A few weeks ago, I headed to the Kitsap Peninsula for a weekend getaway to recharge and see some beautiful places. I created a Sway with pictures and descriptions.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
I haven’t been the best blogger lately, but it’s a new year, and maybe I’ll actually post more! Jenni, Sandy, and I went to Disneyland over MLK Jr. weekend to run the inaugural Tinker Bell 10k. Sandy wanted her first event to be a Disney one, and we were all ready to sign up for the half marathon when we saw that they added a 10k option. Still a great shirt and medal, a cheaper event, a shorter distance to run, and a higher percentage of the run inside the parks. It made perfect sense!
Paradise Pier at night
After our arrival in Los Angeles and a quick stop at In-n-Out, we headed for packet pickup. The whole process was pretty easy and we had our shirts and bibs in no time. We checked out the merch section, but it was crowded and most of the items were for the half marathon, so none of us got anything. Maybe I’ve been spoiled with the other runs I’ve done, but I’m used to getting a lot more free stuff in my bag and at the expo, but that wasn’t the case with this event.
Left: People waiting in the corral for the run to start
Right: Characters in the park for pictures
After packet pickup, we spent an eventful day in the California Adventure park, ending the evening with World of Color. Since we were there too late to get Fastpasses, we did the lunch dining package at the Wine Country Trattoria to get preferred section passes for the show. The food wasn’t spectacular (it was edible), but it was definitely worth it. We managed to get the rides in that we wanted: Soarin’ Over California, Radiator Springs Racers, Toy Story Midway Mania, and California Screamin’ (twice). Also caught the Aladdin show, which had great singers and was a lot of fun. We did the Ariel ride when we were nearby, and we ended up stopped for awhile (probably because someone needed extra time to load or unload) at Ursula, who kept singing “Pour Unfortunate Souls.” From that point on, anytime we got stopped at a ride, we’d start singing that as well. The lines for World of Color formed way before they were supposed to, but we still managed to squeeze in some space in the very front. I also discovered that you’re allowed to buy alcohol and drink it anywhere in the park. The World of Color show was really amazing, but it did stop in the middle with technical difficulties (poor unfortunate souls…). I loved the lighting effects, the fountains, all the Disney characters, etc. We didn’t get wet, but I can see how people would if there was even the slightest bit of rain.
Right: Photo ops at the castle
Left: Running past the Tower of Terror
The next day, we were up bright and early to make the 6am start time. We started in Corral B, crossing the start line almost 10 minutes after the clock started. It was a lot of fun running through the parks because there was so much to see! We got to run through areas that were typically behind-the-scenes, and crew members were standing outside the buildings and cheering us on. There were some character photo ops (which we didn’t stop for because we wanted to make sure we’d finish before they started sweeping) and they had a few of the rides turned on. And of course all the costumes that people were wearing were fun to see as well. I think next time, we’ll try to coordinate some costumes as well.
Left: Running as the sun rises
Right: Inaugural medal and shirt
The last part of the run was outside of the park. We even passed by our hotel, and it was tempting to run back to bed! But we made it to the finish line with one final sprint and got our fancy inaugural medals! The medals are pretty and solid, and I noted that if Disney sold them in stores, they’d probably cost almost $50, so maybe that helps justify the steep race cost. We wore them proudly around the park for the first part of the day, and a few people asked us about them. The half marathon medal is really cute as well, but I’m glad we did the 10k this year because both the shirt and medal say “inaugural” on them. We also got a bottle of water (worth $3 inside the park… hah!) and a small box of snack food (which we took into the park later). Again, I’m used to there being more freebies at the finish line, but oh well… There wasn’t anything else to do, so we headed back to the hotel to shower.
Left: Monte Cristo sandwich from Café Orleans
Right: Desserts from Wine Country Trattoria
We made it to Disneyland not long after the park opened and quickly got in two rides at Space Mountain, Star Tours, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Indiana Jones. We stuffed ourselves with fried chicken and mashed potatoes at Plaza Inn, grabbed Fastpasses for Indiana Jones for the evening, then went back to the hotel for NAP TIME. After two days in a row of waking up around 5am, all of us were exhausted. When we returned in the afternoon, the park was noticeably more crowded, but we still got quite a lot in: Haunted Mansion, two rides at Matterhorn (one on each side), Buzz Lightyear, and Winnie the Pooh (which seemed more like Pooh on acid). The line finally got short enough for It’s a Small World for us to ride it, but near the end, the ride stopped for quite a long time. Unfortunately, this version of the Small World ride is a Small World + Christmas ride, so we had to listen to Deck the Halls and It’s a Small World over and over and over until we were about to go crazy (poor unfortunate souls). Dinner was at Café Orleans, which was very tasty. I got a bowl of gumbo and a salad for a very reasonable price – something that doesn’t usually happen at Disney! We stumbled upon the fireworks (and a very nice viewing spot for the fireworks) by accident, so we got to watch most of the show, which featured Tinkerbell and many of the rides in the park. For our last ride, we stood in the long line for Peter Pan (still 30 minutes at 11pm!) and enjoyed our short flight through Neverland.
