We just want our own identities to come through on our blog. We will still be keeping the template from Blogabond so that you can still track our travels on the map.

Please keep leaving comments! We love reading them. We check our blog everyday for them (yes... we crave your company) so please talk to us!

See you soon on http://danyilin.blogspot.com/

YL]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=58663 0 35.84833 -116.22556 Tecopa is big enough to appear as a little black dot on our driving atlas, about 70 miles from the centre of Death Valley. But from our experience driving through Australia and New Zealand where towns on the map can turn out to be equivalent of a gas station, we know the black dot status alone does not make it livable. But hey, the HostelBookers website actually had an accommodation listing for Tecopa - Ranch House Inn & Hostel, which sounded pretty substantial. Since it was only for a night, we booked ourselves 2 beds in a dorm to wrap up our visit in Death Valley, at US$22 each.

So we spent the day cruising through Death Valley. The wind was threatening to blow us off the road and was intent on dumping an entire sand dune onto us wherever we went. Our hardy little Chevy weathered the weather very well and stayed on the road. But the car was an older model which didn't come with automatic controls for the windows. No matter how tightly we wound them up, the wind stubbornly blew through the tiny gaps and drove us crazy. It was like being locked up in tiny room with someone whistling non-stop into your ears. The dastardly wind also thought it was pretty entertaining to -
(1) blow hard against our car doors so that we couldn't get out; and
(2) when we did manage to get out and were bending over into the back seat to get our stuff, to slam the car doors hard against our backsides.

Windblown bush

Death Valley is a desolate lonely place. So devastatingly empty and yet full of beauty. It's pure isolation and yet harbours a world of extremes. Within a few hours, we experienced:

(1) The top-of-the-world feeling at elevations of 6,000 feet and diving to a depth of 282 feet below sea level (see Dan's entry for images of Badwater Basin);

(2) Driving amongst stoney mountains and then finding ourselves ankles deep in soft sand dunes... and then walking on a runway of pure white table salt;

Streaky bacon!

Rippling sands under dramatic skies.

Catwalk down this runway of salt!

(3) Gazing at endless drab brown landscape and then taking a detour into rocks so colourful they looked like an artist's palette;

A painted masterpiece.

(4) Freezing at high altitudes and then sweating away like gymrats deep in the valley;

(5) Thinking we're in a place so parched and dry and then finding ourselves in the middle of a desert storm - complete with (more) wind, rain and lightning (more details to come);

(6) Being convinced that Death Valley is completely inhabitable then walking right into a fresh green fruit-bearing oasis the next day.

We left Death Valley in search of Tecopa while the sky was still bright (that's the smart thing to do right) and also in search of cheaper gas outside of the park cos our gas gauge was starting to point at scarily-low levels. We were at our grimiest point on this trip, all covered in sand and dust and Dan commented "for the first time ever, instead of flopping onto the bed, turning on the TV and logging on, the first thing I would like to do is to take a shower."

We traveled 56 miles before coming across a Chevron pump station selling gas at more than US$3 per gallon! (As a benchmark, the cheapest gas we've managed to get so far in the US was US$2.07 and Chevron is almost always the most expensive of the lot.) So we stingy-pokers pumped just US$10 worth of gas, which according to the atlas, would be enough to get us to Tecopa and up near Vegas the next morning where we could get cheaper gas.

Now, desert roads are very scary - the road stretches endlessly before you and the land around you is all brown and flat. It's incredibly hard to spot anything in the distance... and it got harder to do so under the fast darkening sky. What made it worse was that the buildings were all painted in various shades of brown/grey/mud and very low to the ground. We just couldn't find Tecopa. We drove up and down, round and round, in and out, in all frickin' directions and I started wailing in panic cos I was convinced we were going to have to spend the night out in the desert after we ran out of gas, out in the howling wind and on top of that, get hit by the freak lightning streaks that were starting to flash around us.

And then, all of the sudden, we could make out the words "hostel" in a distance. And it was ours. I have never never ever been so happy to see a hostel. This was what it looked like in the day time - so except for the marker (which was unlit and small in scale when compared to the vastness of the desert), it was totally impossible to locate in the dark.

Our home in the desert.

Ranch House consists of 3 containers - the office, the inn and the hostel - all very cosily and eclectically decorated by the owner herself. We had a dorm for 8 people all to ourselves.

A surprisingly cosy find in the middle of nowhere.

The lady running the place was so very friendly that her warm welcome immediately comforted us and lifted our traumatised spirits. Just as she was showing us around the place, the storm came good and proper and started dumping rain onto us. The lighting flashes lit up the dark shadows of the mountain range and the wind violently tossed the garden chairs around.

Then... the power went out. And so did the water supply.

No shower.
No TV.
No Internet.
No flopping onto the bed.

The owner had earlier recommended dinner at the only source of food in Tecopa - a little blue bistro not far from the inn. There is no fast food in Tecopa. Even the Golden Arches and Coca Cola have not found their way into this place. We foolishly thought we would be able to fill our cold tummies with some hot food at the bistro. Uh uh. Hello Singaporeans, there is a power outage here?!

No body at bistro.
No food.

Dan cooked our last 2 cups of instant noodles and threw in the leftover Spam. Thank god for Spam - it made our noodles taste almost gourmet. While he cooked, I went out to get a few shots of the beautiful desert sunset.

The setting sun burning up the mountain range.

One last fiery blaze before darkness falls over the desert.

Then we wiped up the best we could with wet tissue. And used the toilet. BAD mistake. There was only ONE good flush left and I had used it all up.

No flushing for the rest of the night.

I swore then that I would never let another drop of this precious water go to waste.

So made our bed by flashlight and lay down. It was 8pm and very very cold. It was pitch dark so we couldn't really see whether the room had any heating. Anyway, no electricity probably meant...

No heating.

With nothing else to do, I tried my best to get to sleep while Dan tapped away at the games on his iPod Touch. We froze most of the night away while alternating between fighting over the blanket and squashing up against each other to share body warmth. The electricity came back on in the middle of the night, but we were too cold to get out of bed to do anything. The next morning, we woke up to see a thermostat staring back at us. GREAT.

We packed up and headed to China Ranch - an oasis in the desert! It sounded pretty exciting and we also heard that there was a date plantation and bakery (and even a gift shop!) at the ranch. It really was lush and green and teeming with plants (cactus flowers were blooming!) and quaint artifacts.

China Ranch hidden in the oasis.

Anybirdy home?

A quaint signboard

We had a delicious date shake and bought packet of fresh dates for the road. As we headed towards Vegas, I pondered over whether it was easier to survive in a mountainous desert like Death Valley or in the endless sand dunes of an African or Middle-Eastern desert.

And I decided that the best desert to be in was Las Vegas. Which seemed like a gleaming glittering oasis of hot food and water (a bath please - even a coffee pot one will do!) after out night at Tecopa.

