Alaska!

Alaska has long been high of my list of places to go.  So when we saw an opportunity to do it, we jumped, even though Kacey was 6.5 months pregnant.  One thing that helped was I found a way to use reward flights and a reward car.  Also, grandma came in to watch Nolan.  Even though we have taken him on many adventures, and even though he would have liked a couple things on the trip, it just wasn't the best idea to take him on this adventure.  We had a wonderful time, saw a lot of wildlife, and visited places few will ever go.!  And, I couldn't resist putting my one of my favorite pictures right here.

Byron Glacier

Wednesday June 27 - Bakersfield to Fairbanks

What started out as a simple connection in Denver turned in to a transfer to Alaska Air, adding Seattle as another waypoint (with awesome views of Mt. Rainier while landing), and our bag waiting in Denver for 24 hours.  But, we made it to Fairbanks, and got to our hotel, the Regency Fairbanks Hotel, for bed around 2:30am.

Thursday June 28 - Fairbanks to Denali

This morning, we ate "breakfast" at the hotel - a continental with slim pickings.  But, we had a plan to stop by a Safeway on the way out of town to pick up some snacks and lunch for later.  The drive to Denali was a little surreal.  We were tired, driving in a strange place I have wanted to visit for a long time.  The landscape was uniquely different than anything I had seen before; Alaska is the definition of rural.  The rolling mountains go for miles without interruption, and the trees quickly change while driving as they adjust to their varying ecosystems.  The roads are pretty good, and there aren't very many of them.  The speed limit is usually 65 mph, but 55 through some mountains, and 45 through "towns".  There are also usually passing zones in mountains and on long straight-aways.

We reached Healy, a small town about 8 miles north of McKinley Village, and stopped for gas at the Miner's Market and Deli.  They had a sign for deli as well, so we decided to check it out.  It was surprisingly good!  (And they are the cheapest gas around)  They made a fried fish sandwich for Kacey and I got the Denali (the works).  We headed on to the Wilderness Access Center in Denali National Park.

We were supposed to meet our bus tour here, the Tundra Wilderness Tour, and we were early in hopes to sit in the front.  The nice lady there informed us that we were the last pickup location, yuck!  She then proceeded to help us out by telling us the first pickup location, changing our tickets, and getting us on our way quickly.  We rushed to the Grande Denali Hotel and were lucky that only one person was already waiting, so we were second in line!  We ended up with good seats on the bus (i.e. we could take photos out the front window of the bus).  Unfortunately, the bus was having issues so we had to wait at the visitor center and change buses.  But after that, our guide and driver David (with 30 years experience) had us going and was teaching us a lot about Denali. It didn't take long to reach Savage Station (mile 15), the end of the road for most traffic.  And hanging out near the Savage River were a few caribou, our first sign of wildlife.

Our first stop was at the Teklanika River rest stop (mile 30).  It was lightly raining and the sky was overcast, but we still went out for a look at the river.  The views were much nicer on our return journey, though.  Also, as the road is gravel, the windows get dirty quickly so the bus driver (and a few passengers usually) would wipe down the windows at our stops.  Shortly after we started back up, we saw our first of many encounters of Dall sheep.  Throughout the day, they were high up on the mountains, so we relied on the camcorder zoom to view them.  But even more exciting is that a grizzly bear was spotted not too far from the road!  While it was foraging for food in the brush, we were able to spot it a few times through breaks in the trees.

Our next stop was at Polychrome Overlook (mile 46).  The rain had stopped, but the clouds remained.  They were high enough, though, to get a partial glimpse of the Polychrome hills.  There were a few small trails that lead up to the overlook here, so I went on up.  On my walk up, I saw an animal coming toward the group.  At first I thought it was a wolf.  But as it got a little closer, it was obviously a fox.  This guy was pretty fearless and walked around with the tourists for 10 minutes or so. Our next stop was at the Toklat River rest stop (mile 53).  The views were pretty nice here, but again much nicer on our way back home.  There were Dall sheep grazing on the hillside next to us, and I walked out to the river to bask in the beauty of the hillsides.

Just a few minutes after leaving Toklat River, a moose walked right in front of the bus!  As I was in the front, and my Nikon was always in the waiting, I got a few pictures of it; and I think I was the only person to do so.  It was very exciting!  We reached the Stony Hill Overlook (mile 62) and simply turned around without stopping.  I was a little bummed, but we stopped right after the turn around and stopped near a small field of snow.  The sun was starting to peer out of some of the clouds, so at each rest stop on the return, the pictures were much nicer.  The cloud cover was still too thick to see Denali, but we were happy to see the wildlife that we did!

The tour ended around 9:30 at night (even though it was light out, weird), so we asked David where to get some pizza.  He told us Prospector's Pizza was our best bet.  So we stopped in, ordered a pie, and walked around the shops next door.  While most were closed, I was able to stop in at Subway for a Sprite (not sure why I was craving this, I seldom drink these).  We picked up our pizza and took it back to our hotel, getting in around 11pm at night.  If you are in the area, the pizza was pretty good!  We stayed at the Denali Park Hotel, which is not what you might assume; it is not the park hotel.  It is a hotel about 8 miles north of the park in Healy.  It was much cheaper than the places in McKinley Village and if you are looking to save $100/night, then stay up in Healy!  The room was fine for our single night stay and the curtains blacked out the sun pretty well.

Miles driven: 135
Pictures from this day

Friday June 29 - Denali to Anchorage

Today we got up, Kacey got a breakfast sandwich from the Miner's Market, and we headed back in to Denali.  We wanted to check out the Visitor's Center before driving down to Anchorage.  First off I had to get the National Park Passport cancellation stamp and brochures.  Then, we started a short hike down to Hines Creek via the McKinley Station Trail.  The bugs were getting too bad, so after going back for our spray, Kacey decided to hang out in the Visitor Center and watch the video.  The view at Hines Creek was peaceful and on the way back I saw a snowshoe hare!  We bought a postcard for mom and mailed it from the shop (which we still beat home) and got on the road for the long drive to Anchorage.

We read in the 2 tour books we took that Denali State Park had two rest stops with lookouts of McKinley.  While we stopped at both, it was too cloudy for a view of the mountain.  We kept on driving and decided to go straight to the Anchorage Museum so we could spend maybe 2 hours there.  We didn't really decide to go here until we were driving that day, and if you have a couple hours in Anchorage, this isn't a bad place to spend it.  While the contemporary stuff on the top floor was too strange, there is tons of interesting Alaska information and artifacts to be found.  Once we were done, we stopped by the airport to retrieve our bag and drove to our hotel, the Howard Johnson Plaza Anchorage.  Yes, Howard Johnson's apparently do still exist!  I love budget hotels and we found the sign posted at the front desk of this HoJo humorous.  This hotel rated poorly, but it is because people probably weren't expecting a budget hotel.  If you want to stay downtown Anchorage for cheap, then this is your best option.

We decided to walk to Glacier Brewhouse for dinner (recommended by many sites and Mike and Maggie).  The food was good (especially the bread pudding; they ran out and had to make more, so we got it free and warm), and it was tasty to try a few beers they brew.  This is also where we realized that properly prepared, fresh halibut is awesome!

Miles driven: 263
Pictures from this day

Saturday June 30 - Anchorage to Seward

This morning, we woke up and I walked to Starbucks to use up my gift card for breakfast.  We got on the road and decided to stop at a few of our potential stops today.  These were the Alyeska Tramway in Girdwood, Portage Glacier, and Exit Glacier.  This was a lot to do on our way to Seward!  But, it was a fun day and the weather was absolutely beautiful by time we reached Portage and Byron Glaciers.