Me in front of the castle!
We didn’t do a Disney day on Sunday and slept in instead. Had a brief panic moment when the car wouldn’t start, but we got some jumper cables from the hotel and the guy parked next to us gave us a jump start, so we were good to go. We did continue the Disney theme by seeing Frozen, which we loved. Sandy promptly got the “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” song stuck in her head, but she only knew the first line, so she sang that over and over again. I think it’s been awhile since a Disney song has been so catchy!
Great weekend, and maybe we’ll repeat this (with a longer distance) next year!
Distance: 8 miles
Elevation gain: 2265 feet
Here’s the beginning of my catch-up trip reports for the summer, beginning with three hikes from the Canadian Rockies. I was pretty bad about completing my trip reports for my two trips last year (did I really not post any? Looks like I’m further behind than I thought!). For now, I’m starting with the last hike of the trip because it was also the last hike I did (and did not write about) on my previous trip.
A lot of the hikes I do sell themselves pretty well through pictures. Iceline is not one of them. Last year when I was doing my hike research, I noticed that many people raved about Iceline. But when I looked at photos, I saw this barren wasteland with big chunks of ice and thought, "Seriously?!" On my Cirque Peak hike, I talked to a couple who had been going hiking in the area for many years, and they said Iceline was their favorite. So on my last day in town, I decided to see what all the fuss was about. It didn’t end up being my favorite, but I did like it a lot, especially for its uniqueness. On this trip, having already done a summit hike and a lake hike, Mike and I settled on Iceline for the last day.
left: Takkakaw Falls, right: moraine and interesting imprints in the rock
There are different trailheads that can be used to access this hike. We chose probably the most popular one, at the Whiskyjack Hostel. Many people park along the road, but we parked in the nearby Takkakaw Falls lot for a closer look at the massive falls before walking to the real trailhead. The falls are a popular drive-up destination.
left: paintbrush, right: trail sign with many options
People who love the Rockies tend to be mountain and glacier people, not forest people. A lot of trails in Washington will sit in the forest, maybe next to a babbling creek, for about two miles before starting the serious climbing. In Banff and Yoho, the beginning of the hike is switchback after switchback until you’re over the treeline. Fortunately, on this hike, there are views of Takkakaw Falls and surrounding mountains to look at as you go upwards (and Daly Glacier, which feeds the falls, quickly comes into view).
Emerald Glacier, waterfalls, tarn
Finally, the elevation gain calms down when you hit a moraine. (A moraine is an area of debris left behind by a glacier – in this case, the entire trail is moraine) Here, the Presidential Range is right next to the trail, the glaciers are practically at trail level, and the name Iceline makes sense. It’s impossible to convey the scale and presence of these things from pictures. From a distance or from pictures, all of the debris looks pretty boring. But there’s a lot to see up close. There’s actually quite a variety of rocks, and some of it had interesting imprints. (The Burgess Shale, one of the greatest fossil fields in the world, is located in Yoho National Park.) And even though the moraine looks all rocky and barren, some flowers still manage to grow up there.
One reason the Iceline isn’t a typical trail is that there is no destination. Not only is there no single standout sight, there isn’t even an obvious end. You can just keep on walking. The trail forks early on to head over to Yoho Pass and Emerald Lake, then forks later on to go to Lake Celeste and Laughing Falls. There are options to continue on into Little Yoho Valley and the Whaleback, and there’s even a backcountry hut out there for people to stay overnight. But most dayhikers do what we did – walk until it’s time to turn around. It seems like each section of the trail is separated by a small ridge, and when you climb over it, there’s a new surprise to see: waterfalls, a tarn, a view of a new mountain, etc.
Ground squirrel, waterfalls, panoramic views
I was surprised by how many people were hiking the trail this time (there weren’t nearly as many last year in early September). However, since there’s so much open space, it didn’t feel crowded. Hopefully this is a convincing description of the hike that makes it sound more interesting than barren wasteland! More to follow.
I meant to start on my series of posts about China immediately after I returned, but it seems like I’m not getting around to it until now. So many photos to sort through!