YL
]]> Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=58658 0 35.84833 -116.22556 Dubai. And because he and his wife so kindly hosted us while we were in Dubai in 2007, I'm accommodating his special request for er, pictures of our picture-making devices.

Note: pictures were downloaded from the Web and not taken by me, as per his request. Cos seriously, it's kinda spastic to take pictures of each other's cameras with each other's cameras and go through the trouble of downloading these pix. We've got a year-long trip to plan you know!

Dannie's Olympus C5060 - gives incredibly blue skies and the flexible LCD screen is tops for taking pictures at awkward angles and lets us take photos of ourselves easily.

Yi Lin's Canon 450D - good enough for taking decent pics and has a small enough grip to fit into her palm comfortably. Used with R-Strap courtesy of hubby's buddy, Roy.

The lense used with the 450D - a wide angle 10-22mm which is fantastic for scenery shots and decent for closer shots. However, human subjects must be centrally positioned or they will appear wide.

There are alot of reviews on these camera models out there on the Net. What we would appreciate are reviews of our photos! So feel free to let us know what you think of them, be it good or bad (we can take bad reviews... I think... ouch!)

YL ]]> Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=58649 0 35.84833 -116.22556 I am glad we decided to visit Death Valley, for its uniqueness as a National Park. Where Yosemite NP fairly typical in what you would expect from a National Park - some forested areas, waterfalls, etc; the geography and geology of Death Valley NP was something totally unexpected. We spent the evening before checking on the possible sights to see in Death Valley, and were totally intrigued by the names of some of the sights - Devil's Golf Course, Dante's View, Badwater Basin, etc.

So, with Phantom of The Opera blasting from the IPod and setting the correct mood, we drove into Death Valley!

Sandy salt. Or is it salty sand?

The primary feature about Death Valley is the incredibly strong winds, with some additional powerful gusts thrown into the mix. The winds are responsible for the erosion of soil over millions of years, making this a valley. The dry land goes down to 85m under sea level, which is way deeper than what Yi Lin and I can safely dive!

The crust beneath the salt

The secondary feature of Death Valley is the salt pans. Somehow, the seas got mixed up in this area millions of years ago, and the high evaporation rate (due to winds and trapped heat) have evaporated all the water in the seas, leaving behind salt pans and sand dunes.

Four times saltier than the ocean.

We visited Badwater Basin, which was the lowest point in all of Death Valley. The story goes, that in olden times, a traveling merchant brought his mule to a pool in this area for a drink, but the mule absolutely refused to drink! The merchant, trusting his mule labelled his map as Bad Water, and the name stuck ever since. Of course, the mule only refused to drink from the pool because the water was too salty!

Devil's Golf Course - not to be confused with the one for humans.

The Devil's Golf course is essentially a pock-marked piece of land that is so covered with sand dunes and salt pans, that it was remarked that only the Devil could play golf there. Well... if you ask me, the place was so hot and dry that I think only the Devil would want to play there anyway!

Colour me beautiful with the Artist's Palette.

Lastly, we drove along a one-way loop aptly named Artist Drive. Along this route, you can see knolls of varying colours, thus having a surreal resemblance to an artist's palette. The greens, blues, pinks, purples and oranges embedded in the soil are all due to the presence of the various salts in the region. Those who took Chemistry before should be able to identify the elements that make up these colours - copper, iron, maganese, etc.

I barely scraped through Chemistry, so don't ask me! :)

DC]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=58480 0 36.45806 -116.87 But really, some of the learning can also be easily done online. Some of the learning can be done TOO easily online. So here's a challenge for whoever's reading our blog:

Without searching online for an answer, leave us a comment to tell us how did America get her name?

Did ol' Chris Columbus see a vulture as he came to these shores? And since the word vulture is translated to the word "Merica" in the local tribe's dialect, Chris claims to have found A-Merica?

We have already Googled for the answer, of course. So you don't have to send us links in response. But tell us a story, regardless if it's true or not! :)

DC]]> Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=58239 0 35.6225 -117.67 Back to Jamestown: it's all about gold gold GOLD!

The Mother Lode - wow.

Well, it was. Back in the 1800s. We didn't go scrabbling around for gold nuggets in our backyard, but we're pretty sure most of it is gone. A lump or two may have found their way into my sock or wedged themselves in the grooves of my sneaker. Maybe, just maybe.

Don't go stealin' other people's nuggets.

Jamestown is also a historic railtown. The steam engine still choo-choos it's way around the outskirts of town. The heritage buildings - many of them carefully conserved - are wonderfully quaint and charming, and prettily painted like Easter eggs. It's no pastel-coloured sissy town though - it's saloons, steak houses and antique gun shops give it an "old west" atmosphere, nostalgia that has seen tougher rowdier days.

Guns!!

Your friendly neighbourhood store

Big blue building

Classic white lace curtains

Beautiful heritage buildings

Welcome to the Old West.

An easter egg filled with treasure.

We were just hanging around Jamestown.

Hop onto the bandwagon for bargain books!

There was this amazing little shop that was a deli, cafe, gift and bakeshop all rolled into one. It had the largest selection of - get this - COOKIE CUTTERS we've ever seen. Just think of any shape - even those that you can't imagine a cookie in - and you'll find it hanging on the wall. Some of my favourites were the diamond ring, vulture, cactus, and and... so many others - walls and walls of them - that I can't remember any others now. I was very impressed to find that they had a cookie cutter for every dog breed!

Don't fit the mold? Find your own!

What was equally fascinating were the jars of sugar decorations ranging from farm animals to easter themed items to lovey dovey designs. It makes you want to just throw on an apron and whip up some cupcakes! Well, almost. I was very happy just ooohing and aaaahing at everything.

Minature farm animals

Jars of sweetness

I 'heart' hearts!

Still, if you want to bake up a storm in the shape of a teddy bear or Elmo, there's a pan for everything. And you can rent it for just $5. So you can bake different cakes for your kiddos instead of trying to shape them into a different Care Bear (but still a bear) every year.

The folks at the shop took the Rent-A-Pan tag a little too far though - check out the toilet pan pan!

Rent a pan for $5!

I do everything else that is akin to setting up a mini-home in the car. Tissue (dry AND wet), water, food, utensil travel kit, sunnies, maps are all laid out and the cameras are on standby. Then I feed and water the man whenever he gives the sign (basically, an open mouth is all it involves.) Oh, and I navigate and bark out the directions too.

And I dock the iPod (any one of the four we have - yes, we're greedy) in the RoadTrip. We love this trippy little device, which basically transmits songs from the iPod through the car's FM receiver. We listen to it all the time while zipping around Singapore in our Swift. Unless I'm yakking my head off about work, which doesn't exactly sound like sweet music.

Anyway, in the Land Far Away From Work, I get to play deejay. I don't have much experience to count for, especially since all I have is one major playlist that encompasses almost all the songs in my iPod music library called 'Sunday Songs' - basically happy songs about living, loving and dancing - the perfect playlist for the weekend. Something akin to my sister's 'Sunny Driving CD' she put together for a family vacation a couple of years ago.

