Wednesday, October 07, 2009
This is the hardest of days, with cluster craps, n what nots.
West Yarmouth, MA to Brunswich, ME - 203 mi. - 3hr. 20min. per google maps. With a stop at boston.
With a slight drizzle, we headed north towards MIT and Harvard at Cambridge, MA. We reached MIT, and that campus is not a campus in the normal college sense. It's more like a google or oracle campus. Buildings were street blocks away from each other. We found the bookstore and bought t-shirts and ate at a place called Legal Sea Foods. It was 1:30pm or so and they're lunch special was salad and all you can eat clam chowder. 2 appetizers that SHOULD have been fast and easy. We were served by this ewan mcgregor looking dood. And that took FOREVER, 1hour 45min forever for salad and clam chowder. 10$ per meal, 8$/hr parking = !&$!#!! for salad and clam chowder? At that time we just whizzed by Harvard, which did look like a college with kids running around. It was busy. and we still had to a ways to go!
Northward and in New Hampshire, there are state ran liquor stores. With caltran style signs stating that fact. I had to see and with that came out with a bottle of Laphroig and Balvenie Scotches. On sale and tax free!
The highways are bizarre here, a mix of speed limits from 40-55mpg, and with trees walled in so no views of anysort.
We reach the Knights inn hotel, at brunswick, Maine and it was so-so. The foilage was a grand mix. We didn't want to go eat out and went to McDonalds to find the elusive Lobster Roll. Another booboo was that MickeyD's stopped selling McLobsters 3 years ago.. =( i never did get a lobster roll on my journeys..
Somehow a 200 mile drive, took all day.
West Yarmouth, MA to Brunswich, ME - 203 mi. - 3hr. 20min. per google maps. With a stop at boston.
With a slight drizzle, we headed north towards MIT and Harvard at Cambridge, MA. We reached MIT, and that campus is not a campus in the normal college sense. It's more like a google or oracle campus. Buildings were street blocks away from each other. We found the bookstore and bought t-shirts and ate at a place called Legal Sea Foods. It was 1:30pm or so and they're lunch special was salad and all you can eat clam chowder. 2 appetizers that SHOULD have been fast and easy. We were served by this ewan mcgregor looking dood. And that took FOREVER, 1hour 45min forever for salad and clam chowder. 10$ per meal, 8$/hr parking = !&$!#!! for salad and clam chowder? At that time we just whizzed by Harvard, which did look like a college with kids running around. It was busy. and we still had to a ways to go!
Northward and in New Hampshire, there are state ran liquor stores. With caltran style signs stating that fact. I had to see and with that came out with a bottle of Laphroig and Balvenie Scotches. On sale and tax free!
The highways are bizarre here, a mix of speed limits from 40-55mpg, and with trees walled in so no views of anysort.
We reach the Knights inn hotel, at brunswick, Maine and it was so-so. The foilage was a grand mix. We didn't want to go eat out and went to McDonalds to find the elusive Lobster Roll. Another booboo was that MickeyD's stopped selling McLobsters 3 years ago.. =( i never did get a lobster roll on my journeys..
Somehow a 200 mile drive, took all day.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
(Written Dec 26, 2009 - Blogging is hard to do lately)
Woke up to the bright light of morning and headed off to see the Mansions of Newport. There is a volley of mansions brought from whats called the gilded age, a time where businesses opportunities were vast and exploitation of labor was great. Newport has a historical society which maintains a dozen or so of these shacks. We've heard many stories of visiting a bunch of them before going to the granddaddy of them all, the Breakers.
We were pondering how many to etc, and went for going just for the one, and that was a wise and good decision.
The breakers is a Vanderbilt summer home. It's the second one at it's location, with the first being wood and burned down by a kitchen fire. The second one was a masterpiece of it's time with the technological advancements of it's time. Stone, with steel frames and marble throughout the 138,000 sq. ft. house. It was equipped with gas lit candles as well as electricity. My favorite was the 50 ft ceilings of it's main entry room, with statues, fountains, gold paint, superlarge stair case and decorations left n right.One room was painted with platinum paint, and there are many hidden passages where servants came n went.
