Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe (Jan 2015)

My childhood memories are often represented by camping trips to Tahoe with my mom and brother, but like many children, I focused on doing rather than seeing things. I had no idea where I was when we were hiking or swimming or biking, but as an adult amateur photographer, scenery has become significantly more important to me now than it was back then. This year, I took advantage of South Tahoe's Restaurant Week, a friend's cabin to stay in for free, and my mom's extensive knowledge of the area in order to spend a few days driving around and taking pictures of beautiful places.

If you want to introduce yourself to Lake Tahoe in all the right ways, make your way from the south on Hwy 50/89 towards South Tahoe. The drive is stunning and precariously cliffy, with distant views of the lake and surrounding mountains from high above.

Fallen Leaf Lake

Most of my childhood memories involved camping during the summer at Fallen Leaf Lake camp site, watching (from inside the tent, in the sleeping bag, in pajamas) my mom cooking breakfast at the fire pit, sunbathing and picnicking on the pebble beach after mountain biking up dirt hills, and my mom precariously passing a car on the cliff side of a single-lane service road towards a hiking trail to one of my favorite waterfalls. You could imagine how excited I was to hear that the service road down to the lake was open from the lack of snowfall. I only wish the trees would smell the same in the winter as they do in the summertime (they smell like a happy childhood). 

Unfortunately, the service road was too icy in the shade for us to attempt to make our way towards the waterfall, but it isn't likely that it would be terribly exciting anyway after a season of drought. I'm going to try to make a point of visiting again this summer, perhaps making use of the ol' camp site.

Hwy 89 & Emerald Bay

Feel free to stop at turnouts along the highway to take pictures of the views or of the rocky cliff sides above. Over around Emerald Bay are two vista points to view a small island called Fannette Island in the middle of the bay with a little viking castle perched on top called Vikingsholm. It's just adorable, and according to my mom, in the summertime it's a great place to kayak.

Hwy 28 & Crystal Bay

There's a lot of small towns through this route along the shoreline that showcases lots of docks, boat launches, water buoys, and the California/Nevada state line. I recommend stopping in Incline Village and making your way down to the shore of Crystal Bay for some wicked shots of Lake Tahoe and Stateline Point to the west. 

Along the east shore, there's a public parking area to walk down to the boulders where I managed to get some pretty awesome sunset shots on the lake. 

Hope Valley

Off of Hwy 88 South of Tahoe is a road called Blue Lakes Rd that hosts this beautiful valley and creek.

Monitor Pass

Lucky for us, Monitor Pass on Hwy 89 was open during the winter, thanks again to the bittersweet lack of snow California has been having. Take lots of stops along the way to enjoy the mountains, but be sure to make your way over the peak to view the distant horizon of Nevada from the top. My pictures of this didn't really translate the beauty of it in person. 

Kingsbury Grade

After visiting Monitor Pass, we turned back to Hwy 88 to Nevada in order to come in from the east onto Kingsbury Grade on Hwy 207. There are some good turnouts to stop at on the way up for some more Nevada horizon views. 

Meanwhile, going up over the top to the west, the trees often blocked potentially good views of the lake. Boo! It wasn't all bad, though. This road happened to be home to one of the restaurants I ate at for Restaurant Week: Chart House. Their food was delicious. I ate off of their pre fixe menu: caesar salad appetizer, flat iron steak entree, and mud pie dessert, while my mom tried the mango salsa chicken entree and crème brûlée dessert. 

Downtown South Tahoe

It was weird realizing that South Tahoe is both part of California and Nevada. We ate at Ciera Steakhouse within the Montbleu Resort in the Nevada side of downtown where the casinos flourished. The pre fixe meal was so delicious and the service was exquisite! It just felt a little awkward with my mom because the atmosphere was more romantic than anything. I had my first ever (real) french onion soup (my mom's was not real, haha) appetizer, mango/papaya salmon entree, and lava cake dessert with surprise chocolate covered strawberries to finish, while my mom enjoyed a salad appetizer, filet mignon entree, and pina colada cheesecake dessert. 

 

 

On our last day in Tahoe, we had lunch at Artemis Mediterranean Grill because for the last few weeks I've been itching for some gyros. They packed in so much meat in my pita, I had to bring my delicious spiced fries home with their dipping sauce.

As we were heading home west on Hwy 50, it was starting to sprinkle lightly and my car Milo got pretty dirty, but I managed to take a pretty cool picture of the mountains on the go. 

