KK

Day 5: Ryoanji Temple, a Glimmering Temple, and last meal at Kyoto Station

2008-12-25T22:25:00.000-08:00

We got a late start today because we were both feeling a little under the weather and it was raining all morning. Once the rain started to lighten up, however, we felt we should make the best use of our last full day in Kyoto! We had read about the Ryoanji temple and its Zen garden, which are World Cultural Heritage sites. And of course, because we love food, we learned that it was a place where we could order yu-dofu, Buddhist vegeterian tofu, and eat like the Buddhist monks! Approaching noon, our stomachs were hungry, so we took a 40-min bus ride to Ryoanji temple, situated in a peaceful area on the Northwest area of Kyoto.

After getting off the bus, we immediately tried to locate the little restaurant within the temple complex. We found a wooden menu board (in both Japanese and an English), with "yudofu" prominently displayed at the top. This must be it!
The noren curtain we passed under had an "O" sign, which we later discovered signified affability and an earnest hope for peace and harmony in the world. We walked through an elegantly manicured garden and could hear the sounds of the shishi-odoshi, a water contraption made of bamboo, which is meant to scare off animals. As we entered a doorway to remove our shoes, we rang a little bell near the closed screen doors and a voice said something in Japanese. Not knowing what she said exactly, we just said, "two for yudofu," or something to that effect. Then, the screen door was opened and we entered a beautiful Japanese-style room.

One entire side of the room was designed with glass screen doors, offering customers a view of the Kyoyochi pond and the lovely garden that we just walked through.

We seated ourselves at a table by the big glass viewing screens and ordered two yudofu vegeterian set meals. In retrospect we probably could have just ordered one, but since we didn't really know how large the portions would be, we leaned toward the safe side of having more food. :) We sat on these flat pillows that were arranged around a small round dining table. The dining table was very low, and there were these stone pots with rocks in the center of the dining table. We realized what they were for once the hostess presented us with a big, hot, bubbling, clay pot full of tofu. She placed the pot on the stone rocks and then demonstrated how to eat the tofu. The tofu was simmering in very simple vegeterian soup consisting of mushrooms, cabbage, and fishcake. We were to use these little slotted spoons to scoop out the tofu and vegetables, and then dip them in a special sauce. The hostess showed us how to mix the sauce together, which was made of minced daikon, shoyu or soy sauce, some sweeter sauce (maybe mirin?), sesame seeds, and wakame (dried seaweed). This was such fun! Kind of like a hot pot, but Japanese vegeterian style.

Along with the tofu pot, the hostess also brought out our vegeterian side dishes, all neatly arranged on an orange-colored square tray in a a tic-tac-toe-like grid. The side dishes reminded us of the kaiseki meal with the pickled daikon, miso vegetables, and even a sweet-bean type of tofu which had a peanutty taste. These dishes were also fun to eat and we were reminded again of how the Japanese love pickled vegetables! Oh, and we had ordered some warm sake, too, and it was very fragrant and tasty! Halfway through our meal, it started to rain lightly; the perfect accompaniment to our meal as we looked out the window and onto the little pond.

Fueled now for more sight-seeing, we headed to the Zen Rock garden, acknowledged as a masterpiece of Japanese culture. The rectangular Zen Rock garden at Ryoanji Temple consists only of white sand and fifteen rocks, laid out at the end of the 15th century, and is surrounded by low earthen colored walls. Its simple beauty is said to stimulate philosophical meditation. We wanted to see if we could be inspired to see more than just rocks. After staring at the rocks for a little while, Keith and I had some ideas, like "it's a mother lion leading her cubs!" or "it's a sea full of islands!" Perhaps you can try and tell us what you see?

Our next stop was Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavilion, to see the gold-leafed temple. In the 1220s, the temple was first a comfortable villa before it was coverted to a Zen temple. Kinkakuji is also a World Cultural Heritage site (there are so many in Kyoto!). Unfortunately, it started raining when we arrived at the temple so we quickly walked through the grounds. Indeed, the glimmering temple was very beautiful and unique. There is even a golden Chinese phoenix at the top of the temple. A few snapshots later, we left to catch the bus back to our hotel.

Well, we had a busy week in Kyoto and our last night--what should we eat?? We decided to save money and try a different ramen shop on the ramen floor of the Isetan department store. This time, we tried Sapporo style ramen! I am not sure if I can tell the difference between all the types of ramen, but it was yummy nonetheless and we got a kick out of using the vending-style machines again. There was also a characteristic little Japanese host at the entrance who kept saying all these things in a high-pitched Japanese voice. After ramen, we wanted to try this Japanese ice cream dessert that we'd been eyeing all week. It came in a little dish and had a layer of white jello, a layer of green tea jello at the bottom, which was then topped with red azuki beans, some fresh fruit, chewy mochi balls, and a scoop of green tea ice cream. They also give you a little jar of sweet green tea syrup that you can drizzle on top of the dessert. Before we realized it, we were at the bottom of the cup, and the dessert had disappeared! A sweet ending to our wonderful vacation in Kyoto.

Day 4: Fushimi Shrine and the Gion District and its Geishas

2008-12-24T16:08:00.000-08:00

While relaxing yesterday at the onsen, we came to realize (in the spirit of being relaxed) that our trip was already halfway over but there remains many places we have yet to see! For the two days we have left, one of the must-sees is the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Right after breakfast, we took the train about 10 minutes to get to to this shrine in the southeastern part of the city.

The Fushimi Inari shrine is one of the most well-known, most photographed sites in Kyoto (probably Japan as well)... in fact, it was used twice in Memoirs of a Geisha where Sayuri was running to reach the shrine to pray. This massive shrine complex dates back to the 8th century (711 A.D.), and spreads across the the Inari hilll. Shrines are connected by pathways lined with red torii gates of various sizes. Inari, the Shinto god of rice, is worshipped here, and inscribed on these gates are offerings by the worshippers in hopes for a successful harvest. Nowadays, many of these gates are sponsored by large corporations, and we were told the going price for 1 gate is about 1M-Yen (~$10k USD). There are more than 10,000 gates here.

Cleansing stations are located at the entrance to all Shinto shrines such that the worshipper can "cleanse their hearts and bodies" before praying. Holding the ladle with the right hand, first the left hand is rinsed, then vice versa. Then, water is poured from the ladle onto the left hand for drinking (I never saw anyone do this probably because of sanitary reasons), and finally, the ladle is held vertically so its water runs backwards and washes the handle (for the next person).

The Inari path follows a 4km loop up the hill. As we ascended, there are a few small tea houses where we can rest and have a cup of tea (and have a nice hot bowl of noodles as a reward for our efforts). Pretty neat how these rest stops are so relaxing in the middle of the woods, and there were surprisingly few people overall at the Fushimi shrine.

Apparently, more than one-third(!) of the Shinto shrines with full-time priests in Japan are dedicated to Inari (as well as many smaller road-side or unmanned shrines). Stone statues of foxes are also present throughout the grounds, and are seen as messengers of Inari. These fox statues come in pairs, and often have etchings of a key, jewels, or rice in its mouth -- all to symbolize the granting of the harvest. According to Wikipedia, inari-zushi, or fried tofu sushi, is often brought by worshippers to place in front of these foxes as it is believed they like tofu. It is also said that the rest stops on the path serve "inari ramen" with tofu, but we did not understand the menus well enough to know if this was true.

Personally, I found it quite invigorating walking through this shrine, especially given the importance of rice in my diet. That, and it was quite a nice place to take photographs :).

On our way to the Gion district in the western Higashiyama ward of Kyoto, we also stopped at the shrine for the god of fish (just kidding) -- Ganko Zushi was recommended by Frommer's and Lonely Planet as a lively, good-deal for sushi in Kyoto. After my complaining for not having real sushi (not that salted mackerel Sabazushi) since we got here, we went just to see how different it was compared to the US.

Luckily for us, the waitress not only spoke English, but she had something like 7 different menus (not all in English) with choices for various bargain deals. Since we already took a break at the shrine, we just decided to sample a few small items. On the left hand side are (clockwise): salmon, hisage (small type of tuna), unagi with cucumber, and buri (larger type of hamachi). Hisage and buri were both recommended as the seasonal local fish -- normally hamachi is my favorite, but buri was quite tough and less fragrant. Buri was really good... very soft and better than regular tuna. Also, the wasabi was very granular compared to the pasty stuff they serve in the US. We also got a plate of futomaki for some non-fish sushi.

Gion is known as the pleasure district of Kyoto (not the red light district) where, since the 18th century, travellers and locals have been entertained by storytellers and performing artists in tea houses. The very first of these entertainers, or geishas ("artists"), were men, but the tradition has since become exclusively managed, performed, and controlled by women. More on this later.

The Gion district has many old houses, or machiya, that remain of historic construction. These are very small, narrow homes (but very deep), and come from an era when the value of a house (and taxes paid) was determined by the width of its front door. All the machiyas have very narrow doors. Nowadays, some of these machiyas have been converted to restaurants that are open to the public -- these have red lanterns in the front, drapes over their doors (indicating service), and a menu outside with prices. Other machiyas, however, may have a lantern or a name on the door, but no menu or drapes. These are ochayas, or tea houses, and it is in these private buildings where the rich can have food, alcohol, and geishas performances. In fact, it is along this main strip in Gion that is named "place to see the 'flowers and willows'." Many tourists and Japanese men alike wait outside the teahouses to get a glimpse of the "flowers."