Just south of Anchorage is Beluga Point.  We saw the sign and decided to stop in hopes of seeing some.  I didn't know the time of year they come through, but apparently we were a couple weeks early.  It was still a nice view point, and some Dall sheep were hanging out on the cliff above us.

Next was the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood.  We wanted to take the Tramway up Mt. Alyeska.  While the weather wasn't super clear, we decided it wasn't too bad and we gave it a shot.  Kacey saw that they had a deal for a discounted lunch combo at the top of the mountain; and since it was almost lunch time we went for it.  Kacey got a crab roll and I got fried halibut.  It was ok and if you are going up the mountain close to lunch time, it is not a bad option.  We watched some paragliders taking off after lunch, played in the snow, and headed back down the mountain.

Our next stop was Portage Glacier.  I stopped by the Visitor Center first to see where exactly we should go.  Portage Glacier is across the lake from the visitor center, but they recommended the hike to Byron Glacier.  So we drove up to the trail head for the simple ~0.8 mile trail.  I sprayed for bugs and Kacey covered up.  The skies were really starting to clear up and the views of the glacier and the creek were absolutely beautiful!  Once we got to the glacier, we just hung out a while and enjoyed the view!  Everything was super blue, except for the bright green hillsides.

Our next stop was Exit Glacier, just north of Seward.  I didn't realize until we pulled up that this was in the National Park System!  (That meant another stamp)  The road to Exit Glacier is the only road within Kenai Fjords National Park.  This glacier also had a short, relatively easy hike.  It is paved almost all the way to a lookout point, and then gets a little more rocky to get close to the glacier (but still not very hard).  Exit Glacier has been rapidly retreating the past 150 years and markers along the trail show it's retreat.  Kacey bundled up once again and I had to spray my hair because the bugs were so bad!  It was another beautiful glacier viewing, and it was time to get to our hotel and find some dinner.

We drove in to Hotel Seward, the only place we would stay 2 nights in a row.  The rooms are small but with the just of us, we did fine.  We unfortunately stayed above the boiler and sweat through the night.  Opening the windows just let light in, and allowed us to listen to the drunken locals all night.  This was about the cheapest option by time we made our reservations.  I think next time, I would try to stay on the north side of town near the marina, not on the south end by the SeaLife Center.

We drove back to the marina area for dinner.  We tried to eat at Chinook's, but were disappointed by the small menu.  So, we walked next door to Ray's Waterfront.  We got seafood linguine and halibut piccata.  Food and view were ok, and the portions were pretty good size.  I was kind of wanting something sweet, so we stopped at one of the last places open, the Wild Iris.  They had fudge and gelato, both made downtown Seward.  Since we were close to the Safeway, we decided to grab a few breakfast items for the morning.

Miles driven: 164
Pictures from this day

Sunday July 1 - Kenai Fjords National Park Boat Tour

Today was all about the boat tour of Kenai Fjords National Park.  We were hoping for good weather, wildlife, glaciers, and delicious food on Fox Island.  We were blessed with all!  We arrived a few minutes early for departure at 10am, and Kacey stopped by the Bakery at the Harbor to supplement her food for the day.  The day started off a little overcast, but the skies cleared up pretty quick, and the sea was very calm all day!

Our first bit of wildlife was some sea otters hanging out in Resurrection Bay.  Very soon after, we saw humpbacks near the shore.  Since the bay was carved by glaciers, the shoreline drops immediately a hundred feet or so, enabling the whales to dive near the coast.  Just as we decided to move on, some Dall porpoises come up along the port and starboard bows and swam with the boat.  They didn't jump up too much, and it was hard to get decent pictures, but I got a few where you can make them out.

As we moved out of the bay and passed Bear Glacier, Orca whales were spotted!  It is rare that this trip gets to see them, so we were excited!  Our captain did not get very close (two other boats were already close), so the pictures were from far away, but still cool!  After watching them for a while, we headed toward Aialik Bay.  We did see another humpback along the way, but he was casually feeding.

In Aialik Bay, we first passed Holgate Glacier.  While this wasn't our big attraction, we didn't really see it for long.  The big attraction was next up, the Aialik Glacier.  The bay around the glacier is beautiful mountains to the west and bright green hillsides to the east.  But straight to our north was the magnificent Aialik Glacier!  We moved in, about a quarter mile from the glacier, and shut down the engines for about 20 minutes.  We just sat and listened to the glacier (and the loud folks out on the deck).  I snapped a few pictures of ice calving, and recorded one video of it.  While the pieces look small due to our distance, they were actually large and created a large booming sound upon impact with the water.  There were a few ocean kayakers near the glacier enjoying the view as well.

On our way back to Seward, we were lucky enough to see another wonder of nature.  A breaching humpback whale!  It was quite awesome (and a little difficult to photograph).  The whale only gave us a show for 10 minutes or so before stopping the fun, at which point we moved on closer to the dock.  Along the way, we spent some time near Barwell Island, watching lots of birds, watching some seals, and watching some puffins.

Our next stop was our salmon and king crab dinner on Fox Island!  (Oh, and the vegetable lasagna was good too).  We had a good time skipping stones and sitting on the beach.  But we boarded the boat for our 45 minute ride back to Seward marina.  There were beautiful views of the mountains along the way, and we had a view of the trail used for Mount Marathon each year.

Back in Seward, we walked around for a few minutes at the marina, stopping at the Harbor Street Creamery for a peanut butter milkshake.  I also picked up a breakfast pastry at the Bakery at the Harbor.  When we got to the hotel, Kacey was craving something sweet, so we walked over to Sweet Darlings for some gelato.

Pictures from this day

Monday July 2 - Seward to Kenai, Whittier, and then Girdwood

We got up and while Kacey was getting some food for the day started not feeling too well.  I just ate my muffin from the night before and was ready for the drive to Kenai (and skip the SeaLife Center).  We didn't really know what to expect on this day, but it was fun to explore.  We stopped at the visitor's center in Kenai and learned about the old town; maybe two blocks of an old Russian Orthodox Church, a sandwich shop (closed on Mondays), and some apartments.  There were also some old buildings which have been re-purposed as little hotels and things like that.  I was mostly excited about the Russian Orthodox Church! After a quick (cloudy) view of Cook Inlet from Erik Hansen Scout Park, we headed toward Soldotna for lunch.

Soldotna is just a little town east of Kenai with more commercial stores and restaurants.  We were recommended to St. Elias Brewing Company for pizza.  The pizzas were pretty good, and so was the beer.  After a quick chat with Nolan on the phone (while we had service), we headed back east, this time taking the Skilak Lake Loop road (on a recommendation from the Kenai visitor center).  This is a gravel road that parallels the highway and swings down by lake Skilak, and we were on the lookout for wildlife.  The drive was nice and we saw a black bear, but the camera didn't quite focus fast enough as he was really on the move.

As we were driving, we were contemplating driving to Whittier.  All we knew is that there is a shared use tunnel from Portage Lake to Whittier, the longest vehicle/railroad tunnel in North America.  Once we picked up a cell signal, I searched online for more information and found the schedule.  It was open eastbound to Whittier vehicles from 4:30-4:45.  It was 4pm and we were about 50 minutes away.  So with Kacey behind the wheel, we got a move on!  The most important part of making up time is using your opportunities to pass trucks and RVs, and she did great as we got to the tunnel at 4:45 exactly!  We were the last car, so it worked out perfectly.  The tunnel is about 3 miles long and takes about 6 minutes to drive.