Back in the 1800s, a number of foreign countries had concessions in China, areas of cities where the foreigners lived and ruled. In Shanghai, one of these was the French Concession, an area that today retails much of its foreign influence and is a lively place for both expats and Chinese people to enjoy. I spent a morning doing a self-guided walking tour around the area and then returned at night a few days later to eat dinner.
(left: Shanghai, China; right: Provence, France)
As you can see in the pictures above, the tree-lined streets of the French Concession make it so the neighborhood could easily be mistaken for something in France. In the early morning (thanks, jetlag!), the shops were all closed, but this area would be full of people in the afternoons and evenings.
(Fuxing Park)
One of the first places I stopped by on the walking tour, and the place I spent the most time in, was Fuxing Park. It was created by the French over 100 years ago, and now it’s probably the city’s best public park. Walking in, all the lush greenery enfolded me in a peaceful feeling… and then I nearly got hit with a birdie. There were dozens and dozens of people playing badminton in the shadow of a rather serious-looking statue of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel. Ah, yes… I had stumbled into one of my favorite things to see in Asia: old people exercising in public. In some instances, it’s funny, but the real reason I like it is because it’s a cultural thing that I find very beautiful. It makes me happy to see retired people living full lives. On this Saturday morning, people were singing, dancing, shaking maracas, and more. The park itself was also very beautiful, with landscaped gardens and statues all over. I combined some of my pictures and videos into the video below:
There are many beautiful buildings left behind from the concession days. Two examples are pictured below. The first is part of the Ruijin Hotel, formerly the Morriss Estate. I brazenly walked through the gates and around the property to look at the buildings, and I noticed that an employee started walking behind me and followed me nearly to the exit. Many old mansions have found new incarnations as hotels, banks, and shops. But some of them, like the former St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, haven’t fared as well. Apparently this beautiful building was used as a warehouse for washing machines at one point after it stopped being a church!
(left: Ruijin Hotel, right: former St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church)
Things in China these days change rapidly. Some of the French Concession remains residential, with normal people going around doing normal things like buying vegetables from a sidewalk stand. But things are rapidly going upscale. It’s hard to miss the Sinan Mansions project, a redevelopment of dozens of old mansions into upscale residences, shops, restaurants, and a super expensive hotel where you can have your own personal butler if you’re willing to pay over 5,000 USD a night for a villa. Some of the project, like the hotel, is already done, but other parts (as pictured below) are still in progress. While it’s nice to see new life come into these dilapidated structures, it’s unfortunate that their replacements are things that normal people will be unable to enjoy.
(left: vegetable stand, right: Sinan Mansions project)
One very popular area of the French Concession is called Xintiandi, which translates to “New Heaven and Earth.” It is perhaps the redevelopment that spurred the other projects. The old shikumen houses have been converted into expensive shops and restaurants. This area was full of people at night, especially foreigners. Sadly, one of the most photographed angles of Xintiandi prominently features a Starbucks.
(left: Xintiandi, photo credit: Time Out Shanghai,
right: wealth is not subtle in China)
There are many restaurants and bars that are popular with the expat crowd in this area, but I didn’t try any of them. Instead, I went for the Shanghainese favorite, Xinjishi, which I’ll probably mention if/when I get around to making a food post. On the way back to my hostel, I sighed at the giant, garishly-lit Gap store and the line of drunk foreigners waiting for cabs (pictured below).
(left: this is China, right: line of people waiting for cabs)
One neighborhood, many faces. It’s not what I expected when I thought of Shanghai before I visited. It’s interesting to see a neighborhood that has had various cultural influences over time and how it has evolved. Hopefully not all of the past will be lost as things move forward. I’ll have to come back in ten years and see!
top-left: Shanghai’s Pudong skyline, top-right: Tongli
bottom-left: shengjianbao, bottom-right: lantern festival in Old Shanghai
Yeah, I disappeared from the reading and blogging world for a little while because I was running around China for one last time before my visa expired. February is definitely not the best time to go, but I really wanted that last trip, so I did it. Other than a few rainy days and lack of flowers in Hangzhou that made me kind of grumpy, I have to admit that the timing was quite good. Chinese New Year had passed and most of the holiday travelers were done with their travels so crowds were light. I arrived after the Lantern Festival, which occurs fifteen days after the new year, but I still got to enjoy some of the lingering decorations.
left: Nanjing Road, right: cats on Huashan
The last time I went to China, I only visited Beijing (and the Great Wall) and stayed for a little less than a week before heading off to Taiwan. This time I did more, basing most of my trip in Shanghai with a few days in Xi’an, a few days in Hangzhou, and day trips to Tongli and Nanjing. I felt like I got more variety on this trip. The archeological wonder of the Terracotta Warriors, the lively Muslim Quarter in Xi’an, two ancient city walls, the dramatic “martial arts movie” landscape of Huashan, tranquil gardens and temples of Hangzhou, and a wild mix of old and modern, European and Chinese influences in Shanghai.
