America the Beautiful

Celebrating the 4th of July in 'style': Barry Manilow @ the Hollywood Bowl :)

People have been telling me to write about my adventures in America thus far and although they might not be as exciting as my adventures abroad, they have been wonderful! I love America! I love the massive portions at every meal and constant flow of free refills. I love feeling safe when I walk around by myself at night. I love that there’s everything to see, eat, and explore with a fresh, new perspective. Above all, I love being 

home.

Family!

 

A lot of eating out! Grazianos, Oceanstar, Whole Enchilada, El Tepeyac

Diamond Bar: For the first few weeks home, Theo was studying for his boards and I was mostly relaxing and enjoying life. I made pastry and muffins for the first time and to my delight, they both turned out great! The pastry took me six hours and was extremely stressful, but I suppose it was worth it in the end.

 

Pasteis de Nata, Blueberry Muffins

I started work on my photo albums and otherwise spent my time catching up on television shows and eating an endless supply of food from Mom. Having traveled the world, I still say Mom’s Dungeness crab is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten:

I had her crab twice while home in addition to her amazing pea soup, porridge, and shrimp. Thanks, Mom! I also got to see my best friend from grade school get married and it is official: I have reached the age where, every weekend, I’m almost guaranteed to discover that someone is newly engaged or married.  

After boards, Theo and I took a weeklong road trip through Arizona, Utah, and Nevada and I loved every minute of it! The only drawback was rather extreme weather when, for example, we stopped for gas just outside of Phoenix and the heat was unbearable. It was so hot standing outside that the wind made it worse: It felt like standing in front of an oven with hot air blowing in your face. We also had massive downpours of rain, thunder and lightning, and hail! But, America is beautiful.

 

Sedona

One of our first stops was in Sedona and the red rocks there are stunning! You see nothing for miles and miles and then stumble upon these beautiful rock formations that take your breath away. Unfortunately, we were rushing through Sedona in order to get to the Grand Canyon by sunset. We made it, but just barely:

Sunset was set for 7:48pm and we got to the shuttle stop at 7:30pm. A sign indicated that the last shuttle out is at 7:25pm! Luckily, a couple had been caught in a similarly unfortunate situation and had already sweet-talked someone in operations to have one last shuttle run so that we could catch sunset. I have to say that sunset was just okay and not quite spectacular enough to make us want to get up at 4am the next morning to catch sunrise. (We were also staying an hour away in Williams because everything affordable near the canyon had been booked way in advance.) We visited the Grand Canyon again the next day though and what they say in the literature is exactly right: It may not be the biggest, widest, or deepest canyon, but it sure is grand. It’s massive and beautiful and the colors are incredible. Most people enter through the southern entrance and I’d advise people to not miss the eastern entrance and in particular, the Desert Rim View; it was probably our favorite view of the Grand Canyon! 

 

Antelope Canyon

Things just kept getting better and better, more beautiful at each turn. The next day, we did a tour of Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon situated on native land. We had to go by guided tour but I’m glad we did because our tour guide helped us adjust our camera settings to get amazing shots of the canyon. So incredibly beautiful!

 

 

If you pay a little extra, you can do a tour in the daytime when light shafts beam through the canyon. We did it, it’s worth it! Later that day we also saw Horseshoe Bend and though we weren’t expecting any hiking, it was worth the trek, and in the heat!

 

Theo had just read a lot about deaths in the Grand Canyon.... He was mad at me for jumping :)

We took the scenic route from Arizona into Utah passing the Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, Vermillion Cliffs, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Mammoth Cave, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and some of the best BBQ I’ve ever had en route to Bryce Canyon National Park. If anyone is passing through Panguitch, Utah, stop at the Cowboy’s Smokehouse for fall-off-the-bone ribs!

And for anyone who hasn’t been to Bryce Canyon, go there! The canyon is decorated with hoodoos (thin rock spires) that make for really stunning scenery:

 

The last of our sightseeing was a trip to Zion National Park to admire the massive rock formations towering over our car. By that point, we had seen and appreciated so many beautiful place that we were ready to be on our way and spend the weekend “recuperating” in Vegas :)

 

Zion National Park

I had missed Vegas! I’d never been to Vegas with a significant other and it might have been one of my best trips there. Theo’s friend got us into Pure nightclub Friday night and a crazy pool party at Wet  Republic the next day. We were pampered and made sure to spend a lot of time relaxing by the pool and eating buffets during the weekend.

 

Pure Nightclub @ Caesar's Palace

 

Wet Republic @ MGM Grand

Saturday night, we decided to take it easy and spent a few hours at Circus Circus. I hadn’t been since I was a child but it’s still as fun as ever! They have the same carnival games that they do at the fair, but at a fraction of the price. Theo won me a giant bear too! We didn’t gamble too much and I ended up a winner for the first time ever – up $2! We had casino credit at the Westin and lucky us because the dealers and casino staff were unfriendly. Had they been nice, we would have wanted to stay and gamble more, but they were mean so we took our winnings and left :)

Me and Bubba

After a last week seeing friends and packing in Southern California, we spent some time in the Bay Area. In truth, visiting made me really miss my old life. It was amazing to catch up with everyone though and I certainly ate very well  :)

 

An amazing steak and BBQ at the Sotteros.... Some of the best steak I've ever had!

The week flew by and then Theo and I set out for our 13 hour drive from the Bay Area to Seattle. It’s hard to move to a city where I don’t have a job, friends, or an apartment, but I’m making progress on all three fronts. Life is good :)

 

Seafair

Up Next: Recap, Lessons Learned, New Beginnings, and Endings