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Squirrels are to USA as Cats are to the Philippines. They are EVERYWHERE. That is all.
Look back through old posts... we've added pictures!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Meow Meow Meow, Meow Meow Meow Meow
Squirrels are to USA as Cats are to the Philippines. They are EVERYWHERE. That is all.
Look back through old posts... we've added pictures!
Today's Blog Title Changed Four Times
1: The Most Adventurous Day I've Had
2: I Had a Coconut on Top of a Volcano
3: What the Guide Doesn't Tell You
4: The Universe is Balanced
Too much happened today to sum it all up easily. I really had to exercise my courage... no matter how much I thought I stretched myself on Semester at Sea, I think today topped that even more. Needless to say we made it to Lake Taal and the volcano that makes it famous, but getting here was almost more interesting.
1: The Most Adventurous Day I've Had
After securing supplies (water and some snacks) and having a good breakfast, Jim and I set off to follow directions to a small town that were given to us over the phone by the Talisay Green Lake Resort. On our second attempt we found a cab that could take us to the bus station, which entailed careening through little alleyways dodging pedestrians. Upon reaching the bus station, two men who were “being helpful” grabbed our backpacks out of the trunk for us, asked us where we were going, and without a moment's more discussion took off with them and put them up on a bus that we could only guess was headed to Tanauan. (Tan-ow-ahn)
I'm not going to lie, I was really nervous about them just taking our backpacks like that (luckily that's only clothing... all our valuables are in our day bags for that reason). We got even more nervous when it looked like the bus driver wasn't going to let us on, and since we weren't 100% sure that this bus was the one we wanted. Then we got annoyed when, of course, the men wanted a tip for carrying our bags for us (when I would have been much happier keeping them in my possession, thank you very much). But, that's culture for you eh?
Thankfully, the bus attendant was friendly and helpful and assured us that we were going to the right place, and that it would only be 98 pisos (approx. $2.25 US). That's super cheap. We headed on the “highway” south toward Tanauan, getting caught in what I must assume is one of the monsoons we were supposed to hit (it's monsoon season). The leaky windows allowed a few raindrops to come inside. Apparently, it's normal to stop halfway to fuel the bus. 52 pisos to the liter... 42 pisos to the dollar... there's a fun math problem for you! Which is cheaper, gas in the Philippines or gas in Colorado? Don't forget to convert liters to gallons!
When the bus finally stopped in Tanauan (which didn't look much different from any other place along the way... shanties and run-down shops surrounded by enormous amounts of tropical vegetation) we hopped off. We then found a “tricycle”... a motorbike with a side car attached... to take us for the “one hour” trip to the market in the small town of Talisay. It actually ended up being 40 minutes or so. Picture this: Sarah and Jim squished into a seat that's barely big enough for one of them with a giant backpack on their laps and the other riding on the back seat of the motorbike. We were definitely quite the spectacle for the locals! It's a good thing we brought backpacks and not suitcases.
We then transferred tricycles at the market to take us directly to the Green Lake Resort.
Now when I say resort... that's a loose interpretation of the word. I'm not complaining of course, but it's not what you're thinking. Small room, stiff bed, in-window air conditioner, nobody around. Mom, this is probably non-touristy enough for you, anyway.
I think that has to be the craziest transportation I've ever taken. I'm sure it could get even crazier... but I'll stick with this for now.
2: I Had a Coconut on Top of a Volcano
After putting our bags down at the 'resort', we hired a boat out to the island in the middle of the lake (which is the volcano). The boat ride itself was actually spectacular... the views were incredible and the lake was as smooth as glass.
The part they don't tell you is that the "guide" is extra, and they're going to chase you with horses the entire time because they don't think you can hike the thing. They didn't understand the part where I said I was allergic to horses and that we're from the mountains where hiking is a normal activity. Halfway up the volcano the horse guys finally gave up, but our guide was booking it up to the top. Jim and I took this as a personal challenge and kept up as best we could. We didn't see anyone else actually on foot... I think we amazed some people. I will admit it was the steamiest, hottest, sweatiest hike I've EVER taken.
But, when we got to the top, we had some fresh buko (coconut) juice straight out of the shell and it was delicious. The views were spectacular. It was incredibly beautiful! You could actually see steam coming out of the vents and feel the heat coming from the earth. Gorgeous.
3: What the Guide Doesn't Tell You
What the guide doesn't warn you about is all the hidden costs. An extra 500 pisos for the guide. 100 pisos for face masks (which, of course, you don't actually need). 50 pisos to buy a drink for your guide and 100 pisos for drinks for yourselves. 20 pisos to tip the person who helps you out of the boat and a tip for the boat driver. Tips, tips, tips. Oy vey.
It's not even the amount of money... 20 pisos is only about 50 cents. It's that the ATMS only dispense 1000 and 500 piso notes (sometimes you might get some 100 notes if you're lucky), and NOBODY seems to have change. By the time we got back from the volcano, we had zero change left. Just a bunch of large bills that nobody could break. There was no way to pay a tricycle driver to get us back to town to get some dinner. The "restaurant" at the "resort" could not give change either. We were getting pretty worried about being able to get back.
Back at our room, we met the only other guests at the resort... two Belgian fellows who were having similar change problems. They were friendly, but could offer no advice.
4: The Universe is Balanced
Just as we were about to lose hope and had resigned to eating up all the snacks we had packed for dinner, breakfast and lunch the following day... we ran into the resort manager. She didn't have change of course, but she did suggest having a tricycle take us to the gas station to see if they had change.
Sure enough, telling the tricycle driver what we needed and assuring him he'd get paid when and only when we got change did the trick. There was a native restaurant right across the street from the gas station, so we went over to get some dinner.
The place was EMPTY aside from three young waitresses. If I've ever felt like a rock star it was here. Lee Ann spoke really good English, come to find out she is 16 and dreams of going to New York (she has family there). They attended to us so much that it was almost a little uncomfortable! It was nice that Lee Ann chit-chatted with us while we waited for food, but then I just had to laugh as they literally just stared at us while we ate. Lee Ann said they liked to see that we were enjoying our food. That seems to be common here... the waiters and waitresses stand nearby while you look over the menu, eat, and pay the bill. They don't leave your side very much.
We had a whole grilled native fish that starts with M, I forget the name... Makalputi? along with some delicious vegetable fried rice. It was very delicious.
Lee Ann and her cousins as we came to find out really enjoyed having us there. They wrote us a cute note thanking us for coming on a napkin (addressed to maam and sir, as everyone calls us here) and wanted hugs on the way out. They were the epitome of giggle teenage girls... they were cute.
The universe was right again, and Talisay wasn't such a bad place after all... and after all, it was a gorgeous sunset.
