#mdtoca

[msinsatiable]

#TBT Last year I embarked on a new chapter in my life! Celebrating my one year anniversary of my #easttowestcoast move! What an Adventure with @kinkyme Thank you So Much!! #NYtoMD #MDtoCA Enjoying my #californialiving ☀️☀️☀️ (at California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Br6K2ncFrFn/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1gakyvxyg0a95

[thatsbesidethe]

MDtoCA: Day 12

August 31st

This morning, we had breakfast at the Huangs’ house, where we stayed last night. After some goodbyes to their family, we set off towards LA. Because of traffic, a distance of only about ~25 miles took nearly 90 minutes!!! On our long drive, we were able to see a lot of the smog that lies over the city. This only affirms my strong biased preference for NorCal over the south...lol. 

We arrived at LA and drove to The Getty Museum. You park at the bottom of the museum near the entrance but then you have to take a tram that takes you up to the museum, which was pretty interesting! We arrive around 10:45 and we only had about an hour and a half at the Getty because my brother had planned a full itinerary for the rest of the day. We were able to see a few exhibits but we spent the bulk of our time at this beautifully maintained outdoor garden in the middle of the museum. It has a fountain running down through the middle surrounded by a winding path lined with beautiful blooms of flowers. 

When we finished, we took the tram back to the parking lot and set out towards Santa Monica, where my brother, Joseph, works. We met up with him at his workplace, at which point, he took over the drivers’ seat of the car. He drove us down towards La Brea, another area in LA, and took us out to lunch. Lunch was at this Japanese place that served AMAAAAZING chirashi bowls! I’m a huge sucker for sashimi of any kind and this place served top notch fish. It was also really nice for our whole family to be all together again too! 

After lunch, we drove to LACMA because I had requested to take a #basic photo of myself in front of the LACMA light poles that everyone does when they come to LA. The LACMA is closed on Wednesdays so we knew we wouldn’t be able to explore the museum today, but to our dismay, the light poles, which are outside of the museum, were closed off for construction as well. We unfortunately were unable to fulfill any of my LACMA dreams, so we headed out to our next destination.

Joseph drove us to downtown Los Angeles and we parked under a building called the Walt Disney Concert Hall. I think he was going to take us sight seeing of the concert hall or something in the building but it looked like everything was closed. Ruby met up with us there and all five us of set out to explore downtown by foot. On our way, we passed by The Broad and the MOCA, which both looked like fun, interesting museums. I’d love to come back to LA sometime and check out these museums! After passing through a shady neighborhood, we arrived at the Grand Central Market, which is kind of like an old warehouse with a bunch of little restaurant booths. It reminded me of Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia.

I was kind of sleepy, so we got a cold brew coffee from the first coffee stand by the entrance of the market; I missed the name of the coffee shop, but their cold brew was on point. Next, Joseph and Ruby led us to this Mexican taco booth, called Tacos Tumbras a Tomas. Although we were all still full from lunch, they said that we could NOT leave LA without having a taco, and this place was the best. We ordered one cabeza (meaning head, but it was pork cheek) taco, which was enormous, to split between the five us, since it was just a snack. I do not know how they prepared this meat, but that taco simply MELTS. IN. YOUR. MOUTH. It was a bit salty, especially since they use salsa verde instead of pico de gallo, but it was delicious none-the-less. I am still thinking about that taco. I’ll be thinking about it for a long time. 

Next, we walked a few blocks to The Last Bookstore. I’ve seen photos of it before online, and it looks kind of apocalyptic, but in a cool, hip way. It’s really well decorated, if you’re into vintage hipster things! We didn’t spend that much time there, especially since no one was actually on the market for books lol, but we took some photos with the book case tunnel, which is about the only thing I knew about this bookstore before coming, and continued on our way. 

Joseph took us to this rooftop bar called Perch for Happy Hour. He had mentioned this earlier, to which I audibly wondered what I could do there, seeing how I am still short 20 days of legal drinking age in this country. “Uhm, you can have a water” is what he told me earlier, and what I ended up doing LOL. We were able to see some impressive views of LA from the 16th floor of this building. LA doesn’t have as high a density of skyscrapers as other cities, so while 16 stories is nowhere near the highest building in the city, it isn’t completely dwarfed by its neighbors and you are still able to see quite far over the city. It was a fun experience! 