Now, playing music to suit other people's taste is alot harder. The driver, of course, gets to make the rules:

(1) Instrumental pieces are only acceptable within the first hour of driving. After that, they get sleepifying and must be skipped over.

(2) Madonna and her Immaculate Collection get the boot. Period.

(3) R-E-S-P-E-C-T all members of the royal family, namely:
- The King of Pop
- Queen
- Prince

(4) Soundtracks are sacred. In fact, play as many songs from soundtracks of cartoons, movies and musicals as possible.

(5) Anything remotely rude deserves some twiddling with the sound system to BRING UP THE VOLUME! Dan derives great joy in reveling with the cast from Sound Park and Avenue Q.

Ever since I met him, I've always been amazed by Dan's ability to sing any song by Queen, MJ and Prince by heart. And a great variety of songs from soundtracks too. I love watching and hearing him belting out his heart's playlist while cruising down the highway. I love it when he sings those songs to ME. Heh. On the morning of our wedding, he and his 'brothers' harmonised so beautifully that it brought tears to the eyes - and not just those of the bride (to the men who cried - we know who you are....)

Before meeting Dan, I would never ever sing in front of others - not even in the bubble world of the car. Then bit by bit, I started to join him in his singing, albeit on a very mumbly start. But with his encouragement (i.e. he didn't laugh his guts out at me) and also cos I realised that at the volume I was 'singing' at only bats and mosquitoes would be able to hear me anyway, it wasn't long before we were belting out hits together and jiving in the car. Even our wedding dance down the aisle to Barry White was choreographed while dancing in the car on the way to the hotel. My favourite songs to sing aloud are so very cheesy but I don't care - Kokomo, La Bamba, Hakuna Matata, Lemon Tree, That Thing You Do... I know we're not exactly casting material for High School Musical 3, but when we're singing together in the car - it sounds like music to our ears anyway.

It's thanks to Dan that I enjoy great music, not only by Queen and Prince (The Purple One's songs featured quite a bit at our wedding), but also music by local accapella groups like Budak Pantai that he introduced me to and crazy tunes from Animaniacs. I can even partake in a couple of popular Mandarin duets now. Except where Chinese female artists sing at octaves so high that they could probably communicate with dolphins and whales via sonar.

Anyway, when it comes to my deejay responsibilities, I do have one (just one!) requirement. That I get to skip over any song from the Armageddon soundtrack. It's what I call "doomsday music" - all gloom and doom, disaster and destruction - and it just makes me damn depressed. An outright killjoy.

Seriously, if Death listened to an iPod while he went about clearing his emails or while working out in the gym, this soundtrack would be on his 25 Most Played playlist.

No doomsday music for this deejay please. Shudder.

YL

]]> Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=56892 0 35.6225 -117.67 Apparently 2 minutes is way too long to take a donut for a spin in Microwaveland. When I retrieved it from the cook-box, it was literally frying in its own sugar. So I had donut-flavoured biscotti for breakfast. Dan politely declined any offers of warm donuts for breakfast after that.

The microwave oven was placed at a strange too-high height - above my head. I had to raise my arms to open the oven door and once I placed the food onto the spinny-thing inside, it disappeared from my sight completely! So when I didn't close the oven door properly, it rebounded and whacked me soundly on the forehead :( Thank goodness for my sweet husband who kissed the sore spot to make it better and SLAPPED the oven for being such a jerk.

On a more positive note, I'm starting to improve my meat-carving skills - after almost killing my husband with extra-thick slabs of Spam in his sandwiches. I guess Spam is not like sashimi - thicker is not better. I've improved though - the second can of Spam was more thinly sliced, albeit the pieces turning out slightly wonky. Some of the sandwiches had Spam shavings - but hey, at least they were THIN.

Well that's what you get from a wife who grew up on idiot-proof cold breakfast cereal with milk. Guess what my kids will be eating.

At least they will have nice donut-flavoured teething rusks to gnaw on.

YL]]> Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=56521 0 37.7446571206994 -119.585151672363

Knock knock! Who's there?

Jamestown is where we are staying while visiting Yosemite National Park. The Royal Carriage Inn was an incredible find under the America's Best Value Inn chain of hotels. We stumbled upon it while flipping through one of those free hotel discount coupon magazines which we picked up at an IHOP in San Francisco and booked a room for US$50 a night.

Rapunzel let down her hair and it took over the building.

Scaling heights

The upper verandah - where smokers get banished into the cold.

The welcome we got at the Inn was amazing. Before we could even walk up to the main door, the lady manning the reception was already holding it wide open for us. She knew who we were and how long we were staying there before I could give her my name or reservation confirmation number. We had booked the cheapest room available but were offered the choice of an upgrade to a cottage! Fwahhhh. In our minds we were already thinking "of course take lah!" but Ash, the sweet lady, insisted on showing us both the room and the cottage so that we could make an informed decision on which one to go for.

We were brought on a tour of the inn, where Ash showed us a few rooms, all of which were cozily furnished and decorated in different ways. There was one room which had a leafy mural painted on the wall, left by a guest who was presumably very inspired by the beauty of the Yosemite area. She then walked with us outside - in the freezing cold and drizzle - to show us the cottages. We loved the cottage the moment we saw it. But being Singaporean geeks, we whipped out our iPod/Phone and were bummed that we couldn't seem to log on to the Wi-Fi as the cottages were located a distance from the main building. Four nights without Internet access is quite painful in our Facebook/Email/Blog-filled lives. We decided that we would test the connection again using our laptops and if it didn't work, we would give up the cottage for the room. Sigh.

The cottages

Ash very nicely left us to ourselves to make our decision on the rooms. We practically cheered when our lappies caught onto the Wi-Fi. Hooraay! The cottage was well-heated (VERY important to us), spacious, had lovely wooden flooring, a kitchen table where both of us could sit at when using our comps (instead of working up cricks in our necks and backs trying to make do with motel beds as table tops), a nice big fridge and freezer that was actually cold (unlike the bar fridges that had insides warmer than the ambient temperature.) Best of all, we no longer had to bathe Japanese-style cos there were instructions on how to use these weird American showers! (see older post on coffee-pot baths)

Our super spacious cottage

Did it snow in here?! So white!

Having a full kitchen was great. It wasn't fully furnished - we had only one teacup and had to microwave it 4 times each time we wanted to prepare cup noodles. But whatever we lacked in utensils, we made up on visits to fast food outlets (Taco Bell's sporks are the best!) With a kitchen, I could prepare breakfast (store-bought donuts), picnic lunches (Spam sandwiches) and hot dinners (cup noodles).

The kitchen (donuts not included)

Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi connection started to fail miserably after the first couple of nights. So after dinner, we would throw on our jackets, grab our lappies, water bottles, and a bookbag filled with atlases, guidebooks and motel directories, and shuffle out in the cold to the library in the main building. I was reminded of similar trips in my NUS days, from my hostel room to the study room located within the Hall to mug for exams. We were the only nerds going goggle-eyed over our screens with cups of instant noodles next to us and were there till 2am every night to greet every guest who returned from their tasty wine and steak dinners.