2: I Had a Coconut on Top of a Volcano
3: What the Guide Doesn't Tell You
4: The Universe is Balanced
Too much happened today to sum it all up easily. I really had to exercise my courage... no matter how much I thought I stretched myself on Semester at Sea, I think today topped that even more. Needless to say we made it to Lake Taal and the volcano that makes it famous, but getting here was almost more interesting.
1: The Most Adventurous Day I've Had
After securing supplies (water and some snacks) and having a good breakfast, Jim and I set off to follow directions to a small town that were given to us over the phone by the Talisay Green Lake Resort. On our second attempt we found a cab that could take us to the bus station, which entailed careening through little alleyways dodging pedestrians. Upon reaching the bus station, two men who were “being helpful” grabbed our backpacks out of the trunk for us, asked us where we were going, and without a moment's more discussion took off with them and put them up on a bus that we could only guess was headed to Tanauan. (Tan-ow-ahn)
I'm not going to lie, I was really nervous about them just taking our backpacks like that (luckily that's only clothing... all our valuables are in our day bags for that reason). We got even more nervous when it looked like the bus driver wasn't going to let us on, and since we weren't 100% sure that this bus was the one we wanted. Then we got annoyed when, of course, the men wanted a tip for carrying our bags for us (when I would have been much happier keeping them in my possession, thank you very much). But, that's culture for you eh?
Thankfully, the bus attendant was friendly and helpful and assured us that we were going to the right place, and that it would only be 98 pisos (approx. $2.25 US). That's super cheap. We headed on the “highway” south toward Tanauan, getting caught in what I must assume is one of the monsoons we were supposed to hit (it's monsoon season). The leaky windows allowed a few raindrops to come inside. Apparently, it's normal to stop halfway to fuel the bus. 52 pisos to the liter... 42 pisos to the dollar... there's a fun math problem for you! Which is cheaper, gas in the Philippines or gas in Colorado? Don't forget to convert liters to gallons!
When the bus finally stopped in Tanauan (which didn't look much different from any other place along the way... shanties and run-down shops surrounded by enormous amounts of tropical vegetation) we hopped off. We then found a “tricycle”... a motorbike with a side car attached... to take us for the “one hour” trip to the market in the small town of Talisay. It actually ended up being 40 minutes or so. Picture this: Sarah and Jim squished into a seat that's barely big enough for one of them with a giant backpack on their laps and the other riding on the back seat of the motorbike. We were definitely quite the spectacle for the locals! It's a good thing we brought backpacks and not suitcases.
We then transferred tricycles at the market to take us directly to the Green Lake Resort.
Now when I say resort... that's a loose interpretation of the word. I'm not complaining of course, but it's not what you're thinking. Small room, stiff bed, in-window air conditioner, nobody around. Mom, this is probably non-touristy enough for you, anyway.
I think that has to be the craziest transportation I've ever taken. I'm sure it could get even crazier... but I'll stick with this for now.
2: I Had a Coconut on Top of a Volcano
After putting our bags down at the 'resort', we hired a boat out to the island in the middle of the lake (which is the volcano). The boat ride itself was actually spectacular... the views were incredible and the lake was as smooth as glass. 
The part they don't tell you is that the "guide" is extra, and they're going to chase you with horses the entire time because they don't think you can hike the thing. They didn't understand the part where I said I was allergic to horses and that we're from the mountains where hiking is a normal activity. Halfway up the volcano the horse guys finally gave up, but our guide was booking it up to the top. Jim and I took this as a personal challenge and kept up as best we could. We didn't see anyone else actually on foot... I think we amazed some people. I will admit it was the steamiest, hottest, sweatiest hike I've EVER taken. 
But, when we got to the top, we had some fresh buko (coconut) juice straight out of the shell and it was delicious. The views were spectacular. It was incredibly beautiful! You could actually see steam coming out of the vents and feel the heat coming from the earth. Gorgeous. 3: What the Guide Doesn't Tell You
What the guide doesn't warn you about is all the hidden costs. An extra 500 pisos for the guide. 100 pisos for face masks (which, of course, you don't actually need). 50 pisos to buy a drink for your guide and 100 pisos for drinks for yourselves. 20 pisos to tip the person who helps you out of the boat and a tip for the boat driver. Tips, tips, tips. Oy vey.
It's not even the amount of money... 20 pisos is only about 50 cents. It's that the ATMS only dispense 1000 and 500 piso notes (sometimes you might get some 100 notes if you're lucky), and NOBODY seems to have change. By the time we got back from the volcano, we had zero change left. Just a bunch of large bills that nobody could break. There was no way to pay a tricycle driver to get us back to town to get some dinner. The "restaurant" at the "resort" could not give change either. We were getting pretty worried about being able to get back.
Back at our room, we met the only other guests at the resort... two Belgian fellows who were having similar change problems. They were friendly, but could offer no advice.
4: The Universe is Balanced
Just as we were about to lose hope and had resigned to eating up all the snacks we had packed for dinner, breakfast and lunch the following day... we ran into the resort manager. She didn't have change of course, but she did suggest having a tricycle take us to the gas station to see if they had change.
Sure enough, telling the tricycle driver what we needed and assuring him he'd get paid when and only when we got change did the trick. There was a native restaurant right across the street from the gas station, so we went over to get some dinner.
The place was EMPTY aside from three young waitresses. If I've ever felt like a rock star it was here. Lee Ann spoke really good English, come to find out she is 16 and dreams of going to New York (she has family there). They attended to us so much that it was almost a little uncomfortable! It was nice that Lee Ann chit-chatted with us while we waited for food, but then I just had to laugh as they literally just stared at us while we ate. Lee Ann said they liked to see that we were enjoying our food. That seems to be common here... the waiters and waitresses stand nearby while you look over the menu, eat, and pay the bill. They don't leave your side very much.
We had a whole grilled native fish that starts with M, I forget the name... Makalputi? along with some delicious vegetable fried rice. It was very delicious.
Lee Ann and her cousins as we came to find out really enjoyed having us there. They wrote us a cute note thanking us for coming on a napkin (addressed to maam and sir, as everyone calls us here) and wanted hugs on the way out. They were the epitome of giggle teenage girls... they were cute.The universe was right again, and Talisay wasn't such a bad place after all... and after all, it was a gorgeous sunset.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wow tired!
We had a fun day today chasing around basic needs, incidentally discovering cool things and knocking off a "must see" item. Our first objective of the day was to acquire a PLDT phone card (local carrier) so as to avoid $2.50/min roaming charges on the loaner phone to book a room near our next destination (Taal). After a literal goose chase, two hours, accidentally discovering the Robinson's Mall and a a really good breakfast, we achieved nirvana and found a little cart selling them. 