The outside was even more impressive, with a field that you could play regulation football on, it was a place that fluffielady wouldn't mind living. The sad part was that old man Vanderbilt died either after one year of being there or right when construction was completed.
We got out around 11 and wanted to eat at a place called 'chicken on fire' which was to open at 11, but looking in the windows it was all closed up with nobody in sight. So we headed to this bakery which had some sandwiches, and they weren't that good.
Off we went to Falmouth, MA 69mi - 1hr 21min. We arrive and our plans were to take the ferry to martha's vineyard for some dinner and then back to the mainland to sleep. Unfortunately the ferry had it's own idea and schedule that weren't online so those plans were scrapped. We hung out and roamed a bit, it was a fun small town. We ate at the quarterdeck restaurant for dindins, supposedly built from wood off a boat, it looked like one. I had my oyster roll and was merry.
Another good place that we stayed at was the holly tree resort. It looks like a college dormatory, but it's a hotel with basketball / raquetball courts, an indoor as well as an outdoor swimming pool. The rooms are small but have the beds in the wall. The walls were nice but the door is thin, you could hear stuff from the hallways. I did my laundry there. 60 cents a load, 1.25 to dry.
Woke up to the bright light of morning and headed off to see the Mansions of Newport. There is a volley of mansions brought from whats called the gilded age, a time where businesses opportunities were vast and exploitation of labor was great. Newport has a historical society which maintains a dozen or so of these shacks. We've heard many stories of visiting a bunch of them before going to the granddaddy of them all, the Breakers.
We were pondering how many to etc, and went for going just for the one, and that was a wise and good decision.
The breakers is a Vanderbilt summer home. It's the second one at it's location, with the first being wood and burned down by a kitchen fire. The second one was a masterpiece of it's time with the technological advancements of it's time. Stone, with steel frames and marble throughout the 138,000 sq. ft. house. It was equipped with gas lit candles as well as electricity. My favorite was the 50 ft ceilings of it's main entry room, with statues, fountains, gold paint, superlarge stair case and decorations left n right.One room was painted with platinum paint, and there are many hidden passages where servants came n went.
The outside was even more impressive, with a field that you could play regulation football on, it was a place that fluffielady wouldn't mind living. The sad part was that old man Vanderbilt died either after one year of being there or right when construction was completed.
We got out around 11 and wanted to eat at a place called 'chicken on fire' which was to open at 11, but looking in the windows it was all closed up with nobody in sight. So we headed to this bakery which had some sandwiches, and they weren't that good.
Off we went to Falmouth, MA 69mi - 1hr 21min. We arrive and our plans were to take the ferry to martha's vineyard for some dinner and then back to the mainland to sleep. Unfortunately the ferry had it's own idea and schedule that weren't online so those plans were scrapped. We hung out and roamed a bit, it was a fun small town. We ate at the quarterdeck restaurant for dindins, supposedly built from wood off a boat, it looked like one. I had my oyster roll and was merry.
Another good place that we stayed at was the holly tree resort. It looks like a college dormatory, but it's a hotel with basketball / raquetball courts, an indoor as well as an outdoor swimming pool. The rooms are small but have the beds in the wall. The walls were nice but the door is thin, you could hear stuff from the hallways. I did my laundry there. 60 cents a load, 1.25 to dry.
Labels: vacation
Monday, October 05, 2009
(Written on dec 26, 2009 - memories getting slightly hazy)
One of the hardest parts of the journey, i thought was today. From Wantagh, NY in long island we set off to Southampton for lunch and a stroll. Followed by a ferry from Orient Point to New London, CT, with a drive finishing at Newport, Rhode Island. Google says total distance 179 miles - 4hrs 21min.
This seemed on par with what we got. Most of the roads were marked 55-65mph, but some wide open straight line CA highway 5 looking sections were marked 45mph. What is going on with this?