Back on ground level, we retraced our steps towards the Walt Disney Concert Hall to get back in our cars. I actually rode with Ruby, so our own car wouldn’t be as crowded. We drove to Koreatown and had dinner at this Korean BBQ place called Kang Hodong Baekjeong. It was very yummy! Joseph says that he thinks it’s probably the best kbbq in LA (which is quite a claim because there was a kbbq place on every corner in Ktown), but to be honest, I can’t really tell the difference. Still, the meat was very tender and it was a quality meal :) The only complaint I have is that the smoke from the grill kept blowing right into my face and I actually kept my sunglasses on whenever the meat was cooking, so that the smoke wouldn’t make my eyes too watery haha! 

For dessert, we walked two blocks over to Honeymee, which is known for its soft-serve ice cream that comes with a signature chunk of honey-rich beeswax. We ordered one original and one affogato; both were delicious! 

We returned to our car and my family drove to Joseph’s workplace, so that he could get his own car. He also gave us a brief tour of his workplace, which was a really nice looking office! We met up with him at his apartment after, and took a look at his living space as well. It was nice to see the two places he spends most of his time and I think my parents feel relieved that their child is not living in squalor and depravity but actually doing pretty well for himself! Good for him :) Seems a little weird to think about how adult he is now. 

Last night out on vacation! My flight back to the East Coast is pretty early tomorrow, so it feels good to get clean and organize all my things. Time to get a good nights’ rest before returning to reality...boo! 

[thatsbesidethe]

MDtoCA: Day 11

August 30th

Today, we slept in and enjoyed our cushy hotel in Las Vegas. Around 10:30, we left our hotel and drove through the desert towards SoCal! It was brutally hot but we reached some town called Barstow, CA around lunch time so we stopped to eat at In-n-Out!!! To be honest, a lot of the talk about it is just hype, but I do enjoy their food and it’s well priced and I just really really really missed having it whenever I wanted from when we lived in California. Here’s my sweet reunion: 

After our brief lunch break, we set back out on the road and continued the drive to Orange County. We started to feel the effects of LA traffic, but around 3:30, we finally made it to Venice Beach! Knowing that the traffic would only get worse, we only spent about 40 minute running around on the sand and taking some photos before driving into Irvine.

First, my parents dropped me off at a Starbucks and then they went to meet up with one of my dad’s old college friends for dinner. My brother’s girlfriend, Ruby, works nearby and when she got off work 30 minutes later, she came and scooped me up. I spent the evening hanging out with her at her house and we went out for ramen and shaved ice for dinner! It was nice to bond with Ruby (!!) and also eat some Asian food after nearly two weeks of American food on the road! Plus, Asian food (and almost all the foods) in SoCal are delicious so it was great. 

When my parents were done eating, they had gone back to that college friends’ house, so Ruby drove me over and we all sat around while the parents were chatting. Their house was fancy and even had an indoor koi pond, sunken into the floor! Very cool. We were staying at another one of my parents’ college friends’ house for the night, but luckily, they lived 5 minutes away in a nearby neighborhood! 

The family we stayed with, the Huangs, have two boys about my age and we’ve visited/traveled with the before so it’s always good to see them again! This visit was a bit different though, because the older of the two who is actually closer in age to me had already left for college. The younger brother was home but it was quite late when we had arrived at their house, so after I showered and put away my things, I was too tired to chat with them and fell asleep. I wish I had gotten to spend more time with them because I only get to see them once every few years! 

[thatsbesidethe]

MDtoCA: Day 9

August 28th

I am lowkey falling in love with the Southwest. GUYS. IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER!!! AAAHHHFSFDKKHHJJFSBPW

This morning, we set our alarms for 6:15am so that we could get up and watch the sunrise. The hotel was cleverly built to face the east, so we were able to watch the sunrise over the monuments. I didn’t get any photos from my phone because I took a kickass time-lapse of the sunrise instead. Luckily I swiped some of Monument Valley at dusk from my momma’s phone: 

While the time-lapse was running from our hotel balcony, I took the DSLR and took some shots from the hotel lobby balcony as well. After we all washed up, my parents and I went back to the hotel restaurant and had breakfast there. It was a standard continental breakfast but it wasn’t complimentary with the hotel...but probably the most satisfying breakfast we’ve had so far. Also nice to enjoy the view, though the sun’s rays were a bit too strong. Since the hotel was so nice, we hung around a bit (and I caught some pokemon hehe) until we checked out around 10. 

We drove two hours, into Arizona again, to a town called Page, where we had reservations to tour Antelope Canyon. Apparently, that part of Arizona is under Pacific time, so we had an extra hour to spare when we arrived which we spent eating some fruit and nuts we had on the car. At last, the tour began, but it was preceded with a demonstration of a Native American traditional hoop dance, which was actually really cool! After that, we piled into the back of a bunch of pickup trucks that had been fitted with seats and a canopy covering; think safari jeep. Our tour guide drove us deep into the desert until we arrived at the entrance of the canyon. 