We now have a room and some really Hollywood instructions on how to get there. And yes, they do include such tasks as "get off the bus, hire a tricycle to the market and ask for us". Hehehe... new experiences lurk around each and every corner these days.
As the Lonely Planet guide mentions, while there are seemingly thousands of taxis available while you intend to be on foot, they all seem to disappear when you actually want one. We had the intent of hiring an actual yellow taxi (they're what the security guard recommended outside of the place we're staying), but we finally gave in and nabbed the more common white kind after much hunting. 
We did not a) get ripped off, b) killed, c) brought to somewhere unexpected, so we used one a second time after spending a great afternoon exploring Intramuros and getting an incredible taste of history. I, not having so many miles under my belt for travel, was astonished to see buildings (or the crumblings of) from the 16th century. More interesting than them was to see the contrast of modern society living in and among them as if they were nothing out of the ordinary.
We did learn a lesson today after hiring a horse carriage and "guide" to bring us around Intramuros. While we're not total noobs at this game and remembered to negotiate a deal up front, we forgot to ask if it would cost us extra as he encouraged us to get out of the carriage about 4 times to check out different locations. 45 minutes later (we had negotiated for 30) and his claim of 1 hour, we were presented with a guilt trip and new negotiations. Must continue to beat into our skulls the virtues of understanding ALL of the fine print as it presents itself. We negotiated a very fair payment in the end, especially considering that those 45 minutes off our feet were valuable, but educational none-the-less.
For the records, I (Jim), did get minorly grumpy today (no doubt Sarah would mention it). The reason for this little bit of grumpiness is quite simple: it's getting a bit overwhelming trying to do such normally simple tasks as crossing the road w/o being killed. Tiring... all is good, but man it's a culture shock for me. While being a foreign tourist here is incredibly simple thanks to the seeming fact that everyone and everything speaks and/or is in English, the constant choking vehicular smog and adrenaline rush of crossing the street can be shorten your patience.
Another unintended, but fun "check-off-the-list" item was our dinner at Jollibee (the local fast food joint of Manila) in Intramuros. The Yum Burger was, well, Yum and the fries were incredibly like McDonald's. It was quite refreshing having a pineapple juice in place of the standard optional lemonade. Also fun to note, every place you go that is a "nicer" store, like a Jollibee or 7-11 or bank or even a hotel, has its very own security guard. This security guard opens the door for you and greets you "Good evening, sir, maam..." What service.I think Sarah has put it the most elegantly when she said something along the lines of, "at least the children in India would say 'please ma'am' as they chased after you." While I received a taste of this phenomenon in South Africa, Manila is really my first experience with persistent child-pleading for charity. I must admit that I'm almost feeling like a bad person when I say, it's really tiring, but it really is. I really wish I could help everyone out that asks, but I can't. And when everything that approaches you knows only one phrase, "GIVE me money", I quite frankly feel a little dead inside. I wish, at least, people here would ask and not splash muddy water at us as we walked by and did not give. I guess it's more culture shock that I need to work out in my head as the trip progresses.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
It's a Good Kind of Pain
We're safe in the Philippines. You know you were worried. (Kidding!)
We're very very tired jetlagged pups. After 3 hours on the plane to San Francisco, a day on the town, a 14 hour flight to Hong Kong, and a 1.5 hour flight to Manila, we decided to walk all over the capital city. We're in pain, but it's a good kind of pain... the kind where you know you're going to sleep well.
Manila is about 14 hours ahead of Colorado, so here we are wrapping up our Wednesday evening when in Colorado Wednesday has just begun. (We never did have a Tuesday due to the International Date Line.)
First impressions: Manila reminds me a lot more of India and Vietnam than I expected. I expected the friendly people (of which there are many) but I wasn't expecting to see here the begging children in the streets that I've seen so many other places. I don't know why I didn't expect it, you would think I would... but I didn't. So there's that. There are also many more people living in rusted corrugated tin shelters than I expected. The traffic is just as absurd as both places. However, we had a great time and met a few very nice people in the process today.
Benjamin, for example, reminded me of a few of the reasons that I became a teacher. He put me to shame today with his knowledge of world history. You see, Benjamin works on a cruise ship that visits the United States, but regardless he was having a great time informing us of the history of the Philippines as well as the United States and everything related inbetween. Don't get me wrong, it's very important to learn U.S. history, but I feel that as a U.S. citizen I learned very little history other than that of my own country and state until college. We need to fix that. (And we are...) It's just sad that I knew very little about the Philippines until college when I took a course on Southeast Asia, and yet I still learned quite a bit from the “history” chapter in my Lonely Planet book.
Jim and I have decided that we like to slow down a bit. We did nothing but walk the city today until our feet hurt so badly we had to surrender. We discovered so much that we would have just passed by otherwise... my favorite was watching the families flying kites in the park, but stumbling upon the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy was a highlight as well. A police officer helped a child string his kite... that's just not something I really see at home. We walked through Rizal Park full of monuments and gardens, then quite the opposite as we played Frogger in the Jeepney traffic and strolled by shanty after shanty in the alleyway.
Our hotel, the Malate Pensionne, is quite modest. We are on a very tight budget (teacher's salary, you know). However, I'm rather enjoying it here for now. We only have one night booked so far but I have the impression that we can extend the stay if we wish. We have to do a bit of research now and figure out what we want to do. We have 5 nights in the Philippines (this is night 1) so we might go to see Lake Taal and its volcano or perhaps to a beach... we really have no idea. No matter what though, we will be fine... if all else fails, we'll just stay here.
We're very very tired jetlagged pups. After 3 hours on the plane to San Francisco, a day on the town, a 14 hour flight to Hong Kong, and a 1.5 hour flight to Manila, we decided to walk all over the capital city. We're in pain, but it's a good kind of pain... the kind where you know you're going to sleep well.
Manila is about 14 hours ahead of Colorado, so here we are wrapping up our Wednesday evening when in Colorado Wednesday has just begun. (We never did have a Tuesday due to the International Date Line.)
First impressions: Manila reminds me a lot more of India and Vietnam than I expected. I expected the friendly people (of which there are many) but I wasn't expecting to see here the begging children in the streets that I've seen so many other places. I don't know why I didn't expect it, you would think I would... but I didn't. So there's that. There are also many more people living in rusted corrugated tin shelters than I expected. The traffic is just as absurd as both places. However, we had a great time and met a few very nice people in the process today.
Benjamin, for example, reminded me of a few of the reasons that I became a teacher. He put me to shame today with his knowledge of world history. You see, Benjamin works on a cruise ship that visits the United States, but regardless he was having a great time informing us of the history of the Philippines as well as the United States and everything related inbetween. Don't get me wrong, it's very important to learn U.S. history, but I feel that as a U.S. citizen I learned very little history other than that of my own country and state until college. We need to fix that. (And we are...) It's just sad that I knew very little about the Philippines until college when I took a course on Southeast Asia, and yet I still learned quite a bit from the “history” chapter in my Lonely Planet book. 