The Ichiriki Ochaya, at almost 300 years old, pretty much at the center of the Gion district, is the most famous of these teahouses. It apparently has historical symbolism as the location where samurai plotted against the Shogun during the Meiji Restoration. Many of the buildings in Gion have these convex bamboo slats on the outer walls (see left side of the Ichiriki photo) -- apparently, these prevented unwanted outsiders from leaning against the wall and eavesdropping.

In order to learn about the world of the Geisha, we took a walking tour with the Kyoto Tourism Council. Our guide, Yumi, studied at UC Santa Barbara and did a great job. Before meeting for that walk, however, we went for a brief snack at Kagizen Yoshifusa, a famous sweet store in the Gion district. Instead of ordering (almost!) warabimochi, we shared a kuzu kiri (their specialty) which consists of cold, clear arrowroot noodles dipped in a dark molasses-like syrup with hints of sesame. You can use chopsticks to eat many desserts, but this is the only dessert I've ever seen that can only be eaten with chopsticks (the noodles are very slippery). The tearoom nicely looks out onto a quaint little garden (in the middle of a busy city).

Our walking tour encircled various corners and nooks of Gion. Yumi explained that the geiko, the Kyoto word for geisha, actually infers female performer (compared to the era with male performers). Unfortunately, she says, many foreigners and even Japanese people have a false notion that geikos are prostitutes, when in fact they are not allowed to have a relationship in their profession (those who decide to marry must retire according to protocol). These girls start their rigorous training at the age of 15, and learn traditional Japanese dancing, musical instruments, mannerisms and poise, and etiquette among the elite socialites. Yumi took us along the alley ways where the current schools, boarding houses, and hair dressers for the maiko, or those who achieve the highest apprentice level, live for their trade. While there are many sad stories of young impoverished girls forced into the business (such as in Memoirs), Yumi explained that nowadays it would be a high honor for a young modern woman to become a successful geiko (similar to becoming a famous prima ballerina). In fact, there is a shortage of new apprentices because few women are willing to tolerate the tough training when other occupational choices are possible. However, successful geikos make quite a lot of money, and are culturally revered for their talents. After all, their clients are limited to those of high wealth or status: invitation to this private group is only possible through an existing member (once you're in, you're taken care of), and typical evenings cost as much as 1M-yen. Famous politicians, including Queen Elizabeth, have attended such performances. It is said that men use these invitations to conduct business deals, and it is not uncommon for them to bring their wife and children to the ochaya to see the geiko perform.

Gion has many famous names in the geiko world, such as Yachiyo Inoue, who have been nationally recognized as the preserver of ancient Kyoto dance styles (she used to head the local maiko school). Another man down the street makes elaborate hair pieces (that are incredibly expensive) that are worn by the maikos, or are given as gifts by the clients to the geikos. The rice paper balls (see left), are made by a man (supposedly the only one who can make them in Japan) and are filled with trinkets -- these are also bought as gifts to be given to maikos. The handwriting on these balls are signatures by Japanese movie stars. Many of these niche artisans have become famous in their crafts in beautifying the geiko and her artistry.

A geiko or maiko can be identified (as opposed to a local woman wearing a kimono) because they are often walking very fast (despite the limited movement by their clothing) as they have many appointments from one ochaya to the next. Some of the many details that are seen in maikos include elaborate hair pieces, specific hair styles (takes hours to do), elaborate silk clothing, more blush on the cheeks and eye area, and only partially painted lips. Yumi also explained the unpainted back of the neck is because that is one part of the body most treasured by men, and therefore it is "nude." In comparison to the maiko, a full geiko has sometimes more plain fashion, a more natural complexion, few to no hair pieces, and sometimes wear a wig -- her beauty is in her mature art form. Yumi said that she had wanted to be a geiko when she was young, but paid to try on the entire outfit -- she found out the headpiece and huge clothing is very very heavy, and that she could barely stand up, let alone move and dance.

We saw this woman coming out from one of the okiyas. Based on what you know, do you think she is a geiko or a maiko?

One of the biggest inaccuracies in Memoirs of a Geisha is the auctioning of Sayuri's virginity, which Yumi says never happens. Another inaccuracy that I found, however, is that in the movie, the geishas are beautiful. This maiko that we spotted, however, had scary teeth (click on photo to enlarge). No offense, but maybe her client should give the gift of a dentist appointment?

She came out from her boarding house to meet a friend, gave her something quickly, and then ran back into her okiya. Within the few seconds, though, everyone on the street stopped to gawk. They're okay with us taking photos of them as long as we do not touch or chase after them. Given we were there in the early evening (they normally entertain until the early morning), we were pretty lucky to have spotted her.

After our tour, we took Yumi's recommendation to check out an okonomiyaki restaurant in Gion. These are savory pancakes with various ingredients -- we ordered one that had yam and beef tendons, and another with seafood (recommendations by our waitress). This was served with two onigiris. The fun part was having it cook on our table-top griddle. We could get okonomiyakis back in California, but we had to just try everything locally. It tasted really home-made and fresh, and was well done... but we liked yesterday's kaiseki meal more.

On our way back to the hotel, we walked across the Sanjo bridge to the Pontocho street famous for its numerous restaurants (originally we had wanted to go there for dinner). Many of the restaurants had beautiful doorways, and ranged from affordable to >$100USD/person. Unfortunately, many also were only in Japanese, so we might have had a hard time ordering if we had gone there instead.

Luckily a local cake shop spoke English and were selling cakes for Christmas Eve, so we were able to buy some dessert and bring it back to the hotel to eat in front of the TV. Thus ends our 4th day in Kyoto!!

Day 3: Kurama Onsen, Kyoto Handicrafts, and Oyako-Don

2008-12-23T23:15:00.000-08:00

Today we decided to partake in a much anticipated Japanese tradition--Onsen. The word onsen means "hot spring" or "hot bath", and it is much ingrained in the Japanese culture and way of life. Because of the volcanic activity on the island of Japan, many natural onsens arose and gave way to the Japanese ritual of regular bathing. It is also believed that the onsens provide medical benefit, such as healing aches, pains and diseases. Although Keith had his hesitations about sitting in a tub of hot water with other naked men, I encouraged him to have an open mind and to look beyond that. In any case, we certainly were hoping that the onsen would cure our aching legs after our first 2 days of walking all around Kyoto!

Our destination was the northern town of Kurama, which is known for its onsens. It is nestled in the mountains outside of Kyoto, and the train ride there was absolutely beautiful!
There were mountains everywhere and we immediately felt a sense of peace and quiet, as we sat in the train admiring the surroundings and appreciating the traditional wood houses, cemeteries, and shrines that dotted the landscape.

Upon arrival at the town of Kurama, we boarded a little shuttle bus that provided free transit to the onsen (about 5 mins away). When we got to Kurama Onsen, we entered a small 2-story building situated atop a small hill and had to remove our shoes once inside. The reception desk did not speak much English, but they were very courteous as both Keith and I pointed to their menu of services and managed to communicate that we wanted to use the "inside and outside bath" and also eat a "mini kaiseki lunch" after our bathing. They proceeded to give each of us a yukata robe, a towel, a locker key, and a map of the onsen. Then they pointed us to where the men's and women's changing room were. Keith and I deliberated for a few minutes outside of the changing room to agree that we would change into our robes and then meet back in the common area so we could head to the outdoor bath.

As I changed in the locker room, the sweet old reception lady came in and said "no swimsuit," perhaps thinking that as a foreigner I might not know that bathing suits are not allowed in the onsens. Luckily, I was somewhat familiar with onsen culture since I had gone to a few onsens during my studies in Taiwan, and the shock of not being allowed to wear anything was a bit lessened. I hoped Keith would be okay with this--see what he writes below! Once we were both changed into our robes, we walked outside and climbed a flight of stone stairs to reach the outside bathing house.

Since men and women are separated, I proceeded through the women's side of the bath house and we parted our ways for the next hour.
As I entered the women's bathing house, there were some wooden cubbies outside to place your slippers, and then there was another set of lockers inside. I could see the bath outside, steaming, and looking quite inviting. Luckily, there were only 2 other women there so I was happy that it wouldn't be too crowded. The actual bath area was not that large, but it was well designed as half of the bath had a pagoda-like covering to shield the sun or rain. As you can imagine, I wasn't allowed to take any photos, although I thought about it!

Before getting into the onsen, I had to shower and rinse my body first. The Japanese are very clean and everyone is required to do this before entering a public bath. I was already freezing in just my robe but managed to rinse quickly in the shower, thinking I could just hop into the bath right afterwards. Unfortunately I couldn't "hop" too much since the water was very hot!! It was like entering a very hot jacuzzi for the first time--takes awhile to get acclimated. So, I sat on the ledge for a minute with just my legs in the water and then slowly got in, all the while making squirmish expressions with my face.

After getting used to the hot water, I began to enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery and the crisp mountain air. It was very peaceful and I was glad there weren't a lot of other women, although more and more started arriving after I got in. The water was very clear and clean; it had a slight chlorine smell but not as strong as a jacuzzi. I could see that the water was constantly being replaced with fresh water, through some sort of filtering system, so I felt reassured that I wasn't going to catch some bug (you never know at a public bath!). After 20 mins I got really warm and my body was kind of red like a lobster. I got out and walked inside to this sauna area where there was another tub with warm water, which was not as hot. I alternated between the two tubs until it was about time to meet up with Keith for our lunch!
I asked Keith about his experience afterwards and this is what he says about "what it is like to sit in a tub with other naked men": it was hard to relax for the first 2 hours.