We ventured into Antelope Canyon which was truly so so so so beautiful. Like, the whole time, I was just internally screaming AAAHHHH GAH WAAAAAHHHH. But it was also a little bit scary because I felt kind of claustrophobic. Imagine being between two rocks that rise up and wind around each other about 50 feet on either side with 3 feet in between the rocks for you to walk down. Then fill that space with a bunch of other tourists, eager to push past each other. Inside is dark and cool and the tour guide tells you that when it rains, the canyons flood and the waters rise up to 30 feet inside. The path we’re walking down would be at the bottom of the water. Hm, maybe I am leaving a poor impression of this place. If this has turned you off from visiting Antelope Canyon, let me just reiterate that it was like 100x more beautiful than it was terrifying LOL. If you don’t believe me, here are some photos: 

These are UNFILTERED. This is real!!!! AWGGHHFHUSAFJLLRSF!! Also, our tour guide was great. I think they’re trained to point out the best places to take photos and they already know the best camera settings for iPhones, Samsung, and DSLRs. Our tour guide even stopped to take photos of the canyon with our cameras for us if you asked nicely haha. One bumpy truck ride later, we were back at Page.

From there, we drove 10 minutes south to Horseshoe Bend! 

It didn’t look so bad, but the hike up to the edge of the cliff was actually quite taxing. Plus the ground is mostly sand, so it was hard to hike up. At last, from the top, the view down at the Colorado River was beautiful! Because of algae blooms or something, the river is this nice blue-green hue and the giant rock island in the middle is really something to behold. I was afraid to get too near to the edge because there is no railing or anything and it would be a really nasty fall over the side. 

We hiked back down to the parking lot and drove another 2.5 hours to Bryce Canyon. I fell asleep for the first hour but the remainder of the drive was quite scenic, since we passed by Zion National Park. We arrived at Bryce Canyon City, where we’re staying for the night, and checked in to our hotel. For dinner, we dined at the hotel’s restaurant, which was pretty unimpressive (kind of like a hometown buffet or something similar). 

TL;DR: Saw the sunrise over Monument Valley, lost my damn mind at Antelope Canyon, too scared to take any better photos at Horseshoe Bend. 

[thatsbesidethe]

MDtoCA: Day 8

August 27th

We’re deep into the Southwest now and I’m loving every second of it! The last few days have been more driving intensive but today’s itinerary was a lot more chill so we were able to go at a more relaxing pace. 

After breakfast at our hotel, we stopped by Safeway to get some snacks and water and also a Goodyear in town to ask them to take a look at our car. One of the warning signs had lit up on our rental a few days ago but the rental company was pretty unhelpful. The mechanic said it was for an oil change which is more recommended than necessary and we could probably travel to the end of our trip safely without any concerns. 

Once we were done, we headed out of Cortez, CO where we stayed for the night, and drove about 10 minutes away to this national park called Mesa Verde. Mesa Verde preserves a lot of Native American ruins but the biggest attraction was closed today. Some of the other attractions require additional tickets as well so we decided to just drive around the park. The drive was scenic but kind of scary since it was winding up and down the side of the mountain. We were able to see some ruins of what would be a town center and place of worship and after that we headed down the mountain. 

From there, we proceeded to the Four Corners Monument. This is the geographical location where the boundaries of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado meet. There’s a big circle in the middle with a larger square around it and each side of the square is lined with a bunch of booths selling different souvenirs. It was funny because as we walked from booth to booth, they would “welcome” us to a new state. There wasn’t much to do besides shop and take some pictures so we didn’t spend too much time there. 

We headed to our hotel at Monument Valley, which is straddled on the border of Utah and Arizona (but the hotel is in Utah). We checked into The View, the hotel we’re staying at, and MAN does it live up to its name!!! Each room of the hotel has its own window and all of them face two of the most magnificent structures of Monument Valley. Eager to go out and see the monuments in all their glory, we dropped off our luggage and got back on the road. The hotel staff gave us map and suggested we drive along the Monument Valley Loop. I think I’m just getting lazy because I can’t be bothered to try to explain it, but I think part of me knows that words and even these photos can’t depict the awe of Monument Valley in real life. 