Once in Whittier, we knew there was a Prince William Sound Museum we wanted to see, and we thought we would have about 30 minutes to view it.  Well, it turns out it is open later than the travel book said, so we had plenty of time, but it was pretty small.  It is a single room in a building that doubles as a convenience store/apartments?  It was hard to tell.  But there was some interesting information about Alaska's role during WWII and the building of the railroad, highlighting Alaska's heroes.

We next drove over to the marina area as there isn't really a town here.  There is a tall building which is apartments, some industrial businesses, a train station, a marina with adventure excursions, and some restaurants and gifts shops near the marina.  This town is mostly a jumping off point for people heading in to or out of the waters of Prince William Sound.  The biggest thing in town is the large parking lot to support people going either way.  We contemplated eating but decided to do it in Girdwood and catch the 6pm exit through the tunnel.

We got to Girdwood, found the Carriage House B&B, and went in to town for dinner.  We decided to eat at Jack Sprat for dinner.  The pan seared halibut and the baked ricotta cavatelli were both very good!  It was too late to make the ice cream shop or the bakery, so we stopped at the Eagle grocery store and bought a small tub of ice cream for dessert.

Miles driven: 253
Pictures from this day

Tuesday July 3 - Girdwood to Palmer, Talkeetna, and then Fairbanks

We got up, ate our breakfast prepared by Rachel, and got on the road toward Fairbanks.  Today was a big driving day, but we also had a few stops planned.  We first headed to Palmer to see a couple sights and eat lunch.  The visitor center there didn't have much to say about the area, but confirmed that we should next drive Hatcher Pass on our way north.  The old town really doesn't have much, but one can walk by a few old buildings.

The Colony Inn serves up some lunch and while we were contemplating getting something to go, a local advised we order food here.  So we ordered 2 sandwiches to go and walked down to the United Protestant Church, otherwise known as the Church of a Thousand Logs.  It was a very unique looking church, both inside and outside.  We grabbed our sandwiches and headed up toward Hatcher Pass.

Hatcher Pass is a mountain pass road known for it's beautiful views, traveling from north of Palmer west to Willow.  It is a gravel road that had just opened up a few days prior and was still lined with snow in some places.  The road was easily passable in our all wheel drive Taurus and while it was a little cloudy, it was very peaceful and beautiful.  We stopped a few times along the way to look around, and once in the middle of the road to take a photograph.  After an hour or so, we reached the Parks Highway and headed north to the road to Talkeetna.

Talkeetna is a town often used as a jumping off point for many adventure excursions to Denali.  This little town draws lots of tourists and has a lot of food options.  Kacey got some food at the Spinach Bread shop.  They were also selling some delicious homemade rhubarb-blueberry cobbler!  We walked in a few shops and Kacey bought a shirt for her little girl.  After a quick walk to the Susitna River, we got on the road for Fairbanks.  But, not before stopping at the Kahiltna Birchworks.  I was hoping for some birch beer, but we just sampled the other treats they had, and Kacey bought some birch caramels.

We stopped once again at the south and north viewpoints for Denali within the Denali State Park.  And to our luck, the mountains were viewable!  After taking pictures for a while, we continued north to McKinley Village just outside of Denali National Park.  We went to the Salmon Bake restaurant for some food.  With a long wait for a table, we went upstairs and waited for a spot at the bar.  We got a salmon sandwich and a buffalo burger.  Not too bad, and their fries were good too.  Kacey heard what sounded like an Indiana accent next to us at the bar, and she was correct.  They were from Shelbyville and Evansville.  On our final drive to Fairbanks, the sunset views were very nice and we stopped frequently to photograph it.  We also saw a moose drinking water right by the road!  We got in around 10:30pm and tried to get some rest.

Miles driven: 445
Pictures from this day

Wednesday July 4 - Fairbanks to Coldfoot and Wiseman

We got up, ate a little "breakfast" and headed up to check out the pipeline.  At Mile 8.4 of the Steese Highway north of Fairbanks, there is an area to view the pipeline.  For two engineers, this was cool!  Mostly, because there was an Alyeska pipeline engineer there and we talked to him for a while.  We headed back to town to check out the visitor center and grab a bite before heading to the airport for our tour.  We didn't have long at the visitor center, but it seemed pretty cool.  We stopped by Alana's Cafe for sandwiches to go on the plane.

We got to the small aircraft airport around noon and started getting briefed about our flight.  Simon was our pilot of the 10 seater plane.  It wasn't too bad, much more comfortable than our flight to Placencia, Belize.  The seatbacks had a map of sites we would be flying over.  The views of the Yukon River, the pipeline, and the mountains were incredible.  It started raining when we were getting close and it was sprinkling as we landed in Coldfoot.

We got in our van for the 15 minute drive north on the Dalton Highway up to Wiseman.  Our driver, Cody, was working up here for the summer (and originally from Indiana).  Wiseman got a bridge around 2000 to be connected to the highway, and about 13 people live here year round.  It is the northern most town in Alaska with year round residents (we were told).

Wiseman was full of bugs!  People live off the grid, but have internet and satellite TV.  They have federal licenses to live off the land.  It was an interesting town and local Jack Reakoff kindly hosted us around town and his house.  We toured the little chapel as well as one of the cabins people can rent (and they sell coffee, tea, and snacks there too).  After walking around a while and using the outhouse one last time, we headed back to Coldfoot for our flight home.  The skies opened up and the views of Gates of the Arctic National Park were awesome!  We were about as close as someone can drive to get to the park, as there are no roads to the park.

After arriving back in Fairbanks, we decided to drive to North Pole.  We figured it wasn't much, but we visited the year round Christmas store (with year round Santa!, who was already gone for the day) and saw the reindeer outside (they looked sad).  We drove back to Fairbanks for dinner at the Pump House.  It was nice!  I got elk meatloaf and a beer sampler, and Kacey got one more serving of pan seared halibut.

Pictures from this day

Conclusion

We couldn't have asked for anything more (except for more time).  We saw wildlife, towns, mountains, museums, glaciers, big skies, the Arctic Circle, and ate some good halibut.  We took over 2200 pictures but only about half are viewable on the website.  I only exposed about 10 of the 120 orca whale pictures, for example.  Our car served us well, but was pretty filthy after a week in Alaska.  Hotels are more than we were used to paying, but we always stay at budget hotels (and even Alaska budget hotels get expensive).  Gas wasn't too much more than California, but someone from the midwest would double-take the price.  We were lucky to have very little rain as it is common for rain in the summer.  Tours are worth the money and get you close to the things you went all the way to Alaska to see.  I am sure we saved money by booking the tours all on our own.  The train is expensive so if you don't mind driving, a car is the cheaper and faster way to travel.  I already know that a second trip to Alaska would include a cruise (which we don't like) of Juneau, Glacier Bay, Homer, and Kodiak.  But, it was an awesome trip, and we were really blessed to have the experience to see so many of God's beautiful creations!

Find all of our pictures here

Nolan is 4!

Nolan turned 4 last Wednesday.  This was the first time we were in a place where he had some friends that he could have a party (even though younger than this, he wouldn't really get it).  Technically we had a little cake (zucchini bread) with grandma while she was here a couple days before his birthday.  Then, we had another cake and presents on his birthday with just mom and dad.  Then on Saturday, we invited a few of Nolan's friends over for a little low-key party!  We told the kids to bring swim suits and we set up sprinklers in the yard, made some water balloons (but lost many of them to the sun before the party), and got some water toys out.  The kids had lots of fun and Nolan was very excited that his friends came over!  It was a great time with some wonderful friends.  Kacey made some very tasty homemade cupcakes and homemade icing.  We made spaghetti and sauce, salad, and a fruit salad inside a watermelon shark.  It was a tiring yet happy day!