Jim and I have decided that we like to slow down a bit. We did nothing but walk the city today until our feet hurt so badly we had to surrender. We discovered so much that we would have just passed by otherwise... my favorite was watching the families flying kites in the park, but stumbling upon the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy was a highlight as well. A police officer helped a child string his kite... that's just not something I really see at home. We walked through Rizal Park full of monuments and gardens, then quite the opposite as we played Frogger in the Jeepney traffic and strolled by shanty after shanty in the alleyway. 
Our hotel, the Malate Pensionne, is quite modest. We are on a very tight budget (teacher's salary, you know). However, I'm rather enjoying it here for now. We only have one night booked so far but I have the impression that we can extend the stay if we wish. We have to do a bit of research now and figure out what we want to do. We have 5 nights in the Philippines (this is night 1) so we might go to see Lake Taal and its volcano or perhaps to a beach... we really have no idea. No matter what though, we will be fine... if all else fails, we'll just stay here.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Heading to Asia
It's been too long since we've gone anywhere of note! (Together, that is...) Jim and I are off to Asia. We'll be in the Philippines from May 28-June 2 and in Hong Kong from June 2-June 11. We're flying in and out of San Francisco because it's so much cheaper and we get to see friends, so we leave Colorado May 26th and return June 13th very very very late. (On the way out we lose a day due to the international date line.)
What are we doing when we get there? Good question. We have backpacks and Lonely Planet guides and some ideas of what would be cool, but other than one night's hotel booked in Manila... we're off to see where the wind takes us. I've always wanted to do a trip this way.
Stay tuned, we leave bright and early tomorrow morning!
Love,
Sarah and Jim
What are we doing when we get there? Good question. We have backpacks and Lonely Planet guides and some ideas of what would be cool, but other than one night's hotel booked in Manila... we're off to see where the wind takes us. I've always wanted to do a trip this way.
Stay tuned, we leave bright and early tomorrow morning!
Love,
Sarah and Jim
Monday, March 19, 2007
Vegas and a Big Ending
This one's for you, "Anonymous". Sorry to leave you hanging, guys. (Yes, we are home in CO safe and sound.)
The city of sin apparently doesn't believe in wireless Internet. The La Quinta Inn in Salt Lake has it, but the Luxor in Vegas? Nada. I guess people are too busy gambling to need Internet. People might cheat in the casinos? Who knows.
So I left you last Thursday the 15th as we were about to drive to Vegas. We made it! Hurray! A few things to note along the way:
*The San Luis Reservoir area is GORGEOUS. SO green and the water looked so inviting. If ever you want somewhere different to camp or drive through, look into it, just off of CA 152.
*We kept seeing signs for Bakersfield. That looked familiar and it was bugging me, so I called Mom up to see if maybe that's where she was born. Nope, she was born in San Bernardino, but my Aunt Marilyn used to live in Bakersfield so that's probably where I know it from. Sweet.
*We drove through Bakersfield. Not too much to note, another city in a bland landscape from the interstate's perspective, at least. Er, excuse me, the "freeway". Everything is a "freeway" in California it seems... not a highway, not an interstate... a freeway.
*We stopped at the cutest little fruit stand/orange grove area just out of Bakersfield. We got AMAZING Medjool dates from there, I never knew dates could taste like candy. We ate them as desserts for the rest of the trip.
*I kept seeing signs for "Calico Ghost Town" along I-15, and it was on my road atlas too. I absolutely insisted to Jim that we MUST stop because I'd never been to a really real ghost town before. [Picture me at age 5: Oh PLEASE Daddy, can we? Oh please, Daddy, oh please??] We pulled up to the entrance of the "park" at 5:05 and apparently they close everything down at 5 but you can stay until sunset, so we got out of paying since nobody was there to take our money. I'm glad we didn't pay, though, because it was just a restored version of what the town used to look like. Still cool, but during the day I guess it's filled with shops and reminds me of Silver Dollar City. Psh. Anyway the cemetery was cool. Old silver mining town that died when the silver market crashed.
*I watched and Jim listened to Superman Returns as the sun set. Video iPods rock.
You can sense that Vegas is coming hours before you get there. First it's all of the billboards on the interstate, then it's the mini-Vegas town as soon as you enter Nevada (from both ways)... then you come over a hill, and there it is in all of its shining energy-wasting glory. I went just last year on a roadtrip with friends, but the last time Jim went it was for his sister's wedding and he wasn't 21 yet then, so we wanted him to be able to "fully" experience it.
We entered the city just as the last scraps of light were dwindling from the sky, and they were quickly replaced with the brilliant sparkle of the casino lights. After a murderous attempt (and success) at finding parking (thank goodness it was free), we walked the TEN MINUTES to get from the car to check-in. TEN. Walking very fast. So we check in, throw the bags we had on us in the room, walk the ten minutes back to the car, grab the rest of our bags, and walk the ten minutes back to the room. By this point we're hungry, tired, achy, and in bad need of a shower.
Step One: Take a shower. Aaaaah, much better. But now it's already 9pm and there's still that hunger issue to deal with.
Step Two: Find Mexican restaurant in Luxor. Have amazing burrito. Make note of the fried ice cream for later, but too stuffed for now.
Step Three: Ignore aches and fatigue, we only have two nights in Vegas. Jim pops his first emergency Red Bull of the entire trip.
At about 10:30pm, we were ready to hit the town with a targeted bed time of 1am. (It's Vegas, it's a requirement to stay up late.) We stayed within the bounds of the Luxor and Mandalay Bay since they are connected and we each spent about $10 on nickel video poker and black jack.
Why they make checkout time in Vegas 11am as the standard is beyond me. It's VEGAS. Nobody goes to bed until at least 1am, usually between 2am-5am. But, we were forced to drag ourselves out of bed at 9:30 anyway, pack everything into the car, and have a scattered breakfast of leftovers and cereal bars in the parking lot.
Let me take a time out here to tell you of my disappointment in the Luxor. For those that have never been to Vegas, it's the casino that's shaped like a big black shiny glass pyramid. When I came here last year, I thought it was THE COOLEST and vowed that I would stay at least one night there the next time I came so that I could ride the "inclinators". The inclinators are like elevators that go diagonally up the sides of the pyramids, but you have to have a room key or it won't let you in them. We managed to sneak our way on for a few floors the last time, but this time I was determined to go to the top since it would be legal with a room key.
