Secret Tunnel

Taking advantage of the cooler temps in September (as compared to July when we usually have our family reunions in Vegas), our goal was to hike the Historic Railroad Trail this morning. We made arrangements with the hotel front desk for late check-out and then headed over to Lake Mead National Recreation Area after a quick breakfast.

Anchorage Away

We didn't have much on the schedule for today, so that gave us the opportunity to explore the area around Anchorage at a more leisurely pace. From Wasilla, it took less than 30 minutes to drive to Chugach State Park. We paid the $5 day use fee at the kiosk in the parking lot of the trailhead and started the hike (~1 mile, one way) to Thunder Bird Falls.

100-foot elevation gain in the first 0.1-mile

Flights of Fancy

Due to high demand for the 16 rooms at Brooks Lodge inside Katmai National Park, they hold a random lottery for the opportunity to make reservations. So just for grins, in December 2023 I submitted entries for the four of us for the *2025* season, requesting up to three nights for any available dates during the peak times of July or early September to see the bears of "Fat Bear Week" fame. They said that having a flexible schedule would improve our chances of getting a reservation.

I'm not sure exactly how many entries were received for the 2025 lottery, but there were 3649 for the previous year's drawing, with more than 2500 parties ending up on the waitlist. When I found out in January 2024 that we lucked out and were given September 4-7, 2025, I immediately plunked down our deposit and started planning an Alaska vacation around those dates.  

So excited that after more than a year and a half we're actually starting our trip!

My Kind of Town

Friday, April 25

After saying goodbye to the aunties, I loaded up my lone suitcase (R took the other two bags when he flew home yesterday) and headed back to O'Hare to return the car. It was pouring rain when I got to the gas station (figures!) in Park Ridge, but I managed to fill up and stay fairly dry, thanks to my spiffy new raincoat! From the Multi-Modal Facility, I rode the tram back to Terminal 2 and then walked to the Blue Line station to take the train downtown. $5 for the CTA vs. $50 for an Uber - no brainer!

Suburbia

Hanging out with our friends RH and C at the Cubs game on Tuesday wasn't enough, so we also spent the day with them yesterday, too! We met them for lunch at Barnaby's in Northbrook. I guess it used to be a big Midwestern pizza chain, because both R and RH remembered going to Barnaby's (different locations) with their families as kids growing up in Chicago. Now there are only a few left...

Barnaby's is known for their crispy, thin crust pizza

A Good Friday

Since R's cousin's wedding wasn't until later today, R and I went out to Alexander's Breakfast and Lunch in Skokie for breakfast. Or are chilaquiles considered lunch? 🤔 Either way, both dishes were really good!

Chilakillers and Tres Leches French toast

Girl Power

The first item on today's itinerary was the 10:00AM ranger-led tour of Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument. So after grabbing breakfast from the lobby this morning, we walked a few blocks east to the Metrobus stop at New Jersey Ave NW & K St NW and rode the 96 Capitol Heights bus past Union Station to Massachusetts Ave NE & 2 St NE (5 stops). It was a short walk south to Belmont-Paul (0.2 mile). 

☑ Unit #198

Take It Easy

The penultimate day of our drive back home to California put us back into familiar territory, for the most part. We've driven this stretch of I-40 before, except for the section between Grants, NM and Sanders, AZ, when we took a slight detour to visit El Malpais National Monument and El Morro National Monument in 2016.

385 miles, 6.5 hours

The Bear

Have you seen FX's "The Bear"? The show has garnered a lot of positive buzz of late, receiving several nominations (and wins) for the Primetime Emmys (10 for Season 1), Golden Globes (3 for Season 2), and upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards. We were a little late to jump on the bandwagon, but after recently binging our way through both seasons on Hulu, count us among the fans of the show. 

Why?

1. It's set in Chicago, more specifically an Italian beef sandwich shop in Chicago. The main character, Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) is an award-winning chef who comes home to run the restaurant he inherited after the suicide of his older brother. Besides his brother's debts, he is also left to deal with both a kitchen and a staff that are dysfunctional. 
2. Food. Given that the show is about a restaurant, and Carmy and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) are trained chefs, the food itself is essentially another member of the cast. Everything they prepare looks amazing!

Several of the locations in the show are actual restaurants in Chicago, so we decided to take a "foodie field trip" around the city to try them for ourselves...

It's the Great Pumpkin

Besides visiting the grandparents, there were two other reasons for the timing of this trip back to Illinois... my hometown's annual Pumpkin Festival and my high school class reunion. 

57th Annual!

If you've ever used Libby's Pumpkin for any recipes, chances are pretty high that it was grown and harvested from fields in Central Illinois and canned at the Nestlé plant in Morton. The "Pumpkin Capital of the World" has held an annual 4-day celebration of everything pumpkin each September since 1967. Imagine a stereotypical small town fair (carnival rides, competitions, entertainment, food, parade, etc.) but on steroids - the Chamber of Commerce and its army of volunteers does an excellent job! However, the bigger draw for me is the chance to catch up with old friends since many people come back to see friends/family who are still in town.