Nolan turns 4!

The Pacific Coast Highway and San Francisco

Ever since we knew we were moving to southern California, I knew I wanted to drive the coast up to San Francisco and see a few sites up there.  I wasn't really interested in spending a lot of time up there, which meant we were able to turn this in to a 3 day weekend trip.  On Friday we woke up and got on the road relatively early as it takes 3 hours just to get to San Luis Obispo, the almost half way point to San Fran for us, the start of the PCH drive for us, and a town we have wanted to see for a few months.  Luckily, this drive would take us near Solvang, a town we visited last year.  So of course we drove just a little out of our way for Danish Waffles!

We got to SLO (the commonly used abbreviation for San Luis Obispo) and headed straight to the Mission.  This looked very similar to the Mission in Solvang, which makes sense as they were built around the same time by the same people.  We then walked around the downtown area for a few minutes, looking for a place to grab a little food.  After checking online and looking at some menus, Kacey chose Sal's.  The food was decent, but as they were brand new, they had no fryer, so the fries and onion rings were not edible (they did give a refund, though).

We got on the road for the short trip to Morro Bay, home of the iconic Morro Rock.  I really didn't know what to expect here.  There is a few restaurants on the water, but not a super beautiful view.  You can drive out to the rock and park there, which we did.  We got some views of the Sea Otters playing, and we watched the surfers freeze in the ocean.  After finishing our lunches here, we got on the road.

The next thing along the PCH was Hearst Castle.  According to their website, you need reservations weeks in advance, and the costs can get astronomical.  So our idea was to stop in, see what we could see for free (or quickly), and move on.  I guess people plan pretty elaborate trips just to see the castle and spend lots of money for a big romantic dinner up on the mountain.  Anyway, there is nothing to see at the visitor's center as the castle is up on a mountain.  So we used the restrooms and got information about another site close by, the elephant seals.

I wasn't expecting much at the elephant seals (approximately 4 miles north of Hearst Castle), which made the shock of what we saw awesome.  I will let the picture explain this unexpected scene...

Elephant Seals as far as the eye can see!

So next up was the Big Sur area.  This is miles of winding cliff roads with vista views.  Now it was a little overcast for us, but occasionally it would open up for a view.  We stopped at overlooks and enjoyed (mostly) just making the drive.  This reminded me some of The Great Ocean Road, with less things to see.  Even though it was cold and overcast, the surfers were still out.  I did a quick hike at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park out to the ocean to see a big waterfall and bright blue water.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

After Big Sur we were looking for a Sea Otter Refuge, but never saw it.  So we entered the Carmel/Monterey area and stopped at the Carmel State Beach.  Kacey took some time to walk around on the beach and stretch her legs while I looked for a place to eat dinner in Monterey.  Kacey then found a place called Il Vecchio (the old).  What a great restaurant!  The owner spoke fluent Italian and visits frequently to revise the menu.  The staff was nice and the pricing was reasonable (considering where we were).  We enjoyed a delicious dinner and still had time to check out the view from the coastline there.

The next morning we got up early (after a free hotel night near the airport) and got to Muir Woods National Monument.  This is a place I have wanted to visit for a long time, and I read that the crowds on a Saturday and Sunday get quite bad, so we got to the park by 10 or so.  Unfortunately as I drove over the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time, the entire bay area was covered in a thick marine layer, so we couldn't see anything.  But, we made it to the park with basically no traffic.  We stuck mostly to the paved trails and Nolan and I enjoyed seeing the Redwood Trees.  I was quite frustrated by the inconsideration of the other guests, though.  This was treated mostly like a city park where there are no noise and other rules.  Even areas marked with several signs to be quiet, people were yelling and using their cell phones in excess.  This, combined with the commercialized junk store, made me realize that John Muir would either be happy that many people had easy access to a park or would be spinning in his grave at what the park had become.  A park ranger I spoke with for a while agreed and had similar thoughts, and informed me that the lease for the junk store was almost up and it was getting kicked out.  They are also considering limiting the number of people in to the park by maybe using a reservation system.  I informed him, though, that a system like this would have prevented me, a non-native, huge fan of the national park system, from being able to see the park (we only knew a few days in advance we would be in the area).  He said they had considered situations like this, but it is a tough problem to solve.  I think denying buses, tour groups, cell phones, and requiring ranger hikes on the paved trails, could go a long way.

Anyway, on our way back to San Francisco, I see what the park web site meant by "busy".  Traffic was backed up all the way on the 101.  I made this to attempt to show how ridiculous this was.  (traffic link)  So as we made our way across the Golden Gate, the fog had lifted and I could see San Francisco, the bridge, and Alcatraz, all for the first time.  Pretty cool!

We decided we would stop at the Golden Gate Park, relax, and take in the sites a little.  Well, the exit we needed didn't look like an exit, but it was.  So we drove for an extra 10 minutes or so to get back to the park.  But once there, we took turns viewing the bridge as 1) parking was crazy and 2) Nolan was asleep.  The bridge top was still covered in fog, so no amazing pictures, but I got the idea.

Next we were going to head toward our hotel in Union Square, making a couple detours along the way.  The first detour was driving down infamous Lombard Street.  This was crazy, as was the view from the top!  Additionally, the view made us realize there is something else to go see, something we weren't even sure what it was; Coit Tower.

So, we added a Waypoint to the GPS and headed up to Coit Tower.  And since we had driven up there and found a spot so fast, we decided to go up.  We also got lucky that the line was relatively short for us (but was longer coming back down).  The views were nice and unobstructed, even the marine layer was finally burning off.  Due to the window configuration and age, it was impossible to get really nice pictures, but I still enjoyed seeing San Francisco from this vantage point.

As it was starting to get late, we headed for our hotel.  There was a public parking garage next to the Hotel Mark Twain that was a little cheaper than valet, and meant I could get back in to my car if we forgot something (which we did).  After sitting for a few minutes, we started looking for food options.  We were both craving some good pizza and found Tony's Pizza Napoletana.  The menu is huge and reminded us of a few things we saw in Naples.  While contemplating delivery, we decided to walk through Union Square, and then take a bus through China town to the restaurant.

The Taiwanese American Cultural Festival was taking place and Nolan took in a puppet show for a few minutes.  Once the activities started shutting down, we headed to our bus for dinner.  Dinner was good and we were lucky in that there was one more table outside, instead of waiting an hour for an inside table.  On our way home, we decided to walk so Kacey could find some pastries from the numerous Chinese bakeries.  Even though most of the markets had closed, a few bakeries were still open, so we got some tasty treats!

The next day, we were only planning to visit Pier 39 and then get on the road.  Kacey had been here as well, and I wasn't too sure what to expect.  The cruise traffic was insane, but we finally made it to our parking garage.  We got some more nice views of Alcatraz, walked through lots of food options, and saw the Pier 39 Sea Lions.  Right before leaving, we bought some Sourdough bread from Boudins.  Then started our 6ish hour drive south on the 101, back home.

Here is a link to our pictures!

A Couple Recent Trips

Last week and this weekend I/we went on a few trips around and near Southern California.  Last week Nolan, Maggie and I drove to Joshua Tree National Park.  It was on my list of parks I really wanted to see.  It was about a 3 hour drive from here and with HOV lanes through the busiest parts, the drive wasn't too bad.  It rained most of the way out, but on the way back the view of Mount San Jacinto was really nice.  There was more to Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms than I was expecting.  There is plenty of food and gas, and the gas was actually cheaper than LA!