Still, we were a pair of happy campers at the Royal Carriage Inn. Throughout our stay, Ash greeted us by our names whenever we met and gave us directions to the nearest Walmart and other attractions in the area. I'm going to send the Inn a compliment and post a good review on Trip Advisor for this lovely place.

Berry pretty plants all around the inn.

More talk about Jamestown itself soon. My pics are still in the camera and I'm feeling too warm and toasty now to get the USB cable from the car to download them.

And just for the records, we've downed 2 more pints of our fav ice-cream. Now, how many flavours more to go?

Necessary for keeping the driver awake during those long drives.

Just for Dannie the Vanillazilla

YL
]]> Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=56405 0 37.95333 -120.42167 We do like the pretty snowscapes that only winter brings. And yeah, skiing is fun but inline-skating along the beach involves less equipment and less clothing. We went to Seoul for our honeymoon in January 2006 - cos I had won a 5D4N stay in a serviced apartment (yes, I'm a lucky one) and so that we could go skiing together. How romantic.... not! The minus 6 degree Celsius weather drove us mad and the static electricity in the dry air made us miserable - we couldn't touch each other without getting zapped. Ouch. A week after we returned, we booked a beach holiday to Bali to 'recover' and had a proper honeymoon.

So venturing into the mountains is a rare occurrence for us. But we found ourselves, as expected, making a return trip to Yosemite the next day cos there was still so much more of it to experience. Also because The Weatherman had promised that it would be a sunny day with warmer temperatures. And look what his promise brought:

Sunny days are HERE!

We were better prepared for the snow this time - Dan in his spiffy new jeans purchased from Walmart (for just $11.50!) the night before and I wore pants and socks that covered my ankles. Still no gloves though :( So the power of self-denial came in useful:

YL (teasing): I see snowwww on the mountains still!

DC: No lah. Those are clouds. And white bunnies. Lots of them.

YL: Like Easter bunnies out in full force?

DC: Exactly.

En route to the Yosemite Valley, we stopped at one of the scenic spots for a picnic lunch - my lovely creation of Spam sandwiches, apples and mini Butterfinger and Baby Ruth chocolates. Despite Dannie almost keeling over after overdosing on my generous portions of Spam, it was a nice lunch.

Picnic bench with a view. Priceless.

We arrived at the parking lots to find them all full and had to squeeze our car into a lot and pray hard that no one would scratch it while negotiating the turn. We decided to attempt a short easy trail to Mirror Lake. It was a scenic walk and we stopped along the way to photograph more waterfalls. Dannie got bitten by a bug - the acting bug - and perched himself on a huge rock, pretending to be the Lion King - or the Loin King, as he prefers to be called. I'm just glad he didn't decide to mate with any of the other mountain lions, which were suppose to be skulking around in the park. Thankfully, he decided to return to his original human state after 5 minutes of entertaining his wife.

Behold the Loin King!

Mossy scapes.

Find a quiet spot.

It's a long journey to the ocean, but every little drop of water will get there someday.

Water making it's ardous journey over rocks and boulders.

Rush hour

Mirror Lake comprises of 2 pools - creatively named the Upper Pool and Lower Pool. Gee. The Upper Pool is larger and is set in a wide, open area and there are lots of families milling around.

Mirror mirror in the lake, tell me where's the best chocolate cake.

The Lower Pool has quite a different character - darker, almost gloomy and much quieter. Beautiful in it's own not-so-cheery way. Besides us, there's only one other family there and two photographers with impressive-looking cameras complaining about "the light" making their photographs look "very flat". I just photographed the best I could:

Lower Pool, Mirror Lake.

Take me to your Riverrrr....

Glued onto gloom.

What lies beneath?

On our way back to the trailhead, we spotted three deer (one bounced right across our path!) and one large grey squirrel with a handsome bushy tail. We keep a far distance from squirrels, no matter how cute they look. I'm convinced they carry diseases like rabies (and we heard someone say they carry the plague too?!) - and we're not vaccinated against rabies. And people have asked us to return home with babies, not rabies. I read in the park brochure about person who got attacked by a squirrel and his hand needed 13 stitches. I bet he got rabies too. I bet Cinderella and Snow White and Sleeping Beauty also caught rabies from their furry Disney friends who helped the girls with their housework. I don't even want to think about what Beauty caught from her Beast.

You might have rabies? Don't be silly my princess! Such nonsense! Bibitty Boppity Boo!

His Royal Glovelessness wanted to make a snowman. So we stopped at the designated Snow Play Area on our way out (which I assumed was safe to play in and that I wouldn't get swallowed up by some snow-covered cavernous hole or stabbed by a stick hiding in the snow) for Project Snowman. Dannie instructed that it had to be a life-size replica of himself. Having an additional Dannie to wait on me sounded like a good idea so I went along with it.

Nice clean snow area for Project Snowman.

Always pick the freshest ingredients to make your snowman.

Trying to roll snow with our bare hands was a really stupid thing to do. Our hands were so cold that they hurt. How is it possible to still feel pain when your digits are frozen to extreme numbness? Thus, we decided to downsize the lifesize replica into Dan's Mini Me instead. 3 minutes later:

DC: Baby, what does frostbite feel like?

YL: Err, how would I know? Can you even feel frostbite?!

We made another executive decision to create a non-human snowcreature instead, which did not involve rolling snow into balls. We kicked snow into a heap until it started resembling Jabba The Hutt. And so, our Baby Snowhutt was born.

Baby Snowhutt. Born 11 April 2009. Weight unknown.

Baby Snowhutt Version 1.1 Newly improved right eye (bigger) and Buff accessory included.

Dannie has named him Pino Cho. When Pino Cho tells a lie, IT (as represented by a prickly pine cone) gets longer. And we're not referring to the snowhutt's nose here. We had to leave our baby in the snowfield though - he would have become dessert in sunny Singapore. Anyone wanna adopt Pino Cho?

Freshly-made baby snowhutt up for adoption.

YL

]]> Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=56402 0 37.7446571206994 -119.585151672363 Dannie likes Sunshine. Warm Seas. Golden Sands. Lulling Breezes. Sunny Beaches. Girls in Bikinis. Wife in Bikini.

So we're driving along Hwy 120 into Yosemite National Park and I see a sliver of white on the mountain peaks.

YL (excited shriek): Hey baby, I can see SNOW on the mountain!

DC (panic): WHAT?!? Snow?!?! I'm in berms and a T-shirt!

YL (hasty reassuring): Ahhh, no lah, it's just old melty snow I'm sure. Anyway, we're not climbing any mountains.

5 MINUTES LATER....

DC (really panicky): What's that?

YL (looking around): What?

DC (pointing with his chin): That! That bit of WHITE STUFF... ON THE ROAD.