Southampton is a nice little town, i think of it like a burlingame. The neatest part is the hospital has valet! The boutiques and main shopping area was a gentle stroll through color changing trees, still most of them were green though.
After getting 25$ lunch meal of sandwiches, we booked off to orient point. The drive up was like heading towards placerville, ca with pumpkin farms scattered around. There were a lot of antique stores dotted around and places that offered pumpkin fudge.. too bad we didn't know that area was the only place with the goods. Oh well.
Off to orient point and drove into the car-ferry. Hung out with a 13-month old that the little one had a blast with. The one hour twenty minute ferry was a breeze while chasing around these two munchkins.
Back on land the drive to Newport, RI was easy. Rolling hills, mostly green forestry, bridges and craggy hillsides were the scene.
At Newport, we heard about the salvation cafe from the parents of the 13-month old. They told us it was a cheap and good places to go. At 15$ entree joint that is furnished by the salvation army, i didn't want to know what the other places had to offer. I had some beef brisket type thing which was kinda small and fluffielady had a pork chops which were pretty good sized.
The hotel was at an excellent location i highly recommend the Comfort Inn Newport. It's right by the beach, a few minutes drive to the mansions, cheapest of most hotels in the area. Swimming pool on the second floor was nice, but the breakfast wasn't. I think the standards for hotel breakfasts have gone up considerably.
We took a dip in the pool before going Zzzz'ing.
One of the hardest parts of the journey, i thought was today. From Wantagh, NY in long island we set off to Southampton for lunch and a stroll. Followed by a ferry from Orient Point to New London, CT, with a drive finishing at Newport, Rhode Island. Google says total distance 179 miles - 4hrs 21min.
This seemed on par with what we got. Most of the roads were marked 55-65mph, but some wide open straight line CA highway 5 looking sections were marked 45mph. What is going on with this?
Southampton is a nice little town, i think of it like a burlingame. The neatest part is the hospital has valet! The boutiques and main shopping area was a gentle stroll through color changing trees, still most of them were green though.
After getting 25$ lunch meal of sandwiches, we booked off to orient point. The drive up was like heading towards placerville, ca with pumpkin farms scattered around. There were a lot of antique stores dotted around and places that offered pumpkin fudge.. too bad we didn't know that area was the only place with the goods. Oh well.
Off to orient point and drove into the car-ferry. Hung out with a 13-month old that the little one had a blast with. The one hour twenty minute ferry was a breeze while chasing around these two munchkins.
Back on land the drive to Newport, RI was easy. Rolling hills, mostly green forestry, bridges and craggy hillsides were the scene.
At Newport, we heard about the salvation cafe from the parents of the 13-month old. They told us it was a cheap and good places to go. At 15$ entree joint that is furnished by the salvation army, i didn't want to know what the other places had to offer. I had some beef brisket type thing which was kinda small and fluffielady had a pork chops which were pretty good sized.
The hotel was at an excellent location i highly recommend the Comfort Inn Newport. It's right by the beach, a few minutes drive to the mansions, cheapest of most hotels in the area. Swimming pool on the second floor was nice, but the breakfast wasn't. I think the standards for hotel breakfasts have gone up considerably.
We took a dip in the pool before going Zzzz'ing.
Labels: vacation
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Chillin at the De Seversky mansion, Westbury, NY
(Written a little late, Nov 15, 09, man i'm slow on the blog now.)
The games began. It was a pretty cool wedding. All spiffy n well done. It was a little busy with the camera work n what not. The timing was a little off, but lets say that they didn't start without me showing up. It felt like i was in an old Volkswagen commercial, except i was in a bucket PT cruiser. Even the GPS was conspiring to slow me down to my destinations. Unfortunately, Fluffielady missed both the previous as well as today's ceremony.. =( silly mini-toast!
I liked the officiant's speech, it was academic yet pretty smooth. The band played contemporary live music, which was pretty good. Even Capt'n D's parents boogied about a little. The munchkin handled it pretty well, mostly, we were one of the first to leave though.