Joshua Tree National Park
I have to admit I didn't really know much about Joshua Trees, or even what they look like.  This park has more to offer than just some Joshua Trees.  It was great views of the Pinto Basin, lots of rock formations to climb on, and a great view of the San Andreas Fault.  We first visited the visitor's center in Twentynine Palms and stamped Nolan's National Park Passport book.  They had some nice information about the area to.  From there we drove down to Cholla Cactus Garden.  On this drive there are nice views of the Pinto Basin.  The cactus garden was a nice little walk and some of the cactus were in bloom.  Next on our drive back north, we stopped at White Tank, which is a campground along with some rocks to climb on and a trail to an arch rock.

Next we started the drive west to Keys View, which is an overlook of the San Andreas Fault.  On the way, drove through some valleys full of Joshua Trees.  It was a nice little drive and it was interesting to see how quickly the landscape changes through this park.  Keys View was pretty with many sites within view.

Panoramic View from Keys View, Joshua Tree National Park

Pictures from Joshua Tree National Park
 
Death Valley National Park
Last weekend we decided to meet Maggie in Las Vegas for a day and a half.  I had always said that my first driving trip to Las Vegas, I wanted to drive there via Death Valley.  It is a little out of the way, but Death Valley is out of the way from everywhere, so it kinda makes sense.  The day we were there, it was cold (50-60), windy, and rainy.  So this meant that it wasn't unbearable heat and that the mountains were a little different color.  We started from the west end of the park and drove to Furnace Creek.  This is where the main visitor's center and hotel are located.  On the way there, there are some nice views and windy roads.

We got our maps and our stops picked so we started driving toward Badwater Basin.  This is the lowest point in the United States.  Along we way we stopped at Devils Golf Course.  This landscape looked like plowed land, but it was all salt blocks.  On the way back out of Badwater Basin we took Artist's Drive to see Artist's Palette.  This little road was carved out of rock and leads to a beautifully colored rock.  As we were leaving the park, we stopped at Zabriskie Point for one last look at a colorful landscape.

We finished the drive to Las Vegas and found a room at the Stratosphere for cheap (where you get unlimited trips up and down the tower for views of Vegas).  We found some yummy pizza at Albo Pizza and then decided to go up the tower, even though it was late.  It was neat to have that view of the Strip at night!

Pictures from Death Valley

Valley of Fire
The next day we went up the tower again, and then drove out to Valley of Fire State Park.  Maggie had been here a few days prior, but didn't get to spend much time.  This is a really nice state park with lots to see.  The colors and formations are great, and from there we took the scenic route back to Henderson via Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Valley of Fire State Park

The next day was Hoover Dam day.  Both Maggie and I had been there when we were young, but Kacey had not yet been there.  It was much more developed than I remember as a kid.  The elevators were down that day, so there were no tours.  But we still went through the Visitor's Center and walked across the Dam.  After that, it was just a quick 6 hour drive back to LA!

Pictures from Valley of Fire and Hoover Dam

We're Doing It Again

Yet again, our lives are changing and we are starting a new chapter.

As we decided to move to California, we assumed it was time for me to return to work.  I had spent the two prior years home with Nolan, but figured we needed to rebuild some savings and assumed I should go back to work.  Well, I did that, and learned a few things along the way.  I learned that some combination of circumstances of me returning to work made it to be the wrong thing for our family.

So, two weeks ago was my last day back in the corporate world for a while.  Yes, I resigned.

I didn't like the environment or the attitude and motivation of a lot of the people there.  I missed Nolan.  Our family life was not going as smoothly as we imagined (e.g. the house is always a mess).  We just weren't enjoying our time away from work.  We probably weren't going to be here long anyway.  And all-in-all, we are blessed that we don't have to stay unhappy.

So, I am back to being a stay at home dad for the time being.  Who knows where life will take us, but we are blessed and thank God for being faithful to us!

Yummy Espresso

For Christmas, Kacey got me (us) a De'Longhi - EC-155 espresso maker.  Amazon had it for a good price, and it had a rebate too.  While living abroad, Kacey developed a taste for good coffee, and I have been thinking about getting one of these for about a year.  I honestly was expecting to have to spend more money, and so far we have been pleased with this model.

I am by no means a coffee expert, but I am a little snobby.  For Christmas, Eric got me a couple tins of Illy espresso.  It has been great!  Every time I have a cup, I imagine sitting at our villa in Tuscany, drinking my one, sometimes two, espressos each morning.

Each of these tins is around $15 on Amazon, and if you drink a double nearly every day, a tin lasts about a month.  And actually, it doesn't take very long to make a drink in the morning.  In fact, it is probably the same amount of time you already invest in coffee in the morning (and less expensive than Starbucks).

Am I trying to convince people to try new things... Yes!  Especially if you have been thinking about or considering better, cheaper alternatives to buying coffee from someone every day.

Prior to a De'Longhi, I was using a Melitta cone coffee brewer, a hotshot, and grinding my beans every morning.  This was good, but I enjoy what I now have.

A Quick Visit to Napa

Last week, I had to travel to Central Coast, CA for work for 2 days, and the day I was leaving I realized I was going to be 15 minutes from Napa.  And since there was nothing around where I was staying, I was determined to go to Napa for dinner both nights.  This post simply serves as a record of the yummy food I had while I was there.

Though I got in late the first night, I drove to Morimoto Napa.  I started off with two pieces of sushi.  While it was good, it was overpriced due to 1) location and 2) the name of the restaurant.  If you are visiting here for fun and on a budget, you can skip sushi.  I ordered the Duck Duck Goose.  It is duck confit fried rice and frozen foie gras.  I don't think I have had either before, and it was nice new flavors.  This also came with a duck leg and a duck meatball in a small soup.  I also ordered the salted fingerling potatoes as I was pretty hungry.  The serving of potatoes was larger than I was expecting, which was nice.  I finished the evening off with kabocha squash sticky toffee cake, which is  served with buttermilk ice cream and caramelized asian pear.  The cake was delicious.

The second night I drove to Yountville to dine at Michael Chiarello's restaurant, Bottega.  I started off with the Butternut Squash Caramelle, served with Bosc pear, Pecorino, crispy sage, brown butter emulsion & Amaretti - poppy seed gremolata.  This was delicious and I ate slowly and enjoyed it.  The crispy sage was nice and we need to try to recreate it at home.  My secondi was a Wood Grilled Loin of Grass-Fed Lamb with saffron braised potatoes, green onions, pistachio pesto & rosemary scented lamb jus.  I liked the unique pistachio pesto and the way all the flavors infused in to the pototoes.  It was very hard to pick my dessert, but I decided on Panna Cotta Vaniglia; Eggless vanilla custard parfait, Caramelized pineapple gelatini, Forno roasted strawberry.  It was ok, but I think I would try something else next time as I didn't quite like the pineapple flavor.  This is no problem, though, as there were many tempting options.

2012 - Another New and Potentially Exciting Year

I know I haven't written much lately, but the things that have been on my mind I can't really discuss openly... yet.

2011 was a pretty interesting year.  Kacey graduated from MIT, we moved to the west coast, Nolan started school and I went back to a corporate job.  Nolan is growing up so fast now, and still cracks us up all the time with the things he thinks up!

2012 should also shape up to be an interesting year.  We have some plans, may take on some new challenges, and expect some more big changes.

So while we figure some things out here, I probably won't be back on the blogosphere much.  Sorry, but there are things we can't talk about openly at this time.