top-left: Black Dragon Ridge on Huashan, top-right: Terracotta Warriors
bottom-left: Xi’an city wall, bottom-right: Seal Engravers Society in Hangzhou
My intention is to write more detailed blog posts about specific things and places from my trip later, so I’ll leave the summary at that. Just like with India, even weeks of traveling and seeing so many things, I still feel like there’s a ton more to go see. I never made it to Chengdu, Guilin, or Tibet. Maybe next time! I will definitely return (as long as they let me =P).
Well, we had to do stuff in between meals. Neither one of us was really up for a big touristy weekend, so we mainly did a lot of walking in different places. More walking = more space for food, right?
[Santa Monica Pier]
Our first little walk was through downtown Santa Monica down to the Santa Monica Pier. We walked through the shopping area (I made a Sephora stop because my skin needed more lotion than I had anticipated… stupid 3oz liquid/gels rule) and stumbled upon the Farmers’ Market. On the beach next to the pier, it looked like some sort of ultimate frisbee tournament was going on. There were all these straight lines of backpacks forming field boundaries on the sand. Cirque du Soleil was had its tent up, but the show wasn’t opening for another few days. The pier itself was full of tourists, but it’s still fun to see something like that full of life and energy (in contrast to Seattle Center’s now defunct Fun Forest).
[Venice Beach]
Okay, maybe it’s just me, but when I used to think of Venice Beach, I imagined a crowded beach full of sophisticated California movie star wannabes. Something like Waikiki in Hawaii. Laugh all you want. Yeah, it’s so not like that. The boardwalk is more like the most touristy street in a Mexican resort town, except with a lot more drugs. You’ve got all the T-shirt shops selling things that I can’t imagine anyone actually wearing in public. Then all the weird (and occasionally good) art. And finally, all the marijuana doctors, offering you a medical marijuana card for something like $40. Excellent. We did see a rather funny incident. Probably peeved by all of the “doctors” making offers to him as he walked with his two young children, a man finally stopped and talked to one of them. He asked if he could get cards for his two kids because “he has back problems and she’s psychotic.” Haha. Well, Venice Beach is a nice place to watch the sunset or do a beach walk, but I’m not sure I’d want to hang out there on a regular basis.
[Getty Center]
The last time my family was in Los Angeles, we visited the Getty Villa, but not the Getty Center. So it sounded like a good thing to do on this trip. One nice thing about both of these attractions is that they are free, and you only have to pay for parking (or take public transportation). Perched on a hill, there are great views from the gardens of surrounding areas, and the gardens are well crafted and peaceful to walk through. There were a number of buildings housing galleries of paintings, photographs, decorative arts, etc., organized by time period. There was also an interesting temporary exhibit called Pacific Standard Time, featuring art from Los Angeles in the period following World War II.
[I put together a video of textural pictures I took, mostly in the cactus garden]
Our final attraction was the Huntington Library, which we visited mainly for the purpose of seeing the botanical gardens. It’s a real pity we didn’t know about this place when my family was here because my mom would have loved it. Even though it was wintertime and many things were not blooming, there was still a lot to see. Mike’s favorite (and I can see why) is the Cactus Garden, which is full of succulents from around the world. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a huge space, and there’s such incredible variation in the plant life that it’s difficult not to be amazed. The Japanese Garden was under construction, but we visited the Chinese Garden, the Conservatory, and observed a few blooming roses in the Rose Garden. There are also a few art galleries in the main buildings, but we wanted to spend our limited time in the gardens. In a few hours, we probably still left with more than half of the grounds unseen.
[Huntington Library Botanical Gardens]
While I’d still say that I’m not very well suited to living in Los Angeles, I can definitely understand the appeal to those who choose it as their home. Beaches to enjoy all year round, beautiful gardens, and plenty of good food and culture. We didn’t see any movie stars (Mike spotted plenty when he lived there), but they were probably all preparing for the Golden Globes.
Right before Snowcopalypse 2012 hit, Mike and I spent an extended weekend in Los Angeles. He lived there for a few years way back when, so he’d get all nostalgic as we drove and walked around (to the point where we were in a parking lot and he was like, “Oh, I remember these stairs…”). Both of us really like food, so it’s unsurprising that some of the things he’s most eager to revisit are restaurants. There were only so many restaurants we could hit without our stomachs exploding so there was no way to visit all of his favorites. We did a nice mix of both old and new.