The mansion is pretty impressive, alot of marble, in the columns, in the floors. We got to roam around a bunch of it's rooms, i liked the reading room with the fake wall passage. Partyparty!
Now whenever i have time to write, we've headed off to roam the northeast.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
(Written on Oct 11, 2009)
Bah, it's raining! We get our rental car a PT cruiser, and stroll around Long Island. Jones Beach to Long Beach to Coney Island. But when we reach Coney Island, it starts to pour.. Lovely, we're about 2 hours early to the evening wedding.. The drivers are pretty intense, some speed, some cut people each other off. Alot of the roads are marked 55, but that doesn't seem to matter. The good thing is that there are alot of strange mergings, but drivers know to slow down, or change lanes when seeing other vehicles merging.
The games begin on the multi-part wedding. Part 1, involved out of town guests and family. It was small but pretty good. Afterwards it got a bit late and we had to take to-go from a bar and grill called Buckley's.. We didn't get back to our hotel till 11;30, then eat our to-go.. yum!
Friday, October 02, 2009
(Written on Oct 11, 2009)
Picked up some diapers and little last minute shopping for the wedding. Hung out at Wantagh n chilled for a bit..
We get our hotel, the executive inn at woodbury, ny.. It's a pretty decent motor lodge / woodsy looking place, with mon-fri breakfast omelets, and 'light dinner' appetizers mostly. Too bad we can only partake in one omelet. But they have continental breakfast with the typical soft and fluffy bagels, muffins, cereal, yogurt, pancake maker etc. it was not bad.
We ate dinner at the Laguna Grille, It's tex-mex, except it doesn't have tacos. No matter, it was pretty good. While feeding the little one a jalapeno bit may have gotten into the chicken bits of my nachos. He had a grand old time with the spicys. At first we were wondering whats going on, but we finally figured out it had to be a spicy..
Thursday, October 01, 2009
(Written on Oct 10, 2009)
Hanging out at Wantagh, NY, It's a mellow little place. Nice and quaint. It was our only available day to visit Manhattan, which is a one hour train ride on the LIRR. Pop out of Penn station and we visited Times square, The childrens playground at Central Park and then met up with the cousin at Brooklyn. We ate at SuperFine and hung out at the pad. The little one liked chasing the kitties around the loft. Time flew and luckily the wedding grrl was picking up a buddy from New Zeland from JFK and had time and space to get the three of us. Woot!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wake up 6am. The adventure begins, we're heading to the east coast.
Dad came by and gave us a ride for the 9am (pacific) flight with a 6pm (eastern) landing. We get to the airport and it was pretty light, with not much trouble going through the checkpoints.
The flight was fast, five and a half hours in the air with the munchkin was decent. He slept during the taxi'ing to takeoff and on the decent of landing. He was quite busy and wanting to play quite a bit. We had the luck of having an empty seat of our 3 seat set. After the plane ride both of us were exhausted. Luckily our ride was there and we were whisked off into long island.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Roaming some more.
After a nice deep sleep in the crib we headed northward to Burbank and met up with an old buddy, Jen from fresno state. Shes working had doing the usual actress lifestyle, work in the day and rehearsal at night. Along with the drama and usual hollywood madness with it. Shes doing good and maybe coming to visit the NorCal soon!
Fluffielady and i venture to one of her old clothing haunts called It's a Wrap! It's a secondhand clothing store which sells clothing, some used, some not, from the Hollywood Lots. I got 4 Banana republic shirts for 2-3$ each! Its marked from CBS, so i'd like to thank those guys for the clothing hookup!
We roamed Ventura Blvd and had enough around 4pm. Joined the wave of cars northward to Bakersfield, weee! Traffic wasn't bad this whole way, the worse i still remember was at 1:30AM on a tuesday night (wednesday morning now), bumper to bumper going about 15mph. No construction, just an orgy of metal and red lights! WTF was that about??
After a nice deep sleep in the crib we headed northward to Burbank and met up with an old buddy, Jen from fresno state. Shes working had doing the usual actress lifestyle, work in the day and rehearsal at night. Along with the drama and usual hollywood madness with it. Shes doing good and maybe coming to visit the NorCal soon!
