Since I was only a few months old, we have gone on an annual camping trip with some of my parents’ ski club friends. It started out as traditional camping complete with tents, outdoor cooking, smores and snipes but as we grew up it gradually evolved into golf and condos. This year, we met the group, affectionately know as the Over the Hill Gang down in Pismo Beach.

Unfortunately, we were only able to make it down there for a night, but we made the most of our time there. We met my brother and future sister in law and a couple others in San Luis Obispo to have lunch at the famous Firestone Grill. I forgot how delicious their tri-tip sandwich is and ribs were equally good. After filling our bellies and strolling down Bubblegum Alley, we headed down to Pismo to do some ATV-ing.

ATV-ing was quite an experience for a couple reasons. For me it was my first time going so it was a mix of fear and exhilaration. For the first 45 minutes or so I was really hesitant but after finding a few straightaways to race up and down I finally gained my confidence and was brave enough to take on a few hills. Just before we headed back we decided to go our separate ways and to meet back at a marker a few minutes later. Four of us stayed pretty close together but my brother and fiancee decided to go out on their own. As the time came to an end, we saw my brother’s fiancee waving to us near our meeting spot. She kept waving as we got near and we kept waving back to assure her that we saw her. It was only as we got closer that we saw that my brother was sitting in a dune buggy holding his head. It turns out that he flipped over his ATV and knocked his head and ribs on his way over. Fortunately after a couple hours in the emergency room, he was okay with only a super glued gash in his head and some bruised ribs. Not exactly the way we planned to end the day but at least it wasn’t more serious.

When we got back to the condo, it was dinner time. Another group of people spent the day fishing so they prepared fish tacos with some of their catch. They also brought several other kinds of meats complete with all the fixings, including La Vic’s orange sauce. One thing you can always count on at these events is good food.

After dinner we had a casual baby shower for the ladies to help welcome one of the next generation of the group. It’s really fun to see the group growing. This year we had one of the biggest turnouts in recent history so it was really great to see everyone and we can’t wait for next year.

The first time I visited Angelique’s cubicle, I knew that we would get along. The Jordan Knight pin on her wall foretold of a friendship to come. A couple weeks ago, Ian and I were thrilled to be present to witness Angelique and Ron’s nuptials at the Old Mission San Juan Bautista. It was a gorgeous day and a beautiful setting both at the mission and at the reception site, Villa Montalvo. The food catered by Le Papillon only added to the elegant experience. The night was full of fun memories a perfect celebration of the newly wedded couple. Congratulations Angelique and Ron. We wish you a long, happy life together!

What an exciting day!

It started out with a brunch at our favorite place to commemorate special occasions, Astaria with the Nakasuji and Blohowiak families. It was a delicious and perfect way to start off an action packed day. Then it was off to the airport to welcome Gina home from India and to witness the proposal. The families hid at the cafe in the terminal while Riki and his photography and videography crew of Will, Joel and Ian perched nearby. Gina walked out, we heard the claps and the cheers of the crowds so we cautiously crept from our hiding place. By the time we arrived, it was clear that it was a yes and hugs were shared all around.

After a brief rest and some freshening up, it was time to celebrate at Fresca with more friends and family.

Congratulations Riki and Gina! We are so happy for you and so glad that we were able to share the day with you.

It all started with the Creme Brulee Cart (@cremebruleecart). Though we still have yet to try it, it was the catalyst for our now growing food cart obsession. So when we heard about the SF Street Food Fest in the Mission last Saturday, we had to check it out.

The festival had a nice mix of established restaurants and food carts (a.k.a. taco trucks) selling a wide variety of foods representing a wide variety of cuisines spreading across the globe. The beautiful weather and the great vibe at the festival made it easy for us to spend several hours eating, people watching and soaking up the sun.

Some of our favorite street foods include: Roli Roti for their porchetta sandwich (we waited for 50 minutes at the festival and it was worth it), Curry Up Now for their deconstructed samosa (Ian recommends ordering online), Hapa SF for their sisig tacos, and Seoul on Wheels for their Korean tacos.