Arrivederci Monterosso

This week, we learned of the terrible news of one of the most beautiful places in the world. Cinque Terre, Italy, was destroyed in some areas from flash flooding from the hills.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8850032/Villages-all-but-wiped-out-as-storms-batter-Italys-Cinque-Terre.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-27/floods-hit-italy/3602764

Here is a picture we took last year (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Italy-2010/Cinque-Terre/15072789_5TmPQs#1553956292_zJvZQ2V) and here is a picture of the same place now (http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/3603218-3x2-940x627.jpg)

Here is a link to all our pictures from our Cinque Terre visit in 2010 (www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Italy-2010/Cinque-Terre/) and our pictures from 2006 (www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Italy2006/CinqueTerre/).

Monterosso in June 2010

Monterosso in October 2011

Solvang and Santa Barbara

We searched around for a place to visit during the Labor Day three day weekend; a place that wouldn't have too many people visiting for the extended weekend.  A couple people had suggested Solvang, as it is a small, Danish town that might not attract too many people, and might appeal to our liking.  So Sunday morning, we got in the car and drove about 90 minutes to Solvang, CA!

Along the way, we drove through Los Padres National Forest.  This was a fun little mountain drive with a Vista lookout on the way back down.  It wasn't too great, but we were only 20 minutes from our hotel at that point.  We arrived in town right before lunch, so we parked the car at our hotel, the Royal Copenhagen Inn, and started walking around.  We walked by Olsen's Danish Village Bakery, which I had read was probably the best in town.  I saw a lot of tasty looking things, but I decided on something that looked unique and delicious called a Danish Waffle.  It was two long and narrow fried puff pastries made to look like a sandwich, with butter cream and raspberry filing.  It was awesome!  We walked around a few more minutes and since we weren't quite close enough to all the Danish restaurants, we ate lunch at a place called Succulent Cafe.  It had only been open a week, but the fare was pretty unique and good.  I got BBQ meatloaf, served as an open-face sandwich on a piece of cornbread, topped with thick bacon and melted cheese.  It also came with a side of olives, YUM!

After lunch we checked in our hotel, got the stroller, and started walking around town.  It is a cute, little Danish-inspired town, settled by Danes about 100 years ago.  We stopped in a fair amount of shops and bakeries.  We had some famous Aebleskivers, which were yummy.  I had interest in visiting the local museum, following Danish history.  I learned at 3pm that it would close at 4, so we headed down to the Elverhøj Museum.  It is suggested donation to enter, and a few ladies there giving out tidbits about the museum and the history of the town.  It was easy to see in 20-30 minutes, and had a lot of neat information.

After visiting the museum, we decided to walk to the hotel, ditch the stroller, and head to Hans Christian Anderson Park.  Along the way was the old church, so we stopped in to take a look.  The park was not quite as we imagined; we should have driven because it is rather large and not much close to the entrance we were near.  There was, though, a skate park and a small playground area, so Nolan played a little while we watched the skaters.  It was getting hot and we were starting to get hungry, so we headed to the hotel to clean up and figure out dinner.

I really wanted something Danish, but Kacey really didn’t care, as long as there was something she would like.  We were trying to decide between the Little Mermaid (we had heard good things) and Bit O’Denmark.  Since the later was one of the oldest things in town, we figured we would try that; and they had a fairly diverse menu.  I ordered the Combo plate with Frikadeller and Medisterpolse, with red cabbage and potatoes on the side.  Kacey got a large cheese plate and Nolan got pasta.  Nolan was starting to act up, probably because he was tired, so we paid up and headed back out to cruise the main street and head to our hotel.

By 8pm, the main street was dead.  Only a couple shops were left open, and while Kacey checked out a few, I took some pictures of the buildings lit up at night and found a place for Nolan to go potty (not easy).  On our way back, we walked by a fountain we had seen earlier that day.  I had previously seen that there were little lights all over it so during the day, I told Nolan we would come visit it again at night and it would have lights.  Sure enough, it did!  I took a few pictures of Nolan checking out the lit up fountain and by then, it was cold out so we headed across the street to our hotel.  We were pretty tired!

The next day we woke up ready to enjoy our Danish continental breakfast at the next door Mortensen’s Danish Bakery.  We were treated with a drink and a pastry.  I got a blueberry Danish, Nolan got a raspberry boat Danish, and Kacey got an apple turnover.  They were pretty tasty, but I was still hungry so I ordered a Danish Waffle from this place as well.  I think Olsen’s was better, but they were both very yummy.

Our itinerary for the day was to check out a yarn store and visit the Old Mission Santa Ines before getting on the road to visit Santa Barbara.  The Old Mission wasn’t that interesting, but it had a nice little tour, some old art from the region, and the church to walk through.  There was also a nice garden that Nolan ran around in for a while.  When leaving, there was a nice view overlooking a valley that kind of reminded me of what it looked like exiting a church in Tuscany.  We headed back to our hotel to retrieve the car, but not before Kacey stopped at the Olive Oil store to check it out.

It didn’t take too long to reach Santa Barbara.  We found a parking spot on the street, next to the beach, and next to the Santa Barbara Fish House.  Kacey was ready to eat, and it looked good, so we headed in.  Our food was pretty good, and reasonably priced, so it was a good decision.  We walked across the street to the beach area and walked around for a couple minutes.  There was a bike path with surreys, so we decided to get one for 30 minutes and ride up and down the beach.  It was a nice little ride, but we were tired and ready to fight the traffic to get home.

Pictures from Solvang

Pictures from Santa Barbara

My Nikon 18-200 VR Lens Experience

In case someone else out there is searching the web, as I did, trying to figure out why their front lens element is falling off their 18-200 VR lens from Nikon, I will share my experiences with this. I baby my lens, especially compared to my bro-in-law; I keep it dry, I don't throw it ever, things like that. But, I do use my light hood a lot when outside; and since my camera and lens will not fit in my bag with the light hood on, I frequently reverse it back on the lens to store it.

A few months ago, the lens stopped auto-focusing to infinity at 200mm. Eric was around when this happened, so we swapped lenses and learned that it was my lens, not my camera. I learned that I could still focus manually, so I sadly shrugged it off. Then, just about a month ago when hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains, I noticed that I could not even manually focus to infinity at 200mm, and this really frustrated me. I also noticed that the front element felt a little loose. When I got home I inspected and saw that it was very loose!

I got online and started searching. I found a few threads around that indicated that their front element was coming loose and preventing focusing as mentioned above. Some people did not have the extended warranty I got for free, so they were fixing it themselves. I was still under warranty, so back to Nikon it went.

This was the best thread I found on this issue:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/72604026@N00/discuss/72157604812437107/

If this happened to you, good luck!

The Big Thank You!

For a couple years now, I have often thought about all the people I need to thank; you see, the past couple years, many people have done us many favors during our life journey. Some did it out of love, or their belief in our dreams, or just a small favor that maybe they didn't realize how much we appreciated it.

Last week we visited a new church. While getting ready for church, I thought again about the big thank you I wanted to write. It was definitely timing prompted by the Holy Spirit as the sermon that day had to do with thanking people for the impact they have in our lives. I actually got to talk to the pastor about this! He said "Let me know what else you intend to blog about so I know what sermon to present next".

So... let's begin. These won't be in any order, which means keep reading :)

Nancy & Karl Hans - Kacey's aunt and uncle adopted our two kitties while we lived in Italy. This was actually one of the planning items I was most anxious about as we couldn't just stick them in storage with everything else. When Nancy heard about our anxiety, she said "Tell them not to worry about it, we can make it work". I was so relieved when I heard this! I know this was not an easy thing for them to do either; their two cats were known for being moody anyway. We are so blessed and thankful that the Hans watched our kitties for us and believed in our journey the way they did.