Fluffielady and i venture to one of her old clothing haunts called It's a Wrap! It's a secondhand clothing store which sells clothing, some used, some not, from the Hollywood Lots. I got 4 Banana republic shirts for 2-3$ each! Its marked from CBS, so i'd like to thank those guys for the clothing hookup!
We roamed Ventura Blvd and had enough around 4pm. Joined the wave of cars northward to Bakersfield, weee! Traffic wasn't bad this whole way, the worse i still remember was at 1:30AM on a tuesday night (wednesday morning now), bumper to bumper going about 15mph. No construction, just an orgy of metal and red lights! WTF was that about??
Labels: vacation
Sunday, July 08, 2007
(Posted 7-10-07)
Fearing that it's going to be blazing hot out at the range, we head out on a shotgunning day. With my new FN SLP ready to roll, it was easy and fun to shoot. The recoil is quite reduced and repeated shots are somewhat fast. I guess i just need to get used to it a little more. At the 5Dogs Range, we shot a bit of 20-gauge and my 12 on clay birds. I did ok, not as good as fluffielady's dad. But then i haven't really shotgunned much.
The FN points pretty good when immediately shouldered. I have some video that i'll post when i get home. i just need to remember the mantra of skeet and clay shooting: "The shotgun is a paintbrush and you sweep away the clay in the air." I also need to mount the thing a bit faster. The SLP does have some weight to it. After shooting a remington 870 in 20-gauge, that thing is light and quick to mount and aim, but the recoil is a touch more then the SLP!
About 90 rounds have gone through the SLP already, and a case of clays gone. We might need more for friday, if we decide to go for it again. Shot some pistol and called it a day around 11:30am, it was hot (85degrees) but not crazy flaming hot.
I like this gun!
Fearing that it's going to be blazing hot out at the range, we head out on a shotgunning day. With my new FN SLP ready to roll, it was easy and fun to shoot. The recoil is quite reduced and repeated shots are somewhat fast. I guess i just need to get used to it a little more. At the 5Dogs Range, we shot a bit of 20-gauge and my 12 on clay birds. I did ok, not as good as fluffielady's dad. But then i haven't really shotgunned much.
The FN points pretty good when immediately shouldered. I have some video that i'll post when i get home. i just need to remember the mantra of skeet and clay shooting: "The shotgun is a paintbrush and you sweep away the clay in the air." I also need to mount the thing a bit faster. The SLP does have some weight to it. After shooting a remington 870 in 20-gauge, that thing is light and quick to mount and aim, but the recoil is a touch more then the SLP!
About 90 rounds have gone through the SLP already, and a case of clays gone. We might need more for friday, if we decide to go for it again. Shot some pistol and called it a day around 11:30am, it was hot (85degrees) but not crazy flaming hot.
I like this gun!
Labels: bakersfield, Gun Stuff, vacation
Saturday, July 07, 2007
(Posted 7/10/07)
Congrats goes to Jerry and Vicky for she has one in the oven. A little lady is expected around the end of september, we hung out at their baby shower. Chilled with some peoples i haven't seen in ages and got to play with a Nokia N95 cellphone and used it's wifi capabilities to 'assist' me in this baby shower quiz: "Who is the gerber baby pictured?" the cellphone works pretty good, for what he paid, the iphone (which i got to play later this week) is a bit better. The iphone is wider but it's also slimmer, about as slim as the 30gb video ipod! Good job apple!
After the usual, eat, play games (we won 2nd on that quiz thing), hung out. We drove on downward to Bakersfield as a launching pad to LaLaLand.. Man i get around!
Congrats goes to Jerry and Vicky for she has one in the oven. A little lady is expected around the end of september, we hung out at their baby shower. Chilled with some peoples i haven't seen in ages and got to play with a Nokia N95 cellphone and used it's wifi capabilities to 'assist' me in this baby shower quiz: "Who is the gerber baby pictured?" the cellphone works pretty good, for what he paid, the iphone (which i got to play later this week) is a bit better. The iphone is wider but it's also slimmer, about as slim as the 30gb video ipod! Good job apple!