Now, onto our much anticipated meal of the day-our kaiseki lunch! Kaiseki meals are considered "haute" Japanese cuisine, and consist of many small plates including sashimi, tempura, clear broth, a steamed dish, a cold pickled dish, a grilled dish, a dessert, and many others. We had heard about kaiseki in the US so we really wanted to try it in Japan. Only fresh seasonal ingredients are used and are prepared in ways that aim to enhance their flavor. They are generally very expensive meals, so we decided that a mini lunch version would be economical while still allowing us to experience kaiseki. Every dish that came out was beautifully arranged and garnished, often with real leaves and flowers, as well as edible garnishes designed to resemble natural plants and animals. The Japanese definitely know how to make food pleasing both to the eye and the palate! We enjoyed every dish, and even took a little video of all the dishes. I think the local Japanese people must have thought we were really weird, taking so many pictures of food! Here are some photos of the dishes we enjoyed. Some of my favorites included the steamed turnip, miso vegetables, and the grilled whole fish.

Another was the tempura--instead of dipping into a liquid tempura sauce, we dipped it into a salty matcha (green tea) powder which added some interesting flavors.

After lunch, we were pretty full and the hostesses told us we could go upstairs to the "relaxation room." Since this onsen is also a ryokan (inn), we noticed that the guestrooms were also upstairs. However, the doors were closed so I wasn't able to see what they looked like. We went into a large room covered with tatami mats that was completely devoid of furniture except for a TV. It was kind of weird to pull some pillows and blankets and lie on the floor. Another older couple came in, lied down, and actually started taking a nap! I think we were too full from lunch to lie down, so we decided to go back downstairs and discussed using the inside bath. Keith preferred the outside bath, but I didn't want to go back outside since it was quite cold, so I chose to check out the inside bath. Although not as beautiful and nature-like, it was still nice. We felt refreshed, rested, and ready to move on with our sight-seeing. We left the onsen and walked downhill to the Kurama train station, passing the Kurama temple on the way down.

We decided to stop by the Kyoto
Handicrafts center in central Kyoto for some shopping. It was much larger than we expected! We found a 7-story building with many shops on each floor, each floor displaying their special craft. For example, there was one floor dedicated to doll-making, one to lacquer products, and one to kimonos. Keith was drawn to some samurai swords and asked to hold one up close. He had to wear little gloves in order to hold the swords. It was fun taking in all the traditional art forms (which is what Kyoto is known for) and purchasing a few gifts.

The craft center called a cab for us and we headed back to our hotel. We wanted to eat an inexpensive meal and were interested in trying out Oyakodon, in which chicken, egg, green onion, and other ingredients are all simmered together in a sauce and then served on top of a large bowl of rice. The name of the dish, parent and child donburi, is a poetic reflection of the fact that both chicken and egg are used in the dish. It's a dish you can get here in the US but we wanted to see what it would be like in Japan! Adjoining our hotel is the Isetan department store, and one floor has tons of food like a food court. The hotel concierge directed us toward a little stall that specializes in Oyakodon. It was slightly different from what I've had in the past, since it had less onion and the egg was still a little runny. It was good, though, very much like a comfort food. Now our day was complete and we were ready to hit the sack!

Day 2: Still eating (Part 3)

2008-12-22T23:40:00.000-08:00

Not surprisingly, after everything today, we wanted something a bit more simple and plain for dinner. After a few hours in the hotel, we went to the 11th floor of Isetan and found a restaurant known for their soba and udon. The above picture was their set soba dinner meal, which is worth blogging about for the item in the bottom left corner: Sabazushi.

Sabazushi, or mackerel sushi, is the regional sushi of Kyoto. Historically, because Kyoto is farther away from the sea than, say, Osaka, fish had to be cured or salted in order to be brought to the city. According to the Kyotofoodie.com website:

Sabazushi is made with saba that has been lightly pickled in salt, then filleted. The fillets are then pickled in sushi vinegar (rice vinegar and sugar) for a short time. Next the outer skin of the saba is carefully peeled away (retaining a delicate inner skin), remaining small bones are extracted with a tweezer-like device. The fillet is placed into a kigata (a wooden form) for making oshizishi (pressed sushi) which is filled with sushi rice. A very thinly sliced piece of pickled kombu (kelp) is placed atop the saba. It is then pressed in the wooden form.

Was it good? I think a good plate of regular hamachi nigiri is better. The kelp was thick, and the fish was a bit overpowering. The rest of the dinner was decent... pretty plain udon with tofu skin, a pretty nice grilled eggplant, and tsukemono (again, note the lack of leafy green vegetables in the meal). Oh, and warabimochi! (yay!)

In contrast, Karen was not very hungry, and ordered an udon with fishcakes.

Day 2: Nishijin Textiles, Kyoto Imperial Palace, & Nishiki Market

2008-12-22T12:52:00.000-08:00

After seeing the western Arashiyama district yesterday, today we visited central Kyoto -- most notable for the Kyoto Imperial Palace. It is only open for visit under a guided tour by the Imperial Family Agency, and they offer 2 tours a day in English (our turn is at 2pm). So first we're going to visit the Nishijin Textile Center on Imadegawa street, just half a kilometer away from the palace.

The Kyoto subway system, like the streets above, was extremely clean. Rarely did we see litter anywhere; in fact, trash cans were uncommon as well. Everyone lined up in an orderly, single-file line behind markers on the ground.

The train came promptly. We took the north-south subway line 5 stops; the train stations had signs in both Japanese and English, and made getting around possible.

The Nishijin textile center is a demonstration center for the making of kimono and ornamental obi clothing. We made it just in time for their kimono fashion show -- the clothes are so ornate and finely made. We noticed it is common for women to wear kimonos out on the streets as everyday wear (though more plain designs).

A lot of what seems to be a part of such an intricate outfit is how a woman carries herself -- she takes small, graceful steps, and wears these wooden platform shoes that looks to be 2-3 inches thick! The only thing that seemed to break the gracefulness of this show was this huge Chinese tour group that was making a loud ruckus, and taking photos of themselves in front of the models and making little peace-signs for the photos.

While they did not have a formal explanation or tour, we did get to see artisans work at different stations as they each made a part of the kimonos. I never knew it was so complex! Beyond the typical cutting and sewing together of the garment, an artist actually uses an ink and draws a very fine outline of the patterns onto the fabric. Then, the design is hand-painted within the outlined borders (see left), and while the garment is stretched on this small hem, the paint is heated over a stove and the colors slowly change. One of the artists was really nice and asked us our names, and then used his brush pen and wrote, in the finest handwriting ever (like size 1 font), our names on a piece of paper for us... oh, and his hand was not allowed to rest on the paper either. Watching them at work was really quite a treat.

Heading back towards the Imperial Palace, we stopped for lunch at this cute little restaurant along Imadegawa Street (could not understand the shop's name). We both got a set lunch: Karen's had a bowl of udon with fishcakes, tsukemono (pickled vegetables that seem to be sometimes the ONLY vegetable in the meal), and a bowl of rice with salmon and seaweed flakes. I got Tonkatsu (one of my fav's in the US), which is essentially deep-fried breaded pork chop in this really awesome sauce, and that came with a small bowl of udon. It seems that many set meals in Kyoto have both noodles and rice.

NOTE: To those who also love Tonkatsu, yes, this was better than what you can get in the US. Not really sure how just deep-fried pork can be any better or worse, but the breaded crust was flaky and airy, and the sauce just tasted really fresh.

Kyoto became the capitol in 794 A.D. when the emperor moved his administration from the nearby city of Nara where he grew a fear of loss of political control to the powerful monks. From 794 to 1868, the Kyoto Heian Palace, or daidairi, burned down numerous times from warfare, lightning, or household fires. Whenever a new palace is being rebuilt, the emperor’s family would reside in a temporary residence or sato-dairi. The Kyoto Imperial Palace is one such sato-dairi, and the original palace was never rebuilt after it burned down in 1177.

The palace area is huge (~1 square km) – the palace walls are surrounded by an inner courtyard, which is walled off and surrounded by an outer courtyard. Five gates allow access into the palace, of which one only opens for the Emperor, another is for the Empress and the children (which happens to be on the opposite end of the grounds), and another for visiting dignitaries. We entered through this last gate, but could only look through the windows as we were not allowed to go into any of the buildings. All the buildings were made of wood and paper – the roofs were carefully made of hundreds of layers of bark to insulate heat in the snowy winters (see photo on left), and the throne and resting places were open and airy for cooling in the summers. Supposedly, the design was based off of a palace in China, and so the throne faced the south. Despite its splendor, the furnishings seemed very sparse – the emperor laid on simple tatami mats, and appears to have slept on simple matting on the wood floor (the empress slept in a separate room). The cooks and kitchen were located in a totally separate, rock-lined area to reduce the risk of fires.

Interesting fact: Despite all these precautions, one year there was a big fireworks display in Kyoto, and one of the incendiaries flew 1.5km(!) and landed on the palace roof, and caused (again) another big fire. Since then, fireworks have been banned from the city. This current palace has stood since 1855.

The main “quad” inside the palace is constructed of sacred white gravel flanked by a cherry blossom tree on the left and a mandarin orange tree on the right. All the interior pillars are painted with an orange color -- I am unclear if the orange is the same Shinto orange seen in the Fushimi gates (see Day 4), but if so, it is meant to represent the sun and ward off the evil spirits associated with darkness and night. The white and yellow painted at the end of each wooden crossbeam was done to repel termites, but the rest of the surfaces are not treated… go figure.

After the palace, we took the subway to the Nishiki market, a street lined with 100+ shops selling sweets, teas, seafood, tofu, pickled things, and anything else edible for 4-5 city blocks.

Known as "Kyoto's Kitchen", this street has existed for "a few centuries", and many of the shops carried on from generation to generation. Imagine going down this street trying random free samples of each specialty... that was what it was like.