YL (realising it really is snow at human level): Oh er. That's... styrofoam! You know, like what shopping malls in Singapore sprinkle on their facades during Christmas. It's fake snow.

DC (hysterical): THERE'S MORE OF IT!! SOME MORE THERE!! AND THERE! AND THERE! THERE THERE THERE THERE THERE TOO!!

YL: Baby.... stay calm... just keep driving.

DC (wailing): Why you bring me here in winter?!?!?!

For the records, it's not suppose to be winter. We see advertisements on TV declaring "Spring has Sprung!" (oh.ha.ha.) and Old Navy is having a Shorts Sale. Macy's has created a Spring blossomed-themed showcase. The kids here are all on Spring Break right?!

So don't blame us if we came unprepared for snow! :( We were dressed in T-shirts and our pants only reached up to our knees/ankles and I was in ankle socks! Boo hoo. I could at least keep semi-toasty in my 2-layered La Fuma jacket but Dan had to make do with his Giordano windbreaker. Poor thing. I felt bad about pooh-poohing when he asked whether he should pack his possum-fur gloves (Note: possums are classified as pests in New Zealand - we apparently did the country a favour by buying possum-fur products) and his Ski Dubai cap for this trip. The weather charts at the Visitor Centre declared that the minimum temperature for that day was minus 1 degree Celsius and a grand maximum of 8 degree Celcius. I swear the numbers on the chart were laughing at us. How mocking.

Mummy, where are my gloves?

Anyway, Yosemite Park is absolutely scenic and there was no letting the cold stop us from seeing it. On our way to the village centre which was cozily tucked in the Yosemite Valley (read: warmER temperatures there - although very minimally warmer), we stopped to photograph a few pretty waterfalls.

Scenic spots are everywhere in Yosemite.

I love photographing waterfalls - the challenge of 'freezing' moving water into a picture perfect image of a dreamy misty white flowing ribbon. So amid frozen fingers and blue fingernails (my fingernails really turn a scary grey-purple-blue shade when cold), I spent minutes at each fall just toggling the knibs and knobs on my camera and exploring different settings each time until I got it absolutely RIGHT. Here are my 2 most favouritEST waterfall pictures which I'm very happy with:

Splish splash, no I'm not taking a bath.

Splash down point!

Most national parks in the US have free shuttle bus service that ferries visitors along the most scenic routes, so as to cut down on private vehicle usage within the park and to keep the air clean. In a bid to be green (especially after being part of the mega carbon footprint created by the super long Singapore-LA flight) and also to give Dan a break from driving), we hopped onto the shuttle to Lower Yosemite Falls - which turned out to be one measly bus stop away. And so that was our half-baked attempt at being part of the green MOVEMENT.

It was absolutely freezing at the falls. We made pathetic attempts at convincing ourselves that we were slowly adapting to the cold, but the moment the wind blew a curtain of misty spray from the falls in our direction, we went absolutely batty and started tap-dancing on the spot like Mexican jumping beans to keep warm. We managed to keep still long enough to photograph the beautiful falls though.

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls.

Lower Yosemite Falls - the easy one to get to.

You can trek to the base or the top of the Upper Falls.

Water water everywhere, all of it trying to go somewhere.

The top of El Capitan had been sitting in cloudy gloomsville and shrouded from sight. However, the skies cleared considerably in the late afternoon, enough for us to have a peek at the peak of the infamous Half Dome from Sentinel Bridge.

El Capitan looms over us - keeping a straight face throughout.

View of the cloud-capped Half Dome.

Sunset is suppose to be the most gorgeous time to see Half Dome and the Yosemite sky at its best. As we were firmly convinced that Mr Sun had been skiving at home and didn't come to work today, we didn't think he would turn up just to demonstrate how he goes to sleep behind a mountain. So we didn't stick around for the no-show.

We made our way out of the park as dusk fell. The splendid views were very truly appreciated from the warmth of the car!

Beautiful.

Dusky drive back home.

I'm truly happy that I've finally made it to Yosemite - one of the places which I've always wanted to visit (it's marked with a big green thumbtack on my world map at home.) One of the highlights of the day was spotting a wild coyote (just like Wile E. Coyote from Looney Tunes!) I thought it was a small funny-coloured wolf at first though.

Who are you calling a funny-coloured wolf?

After finding out that it was a coyote, I was in a real smuggly bubbly mood at having spotted one! Although Dan still keeps insisting otherwise.

YL: I think I just saw a wolf!

DC: It's probably a dog.

YL: It doesn't exactly look like someone's pet you know. It must be a wolf!

DC: Okay, then you can get out to snap the photos here. I'll just stay in the car.

YL: But what if it's really a wolf? You're letting me go out there alone?

DC: No lah, what rubbish. You saw a rabbit. Stop imagining things. Now go snap the photo. I'll stay here and look after the car....

Yeah I know, my husband loves me alot. His actions say it all.

Mysterious mystifying mist walk.

YL]]> Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=56137 0 37.7446571206994 -119.585151672363 Anyway, I'm glad that SF is a really walkable city. Here are some highlights from The New Adventures of the Walking Kind:

- Hanging out in our all-time favourite fruit/store in the USA. They have free lessons on Mac applications! (But I dozed off during the Garage Band tutorial.)

The heavenly sweet fruit we pay homage to in every city.

- Milling around public spaces like Union Square, photographing the gorgeous Spring blossoms. Talking to pigeons and watching people (or is it suppose to be the other way round?)

No one's taller than I am! Nyeah nyeah.

I know what Trumpet Fish look like but these are... Trumpet Flowers? (Dad - need your help here.)

Dan looks good in pink.

Hooray! Behold the new iPod touch applications!

- Appreciating public art. None of the chi-chi fine art gallery stuff for us.

Colourful handpainted murals in Chinatown.

Your words fall on deaf.... feet.

The words fell outta these pages!

- Exploring Chinatown. Seeing whether the fictional Singapore Noodles is on the menu, as always.

Welcome to China...town.

I like walking. Especially when I get rewarded with a hot fudge sundae.

YL]]> Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=56135 0 37.775 -122.41833 The weather was perfect! It was warm (enough) and sunny with clear blue skies and fluffy white clouds. It being a Sunday, the beach was filled with local families and other beachgoers who didn't sound very local but nevertheless fit right into the beach scene.

I wanna stay with you forever. Until the sky falls down on me.

We're all on a journey. Together yet alone. Alone yet together.

It was absolutely bliss lying on my back, propping myself onto my elbows, and just taking in the scene, just watching people....and their dogs.

It's amazing how people choose dogs that match their personalities:

- The pudgy guy who looks like he could do with more exercise than just keeping the beach towel in place on the sand had a bulldog. The bulldog's name was Nelson. Nelson kept kicking sand onto my bag.

- The cool quiet dude chillaxing on the towel with his iPod had an equally laidback mixed-breed lying next to him. Both of them didn't move an inch throughout our time there.

- The woman with a huge brown bouffant who couldn't get her hair wet in the sea had a huge brown poodle who refused to take a dip.

