patagonia puffy vestto keep me warm. I envisioned shooting guns and relaxing by a fire pit. Afterall, this was the country and I am man (beating chest like a caveman). Well,that chauvinism didn’t last too long. Long underwear: check. Knee high thermalsocks: check. Swallowing my pride: check. I picked up some more six packs(Founders Brewing Breakfast Stout and Dirty Bastard) and some snacks to eat.

We got back to the house around 3:30pm and treated ourselveswith hot pepper cheese and crackers and some egg nog. After a couple of gamesof Monopoly Deal and chitchatting about life, we all ended up passing out.

When we awoke, it was pitch black in the house. How longwere we asleep? It was now 7pm. I changed out of my vagabond winter getup andinto more presentable attire. It was a must we have a couple of cold brews atFounders and then grab some tapas at San Chez A Bistro Cafe. Nate was still notfeeling well so we left him to recuperate. Once we got into the car and we’dbeen driving for a little bit, I realized that the girls sitting in front of mehad no idea where the place was. I pulled out my handy Garminfone and looked upthe directions. I gave the phone to Bridget so she could play navigator. Theconversation went something like this:

“So you’re going to stay left on the fork to get on 131South,” said Bridget.

“Here (pointing to the left)?” asked Carrie.

“Yes, stay in this lane.”

“I don’t go right?”

“No. Stay in this lane.”

Not too long after, we found ourselves in the right lanemissing our turn. After two more rounds of exiting and getting back on thehighway, I was saying to myself, “Nate, I wish you were here.” Knowing I wasoutnumbered, I shut my mouth, closed my eyes and prayed we’d get there sometimetoday.

We eventually made it. There was a $5 cover charge becausean Afro Drum band was playing. Once we paid and got in the place was expansive.It looked like a renovated hangar. The crowd was full but not uncomfortable andwe scrambled to find some seats. It was a diverse crowd (well, for Grand Rapids); you hadyour college kids, older beer connoisseurs, tourists, rastas and hipsters. Weresorted to a table far from the stage, next to some shady hobo looking dudes(which didn’t surprise me since the train/bus station was across the street).One guy was spewing what I felt was a different language. After a while, I gothis gist; he was openly and loudly cat calling Bridget and Carrie. To avoid theharassment, I told the two girls to go grab some drinks and I’d watch thetable. “You must be some sort of pimp, huh? Yeah, you the pimp, “he lauded. Igave him an uneasy smile. Soon, they got up (thankfully) and left. If I were ahobo, I would pick a place cheaper than Founders I thought. Regardless, thegirls came back shortly after. The girls settled in with a Lemon Shandy and Igot a four beer sampler, none better than the Frangelic Porter, which was aporter mixed with the hazelnut liquor Frangelico. It could have been possiblythe best beer I’ve tasted yet.

We found it!

Backwoods Bastard, Devil Dancer, Porter, Frangelic Porter

Frangelic Porter

We talked about life and growing up; Bridget and I recantedstories about the engagement and Carrie explained how her and Nate ended backin Grand Rapids.The best way I can describe Carrie is that she’s spaz-tastic. She’s aducks-in-a-row-everything-has-to-be-perfect type of gal. Nate, on the otherhand, is the utter opposite. He was a child molded in the counter culture SteveJobs hacker revolution (I’m actually not kidding; he, more or less, tries tohack into companies network infrastructures to determine weakness in theirsecurity for a living). He also doesn’t own a suit. Carrie is the sociable one.Nate seems to be more reserved. Looking at the big picture though, balance iscompletely underrated and with that in mind, I think they’re perfect for eachother.

Soon the band was filling the room with Afro beats. A groupof patrons nestled next to us and indulged in their food. It was hard not tolook over. Soon we were all hungry.

“Hey, you know what we should do? You know that movie 30minutes or Less, the one about the pizza delivery guy who has a bomb strappedto him? Well that was filmed here. We should go get pizza from the shop theyshowed in the movie, bring it back home, and watch it!” Carrie beamed. Funnyhow a little bit of beer transports you from fine dining to late night eats. Weall agreed. We hopped out of there and were back on the road (sober, of course,hi Mom). Bridget and I hopped on our smartphones and started looking up pizzaplaces. All we knew was this place started with a V. “There’s a place calledVitale’s….” “Yes, that’s it!” Carrie interrupted. We get to Vitale’s and thereare three buildings all with the Vitale’s moniker. Vitale’s Ristorante,Vitale’s Sports bar & Grill, and Vitale’s Pizza. Well there you have it. Wehopped in and ordered a pizza. “20 minutes,” the clerk remarked. “Let’s keepdrinking!” Carrie exclaimed. Soon wefound ourselves at Vitale’s Sports Bar & Grill with a $6 pitcher of CoorsLight and fried appetizer sampler in front of us. We drank half our beers,munched on some jalapeno poppers and then realized our 20 minutes was up. Wepicked up our pizza and headed home. Once we got back, Nate bore witness tothree stumbling bumbling delinquents. We propped open the boxes and indulged inall of the greasy goodness of fast food. Carrie put the movie on and we satback to enjoy. Three minutes into the movie a pizza sign reading ‘Vito’s’flashes across the screen. We all look at Carrie. It was the totally wrongpizza place we went to. Typical Carrie. Nonetheless we kept munching until themovie ended and we all passed out due to food coma.

the proposal.

2011-11-15T18:58:00.001-08:00

It was 6:30am. My flight wasn’t until 11 but I was tooanxious to fall back asleep. Today would be the culmination of 1 ½ months ofplanning and coordination.

I had been thinking about how to propose for awhile now. With our love for traveling, I knew it had to be somewhere we had been before; I just had to choose where. Then I thought, what about one of my favorite cities in the world, NY? (Wait, NY is one of MY favorite cities. It would be selfish to base it on that). Well, it was more to it than that. This past summer, Bridget and I stopped in NY during our East Coast Road Trip, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, she severely injured her foot and didn't get to see a lot of NY. One of the places we did want to see was the Empire State Building but at the time it was a grueling 2 hour wait. With a wheelchair in tow, which we bought at the Walgreens next to the Empire State building, the timing just didn't seem right. I knew she felt bad at the time, for feeling like a burden, so I thought it would be sentimental to propose on top of the building we didn't get to visit.

The plan was to get Bridget to go to NY on a girls’ weekendand surprise her with the proposal on top of the Rockefeller Center(aka Top of the Rock) instead. The Top of the Rock offered ‘timed’ tickets where you can pick thetime you want to go. Crowds at the Empire State Building, on the other hand, make waitingtimes and entry a crap shoot.The hard part wasn’t getting her to go to NY; it was makingsure everything went according to plan without anyone spilling the beans.

Ironically, that morning I woke up to 4 texts from Bridget.To preface, we are huge friends of the reality TV show Giuliana & Bill.There was an episode where Giuliana is picked to represent E! News at the RoyalWedding and Bill surprises her in Londonby randomly showing up at her hotel room. Assuming, Bridget may have had alittle to drink, her texts read, “I kept thinking you woUld be here. Really.I’m so sad. I thpught wr were giuliana and bikk. Idk why but I kept thinkingyou would show uup and make my weekend.” Little did she know what was on thehorizon. To dash any hopes of her seeing me anytime soon, I texted her,“Awww hahaha. You are cute. One day baby.”

My most important objective was making sure she had nosuspicions of me surprising her. Therefore, three weeks before the trip I toldher the roofers were going to come in and repair the hail damage on our condobuilding and I needed to be there. Two weeks out I dropped the hint that mycontract at the hospital could potentially not be renewed at my currentconsulting gig. One and a half weeks out I started my complaining campaign whichconsisted of “Why are you leaving me?” and “I don’t want you to go to NY.” Thenfinally, the hook, line and sinker: I needed to buckle down on expenses as mycontract was not extended. Therefore, an impulsive weekend to NY, the mecca ofshopping, would not be on my list of top priorities. Oh and on the day of, Iadded another little nugget. I told Bridget before that I was going to watchthe Pacquiao fight at my cousins on Saturday. I texted her asking if it wouldbe weird if I invited her family over to my cousins to watch the fight. Sheresponded, “I don’t think so?” Miraculously an hour later she received a textfrom her mom saying, “Paul is so nice. He invited us over to watch the Pacquiaofight at his cousins.” Her mom knew all along.

I packed up my belongings, double, triple, quadruplechecked I had the ring and made my wayto ORD. Once at the airport, I called my mom to let her know what I was doing.She promptly responded, “I had a feeling.” Mother’s intuition, I guess.

I arrived in NY at about 2:15pm. I was greeted to amultitude of texts once I turned my phone back on. The girls explained theywere headed down to Battery Park and would not be back until 6ish. Perfect. Mytimed ticket was not until 7pm and them being out and about afforded me theability to check in (we were staying in the same hotel) and leave before theycame back.

NY in Fall

I didn’t get to the hotel until 4pm, mostly due to theshuttle driver being new to his job and seemingly not knowing his way around Manhattan. I had about a good hour and half to get ready and mostimportantly charge my phone. It died on the way to the hotel. I couldn’t afford having my phone die on meup on the Rock.

Once I got into my room, I plugged my phone in. With alittle time to spare, I pulled out the ring and gave it its own personal photoshoot.

As I was about to hop in the shower, I get a text from Rhea.Diane, Jill and she were heading back to the hotel while Thara and Bridget wentto go pick up Shake Stack for dinner. Sweet! That buys me more time I thought. I told them tocome up to my room once they get back.

Once they arrived, we started going over our game plan. Mybrain was scattered. I was trying to put my suit on while also trying to have adiscussion on what to do once I was up there. I brought up my original idea ofstanding far off in the distance, just like in the movies, and have her walkslowly up to me to see if it was me. Then one of the girls would follow behindher and play the violin instrumental I had of ‘Hey, Soul Sister’ on my Ipod asshe walked closer. The girls thoughtBridget would automatically know what was going to happen once she realized it was me and take the surprise away. The final decision was tohave all of the girls pretend to want to take pictures of the Empire State Building. I would then comeup behind them and ask, “Would you guys like me to take a picture of you?” She would turn around, the music would startand continue on as I proposed.

I checked the time. “Ok, I got to go,” I said frantically. Ihanded Diane my Ipod and speaker, checked I had the ring and was out of thedoor. It was now 5:45pm. I hopped out of the hotel lobby and started walkingnorth.

I had some time to burn until 7 so I decided to walk up 7^th Aveand cut across Carmine Aveto Bleecker Street.One of the things I love most about NY is that at anytime of the day, the city alwaysfeels alive and this night was no different. On Carmine Ave, I passed a number ofrestaurants and shops until I got to an Asian nail salon. I walked in andasked, “Do you do eyebrow threading?” “Waxing,” the owner responded. “Howmuch?” I asked. “$9” Sold! (Hey, I had some time to kill). I was brought to acloset sized room. “Just a little ok?” I said. She understood I hoped. There’snothing like having no eyebrows right before proposing to the love of yourlife. I hung my suit jacket on a hook and laid down. As she waxed, I grew more and more paranoidabout the ring. It was in the inside pocket of my suit jacket and every time Iclosed my eyes, I envisioned another one of the workers somehow knowing it wasin there and stealing it. At a certain point I got up, even though she wasn’tfinished, checked to see if it was still there and then sat back down. Shefinished up and I glistened with my newly trimmed eyebrows.

Little pit stop.

I went off to my next destination. There were two thin crustpizza places on Bleecker St that sold by the slice, Joe’s Pizza and Bleecker StPizza. I wasn’t really feeling hungry because of all of the nerves but Ifigured I should eat something since I didn’t know when the next feeding wouldbe. I picked up a slice of pepperoni at Joe’s. I took a bite and the tastedidn’t seem to register. Nothing against Joe’s but my mind was on only onething. Everything else was just going through the motions.

I finished up the slice and headed down to Bleecker St Pizzawhich had signs that it was voted Best Pizza three times in row by The Food Network. I read about the Nonna Maria which is their Margherita take on pizza. Iinhaled the slice but again couldn’t tell you if it was good or not. I was jittery and anxious. Feeling like it was time to go, I flagged down a taxi and toldthe cabbie, “Rockefeller Center, please.” He nodded his head and off we were.

The cabbie started darting and zipping his cab throughtraffic as if he was playing Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast owners would know). I wastrying hard to jot down what I was going to say on a piece of paper while alsotrying to ignore the notion that I might not even arrive to my finaldestination. With three minutes to spare, I was dropped off right in front of Rockefeller Plaza.

Rockefeller Plaza was lively.Tourists were lined up watching the ice skaters in the rink as the sounds ofworkers putting together the famous Christmas tree echoed throughout the plaza.

Any other time, I would stop to indulge. Today I was on amission. I quickly walked to the entrance on 50^th street and dodged the 20or so teenage cheerleaders on vacation. I walked up the grand staircasesurrounding the opulent Swarovski crystal chandelier. On the next floor, Istopped in the washroom to straighten up. I looked in the mirror and could seethe beads of sweat on my forehead. “Chill out de la Cruz,” I said to myself. AsI walked to the elevators, I walked past a lady that looked like Susan Boyle,in a dress that looked like it was made from a British flag posing on the steelbeam photo op.

Swarovski Chandelier in Main Lobby.

View of the Radio City Music Hall from Rockefeller Center.

I rode the elevator up to the 67^th floor. The 67^thfloor had both an indoor and outdoor area. “Too many people,” I thought. Iscoped out the scene and then rode the escalator up to the 69^thfloor. I cut through the gift shop to get to the Empire Statebuilding side. The views were majestic. There lay the EmpireState Buildingin all of its glory with the rest of the city lit up like Paris at night.

View from the 69th.

The weather wasn’t that bad considering the night before,Rhea texted me that they didn’t even stay up on top of the Empire Statebuilding for 5 minutes because it was so windy. I’m not sure if it was justless windy or if the tall glass partitions, which held people from accidentlycareening off, played a part. Regardless, it was a perfect night in November,if any.

I did my last bit of diligence and walked up the flight ofstairs to the top floor, the 70^th. Once I got up there, I knewinstantly the proposal wasn’t happening up there. The area was much smaller and I had to swim upstream through the thrones of people just to take a picture ofthe skyline.