You might be wondering why Keith was smiling like he was in pure joy. It's because there was a shop that made donuts out of tofu. For about 350Yen (~$4 USD), we got a bag of 12 bite-size donuts.

They were quite plain with a little sweet, very slightly bean-y taste, and were very airy and not cake-like at all. Karen, who normally does not eat donuts, said they were "really good" (Karen) too! They were gone in about 47 seconds.

More photos... on the right showing what one of those pickled daikon looked like, and on the left a shop that had braised clams in some broth.

After a few blocks of aggressive food sampling, we got tired and took a break in a mochi shop :). This was an afternoon tea set with four different types of mochi -- warabi mochi on the right, and I can't remember the flavors on the larger plate. Not that it wasn't memorable... just that we ate so much it's hard to remember what was what.

There are a few other interesting streets nearby. There is a covered arcade filled with clothing stores (Teramachi Street), and one filled with restaurants (Pontocho). We went home to nap before heading out for dinner! Thus ended our 2nd day (post edit: much to our worry, our weight didn't change after that day)!

Hotel Granvia Kyoto / Day 2

2008-12-22T05:54:00.000-08:00

Our hotel, the Granvia Kyoto, was built by the Japan Railways company. It is a modern, business-oriented hotel, and is situated right on top of the JR Kyoto station (so the business people can just hop right onto the Shinkansen downstairs). This is a view towards the west side of the Kyoto station -- to the left are all the trains, and in the background is the Isetan, a massive department store. It has 11 floors (the escalators on the right go all the way up to the top past the big christmas tree), and the top floor has 10 or so pretty high-end (and $$$) restaurants. The 10th floor is where the 7 ramen shops are located. There are also a number of coffee shops, boulangeries, and snack/sweets stores (those that sell pretty nice mochi box sets, for example) on the ground and 2nd floors.

The escalators heading down (center of the photo) takes you downstairs into a mall that connects the Isetan and the subway station, and is called The Cube. We happened upon this massive food court on the 2nd basement floor that had many, many stalls selling bento boxes, curry sets, unagi, you name it. For once in my life I was sick of seeing so much food everywhere!

Tourists can buy passes that allow unlimited use of the JR trains for a period of time. Similar passes also exist for the bus and subway. Even though we had things to see every day, we ended up not being able to save by buying these passes.

Train and subway tickets can be bought at kiosks such as these. Many of them are quite limited in English, however; usually you look at a map overhead, determine the cost (the farther you go, the more it costs), and buy the ticket value you want.

This is a view from the northern side of the train station. To the left is a large taxi and bus terminal; from here, we can catch a bus to pretty much anywhere in the city (as long as you can understand the maps in Japanese). The tall building in the background is our hotel, the Granvia. It has 15 floors (the city has a historical height limit to 3 stories, but somehow this was allowed), and there are some very $$$ restaurants serving kaiseki meals on the top floor. There are walkways and escalators to the station, and each morning we could walk downstairs, buy coffee and pastries, or figure out which transportation to take (given all of our choices!) to get to where we wanted. The location was really good for the end of the day as well, when we were tired and wanted to just get off the train and walk upstairs to our room. Oh, and I forgot: there are more restaurants and cafes outside the station within the block, but we didn't try them.

This is what I mean by the nice breakfast options downstairs (versus paying $20 for breakfast within the hotel restaurants). There is this Burdigala bakery in the train station, and they serve these wonderfully crunchy, somewhat-buttery pastries. This was an almond-chocolate croissant and a pear danish; for $8 (including a cup of coffee), she neatly packed it inside this take-out bag with a rigid cup holder to keep everything together. Why can't Starbucks be this nice?

Our room was on the 11th floor, and when we checked in, this nice Japanese bellgirl walked us up to our room, showed us different features in our room, and was extremely gracious. The staff's english was pretty good, and the concierge was able to point us to many things, make calls for us, and even find local cheap (very casual) foods for us (we wanted oyako-don one night). Our room was very comfortable, and it definitely deserved the positive reviews we read prior to choosing it (plus the price was quite affordable). The room lighting can be controlled from a digital panel next to the bed, there was a nice desk and flatscreen TV in the room, and the view can't be beat. They even brought us special things each day waiting for us when we came home: one day we got a yuzu fruit with a note saying that it is traditionally good luck to take a bath with it as it brings good health for the year! On Christmas day, they gave us a small box of chocolates. They also had one of those Zojirushi hot water dispensers in the room, and an electric clothes press in the closet.

Our bathroom was similarly modern, with a nice counter (we're bathroom snobs when we travel) and a very nice hot shower / bathtub. This was quite a pleasant change compared to this rather sad hotel we checked into in Hong Kong (see here). The most surprising thing, though, was the electric toilet that was there!!! It had this heated toilet seat that hums whenever you sit on it, and has 3 heat levels (it can get quite hot!). It also has a bidet spray function, and also a shower function -- I read about these in Japan, but have never used one until now. Unlike what I have read, though, it did not have an air dry function, and so our tails were left dripping wet after using it. Back to good ol' fashion toilet paper.

It also tickled, but after a few days of use it was a nice thing to have. Luckily, it had instructions in English or we would have had a pretty interesting surprise by pushing those buttons.

Alright, time to head outside for Day 2!

1st day in Kyoto

2008-12-21T22:56:00.000-08:00

Our first day waking up in Kyoto... our hotel room on the 11th floor of the Granvia Kyoto Hotel looks over the southern part of the city. We could see the Shinkansen (Japan bullet train) and other trains pulling into the station below us on a regular basis, but we're so high up that we can barely hear them. It's forecasted to rain today, and today's also the last day of the Kyoto Winter Festival where they use lanterns to light up the Arashiyama (western hills) district. Hopefully the weather will cooperate... but look at the glorious sky! Aahhh.... what a way to start the vacation.

Given the cost of breakfast in the hotel, we decided to look around the Kyoto train station for other food. We found this little Japanese-French bakery called Vie de France in the basement of the shopping mall; surprisingly, people smoked inside the restaurants! No one at the counter understood any English, but luckily we could pick up the baked goods ourselves.

By 10am, we were ready to head out to explore Kyoto! Today's there's also a flea market that takes place every 21st of the month at the Toji temple... it's only a 20 minute walk from the hotel, so we figured we'd go there first and come back to the hotel for lunch. The streets were not too crowded at that time, but it was really interesting seeing how different the city is compared to say, Hong Kong or San Francisco. People drove very small cars (smaller than Mini Coopers) that fit in tiny little parking spots under or next to their homes, and many of the buildings seemed to be short (other than hotels) and quite old. The city is very clean, however, and there did not seem to be any litter on the ground.

By the time we got to the Toji temple, it was VERY crowded. As soon as we got to the main gate, we were swept in by the swarm of people. Rows and rows of merchants selling trinkets, food, and other wares under tents filled the temple grounds. Karen and I were just focused on hanging onto each other as we waded through the pushing and shoving.

We managed to get into a corner where there was room to stand, and lo and behold we were in front of a woman grilling battered octopus and fishballs. At 300yen a pop for something totally new, we had to try it. From then on, stall after stall of food, we went to look at each unique offering: fish-shaped waffles filled with red-beans, griddled batter balls filled with squid and cabbage, more grilled foods that we did not even recognize, and many many others.

This man was selling tiny little fish (they're about the size of this "L"), but there was a really long line of people waiting to buy bags of them...

No idea what these are, but no, they are not s'mores...

Fish-shaped waffles filled with sweetened red-beans (with her husband lighting up to keep her company)...

We did buy a box of these squid and cabbage filled batter-balls cooked in their griddles. They were very soft, were topped with sauce and dried onion flakes. Pretty good!

We also saw many vendors selling earrings, kimonos, pottery, and various hand-crafted trinkets (like these little dolls).

The Toji temple consists of several buildings, and was built in 794 by the Emperor as a "guardian of the south gateway" into Kyoto. Like many other wooden buildings in historical Japan, it was struck by lightning and burned down numerous times (the existing one was built in 1644). This 5-story pagoda is the tallest in Japan, but we were not allowed to enter. The grounds before it, though, was quite peaceful, and many people were resting next to the pond.

The other buildings (the Main Hall and Lecture Hall) housed many statues of Buddha, and were filled with people praying.

We got back to the Kyoto train station by around 1pm, and went to the 10th floor food court -- this floor consisted of 7 specialty ramen shops (with little dessert stores in between)! We could not read any of the menus, and so it was hard to know the difference between the shops other than that they represent the noodle styles from different regions of the country. We just found a store which seemed cozy and didn't have a long line.

The ramen floor works as follows: You pick where you want to eat, then go to a vending machine outside the entrance and buy a ticket for your ramen. Then, you line up (each shop had quite a line), and you enter whenever there is room after someone is done eating. Luckily, each shop had plastic food models in front of the windows so we could see what looked good, and try and match up the price of the display against the price of some Japanese name at the vending machine. While you're in line, a woman comes and takes your ticket, and places the order in advance. As soon as you get seated, your order is brought to you... so the only time spent inside the ramen shop is when you eat! Lucky for this efficient system, otherwise those shops with only 10-12 seats would always be full.

The ambience inside is great, and so was the food. We happily joined in with everyone else in creating the incessant slurping sounds as we ate our food. We have no idea what we ate (I think it was a pork-based soup, with pieces of pork loin, noodles, a soft-boiled egg, chives, and some bonito flakes), but the combination with their hot tea was quite good! Each bowl was also only about $8USD (at the existing ~90Y:1USD conversion), and was a quick local meal that was off the typical tourist path!