- Another woman with stringy hair hanging down either side of her face had a papillion with long furry tassels hanging from both it's ears, framing it's face.

- The jock guy's lab made a flying dash for the water the moment it was off the leash and landed with a huge splash.

- The gungho-looking dude had a dog that simply could not get sick of fetching a ball from the sea over and over again with gusto. In between playing fetch on repeat with his dog, the dude was simultaneously playing fetch with his wife using a frisbee (i.e. Dog fetch, throw frisbee to wife. Wife fetch, throw ball to dog.)

It was highly amusing. I amused myself even more by taking photos of my slippers, my travel guide (thanks Jennifer for the book - it's been my travel bible!), my feet against the sea, the sand, the sky.

Barefoot. Sand between my toes. And in places where I don't want sand to be in.

Guess where we are!

The picture that got the book all sandy.

All this while Dan was engrossed in his Star Wars book he was bent on finishing (also cos there were hardly any girls in bikinis on the beach.) I don't like reading when I'm in a new place (unless it's a travel guide book.) I like to check out the new place. I like to watch people. To soak in the atmosphere. To be present in the moment. I like to get lost in my thoughts and daydream till I fall asleep. Reading transports me to a different world - a world set in a story, in another place, in another time. I feel that it distracts me from the present and when I return, my real life has been fastforwarded without me realising it. I only read when I'm at home and there's nowhere to go. Or in the couple of hours before I go to sleep (which, recently, have been used for emailing and Facebooking the folks at home, blogging or doing travel research.)

Find your own special way to enjoy the day.

We were raving starving monkeys after a whole day out and were driving around looking for a place for dinner when we spotted an IHOP! We quickly signaled, change-lanes, right-turned and parked (don't worry Dad - it was a very carefully calculated signal-change-turn-park process) and honed in onto the menu. This is what we had:

Breakfast, lunch or dinner? Just feed me!

Strawberry Nutella Banana Crepes. Nuff said.

I love the beach in San Francisco. I will love the water too when it's not so cold.

YL]]> Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=56126 0 37.775 -122.41833 Little Girl: "Mummy mummy! What song do you think this is?"

(Proceeds to sing at the top of her lungs very loudly) "Row row row your UNDERWEARRRRRR, gently down the CAAAARRRR!!!!"

We couldn't help but snigger and burst out laughing as we walked ahead.

Yes, everybody is happy in SF. Everybody who has been here tells me they love SF. It's the only city I know of that has the honour of achieving a 100% 'I Love' hit rate - not London, not Shanghai, not New York. Many cities try to stake their claim on the "we have something for everyone" for "people from all walks of life" cliche. But uh uh, get your dirty paws off the title everyone, for in my books, SF is taking home the trophy tonight.

We've had a very good time here. So much so that we are considering changing our departure flight from LA to SF in 2010. So much so that we are considering buying an apartment and moving here. Okay, the latter part was just me dream-typing.

In a bid to save money, we only kept the car for 2 days in SF, to be used specifically to access the really must-see places - like Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. It's scary where our priorities lie - never mind the scenic Marin Headlands and Point Reyes National Park or even the obligatory drive across the Golden Gate Bridge! Rollercoasters? Okay, let's go! La di daaa!

On the first day when we had the car and I had Dannie the Driverman, we scaled Twin Peaks for a view of the city sprawling at our feet. It was such a clear beautiful day with no hint of the notorious San Francisco fog that we could see all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz and the Marin coast beyond.

The king sits atop a hill and peruses his fine city.

Little professionals.

The top-of-the-world feeling? Yeaaah. Definitely.

After that, we drove to have a look at the world-famous 'Crookedest Street in the World - Lombard Street. Also cos Billy, our beloved brother-in-law, had asked Dan to let him vicariously live through the experience of skateboarding down Lombard Street. And of course, my dearest He Who Does Not Read Travel Guides thought it was no biggie, and then promptly shrieked "MY BROTHER-IN-LAW IS TRYING TO KILL ME!!" when his one and only source of travel information (aka The Wife) educated him on the perils of the 'S' street.

Anyway, we parked the car nearby and went to have a look. There was actually a line of cars waiting to drive down Lombard - which to us looked like an ordinary ramp in a HDB multi-storey carkpark back home.

This ain't the supermarket check-out queue.

Thrill-seeker. Pffft.

Hmmm. Maybe it looks more crooked from bottom up. So we trotted down to have a looksee.

Twist and shout!

Looked the same. Even when I was sitting on Dan's shoulders to get a better view of the curves (not that adding our heights together makes us the human equivalent of the Empire State anyhow.) Anyway, since it was such a famous amos street, we just took pictures.

My mule.

On our car-less days, we hopped onto the 'F'-Line streetcar that took us all the way down Market Street, along the Embercadero and plopped us at the doorstep of Pier 39. Dannie got a thrill out of activating the backdoors of the streetcar by being the first passenger to step down onto the second step. He kindly offered me the chance to try it on our second ride but the driver spoiled his fun by activating the doors herself.

It rained on our first day at Fisherman's Wharf (or Fisherman's Barf according to Dan) so we headed back again the next day. What a difference the sun made! We laughed, sang, skipped, cheered along with other people at the wrestling sealions, posed for pictures with the spring flowers, dug into dugeness crabs, dug (literally) into a bowl of clam chowder and ate the bowl, tricked obnoxious greedy seagulls by pretending to toss food and laughing at them, watched the ferries sailing in, tried on silly hats at Krazy Kaps, made Dan feel at home at the Lefty's store for left-handers. The snapdragons were in full bloom. I showed Dan how to make 'dragons' 'snap' by squeezing the flowers at the nape and the 'jaws' open. That was fun.

Wish I could tell my boss that I can't work on rainy days too.

Good business on a sunny day!

Now THAT makes my bath sound really enticing. Gory yeah.

The Sandman at Fisherman's.

My Rubber Dannie must have cost $8. Tee Hee.

Spot the sea lion who believes he's a boat.

Toot toot! Coming in!

Pier 39's famous residents lounging on their patios.

Prancing ponies - I always chose the brown ones when I was little.

If it's public enough for you, it's public enough for the gulls too.

The picture of Spring.

Sea creature - I like. The fact that it's food - a bonus!

The little island where naughty people get left on.

Mixed-blood.

Now, where did I berth my yacht? Hmmmmm.

Spring has sprung!

Doing the Dugeness crabs.

Don't eat the bowl!

It was a day to love. And an even more wonderful day to be in love on.

YL]]> Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=56123 0 37.775 -122.41833 Not that it was bad BAD and we know we didn't pay for a luxury spot. But when you arrive in the dark, and you're cold and tired, and the crusty old gnome at the reception doesn't say a word of hello and barks "CREDIT CARD!" at you - it doesn't speak wonders for Txxxxxlodge (note: 'T' is not for 'Tranny' - although we were staying pretty near the Castro.)