After the usual, eat, play games (we won 2nd on that quiz thing), hung out. We drove on downward to Bakersfield as a launching pad to LaLaLand.. Man i get around!
Labels: bakersfield, vacation
Sunday, July 01, 2007
After having our last Portuguese Sausage, Eggs and Rice at McDonalds we flew back home without incident. Today we're just chilling. Man do i miss My Religion, it's been away from my pocket in a week! PoorPoor thing!
I just can't believe that it's july?!
I just can't believe that it's july?!
Labels: vacation
Friday, June 29, 2007
Moon over Diamond head.
Merp, last day chillin here at the beach. After surviving the night with a burnt back we kinda kept away from the sun. We did go out and hid in the shade on an unusually windy and high surf day.
Later the day we headed to Ruth's Chris for Father-in-law's birthday. Last year we were in a cruise ship from Alaska and it was his birthday. Hmm where will he be next year.. The food is pretty good, tad bit on the cash side and a lil too fatty / buttery, which is what the meat is sitting on. At least the sides are quite large, feeding about 1.5-2 people, we shoulda known, with 5 sides. After eating the pricy meal we walked a little to the pier where the picture above was taken and waiting oh, 10 minutes for the Hilton Friday Fireworks Action.
BoomBoom
Oi, sleep, wake up for a 9:30am shuttle, noon flight, and arrive home at 9pm. ugh
Labels: vacation
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Man, it's only rated PG since my blog contains 2 words: Gun (x3) and Hurt. Click on the pic to see what your blog is rated. My brothers is rated G, even though he's got a bit of interesting expletive verbage.
Oh i forgot to put up a dream i had 2 days ago. I dreamt that i was golfing with the gang. My dad was trying to teach me and i was taking practice swings all over, since i've never golfed. The course was some whacky uphill sloped mass of grass. Then i wake up.
Today we didn't do much by lay out on the sands. Snorkled a bit, but there weren't many fishies floating around. It was also low tide and the water was a bit murky. Way out from the beach was about 8" to a foot deep, i wasn't swimming, i was crawling.
We also laid out a *bit* on an extended time, and now we're a bit toasted, glowing red toasted. It burns!!, just a little..
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Today we headed to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial, we just breezed by and hung out there for a little and it was off to the Coliseum where the great swap-meet takes place. The swap-meet is held on saturday, sundays and wednesdays. It forms a ring around the outside of the stadium and theres a whole lotta stuff being sold. At least it's not junk. It's a gangload of stalls selling such wares as: 8 tshirts for 20$, 200$ ukuleles, macadamian nuts, lotions, junk toys, cheesy car stereos / subwoofers, and whole coconuts, pineapples and other goodie fruits. I bought a boonie hat in a funky digital camo, and a pound of macadamian nuts, i shoulda got the garlic flavored ones. Fluffielady got a few of those turtle shaped jewelry.
Hanging on the trail to the Manoa Falls
After walking the stadium ring, went towards the university of Hawaii and into the Manoa Falls. 2 years ago, it was empty, and nobody was around. Now theres 5$ parking and someone watching the lot with free mosquito spray. It was a bit humid and warm but the hike wasn't wet and wild like 2 years ago. Also the trail is now a bit more taken care of. I call it too commercialized. Anyway, the 4 of us made it to the top and the falls was more like a trickle. Just like at home, there wasn't much rainfall as well at Hawaii in the winter and spring.
Manoa Falls, it wasn't as flowing as it was 2 years ago.
After sweating it up, went back to the hotel and returned the rental car early. Now where to go for dindins.
Hanging on the trail to the Manoa Falls
After walking the stadium ring, went towards the university of Hawaii and into the Manoa Falls. 2 years ago, it was empty, and nobody was around. Now theres 5$ parking and someone watching the lot with free mosquito spray. It was a bit humid and warm but the hike wasn't wet and wild like 2 years ago. Also the trail is now a bit more taken care of. I call it too commercialized. Anyway, the 4 of us made it to the top and the falls was more like a trickle. Just like at home, there wasn't much rainfall as well at Hawaii in the winter and spring.