It started to rain as we headed back towards the hotel. I was a bit worried since all the roads are made of red clay-ish dirt, but we managed to get back with out drowning in a mud hole. The rain actually subsided by the time we reached our hotel room and as we looked out our hotel room, I was blessed to witness truly the most breath taking (double) rainbow I have ever seen. I was able to see it from end to end (no pots of gold) as it stretched over the Mittens (one of the rock monuments) and it was so clear and luminous. Just wow. 

We had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant which served Navajo cuisine! It was fun to try new things and quite tasty as well but probably not the best meal we’ve had on our trip. Happy and full, we entered the gift shop at the store because our reservation at the hotel entitled us to a $20 gift card at the shop. I bought another lapel pin to add to my growing collection! I also browsed PokemonGo a bit and was pleasantly surprised to add a few more rock and fire type pokes to my pokedex :) 

Really happy to be staying in a nice hotel and surrounded by such beautiful nature. Today was great! 

[thatsbesidethe]

MDtoCA: Day 7

Can’t believe we’ve already been on the road for a week!

August 26th

This morning, we had some banana bread and coffee at my parents’ friends house. They were really very hospital and kind! After some thank yous and good byes, we set off towards Utah for Arches National Park.

Most of the 6 hour drive consisted of crossing Colorado. We made a stop at Colorado National Monument but because we were pressed for time, we just took a picture at the sign and didn’t actually go into the park. We also made took a lunch break around here, departing from our usual McDonalds’ lunch for Burger King today lol. There were also a ton of rare/fire-type pokemon here which was super exciting even though I swear I don’t really play anymore!!!!

The drive to Arches was mostly just going down I-70, which had amazeballs views of these red rocks and other mountainous formations. The scenic drive really made the time fly by. We arrived at Arches National Park a little after 3 and proceeded to have arguably the most fun on our trip yet! These photos really don’t do the place justice because they’re really just so much more breath taking and magnificent in person.

At one point, we were hiking up towards this great big rock arch, which has an opening in the middle (pictured above) and you can look through it down on the other side of the valley. I felt like Moses, hiking through the desert and when I reached the top, I would look down at the Promised Land LOL. I shared this thought with my mom who told me she was thinking the same thing! Alas, our view was not of a land flowing with milk and honey but just more desert shrubbery.

After our afternoon trapeze through this fantastic national park, we headed down the mountain into the small, but bustling, town of Moab (yet another Biblical name!). We found a small bistro for dinner, called Desert Bistro. It’s hard to imagine doing something that would top our last three hours at Arches, but our dinner here really gave Arches a run for its money! We were seated in the restaurant’s garden, which was filled with herbs grown for its kitchen. The combination of the weather and the garden set the tone for a really relaxing, fresh meal. And the food, oh the food. It was so beautiful and unique and delicious! (If you’ve been keeping up with my travels, I don’t think it tops the duck breast from Akron, but I think overall, it was a better meal).

It was about 8 when we finished our meal (which we topped off with some tasty jujubes that we stole off the tree in the restaurant’s garden lol) and we had another 2 hours to drive to our hotel. The hotel is in southern Colorado, so we actually had to cross back over state boundaries again. It was really dark by now and the highways had no street lights so it was a stressful drive back. My dad is the real MVP but I think my mom and I were both feeling quite tense as we watched the roads along with him and helping him navigate.

[thatsbesidethe]

MDtoCA: Day 6

August 25th

After arguably the worst complimentary continental breakfast of our trip so far, we left our hotel in Keystone, SD and drove up to Mt. Rushmore. Even though we went last night, it was too dark to get any good pictures so we were able to get a better view of the mountain in the daylight. It started to rain a bit and it was a bit gloomy, but it wasn’t too heavy.

Neighboring the Mt. Rushmore monument was the Custer State Park, so we drove through it as well. There’s one particular drive called the Wildlife Loop, which my dad was eager to see because it’s known for being a great place to spot wildlife (as the name suggests). However, because of the rain, we weren’t able to see many animals, only two sheep and a few very very distant bison. I joked with my parents that this was like pokemon hunting, but for real animals; you know they’re nearby, but it’s just super frustrating when you can’t spot them. Not until near the end of our drive did we run into a huge pack of wild donkeys (or mules? long eared horses?) that were just milling around on the road! Quite a few of them walked right up to our car and if our windows were down, I’m sure they would have stuck their heads right in. They were pretty cute and a couple of them even rubbed their heads against our side mirrors as if to scratch their faces, the way a cat might nudge its face against your legs.

We continued our drive out of South Dakota and we passed through Wyoming and into Colorado. I fell asleep for most of the ride so I can’t say much for it but I woke up about 80 miles before we hit Cheyenne. We stopped at a gas station and got some fried chicken for lunch. This proved to be a bad decision later on when I felt gassy and bloated :( I should have known better than to eat at a gas station though lol.