View from the 70th.

I walked back down and began writing down what I wanted tosay. It was about 7:30pm now. I still had at least an hour before they came up,I thought. 30 minutes into it, I started to get cold so I walked into an indoorarea filled with fluorescent lights. It looked like something out of Tron. Ipaid it no mind and walked over to a hallway which had less traffic. Thatstrategy soon proved futile because the combination of being in a suit and theelevators behind me encouraged many inquiries on how to get down to the mainlobby. Tired of saying, “Sorry, I don’t work here” I wandered back out into thecold and started writing again.

I checked my phone and was surprised to see multiple textsfrom the girls. All of them read “We’re running late” or “Can’t find any cabs”or “Just leaving the hotel now”. It was 8:30! I took the news as a curse and ablessing. It gave me time to perfect what I wrote but I had to deal with theprolonged anxiety of hiding myself and being alert. Plus, my phone battery hadstarted to dwindle as the in and out of coverage and trying to find a networkwas sucking up all of the juice.

At about 9pm I read what I wrote plentiful times over. Itwas ready. Now I just had to keep a lookout for the girls. I picked up my phoneand noticed Bridget texted. “Oh man. This evening has been ridiculous! All bcof shake shack. But good thing. I got you a stack shack and its in our fridge=)”. What do you mean it is in your fridge? Does she expect me to get it? Doesshe know I’m here? Being thrown for a loop, I wanted to reassure her I wasindeed in Chicagoby texting back, “Wonderful, don’t eat it. Omg Marquez is talking so much shitin Spanish.”

Still in the hotel room by the time I was already on top of the Rock.

A second later, my phone died. I let out a loud, “Ahh shit.”The following conversation with myself ensued. “Wonderful, my phone is out andI have no idea what time they’ll be here. Wait, their tickets are for 8pm. Itwas about 9:15pm now. What if they won’t let them in? They wouldn’t try to buynew tickets. That would be too obvious. If they don’t come up, they won’t beable to reach me and I’m going to be stuck up here by myself. How long do Igive them? I think I love her enough for 10:30pm. After that I’m out.” I satdown on a bench to calm myself and reassure myself everything was going to beok.

It was getting colder now. I kept going in and out of thelight room to get some warmth but realized I should probably stop because theymight catch me in there (even though I instructed them to go through the giftshop, which was on the other end ). I decided my best bet was hide in thehallway going up to the 70^th floor which was right in the middlebetween the gift shop and the light room. This way once they come, I could justduck backwards. The only thing was, my hiding place was outside and my lips werealready starting to freeze; I wanted to be able to say what I wrote.

I felt like I was at a tennis match. The doors to the lightroom were to my left and the gift shop was to my right. (Oh at this point, Iwant to mention that my vision is not as good as it once was, especially atnight). My biggest fear was Bridget seeing me before I saw her so I wouldflinch any time an Asian looking person came within viewpoint.

At 9:25pm, I see a smaller person come out of the light roomdoors. “OMG, is that Thara…..OMG, OMG, OMG, I think that’s them.” I squinted myeyes as much as I could. IT WAS THEM. I instantly darted up the stairs to the70^th floor. My heart was racing. I maneuvered my way to the ledgeoverlooking the floor below. I heard Bridget’s laugh. It looked like Thara andJill were trying to get Bridget to look out at the other buildings while mycousins were not so secretly turning their heads to look for me. Then as I waslooking down at them, Bridget turned her head and looked up. I ducked my headas fast as I could. “OMG, did she see me? (You would think that after 2.5 hoursof being up there and looking up to the 70^th floor myself from thatlevel that I would have realized we looked just like black silhouettes).

Thara, what are you looking at?

I walked back down the stairs to the cusp of the entrance.They still had Bridget looking outwards. My cousin caught my eye. It was gotime. I walked briskly up to them. They were crowding Bridget like sardines incan. They parted and I walked up right behind her. I wasn’t even able to ask,“Would you guys like me to take a picture of you?” before Diane started playingthe music. "OMG, this is it!” I thought. Instead, Bridget started singing alongto the music as if it was normal for music to start playing at 70 stories abovesea level. It took a nudge to her backfor her to turn around and realize I was standing there all along.

Bridget was elated. She started to hug me and say, “I can’tbelieve you’re here!” At a certain point, I thought, “I don’t think she knowswhat’s going on.” (Come to think of it, I think I even asked her if she knewwhat was going on. I’m not sure if she ever answered.) I slowly pushed herback, straightened out my papers and started reading. I was two sentences inwhen I started stumbling over my words. I realized my writing (done in pencilof course) smudged a little when in my pocket. Add in the low lighting (and badvision) and I was having a hard time reading what I wrote. I stopped, looked ather, and said, “Ok this is not going to work. Come over here where’s there morelight.” Everyone let out a laugh. I proceeded to read the letter I wrote,slowly but surely. I was trying so hard to just finish that I didn’t realize Ipositioned ourselves right in front of the popular light room’s doors so now wehad a crowd around us. Bridget always asks me to list all of the things I loveabout her. I figured this would be the best time, if any. I recollected a timein Paris whereI got mad (at who knows what) and as all men do for pride or stubborn reasons, decidedto shut myself down. I was being selfish. She had no idea what was wrong. Wedidn’t talk for hours but when we went to bed she held my hand that whole nightas I slept and she sat awake. To this day, I vowed I would never do that again.I started to get emotional as I read and Bridget grabbed my hand forconsolation. (I kept thinking, why am Igetting choked up, you’re the crier. For the record she didn’t cry.) I feltlike an insecure 5^th grader reading in front of the school assembly.I finished, looked at Bridget with approval and she confirmed with a smile. Igot down on one knee, awkwardly pulled the box out of my suit jacket andasked her, “Will you marry me?” She said, “Of course!” We hugged and said, “Ilove you.”

BAM y Paulo.

It was a perfect ending to months of planning. The girlswere amazing in taking the time and money to come to NY for Bridget’s special dayas well as everyone else that knew and didn’t give up the secret. Granted,there were some hiccups along the way, but this was our story and I wouldn’thave had it any other way.

Thara, Rhea, Me, Bridget, Diane, Jill.

into the wild pt 3.

2011-09-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

Itwas about 8am when we woke up. The freezing cold hit again at about 3am. Thesleep was a little restless, only due to the fact that Amith, when booking,told us we had two queen bed accommodations. They turned out to be two doubles.No one wanted to sleep on the floor on our last night so Amith and I ended upsharing a bed again while Yash had a bed all to himself, AGAIN. I’m still notsure how he managed that.

Wepacked up our belongings, washed up and tried to empty our stomachs;dehydration does not encourage regular bowel movements. Before we left, Yash mentioned he had to shave before we left. He talked about it earlier in the trip about being profiled by security at the airport but I didn't take him seriously. I asked him if that really was the reason for him shaving. With dead honesty, he said yes. How 9/11 had changed America I thought. I brushed off the reality check and off to thebreakfast buffet we went at the Canyon Lodge dining room.

Iwas pretty excited about the breakfast buffet, as well actually any buffet for that matter. They offered eggs, sausage,bacon, French toast, breakfast potatoes, pastries, etc. It was perfect for filling up forthe long days we’ve been having. I finished breakfast earlier than the othersand decided to hit up the general store. My batteries were dying on my SLR so Ineeded to pick up replacements as well as to try and sneak in some last minuteshopping.

Fill 'er up.

Thegeneral store was bomb! It had a 60’s feel diner off to one side and the restof the store had a Happy Days motif to it. One of the things I like about thegeneral stores and gift shops at each Yellowstone stop is they try not to repeat merchandise so everyexperience in one feels new. This particular store even had Under Armor gearspecific to Yellowstone; of course, withprices to match. I perused the aisles picking up shot glasses and mugs until Irealized I hadn’t even picked up the stuff that I came for. I put my shoppingspree on hiatus and picked up the stuff that I needed. I checked my watch andrealized I’d been in there for awhile and decided to check out to not keep theguys waiting.

WhenI left the shop, I saw Yash walking towards the shop. “Have you guys been waitinglong?” I asked. “No, Amith is still packing things up,” Yash replied. Perfect. Wehopped in the van and left the village.

Itwas now 10:30am. The plan was to head back to Jackson and catch an aerial tram to a10000+ft mountain which had sweeping views of the valley and the rest of themountains. The only thing was we didn’t know how often the tram went up so ourtarget time was to get back to Jacksonat 1. Since our flight was at 5pm, we had to at least get to the airport by3:30pm since we had the car rental and I had to check in my luggage.

Wefigured we had a good 2.5 hours to get back to Jackson. At this point we had almost done the complete figure 8 around Grand Loop Road;good considering we were really only in Yellowstonefor 2 nights and 3 days. The only stops left was to check out Lake Yellowstoneand the Hayden Valley.

Itdidn’t take long for us to stop. HaydenValley (and Lamar Valley)is known to be the home of the most amount of wildlife in the park. There, toour left, was an extended family of bison, minding their own business andplaying in a hot spring. I snapped a couple of shots and marveled at the gentlebehemoths.

All in the family.

Thenext 6 miles were laden with bison. The sweeping valleys and rivers made for aperfect residence for these beasts. I couldn’t comprehend how many of themthere were. After awhile it wasn’t the wildlife that posed a threat to our wellbeing. It was the many tourists trying to catch the perfect shot. There werecars parked all over the road and people crossing the street.

Soonthe valley turned into a serene body of water. Lake Yellowstonewas glimmering from the morning sun. We enjoyed the views of the water until wegot to Gull Point. The scenery was amazing. You had the calm water in front ofyou and the lodgepole pines standing tall in the distance. I was surprised notto see many boats or water sports on the lake but that might have been aconscious decision by Yellowstone to preservethe natural surroundings.

Itook a couple of artsy shots and just sat back to enjoy the serenity.

Whenwe got back to the car it was now almost noon. Amith wanted to check out onemore place but we decided we needed to book it back to Jackson if we wanted to catch the aerialtram. So back to Jacksonwe went.

Wecrossed the border into Grand Teton National Park and tipped our hats off to Yellowstone. We decided to take the highway back insteadof Grand Teton Roadto make up some of the time we lost. Some of the views we saw were amazing.Since we were farther from the mountains, we had a landscape view of the wholerange which gave you a greater perspective on how truly magnificent theimposing Tetons were.

Mylarger camera was too slow to pick up the landscape with the van moving so fastso I had to resort to my handheld. Unfortunately, my handheld camera was nowflashing low battery so I tried to take as many shots as I could before itdied.

Herewere some of the shots.

Itwas about 1:15pm when we hit Moose Junction. We were in a dilemma. There were two ways to get to Teton Village from this intersection. We could go all the way down to Jackson and then northwest up again to Teton Village. That would have taken another hour, which we didn't have. The other alternative was shorter more direct route on Wilson Road. The only catch: there was a patch in the middle of the road that was unpaved and according to the map 4x4s were recommended. Now going through the scare that was Chittendon Road the day before, I was reluctant to try our luck.

We decided to stop by the visitor center to ask about our options. The visitor center itself is something to marvel at. It had the lodge feel but with a completely modern take, much like Old Faithful Visitor Center. The floor to ceiling windows allowed you to peer through at the Tetons. I got to the information desk and asked one of the park rangers what she thought about taking Wilson Road. "Oh, you have a van? Don't worry I take my VW Golf on that thing." Music to my ears.

We jetted out of there and headed down to Wilson Road. Wilson Road was quite narrow which is actually better suited for the VW Golf than our 12 passenger van. I figured, however, that our van would come in use during the unpaved stretch. When we finally got to the unpaved stretch, it was nothing more than what looked like a paved road but with sand on top. Add in no steep inclines and it was a piece of cake.

We got to Teton Village at about 1:40. We could see the large red tram coming down and we hurried ourselves out of the van to try and catch the 1:45 (We finally got reception midway to Moose Junction and I called to find more information. The tram left at 15 min intervals). We were cutting it close now. It took about 15 minutes for the tram to get to the top and another 15 to get back down. That put us at 2:45 allowing 15 minutes to take pictures, etc., up at the top. Additionally it would take us at least another 30 minutes to get back to the airport. I started thinking about whether the $29 fare each would be worth it ($25 if you bring the $4 coupon you can get almost anywhere).

In the end, the cashier made up our minds. "We're shutting down the tram temporarily because of inclement weather." We looked up, and sure enough, there was a massive cloud over the mountain. Drizzle started to fall. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

We decided to just take our time, finish up our last souvenir shopping and grab a bite to eat. We ended up in a building that seemed to have it all - shopping, restaurants, cafe, grocery/liquor store. The name of the place was Mangy Moose. Perfect I thought. Amith and I hit up the gift shop while we sent Yash to scope out the restaurant situation. Yash came back and said Mangy Moose Saloon it is. We headed to the restaurant and I was instantly enamored with the place. It looked like the bar to be at for skiers and snowboarders during the winter months. It had the typical lodge feel and was outfitted with random signs and a humongous reindeer and sled hanging from the ceiling. Over by the bar was an NFL game playing. How good can this get I thought. It actually did.

Rudolph?

Throughout the whole trip the guys and I would talk about how we hadn't run into a place that served pizza, which for Yellowstone that takes pride in everything USA, was somewhat surprising. (I know pizza is technically Italian but it is so ingrained into our American diet.) Our craving for pizza grew every time we ate at a restaurant devoid of such delicacy. We opened up the menu and like a moth to a flame, my eyes gravitated to these fateful letters "NY style pizza slices..." Done! One pizza of the day and a pepperoni please. Pronto.

Pizza of the Day: Ham, Pineapple and Jalapenos.

It started to pour outside now. We finished up our meal, caught up on some football scores, and got the check (30-13 Bears over Falcons btw woohoo). It was 2:45 now and we needed to head out to the airport. Once outside, we were met with a torrential downpour. We couldn't complain. That was the first we had bad weather during the whole trip. I made the bad mistake of running on a full stomach back to the van so my camera wouldn't get doused. Midway back we come to a standstill. Wilson Road is already very narrow and if there is no pull out than you literally are just blocking the road if you stop. I start cursing up a storm in the van. "If these people make me miss our flight, I swear there will be hell to pay.........oh look a moose!" At a nearby pond, a moose was taking a sip of water and posing for the bystanders and their cameras.