Manoa Falls, it wasn't as flowing as it was 2 years ago.
After sweating it up, went back to the hotel and returned the rental car early. Now where to go for dindins.
Labels: vacation
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Sunset at the North Beach
Today we roamed around the Ala Moana Mall. Ate at Ruby Tuesdays, and bought a bit of clothing. Last time we bought something on sale at Burberry and fluffielady signed up on their mailing list. Well we get their mailings at home of sales of that one store in hawaii. What kinda mailing list is this?
After Ala Moana, we headed to the North shore. Mainly to the town of Hale'iwa, and to some random beach that we called the sesame seed beach. I had to stop at the Matsumoto Grocery Store, which is a shack of a place but they sell Shaved ice with Ice cream in the bottom, it's soo good. Mango and Guava is all i need!
While roaming around the North shore we saw minivan city, as well as cat city, a gang of cats sitting around a dumpster mean mugging us. At the beach we snorkled and saw a gaggle of fishies as well as eels and one mean territorial fish. That fish would swim towards you and go after you. It swam towards me, looked at me as i was looking at it. It was looking aggressive, and i swam one way and it swam another. Fluffielady had a more personal experience with it. The fish though were about 10 feet into the water!
Fishies!!
Labels: vacation
Monday, June 25, 2007
The torches of the polynesian center.
Got the rental car, i find it funny that a Toyota Corolla is now an 'intermediate' size, 1 size below full sized. It's a bit zippy due to the gearing but it's the super base model, not that it matters. But i like how the rental companies get you with the guilt of their additional insurance. They actually showed me the door locks to acknowledge that it has not been tampered with, yet. They told me about avoid the west side of the island, theres a bunch of people living in stolen minivans. Heck while driving to the Polynesian Cultural center we saw one of the tent-city, where it used to be a beach parking lot, but now it's overran by these cars with tents attached to them and bunches of people just living there.
If you ever go to the polynesian center it's all about the Samoan guy demonstration. The center is owned by the mormons of Brigham Young university and gives scholarships from the money raised by the center. Students work at the center and get compensated by room and board and all that jazz. The center has a bunch of different polynesian islands represented there, but the Samoan one is the main one to go. The main dood does it all, gives you a little lecture, afterwards sells a bit of art that he photographs, then he performs at the end of the show tossing a staff with both sides lit on fire. He was there two years ago when we first went, still cracking the same jokes. One joke was that he was talking about the school and how it helps polynesians with scholarships, he points out how he was and still is a student. Student for life!
One weird thing about the center. Last time we took the free bus shuttle over and it took 2 hours, you got alot of info about hawaii and what not and it was ok. But driving it took a little more than an hour because now it's 19$ a person for the shuttle! Doh!
Labels: vacation
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Hung out with Cousin David at the Royal Hawaiian Sheraton's Very tasty and $$ brunch. I've slowed down on my buffet action but i had to go at it here. It was a mish-mash of american food, japanese food, and the requisite seafood. We hung out and they had quite a bit of mai-tai's and other libations. Most excellent.
I have to say though, i like being in hawaii because all of a sudden i'm either: Japanese, Hawaiian, any of the many polynesians but never chinese. Man whats up with this? No i don't want to shoot at the waikiki gun club or to mahalo my way out of an ABC store. Jeez!
Labels: vacation
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Chillin in Hawaii.