Well, wouldn't you know it, our room was only on the fourth floor and we didn't even need to go up the inclinators to get to it. Apparently since our room wasn't accessible by inclinator, our key didn't work in it either. No view. No inclinator. No free wireless... just a $150 room (on a cheap night) that happened to have some fake hieroglyphs on the dresser. What a rip off. So mad. If we had stayed for Friday night too, it would have been $250 just for Friday night (Vegas on a Friday night is ridiculously expensive). I'm glad we didn't. They were rude to us at check-in, too. Psh.
Check in time for our cheaper room at "America's Best Value Inn" wasn't until 3pm, so we left the car where it was and spent the next 4 hours between MGM and New York New York. Rode the roller coaster at NYNY, which was fun except the seat didn't jive with my body and it smashed my head around a bit. Jim was fine, except he realized halfway through that technically he's not supposed to ride roller coasters due to the disc he herniated last year. Oops, we'd both forgotten. But he kept his core tight and he fit better in the seats so he was fine, and I massaged his back later to hopefully make the muscles feel better. Other than that, we mostly walked around. We also bought tickets for the 7:30 showing of Zumanity, a Cirque du Soleil show... a compromise. We couldn't afford to see "O", the best one with water. Maybe next time.
Jim started to get a little testy. I finally drug it out of him that he was disappointed that if you're not ready to spend a lot of money, all there is to do in Vegas is walk around. This is true, unfortunately. The roller coaster rides alone were $12 each. The next time we come back, it will probably only be because we are going specifically to see "O", which only shows in Vegas and does not tour. I was sad that he was disappointed, so we were in a bit of a sour mood for an hour or so. Part of that may have been the fatigue too.
Around 3 we headed back to the car and got ready for a 1 mile drive that was supposed to take 10 minutes. Well, we ended up missing a turn and caught in one-way traffic with no turn offs in construction that went way past where we needed to go. It took us an hour and we drove two miles to get somewhere a mile away. UUUUGGGGH.
But we checked in, and oh how glorious it was to have a parking spot four feet from the door of our room! We got our bags in the room in no time and promptly proceeded to take a nap before we had to get ready for our show. We woke up in much better moods. Just like 2 year olds. Haha.
Next time, I'm totally just staying in a cheap motel. They're nothing fancy, but I'm no snob. The rooms were outdated and had 10 layers of paint, sure, but the beds were clean, the A/C was working, the water was running, and we got our very own parking spot right in front of the door. Only $100 (cheap for Vegas) on a Friday night as opposed to $250+ everywhere else. And once we did get ready, it was only a 10 minute walk to New York New York where Zumanity was showing. Totally the way to go, in hindsight we should have just stayed there both nights. I'm not there for the hotel room, anyway.
Zumanity. It is marketed as "The sensual side of Cirque du Soleil" for "Guests of the age 18 or over". So you can guess at the content. Overall it wasn't bad, in fact it was funny... just not what I would call "Cirque du Soleil". It wasn't that I wished I hadn't gone, we enjoyed the show... but I feel no need to go back again and it won't be on the top of my recommendation list, let's put it that way. We should have seen Ka, another cirque show (I think there are around 5 in vegas), instead. Jim and I had already seen Mystere, O was too expensive, and Love sounds cheesey (a Beetle's themed Cirque show? Who knows how that would go...).
After the show was our much anticipated dinner out. We'd been making ourselves eat our roadtrip food from the grocery store all day (aside from some pretzel sticks from NYNY), so a sit-down meal after the show was just what the doctor ordered. The plan was to go to Paris and try to find a good French meal. Well, that place was too expensive (we were willing to spend a bit, but $45 a plate is too much for me my friends)... so we found a Provencial French dinner... which is mostly northern Italian. Close enough. It was delicious and there were live performers. We got a crepe suzette to go, and ate it at Caesar's Palace out on the benches after watching the Bellagio's water show.
We had done quite a bit of walking to get everywhere we had gone, and by the time we got back to the motel my feet were KILLING me. I don't recall them ever being in that much pain (must have been the shoes, dressing up and walking don't mix, how girls walk in heels is beyond me)... I was convinced that the entire pads of my feet must be bruised if that was even possible. It was to the point that I literally ran the last block because it hurt less to run than walk, go figure. Walking into that room with the blast of cool air was one of the most relieving feelings ever. And that was a "rough" time for me, we have it so good in this country.
We got up just in time for check out (wanted to be well rested for the last leg of the journey) and went to the nearby Coco's Bakery for breakfast. It's like an IHOP near as I can tell. The food was delicious and cheap, but apparently this is what makes them popular and all told took us another hour. But, I had promised Jim that we could have a real breakfast this day for once :)
Add that to losing an hour with the time change, and technically we didn't leave until 1pm mountain time. Fast forward 8 hours through the desert. Nothing exciting to note here... the drive between Vegas and Grand Junction is *almost* as boring as driving through Kansas. ALMOST. 9pm MST in Grand Junction, and I see a Chick-Fil-A sign. We had told ourselves we could get chicken (expecting a KFC) to add to road trip food for dinner since the last of our ham had spoiled. Well, they hid the chick-fil-a... and all told between getting gas, a quick 10 minute trip to Kohl's, and finding the chicken took another hour. Ugh, so our ETA changed from midnight to 1am. (The Kohl's run, for the curious, was for Martha's birthday. I had picked up a pretty fish necklace charm in China Town for her present, but needed a chain for it, so I found a good one there at not-california-or-vegas prices. Her b-day was technically the day we drove back but the party was the next day, Sunday, which I was to attend and didn't want to have to go shopping the morning of.)
The western slope portion of I-70 is one of the best stretches of mountain road I've seen... clearly marked with bordering-on-gorgeous rest areas. The eastern slope? Not so much! We struggled to find even a line, much like the western slope portion of I-80 that Jim hated on the way through California to Scott's.
We made it home at 1:30am, sorted the mail, loved the "neglected" children (dogs and bunny), unpacked a bit... and went to bed at 3am. I got up around 11 and left for Lulu's (Martha's) party at 1 (she turned 7!)... and Jim was still sleeping. Dad would be proud... I convinced Jake to play Simon Says with the girls! That's what every dad should do at his daughter's birthday party, right? I got back from the party, and Jim was napping. So I took a nap too. From 4 to 7. I got up and made dinner, at which point Jim was finally able to tell me that he wasn't feeling well. We pumped him full of liquids, chicken, airborne and cold meds and he was perky again within the hour. Did some cleaning since the dogs brought in half the yard with them while we were gone, took care of business stuff that piled up while we were gone, then attempted to get Jim to bed at a decent time to start his new job!
Jim got to his new job just fine and had a fairly normal yet uneventful first day. He seems pretty neutral about it at this point. I nannied today so I didn't get to see him much, but from what I can tell he likes it okay. I think we'll be able to tell more when there's less signing of papers and more actual job, so we'll let you know in a couple weeks. He has orientation tomorrow at the Denver Tech Center, so he went to bed extra early so he can get up at 5:45am, yech.