Whew! All that, and so far it's only 2pm on our first day! We're heading back to our room to take a quick nap before tonight's tour of the Arashiyama district... stay tuned.

1st day in Kyoto (continued)

2008-12-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

Kyoto is set within a valley with hills to its north, east, and west. Arashiyama is the district at the foot of the western hills, and is known for its bamboo forests (scene in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), wooded groves, and temples. We were able to catch the last evening to view Kyoto's winter lanterns in the Arashiyama district, we headed out around 4 p.m. and took a train from Kyoto station. It is considered to be a suburban area outside of the city, and would be an interesting view of the more "local" lifestyle.

Public transportation is good, and consists of an extensive bus system, a mix of JR (Japan Railway) and local trains, and a small subway system of only two (2!) lines. Luckily, our hotel is at a huge central hub (JR Kyoto station), and so we took a JR train out to Arashiyama, which only costs about $5USD round trip.

I found it interesting that we blended in so well... no one seemed to give us the foreigner eye, and many spoke Japanese to us (probably because we kept nodding quietly).

Our travels in Japan often required the use of 4-5 maps at any given time. A map to count the number of train stops before we got off (otherwise we would be lost trying to read the Japanese to figure out where we were), one to figure out where to go once we got there, etc. There were lanterns on the streets marking the path of the Winter Festival, so we could just follow the lanterns and wander through the streets. Getting around Japan isn't the most straightforward without understanding the language (some recognition of Chinese characters help, but not too much), but everyone we talked to were very kind and open to helping us out (although 90% of the time they only spoke Japanese, we only spoke English, and both sides eventually gave up, laughed, and bowed as we said good bye).

Tenryu-Ji, one of the eight(!) UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Kyoto, is a major temple built in 1339 by the Emperor after a dream about a heavenly dragon. This was quite a large complex with many little shrines, such as this one (right). There is typically a wooden box in the front where the worshipper can toss in money after they pray, and there is a rope attached to an overhead bell. Sadly, we know very little about Buddhism, but we saw many locals write prayers(?) on a piece of white paper, pray, and then rattle the bell by pulling violently on the rope.

I plea guilty to not having done more research on the local religion prior to this trip. I guess not every country has big signs in english explaining what we are seeing :).

There is a 14th century Sogenchi zen garden at Tenryu-Ji with many many types of moss (with labels we can't read) all over the place. It was very peaceful, and even has a beautiful lake next to a raked rock garden next to a big prayer pavilion. Many people were seated here admiring the sunset with the Arashiyama mountains behind the garden.

We then followed the lit lanterns to the Sagano bamboo forest trail, which was about 1km around. It was getting quite crowded, and the rain started getting pretty heavy. Different zones of the bamboo forest had lights on the soil floor illuminating the bamboo, and it formed a nice (albeit a bit eerie in certain spots) surreal yet calm night-time walk through the forest.

Of course, I went nuts trying to get a good photograph of this. Why didn't I bring my tripod? Basic faux pas in photography: Never try and hand-hold a shot when you could have had the discipline to do it the right way (with a tripod and shutter release). However, this was the best I could do at low-light:
I think it still came out okay. :)

By the time we got out of the forest and followed the path back into the main streets, it had become a torrential downpour. I had a semi-broken umbrella and poor Karen only had her raincoat, so we had to duck out in some tea-houses along the way. We were totally drenched, and rather than walking back to the subway, we headed towards a nice looking restaurant near the Tenryu-Ji temple that we saw earlier. We were looking for kyo-ryoji, a local vegetarian tofu meal eaten by the Buddhist monks, and found something similar (though given our inability to read the language we couldn't figured out exactly what we got into). The nice waitress, who spoke a little english, told us it was a special local type of tofu, with some pickled vegetables, a rice with some chicken bits in it, a bowl of clear broth with tofu skin, an egg custard with some mushrooms, and some fish cake. They lit a small burner under the hotpot, and along with the simmering tofu there was also this little jar of sauce that boiled along. We used a small ladle to get the chunks of tofu into a bowl, sprinkled on some dried herbs, mixed in this heated sauce, and ate it with rice. YUM!

The real surprise came at the end: warabi mochi. It is a common dessert eaten in the Kyoto Kansai region of Japan, and consists of a soft sweet made out of fernroot jelly and coated with kinako powder. So what, you might ask?

It was awesome. After rolling it around in the powder with this wooden pick-like utensil, it is very very soft (about as soft as a noodle that has been cooked too long), melts in your mouth like jelly, and the kinako powder tastes similar to peanut and sugar. However, the powder was SO fine that it must have been ground with a high-precision mill... there was no grit in it whatsoever. And it contrasted well with the green tea's bitter taste to round out the meal.

And thus, our first day in Kyoto is complete!

The Best and Worst List

2007-09-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

To complete this blog, we have created a list of our best and worst from the roadtrip! As we reflect on this excursion, we realize that the time in each place was a treasured moment--one that cannot be repeated. Most of these places are so far removed and so different from our lives. In discovering the vastness of America, we now appreciate something special in each part of the country. There are many beautiful places that we hope to return to someday, and we are grateful to have shared in this experience together(twice!).

So now, to the list. We'll start with the best and worst meals:

Best Dinners: 1) Corn Exchange in Rapid City, South Dakota 2) Just a Taste tapas bar in Ithaca, NY 3) Nora's Fish Creek Inn in Wilson, WY
Worst Dinner: 1) Cracker Barrel (Karen thinks it's still better than McDonald's!)

Best Lunch: 1) Ithaca bakery & deli 2) Sweetwater cafe, Jackson, WY 3) leftover Giordano's Chicago pizza
Worst Lunch: 1) Chief Schenevus restaurant, Schenevus, NY

Best Breakfast: 1) William Henry Miller Inn (roasted plum, corn pancakes, Miller Mcmuffin) 2) The Mayor's Inn (buffalo sausage, scones, and pancakes) 3) The Bentwood Inn (macademia nut pancakes & evening reception the night before)
Worst Breakfast: Hampton Inn --it wasn't really a "hot" breakfast like they claimed

Most Beautiful Location: Sunset & Lightning at Panorama Point in Badlands, South Dakota (while munching on buffalo burgers!)
Least Beautiful Location: 1) Toledo, OH 2) Tourist Village at the base of Mt. Rushmore

Best Local Attraction: 1) Chicago Architectural Riverboat tour 2) Cody Night Rodeo

Best Roadside Rest Area: 1) Massachusetts Pike rest area (clean and lots of cafes)
Worst Roadside Rest Area: maybe the road stops along the Iowa turnpike

Best Car Snack for Keith: Haribo cola gummies
Best Car Snack for Karen: Kashi granola bars

Place we felt most safe: The Bentwood Inn in Jackson, Wyoming
Place we felt least safe: Omaho, Nebraska at night

Best Accommodations: 1)The Bentwood Inn, Jackson, Wyoming 2) William Henry Miller Inn, Ithaca, NY
Worst Accomodations: 1) Anton Boxrud B&B, Salt Lake City, Utah

Biggest Pet Peeve (for Keith): Inconsiderate RV drivers
Biggest Pet Peeve (for Karen): Trying to capture road signs on the road when the windshield was splattered with bugs

Biggest Pleasant Surprise: The Grand Tetons--very majestic!
Biggest Unfortunate Surprise: Forest fire in Yellowstone that closed the East Gate, forcing us to drive the Northern route (which then turned out to be long but beautiful)

Biggest Disappointment: 1) Salt Lake City--there is really nothing interesting to see in the city, unless you want to visit the Mormon temple 2) Not having enough time to spend in Jackson, WY (but! Our friends M&M decided they are going to get married there next summer! So we hope to be back in Jackson and see the area more carefully.)

Best Value: 1) Walking the grounds at Tanglewood for free (and hearing music rehearsals) 2) $2.00 street parking in downtown Chicago while we took the architectural tour
Worst Value: Inn at Stockbridge--this inn was way overpriced and underdelivered

Best Stretch of Drive (excluding National Parks): 1) Road from Yellowstone to Jackson Hole 2) Road from Utah to Nevada
Worst Stretch of Drive: 1) Traffic in Chicago due to highway accident 2) Mountain pass through Bighorn National Forest (there was also a forest fire)

Best Road Sign: Bison Crossing signs around Yellowstone and Jackson
Worst Road Sign: ??

Yellowstone and Jackson, Wyoming!

2007-08-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

Keith and I woke up early since we wanted to spend as much time as possible in Yellowstone. Bill, one of the innkeepers and formerly a truck driver (who supposedly roasted chicken on his hood!), was now the chef, and he served us fresh scones and fruit as a starter. Keith and I agreed that these scones were one of the best that we’ve ever had! They were so buttery and flavorful—we were quite pleasantly surprised. Following that, we had buffalo patties with sour cream pancakes. Dale, Bill’s wife, told us about how she personally visits various ranches in Montana every year to order the buffalo meat. We found out that buffalo meat is actually healthier than beef, because it is leaner. It’s just as tasty, too!

That morning, we kept calling the Yellowstone hotline to find out if the East gate would open up, since it had been closed for the last 2 days due to forest fires. It opened up the morning we were driving to Yellowstone, but since we were concerned about the residual smoke, we decided to take the longer northern route up to the Montana border, and then enter Yellowstone through the North gate. That way, we could also have a greater chance of spotting wildlife! The drive was long and windy along a two lane highway, and Keith was quietly cursing at all the slow cars in front of us (Keith: that is because we had a lot of driving to do and goals packed into our schedule).