There was no heating in the room. We had sheets stapled to the window for curtains, cos all the motel was undergoing renovation works. And of course, the room being renovated HAD to be the one next to ours. The safe didn't work. We found out only upon checking out that continental breakfast was served daily (where in the world was the brekkie place?!) And whenever we needed a favour from Mr Crusty the Crankeroo, he yells "TAHHN YEEEH LIHHHNN?"... "I NEED I.D!!!"

But what really took the cake was the bath and shower. On our first night in Txxxxxlodge (note: 'T' is not for 'Tarzan' - he of all people wouldn't have been able to figure out the shower), we twisted and turned the water lever a gazillion times but just couldn't make the water come out of the shower head instead of the tap. So we gave up and looked for something to use as a scoop. The only option was.... the coffee pot.

And so, for 5 freezing nights in San Francisco, two clueless Singaporeans wallowed in a very strange makeshift Japanese bath with a coffee pot. What would we have done if Txxxxxlodge (note: 'T' is not for 'Tissue' nor 'Tablas' nor 'Thrush') did not offer coffee and tea-making facilities in the room?

We invented the coffee-pot bath.

So don't anyhow go making free coffee using the pot in your hotel room. You never know where it has been. Drink Starbucks.

Afternote: This Very Nice Inn which we're staying in now has the same shower system. But This Very Nice Inn provided clear instructions on how to use the shower so that poor freezing ignoramus guests from Mars need not bend so low as to use cooking utensils for bathing. We very simply had to pull down on the mouth of the tap to activate the shower. How were we suppose to know that? Or see any pullable thingamajig UNDER the a knee-level tap? Our eyeballs aren't on our toes for god's sake.

Still. Stay safe. Drink Starbucks.

YL]]> Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=56121 0 37.775 -122.41833 Mission. A not-so-secret Mission. So far, we've completed 2 out of the 15 assignments that we've been tasked with. Assignment No.1 took a bit more time than we expected - 2 days. But we got right back on track with Assignment No.2 and polished it off in less than a day.

For those who don't already know, my husband is a Completist when it comes to any Mission. He MUST complete any series or games he starts: comic collections, Star Wars books, computer games (each game is played repeatedly until every single extra stage or side game or secret passage is explored and conquered.)

And so, the new Mission is to complete all the Maximum Thrill rides in all 15 of the Six Flags theme parks that our season pass gets us into. The theme park SOP now is to hurriedly park our car, hop onto the tram service that brings us right to the front gate, flash our season pass (ooohhh, the joy it brings!), study the park map quickly and make a beeline for all the Max Thrill rides. Only when we've finished them all, do we (1) eat (2) check out the Moderate Thrill (pfffft!!!) ones (3) go around snapping photos in the park.

As I'm less of a perfectionist, I consider an assignment completed once I've finished all the rides - except the spinning ones. The last I checked, I'm not a piece of dirty laundry that needs to be spun around in a washing machine. No spinny spinny things, thank you. Spinny makes Linny wanna puke in the binny.

So we've ticked off Assignment No.2 - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo - on our checklist. Enjoy some pictures of the Max Thrill rides while we plan to conquer Assignment No.3, which we will report on back to you soon.

Heading east to Vallejo

When waiting to cross the toll gates, you DO NOT cheekily point to this lane and tell you wife that she should be in THAT lane. Grrrrr.

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - more than just thrill rides.

Look Ma, I've finished building my coaster!

Kongquer the Kong!

You spin me round round baby right round.

The Hammerhead chews up its victims and spits their bones out.

ROARRRRRR!!! The all-wooden coaster.

Roaring down the track on the Roar

The most deceiving moderate thrill ride in the park.

This pic looks outta place here - just wanted to show how pretty the spring blossoms are!

Non-Spinny Linny]]> Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=56006 0 37.775 -122.41833 Dan and I love scuba-diving. We had picked up the hobby separately before we met, so it was an added bonus to discover that we could be life buddies as well as diving buddies. He taught me how to get started on underwater photography (and he still sweetly cleans and maintains my camera housing on most dive trips for me) and I educated him on identifying marine life beyond Red Fish, Yellow Fish and Anemone.

So exploring the aquarium in Monteray Bay together - said to be the best aquarium in the nation - was a delightful experience. Amazing sea-creatures, large tanks to ogle at, interesting exhibits and someone to share my excitement with. What more could I ask for.

The old warehouses along The Cannery - now housing shops and eateries.

Charming buildings by the sea at Monteray.

Sunny sidewalks and happy people.

Looking out across the bay.

Sunny days are here again.

The great ocean does not make distinctions between the big and the small.

Beautiful stingers.

Moongazing

Crystal necklace anyone?

The jellyfish is my favourite animal - not exactly a contender under the Top Ten most popular creatures I know, which would probably include the usual dogs, dolphins, giraffes, etc. I once did an exercise where we were suppose to imagine ourselves to be animals. Everyone else turned out to be something strong and powerful like a snake or lion or an eagle. I was rather alarmed when I opened my eyes and realised that I was being a jellyfish!!! I'm attracted by it's quiet beauty and graceful movements. And how one creature can encompass both the polar opposites of fragility and deadliness. Unlike lions, tigers, bears, cheetahs, sharks, etc. who portray power through their size, gait, roar or bite, the jelly doesn't bother to boast of such things. It swirls around in an ethereal dance in a distant world. It seems to be laughing merrily and whispering for you to draw near and join it in its weightless swim. It charms, mesmerises and hypnotises. Lovely.

Strange way to make a baby.

Pucker up!

And Bob's their name. Bob bob bob...

The small furry face of a Giant Otter.

Immerse yourself in a different world.

YL (The Jellyfish)
]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=55901 0 37.775 -122.41833 Now that I've finally emerged from hibernation, I thought I'd do a quick update on what we've been up to in Cali before we leave the state. And also cos we promised to keep the folks at home posted - (waving) Hi Mum! Hi Dad!

We spent 2 days coasting the Pacific Coast Highway aka Hwy 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco. A local told us that this was "the most beautiful highway in the world." Well, I don't know about "the world" (haven't seen that much of it yet) but so far in our short stay in the US - yes, it was a very enjoyable, scenic and beautiful drive (at least for the passenger.)

Marine vistas

Blue waves washing up on the shore and turning into a white lacey wedding train.

Rugged coast on one side. Rolling hills on the other. What a view!

Wildflowers out in full bloom!

The ocean merged seamlessly into the sky - so much so that you can't tell where the horizon is. If infinity could be captured, it would look like this:

The Big Blue Thing

And, as we learned from our visit to Universal Studios, movies are shot against a simple wooden board painted in varying shades of blue to portray an endless sea or skyscape.

Some friendly folks at the Bridge Street Inn in Cambria told us about the elephant seal colony on one of the beaches on our way up north - and true enough, there were hundreds of them spread out on the sands!

They're just lazy. Not dead.