As a bonus for my parents, my brother G and niece C also decided to visit when they heard we would be there (my sister-in-law couldn't come due to work 😢), so they had all of their grandkids together for the first time since before the pandemic.  

Out of Luck

Saturday, July 8

We grabbed breakfast this morning from Aloha Specialties, where SPAM and Portuguese sausage rule! On our way to UNLV for the second day of games, we stopped by Leilani's Attic to see if they carried the yummy cornflake cookies that we had on Kauaʻi in 2021. No dice.

After going thru security, we headed straight over to Cox Pavilion for the Miami-Boston game. M and J were sporting their UCLA gear since their fellow Bruin, Jaime Jaquez, Jr., was drafted by the Heat a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, after we sat down, we quickly figured out that Jaime wasn't going to play at all because he wasn't even dressed during warmups. Bummer. 

Disappointed Bruins

Ten Crucial Days

When R and I received an invite to the wedding of our close friends' daughter, we decided to tack on some extra days and make a vacation out of it! Working son (M) and college son (J) didn't come with, so just us two empty-nesters flew into Newark yesterday. 

The air quality is so much better than it was a week ago!

Travel tip: Seats 48A/B on a Boeing 777-200 are great because there is no third seat in the row = extra room for economy price!

Be Like Water

Since we didn't walk back for biscuits and gravy at the Stehekin Pastry Company on our last day there, C made us her delicious version for breakfast this morning! What a treat! 

Our agenda for today was to visit a couple places in Seattle. RH, having been baptized into the crazy way we travel, was still willing to tag along with us, but C couldn't go because she had other things she needed to get done today. 

On our way into the city, we stopped by the salmon hatchery in Issaquah. After seeing them in the wild, it was fun to get a closer look at the chinook and coho through the windows of the fish ladder.

This Little Piggy

Since our itinerary for today was a day trip to explore San Juan Island, we grabbed an early breakfast this morning and were on our way to the ferry terminal in Anacortes by 7:30AM.  

The drive was a little foggy, but we made it in about a half hour. We found a parking spot (paid $13 at the kiosk) and then waited to board the ferry as walk-on passengers for the 8:30AM sailing. The ride over to San Juan Island took about an hour. We were treated to lovely views of the other islands we passed along the way.

Boarding the Chelan

Up the Creek

Yesterday we saw so many different varieties of wild chickens roaming the island and thought they were really fun.

This morning at 3:00AM, not so much.  

Hey Siri, can you kill feral chickens on Kauaʻi?

Cock-a-doodle-booooo...

3 F's

Saturday, September 11

Food

It should come as no surprise that we live to eat, more than we eat to live. But unfortunately the capacity of our stomachs puts limits on our intake (unlike that guy from Strictly Dumpling who can pack away absurd amounts of food!) Every time we come back to Illinois, we hit up our most favorite places but seem to run out of meals before we can get to them all. It has been way too long since I've had wings from Buffalo Joe's, so I was determined not to miss out this time around. Knowing that we were going to have Lou Malnati's with family for dinner, we headed up to Evanston for an early lunch. Careful planning maximizes opportunity, people!

The Road Less Traveled

Having stuffed ourselves over the past three days, my only regret was that we didn't have another meal (or stomach space) left to squeeze in a pizza from Monical's. Next time. *sigh*

We polished off the leftover bao for breakfast, and then loaded up the car to head back up to Chicago. But we couldn't leave before taking the usual photo of the boys with the grandparents.

Redemption

Given how our kayaking adventure in Hawaii turned out last summer, you might think that I would not pick up a paddle ever again. And yet, there we were at the marina in Morro Bay State Park at 9:00AM this morning, getting ready to embark on a half-day kayak tour with Central Coast Outdoors.

However, this time I was hopeful that our experience would be much better than the last one since the waters of Morro Bay are protected from the open ocean by a four-mile long sandspit. And I was assured that the sit-inside kayaks are much harder to tip over than the sit-on-top kind. 

Morro Rock

Find Your Beach

No rush to get out the door this morning since our only plans were to go to the beach. Instead of breakfast at the hotel, we went to 808 Grindz Cafe. There was a bit of wait to get seated, but it was worth it! R was the only one who ordered something we hadn't already eaten on the island.

Macadamia nut pancakes

Chicago = Family

Who needs Airbnb when you have R's Auntie A and Auntie J? Ever since we moved to California almost 17 (wow, 17!) years ago, we would stay with his brother K in the basement apartment of his aunties' two-flat when we came back to Illinois to visit. There would always be a stocked refrigerator and pantry waiting for us, thanks to his aunties. Even though K passed away in 2015, we are still staying at "K's place" and still being well-taken care of by A and J!