We made it to the airport around 3:15pm, more than enough time to drop off the van and check my bag in.

At Jedidah's Cafe at Jackson Hole Airport.

Our plane getting ready to go.

Once on the plane, I knocked out for the hour it took to get to Denver. When we got to Denver, we found out our 2 hour layover was extended another hour. Amith made a bee line to any restaurant that was showing the Dallas game. Yash and I found some comfy leather chairs to relax. At that moment, Bridget texted me, "Wish you weren't flying..." I found it odd until I looked down at my phone and realized it was 9/11. Now it didn't seem as shocking for Yash to resort to shaving. How unfortunate I thought. I reflected on what this day meant in American history. All of those lives lost due to an act of terror. All of those brave souls who did everything they could to save the remaining few that were still living. I was thankful and grateful to be able to live my lifestyle and take advantage of all the opportunities afforded to me. I prayed for safe flight home.

We finally got onto the plane at about 11pm and touched down at O'Hare at 2am. We were all tired and cranky and wanted to go home. I would have to get up in 4 hours for work. Every wonderful trip seems to end too soon, but it'll be the memories that will last a lifetime.

One last shot.

into the wild pt 2.

2011-09-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

The day started with a chorus of manly noises. Normally, it would have been funny, but we were all cramped up in a van with a single window cracked. The night was restless. The Johnnie Walker couldn't help the packed living situation and the freezing cold that hit at about 3am.

Let it air out!

I got up to escape the fog of methane and picked up right where I left off the night before; building the morning's camp fire. We had a full box left so I got the fire started and placed the tea kettle onto the steel grill. There is nothing like having hot brewed coffee on a chilly morning camping.

Hot water brewing.

As the hot water brewed, I went to the washroom to freshen up. I was feeling the after affects of not having showered for 36 hours. Surprisingly, the washroom was heated and very clean for a campground. There was also a separate nook to wash pans, utensils, etc. Brownie points!

Notice in the washroom.

The water had just started boiling when I came back to the campsite. I pulled the kettle off of the fire and started mixing in the convenient 3-n-1 packets (coffee, creamer, sugar) I brought from home. 5 minutes later, instant coffee. As we stood there, sipping on our hot coffee and taking in the scenery, I thought, "This is what camping is all about. Let nature wash away all of your worries."

We were finally on our way at about 9am. The plan for the day was to make the loop from Madison campground to Mammoth Hot Springs to Tower-Roosevelt to Chittendon Road (to hike up Mt Washburn) and then eventually down to Canyon Village to take in views of the Grand Canyon.

We passed many sights on the way to Mammoth but none more grand than the Golden Gate. It is a bridge that hangs around a mountain with the canyon below it. It reminded me of the Bixby and Rocky Creek bridges on the California 1 highway. This was a perfect picture opportunity, but instead it started an ongoing theme throughout the trip; amazing shot potential but the sun, for lack of better words, cockblocking the attempt. I tried to do as well as I could and came away with some adequate, although insufficient, digital memories.

Golden Gate.

By the time we got to Mammoth, it was about 10:30am. Driving into these checkpoints felt like driving into small towns. There was always at least a lodge, general store, gas station, and dining areas. We walked into
Terrace Grill hoping for a hearty breakfast filled with sausage, eggs and bacon only to have our appetites dashed with a sign that read "Serving Continental Breakfast.....Hot Breakfast 8 - 10:30am". We missed it by 5 minutes! Salt was poured into the wound when we saw a pair of gentleman indulging in steaming scrambled eggs and toast off to the side. Defeated, we resorted to coffee after seeing the limited menu and decided to walk around to see if there was a main dining restaurant. Sure enough, right behind Terrace Grill was the main dining room. It was closer to 11 now so we decided to wait a half hour for lunch to open.

About to miss breakfast at Terrace Grill.

Another ongoing theme of the trip, well at least for me, was souvenir shopping. I couldn't get enough of the animal/park ranger themed memorabilia. We went to the general store to burn time and I invested in a wolf hat for BAM (to match her outfit from the furry party) and mini park ranger vest for my nephew Xavier. All necessary items in my book.

Place to sign up for horseback riding.

Old Fashioned Yellowstone Tour Buses.

It was now 11:30am and we booked it back to the dining room. Xanterra, who owns all of the campsites as well as lodging, general store,s etc to the whole park does a great job keeping up with all of its amenities. Since they hold a monopoly on the whole park, I was hoping that the company was non profit but found out later it wasn't. Fortunately, they donate a certain percentage to the park to fund building development, infrastructure, etc. I read up on the company a little later and it seems they are committed to green initiatives like not selling plastic water bottles in their parks and using wasted vegetable oil to power a locomotive. Xanterra is also owned by Philip Anschutz, co-founder of Major League Soccer.

The cool thing we learned was some of the workers work solely during the summer and come from all over the world. That would be a cool thing to do during a summer vacation I thought.

We finally got the menus and I had my eyes set on the Salmon BLT. Hopefully, it would be better than the elk burger I had for dinner the night before. Luckily, it was.

Salmon BLT. Super yum.

It wasn't too long after that we were on the road again. I was in and out of sleep because of the food coma from lunch. I woke up to catch this.

I was starting to get anxious about Mt. Washburn. The mountain is 10243 feet at its summit, which is about equivalent to Mt. Fuji. If Mt. Fuji was any indication, this would not be an easy hike. Then again, from asking around, the hike should take between 1 to 4 hours each way depending on your skill level. Climbing Mt Fuji took 11 hours; 6 going up, 5 going down. Granted, the weather was sublime (during Mt. Fuji you were fighting wind and clouds at the top and torrential rain coming down) but would it be that much easier?

We got to Chittendon Road which is the approach to Mt. Washburn. It is essentially a gravel road up to a parking area. When we first hit the gravel, the van seemed fine. Bumps here and there. No big deal. When we hit the first incline, that's when things started getting scary. The road was marginally big enough for two vehicles to pass side by side. We were on the cliff side with no guard rails so every bump felt like a bump closer to the afterlife. Our van chugged along. The scariest moments were when we would approach a turn and my sordid imagination would envision a car from the opposite direction coming around the corner and t-boning us right off of the cliff. Yash kept his cool the whole time (remember that story about growing up in a civil war?). Amith and I, not so much. I averted looking to my right until we were finally up to the parking lot. When we got there, I was grateful. I hopped out and walked straight to the outhouse.

It took about 50 yards to get to the outhouse and I was already breathing hard. I was concerned. We were at about 8800 ft currently and it was about 1500 feet more to the summit. If I was breathing hard now, how would I fare at 10000 feet? I was no stranger to 10000 feet. When I was on Mt. Fuji, the last 500 feet up I was taking two steps at a time.

We got geared up and ready to go. Before we started the trail we passed by the bulletin board where they have information about the trail and other reminders. We couldn't help but see the sign that repeated, "Do you know what to do if you see a bear?" This kept us on our toes and reminded us we were indeed in bear country.

Run! Jk.

We started the ascent and it took less than 5 minutes before I asked the other guys to stop. I was gasping for air. Two things crossed my mind - 1) This was not going to be easy and 2) Why didn't I work out the last 3 months before the trip!? Loathing myself, we continued on until the incline didn't become as steep.

Initial Ascent.

We repeated the same steps for what seemed like hours. I would lag about 5-10 steps behind the guys, which kept reminding me of those shows on Animal Planet where the tigers would prey on those that fell behind the pack. Unfortunately, that was me. I would then "pretend" to want to take a picture of the landscape but really I was just trying to scrap up whatever pride I had left to catch my breath. When we got closer to the top, I no longer cared about pride, I would just say, "I need to stop." Then Amith would get into some sort of Captain Morgan pose and ask one of us to take his picture. Then we were off again.

Come back you guys!

I must admit there were times where you would look back and were awed by this sprawling landscape.

We were a good hour into it and I was cursing life as well as all of the kids who were coming back down skipping and smiling. They would blurt out smart remarks like, "You can do it" and "Only a little bit more to go." Ok maybe the comments weren't smart, but I was in no mood.

At about an hour and 20 minutes we get to a spot where there is a bench. Amith went to go explore further down. I took full advantage of this rest stop and put down my now heavy bag. I finally caught my breath and took in the scenery. The summit didn't seem so far off now and what seemed impossible now seemed the opposite. There was slight breeze in the air.

Taking a much needed breather.

After the much needed rest, we charged on for the final stretch. The cruel thing about climbing Mt. Washburn is almost at all times you can see the watchtower at the summit so it gave you this false sense of thinking you were almost there when in reality you still had about 45 minutes to go.

It's so close yet so far.

When I took the final steps to the top I was no longer feeling the last two hours worth of strain, sweat and heavy breathing. I was content with making it and basked in the glory as so many other hikers have done in the past.

Almost....

Finally...

There.

We walked into the watchtower which had some information and binocular stations. We learned that the life of a watchtower ranger is not so glamorous. During the winter, they could be there alone for months. During the summer, their prime responsibility is to look out for brush fires as well as make sure the managed fires don't go where they're not supposed to.

I took a much needed restroom break. Again, at over 10000 feet, the bathrooms were clean!

We took our time taking photos of the landscape and refueling our bodies with energy bars and water.

It took us a little over an hour to get back down without stopping which makes a case for how much altitude plays a part in how strenuous ascending a mountain is. Unfortunately, due to the disparity in time, my right arm was much darker than my left arm. I'm sure you can figure out why.

Mt Fuji vs Mt Washburn: Mt Fuji is much harder than Mt. Washburn. 11 hours vs 3.5 hours. 'Nuff said!

We headed back down the ominous gravel road and onto Canyon Village. On the way, we were reminded how treacherous the area can be; a family was standing next to their SUV that had fallen into a ditch and took a couple of trees with it.

We got to Canyon Village at about 5:30pm. When I hopped down on the ground, all I felt was pain through my legs. It felt like all of my muscles were cramping at the same time. The Tylenol I took before climbing Mt. Washburn had now worn off. I popped another one as soon as I could feel a headache coming. There are not many times I say I feel my age but this was definitely one of those times.

After Amith checked in, we headed straight to South Rim Drive to take some great pics at Artist Point. From that vantage, you can get a picturesque view of the 308 ft Lower Falls waterfall. You could tell everyone was both mentally and physically tired but we willed ourselves for the last great photo op of the day. Unfortunately, the sun was setting and right in line with the waterfalls so after taking countless shots and tricks I decided to give up and live to fight another day. Darn you sun!

Trying to use the trees to block the sun. Lower Falls in the distance.

After the Grand Canyon, we headed to our cabin. It was only $96 dollars a night, which at the time I thought was a great deal. Once we got in our cabin, I knew why; very spartan room and no air conditioning/tv/etc. I didn't care for any of the latter. It was now more than 48 hours since we last showered and all any of us could think about was getting clean.

My voice got higher after I drank this.

Before we could jump in the shower, Amith calmly called us to come outside. Once outside, I didn't know how he had managed to stay so calm. Before us stood three colossal bison about 60 yards away, right in front of some other cabins.

Then, without hesitation, a slew of Chinese tourists come lagging behind them like paparazzi and start taking pictures. Now I don't know which was more amazing, the bison in a residential area or the picture takers oblivious that they were only about 10 yards away from being mauled.

I guess they didn't see the warning signs.

Regardless, shower time was beckoning.

After washing away the grime and dirt of the last two days we were now refreshed and ready to have a peaceful dinner. We headed back to the Canyon Lodge Village and chilled out in the lounge since there was a 40 min wait. The lounge looked like we were transported back to the 80s like in Hot Tub Time Machine. I appreciated the nostalgia and cozied up to my leather armchair. If it wasn't for the other guys, I could have passed out and stayed there the whole night.

Eventually, our pager buzzed and we sat down to enjoy a much earned chicken wing, artichoke dip and mini burger dinner. After dinner we retreated back to the hotel and slept to prepare for our last day of the trip.

into the wild pt 1.

2011-09-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

So, this past weekend, I decided to get my Chris McCandless (Into the Wild) on and head out to Yellowstone. This was my first full on nature trip. I've driven through redwoods in California and camped around the midwest but general exposure to wildlife have been real minimal. Throw in the fresh story of a Michigan hiker getting mauled to death by a bear at Yellowstone, I didn't know what to expect really. Oh well the adventure continues.

Packed and ready to go.

My buddy Yash and Amith from UCMC and I flew into Jackson Hole, WY which is one of the smaller airports close to Yellowstone National Park. The largest metropolitan city with the closest proximity to Yellowstone is Salt Lake City but given it was a quick Thursday - Sunday trip we decided to gain a couple hours on the drive (2 hours from Jackson, 5+ hours from SLC). The tradeoff, which is expected of smaller airports, is the couple hundred dollar difference in airfare between the airports (~$250 vs $500). It was all worth it as we descended that Thursday night; Jackson Hole airport is situated right by the Grand Tetons which at sunset makes for a picturesque if not majestic setting. I couldn't wait to get off the plane and start taking pictures of this backdrop. I guess so much so that as I loitered near the plane, an airport assistant had to remind me that I couldn't stay there because, of all practical reasons, we were on a runway. D'oh!

Majestic setting on the Jackson Hole tarmac.

Welcome to Jackson Hole Airport.

We picked up our car rental for the weekend which was a 12 passenger Chevy Express van. There was only one thing: there was only three of us. I guess if you were planning on using the van as a big tent, it wouldn't sound so peculiar and the three benches made it perfect for a pseudo sleeping arrangement.

It was already dark when we got to Jackson proper, but as we drove through we passed by the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar that one of the middle aged ladies sitting next to me on the plane told me about. She mentioned something about bar stools that were saddles, etc. We also passed by a number of ethnic restaurants (sushi, Chinese, etc) which was interesting since we were expecting that we'd be the only brown people there.