Next festival: this weekend at the Eat Real Fest in Oakland. Hopefully this time we can get to the Creme Brulee Cart before it sells out!

Call me cynical, but it seems like these days, it’s really hard to find a stranger that will do something nice for you if they’re not getting something out of it. Last week, however, my faith in humanity was restored at least a little bit.

A couple of Friday’s ago I took the train home from work. I was really tired, and the only thing on my mind was getting home to relax. I had my phone in my pocket but somewhere between the time I left my seat and the time I got to the front door of our apartment, my phone was gone. I called Verizon right away and they were able to suspend the service of the phone. (I guess that’s one advantage of not having a SIM card.) I also called Caltrain to report it because we had a friend who had left things on the train before and had gotten them back. I wasn’t overly concerned because it was a free phone, I just hoped it wouldn’t fall in the hands of someone who’d use my contacts for some unsavory business.

That night, my dad got a call from a lady who cleans the Caltrain. She said she found my phone and would keep it for us to pick it up. I have a friend who lives in the area so I asked him to pick it up next week during her working hours. He arranged to meet her mid-week. When they met, my friend tried to give her a reward but she politely refused. When my friend told me this, I was shocked. Again maybe I’m cynical but it was such a nice surprise.

It’s April and baseball season has finally arrived. What better way to kick it off than with catching a preseason game of the Bay Bridge series. The weather looked iffy but we managed to pull off an impromptu tailgate. Please forgive our friends for their poor choice of teams, we know we did.

Though the game itself wasn’t all that we hoped it would be, we enjoyed the festivities at the Fan Appreciation Tailgate. The lines were too long for us to get any signatures but we did enjoy the Q & A sessions which pumped us up for the season ahead. We know that no matter what the stats say, there is no doubt that the A’s will make this an exciting season!

When we initially decided to go to Cairns, we wanted to go for the Great Barrier Reef and to hold a koala since Queensland is the only territory in Australia where it is legal to hold a koala. However by the time we got to Cairns, we were exhausted from all the travel and just wanted to relax. Since it was the end of our trip, we decided to take it easy so that we could go back to reality relaxed and refreshed. It was a tough choice, but since we enjoyed Australia so much, we knew we’d be back.

Instead our last few days in Australia were spent enjoying the beautiful weather and relaxing in Port Douglas and Cairns. Unfortunately, stingrays also enjoy the warmer weather so we were advised to stay away from the ocean. We were able to enjoy the nice oceanside views, but when it came to swimming that we resorted to the saltwater lagoons at our hotel.

After being on the move for the majority of two weeks, a relaxing time in Port Douglas was just what we needed. Though there weren’t a whole lot of other things to do, we did enjoy walking around the towns of Port Douglas and Cairns. Port Douglas was definitely more of a resort town whereas Cairns was more of a port town since most of the Great Barrier Reef tours go out from there. The one tourist spot that we highly recommend in Port Douglas was the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary. Had it not been for a strong recommendation from my brother, we probably would have overlooked it. It’s located just off the main road as you enter Port Douglas and looked like a tourist trap. However, once inside, it was was a great way for us to see some of the native animals of Australia and to experience some of the different habitats. We really got the authentic rain forest experience as it started pouring when we began walking around.

We didn’t spend that much time in Cairns, but it did have a nice restaurant row along the harbor where we enjoyed a nice final dinner at the Waterbar. It came highly recommended from my massage therapist and it did not disappoint.

Overall, Australia was a great experience. One day we definitely hope to return and explore even more. Ian and I really enjoyed our honeymoon, most of all because we really got to spend time with each other. In our day to day lives we see each other all the time, but we are always distracted by one thing or another. It was nice to be able to spend quality time together, to talk, to laugh and to have fun. We realized how important this time out is for our relationship and made a promise to make sure that we make time for it in the future.

When we were initially looking into our trip to Australia, the travel agent we were consulting who had spent some time in Australia, highly recommended The Great Ocean Road and we’re glad we did. While it’s not something to do if you’re low on time, it is definitely worth it to make some time for it. The round trip journey from Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road up to Port Campbell and back again took us about 2 1/2 days. We probably could have made it in less time but it was a good pace where we felt like we got a chance to see everything and didn’t feel rushed. There our tour buses that will take the inland roads to see the major sights but to me it just doesn’t give it justice.