Around 4:30, we reached Boulder, Colorado. My parents have some college friends who live here, so we’re staying with them for the night. They were nice enough to take us to Rocky Mountain National Park for the evening, with plans to see some amazing views of the sunset over the mountains. Midway into our drive, we reached a small scenic lake called Lake Lilly with some mountains in the background and we stopped to take some pictures. 

It was really cold so we didn’t stay for long. As we drove on upward into the mountains, it was apparent that it was too cloudy and dark to be able to see anything. At one point, we were basically driving in a cloud so we decided to just turn around since we wouldn’t be able to see anything tonight. We stopped at some overlooks on the way down to peer down at the mountain, but what would have been an impressive view was subdued because of the weather.

I didn’t realize the drive up and down the mountain would be so time consuming but we got back to Boulder around 9:15 and we stopped for dinner at a restaurant called BJ’s. It kind of reminds me of CPK but more dimly lit; probably a casual date place. The food was alright; I probably would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t so tired. We just got back to their home and even though I’m sleeping on a cot tonight, it feels a lot nicer to be in a warm, homey place for the night, instead of a dingy hotel room.

[thatsbesidethe]

MDtoCA: Day 3

No travels on the road today. We planned an extra day in Chicago to stay n play!

At 9, we left our hotel and walked a few blocks to a restaurant called Meli Cafe. It was a pretty bougie restaurant/bar and we had brunch there. The servings were generous and yummy; we actually didn’t even finish and had to bring it back. We stopped by the hotel on the way back to drop off the leftovers in our fridge and then continued northward back towards The Loop area. 

Today’s main activity was seeing the Art Institute of Chicago which was AMAZING! This museum houses several famous paintings (Monet, Picasso, Warhol, O’Keefe, Matisse), the list goes on...I had a fun time looking at the famous piece of Seurat’s pontillism: Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte and pretending I’m in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Other highlights were Nighthawks, American Gothic, and one piece in the contemporary art exhibit where you could take a piece of candy. I also found this Conan O’Brien look-alike piece of art: 

We stopped by Millennium Park again after the art museum and strolled through a little garden and wading pool-type thing. I took some more pictures of the bean because gosh, I just can’t resist that giant chrome-y orb. Here’s my first mirror selfie since high-school: 

We headed back to the hotel for a mid-day break since my parents were tired, but not without stopping for some gelato first hehe. Back at our hotel, I made use of the gym and then freshened up a bit. 

At 5, we walked down to the riverwalk, which is kind of like a boardwalk along the Chicago river. It was quite beautiful but what I consider to be the most influential and beautiful building along the riverfront is unfortunately the Trump Tower haha. We continued down the riverfront until we hit Navy Pier, which is kind of like a bigger boardwalk with more tourist attractions including a big ferris wheel overlooking the body of water. From there, you could look back at the entirety of the city’s skyline. 

On a tangent, something I’ve come to love about Chicago is its vast range of architecture. Each building is unique and different but they’re all so beautiful and well-orchestrated into the skyline. I’m wary of what this place might be like in the winter time, but Chicago in the summer may be one of my new favorite cities. 

Around 7pm, we took a taxi across the city to a restaurant called Girl and the Goat. I had made a reservation for 7:30 but when we tried to check in and they couldn’t find my name, I realized that the reservation was for NEXT Monday LOL. That was already the next available time when I had made the reservation two days ago...so I was surprised when the hostess told me there was availability left for today without reservations! It wasn’t a real table, but rather the restaurant’s lounge area, which is more like causal seating as an extension of the bar. But they assured us that the lounge is still serviced by a waiter with the full menu so it seems like the only thing different is that we eat off a really low coffee table while sitting on a couch...which is fine by me lol. 

The restaurant serves “small dishes” which the waiter explains is not an individual entree dish but rather a tasting of a dish meant to be shared by the entire party. Think tapas but more elaborate. We got 6 dishes (the waiter suggested about 2/person with everyone sharing) and a dessert between the three of us. This isn’t a food blog so I won’t go into details but some highlights were fried duck tongues, goat liver mousse (pate), and goat confit with crab and lobster (who uses lobster as a garnish?!?! this place is waaaaay out of my league). 

But man, that was some good eats tonight. We walked the 8 blocks back to our hotel, but Chicago blocks aren’t as bad as NYC blocks. We stopped by a Whole Foods on the way to get some fruit for our drive tomorrow.