We got to Elk Country Inn which was our place to rest for the night. We threw our luggage into our room and headed out on the town to catch a late dinner. It was nearing 9pm and since a lot of places close early in Jackson we decided to go to a BBQ joint called Bubba's right on the corner from our hotel.

Foodie note: It currently gets an average of 3.5 stars on Yelp and deservedly so. The BBQ was average at best and the overabundance of sweetness in my sauce on my sandwich became undesirable after awhile.

Bubba's BBQ.

Sloppy Bubba - Combination of sliced beef and pork simmered in sauce on a toasted bun.

We finished dinner and decided to head down to the town square where Million Dollar Cowboy Bar was. As we walked, it was nice to take in the scenery. It looked like the typical ski resort town, which it is during the winter, with quaint lodges and New Orlean's style balconies. The lit streetlamps made it seem relatively safe to walk around as we dodged the middle aged drunkards stumbling from the bars. A series of black masses, presumably mountains, stood behind the buildings.

We got to the bar and were greeted to country music; a sign by the entrance read live music playing. We hesitated a bit, as this wasn't our cup of tea, and then decided when in Jackson, do what Jacksonians do. So we paid the $3 cover and delved right into cowboy country. Boy, was it cowboy country. The last time I saw that many cowboy hats was at a Tejano festival in San Antonio. The whole ambience was a mix between a ski lodge and a cowboy ranch. From their website:

"The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is located right on the town square in the heart of Jackson. It is famous for its western cowboy flare motif, complete with a large collection of western memorabilia, unique knobbled pine architecture, cowboy murals, animal mounts, and genuine saddle barstools."

Million Dollar Cowboy Bar

Million Dollar Cowboy Bar Beer brewed by Grand Teton Brewing Co.

The country music from the live band resonated from the back. We looked like three white boys walking into a Harold's Chicken Shack on the South Side of Chicago. Regardless, we headed straight to the bar for some liquid therapy. We ended up sitting right by the dance area, taking in the culture over some Million Dollar Cowboy brews.

Wild west ambience.

The next day we left Jackson at about 9am. The black masses behind the buildings were now revealed as massive foothills. The views from I-26/89/191 to Yellowstone were utterly magnificent. Off to one side were the Grand Teton mountain range as far as one could see. Pictures alone could not describe these imposing behemoths.

Grand Tetons in the distance.

There are two ways to get to Yellowstone. Either way, you go through the Grand Teton National Park to get there (which has a $25 fee good for both Grand Teton and Yellowstone). You can take the inner route on Grand Teton Road and get close up views of the mountains or continue on the highway and get landscape views. I wouldn't say either is better but I would recommend going one way going there and taking the other on the way back.

We stopped ever so often to take in the views and photo ops.

Mirror Reflection of the mountains.

It was about 11:30am now and we hadn't had breakfast other than the free coffee and mini chocolate candy bars we took with us from the Elk Country Inn lobby.

The day ahead of us was big; checking out Old Faihtful, riding the bike trail to Grand Prismatic Spring, camping at night at the Madison campground.

Therefore, we stopped at Flagg Ranch, the last stop before Yellowstone, to fill up on gas, food and any necessary items we needed for camping that night. Luckily, there was a restaurant there where we could catch breakfast, so we sat and ate a hearty meal to hold us over until dinner. I ordered the Old Faithful omelette which seemed be packed with every type of meat, and a great amount at that, which left me content. I loaded up on coffee to curb the impending food coma.

Bear's Den Restaurant.

Yash and Amith.

At this point, I was starting to like the old country lodge feel. It seemed so quaint and relaxing.

Antler chandelier.

After grabbing breakfast/lunch, we loaded up on snacks and supplies and headed up to Yellowstone.

We got to Yellowstone at about 12:30pm. For all intensive purposes, it should only take about 2 hours to get there but taking in the views and stopping for photo opportunities always take up time.

When we got to Old Faithful Village, we were somewhat surprised at what we saw. The area was sprawling with buildings; lodge, visitor center, general store, gas station. It was like visiting the original Jamestown settlement minus the farms and with 20th century amenities.

Just as the name says.

Modern buildings.

When we got to the visitor center we were greeted to a sign that read Old Faithful Geyser: 12:44pm. We got there just in time! We rushed out behind the visitor center and saw masses of people already lined up for the main attraction. The geyser was spewing smoke and from time to time would spit out a little more. After awhile she seemed to be teasing us. It was cyclical; Old Faithful would seem to blow out more, onlookers would raise their cameras, hold it for 15 seconds, realize she wasn't going to blow, and then put their cameras back down. After about 20 minutes repeating this process, the geyser started to spew, then a little more, then a full on explosion! It shot up about 60 feet in the air (it can reach about 120 feet sometimes). I tried to take as many pictures as I could without having other people's raised cameras in my pictures. One thing to note; to me, after Old Faihful all of the other geysers were just kinda blah.

Just in time. The next time would be ~2:30pm.

Throngs of onlookers.

Aimed and ready.

Thar she blows!

We headed back to the general store to pick up our rental bikes. Two things we learned: 1) If you see bison or moose, stay 25 yards away and 2) If you see a bear or wolf stay 100 yards away. Nice to know, I thought. We threw the bikes in the van and headed just north of Grand Prismatic Spring to the Fountain Flat Drive parking lot.

From there we could drop off the van and head onto the trail south on our bikes. According to our research the trail was about 6 miles one way and should take about 3 hours. If the first 5 minutes were any indication, those estimates should be twice that long. I started huffing and puffing almost instantly after we started and knew something wasn't right. Was I that out of shape? (That could have been the case but that's a completely different story....). I looked over to my buddy Amith, who is in relatively good shape, and he was having the same problem. That's when I thought, it had to be the altitude. Yellowstone, on average, is at about 8000 feet. Needless to say, it wasn't an easy trail even though there were really no gradual climbs.

Smiling now. Not so much later.

The scenery was right out of The Lion King which ranged from vast plains, to flowing rivers to areas where it seemed massive amounts of trees were dead (I started looking out for Scar).

We got to a point where we reached another parking lot and according to other patrons it was another mile up on the main road to the spring. Yash and Amith weren't too keen on sharing the road with mammoth RVs, so we decided to take the trek back and then drive back to the spring.

We got back and forth in about 3 hours which is actually really good considering I felt like I was dying ( then again I always think I'm dying). Before we could jump into the van, we had a bout with our first sight of wildlife; a lone bison hugging the river bend.

Come out to play Mr. Bison.

After taking a few snapshots, we headed back to Grand Prismatic Spring. Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest of the natural mineral springs in Yellowstone. I won't pretend to know why the springs sometimes emit fluorescent colors, or billow smoke into the air or why it's dangerous to step foot in. Heck, the wildlife don't seem to care. We saw plentiful bison playing in them. Regardless, they are an interesting phenomenon.

After taking in all of the egg like smells and countless shots, we decided to get a move on back to Old Faithful Village. It was around 6pm now and we needed to pick up supplies for the campsite and needed to grab dinner.

The plan was to go on two more bike routes the following day but given how bad our first go around was we ended up returning the bikes the same day. Yash picked up some hot dogs, marshmallows and Johnnie Walker. Then we headed to dinner.

We were fortunate to sit down and rest our weary feet. I looked at the menu for 5 seconds and knew what I was getting; Elk Burger. Unfortunately, when my dish finally came and I indulged with a hearty bite, I realized it did not taste like chicken like so many other foreign meat that have entertained my taste buds. Elk meat is quite lean and it had a gamey harder to chew taste. Regardless, I tried to douse it in as much ketchup as I could.

Bacon and Bleu Cheese Elk Burger.

We were now off to our RV site at Madison Campground. It was now close to 8pm and the sun was progressively coming down. The hope to get there before being pitch black was diminishing. It didn't help that at one point we saw a line of red lights ahead of us. When we got closer, a family of bison were crossing the road, impervious to the oncoming metal masses coming towards them. Of course, human nature kicked in and every car ahead of us stopped, took a picture and went on their way. It was almost like nature's way of paying tolls.

Bison Crossing.

When we got to the campsite it was pitch black. Luckily, they sold firewood and kindling (smaller pieces of wood to help start the fire) for $7 and $2.50 respectively at check in. We parked our van and started getting set up. It wasn't super cold yet. It was supposed to be 70 degrees during the day but it was to fall to 30 during the night. Regardless, I took advantage of my pyro tendencies and started getting the fire ready. It didn't take long for the wood to turn into a massive fireball; I was too excited and threw almost all of the firewood in at the same time. Therefore, Yash and Amith thought it'd be a good idea to grab another box and when they came back, we had two new boxes of fresh firewood. How long were we going to stay up I thought. Haha.

The Johnnie Walker kicked in fast. We were drinking it clean as I guess we didn't have the foresight of picking up some ice or coke to mix it in. I don't usually drink any alcohol straight so each of the first 20 sips I gulped reluctantly. After awhile, it was going down smoother and I was soon drinking cool and collected like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca.

Johnnie Walker, hot dogs and marshmallows.

Surprisingly, the discussion topics over the campfire were quite intellectual. We talked about different aspects of politics, religion and culture. We talked about growing up as immigrants and how that impacted our work lives. We talked about Obama, Bush and taxes. The great thing about the discussion was that no one was overly partisan to their beliefs. It's somewhat touchy when you talk about those types of things and someone tries to overly argue why this position is right. We were content with not knowing everything because at the end of the day sometimes ignorance is bliss. So is Johnnie Walker.

Soon the Johnnie Walker was done. Our after drinking hot dogs were on the grill but we wanted to keep the buzz going so Amith and I went searching for other campgrounds to solicit alcohol. We joked about returning back to the campsite to Yash snuggled next to a bear with all of our hot dogs eaten. It didn't take us long to find a campsite where we bought three beers for $2 from a guy and his 12 year old son.

Yash earlier in the night with tongs. After awhile he was the tong.

We returned back with the beers. At this point, Yash decided to become a human tong and rotated the hot dogs over the open fire with his bare hands. Granted, there was a steel grill over the fire but it still had to be hot. I have heard about his stories growing up in Sri Lanka and dodging bombs and mortar shells during the civil war, so I guess this act wasn't so surprising for him.

We gobbled up the hot dogs, laughed off the rest of our buzz and called it a night. It would be a much more exhausting day in the morning.

east or die.

2011-07-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

Pittsburgh (6/26 - 6/29)

Pittsburgh was reminiscent of Portland, a working class town and bridges everywhere you looked, albeit without all of the hipsters. Honestly, I didn’t expect much from Pittsburgh. We only made it a stop on our trip because BAM had family there. The ignorant side of me expected to see a city nestled between mountains, where residents would go to and fro to mine coal and then after work nestle in to their local bars and watch the Steelers play. Only one of those turned out to be true.

Pittsburgh was surprising. The downtown area is very cosmopolitan. Our first stop was Station Square, which is more or less Pittsburgh’s version of Chicago’s Navy Pier or St. Louis’ Union Station. The area has plentiful commercial restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe, comedy clubs, bars and shops. It’s their tourist draw, so I would pass unless I needed to park in their garage or needed a meeting point to head up to Mt. Washington.

Clinton Furnace in Station Square.

Mt. Washington Pt is an area that has expansive views of downtown Pittsburgh as well as the Golden Triangle, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers form to make the Ohio River. We walked two blocks from Station Square to the Monongahela Incline, where we took a cable car, which looks more like a hut, up to the top. Once you get to the top, you can marvel at all of the gigantic homes and then look the other way at their million dollar views. Ever so often there are platforms where you can take in the views, both romantic and touristy at the same time. This is where BAM's Tito Brice proposed to Tita Yeng. After taking in the views you can walk up the street and get a bite to eat or grab some coffee/ice cream. This is a must do in Pittsburgh.

Monongahela Incline.

Heading up.

Houses on Mt. Washington.

Views of Downtown Pittsburgh.

Tita Yeng and Tito Brice.

From there we hit up the Strip district which is a ton of boutique shops and bars up and down Penn Ave. Unfortunately for me, there are more cafes, bars, stationary stores and art galleries rather than actual clothing and shoe stores. Regardless, this is the area where the original Primanti’s is as well as Church Works Brewery. There’s more detail about those two in the East Coast Road Trip food recap.

Overall, Pittsburgh was a surprising little urban center. Some of the things that I missed which I have to see next time are the Heinz museum (yes, the ketchup maker), the burgers/wings/brew at Fat Head’s South Side Saloon, views from the Monterey Bay Fish Grotto and the rest of the tons of breweries in Pittsburgh. If you are planning a trip, it’s worth 2 nights, 3 days.

Boston (6/29 - 7/1)

Boston grew on me a little bit more this time around. To me, Boston always held this conservative monocultural persona to it. I always viewed the people as the haves versus the have-nots. All of the Ivy League, super expensive, hard to get into schools are right there in Cambridge. Plus, I’m not a huge fan of American history so that doesn’t help much either. Maybe staying in Jamaica Plains helped skew my perspective? JP is probably as multicultural and relatively safe as you’re going to get in Boston.

JP.

Local Dojo in JP.

I also attained a greater appreciation for the houses and neighborhoods in Boston. Even before getting to JP, you can only help but marvel at these grand brick Victorian houses and sprawling lawns. Right outside Boston downtown reminded me of a gigantic Evanston.

Megan's Place.

Two of the neighborhoods we spent a lot of time in were Chinatown and Back Bay. Boston’s Chinatown is really not that different than any other Chinatown. It is however, the nation’s third largest. We stopped there twice on the same day. For breakfast we had Winsor Dim Sum Café and for dinner we had Penang.

Boston Subway.

Chinatown.

Only in Chinatown.

From dim sum we walked the 6 block trek to Newbury Street in Back Bay, passing along such notables as the Boston Common and Public Garden. Long story short, Newbury St is expensive. However, there are tons of boutique shops and for a city I deem as conservative, they have surprisingly great number of urban street stores. To count a few, they have Riccardo’s (super expensive, BBC, Bape), Johnny Cupcakes, X-Squared, Karmaloop.

Church on Newbury St.

Just Ducky Tour - BAM said it was my type of boat.