So anyway, not a very exciting "Big Ending", anonymous... I'm sorry :) We were a little late in posting due to exhaustion... and lack of enthusiasm. Hehe. Thanks for reading all, I'm still checking for comments and *maybe* we might get around to posting a few pictures one of these days. Hehe, you know us, but don't lose hope either!
Love,
Sarah and New Job Jimmy
The city of sin apparently doesn't believe in wireless Internet. The La Quinta Inn in Salt Lake has it, but the Luxor in Vegas? Nada. I guess people are too busy gambling to need Internet. People might cheat in the casinos? Who knows.
So I left you last Thursday the 15th as we were about to drive to Vegas. We made it! Hurray! A few things to note along the way:
*The San Luis Reservoir area is GORGEOUS. SO green and the water looked so inviting. If ever you want somewhere different to camp or drive through, look into it, just off of CA 152.
*We kept seeing signs for Bakersfield. That looked familiar and it was bugging me, so I called Mom up to see if maybe that's where she was born. Nope, she was born in San Bernardino, but my Aunt Marilyn used to live in Bakersfield so that's probably where I know it from. Sweet.
*We drove through Bakersfield. Not too much to note, another city in a bland landscape from the interstate's perspective, at least. Er, excuse me, the "freeway". Everything is a "freeway" in California it seems... not a highway, not an interstate... a freeway.
*We stopped at the cutest little fruit stand/orange grove area just out of Bakersfield. We got AMAZING Medjool dates from there, I never knew dates could taste like candy. We ate them as desserts for the rest of the trip.
*I kept seeing signs for "Calico Ghost Town" along I-15, and it was on my road atlas too. I absolutely insisted to Jim that we MUST stop because I'd never been to a really real ghost town before. [Picture me at age 5: Oh PLEASE Daddy, can we? Oh please, Daddy, oh please??] We pulled up to the entrance of the "park" at 5:05 and apparently they close everything down at 5 but you can stay until sunset, so we got out of paying since nobody was there to take our money. I'm glad we didn't pay, though, because it was just a restored version of what the town used to look like. Still cool, but during the day I guess it's filled with shops and reminds me of Silver Dollar City. Psh. Anyway the cemetery was cool. Old silver mining town that died when the silver market crashed.
*I watched and Jim listened to Superman Returns as the sun set. Video iPods rock.
You can sense that Vegas is coming hours before you get there. First it's all of the billboards on the interstate, then it's the mini-Vegas town as soon as you enter Nevada (from both ways)... then you come over a hill, and there it is in all of its shining energy-wasting glory. I went just last year on a roadtrip with friends, but the last time Jim went it was for his sister's wedding and he wasn't 21 yet then, so we wanted him to be able to "fully" experience it.
We entered the city just as the last scraps of light were dwindling from the sky, and they were quickly replaced with the brilliant sparkle of the casino lights. After a murderous attempt (and success) at finding parking (thank goodness it was free), we walked the TEN MINUTES to get from the car to check-in. TEN. Walking very fast. So we check in, throw the bags we had on us in the room, walk the ten minutes back to the car, grab the rest of our bags, and walk the ten minutes back to the room. By this point we're hungry, tired, achy, and in bad need of a shower.
Step One: Take a shower. Aaaaah, much better. But now it's already 9pm and there's still that hunger issue to deal with.
Step Two: Find Mexican restaurant in Luxor. Have amazing burrito. Make note of the fried ice cream for later, but too stuffed for now.
Step Three: Ignore aches and fatigue, we only have two nights in Vegas. Jim pops his first emergency Red Bull of the entire trip.
At about 10:30pm, we were ready to hit the town with a targeted bed time of 1am. (It's Vegas, it's a requirement to stay up late.) We stayed within the bounds of the Luxor and Mandalay Bay since they are connected and we each spent about $10 on nickel video poker and black jack.
Why they make checkout time in Vegas 11am as the standard is beyond me. It's VEGAS. Nobody goes to bed until at least 1am, usually between 2am-5am. But, we were forced to drag ourselves out of bed at 9:30 anyway, pack everything into the car, and have a scattered breakfast of leftovers and cereal bars in the parking lot.
Let me take a time out here to tell you of my disappointment in the Luxor. For those that have never been to Vegas, it's the casino that's shaped like a big black shiny glass pyramid. When I came here last year, I thought it was THE COOLEST and vowed that I would stay at least one night there the next time I came so that I could ride the "inclinators". The inclinators are like elevators that go diagonally up the sides of the pyramids, but you have to have a room key or it won't let you in them. We managed to sneak our way on for a few floors the last time, but this time I was determined to go to the top since it would be legal with a room key.
Well, wouldn't you know it, our room was only on the fourth floor and we didn't even need to go up the inclinators to get to it. Apparently since our room wasn't accessible by inclinator, our key didn't work in it either. No view. No inclinator. No free wireless... just a $150 room (on a cheap night) that happened to have some fake hieroglyphs on the dresser. What a rip off. So mad. If we had stayed for Friday night too, it would have been $250 just for Friday night (Vegas on a Friday night is ridiculously expensive). I'm glad we didn't. They were rude to us at check-in, too. Psh.
Check in time for our cheaper room at "America's Best Value Inn" wasn't until 3pm, so we left the car where it was and spent the next 4 hours between MGM and New York New York. Rode the roller coaster at NYNY, which was fun except the seat didn't jive with my body and it smashed my head around a bit. Jim was fine, except he realized halfway through that technically he's not supposed to ride roller coasters due to the disc he herniated last year. Oops, we'd both forgotten. But he kept his core tight and he fit better in the seats so he was fine, and I massaged his back later to hopefully make the muscles feel better. Other than that, we mostly walked around. We also bought tickets for the 7:30 showing of Zumanity, a Cirque du Soleil show... a compromise. We couldn't afford to see "O", the best one with water. Maybe next time.
Jim started to get a little testy. I finally drug it out of him that he was disappointed that if you're not ready to spend a lot of money, all there is to do in Vegas is walk around. This is true, unfortunately. The roller coaster rides alone were $12 each. The next time we come back, it will probably only be because we are going specifically to see "O", which only shows in Vegas and does not tour. I was sad that he was disappointed, so we were in a bit of a sour mood for an hour or so. Part of that may have been the fatigue too.
Around 3 we headed back to the car and got ready for a 1 mile drive that was supposed to take 10 minutes. Well, we ended up missing a turn and caught in one-way traffic with no turn offs in construction that went way past where we needed to go. It took us an hour and we drove two miles to get somewhere a mile away. UUUUGGGGH.