Forgot to take a pic of the view from the hotel but i'll be sure to update it. I think Waikiki is now wireless, so thats pretty pimpin from the 12th floor of our hotel. Todays journey was a bit jinxed. It begins with the shuttle being 30min late. At the airport American Airlines doesn't have normal check-in. It's all computer assisted check-in, which is in itself a normal check in without a few questions. If you check in luggage you still need to show the guy behind the counter ID so that he makes sure the luggage tags follow you. Since theres no 'normal' line, everybody is lost looking for where to go. I decide to go into the self check-in and we're standing there and one of the counter clerks tells us to go over to another line. I get to the other line and it's the international check-in, ticket purchase, customer service line. So i'm confused and figure that the lady kicked us out of the newly normal line. So we walk back and she sees us and asks where are we going, we say hawaii and she points to the line where she kicked us out. So i say out loud, you just kicked us out of this line! She got stunned and walked away, and as luck would have it (had the same luck with lines and agents), the lady was the one who checked our ID's and tagged our bags. That went way better than last time.
We get to the plane and they just started boarding, we get in and a lady in front of us was telling us that she saw a sign saying that theres no food service, go buy your own. Gee thanks, we're on the gangway going into the plane. She was wrong and we had to buy a crossiant sandwich for the each of us. The worse part was as luck would have it, 2 boisterous and loud kids ages 18 months and 4 years old. Man were they loud, especially during landing where the ears are popping and that 18 month old was screaming like a banshee during the entire landing sequence.
Get to the around hotel @ 1:30pm and room wasn't ready which wasn't a big deal. Got food and walked a little around the beach, by the time we got back rooms were ready to roll. Hung out for a little and went into the water. I need to take daily pictures of my arm to see the color gradiation with the sun. funfunfun!
So we're gonna be here for a week and the first half we have an event per day. We're renting a car to roam the island and try to find a shrimp truck. Shrimp trucks are like the Taco / Burrito Trucks roaming around the bay area. My goal is to just sit around and maybe snorkel out there and get used to ocean swimming. If i get used to that surfing may be in my horizon but i doubt it. Where the heck am i gonna fit all that gear? Another hobbie? Ugh.
And yep, we've been to the ABC store 3 times already!
Forgot to take a pic of the view from the hotel but i'll be sure to update it. I think Waikiki is now wireless, so thats pretty pimpin from the 12th floor of our hotel. Todays journey was a bit jinxed. It begins with the shuttle being 30min late. At the airport American Airlines doesn't have normal check-in. It's all computer assisted check-in, which is in itself a normal check in without a few questions. If you check in luggage you still need to show the guy behind the counter ID so that he makes sure the luggage tags follow you. Since theres no 'normal' line, everybody is lost looking for where to go. I decide to go into the self check-in and we're standing there and one of the counter clerks tells us to go over to another line. I get to the other line and it's the international check-in, ticket purchase, customer service line. So i'm confused and figure that the lady kicked us out of the newly normal line. So we walk back and she sees us and asks where are we going, we say hawaii and she points to the line where she kicked us out. So i say out loud, you just kicked us out of this line! She got stunned and walked away, and as luck would have it (had the same luck with lines and agents), the lady was the one who checked our ID's and tagged our bags. That went way better than last time.
We get to the plane and they just started boarding, we get in and a lady in front of us was telling us that she saw a sign saying that theres no food service, go buy your own. Gee thanks, we're on the gangway going into the plane. She was wrong and we had to buy a crossiant sandwich for the each of us. The worse part was as luck would have it, 2 boisterous and loud kids ages 18 months and 4 years old. Man were they loud, especially during landing where the ears are popping and that 18 month old was screaming like a banshee during the entire landing sequence.
Get to the around hotel @ 1:30pm and room wasn't ready which wasn't a big deal. Got food and walked a little around the beach, by the time we got back rooms were ready to roll. Hung out for a little and went into the water. I need to take daily pictures of my arm to see the color gradiation with the sun. funfunfun!
So we're gonna be here for a week and the first half we have an event per day. We're renting a car to roam the island and try to find a shrimp truck. Shrimp trucks are like the Taco / Burrito Trucks roaming around the bay area. My goal is to just sit around and maybe snorkel out there and get used to ocean swimming. If i get used to that surfing may be in my horizon but i doubt it. Where the heck am i gonna fit all that gear? Another hobbie? Ugh.
And yep, we've been to the ABC store 3 times already!
Labels: vacation