My two faves were Newbury Comics and Bodega. Newbury Comics is a comic book, record, toy, graphic tee store all rolled up in one. If you can’t find anything there, you can’t find anything anywhere. Bodega is an urban clothing store I read about in a magazine. If you didn’t know about it, you would probably pass it up since it fronts as a mini grocery store. Once you get in however, you pass through the fake bodega and enter this expansive space filled with shoes, shirts, hats, etc. It reminded me of the Hundreds store in San Francisco which is all blacked out in the front and the door doesn’t open until you walk close enough to it.

Newbury Comics.

Bodega.

Wall art in Bodega.

There were parts that still reminded me that Boston can be pretty douchey, namely Drink and the bar at the Liberty Hotel. At the Liberty Hotel, I asked for three Jaeger Bombs. The bartender said, “We don’t have those, we have regular shots.” Either way, ironically Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (really?) have done a good job showing the grittier side of Boston in ‘The Town’ and ‘The Departed’, in which the latter has its own themed beer tour. Overall, I was glad to see the more ‘colorful’ side of Boston. It deserves at least 2 nights, three days.

New York (7/1 - 7/4)

New York is New York. I can never say anything bad about the place except they put garbage on their sidewalks and the random odors that can wake you up like smelling salt. Other than that, I love everything about NY – the gristle, the hustle, the attitude – all of it.

Obey.

The start of NY wasn’t so pleasant. Sally, our GPS, had us coming in local once we got close. Of course out of all places to drive locally through, the middle of the Bronx would not be my first choice. To make things worse, our brakes were going out and we were in the middle of NY traffic. I’ll leave it at that.

NYC Traffic.

We rented an apartment in Gramercy Park, which proved to be a good central location between Central Park and Soho. The great thing about Manhattan is no matter where you are there’s always something right around the block. Since Manhattan is so compact, every business doubles as something – restaurants are bars, grocery stores are flower shops, towing companies are auto repair shops.

Grocery Store/Flower Shop.

The first night we grabbed some thin crust pizza at Posto and got ready to go out that night. BAM was still limited since she was fresh off of the sprained foot she got in Boston. Luckily Bonee and her doctor friend Josh came to the rescue and hooked her up with a splint and some crutches. My roommate Ryan arrived and instantly commented on how big the place was that we were staying in. In my head, I kept thinking this place couldn’t be more than 1000 sq feet and we stay in a 1600 sq ft place in Chicago. It all made sense when we got to our buddy Mike’s place in Soho to preset. The place was at most 750 sq feet split amongst three guys. He told me rent was $1400 and I said, “Oh that’s not bad” until he told me it was $1400 each. Whoa. We were having a grand ol’ time when I looked out of the window and saw this amazing expansive loft – tiger rug and everything. I shouted to the others to come look and Mike explained that musician Lenny Kravitz lives in that building and futbol player Thierry Henry lives down the block.

We took a cab to our destination that evening in the Meat Packing District: Hiro. I didn’t know much about the place except that Mike hooked up bottle service and it was Asian night. Boy, was it Asian night alright. The place was huge and you come down these stairs into this enormous expanse filled with Asian décor and massive oval paper lantern lighting. Go go dancers were off to one end of the place. At one point, a scantily clothed lady stepped up onto a platform, lit some balls on fire that were attached to ropes and started swinging them every which way. It looked like a scene right out of Kill Bill. Of course with having so many of a certain culture in the same place, there had to be fight and the guilty parties were tossed out.

Firestarter.

"I like to party."

After getting inebriated, we took a cab to none other than 53rd and 6th for some chicken and rice. Only in NY city would you have hundreds of drunk party goers lining up for food from a street cart. Let me tell you, it is that good.

The next day the rest of our group flew in and we headed straight to 230 Fifth Ave which is a hard to get into nightspot that is also open for brunch. I had to cut out early to pick up our van from the shop. I picked up Bubba and then went looking for a garage to park in. Of course, nothing is ever easy in NY so after getting shot down from numerous parking attendants and driving in endless circles I finally found one on 15th and Park Ave. “You know you have to pay extra, right?” the parking attendant explained. “Yah, whatever, just take it,” I replied hastily. After the last two days, I didn’t want to have anything to do with Bubba and NYC traffic. (Btw, it is $60/day to park a full conversion van overnight in NYC).

Everyone's here!

230 Fifth Ave.

Rooftop Views.

After dropping off the van I made it back to brunch to finish off my eggs benedict and then we headed off to the Empire State building. Before we did, we made a quick stop at the Museum of Sex, which turned out to be a great place to pick up souvenirs if your expected recipients are not too conservative.

BAM mesmerized.

Darnit.

We finally made it to the Empire State Building. Who knew it would be a madhouse on the Saturday of 4th of July weekend? “2 hour wait but express you can pay $45,” yelled the workers who were dressed in Empire State Building garb. Um no. We decided it wasn’t worth it and personally I think the view is better at night. Then Bridget dropped a bombshell.

Empire State Building.

No way Jose.

“I think I’m going to head back,” she said. What? Why? “I don’t think I can make it on these crutches and my arms are getting tired, “ she explained. In my head, I thought, “There’s no way we made it this far and have you miss NYC.” Our friends started devising solutions which ranged from finding a wagon to a rope and a skateboard. “How about a wheelchair?” someone remarked. Ding! We went to the Walgreens right next to the Empire State Building and sure enough we saw the pretty red number. $160 later, BAM was back in action.

Look what I found.

Back and better than ever.

The group decided it was time to shop so what better place to go than to Soho. I was pretty excited too because I packed particularly light just so I could make the excuse to spend on clothing. Boston failed me because I didn’t find anything I liked and I didn’t want to buy just to buy. These were the stores on my list: Uniqlo, Adidas Originals, KidRobot, Bape, BBC, New Era, etc. I was pumped. And then in a matter of 15 minutes, I wasn’t. Just as much as the Empire State Building was busy, every store on Broadway was just as packed. Add in we had to navigate a wheelchair through the masses, it seemed more work than play. After about an hour on Broadway, I was thinking NYC was failing me too. It wasn’t until I got to KidRobot that I finally saw something I liked. I picked up a couple of vinyl toys and some shirts.

Cookie's n Cream Store.

Bumblebee in Uniqlo.

Adidas Originals Soho.

Bape.

KidRobot.

Can't forget about Dash NYC.

We then decided to hit up Little Italy for Lombardi’s Pizza and Chinatown for some cheap I Heart NY shirts. Of course when we get to Lombardi’s the line is outside of the door so we backtracked to Mulberry St and started walking to Chinatown. At a certain point, we had to stop to wait for the others so we stopped at a corner. It’s in these fleeting moments when you can take a step back and say, “We’re in the middle of NYC after traveling almost 800 miles and although BAM is in a wheelchair, we are enjoying life.”

The others caught up and we made our way through Little Italy. It was the first time I’ve seen Mulberry Street closed off to traffic which made walking through the bustling area pleasant. All of the sidewalk patio seating was full with patrons as we walked underneath the string lighting that hung between street lamps.

We made it to Canal St which marks the start of Chinatown. The familiar voices of little old Asian ladies whispering Gucci and Prada fell upon our ears. We passed through the small stores and some of the others picked up shirts.

Street art.

It was around 7pm now and we needed to get back so people could start getting ready. The guys decided to head straight to Shake Shack in Madison Square Park (the original location) to pick up dinner while the girls went home to get ready.

We got to the park and upon approaching we saw a semblance of a line, and then a line, and then a super long line. The theme of our day: Saturday of 4th of July weekend. We got to the back of the line and strategized when to give up on our quest if we passed a certain time. The target time was 8:30. To make a long story short, we got to the front at about 8:30, ordered and then waited another half hour for our actual order. It was nearing 9pm by the time we started walking back to the apt. We had to be at the club by 10pm to make sure we secured our bottle service reserved by my good friend LJ.

We got to the apt, passed out the Shake Stacks and chomped down on these burgers. Never have I ever waited almost two hours for a sandwich and said it was completely worth it. You have to try these burgers.

The place we were hitting up was this place called Beauty & Essex. LJ, a friend from my Philippine Studies Program, said this was the spot to be and a childhood friend of his managed at the place. The way B&E was setup was the same way Bodega was setup in Boston. The front of the place looked like a pawn shop (which I think it actually was) and then towards the back was the entrance to the club. When we got in, we were greeted to a grand staircase leading up to the second floor and a receptionist desk. The interior was magnificent – glass chandeliers, leather espresso brown seats, etc. The crowd fit the part as well as most were dressed in either collared shirts or dresses. The place reminded me of ‘The Violet Hour’ except with less convo and more mingling.

Beauty & Essex.

Our reservation was at the top so I helped BAM hop her way up the staircase. We had two bottles reserved (at $400 each). Come to think of it, when someone says they’ll hook you up with bottle service, are you really getting much of a deal or are they just reserving tables. Either way at $400 a bottle that doesn’t seem so discounted. (We did get hooked up in other ways later on, however.) We started the night of debauchery when at some point, we notice a bunch of douchebags with muscle fitted shirts come in. Then a couple of them come to the center of the room and start gyrating. I started to think, “They are dancing too well.” That’s when I realized there were no women with them. Maybe bachelor party. “Oh no, I can’t even do that move,” I thought. They weren’t douchebags, they were GAY! Hahaha, innocent mistake. One of the guys from their party came over to our friend Jenny and started giving her a lap dance. She started out with this face of disgust but after she realized there was no imminent threat, she warmed up to the idea.

Ice Cream Truck.

The group to the side of us was completely different. I noticed they were dressed down, which meant maybe they were either from out of town or they were from Jersey (see the next destination below for a more accurate description). Poor was out of the question because everyone in the room had to get bottle service. One of the girls in their group was moving around so violently I didn’t know if she was dancing or punching demons.

Reserved.

We were about one and a half bottles in when LJ tells his friend that we’d all like a shot of pickleback on the house. To preface, a pickleback is a shot of Jameson with a glass of pickle juice. You take the shot and chase it with the pickle juice and voila! - no aftertaste. Three things happened here – 1) They didn’t have pickle juice so LJ’s friend sent one of their employees across the street to the bodega to get some, 2) They thought a pickleback was Jameson and pickle juice combined in one shot and 3) after taking it, we all almost collectively puked.

Party animal!

We were nearing the end of the second bottle when LJ came up to me and said, “If you take me off of the first two bottles, I’ll pick up a third bottle on my own.” The right answer should have been, “No, I think we’re good”. Instead, I said, “Do what you go to do.” Wrong, wrong, wrong. All I know is after LJ ordered the third bottle, everyone was gone, we all split up, BAM and I ended up in Chinatown and Rynee revealed his alter ego was a 300 lb black woman named Precious.

"I don't think we needed that third bottle, LJ."

Our last day in NY started out late. We were all groggy from the night before and we spent most of the morning trying to rehash what went on. Apparently, Rynee went on a rant about getting chicken and rice and hijacked all of the folks that were in his cab and forced them to go there. It was kind of like Denzel Washington in Training Day when he screams, “I am King Kong!” except it was more like, “I am Precious and it is my job to eat.” It also didn’t help that it was rainy outside.

When we finally got outside, it was about 11am and the plan was to hit up Washington Square Park and eventually make our way down to Ground Zero and Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. Washington Square Park is one of my favorite places in NY because it has the mini Arc de Triomphe, the dog park and it reminds me of when they arrive in NY in ‘When Harry Met Sally’. We hit that up first and were treated to a handful of NYU students swing dancing. We hung out for a bit and decided since everyone was getting a little hungry we should go hit up Katz Delicatessen, where Sally had her infamous orgasm scene in ‘When Harry Met Sally’. It was starting to drizzle more so we stopped by one of the small shops on Thompson St and picked up some five dollar umbrellas. Because I had to push the wheelchair with two hands, BAM and I had to improvise – she held the umbrella up so it covered both of us while I pushed the wheelchair. We were like a two man band.

Union Square.

Washington Square Park.

We get to Katz at the absolute best time. It was about 2pm now. Although it was bustling inside, there was no line out of the door and we could find seats. The ambience inside Katz epitomizes what NY is all about – bustling, workers scrambling, lively. They give you tickets right when you get in and when you order, the server writes your order on your ticket. You don’t pay until you leave. They also tell you even if you don’t order anything that you still need to hold on to your ticket to verify that was the case. Each line has its own specialty – there’s a soup line, sandwich line, fries line and beverage line. Don’t ask the guy preparing your sandwich to fetch you soup – you may or may not get a dirty look. Luckily I didn’t. We got our $15 sandwiches, sat down and indulged.

Two doors down is a Ray’s ‘Original’ Pizza – we decided to go just to see if this could be the original one. Do yourself a favor – do not come here unless you are completely inebriated or have ordered a fresh pie. The slices seemed to be under the heat lamps for hours.

It was about 4pm now. I told the others that my body needed to rest from all of the travel. I had had a sore throat for 7 days straight and decided I needed to take it easy. Apparently, everyone else felt the same way. We all headed back to the apt and rested until we headed out again.

Our plan for dinner and out on the town was a place called Player’s in Koreatown. I had been there before with LJ and had a blast and I thought it’d be a nice change of pace from the hardcore drinking we’ve been doing the last two nights. What I was really looking forward to was the soju. They fill clear bottles with fruit, add soju to it and the best part is it doesn’t even taste like alcohol.

K-town.

Players.

When we got there, we asked if we could get a karaoke room. They said we had to spend at least $200. I asked if there was a room charge. They said no. Where do we sign up?

We got into the room and it was the nicest karaoke room I’ve ever been to. Everyone was hungry so we started ordering – two styles of Korean chicken wings, French fries, fish cakes. We also ordered a couple of bottles of soju. By the end of the night we had over ten bottles of soju and our appetites were completely satisfied – no need for late night eats.

Lychee and Yogurt Soju.

Chicken wings, kim chi fried rice and french fries.

Divas.

Fat cats.

Our last stop was the must do for anyone who has never been to NY – Times Square. I personally think Times Square is prettier at night. There are less people and the bright lights remind me of when I was back in Tokyo. The atmosphere was eerily serene relative to what happens during the day. There were no taxis honking and fighting through masses of people. Don’t get me wrong, there were tons of people there for 2am in the morning on a Monday but everyone seemed to be taking in all of the wonder just as we were. We capitalized on all of the photo opportunities and then headed home. It was a perfect way to end our NY stay.