[mole tamale from Monte Alban]
Mike pretty much vetoed in In-n-Out suggestion (fine, I will go to the Bay Area soon and get it then), but I did insist that I wanted a tamale. And good mole sauce. So he found a little Oaxacan place called Monte Alban that reputedly had a delicious tamale with mole sauce. It did not disappoint. I don’t necessarily prefer the flatter, banana leaf-wrapped Oaxacan style tamale to the more common corn husk-wrapped one (they’re just different shapes to me), but the tamale itself tasted great, and the mole was rich, sweet, and flavorful. There’s a similar one that I’ve had at La Carta de Oaxaca in Seattle, but it’s twice as expensive (and possibly not as good). I also tried a yellow mole empanada with cactus, but the flavor of the sauce was a little weird for me. I wish we had more places like this in the Pacific Northwest because there was a lot that looked good on that menu that I’d want to try.
Along the same lines, we had a huge lunch at Versailles, Mike’s favorite Cuban restaurant in the area. The name bothered his dad a lot because he couldn’t figure out what connection the name “Versailles” had with Cuba. This small chain of restaurants is known for its delicious garlic mojo sauce, so we split the lechon asado (roasted pork in mojo sauce) and the signature dish, the “Famoso Pollo Versailles” (roasted half chicken in mojo sauce). They came with rice, black beans, and my favorite thing at a Cuban restaurant, fried plantains.
[California roll “sushi” burger from 26 Beach, photo from Yelp]
We ate at 26 Beach twice in one day based on Mike’s friend’s recommendation. It was breakfast and dinner, though, so the food was completely different. He eventually realized that this restaurant was one he remembered from when he lived there, but he had forgotten the name and it had changed locations. The breakfast menu had a long list of delicious looking French toasts, but alas, I’m not one for sweets in the morning, so no Tiramisu or S’mores (?!) French toast for me. They had a lot of other interesting things, like scrambled eggs over pasta and rice. That seemed odd so we instead requested the Chorizo scramble with potatoes instead of rice, and it was tasty.
For dinner, there were a bunch of “normal options,” but what the restaurant is most known for are their burgers, which are gigantic. They’ve been voted the best burger in LA before, so they’re doing something right. You can get things like a PB&J burger, a Bombay burger (with coconut curry and mango chutney), or their famous “sushi” burgers. There was a California roll burger and spicy tuna burger, but the wasabi aioli sounded a little weird to me so I opted instead for the Mori Eel burger, which was challenging to eat gracefully but also quite delicious.
[“The Original” at Killer Shrimp]
I’ve heard Mike rave a lot about a hole-in-the-wall with a line around the building called Killer Shrimp. It had closed down a few years back, but he realized when planning for this trip that a new location had opened up, so it was something we had to go do. He ended up preferring the atmosphere of the old location to the sleek, modern look of the new one, but it’s nice to be able to eat inside. They’ve also added things to the menu, but the thing they are known for is a bowl full of spicy, herby broth with 13 huge prawns, served with French bread, pasta, or rice. The bread is the way to go, it’s perfect for sopping up the yummy broth. I’m not a huge fan of eating messy things with my hands, but for this meal, I’d make the exception.
[Kale salad at Gjelina]
SoCal seems like it should be all about healthy stuff, and up to this point, I had gorged myself on huge plates of meat, spicy shrimp, and a giant burger. Enter Gjelina, a restaurant I’d heard praised a lot on Chowhound. Dinner reservations were supposedly difficult to come by, so we chose to go on a weekday lunch instead and had no problem getting in. A few days back, we walked through the Santa Monica Farmers' Market and saw a booth giving out free food samples. It was a kale salad, and I generally hate kale, so I let Mike eat it first. When he said it was good, I tried, and much to my surprise, it was. The secret, the guy said, is to let the salad sit for about 10 minutes after adding the lemon juice because it softens it. The recipe is available on True Food Kitchen’s website. With this in mind, we ordered the kale salad at Gjelina, and it was pretty tasty. Mike ate a lamb burger, and I had pappardelle with wild mushroom ragout. There were a lot of other yummy-looking things on the menu, like a mushroom, goat cheese, and truffle oil pizza. Be aware, however, that “changes and modifications are politely declined.”
Our last meal was at Sushi House, a hole-in-the-wall sushi place that Mike used to love because they had a reggae theme. Sadly, ownership might have changed, and now it’s just a regular sushi restaurant that has a few Bob Marley posters (all that remains of the theme). The food was good, but the charm was gone.
It was a lot of fun eating our way through a small part of Los Angeles, and hopefully we return to do it again soon!