The first day we went from Melbourne up to Apollo Bay. We left pretty early in the morning because we were told that the most picturesque spots were from Lorne to Apollo Bay. It looks like they’ve done some construction recently because the GPS we borrowed from the rental car place was going crazy because it thought we were going off-road. (Thank goodness we got an International plan for Ian’s phone to look up some directions!)

The views were really impressive. We took our time driving and stopped frequently to take a break from the windy roads and to take in the views. The thing that made the views so impressive were the vibrant contrast of the colors of the cliffs, the ocean, and the sky.

Apollo Bay was a nice place to stay however lot of the inns were still closed because it was not yet peak season. We also found that it was kind of difficult to find accommodations online and that selection was much more limited than what was actually available. It is possible to get recommendations at the Visitor’s Center in Geelong but we didn’t want to take a chance by waiting until last minute to book.

Apollo Bay was a small, seaside town, but there were a lot of choices of places to eat and there were some really cute souvenir shops.

The next day we went from Apollo Bay to Port Campbell. Most of the roads on this leg of the journey were inland, but they were still beautiful in their own right. Being from the city, we don’t get to see that much lush, green farmland and forests so it was a pleasant scene. This part of the drive was the shortest leg of the trip.

The highlight of course are the 12 Apostles which are right before Port Campbell. Again the vibrant colors of the rock formations, the greenery and the ocean are really what make this sight amazing. It’s hard to describe what it is about it, but it is quite breathtaking.

Port Campbell is also a really small town but we didn’t find it as charming as Apollo Bay. There wasn’t a whole lot to do so, but the Best Western we stayed at was very quaint though it was the most expensive accommodation on our trip!

For the trip back to Melbourne we took the inland roads. We were quite entertained by all the public service notices along the side of the road. From telling us to drive on the left side of the road to warning us about motorcycle safety it was quite shocking at times but very effective.

Flickr: Honeymooning in Australia

Those who have known me from childhood know my affinity for penguins. My parents told me that one year I asked for a penguin for my birthday and when they gave me a stuffed penguin I was extremely disappointed because I wanted a real penguin. I don’t know what it is about them but it also led to one of my favorite baseball players, Ron Cey who was known as The Penguin for the way he ran the bases.

When I heard about the Little Penguins on Phillips Island, it became one of the must sees on our honeymoon. There are thousands of Little Penguins standing at about 6 inches tall that return to their burrow each night after a day of fishing. During the parade you get to sit on the beach or stand on elevated platforms and watch as they make their way back home. It was one of the big highlights of our trips, for Ian just as much or even more as for me.

There are lots of tour groups that make the trip out to Phillips Island, but for us it worked out better to head over there ourselves. Fortunately we left really early because traffic heading out of Melbourne was terrible. There was a lot construction on top of Friday traffic. It took us about 3 hours to get out to Phillips Island versus the 1 and 1/2 that it was supposed to. We were nervous that we were going to be late to check-in. When you go to the Penguin Parade, you need to call the day before to confirm your arrival time because the “Parade” start time varies based on the sunset. In retrospect it might have been a good idea to spend the night out there since the parade ends at about 9:30-10 and it was a long journey back to the City on a dark, unfamiliar road.

I decided to book the Private Penguin Experience which is limited to a group of 10 people and has you sitting on the stand in front of the grandstand where the general public sits. You also are assigned a ranger to give you some added insight into the experience.

As luck would have it, Ian and I ended up being the only ones in our group. Our tour guide, Sven was very knowledgeable and gave us a fantastic tour. He told us that we went at a great time because breeding season was early this year and that we would be able to see some chicks waiting for their parents to return. It was nice because we had reserved seating so we were able to walk around until the last minute before the penguins arrived. We were also able to go to several viewing platforms which was really neat because at different spots the birds perform different rituals. for example, once the birds get out of the “danger zone” they stop for awhile to preen themselves before continuing on their journey. We also saw a female penguins heading in the opposite direction picking up penguins. Sven told us that is a sign that there is going to be a second breeding season as they were picking up shells to get calcium. Little tidbits like that really helped make the tour special.