Overall, I would live in NY if I could. Vacation-wise, a week would be perfect before you start craving the slower comforts of home.

Seaside Heights (aka Jersey Shore) (7/4 - 7/5)

The approach to New Jersey coming from New York is eerily similar to when you are crossing the border between Chicago and Indiana. Let’s put it this way – the sight of industrial towers spewing smoke into the atmosphere does not make for a pretty backdrop. Right when we got to Jersey, we experienced the impact that the show ‘Jersey Shore’ has made on the local economy. Case in point, a billboard for a beer company read, “We don’t pump gas. We pump fists at the Jersey Shore.” Now that I think about it, Jersey has a policy where every gas station is full service. Maybe their marketing dept is smarter than I thought.

The best thing about Jersey was stopping by Ryan's parent's house in Marlboro. I joked with about him being Vinny from the show and his family cooking us this huge Italian feast. Well we didn't get the prosciutto and meatballs, but we did get a feast - Korean bbq, pork, short ribs, an amazing ground beef dish and a cake that was outlined with fruit to make the American flag.

"Haro, my name is Lyan Ree."

"Chillin' in West Jersey, born and raised..."

The towns (Lavallette) right before Seaside Heights are super nice. The houses are your typical grand summer homes and you have water views on either side of the strip. Then there was the Jersey Shore.

If I can sum up our experience at the Jersey Shore on the 4th of July in four words: trailer trash of America. Once we got in, we understood why the surrounding hotels/motels had strict no guest policies. The area is party central. We pulled into Palm Villas Suite and we see a Latino family grilling out in the parking lot – I believe they brought their own grills because I didn’t see them out there the next day. People were hanging out on the balconies throwing back a few. There was a dinky pool that really doubled as a big Jacuzzi without jets.

Even coming in, we didn’t expect much, but for it to be even worse than we imagined is saying something. We made our way to the boardwalk. Before we made it there, we run into thrones of pedestrians and cop cars surrounding a house. Sure enough, it was the Jersey Shore house and the cast had been filming for a week now.

Jersey Shore House.

We finally make it onto the boardwalk and it is bustling with people. The beach was off in the distance and right above us was the ski lift transporting patrons from one end of the boardwalk to the other. We started taking in the scenery. Fireworks didn’t start until 9:30 so we had about 3 hours to kill. Within three hours, these were our findings:

1) Jersey Shore is not just limited to Italian douchebags but douchebags of every culture.

2) As for culture, it was pretty diverse. As far as the cultures intermingling with other cultures, not so much.

3) They fry everything here. Oreos, pickles, you name it, they had it. It was like a county fair.

4) With all of the mean mugging going on, I’m surprised the Jersey Shore cast didn’t get into more fights.

5) When they advertise fireworks on the PA and in print that it starts at 9:30, it really means 9:10. We missed it since we were having dinner at the time and ended up watching fireworks from DC on our TV back at the hotel.

I see Snooki and her mom!

Owner Danny was managing.

Fried turkey drumsticks.

Only on the Jersey Shore.

Carnival rides.

So there you have it. That sums up our experience. We ended up drinking on the boardwalk to help tolerate the situation and even when it was time to go to Karma, we all decided we should just stay in. (When we were in DC, there was a news report that 60 people got into a huge brawl that night we were there. Phew.) Sorry Jersey Shore.

Missing the fireworks at Maruca's Pizza.

Overall, Jersey Shore really just deserves an afternoon.

Philly (7/5)

Since Jersey Shore wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, we got up early and started our drive to Philly. It took about two hours to get there and we arrived at about 10:30am. It was my first time there and we wanted to make the most of the time we were there since we only had about 5 hours before the rest of our group flew off. All I knew about Philly was cheesesteaks, Rocky, the Liberty Bell and Will Smith. We accomplished two of those things.

Driving through Philly Chinatown.

Before stopping at the Liberty Bell, we stopped by the gift shop across the street. I had yet to get my family any souvenirs so ironically enough the place that we spent the least amount of time in is where everyone got souvenirs from.

Welcome to Philly!

When we finally got to the Liberty Bell, it was pretty anticlimactic. For some reason, I was expecting this huge bell with a crack in it. There were tons of folks angling for pictures so I took as many as I could and went on my way.

Liberty Bell.

Hey, look who we ran into.

One thing we fit into our schedule was the red three-dimensional LOVE sign that you see in a lot of postcards, etc. We walked up the steps to the park and again to our disappointment, the sign was super small. So small in fact it had to be propped up on a metal shelf. I don’t know the whole story but apparently the bigger real one is in NY, the place we just left. D’oh!

Brotherly love.

I’ll leave the cheesesteaks reviews on my other blog post but just know that within 5 hours we had 3 cheesesteaks.

Overall, I think you can do Philly in one night, two days.

DC (7/5 - 7/8)

I’ve been hearing good things about DC forever. I can see why. Aside from the horrid street layout, there are tons of things to do in DC and surrounding areas. The food scene is great. Naturally, any city off of a waterway (Potomac River) makes for scenic views. The city has a great fallback if you’re a tourist and don’t know what to do – monuments and museums galore. There are also tons and tons of young professionals which makes for a vibrant nightlife.

I decided after doing some research to have Georgetown as our base. This was probably a bad idea. From what I read this was the area that had hip boutique shops and it did but it also had a bunch of preppy folks and nannies pushing around strollers. (I think next time I’ll shoot for something near Adams Morgan).

The monuments and parks in DC were better than I expected. The National Mall is just one huge area that encompasses all of the monuments and museums. It would take at least a week to see everything. One of the cooler places was the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.

The Washington Monument sits in the middle and is just one impressive massive structure even if tourists like to treat it as a huge phallus.

Can you spare some change?

The Lincoln Memorial on the west end is parched up a large fleet of steps like America’s Parthenon and Abraham Lincoln himself was enormous. I felt like freeing slaves again.

"I freed the slaves!"

Seeing all of the names on the WWII Memorial was impactful albeit saddening. We didn’t get to see any of the museums but the contemporary art museum and the Holocaust museum are on my to do list for next time.

I think one of the best things about DC is the fact that it is so close to other cosmopolitan areas. Baltimore is not all too far away and Virginia is great way to get away from city life. One night for dinner we found ourselves in Annandale, VA for some Korean BBQ. The conundrum is having to rent a car to get to the surrounding areas but then not wanting it once you get back to DC.

DC Chinatown.

DC driving is worse than NYC driving. In DC, you have roundabouts, tourists (driving and walking) and diagonal streets. In NY, it’s a grid system much like Chicago so the only things you need to worry about are one way streets and asshole drivers.

I would definitely come back to DC and take more in. Next time, I think 3 nights, 4 days would do for both DC and surrounding areas.

Louisville (7/8 - 7/10)

Louisville surprised me like Pittsburgh did. It wasn’t so much that Louisville was surprisingly urban, it was more so that Louisville is a big art hub, which I’m a fan of. We didn’t plan anything really for Louisville – all I knew was there were a bunch of whiskey manufacturers and the Kentucky Derby.

Fortunately, we had a friend we were staying with that could help pick up our slack. The first real day we were there, we went to Churchill Downs, which actually turned out pretty cool. They have a video game inside the museum where you can get on a plastic horse with a giant screen in front of you and have it simulate a race. If I would have just done that for 3 hours, it would have been worth the price of admission.

Barbaro at Churchill Downs.

We were supposed to hit up the Muhammad Ali museum but it closed early. The other two places I loved in Louisville were Lynn’s Paradise Café and the 21c Museum Hotel. Lynn’s is one of those places you just have to go because of the ambience and the novelty of it. Plus I got to try a Hot Brown which is a Kentucky staple. The 21c Museum Hotel is just as unique. Throughout the hotel, there are 4 foot red penguins placed in various spots. Apparently, people move them all around which makes for good practical jokes and the like. The hotel also has a contemporary art museum as well as restaurant which are decked out in all interesting and quirky structures. This is a place straight out of Willy Wonka’s world. It’s not a surprise that many top hotel magazines rate the best hotel in the nation to be in Louisville, KY.

Receptionist Desk.

Cuba leaders.

Unfortunately, it being the tail end of our trip, we weren’t able to hit up any nightlife.

Louisville Slugger Museum.

Overall, I would give Louisville a solid 2 night, 3 day stay.

East Coast Eats Better Than The West Coast?

2011-07-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

So I know this post is really what you guys have been looking forward to.

The West Coast has some great food. I remember some of my faves being Lolita’s in San Diego (Carne Asada fries), Aybla Grill food stall in Portland (gyros), Hukilau in San Jose (Loco Moco) and of course Jollibee and In-n-Out in LA. With all that said, I’m inclined to say that the East Coast may be better.

Let’s review –

Maumee, OH

Big Boy – I didn’t even know these existed. I just remember them from the Austin Powers movies. BAM got the fish sandwich and I got the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich. Honestly, I probably couldn’t tell the difference between my sandwich and a Wendy's 99 cent Crispy Chicken sandwich.. BAM’s sandwich was pretty awesome though – definitely above average. If they ask you which fish you want, go with the better more expensive stuff. Also, indulge in the Big Boy merchandise. They have shirts, bobbleheads, toy banks, etc.

It exists!

Cranberry, PA

Saga Sushi & Hibachi – BAM’s Tita Yeng used to work here and she and her husband are celebrities when they come in. The décor is something you would expect from downtown Chicago, not a suburb of Pittsburgh. Very chic and hip and very up to date R&B and hip hop playing in the background. The deals are amazing. 3 rolls for $10 for their lunch special with very generous portions. They also have hibachi off to the side and you can catch the chefs squirting sake into willing participants’ mouths.

Saga Hibachi & Sushi Bar

3 for $10 and generous portions.

Pittsburgh, PA

Church Brew Works – This place is a must see if you are in Pittsburgh. They literally took a church and made it into a brewery. Once you walk in you realize the place is expansive. At the altar sits huge copper vats of beer, which has to be some sort of sacrilege. Off on the other end of the place sits the original organs nestled up upon the balcony. I kept reminding myself that monks used to brew their own wine/moonshine to feel less guilty indulging in their beer sampler. The sampler is 8 four oz. beers from their menu (maybe they were even 6 oz) for $15. Let’s put it this way, you’ll be at least tipsy after finishing all 8. Their coconut stout is a must for darker beer drinkers. We only tried their Asian sesame wings but those were above average as well. They also have tons of merchandise which makes it perfect for souvenirs.

Blasphemy!

Sacrilege!

Are those 4 or 6 oz?

Primanti Bros. (sandwiches) – This is the place I saw on Food Network and was a definite must when we visited Pittsburgh. I tried looking for the little old lady that’s been working there for more than 30 years to no avail. Murals of just about anyone famous in Pittsburgh lore graced the walls. Every sandwich comes with fries and vinegary slaw inside of it. I opted for the Cheesesteak sandwich which is their #2 seller second to their locally brewed beer. It was pretty decent until I tried BAM’s corned beef sandwich which made my sandwich pale in comparison. Lesson learned: Gotta go with the corned beef. I also tried their Iron City Beer. Tito Brice warned me. I was already tipsy when I walked into the place and I think that beer made me sober. It is their local “PBR” and tastes like it if not worse.

On the Food Network!

Famous Pittsburgh Peeps.

Primanti Bros. Cheese Steak Sandwich.

Stay classy Pittsburgh.

New Haven, CT

Frank Pepe Pizzeria (clam pizza) – We stopped specifically in New Haven, CT just to try this place. It’s been open since the 1920s and their claim to fame is their white clam pizza. Let me tell you, you have to try this pizza. I don’t even particularly like clams and I loved this pizza. It’s also situated in what seems like their Little Italy and most of the businesses their have been around more than 50 years. I also ordered a drink and was surprised to see it was half the size of a normal drink. Order two if you’re thirsty.

Since 1926.

Famous White Clam Pizza.

Tiny drinks :(

Boston, MA

Atlantic Fish Co. – I’ve tried Legal Seafood before for their clam chowder so based on our friend Megan’s recommendation, we went here. We ordered lobster roll, crab bisque, clam chowder, calamari and goat cheese salad. I must preface by saying I don’t have the most discerning palette for seafood. I will say, however, everything I ate was very good. The calamari was only second to my favorite at Hugo’s Frog Bar back here in Chicago. Unfortunately, the lobster roll which is one of the reasons we were excited about Boston was all out. I would recommend the place but it's not a foodie must have especially because we didn’t get to try the lobster roll. Also, Atlantic is on par with Legal Seafood in terms of prices, etc. Definitely not hole in the wall.

Atlantic Fish Co. Ran out of Lobster Rolls :(

Calamari.

Winsor Dim Sum Café – Yelped dim sum places in Boston Chinatown and this one had an average of 4 stars with at least 50 reviews. After trying it, this was definitely the case. Many of the standard dishes are here and some are just presented more creatively which I appreciated. I would definitely recommend if you want dim sum in Boston. It’s a small place though so you might have to wait. There wasn’t a line out of the door but then again it was a Thursday.

Winsor Dim Sum Cafe.

Pork Mini Buns.

Chinese Broccoli topped with Oyster Sauce.

Fried Shrimp Balls.

Penang – I completely doubted this place since it looks like the same Penang chain that closed down in Chinatown here. Boy, was I wrong. We ordered the home made roti canai, mango chicken, beef rendang, red snapper and pad thai. Everything was delicious, especially the roti canai and beef rendang. The inside is a little kitsch, trying to evoke bamboo huts back in our homelands. The bottom line though is the food and it did not disappoint.

Penang.

Mango Chicken.

Beef Rendang.

Red Snapper.

Manhattan, NY

Posto – This pizza is very very good. I just couldn’t get over the personal size (and price) as well as how thin it was. Coming from Chicago, we expect our pizza to be hearty. So even if it is thin crust NY style, at least have the slice be as big as my head. Nonetheless, the pizza is very tasty and will not disappoint (well only if you weigh it). I ordered a basil and spicy sausage pizza. BAM had an anchovy and mushroom pizza.