Noramay Cadena - Noramay, one of Kacey's classmates, did a couple things for us that really mattered. While we were getting ready to move to Italy, we needed to store 4 large suitcases and a stroller in Boston, but had no apartment. Even though Noramay was also getting ready to move across the country with her daughter, she gladly took our things AND even drove me and all our stuff back to our hotel before our flight to Europe. She went out of her way and it made our lives a lot easier, so thank you!

Eric Fetcho - Eric did many things. He helped us move out of our house AND took many of our belongings to store in his house for 2 years. He gave us a place to stay many, many times, even when he had things going on or maybe we wouldn't even get to really spend time with us. As we were preparing to leave for Italy, he drove to Indy to get us (after we stored our car) and brought us up to Ft. Wayne. Thanks for all your support, Eric!

Karen Phillips - Mom helped us several times while we were home from getting people together for get-togethers and spending time with Nolan. She helped try to make our trips to Indiana a little more comfortable. She also helped us with getting ready to leave Indiana, including car-sitting for us for a few months.

Todd Waldron, Chris Hopkins, and Cynthia Wilson - Three of Kacey's classmates who helped us move all our stuff twice! We had a lot of stuff in Boston, but they were willing and able to help us move it all to storage (when they all also had to do the same), and helped us move it all out of storage again upon returning to Boston (which they also had to do). Without their help, I really don't know how I would have done all that. Thanks guys!

Adam and Amanda Phillips - My brother and sis-in-law gave us a bed many times, even when they had plenty of other things going on in their lives. I know it wasn't easy to have us stay with them, but it really made our lives a lot easier! Adam also drove with me to Boston when we first moved there, and helped us unload the truck. Thank you Adam!

Mike and Maggie Fetcho - This one might be long, but they really supported us a lot! They helped us pack up our house, and took many, many things to store in their basement for 2 years! They gave us a home several times along the way, sometimes for a couple days, and once for almost 4 months! This couldn't have been easy on them and even though we tried to make it easier for them, they were just great along the way. Their support and belief of our journey made a lot of our lives a lot easier. Thanks memaw and papaw! Oh, and Mike drove with Kacey out to Boston when we first moved there, and helped Adam and I unload the truck!

Here is a list of folks I remember helping us load our moving truck in Greenwood in May 2009: Our CGPC family, all my Pike buddies (I will never forget your engineering efforts with my TV and treadmill, impressive), including Haycox who drove down from Chicago!, Adam and Sarah, my brothers and mom, Kacey's brother and parents, and I am sure I forgot someone. Thanks everyone!

My grandma and grandpa VanHook - When we needed to fly back to Indiana for a wedding in Ft. Wayne, they loaned us one of their vehicles for the weekend. This was very useful! They also let us stay at their house twice while they weren't there, once for 2 weeks while Kacey was away. This was a hard time on us, so it was nice being in a friendly location during that time.

Here is a list of folks that watched Nolan at some point, letting Kacey and I have time to ourselves once in a while: Chas (watched Nolan while I went for an interview), Christie, Karla, Cynthia, my mom, Maggie (so we could go to MBA Prom), Todd, and my mom and sis-in-law Amanda (so I could go to a Colts game with Adam).

Cynthia Wilson - Not only did Cynthia watch Nolan a couple times, and help us move, but she brought back some of our abandoned clothes from Italy. What a great friend, thanks!

Sharon and Vince Cullers - They gave us a place to stay for 5 days when we were visiting Indy before leaving for Italy. They opened their house and made us feel very welcome, even though we would be running in and out during that time.

I forgot one! Jack and Deb Snyder - They watched our cats for a month while we were between school and moving to California. Thanks!!!

I forgot two more!!
Carlos McGowan - Gave us a place to crash in Indy one weekend so we could visit family. Thanks bra!

Kendra and Kristen - Gave us a place to crash in Indy another weekend. Thanks Schmathas!

I have probably forgotten someone, which I said I wouldn't do.

Finding the Right Home

When we lived in Greenwood, we had a great small group at a wonderful church. But the time we were in Cambridge, we never found this. I know and can see the effect it had on my life. So moving to California, one of our main goals is searching for our church home. I know this will take time; visiting churches, then dating churches (Thanks Pastor Steve O!)... and you really only see one church a week. And, what if that church had several families on vacation that week? (We think we have experienced that some)

Luckily, we have a great guide. The Holy Spirit!

But it still takes effort on our part. And patience. And prayer. And research. And an open heart. We have some criteria we have in our minds we are looking for in this home, but realize we have to be open to each place we happen to visit. And all of this time leads to impatience as I really want to find a place soon, but I also know as long as we keep the right attitude and willingness to look and listen, it will happen in the correct time.

Years ago, Pastor Steve gave a great sermon (of which I still have the mp3 and notes) about dating churches. But, before we can really date a church, we have to find ones to visit. Does anyone know of any good tools or ideas for learning about a church before we show up? I mean, if there are no other 3 year olds at a particular church, I doubt it will become our home (as I feel our home has to really be right for Nolan).

So far we have visited 4 churches out here (we didn't plan ahead enough one week), and have a few more we want to visit. We connected really well with the pastor's son and wife at one church, so hopefully they don't feel bad that we are still visiting other churches.

Please pray for us in our search!

Big Transition Time

Life the past two years has been exciting and unpredictable. But tomorrow, I start a new chapter. Now that we have moved to Westlake Village, CA, I will be starting work at Amgen tomorrow morning. I haven't worked in a corporate job in over two years; staying home with Nolan has been my job. It will be similar to work I performed at Lilly, but a new culture, slightly new job, new patients, new medicines, and new coworkers. But, it won't be with my little boy and that makes me sad. But, it is time for both of us to start our new life chapter.

Nolan Is 3!

Had lots of fun with my boy this year! Here is a post Kacey wrote about Nolan.

http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/7522260405/nolanthird

And, most birthday pictures are posted here. http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Nolan/July-2011/

Jamaica, Mon!

This past week Kacey and I took a little vacation, sans Nolan, to the Iberostar Resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica. We almost went to Jamaica, with Nolan, over spring break this year but didn't ever get it worked out. Also, we have never been to an all-inclusive resort as we normally don't like to sit in one place for a long period of time on vacation, and we really enjoy eating at different restaurants in new places. But, we decided to pull the trigger to go relax for a few days somewhere warm before work.

And let me just say, it is great flying on your status airline for vacation... US Airways is my favorite airline to be status on. First class both ways! (And their upgrade process is better than United and American in my opinion) I think flying to a vacation spot helps as there are less business people getting upgrades on these flights.

So on Sunday night, we drove up to Detroit to stay at an airport hotel (and to leave the car there) as our flight left at 6:30am. I was quite pleased with the Quality Inn there and they have a cheap stay and park rate with 24 hour shuttle.

Monday morning at DTW we had to get there early due to our shuttle, so we checked out the Lufthansa Business Lounge. We had enough time to eat a little food and head back across the terminal to our flight. We had a short flight to Charlotte so we just relaxed and ate a few snacks. Once in Charlotte, we thought we would hand out in the lounge. To our surprise (and a little embarrassment), our first-class ticket to Montego Bay did not quality for the lounge. Oh well, we went to the gate and used the free internet for a few minutes before boarding.

Once we arrived in Montego Bay, we had to look for Desk #21 to coordinate our hotel transfer. We had pre-booked a bus ride and in the back of my mind I knew we would have to wait some. Unfortunately, we were the first on a big bus and we had to wait almost an hour for ~15 more people to join us. Then, we were the last drop-off hotel so we spent another 30 minutes on the bus. AND at one stop, some other guy tried to take our bag! So if you can afford to get a private ride or dare a taxi, DO IT!