After we entered the North gate, we drove through the Lamar Valley and had a chance to see some beautiful scenery. We saw herds of buffalo grazing the grounds, and we also got really close to a few of them right along the road! Apparently these buffalo can run quite fast and they have been known to charge at people (with their 2,000lbs mass). Other animals we saw included deer, pronghorn, moose, and wolves. No wonder they call Yellowstone the “Serengeti of America.”

Our first stop was the Mammoth Hot Springs on the eastern side of the park. They were amazing! You walk along these wooden planks right over the sulfur-smelling hot springs, which consist of limestone being dissolved by the underground volcanic system of hot water. Thermophiles (heat-loving bacteria), grow in these areas and create tapestries of color in the ground. There was steam everywhere, and stunning rock formations. It is hard to imagine that nature can take such varied forms! (Keith: it was fascinating how energetic and active the subterranean volcano was... at times you can see boiling water bubbling through the cracks a few feet from the boardwalk... the signs for us to "Stay on the Boardwalk" was literally for our own protection.)

Because of time limitations, we made a stop to see the Black Sand Basin, where the bright colors of Sunset Lake and Emerald pool impressed us. There was steam and smaller geysers as well. We wished we could have stayed longer to see all the stops along the road, but we had to get going and check into our inn.

Around 6 p.m., we arrived in Jackson, also known as Jackson Hole, the famous resort-town, snuggled in the valley of the Grand Tetons. Upon driving through downtown, it immediately seemed more upscale, with nice restaurants and hotels all around. We checked into the Bentwood Inn, a beautiful B&B that was built from trees recovered from a forest fire. The Inn had tons of character, are we were warmly welcomed by Keith and Susan, the innkeepers. We arrived right during the evening wine reception that is held every night for guests, and it was a nice relief from all the driving and walking that day! We were even invited to join the hosts for dinner, since they were having a small gathering with local friends. Instead, we decided to meet up with Mindy & Mark (MM!), our friends from the Bay Area, who were also in Jackson for the weekend looking at wedding sites. It was wonderful to catch up with them—we ate at a small local restaurant called Nora’s Fish Creek Inn, where we enjoyed house specialties such as nut-encrusted trout and ribs. Whew! What a long but fun-filled day. We returned to our charming inn for a night of much-needed rest.

Cody, Wyoming and a Real Rodeo!

2007-08-16T08:42:00.001-07:00

W e left South Dakota humorously excited to drive through Wyoming and knowing that night we will get to watch a real rodeo in Cody! The drive was not too bad... about 400 miles, and since there was nothing else to see in Rapid City this morning, we hit the road bright and early! As of now, more than halfway across the US, I have accumulated this nice collection of bugs and butterflies across my front bumper (even through the grille into the radiator). Poor little critters hitting the steel at 90+ mph... some splattered pretty hard.

(Noteworthy: our hotel in Rapid City boasted "a hot breakfast with real Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches"... yum, nothing like TWO microwaved, high-calorie and fatty frozen sandwiches to fuel me for the day).

Passing through the Wyoming state line, we stopped at a "tourism center" where I asked for directions as to the best way to cross a section of the Rocky Mountains standing between the Great Plains (where we were) and Cody. The kind old lady behind the counter told us of a very windy, high-grade road that is less traveled, and apparently offers a stupendous view "from which you can see all the way back to South Dakota." Wow. We also asked her what is a good place to stop for lunch

Her response: "Weelllll.... I love Applebees!" Hmm.

After a nice supersized meal at Wendy's, we continued driving across the big flats of Wyoming. Yes, there were hills, and grasslands, but for some reason it was kinda draining in a way that I did not feel in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, or Iowa, or S.Dakota. At some point I just had to pull over to make sure I was still alive... maybe it was the damn 1,000 calories from the lunch kicking up my liver in some struggle to turn into nice fatty tissue. Finally, we reached this highway to cross over the Bighorn Mountains... and saw... and smelled... this incredible fire. The entire sky at 2pm was yellow-brown. Hmm... winding, steep roads up the side of a mountain driving into a massive forest fire... excellent.

Luckily the road eventually skirted around the fire, and with less than 100 miles to Cody, we punched it to try and make up some time. Amazingly, the "outskirts" of Cody had NOTHING. It was like a scene in the middle of some Western cowboy film... rolling grasslands to the horizon with nothing else other than a super-straight, empty road in front of you. Needless to say it was a sight for sore eyes when we reached the town and our bed & breakfast (The Mayor's Inn).

Downtown Cody is super cute, and was a relatively long stretch of shops, restaurants, and ends with "Buffalo Bill's Museum." We stopped for a quick dinner at "The Outlaw Cafe", a casual place above a little souvenir shop. A small Asian woman came to take our orders. Amazingly, she is also the owner of the establishment -- she explained that she was originally from Hong Kong, made it big as an IT consultant in Oregon, and decided to go to the wild west as part of her retirement gig! Who would have known... she was super friendly, talked to us while we had a dinner of elk-meat sandwich and bbq buffalo flank.

The highlight of the town was, of course, the nightly rodeo! The show started with cowgirls riding around with large American flags (followed by all of the sponsoring company flags), singing of the national anthem, and even a public prayer for our troops. Then came various competitions for cowboys, cowgirls, and cowchildren(!) to hang onto their buckling horses, lasso the psycho cows, leap from their horses to wrestle down runaway cows... simply awesome. The individual contests were actually quite ferocious and exciting... at one point a cowboy was buckled from his horse only to have the buckling horse fall over and onto him... yikes. In an impressive display of skill, one reigning cowboy galloped from the starting line, lassoed a running cow, jumped off his horse, wrestled the cow to the ground, and tied up its four legs... in a matter of 8 seconds.

Badlands and Staying in South Dakota

2007-08-15T22:03:00.001-07:00

In keeping tradition with prior road trips, I [Keith] woke up at 6am to try and take a picture of the sunrise. Given the low number of visitors to Badlands, it was especially calm and serene (and cool!) in the early morning. While I had a chance to sit alone and watch the sunrise for an hour, the sun never really broke from the haze (I was hoping it would bathe the entire valley in shadows and bright orange light). Later on I found out from the park rangers that the haze is likely due to a big forest fire over at Yellowstone (uh oh).

Karen joined for an early morning, before-breakfast hike. We went to the "Doors Trail" which provides an expansive view of one section of the wall. The trails are extremely flat, easy, and fast; sections of the boardwalk also allows you to walk out and wander among the buttes.

By 8:30am, we had checked out of our little cabin at Cedar Pass Lodge. This little lodge is located next door to the park's main visitor center, and is at the bottom of "the wall". Rabbits and various wildlife wander just in front of our doorsteps; it even had its own private bath and shower! A short film at the Visitor's Center explained how Badlands was formed as sedimentary layers over hundreds of millions of years, resulting in the multicolor striations. The entire area was part of an inland sea, and has been extensively studied since many of the Oligocene Epoch era sea-based dinosaur-like creatures have been fossilized and found through the different rock layers. Many active archaeological digs around the South Dakota area are still in progress today.

The entire area is practically inside a Sioux Indian reservation. The Lodge has a small restaurant where I ordered an "Indian Breakfast Taco": It has a cheddar and sausage omelet topped over fried Indian bread. Unlike the sod oven fried bread we had in Taos (New Mexico), this one was like one gigantic fried dough; the size can only be explained by the picture.

Naturally I ate it all. Nothing like a massive dump of calories for those flat hikes today!

We also attended a 10:30am fossil talk at one of the trails where many fossils were found. A huge mother-of-pearl from an old ammonite was found, and so was the "up-to-3-feet-long" jaw of some nasty sea-beast that crunched on these ammonites. The jaw of one of these prehistoric creatures was pressed into my neck for a sense of... scale.
We also drove to "The Pig Dig", an area adjacent to one of the picnic sites where 14 years ago some visitors discovered a huge dinosaur spine in the ground. Since then, scientists have found many many (hundreds?!) of fossils buried in the surrounding 500 square feet! Here they are in the process of pulling a newly-found skull out of the ground (lower right in the picture).

Ever since entering South Dakota two days ago (350 miles ago), we started seeing billboard signs for "Come to Wall Drug, as featured on Times/Newsweek/USA Today/Travel and Leisure/etc." Hundreds of signs later, we finally came to this store that practically defines the town (situated above the Badlands "wall").

Its story is actually quite impressive. A couple moved to Wall in search of a smaller town with a church, and labored through many grueling winters with no visitors or business. Finally, they decided to post billboards throughout the state highway advertising "stop here for free ice water!" Given the parched central plains in the summer, flocks of travelers started going to Wall. Now, they have up to 20,000 visitors a day (including a dedicated parking lot just for RVs and tour buses!) going to their museum, souvenir shops, and massive dining rooms.

After a quick lunch at Wall Drug, we headed to Mount Rushmore. Karen and I both noted that, for some reason, both of our families have not had the urge to take us here before (Is it a requisite American thing to do??). Oh well, now we have done the pilgrimage, and learned about how the 4 presidents were selected, how the entire project was done over decades, and what it symbolizes. I was especially intrigued by how, behind the presidential faces, was a separate tomb called the "Hall of Records" that is unaccessible to the public! So much for our tax money... apparently various histories of the United States are stored as etched tablets there. There is also an explanation for who the presidents are, and why Mt Rushmore was sculpted, "in case our civilization ceases to exist and is later found by others." How morbid.

Arriving at Rapid City, South Dakota, we actually were very much looking forward to having dinner at a new French bistro called The Corn Exchange! MJ, the owner and head chef, was trained as an artisan in the food centers of the world, and decided to open up a haut cuisine place in South Dakota. After years of labor and unfortunate events, she finally brought gastronomy to this small city. Her love of food and travels is well documented on her website, and we made it a point to reserve a spot for dining months in advance!