Spicy Sausage and Basil.

53rd and 6th Halal Cart (chicken and rice) – This place never disappoints. The only disappointment here is myself for not putting any hot sauce. Instead I opted for their new BBQ sauce which just bastardized the experience. Nonetheless you have to go here when in NY. You don’t even have to be drunk to appreciate how good this place is.

Not too much hot sauce!!!!

230 Fifth – Typically, this is a packed night time spot but they also offer brunch. The prices can get up there but typically what you pay for is pretty decent food and an even more amazing view. I had the eggs benedict which was standard. The fries were even better. This is a must in NY even if just for the views.

Kobayashi!

Views from 230 Fifth.

Greek Omelet.

Shake Shack (burgers) – In-n-Out you have just been bitch slapped. Just to preface, we waited an 1.5 hours for our Shake Stack burgers (including all of the hype we got before then) at the original Madison Square Park, took about 15 minutes to walk them home, and it still tasted like heaven. I have never waited that long and said, “Yep, it lived up to the hype.” I did that with In-n-out and it disappointed. Not here. The Shake Stack is a burger with a portabella mushroom on top filled with delectable cheese. Next time I have to try the double that everyone seems to talk about as well.

1.5 hour long wait.

We see the sign! Getting closer....

Shake Stack!

Wo Hop – After hitting up the posh and luxurious Beauty and Essex, we needed to dial it down a notch and keep it real. What better way than drunk eats in NY Chinatown. My buddy LJ brought me here the last time I was in NY and I remember it being above average. We ordered a multitude of dishes but the definite standouts were the salt and pepper pork and the Honey Walnut Shrimp. Those were amazing. Sorry no pics. Blame it on the alkie.

Katz Delicatessen – The pastrami sandwich is $15. That is probably the most I’ve spent on a sandwich ever. I’m sure it’s a tourist thing and walls lined with memorabilia of the owner and the celebrities that come in vouch this sandwich is legit. It was. The meat is so tender it literally melts in your mouth. The pickles they give, one vinegary and one more like a cucumber, are the perfect complement. I got the chicken noodle soup to soothe a sore throat. It was a nothing frilly and no non-sense and I being a salt lover it had the perfect amount of sodium. You have to eat here. I’m gonna try 2^nd Ave. Deli next time I’m in NY.


Katz!

When Harry Met Sally.

Freshly sliced.

Amazing Pastrami Sandwich.

Ray's Pizza – This pizza joint two doors down can’t be the original Ray’s. Of course we went right after eating at Katz but this place was just garbage. It seemed like the pizzas were sitting out forever under the heat lamps. My friend’s chicken pizza was almost nonedible because the dryness could have cut her tonsils off.

Can't be the real Ray's.

Seaside Heights

Maruca Tomato Pies – We made the mistake of going to the Jersey Shore on the 4^th of July. If there was ever a bright spot, Maruca’s Tomato Pies is it. You can tell pizza that is good for passing by and eating on the run. Maruca’s is a place you sit down and appreciate. They’ve been around since the 50’s and there’s a picture of Man vs. Food’s Adam Richman eating there. They have style where the cheese and tomato sauce is done in swirls. We ordered the supreme with sausage, onion and peppers. Add to it the garlic seasoning they have at every table and it was heaven in what otherwise was hell. Sorry Jersey Shore.

Since 1950.

Supreme Pizza.

Pat's King of Steaks and Geno’s Steaks – Ahh the epic battle between Pat’s and Geno’s. We rolled up in Philly at about 10am and headed straight to their location. Upon first look, Pat’s looks like the original food stand where as Geno’s across the street looks like some millionaire’s cocky attempt to just up and buy a food stand because he was once spurned by Pat. To be fair, we ordered the same sandwich from each and ate them side by side, both with cheese whiz and grilled onions. Let me tell you. There is no comparison. Don’t even waste your time at Geno’s. Pat’s has better flavor and cheese. Geno’s lacks flavor and the cheese is runny.

Pat's King of Steaks.

Geno's Steaks.

Showdown! (Pat's on top, Geno's on bottom)

Tony Luke's – Remember when I said forget about Geno’s? Okay now forget about Pat’s. Tony Luke’s cheesesteak does everything well and result is just a super flavorful sandwich. The gap between Tony Luke’s and Pat’s isn’t as wide as Pat’s and Geno’s but if you had a layover in Philly and had time for only one place, go with Tony Luke’s. I also want to give a shout out to their cheese fries. They are delectable. If you’re into spicy, do yourself a favor and lather your cheese fries with their hot sauce. It makes a perfect pairing.

Duh, winning.

Cheesesteak and Cheese Fries.

Washington, DC

Thai X-ing – Hands down the best Thai food I have ever had. Period. Just note that you need to make reservations and the menu is pre fixe. I’ll spare the details. Just experience it for yourself.

Someone's house?

Papaya Salad, Cucumber Soup, Thai Chicken Salad

Something Lamb.

Pumpkin and Salmon in Peanut Sauce.

Pad Thai.

Mango and Sweet Rice.

Luke's Lobster (Taste of Maine) – Because we weren’t able to get a lobster roll in Boston, it was a pleasant delight to find that DC had some offerings. Luke’s Lobster is based out of NY but the seafood comes straight from Maine. We ordered the Taste of Maine which included a half lobster roll, half shrimp roll, half crab roll, a pair of lobster claws, chips and a drink. For $21 it was a good way to taste all of the above. The portions weren’t all too big but seafood typically is more expensive. Out of the rolls, the lobster roll was amazing. This is a great choice for rolls in DC. Now I just need to find that elusive Red Hook Lobster truck……

Luke's Lobster.

Taste of Maine.

Shrimp Roll, Crab Roll, Lobster Roll.

Matchbox Chinatown – I heard about this pizza joint in Chinatown. I remember thinking, “Why would I get pizza in Chinatown?” After seeing all of the reviews on Yelp, I had to go. First things first, this place is more than just pizza. There’s sliders are pretty awesome and they top them off with onion straws and Romano cheese. For the pizza, we ordered a half Fire ‘n’ Smoke and a half white prosciutto. Both flavors were underwhelming. For two people, you can get away with three sliders and a small pizza. The ambience itself will make you want to go. It’s a perfect mix between brick and steel beams which give it a hip contemporary feel. Each table has a vintage matchbox or two encased in the center. Overall, a great place to hit up if you’re in town. I’ll have to come back to try the other pizza flavors.

Matchbox.

Vintage Matchboxes.

Mini Burgers and Onion Straws.

Half Fire 'n' Smoke Half White Prosciutto.

Ben's Chili Bowl @ Nationals Park - I read about Washington having their own brand of hot dog and coming from Chicago, I wanted to see if this version of our friendly frank was legitimate. From my research from Yelp, Ben's Chili Bowl was the go to spot. Unfortunately, due to our tight schedule in DC, we weren't going to make it out to the Shaw neighborhood and I wasn't inclined to take a cab out there again like I was when we grabbed the most amazing Thai food at Thai X-ing. That being said, I was ecstatic when my buddy said there was one at the park. I waited for the right time, between the 6th and 7th innings to make my trek to the food stand. I ordered a half smoke and a chili cheese fries. The half smoke was a hot dog sliced down the center to make a butterfly opening. This is a good tactic, now that I think about it, because it creates a perfect space when they squirt some mustard and lather the dog with chili and shredded cheese. When I got back to my seat, I pulled the half smoke up to my mouth and took a hearty chomp. The tastebuds started rolling in and it registered a success. The mustard and the butterfly cut is really the only thing that differentiates it from a chili cheese dog. Adding the mustard was a little weird I thought, but it actually complemented the other ingredients quite well. One thing to note: There is no way not to get messy when eating this dog. At a certain point I had some chili on my pants, my mouth and in between my fingers all at the same time. The chili cheese fries were awesome too. It really is the chili that stands out. Having it at the baseball game was a great way to experience this greasy spoon.

Cubs vs. Nationals.

Ben's Chili Bowl.

One happy customer.

Chili cheese fries and a half smoke.

POV Terrace @ W Hotel – The POV Terrace is another rooftop brunch place we hit up while in DC. Like most places like this, you come for the views and then if they have decent food it’s a plus. Luckily, what we had was awesome. We ordered the calamari to share which had slices of jalapeno and a light citrus mayonnaise dip. For entrees, we all ordered the Maryland Crab Cake Sandwich which was also delicious. The highlight of the meal however was their Bloody Mary which was made with either lobster meat. It was amazing! You should definitely check this place out for the views and surprisingly the food and drinks.

View of the White House and surroundings.

Crab Cake Sandwich.

Calamari.

Lobster Bloody Mary.

Old Ebbitt Grill – As much as the POV Terrace was posh and trendy, Old Ebbitt Grill reminded you of all that is great with old Americana. The place is lined with an old fashioned bar with a cherry wood finish. There are impressionist paintings hanging on the walls that complement the suede booths. Hanging from the walls are red, white and blue ribbons. This was a place that made you feel like you were sitting on a wraparound porch drinking sweet tea down south. We had just eaten at POV Terrace so we were really there just for drinks. Our friend ordered an oyster platter which is their specialty. Again, seafood and slurpy things are equally not my specialty but I tried one anyway. I didn’t really know what to make of it. All I know is the sweet tea vodka and lemonade I ordered either had no alcohol or was just really that good. I got to taste all of the drinks around the table and they have serious mixologists that work there. This is a place you want to visit. Come during lunch hours to get the half off all raw seafood deal if you’re into that.

Old Ebbitt Grill

Old Americana.

House Specialty.

Arlington, VA

Cafe Asia – I can’t comment much about this place except that we just grabbed some drinks. The place is expansive but food reviews on Yelp weren’t too friendly so we didn’t try anything. I’ll leave it at that.

Honey Pig – This is one of two places in Annandale Koreatown I wanted to try; the other one being Yechon. I read that this one was more hip so I stuck to this one. The place itself is industrial in feel with corrugated sheet metal covering the walls and large posters of their offerings pasted onto it. I liked the whole pig mascot logo they had all around. So much so, BAM and I both picked up shirts. The service was super prompt. They already started laying everything out in front of us. Although, I’ve had more small plates at other Korean restaurants, I enjoyed more the sauces that they offered; a sweet sauce and sesame oil with salt. We ordered the bulgogi, kalbi and spicy pork belly. The pork belly was a little too fatty for me but the other two dishes were flavorful and even better with the sauces. The only downsides were that they didn’t have chop chae and we weren’t able to cook on our own; the waitress had to do it. Nonetheless the food was awesome and we were stuffed so we had nothing to complain about.

Honey Pig.

Hip Industrial Feel.

Getting ready to stink.

Bulgogi and Galbi.

Goody's – We just stopped in here after having drinks at Northside Social & Wine Café down the street. The place is family run and it was refreshing to see a little old lady walking around behind the counter at midnight. It was really nothing to write home about. Just standard thin NY style pizzas and a bunch of other offerings. I found the loaded fries to be interesting and slightly addicting. Instead of melting cheese on the top of the fries, they layered the cheese so it felt like it was neverending. They could have thrown some bacon crumbles or something else on top to make it more ‘loaded’. Either way it was good and apparently the mom’s favorite thing to make. Sorry no pics.

Charleston, WV

Little India - This was our stopover between DC and Louisville. It looked like a nice place in what appeared to be the downtown area. Unfortunately a lot of the businesses on the street went out of business. When we got in it was about 4pm and completely empty. We didn't mind though. We were hungry and needed a break after driving already 6 hours. We ordered the mixed grill that included tandoori chicken, kefta kabob, chicken tikka, salmon and lamb chop. We also ordered the Lamb Saag and Paneer Chili (fried Indian cheese in a tangy spicy sauce). The mixed grill was dry but the Lamb Saag and Paneer Chili picked up the slack as they were delicious. The only issue I had with the place was the amount of flies that orbited our vicinity. Overall, this is a more than decent option for West Virginia.

Little India.

Fried Vegetable Platter.

Mixed Grill.

Paneer Chili.

Louisville, KY

Lynn's Paradise Café – A must in Louisville. The place is super kitsch, with super bright colors reminiscent of Austin Powers and a zoo. You enter through the front and you are greeted to a store of knick knacks and novelty items. There is a rack of sunglasses and eclectic hats to play dress up. Once you walk into the dining room you are greeted to even more bright and creative décor. There are two faux trees that are lined with Christmas lights. At each table are games and small plastic farm animals for kids and adults alike. I ordered the Hot Brown (an open faced turkey sandwich topped with tomatoes, tons of cheese and bacon) which is a Kentucky staple and a sweet tea. Both were super good. I remember saying, “This is what sweet tea should taste like.” BAM ordered Bobby Flay’s Kentucky Scramble with cheese grits which I liked even more than my plate. All in all good food, amazing ambience and many, many photo ops.

Lynn's Paradise Cafe.

Tree inside.

Swag.

Hot Brown.

Mayan Café – My buddies liked this place better than I did. I’m not sure what made it more Mayan than say either a fancy Mexican/Colombian place except that their signature dish is lima beans. We ordered the empanadas, seafood bisque, ceviche, and guacamole for starters. For entrees, I had a slow roasted pork dish. Overall, it was one of those places that was good except nothing really stood out. I wouldn’t see myself going back.

Mayan Cafe.

Always awesome to see a hot pink gnome.

Salmon Salbute Appetizer.

Proof (on Main) – I don’t know if you can tell but I’m huge on ambience. Line up any walls with funky art or better yet multicolored animal figures and I’m sold. The place is in the middle of a contemporary art museum after all. We shared the baked goods which was three pieces of scones/muffins. It was a good complement to the coffee. I ordered the eggs benedict which I almost always do if they offer it. The best part about it was the ham they used. Otherwise, it would have been average. Overall, you have to come just to be surrounded in such a hip and cool atmosphere. A must in Louisville.

Awesome.

Eggs Benedict.

Bubba.

2011-07-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

I think I’m going to start believing in guardian angels.

Loading up Bubba before the trip.