But we checked in, and oh how glorious it was to have a parking spot four feet from the door of our room! We got our bags in the room in no time and promptly proceeded to take a nap before we had to get ready for our show. We woke up in much better moods. Just like 2 year olds. Haha.
Next time, I'm totally just staying in a cheap motel. They're nothing fancy, but I'm no snob. The rooms were outdated and had 10 layers of paint, sure, but the beds were clean, the A/C was working, the water was running, and we got our very own parking spot right in front of the door. Only $100 (cheap for Vegas) on a Friday night as opposed to $250+ everywhere else. And once we did get ready, it was only a 10 minute walk to New York New York where Zumanity was showing. Totally the way to go, in hindsight we should have just stayed there both nights. I'm not there for the hotel room, anyway.
Zumanity. It is marketed as "The sensual side of Cirque du Soleil" for "Guests of the age 18 or over". So you can guess at the content. Overall it wasn't bad, in fact it was funny... just not what I would call "Cirque du Soleil". It wasn't that I wished I hadn't gone, we enjoyed the show... but I feel no need to go back again and it won't be on the top of my recommendation list, let's put it that way. We should have seen Ka, another cirque show (I think there are around 5 in vegas), instead. Jim and I had already seen Mystere, O was too expensive, and Love sounds cheesey (a Beetle's themed Cirque show? Who knows how that would go...).
After the show was our much anticipated dinner out. We'd been making ourselves eat our roadtrip food from the grocery store all day (aside from some pretzel sticks from NYNY), so a sit-down meal after the show was just what the doctor ordered. The plan was to go to Paris and try to find a good French meal. Well, that place was too expensive (we were willing to spend a bit, but $45 a plate is too much for me my friends)... so we found a Provencial French dinner... which is mostly northern Italian. Close enough. It was delicious and there were live performers. We got a crepe suzette to go, and ate it at Caesar's Palace out on the benches after watching the Bellagio's water show.
We had done quite a bit of walking to get everywhere we had gone, and by the time we got back to the motel my feet were KILLING me. I don't recall them ever being in that much pain (must have been the shoes, dressing up and walking don't mix, how girls walk in heels is beyond me)... I was convinced that the entire pads of my feet must be bruised if that was even possible. It was to the point that I literally ran the last block because it hurt less to run than walk, go figure. Walking into that room with the blast of cool air was one of the most relieving feelings ever. And that was a "rough" time for me, we have it so good in this country.
We got up just in time for check out (wanted to be well rested for the last leg of the journey) and went to the nearby Coco's Bakery for breakfast. It's like an IHOP near as I can tell. The food was delicious and cheap, but apparently this is what makes them popular and all told took us another hour. But, I had promised Jim that we could have a real breakfast this day for once :)
Add that to losing an hour with the time change, and technically we didn't leave until 1pm mountain time. Fast forward 8 hours through the desert. Nothing exciting to note here... the drive between Vegas and Grand Junction is *almost* as boring as driving through Kansas. ALMOST. 9pm MST in Grand Junction, and I see a Chick-Fil-A sign. We had told ourselves we could get chicken (expecting a KFC) to add to road trip food for dinner since the last of our ham had spoiled. Well, they hid the chick-fil-a... and all told between getting gas, a quick 10 minute trip to Kohl's, and finding the chicken took another hour. Ugh, so our ETA changed from midnight to 1am. (The Kohl's run, for the curious, was for Martha's birthday. I had picked up a pretty fish necklace charm in China Town for her present, but needed a chain for it, so I found a good one there at not-california-or-vegas prices. Her b-day was technically the day we drove back but the party was the next day, Sunday, which I was to attend and didn't want to have to go shopping the morning of.)
The western slope portion of I-70 is one of the best stretches of mountain road I've seen... clearly marked with bordering-on-gorgeous rest areas. The eastern slope? Not so much! We struggled to find even a line, much like the western slope portion of I-80 that Jim hated on the way through California to Scott's.
We made it home at 1:30am, sorted the mail, loved the "neglected" children (dogs and bunny), unpacked a bit... and went to bed at 3am. I got up around 11 and left for Lulu's (Martha's) party at 1 (she turned 7!)... and Jim was still sleeping. Dad would be proud... I convinced Jake to play Simon Says with the girls! That's what every dad should do at his daughter's birthday party, right? I got back from the party, and Jim was napping. So I took a nap too. From 4 to 7. I got up and made dinner, at which point Jim was finally able to tell me that he wasn't feeling well. We pumped him full of liquids, chicken, airborne and cold meds and he was perky again within the hour. Did some cleaning since the dogs brought in half the yard with them while we were gone, took care of business stuff that piled up while we were gone, then attempted to get Jim to bed at a decent time to start his new job!
Jim got to his new job just fine and had a fairly normal yet uneventful first day. He seems pretty neutral about it at this point. I nannied today so I didn't get to see him much, but from what I can tell he likes it okay. I think we'll be able to tell more when there's less signing of papers and more actual job, so we'll let you know in a couple weeks. He has orientation tomorrow at the Denver Tech Center, so he went to bed extra early so he can get up at 5:45am, yech.
So anyway, not a very exciting "Big Ending", anonymous... I'm sorry :) We were a little late in posting due to exhaustion... and lack of enthusiasm. Hehe. Thanks for reading all, I'm still checking for comments and *maybe* we might get around to posting a few pictures one of these days. Hehe, you know us, but don't lose hope either!
Love,
Sarah and New Job Jimmy
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Missions Complete
It seems to be the case with me that when I have the most to say, I'm too tired to say it all. Today was a full day and I am a VERY content but tired pup pup.
We were able to catch the early baby bullet train again this morning. We didn't have time for breakfast before we left, so we ate our pears from the market yesterday on the train... they weren't nearly as good as the samples. In fact, they were pretty bland. Blah. We ate them anyway, but we were still hungry.
We took the bus straight to Chinatown in the morning, one of the goals I'd formulated in my head. I just wanted to poke around and compare it to the ones in New York and Hawaii (and actual China and Hong Kong, haha). Jim also wanted to go. Since we were hungry, it didn't take much to convince us to walk into one of the millions of Dim Sum restaurants we found. We finally picked a hole in the wall that had locals eating at it, which is always a good sign. Neither of us had ever had dim sum, so it was a good place for a first experience... not fancy, but it was delicious. We spent the whole morning shopping and walking around China Town (I thinkI like the one in NYC a teeny bit better), then we were off to the top of Telegraph Hill to get a view from Coit Tower.
We walked up some REALLY steep hills (the ones in the movies LoL) to get up to the highest point in the bay (I think) and see the view from Coit Tower. It was $4.00 a person to get to the tippy top, which is a rip off, but I was glad we went up there even so. It was a beautiful view. When we'd had our fill, we went on a mission to find Japan Town before we got too hungry for lunch.
