Pismo Beach
28 - 29 March : ATV & Anniversary
Weekend in SLO and ATVing in Pismo
Trippin'.
Flash back 5 years and let's take a walk down memory lane. It was 5 years ago to the day when G took me to a Chinese restaurant in Berkeley and requested the waiter to bring out his custom made fortune cookies at the end of our meal instead of dessert. After a nibble of the cookie, G reminded me to read my fortune. The fortune inside the cookie says, "Q, you are the greatest fortune anybody could have. Will you be my girlfriend?"
Flash forward 5 years later? I get wood (haha). Apparently the traditional gift to get for a 5 year anniversary is something made out of wood. Wooden carved out letters of a "G" and "Q" rolling on wheels like a choo choo train which he bought a year after we got together but somehow got 
"misplaced" in his mess of a closet and miraculously reappeared just in time for our 5 year.. coincidence?!
Food. Lunch was at the Firestone Grill, courtesy of Yelp, and it was finger- licking good. Of course when in SLO we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the famous Madonna Inn. True to its reputation, this place is a cross between Alice in Wonderland and the color pink. Dinner at Marisol was less than mediocre. The Honeymoon Cafe is perfect for a light pick- me- upper breakfast and the Chai tea was mouth- watering good. We saved room for some cinnamon rolls drenched in cream cheese frostings at Old West Cinnamon Rolls.
We celebrated with a weekend getaway to SLO and Pismo Beach for some good ole' ATVing. 
ATV was a bit intimidating at first. And rightfully so because halfway through the dunes, I got stuck midway up a hill and on the verge of flipping over. G spent a good amount of time trying to get it unstuck. Distaster avoided and we had a blast! On our way back, we stopped in Morro Bay where G spent countless times taking pictures of, can you believe it, squirrels. Before heading home, we had some fish n' chips at Giovanni's. Avoid the oysters. Another memorable anniversary to put in the books.
Sleeping: Sandcastle Inn. Right on the beachfront and central downtown Pismo.
Eat This: The Splash Cafe
Not That: Madonna Inn's pink champagne cake.
Activity: BJ's ATV rental and accessories center. Make sure to bring either goggles or sunglasses as well as a scarf/ bandana to cover face.
More Photos.
View full gallery here.
Costa Rica
11 - 22 January 2009 : Pura Vida en Costa Rica
SAN JOSE - LA FORTUNA - MONTEVERDE - QUEPOS - SAN JOSE
Day 1 The other San José
G here. This is my first, and could very be my last, blog. Reason being, dare I say, I traveled sans Q. A true reward of a workaholic, I've accrued one too many vacation days. So I booked with GAP Adventures, saves me the planning portion of the trip, and with time, convinced my partner in crime Remy to come with.. Boys trip!
San Jose, the main capital of Costa Rica. Ask most people, they will tell you don't waste your time here. And it's all true, there is not much to this city... I'll leave it at that.
La Fortuna, at the foot of Arenal Volcano, is an area chock-full of extreme activities. On our way up to the La Fortuna, we saw a family of monkeys swinging around in a tree. On Day 3, we went waterfall repelling. There isn't many other places in the world where you can do this activity, so we had to do it! It was awesome, we hiked down narrow rivers, jumped into canyons, and repelled down 200 ft waterfalls! I really wish they had a photographer there that day. Later that night, we had pizza and went up around La Arenal volcano to see some live lava. Once we saw small glimpses of lava flowing down the mountain, we headed down to Baldi springs to go down some waterslides and relax in lush cascading hot springs.
Day 4-5 Monteverde
Here we traveled by car, boat, and horseback! The horseback ride was 75 minutes too long if you ask me. Note to self next time I ride horses: Wear long pants! My legs were killing me from all the galloping. Monteverde is known for the ziplining and cloud forest reserves. Ziplining was amazing, it felt like one of the zip lines was a half mile long with expansive views of the Costa Rican rainforest. This is definitely one of the best places to zipline in the world. Our tour leader suggested visiting the Santa Helena Cloud Forest reserve because the main cloud forest reserve has gotten very packed and touristy. We observed hundreds of plant life species and rare exotic animals including the king of all birds in Costa Rica, Quetzal Resplendido. Last but not least, I have to mention the best Tapas restaurant I've ever been to... Chimera restaurant. They had awesome international tapas dishes at very reasonable prices. Check tripadvisor for more info.
Day 6-7 Quepos / Manuel Antonio National Park
The ocean water in Manuel Antonio was so warm, we stayed in the ocean catching waves with our boogie boards for 3 hours straight. Interacting with the local ticos in the ocean was great, those Spanish classes paid off! An awesome salsa club with guys trying to sell us "mota" right when we hit the front door. Quepos didn't have much to offer. Manuel Antonio Park has an exuberant wildlife and tons of monkeys!
Day 8 San José
A local bus took us back to San José in time to head out for one final night on the town. Shout out to Jubal and our entire group on the GAP trip! It was an amazing time and makes me thirst for South America.
More Photos.
View full gallery here.
Chicago
Weekend in the Windy City
Trippin'.
Chicago-- a city of architectural glories, home of the Cubs, although some may dispute, home of the White Sox (either or, I don't watch baseball, much)-- who knew that Chicago is also a mecca for unbelievably great food. As the years go by (scary that I can say years, as in plural), we have taken less and less pictures of us and more and more pictures of food. Chicago was a good testimony to this. We've come to terms that we travel first and foremost to eat if nothing else. This was a great unplanned trip since G had to go for work so I decided to tag along. We spent the first morning on an architectural boat tour of Chicago which was a nice change from the typical walking tours. It's great to have the opportunity to meet some of G's coworkers and be able to hang out with them. We had an wonderful dinner at the Hard Rock's China Grille. Dessert at the restaurant clearly did not suffice, not that it wasn't good, but that we had to have more. We managed to sneak away from the pack and capped our "sweet" evening at Hot Chocolate.
The ultimate, gastronomical dining splurge
A wallet busting, food lovers paradise resides here in Chicago-- Alinea! Often top 5 in the world.. choose between a 12 or 24 course dining experience including wine pairing with each course.. and 3 hours later = total gratification. Let's just say.. if you're asking, "How much?" than you probably can't afford it. A once in a lifetime experience was my excuse and it was completely worth every penny. We are foodies after all. It was a must. Here's just a sample of Alinea's 12- course menu that is constantly changing:
Alinea, 1723 North Halsted, tel: 312 867 0110
The W is by far one of my favorite hotels. Modern and posh, it's definitely our kind of hospitality.. with the exception of the early morning stranger in our room that scared the crap out of me. We figured it was room service staff setting up breakfast but got the wrong room. Who knows. I'd rather not dwell on it. Since G had to work a good portion of the next day, I had the opportunity to go to the Field museum by myself which was great! The in between parts of the weekend was filled with shopping and eating-- what we do best.
Sleeping: Love the W Hotel-- posh, hip and modern. Best lounge by far.
Eating: Minnies. A mini experience that is sure to satisfy your sandwich cravings.
Activity: Do not miss the BEAN! We did due to some less than perfect planning.
More Photos.