Once we arrived, we were just happy to be there, but missing our boy. We weren't quite able to get in our room yet, but we put our wristbands on and went down for lunch at the buffet. We were pleasantly surprised! The selection was pretty good and while a few of the items weren't great, many were pretty good and creative. After lunch we got in our room and then headed to the pool for some relaxing.

View from our balcony

During the rest of the week, we did some snorkeling, ocean kayaking, sailing, sand volleyball, beach aerobics, lots of lounging, archery, and a couple fancy dinners.

We went to the cajun place called Jambalaya one night (not great) and the Japanese place another night (not great). We enjoyed the consistency and variety of the buffet. We also rented a car and ventured to Ocho Rios to see Dunn's River Falls. It was WAY more touristy than I ever imagined and there was no hiking.

We had a good time at this resort. Our expectations weren't super high, but the folks that worked there were nice and inviting. The only people that ever asked for a tip were at the snorkeling/scuba area (they had a tip jar). I felt our service was never really based on tips. It was nice not carrying money or wallets around the resort. We also got to enjoy lots of local fruits at the buffet; naseberry being my favorite local fruit (it was like a mix of cinnamon, pear, and fig). They also made a fried plantain salad that I thought was delicious! And of course, they had jerk chicken twice a day.

We took our new Sony Cyber-shot WX9, not the Nikon, so these pictures were took with it. It has a neat panoramic photo setting that we liked playing with. Check out all our pictures here!
http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Jamaica/

Toronto

Last week we visited Toronto. Maggie had been wanting to visit, and we had the time, so we all drove from Toledo for a short visit. On the way there, we took the Ambassador Bridge, which was pretty quick. The drive is pretty easy to Toronto. We arrived at the Ramada Plaza downtown around 2 and by 3:30, we were at the St. Lawrence Market. On Saturdays the north side opens up for a farmers market, but the south side is open every day. It is full of meat, cheese, fruit, fish, and other foods. This would be a nice place to live close to!

Next we walked toward the CN Tower. It was extremely foggy, so going up was out of the question for the first day. But, we wanted to see the area and let Nolan run around the park a little. We saw some display trains across the street so we walked over there for Nolan to check out; it was the old roundhouse. And the roundhouse has been converted to a furniture store and a brewery. We walked in the Steam Whistle Brewery to just check it out, and they were offering free samples, so I had a couple. While we were leaving, some guy/street entertainer approached us to make a balloon animal for Nolan. He was nice and funny. We started walking toward the hotel looking for food. We didn't find much and Kacey remembered passing two Thai places close to the hotel. We ate dinner at the Buppha Thai Restaurant. It was very good! That night, I took Nolan to the hotel pool for a few minutes for some fun.

On Thursday we slept in a little and first headed to Casa Loma. This castle wasn't quite as big or reasonably priced as a few things we have seen in Europe, but it did have a nice looking outside, large garden, and view of the city. We took the subway down to Union Station to walk along the waterfront. We ate lunch at Williams Cafe; the food was good, but it left me a little hungry. It was starting to rain so we headed for the PATH, the large underground mall. Our plan was to use this to make our way north toward the City Hall. By time we made it north, the rain had calmed. There was a mini car show going on inside the mall, and there was both a Chevy Volt and also a Tesla Roadster in attendance! I took a few pictures, of course.

I was hoping to find the Church of the Holy Trinity near the City Hall, but all we found was the Old City Hall. This is now just courtrooms. We walked to City Hall for a break for a few minutes. After this, we started walking to Chinatown to check it out. Kacey and Maggie hit up a few places and we ended up sitting in the Ding Dong Cafe for a few minutes to eat a little snack and wait out a little more rain. We then decided to walk to Little Italy to find some dinner.

The guide book we had only listed a couple Italian restaurants in Little Italy, but one review looked very good. Also, this place wasn't on our big city map, so we had to rely on the guide book map, which was to a much different scale. It took quite a while to walk to Pizzeria Libretto, but when we finally made it, it seemed we had made a good decision. This place was packed on a Thursday night. Luckily we only had to wait 5-10 minutes. The pizzas were pretty good, but not great. On our way back up the street car, we stopped at Crème for some gelato. This was the perfect end to lots of walking (~4 miles) and pizza.

The next day I woke up early and decided to walk back to the Church of the Holy Trinity. While it didn't open until 11am, I did get to see the outside of the little church, as well as the Eaton Centre. This church was smaller than I was expecting and has been pretty much surrounded by newer hotels and parking garages. To get back to the hotel by my 8:30am curfew, I decided to rent a bike. This was very easy to do and with tons of pickup and drop-off points, very convenient. While geared more for one day on/off, it worked just fine for a 10 minute one-way.

On our way out of town, we decided to get some food, and Kacey and I had been craving crepes. We found a place called Crêpes À GoGo. This was a small little bistro where French seemed to be the preferred language. They were very good! We also got a Nutella crepe to wrap up our meal and it was very tasty! But before we left town, we had to stop back in at the St. Lawrence market. After picking up a few more things, we hit the road for our trip back home.

Honestly, Canada seems a lot like America. The people aren't outstanding as being extremely nice and seem to be mostly in a hurry (especially when driving!). Toronto won't go down as one of my favorite places but it was good to visit.

Our pictures from Toronto can be found here (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Toronto/)

It's A Little Busy

Things are going well getting ready to move, but very busy. Once we settle in a new home, I look forward to sharing our adventures and our new home!

Boston Bucket List

I created a list in my mind a while back to try to complete. We checked off the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, including the Chihuly exhibit, so I thought I would share the pictures.







Check out the rest here! (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Boston/Museum-of-Fine-Arts/)

Items Recently Checked Off the List
Mr. Bartley's - This is a famous burger place at Harvard. I was waiting for Eric to come to town to enjoy, so we went last weekend. The burgers were decent, sweet potato fries were ok (needed to be left in the fryer more), onion rings needed a little salt (but after that good) and the atmosphere was lively and enjoyable.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - This museum is more famous for what it doesn't have; it was the victim of one of the biggest unsolved art robberies in the world. Going on one of the free tours here was great. We were shown many things and learned information that we would have never received had we wandered on our own. This is definitely a place to visit (combine for a full day with the Boston MFA, it is next door and you get a discount for both).

Upcoming Items
Prudential Skywalk - Part of the MIT Sloan graduation takes place here, and we are obviously going!

Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation - Due to timing and limited seasons, we have not yet seen this. I am hoping to do this around graduation with the in-laws.

Trinity Church - While I have technically been in here, it was on Palm Sunday, so I took no pictures and did not do the tour.

Nolan and the Potty

FYI, if you don't want to read about pee and poop, stop reading now.

About the past 4-6 weeks, Nolan was been regularly pooping on the potty. This is mostly because he is predictable and I take him to the potty every morning and afternoon. It is nice not changing dirty diapers! Sometimes he will ask to go before I take him in, so he is learning.

Now pee has been a different story. We tried underpants for a day back in February and also a few weeks ago, but both times there were accidents. But after talking to a few daycare facilities where he might attend, most want kids potty trained at his age. So I decided to work with Nolan some more. I bought some more underpants the other day and yesterday we put some on. After a couple hours there was an accident, but I cleaned him up and put on new pants. He then had another accident a few hours later, but it was close to bedtime so he got a diaper.

Today has been different, and better. I put his underpants on after lunch and talked more to him about how kids at school have to pee in the potty. Three or four times already today, he has walked to the potty by himself, pulled down his pants, and went pee on the potty! So today has been a great day for Nolan! There will be more accidents, but we are definitely headed toward a diaper free Nolan.