Even if we had not done the private tour, watching the Little Penguins waddle their way home was adorable. We did in fact see chicks waiting for their parents to feed them. The most amazing thing was how loud the penguins were. I never imagined their cries to be that loud and piercing. The cutest thing was watching the penguins hop off some of the ledges on the side of the road. Another place we spent quite a bit of time at was at these man-made burrows they have built inside the museum. They say that they don’t force any penguins to live there but several families have chosen to live there. We were able to see one family in particular feed and preen each other in their burrows which was really cool because had they not lived in the special burrows we wouldn’t have seen it.

One of the great things about Phillips Island is that they try not to disturb the penguins’ natural habitat. Sadly because people in the past didn’t know how to turn off the flashes on their cameras, we were unable to take any pictures but I think both Ian and I both have strong images of this visit in our minds.

Flickr: Honeymooning in Australia

Sydney was our first stop in Australia so the first few days, especially for me were spent battling jet-lag. As with any westbound journey it wasn’t too bad, we just ended up waking up before daylight and going to bed after an early dinner.

I don’t know if it was because it was the first leg of our trip, but we didn’t enjoy Sydney as much as the other cities. We found it to be a little harder to navigate. Even once we figured out the train system, we continued to have trouble even getting to places we’d been before. It was great exercise but a little tiring on the legs and draining in the heat. We also found it harder to find places to eat. I would definitely recommend staying in the Circular Quay or Darling Harbor area since that’s where most of the tourist destinations are. We stayed near the Darlinghurst area across the street from the Anzac Memorial so while it was easy to get to a train station, we usually didn’t want to go back out to where we were after we came back to freshen up before dinner.

Our favorite spots:

• Pink Peppercorn. Laotian restaurant in Darlinghurst. It was a short walk from our hotel and was recommended by one of the guidebooks. We really enjoyed the lamb kabobs which were cooked and seasoned perfectly and we had a delicious coconut curry with chicken. Ian loved the fragrant rice which went perfectly with both of the dishes.
• The Cantina. Tapas place in the Darlinghurst area. They had an early bird special
• Sculptures by the Sea. Sculpture exhibit from Bondi to Bronte beach. We were fortunate to catch it because it goes for only about 2 weeks from the end of October to mid-November. Many of the installations were built into the rock areas along the walkway but there was also a park right before Tamarama beach that had quite a few additional sculptures.
• Open market at the Rocks. On the weekends only. Fortunately my brother gave us a heads up about this because we were only in Sydney for 1 weekend day. The shops close up before 5pm so we were only able to shop for a little bit but we were able to get some nice souvenirs.

Places we recommend avoiding:

• Sydney Tower/Oz Trek. I’ve been to towers and lookouts in other cities I’ve visited and felt like it was a worthwhile experience, but the same cannot be said about the Sydney Tower. For one, it’s not the highest point in Sydney and also they didn’t have placards like most places do to let you know what you’re looking at. We did our best to try to figure it out with our guidebooks, but especially since a view of the Opera House was obscured it really wasn’t worth it in my opinion. As Ian mentioned in his post, Oz Trek was not a good experience for me. I’ve been on other simulators before and been okay but something about this ride made me really ill and I was out for the night.
• Museum of Contemporary Art. Admission was free and for us we were thankful that it was. Neither of us are big contemporary art fans but it is located in such a prime location we had hope. The best thing about it was to see all of the school kids on field trip doing hands on projects with the docents. It seems like they had a really good program for field trips but with the exception of a couple exhibits, it was not our cup of tea.

The only thing we didn’t do that we wish we had done was to go see a performance at the Sydney Opera House. We went on a tour there which was impressive in itself especially since we were able to see some of the ballet people do their warm-up exercises but we could only imagine how much better it would be to see an entire show.

Honeymooning in Australia