we spent a day on the north shore and played at turtle beach. in the afternoon, we stopped in kahuku, popular for its shrimp trucks. we ate at giovanni’s, the original shrimp truck, and braved the lineups for the delicious shrimp scampi. garlicky buttery shrimp.
we are on vacation in waikiki, honolulu! we’ve been at the beach everyday (“shwimming! ocean!” as rebecca likes to remind us). here we are at a nearby lagoon.
we played tourist and visited a couple chicago kiddie attractions… the museum of science of industry. saw baby chicks, saw trains, saw fancy lights, … also saw and heard hundreds of excited children, which was a recipe for an over-tired, over-stimulated rebecca and an early exit. oh well. the lincoln park zoo. saw birds, monkeys, read more
a highlight of our trip was our drive down a small portion of the blue ridge parkway. the blue ridge parkway is a scenic road that goes 755 km from virginia to north carolina. on the road itself, you are surrounded by lush greenery with occasional openings to grand vistas of the mountains. they really read more
we spent a day at chimney rock state park, named after a 535-million-year-old monolith shaped like, well, a chimney! young and old, we trudged our way up step by step. at 2280 feet high, we were rewarded with wonderful views at the top. back at the bottom in the afternoon, while rebecca took her nap read more
we went for a boat tour on lake lure. strapped in her life vest and ready to go! the bay in the background is where they filmed “Dirty Dancing”: after a relaxing boat ride, we had a picnic on the beach with some resident ducks for company. exploring the beach. digging is fun. someone was read more
roadtrip! we drove west from chapel hill to lake lure, an hour outside of asheville. driving entertainment, singing twinkle twinkle: we took a break in the town of hickory. more driving, through lovely country roads. happy to reach our destination: lake lure.
we’ve been needing to go to ikea, but unfortunately it’s a 2.5 hour drive away in Charlotte, so we kept putting it off. finally we had a decent list of items, so we decided to make the trip. passed the NASCAR speedway on the way there. IKEA. first stop, swedish meatballs. she found the bed read more
we just completed rebecca’s 5th transcontinental flight in seven months, this time with just the two of us since joe had to head back early. i was a bit nervous, but we survived. after sitting on the plane for 5 hours (including one hour delay on the tarmac), there was no way i could keep read more
after a great week in san francisco and with family, it was time to go home. we lucked out with our accomodations, which made the trip even better. comfortable vacation apartment in san francisco. hotel avante in sunnyvale, complete with a rubik’s cube and a full breakfast. tired, but we made it!