It's hard to find Japan Town when you haven't had a chance to look up where it is. Eventually we found it on a transit map at a bus station, in teeny tiny writing. We waited forever for the right bus (okay 20 minutes), but then it didn't take too long to get there once we got going in the right direction.
We found the perfect sushi place for a first experience. So much to write about it, but long story short the sushi chef is in the middle of an oval bar area, and put sushi plates on little boats going around on water around the bar. You just take off whatever you want as it comes along, and the plates are color coded by price so they just add up your plates at the end to charge you. Tea is included at no extra cost, and it was yummy tea. Same with the wasabi, soy, and ginger (yes I tried it all). The sushi was great, I really like it. Yummy, now I want more. Haha. They were reasonably priced, too... Jim and I gorged for $20 for the two of us. My favorite was the bbq squid wrapped around a california roll. Sounds weird but it was super yummy. (Scott's Chris (not to be confused with my brother), you totally have to go there. It's so cool. I already told Scott to take you there. He knows where to go.)
After poking around Japan Town (it's pretty small) we made our way back to Fisherman's Wharf to try to find the boat tour guy. It was 3:45 by this point, and we didn't find the guy from yesterday, but just then another boat was pulling up to let a group of people disembark, offering the same tour for the same price. We bought tickets at 4:00 when they were done unloading, and they told us we would leave at 4:30. This would be perfect, since it was an hour tour, to catch the last baby bullet train at 6:33. haha.
Needless to say they pretty much kept the boat in the bay as long as it took to get a full boat load of passengers on it. We took off at 4:55. Grr.
Once we got going, though, it was beautiful. They took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz, and the guy was really knowledgeable and told us a lot of things we didn't already know (and was really funny about it), so it was well worth the $10. Plus since we were the first ones to buy tickets we got to sit in the front, which Mom and Dan know is my FAVORITE part of the boat, so we got the sea spray in our faces and everything else. Yay! It was chilly, but we were prepared with sweatshirts, so we were fine.
Of course by the time we finally made our way back to the Cal Train station we missed the 6:33 by 5 minutes... but turns out we were just in time to get good seats on the 6:56, which I had somehow missed (I thought the next was at 7:20). Still, by the time Jim and I ran to the store to stock up on more food for the last leg of the road trip, ran to Kinkos to fax one last form for his new job, and scrounged up dinner and now I tried to write this quickly (me? concise? haha)... it's really late. We wanted to get up at 6:30 but I don't think that's happening. Oh well... no big. We'll be alright.
Off to bed with us!
Love,
Me (and us)
(We've all pretty much figured out by now that if there's going to be a Sarah and Jim blog, Sarah has to write it. That's okay though, Jim is tracking the receipts and budget so it's a fair trade ;o) )
We were able to catch the early baby bullet train again this morning. We didn't have time for breakfast before we left, so we ate our pears from the market yesterday on the train... they weren't nearly as good as the samples. In fact, they were pretty bland. Blah. We ate them anyway, but we were still hungry.
We took the bus straight to Chinatown in the morning, one of the goals I'd formulated in my head. I just wanted to poke around and compare it to the ones in New York and Hawaii (and actual China and Hong Kong, haha). Jim also wanted to go. Since we were hungry, it didn't take much to convince us to walk into one of the millions of Dim Sum restaurants we found. We finally picked a hole in the wall that had locals eating at it, which is always a good sign. Neither of us had ever had dim sum, so it was a good place for a first experience... not fancy, but it was delicious. We spent the whole morning shopping and walking around China Town (I thinkI like the one in NYC a teeny bit better), then we were off to the top of Telegraph Hill to get a view from Coit Tower.
We walked up some REALLY steep hills (the ones in the movies LoL) to get up to the highest point in the bay (I think) and see the view from Coit Tower. It was $4.00 a person to get to the tippy top, which is a rip off, but I was glad we went up there even so. It was a beautiful view. When we'd had our fill, we went on a mission to find Japan Town before we got too hungry for lunch.
It's hard to find Japan Town when you haven't had a chance to look up where it is. Eventually we found it on a transit map at a bus station, in teeny tiny writing. We waited forever for the right bus (okay 20 minutes), but then it didn't take too long to get there once we got going in the right direction.
We found the perfect sushi place for a first experience. So much to write about it, but long story short the sushi chef is in the middle of an oval bar area, and put sushi plates on little boats going around on water around the bar. You just take off whatever you want as it comes along, and the plates are color coded by price so they just add up your plates at the end to charge you. Tea is included at no extra cost, and it was yummy tea. Same with the wasabi, soy, and ginger (yes I tried it all). The sushi was great, I really like it. Yummy, now I want more. Haha. They were reasonably priced, too... Jim and I gorged for $20 for the two of us. My favorite was the bbq squid wrapped around a california roll. Sounds weird but it was super yummy. (Scott's Chris (not to be confused with my brother), you totally have to go there. It's so cool. I already told Scott to take you there. He knows where to go.)
After poking around Japan Town (it's pretty small) we made our way back to Fisherman's Wharf to try to find the boat tour guy. It was 3:45 by this point, and we didn't find the guy from yesterday, but just then another boat was pulling up to let a group of people disembark, offering the same tour for the same price. We bought tickets at 4:00 when they were done unloading, and they told us we would leave at 4:30. This would be perfect, since it was an hour tour, to catch the last baby bullet train at 6:33. haha.
Needless to say they pretty much kept the boat in the bay as long as it took to get a full boat load of passengers on it. We took off at 4:55. Grr.
Once we got going, though, it was beautiful. They took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz, and the guy was really knowledgeable and told us a lot of things we didn't already know (and was really funny about it), so it was well worth the $10. Plus since we were the first ones to buy tickets we got to sit in the front, which Mom and Dan know is my FAVORITE part of the boat, so we got the sea spray in our faces and everything else. Yay! It was chilly, but we were prepared with sweatshirts, so we were fine.
Of course by the time we finally made our way back to the Cal Train station we missed the 6:33 by 5 minutes... but turns out we were just in time to get good seats on the 6:56, which I had somehow missed (I thought the next was at 7:20). Still, by the time Jim and I ran to the store to stock up on more food for the last leg of the road trip, ran to Kinkos to fax one last form for his new job, and scrounged up dinner and now I tried to write this quickly (me? concise? haha)... it's really late. We wanted to get up at 6:30 but I don't think that's happening. Oh well... no big. We'll be alright.
Off to bed with us!
Love,
Me (and us)
(We've all pretty much figured out by now that if there's going to be a Sarah and Jim blog, Sarah has to write it. That's okay though, Jim is tracking the receipts and budget so it's a fair trade ;o) )
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