Whereas the West Coast Road Trip went off without a hitch, the East Coast Road Trip was anything but. Three times Bubba, our loyal 1990 Ford Econoline van, was pulled over to the side of the road and eventually towed to a repair shop.

All in all, Bubba, was in 5 different repair shops. Before the trip started I brought Bubba to Golf Mill Ford for a checkup as well as figuring out how to switch to my rear fuel tank. Bubba has two fuel tanks, a front and a rear, which you switch back and forth from with the fuel selector switch inside the van. The issue was when I would switch to the rear tank, the fuel gauge wouldn’t recognize it and I didn’t want to start off the trip with just one tank (and a 10 gallon tank at that). We would be stopping every hour just to fill up. Long story short, they fixed the issue, did the comprehensive inspection (or so I thought) and I was out $1100.

The money isn’t so much the issue. It was worth having the peace of mind that I wasn’t putting my friends and myself in any type of danger. You’re more likely to die traveling in a car versus flying in a plane.

The first repair in Pittsburgh, PA at Milberts I don’t count as one of the times that we had the car worked on this. BAM and I noticed early on that the A/C didn’t seem be blowing cold air. We were fine using the vent air coming to Pittsburgh but we figured it would get hotter eventually especially when we packed seven people into the van. I dropped the car off at the shop. A couple hours later, the A/C was recharged and the seals were reinforced. One thing I did take away from taking with the mechanic was that for my model Ford cheaped out on the mechanism they used to tighten their seals so basically every line that carried fluid (brake, transmission, A/C) would eventually leak. The bill: $278 with an oil change.

Bubba filling up on gas in between Pittsburgh and Boston.

The next hiccup came when we finally got to NY city. We had made the 10+ hour trek to Boston and then the additional 4 hour trip to the Big Apple. Bubba was holding up pretty well until Sally, our trusted GPS, got us off the highway to take local. We found ourselves in interesting surroundings. We were smack dab right into the heart of the Bronx. Currency exchanges, dollar stores and convenience stores is always a dead giveaway for the not the nicest of neighborhoods. It didn’t matter though. I put on my NY swagger hat and transformed into an aggressive foul mouthed NY driver.

The defining moment was when we were nearing an intersection. Bubba is a wide and heavy load so braking isn’t his best attribute. The light started to turn red without much notice so I slammed on the brakes. Then Bubba did something completely uncharacteristic at that point. He jerked violently left so much so that if a car was in our left lane we would have come close to hitting it.

I knew something wasn’t right. We kept going and I noticed the brake getting gradually weaker and weaker – it would take more push on the brake pedal to register that I wanted to brake. It was starting to get scary. Out of all the places in the world, NY city probably isn’t the place you want to have your brakes go out on you.

Good old NY traffic.

We were in Manhattan now. Come to think of it I don’t even remember crossing any bridges to get from one borough to the next but that wasn’t my concern. My foot was almost all of the way to the gorund before Bubba would brake. It freaked me out completely. I kept thinking, “Are my brakes going to go out completely? What then? Would I crash into something to make me stop?” We were just one turn away before our destination. I had to make a left and there were already two cars ahead of me wanting to do the same. I was frantic. I just wanted to get there. The light start turning yellow and these guys weren’t going. I made the executive decision to go but when I did I had to contend with the two vehicles in front of me and then an asshole of a driver from the oncoming traffic who thought it would be cool to scare me by coming right at me. I hesitated a second and jammed on the brakes. Bubba started shuttering. Would he die right there? Would we? I pushed on the gas and made the left turn. We went a couple of blocks and pulled over. I was speechless.

It was Friday, July 1^st at approximately 5pm. After getting myself together, I started calling up repair shops to get Bubba checked out. It wasn’t the best of situations. It was already late in the day, most repair shops are not open on Sunday and Monday was the holiday so the only feasible day Bubba could get worked on was that Saturday. If they weren’t able to fix them Saturday then we would have been SOL because we would have waited until Tuesday and most of everyone meeting us up in NY were flying out of Philly. I was finally able to contact a repair shop who was open on Saturdays Luckily, most of the shops in Manhattan also seem to double as towing places so they were able to tow it to their shop. Once Bubba got towed, all I could do was thank God we made it there safely and hope they could get it done.

Poor Bubba being towed in Manhattan.

Well, they did. The auto shop called me the next day telling me that Bubba was finished and I could pick him up. I took a cab over to the shop. When I got there, the manager asked me if I knew I had transmission fluid where I should have had brake fluid. I said no and categorized his statement as something I didn’t need to worry about. He explained they replaced the master cylinder and reservoir and bled out the system. Total damage: $478.

Two things as I was walking out of the shop. As I was following Bubba backing out of the shop, I looked over to the side and saw a mound of furriness. As I got closer it started to move. I took a cautious step away when I realized it was a rooster! I picked up my step and got out of there. I decided not to take a picture for fear of having an eye pecked out.

Then as I was pulling away, this is what I see. Only in NY city.

I've seen some with chariots in Times Square but after seeing the rooster this didn't seem so odd as a pet.

The second fiasco happened right when we got to Washington, DC. I had friends warn me about driving in DC. I should have listened. DC is worse than NY city. DC is setup so all roads converge to the center (a la Rome) but to a tourist, it was downright confusing and stressful. We were making our way to the hotel when Bubba started to act up. I would push on the gas, but Bubba wouldn’t move. Add in the small inclines and Bubba struggled even more. Flashbacks of NY city started to come back. Would I hit something or someone? I broke out in sweats. It seemed to take Bubba a second to register I was hitting the gas. I started to think that my transmission was going. When we eventually got to the hotel, I was as frantic as I was in NY. “Why is it happening again? This is dangerous. Blah, blah, blah.” We parked the van upfront, checked in and scurried off to our dinner reservations. We were not going to think about it anymore that night.

The next morning I started calling around to various auto shops in the vicinity. BAM and I started to drum up doomsday scenarios – if it was an overhaul of the whole transmission should we just leave it and find another way home? What about the folks that were still meeting up?

We were almost in the same predicament in NY. We needed the van turned around in a day to ensure we kept on schedule. I finally got a hold of Bobby from Georgetown Auto Services and told him my situation. He suspected it could be that I was out of transmission fluid so he told me to go down to the van, look underneath it and see if there were any puddles on the ground. Sure enough, there was. This was a good sign that maybe it wasn’t the whole transmission.

I called AAA to get a tow to get it hauled to Bobby’s shop. Once it got there, Bobby called me back ecstatic. “This car is clean! I used to work for Ford for ten years and worked on all of these all of the time. Let me tell you, this van is in great shape.” Good to hear, I guess.

Bubba being towed from the Latham Hotel in Georgetown.

Bobby called me back later in the day and confirmed I ran out of transmission fluid. There were no broken seals. I was just out. The gears started churning in my head. If the guy from NY said I had transmission fluid in the brake system and Bobby is telling me I don’t have any transmission fluid --- wait, wait….. WHOEVER WORKED ON MY CAR AT GOLF MILL FORD SCREWED US UP. It made total sense. They must have filled the brake reservoir up with transmission fluid thinking that’s where it was supposed to go and never topped off where it really should have been. I was irate.

Bobby only charged me $129 for his services. He told me I could replace the whole thing for $650 but said I’d be wasting my money. I appreciated the honesty. He even showed us how and where to add the transmission fluid and gave us two bottles on the house. To add to that, his brother Ricardo noticed one of our tail lights were out so he replaced that for free on top of vacuuming Bubba and transferring our luggage from the car he picked us up in from the hotel. I was so gracious I ordered his crew of four lunch from the local pizza joint. To this day, Bobby and his brother Ricardo has given me the best service I have ever had to date, hands down. Bubba was back in order.

The last bump in the road finally happened on our last leg from Louisville to Chicago. Ironically, Bubba made it all of the way to Louisville from DC (12 hours) completely fine. We were right in Indianapolis when the steering wheel started acting funny. It seemed that Bubba was slightly swerving left and right. I was thinking the alignment may be off due to all of the bumps we incurred on our trip. The swerving got a little worse when I decided to get into the further most right lane. Right when I merged into the right lane – POP, clank, clank, clank clank. I pulled over on the shoulder. Blown rear passenger tire.

Tire Shredded.

It was about 5:30pm on Sunday 7/10. BAM and I shared a queasy smile only because we knew we had gone through worse during the trip. Blown tire? Easy. Or so we thought. It turned out we had a full tire and all we had to do was replace the blown one. That was only if we had the key to the wheel lock to pry off the old wheel. I was beside myself. If there were any shops open on Sunday, they were all closing. The AAA guy came and said he didn’t have a universal key to pry off the lug nut. He kept saying long story short, we will probably have to wait until the shops were open tomorrow. We were not having it. We were three hours away from Chicago and made it this far. We were not giving up.

Pobrecito Bubba in Indianapolis.

I have up to 100 miles I could use with AAA to get towed to any repair shop I want. So BAM said, “Why don’t we just get as far as we can?” That ended up being Merrilville, IN. We would have towed Bubba all of the way to Chicago but after 100 miles it is $4 per mile out of pocket. Instead BAM called up her cousins and had them meet us up with the wheel locks. We finally met up in the Target parking lot and got the wheel changed.

Bubba in the Target parking lot in Merrilville, IN.

There are many lessons in all of this –

1) AAA is the way to go. Get the RV Plus upgrade.

2) If you are fancy enough to have wheel locks, DO NOT FORGET THEM RIGHT BEFORE GOING ON A TWO WEEK ROAD TRIP.

3) In any one of these scenarios, the honest truth is we could have killed someone or been killed. Or we would have caused serious property damage. In each scenario, it happened right when we either got to the city or in the last case were in a situation where I could easily pull off the road. I thought because the West Coast Road Trip ran so well that we had guardian angels watching us. Now with this trip, I really do believe it.

Bubba back home in Logan Square.

Day 2 Miami: Americans vs Europeans, $42 Candle and Stone Crabs

2011-01-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

Day 2 wasn't nearly as eventful as our first day. We had a late start because of our inebriated adventure the night before. I felt sorry for BAM. Throughout the night I would wake up to rustling in the bed, then hear a scurry of footsteps to the washroom and then the unsettling sounds of praying to the porcelain Gods. Now repeat that four times. Therefore, it was no surprise when BAM got up and insisted we go grab breakfast so she could settle her empty stomach.

We walked towards the beach and turned on Ocean Drive. There were plenty of places serving food and we settled at a place that was advertising a $2.99 breakfast, a much needed break from the seemingly higher cost of living. The price alone was a bargain but the portions made it an even better deal.

$2.99 breakfast at Pelican (even though we were charged $4).

As we ate, we started noticing that everyone in Miami is pretty attractive or at least well kept in that 'I'm going to wake up early and run every morning' kind of way. Everyone seems active and well dressed. One thing that I could not figure out is if the fair skinned Spanish speaking people that kept passing by were the Cubans that have been in Miami for awhile or just Spanish tourists. Regardless, BAM and I got into a game of guessing whether people who passed by were European or Americans, which it turns out is a fairly easy game. Linen pants, belt, polo, and sweater around the collar vs sandals, cargo shorts and a t-shirt. Which do you think is which?

After breakfast we strolled on the beach for awhile until we had walked all the way to Lincoln Road Mall which essentially is Miami's version of Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. Here were some sights:

Typical in South Beach.

I wonder if it's the same cafe as the one we visited in Paris.

The infamous Shake Shack in Miami. Too bad we were still full at the time.

BAM was starting to feel the toll of last night so we decided to hop in a cab and head back to the hotel. After taking a small nap we headed back out to grab some food. The plan was to hit up Joe's Stone Crabhouse, which is supposed to be a Miami staple for tourists and residents alike. We wanted to get there when it opened since I read online that it gets packed. The only thing was, we were hungry now! So we headed down Washington to Planet Sushi to get a snack but before we could make it, we stopped in at Dash to see what all the hub bub was about. Long story short, everything was as expected - expensive. T-shirts ran from at least $75 and up (I did enjoy the vintage Lakers t-shirt though - a tribute to Khloe's wife Lamar Odom). On top of shelves were bottled waters w/ Dash insignia as well as a black Chinese takeout sort of box. I grabbed one and opened it up. It turned out to be a candle. Having to buy my cousin Rhea a gift anyway, I thought it would be a nice present so I inquired about the price. Bad move. "It's $42, " said one of the employees. Sorry Rhea, you're getting something else. I snapped a picture and we were on our way.

Dash Miami: Home of the $42 candle.

Planet Sushi was very mod. White tabletops and tufted leather booths. Flat screen TVs lined the walls that had a camera feed of the sushi chefs making maki rolls. We ordered a maki sampler to hold us over.

Maki Sampler.

After eating sushi we started our trek to Joe's. It was about a 25 minute walk from where we were, perfect for building back up our appetite. When we got to Joe's at 6:15pm there was already a long line forming. Fortunately we got there just in time - we were seated in 15 minutes. Now anyone that knows me, knows I don't put too much credence in expensive food. Interestingly enough, I didn't grow up on steak and lobster so I never really developed the taste for it (but now for Spam and rice....). However, I was intrigued by this idea of stone crabs (as opposed to regular crabs?) and the rave reviews this place was getting. The place itself reminded me of a supper club a la Wildfire or Rosebud. Everything was in dark cherry wood and dim lighting.

After reviewing the menu we decided to share a Joe's sampler which had 4 Stone Crabs, creamed spinach, Joe's famous coleslaw, fried potatoes. We also ordered the chopped salad and a bowl of seafood bisque. Long story short and $60 later, I still don't have a taste for any style crab, but I did enjoy the fried potatoes dipped in the seafood bisque.

Joe's Sampler.

After our hoity toity adventure we started to walk back to the heart of South Beach passing up such notables, as Hilton Bentley (where Kourtney and Khloe stayed on their show), Nikki Beach, countless expensive cars, etc. Unfortunately, we didn't pass the gelato shop where the Jersey Shore worked.

Kourtney and Khloe! Are you home?

Must be nice.

Space Invaders Sighting 2.

We finally got back home but before we called it a night we hopped into the jacuzzi on the rooftop deck, simmering in the warm water taking in our last night in Miami.