We started with a pear-cucumber soup, and roasted beets with goat cheese and a glass of Gewürztraminer. Karen had a roast quail, while I had the best filet mignon in my life. It was locally-sourced by a small organic farm, and done just right. MJ herself stopped by and we chatted about various restaurants -- she is so nice, and let us take a picture with her.

By the time we returned to our hotel (Fairfield / Marriott Inn), we noted that over half of our vacation is over. The car has reached 40,000 miles on the odometer, and 2,281 miles was clocked so far on this trip alone (averaging ~29 miles per gallon). Tomorrow we head to Cody, Wyoming!

Chicago to Nebraska, then to South Dakota

2007-08-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

This morning we woke up really early so that we could drive to the Navy Pier in Chicago for the 9 a.m. architectural boat cruise. It was highly recommended by various people; unfortunately, Chicago's traffic is so bad that we were told to allot 1.5 hours to drive (the 15 miles) downtown during the morning rush hour commute. Actually it wasn't that bad, turned out to be only 45 minutes.

The tour was fabulous; not only did it have cookies and coffee onboard, but the docent knew a lot about each of the buildings. We saw many buildings with characteristics of specific architectural firms (ie: columns, or rounded sides, or art deco style, etc.), and many buildings were designed to be bigger or prettier than those around it. Furthermore, the city was planned with nice pedestrian walkways all along the riverfront, with various restaurants, parks, and new residential condos all located in the heart of town! By the end of the tour, Keith said to Karen, "I wouldn't mind living here!

We quickly left Chicago as we are heading to Omaha, but wasted an hour looking for sunglasses for Keith (he has been driving without sunglasses!). Getting to Omaha requires that we drive through most of the width of Illinois, and all of Iowa, and into Nebraska. We passed tons of cornfields in Illionois and Iowa. Now I know what it is like living in the middle of nowhere. This was really the middle of nowhere--just lots of beautiful farms and corn crops.

We told ourselves that we would try and appreciate something unique about each state. I was looking forward to the pastoral beauty of Iowa and the beauty in simplicity; in the end, I was left seeing that really there was little besides the rolling corn fields. Unfortunately, we also did not have a chance to really get to know the local people.

By the time we arrived in Omaha, it was dark (about 7pm). Our inn, the Cornerstone B&B, is on the national registry of historic buildings. Julie, our innkeeper, was really nice and spent half an hour with us during breakfast explaining that the mansion was originally built for a well-known family by a Chicago architect in the late 1800s. She also explained the growth of Omaha (doubled its population in the last 20 years) and the desire for people to return to Nebraska for the quieter, more traditional way of life.

Living in a historical building turned out to be quite an experience! The room was quite old; the bathroom, for example, only had a claw tub and the shower head hose has to be held by your hand to "shower". All the lights required individual switches, and none of the windows opened. The local area, with a few unoccupied buildings nearby with rusted old cars, made me feel a bit unsafe. However, it really looked a lot more grand during the day, and Julie explained that the area is undergoing a time of revival and reformation (many people are buying the local unoccupied mansions and turning them into B&Bs... if the city allows), and the area is quite safe.

The commercial district of Omaha (Omaha Mutual, etc.) is within 20 blocks of the inn, and looks quite modern. At night, however, this area is completely deserted. Coming from bigger cities, that felt really weird; again, in Nebraska, life is very family oriented. There is no reason to be in the financial district after working hours; our customary expectations from larger cities really do not apply here!

Omaha's old market district is where the original industrial area used to be. The buildings were all purchased after the industry collapsed, and is now a collection of restaurants, shops, etc. It is now the center of nightlife in Omaha. We had dinner here the night before, and noticed everyone was very tall (more than 6 ft!)... Keith finally had his Omaha steak. It was different -- the meat had a very favorful taste, almost gamey in nature compared to typical beef. I'm not sure it was all that it's cracked up to be... especially the entire "grain-fed" marketing about the beef. After all, it seems like around here all the cows are either grain or corn fed (most of the agricultural fields are used to feed the livestock!).

So why did Keith cross the road? Because the next day we drove from Omaha to South Dakota, and passed by fields and fields of sunflowers! Karen watched Keith as he ran across both directions of Interstate 90 to get this picture of the sunflower fields.

While Iowa was about endless corn fields, we heard that South Dakota is more about cows and wheat. We did continue to see many fields of corn, but also many ranches of black cows. The land was much more flat than Iowa. Also, just like our last road trip, we took a rock in the windshield which left us a nice 10" long crack.

After 460 miles, we finally arrived at the western entrance to Badlands National Park, South Dakota. The Badlands is mostly comprised of a maze of buttes and gorges that extend for approximately 100 miles east-west, creating an impassable wall with numerous little pinnacles. The name came from the Sioux Indians, the French explorers, and anyone else who tried to come to this land to farm, or merely to cross.

After grabbing buffalo burgers to go, we drove out to the Panorama Point, a lookout, for sunset. A great thunderstorm to the south gave a massive lightning storm that looked awesome (from far away). It was super nice being able to just have dinner outside, watching the quiet sunset with distant thunder, without anyone nearby (the park was quite empty!).

Western Ohio, Indiana, and Chicago

2007-08-13T04:52:00.000-07:00

Thomas explained that Cleveland is a city recovering its economy, and that Cleveland Clinic is the largest employer in the state. After having heard so much about the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western University, and since both Thomas and Sylvia worked in those hospital systems, I asked to go visit these campuses while in town.

Cleveland, like any other city, has beautiful and more seedy parts of town. This is a part of town that my friends drive through every day, complete with blown-out or boarded up windows (perfect for the occasional drug deal). Honestly, I felt it was okay during the summer day time, but make it a lonely snowy dark winter evening, and it was pretty comparable to the worst of Harlem I have seen during my NYC days.

The hospitals were absolutely gorgeous campuses, with tons of construction still in progress. In fact, the Cleveland Clinic was so huge that it has its own Intercontinental Hotel built in! In a city seemingly polar in its social-economic strata, the Clinic sure displays its abundant wealth in spades. The Cleveland Orchestra Hall is an ornate building, and new developed areas like the Eton Mall seem to imply the city has significant potential for growth.

Despite our short visit, it was wonderful seeing Sylvia and Thomas, and her brother Kirk. We had a chance to have brunch at The Original Pancake House. Afterwards, we were on our way to drive across the rest of Ohio and all of Indiana to reach Chicago. We took a quick break in the mid afternoon in the town of South Bend, home of Notre Dame and its football team. The downtown was cute and offered a quick hot chocolate stop; the scariest moment was driving around afterwards, though, looking for a gas station (with the low-fuel light illuminated) and finding several gas stations closed on Sunday. I'll refrain from making assumptions correlating small towns and the availability of gasoline on the weekend.

After a long sit in the Chicago traffic, we finally arrived at the hotel. A nice deep-dish Giordano's Chicago-style pizza was delivered to our room, half without tomato sauce. Mmmm. It's ALL about the pastry-like crust. Slightly salty. More quiche-like than crusty and crunchy. There is a lot of thick mozzarella. In fact, there isn't a lot of sauce and stuff, but it was just the right balance. I think when I go back to the normal world pizza (ie: CPK-style), it will feel a little nude.

Wonderful Breakfast, Corning Glass, and Cleveland

2007-08-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

We started our morning with a delicious breakfast prepared by the innkeeper, Lynette. First, a creative fruit plate of baked plum with mascarpone cheese. For the main course, there were two choices. One was corn pancakes with pecan butter, the other a home-made "Miller McMuffin" with baked english muffins, baked eggs, ham, etc. Breakfast was served outside in the patio (gorgeous sunny summer morning), and we shared a table with Beth & Jason, a couple that is in town to be married tomorrow (Sunday), and her parents, Bill and Jackie. Naturally they were very excited, a bit stressed, and allowed us to share in their discussions of what is left to be taken care of.

With a long day ahead of us (we hadto get to Cleveland by 5pm to meet our friends, Sylvia and Thomas), we left the inn and drove around downtown Ithaca for a little longer to pick up sandwiches (for lunch) and to see two of the local waterfalls.

Our drive took us through the town of Corning, NY, named after the large glass manufacturer. The "Corning Glass Museum" provided a perfect mid-morning break in our journey! It was a really modern building, with a special exhibit on glass flowers. Apparently, the techniques of making intricate tiny glass details were designed to be substitutes for living animals and plants, and they served as museum exhibits and teaching aids for professors of natural history. The Blaschkas, two brothers from Czech Republic, created models of more than 1,500 species of invertebrates and plants for various universities.

The intricacy of the glassworks can be seen in some of the pictures. The plants on display, which included the leaves, the roots, and even the little microscopic hairs on the leaves, were reconstructed for authentic academic reproduction. In the orchid example below, the display case was titled, "Is it real?" It was really impossible to tell.

After a quick lunch at the picnic benches outside of the museum, we headed for Cleveland. We arrived at Slyvia & Thomas' house around 5 p.m. and were warmly welcomed to their new home. Since they were attending a baseball game that night, Keith and I drove around their neighborhood and had dinner at a very modern, swanky looking outdoor mall called Eton Village. The decor, flower pots, and outdoor seating patios reminded us of Santana Row in San Jose, and we were a little surprised that there was such a place! The name of the restaurant we ate at was called Paladar, which served Latin American fusion food, such as salmon ceviche, pulled pork, and a lot of seafood dishes. We were able to catch a relaxing dinner outside and enjoy the warm and comfortable summer Cleveland evening!