They didn't look like elephant seals to me - where's that trademark trunk-like nuzzle? Still, it was incredibly amusing to watch a couple of them put in the incredulous effort to move themselves off the beach for a swim. Why don't they just roll sideways down to the water?

What a life!

Dan telling you exactly what the thinks of the seals.... phew!

Under The Broadwalk - we found this cute furry resident living there!

The nice Japanese-Hawaiian-American man whom we chatted with the night before recommended a cliff-top restaurant called "Nepenthe" for lunch. It was rather crowded when we got there with fellow roadtrippers, with many of them waiting to get a table with a view - which was pretty good. The food was even better cos we were starving. Obviously above our budget, so we shared - while enjoying our view of unsuspecting people sitting below a fearsome carving of some man-eating bird (or so we made it out to be.)

Sunny deck where diners eat side-by-side and soak in the view over lunch.

Sun-drenched steps for that post-lunch lounge-around time before hitting the road again.

This spot with the gorgeous view is the waiting area!

The Ambrosia Burger - the difference between a $16 and .89 cheeseburger.

Beware the perils of the coast or be eaten alive.

We made more stops at stupendous vista points as we pushed northwards that day. What made the experience even more beautiful was seeing people from all around the world and all walks of life journey to this wonderful place. To do nothing more than to open their hearts to the ocean, their lungs to the fresh ocean air and their eyes to the beautiful hues of nature.

Everyone has a soft spot for a heavenly view - even the toughest-loooking people on the road.

YL]]> Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=55898 0 37.775 -122.41833

Being on the road with Yi Lin is an interesting experience. It's obvious that we need each other to navigate these roads safely, so we really don't want to urinate each other off.

She really, really doesn't want to drive, because she doesn't have the road confidence. But when push comes to shove, she will drive. Just that she will do whatever stools necessary to avoid taking the wheel.

When I first met her 5 years ago, she was telling me that she draws in by creating a partial vacuum at reading maps and navigating. Yet, during this trip, she has now successfully navigated within Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as our route in between. Pretty good, eh?

But that's not all, here are three additional roles she performs to be the perfect driver's companion:

1) Food - Ordered a meal at a drive-in? She hand-feeds the fries to me, passes me the drink whenever I ask for it, uwraps the burger and carefully places it in my free hand so that I can eat while I drive. When I have munched the burger down to the paper, she takes it back and unwraps it some more, then puts it back in my hand. We bought ice-cream and chocolate too. Hand-fed. All I had to do was to open my mouth!

2) Music - Sets up the FM transmitter and syncs it to the car radio and plugs a choice of 3 iPods. Chooses music that keeps the driver awake. Sings and dances along if necessary.

3) Sleep - When I am really too tired, she doesn't complain if I pull up at a scenic sight, lean back in the seat, and snore my donkey off. She may step out and snap a couple of shots (of the scenery) but otherwise, patiently waits in the car for the 15-30 minutes that I require to recharge.

I was chatting with my ex-yoga instructor just a couple of nights ago. She confessed that she just sleeps while her husband navigates with the GPS. Tsk, tsk. :)

So, I celebrate my good fortune with a song. Sung to the tune of Calcutta, by Doctor Bombay:

I am a lucky driverman in Cali-for-nia,
I drive my Mazda in Cali-for-nia,
Lucky, lucky, lucky in Cali-for-nia,
I am a luckydriverman-an-an!

DC

]]> Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=5710 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=55525 0 35.56417 -121.07972 We stayed at a wonderfully cosy little place called the Bridge Street Inn. We had originally booked the last room available at $65 per night, which was above our budget, but we didn't want to be left room-less or pay exorbitant weekend prices for the mostly oceanfront hotels and decided to go with it. Later that day, the Inn called to inform us that another room had just been freed up and it would cost $54 instead. Aren't these people just lovely?! I mean, why would you bother to offer something cheaper when your guest had already agreed to pay for the more expensive room? But they bothered. And the gesture didn't go unappreciated.

Bridge Street Inn used to be an old Presbytarian Church, built in 1874. The owners bought it over in the 1990s and converted it into a hostel.

Bridge Street Inn - one of the hostels under the Hostelling International network.

Lovely blue and white colours of the inn.

Pots and pans for all to share!

The backyard for outdoor gatherings - when it's not so cold.

It has it's very own sandy beach for beach vollyball!

The cosy stone fireplace in the common lounge area provided a much welcomed source of warmth.

The house is dotted with eclectic furnishings from the owners' great-grandparents, like the old wooden Wilson tennis racket resting on the stairway. Carvings from Thailand and India, fabric from Nepal and dishes from Vietnam fill the remaining nooks and crannies, all amassed from the owners' backpacking trips to Southeast Asia.

Even the toilet seat covers were delightful! I wanna do this to my toilet at home now!

I explored all the bathrooms in the inn just to look at the interesting little knick knacks in there.

I thought this print titled "Doing the Inventory" was quite amusing. It was hanging in one of the bathrooms.

The Book Keeper - keeping up the books.

The owners are big on the sustainability drive and make many small contributions towards saving the earth in the way they run the hostel. Only biodegradable soaps are offered for guests' use. Laundry is line-dried - no dryers used. Guests are encouraged to bundle up in cold weather instead of turning on the heaters (sorry - we humans of tropical origin could not resist the charm of the heater.) Water recycling here is pretty innovative - the water used to wash your hands is channeled into the cistern and used to flush the toilet!

All the toilets have this strange little bowl sitting on the cistern lids...

... this is how it works to recycle water used from washing hands to flush the toilets afterwards. Not the other way round, mind you.

Our bedroom was a room within a room. It's located within a mixed dorm. The good thing is, the strange layout certainly seeks to promote interaction between strangers. There's no escaping talking to your neighbours when you have to squeeze past them in the tiny room 15 times a day.

Our room is a room within a room. The entrance is through a dorm with 3 beds.

The room can sleep 4 people - 2 on the double bed and another 2 on the bunks, but we had it all to ourselves. It was nicely furnished with quaint touches - a wooden ladder for a bedside shelf to place your belongings on, a stick with nails in it to hang your towels, etc. I thought it was lovely.

Our private room - 4 people fit well in it but it's only better when there's only the 2 of us!

It was nice chatting with fellow guests. Masami-san, a nice Hawaiian gentleman of Japanese descent living in Sacremento, gave us tips on what to see along the Pacific Coast Highway and recommended a lunch stop at the Nepenthe restaurant (see upcoming blog entry.) Another lady told us where we could see elephant seals on the beach along the way. People were from all over the world. A French guy and an American lady were exchanging reasons why the French didn't have a good impression of Americans and vice versa over breakfast. The best thing is - they both agreed that through traveling, they discovered that certain stereotypes don't hold water and the experience they had in each other's countries changed their perceptions for the better.

Hostels - where you meet people from all over the world.

Printed on a note stuck on the back of our bedroom door was this:

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain.

Need directions?

Now if everyone could just step out of their daily lives once in awhile to explore the universe beyond their doorstep, the world would be a better place.

YL

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