Norman Rockwell and upstate New York

2007-08-10T17:15:00.001-07:00

Norman Rockwell, a well known American 20th century artist who defined and drew the covers for The Saturday Evening Post for over 47 years, settled down and died in Stockbridge MA "because New England is the best part of America, and Stockbridge is the best town in New England."

The museum honoring his works is located in West Stockbridge. We went to see it Friday morning... a good escape from the rain! After a yummy breakfast of potato casserole, yogurt, fruits, bacon, and toasts, we caught an informative tour that described the details and social events that affected his paintings.

Karen most enjoyed his iconic depictions of every-day American life while embedding subtleties of humor and irony. Keith agrees, and was amazed by how his oil paintings were so lifelike and photographic.

By noon, the rain has turned into a steady drizzle (Keith went to get the umbrella and walk Karen to the car in this picture), and we started our 220 mile drive to Ithaca, New York. Upstate New York looked similar to western Massachusetts; many green rolling hills covered with trees. Between Albany and Ithaca there really isn't much to see... we stopped at a very small town (nearest exit 12 miles away) and ate quickly at a diner called Chief Schenevus. It was empty... except for the old guy in the back corner who looked like he has sat there for the past year, and three younger guys that ordered and ate as if they did not need to go back to work that afternoon. Hmm... according to the US Census, the town of Schenevus had a population of 513 in 1990. We might have met 1% of the town already!

By the end of the tank of gas, we rolled into downtown Ithaca. Our B&B, the William Henry Miller Inn, was right in downtown about a block from a row of restaurants near the Ithaca Commons. The beautiful 3-story house was built in the late 1800s as a private residence by William Henry Miller, the first architect at Cornell, and was converted into an inn by 1988. Our room, "The Retreat" is on the top floor of the main house, and was definitely worth the lug of the suitcase up the stairs. The innkeeper, Lynette, is one of the best hostesses I have ever met: she is friendly, knowledgable, and eager to make sure our stay was as good as it can be. She even remembered we were driving cross country!

After checking in, we drove up the hill to check out Cornell University. Cornell is a huge school, and actually reminded us a little of Stanford with the campus loop and open spaces of green here and there. Unfortunately, because of the rain, we drove around the campus for half an hour instead of walking around. After seeing the long hills, and imagining the snow and blizzard winds that must blow through this hill-top campus in the winter, I have the utmost respect for my friends that went to school here. We also stopped by the Statler Hotel (School of Hotel Management and Hospitality), a JW Marriott training ground... especially considering how some of the staff are students, it was very nice looking. Next time I'd be tempted to stay here!

We had dinner at a happenin' tapas bar near our inn called Just A Taste. Their sangria and dishes were very good. We were told that the menu changes nightly, and that it's always busy -- they were right, we arrived at around 6pm (the restaurant opens at 5:30pm for dinner), and by 6:15, the restaurant was FULL. The dishes are not Spanish, but rather eclectic American fusion recipes served tapas-style: home-made linguisa served with grilled peppers, garlic infused greens with cheese and walnuts, olive fritters in a tomato cream sauce, skate wing in a white wine garlic broth, etc.

We finally went back to our inn after walking around downtown Ithaca a bit more, and by 8pm Lynette has baked desserts for the guests. There was a chocolate angel cake, white-chocolate and pineapple cookies, and fresh coffee. Yum! Another night of sitting around the inn to relax and unwind!

The Berkshires, Tanglewood, and the elderly...

2007-08-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

If you live in Boston, there seems to be 3 places that you have to go to: Martha's Vineyard, The Cape, and The Berkshires (alright, so there's also the Maine coast, but that's not part of Massachusetts). The Berkshires always seemed to a certain mystique about it -- ritzy yet relaxing, quaint yet sophiscated. A quick internet search of the area yielded a large number of nice B&Bs and restaurants, and implied a pretty serious (and pricey!) tourism-oriented destination. Since it happened to be right in the way of our westward adventure, we were excited to stay here for one night!

Coincidentally, the short drive from Boston to the Berkshires was perfect given our late start. We strived to leave early to have more time to visit various museums and towns, but unfortunately the packing took forever. Getting everything to fit into the car was one heck of an optimization exercise -- the trunk alone had:

1 large box with speakers, 1 large box with amplifiers, 1 long box with Keith's matte cutter, his keyboard, the Thule roof racks, the umbrella, the yoga mat, a rice cooker box stored with various stuff, water bottles, and our suitcase! Whew!

And we haven't even described the rear seat!

I swear, the car sagged towards the back. All the road bumps felt dampened. By the time we were going on the highway, it was a heavy unstoppable cannonball!

The Berkshires are very green. Lots and lots of trees layering over the rolling hills. The first town we drove into, Lee, was very New England (although different in feel from the Vermont towns). While the town itself was very small (a 2-block drag along a small highway), this tall church steeple marked the town center. Next to the church was a quaint little brick building, stylishly converted into the now Lee Police Station!

The black and white picture to the left is of the front door of this church. It must have been very old, as are a lot of churches in the Northeast. Karen took this picture (and post conversion in Photoshop) to illustrate the texture! Go Karen! (she always tries to remember lessons in composition from her Photography class)

The next town over, one of the largest in the Berkshires, is Lenox. We've always wanted to visit Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was a beautiful day, and since there weren't any concerts playing this evening, the grounds were open to the public. We decided to take a look, and to our pleasant surprise, it was very uncrowded and peaceful. As we wandered through the rolling green lawns, we could hear choral music wafting from the Koussevitsky Music Shed.

A rehearsal was taking place! We had the chance to just sit inside the music shed and appreciate the beauty surrounding us. Music is truly wonderful; I was reminded of that today. Since Keith and I grew up playing instruments and attending classical concerts, we really appreciate the hard work of these artists.
I am also grateful that such a place like Tanglewood exists for the public to enjoy music in a nature-like setting. Here are some photos we took of the grounds at Tanglewood.

Tanglewood started as a dedicated school for musicians to study at. Now, it is a landmark to various musical achievements, including a building dedicated to Conductor Seiji Ozawa.

Compared to the main amphitheater (which they call "the shed"), the Ozawa hall is complete indoors and had a woody Japanese-design to thechairs, etc. The back of the hall has these massive wooden doors that swing open to allow a semi-outdoor concert in the summer!

The one thing I noticed about the Berkshires was that we received a lot of looks from the other tourists around... maybe it was because we did not see any other visitors below the age of ... oh, 55? Strange, since you would think a lot of yuppies want to come here for the weekend (we were here on a Thursday). The older people also did not want to talk or chat. In one example, we were lounging in the B&B living room during the evening, and a group of older guests came in (they wanted to play poker). One woman looked at us and loudly exclaimed,

"Darn, they took our spot."

Hmmm. Later we tried talking to them, but they ignored us. Oh well, sticks and stones, you can't disrupt MY 2 week vacation. We were able to let go and relax in the Berkshires... which is exactly what we came for!

The End of the Journey

2007-08-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

One does not typically start a blog with "end of a journey", nor with pictures of packing, but unfortunately for the last few days I was in the middle of studying for an exam, packing up things for a moving truck, and getting ready to say goodbye to my home in Boston. Given the circumstances...

You see, today is my last day after almost a short 20 months in Boston. Tomorrow we will start driving across the US, and in two weeks, arrive in Los Altos, California, our new home! The local Mailboxes & Etc. pick-up person came yesterday. As usual, I started packing too late... it turned into a mad-dash at the end to box up everything and make it fit. Surprisingly, almost all the clothes I own fit into one box! (a few jackets were left out and used to wrap up bulky items like my favorite copper frying pan and an enamel-coated Le Creuset dutch oven).

Man was it costly to ship cross-country! 16 boxes came out to be approximately $1100 (with a 10% discount).... if you plot out the cost-per-box vs. weight, it comes out to be approximately:

Cost = $10 + $1.80/pound, R-square correlation ~ 0.97.

There was some leveling off at the top: my speaker stands, which weighed about 74 pounds, seemed to have been cheap. On the other hand, my bicycle, which was professionally boxed up by Landry's Bike's (the big box in the foreground), was only 20 lbs and costed $120! Bulk, what can I say. It's also amazing what came out to be "the critical items to move first": CDs, DVDs, my stereo, clothes, my favorite cooking utensils... all the essentials of being a graduate student! :)

By the evening, our living room looked like:

All empty :(
(Yes, there is still stuff, but the rest is for Karen since she will still be living here...)

The rest goes into the car. It's amazing how many people suggested, "Why don't you rent a U-Haul?", or "Why don't you tow a U-Haul cargo hitch?" Have they tried spending a 2-week VACATION visiting several national parks in a UHaul? Oh, by the way, we need to move our car too.

So this is our plan of attack. Since we took the Southern route driving from California to Boston in 2005, now we're taking the somewhat-Northern route back. We have never been to Omaha, South Dakota, Yellowstone, etc. before, so we're very excited!

Alas, thus ends my 20-month journey in Boston. Karen and I both agree that we have grown to really like it in many ways ("if you weren't going back to school..."). There are just elements that are so unique compared to the San Francisco Bay Area, and now I understand why people say "the west coast is just so superficial." It's not meant to say that people there are superficial or fake... no, but rather, the buildings, culture, environment just does not have that well-worn in, 400-year old, sort of feel. The west coast still seems very new, very "just planted 10 years ago." It has all the great amenities and conveniences... but ah, let's not compare.

So now, let's begin the new journey. Tomorrow we close up shop, and drive to our first stop: The Berkshires!

Good night,
Keith