See you again soon, old friend!

Paris

June 2014

The 11 hour flight afforded us loads of time to watch a shit ton of movies, but I was determined to make myself fall asleep on the plane to help me transition between time zones without jet lag. I'm happy to report that I was very successful, despite my plan being foiled by a 4 hour flight delay.

 

Arriving in the Paris airport was a huge relief on my body, and customs was a joke. They hardly looked at my passport, and one of the guards by the customs stations came up to me when I was waiting for my mom, asking me if I was travelling alone. Nope. My mom came over, and then the guard backs away smiling, like oh, okay, "Be careful! I'm a thief!" ...What? Welcome to Paris.

Using the metros were simple, and useful, and all over the place, thank goodness. Despite the dirtiness of the metros and much of the city in general, I would have sincerely regretted a decision to actually drive in Paris. They are mad drivers there, with confusing traffic lights, and the roundabout at the Arc du Triomphe was 5 cars wide with no lane marks. Everyone was weaving in and out of each other and they somehow never managed to collide. Nope. NopeNopeNope.

 

While knowing how to read a little tiny bit of French is very helpful, I was relieved to find that knowing how to speak it wasn't a huge necessity. Nearly every French person who waited in restaurants or boulangeries knew enough English for us to get by. The magic words were, "Parlez-vous anglais?"

 

I tried my first ever French macaron, chocolate, of course. There were baguettes and chocolate croissants everywhere. Breakfasts are a big deal in Paris, even if they only offered orange juice with coffee and a croissant. I tried my first ever real carbonara (raw egg yolk on top), at the same time trying my first fresh pasta ever, it was the best. The carbonara order was actually an accident: my mom had meant to order us both bolognese instead. I'm not even mad!

  

My mom claims that the French people are rude, but I was more under the impression that they were merely indifferent. Everyone smokes. There were a lot of North Africans at famous landmarks trying to sell things like little Eiffel Tower statues, postcards, or water bottles, which is illegal. When my mom and I were walking out of Versailles, our timing was perfect when police cars drove up and the North Africans scattered, leaving their ice cold water bottles ripe for the tourist picking. My mom ran over with the rest of the mob and grabbed two. Thank goodness. Versailles Chateau sells a small water bottle for 3 euros, which equates to about $5. Nope. I went thirsty instead.

 

But the North Africans aren't necessarily this much of a blessing all the time. In the Tuileries garden near the Louvre, one of them grabbed at a girl's wallet as she was paying for a trinket! Her friend yelled at the man and smacked at his arm, but the man was persistently aggressive with this girl and continued trying to grab the wallet, even throwing in a couple of whacks. Scaaaaary. There were plenty of children everywhere too holding clipboards out for people to read and sign and/or donate or show them where they keep their money so they can pickpocket them later. There are signs everywhere to beware of pickpockets.

 

I noticed that the south side of the River Siene was cleanest with seemingly richer neighborhoods. We ended up staying a couple miles in on the north side in a middle eastern neighborhood according to the types of shops nearby. It was very dirty, but the hotel we stayed at called itself a 4 star. Let me tell you, it sure wasn't. The air conditioner didn't cool the air at all, so at night in order to sleep comfortably without sweating we had to open the screen-less windows that let in mosquitoes that raped my arms and neck, as well as the vocal enthusiasm of the masses over the FIFA World Cup. They also didn't have a proper "do not disturb" sign for our door, only a "come back later" sign, so housekeeping came in eventually whether we wanted them to or not. But reception was very helpful. That's it. We were randomly upgraded to the highest quality room they have (disbelievingly "worth" 520 euros per night--Thank goodness for early booking discounts), which was smaller than you would normally see in the US, so I could scarcely believe what they offer for their most economic room.

 

My overall impression of Paris is that the old French monarchies and emperors had completely over the top and gaudy tastes, the food is utterly divine, the city is loud and bustling and dangerous, the people are fashionably indifferent smokers who can pronounce my name correctly the first time ("Aubrey-elle"), and while I enjoyed putting on many miles trekking all over the city and soaking up the incredible architecture and history, especially through the parks and the Louvre, I don't really see myself visiting again.

Adieu, Paris. You were a  beautiful one night stand.

 

Seattle

April 2014

Day One - Saturday

We arrived in Seattle on a showery afternoon, but had already made plans to visit the Seattle Waterfront and Aquarium immediately after our departure from the airport in our rental car. I made the mistake of parking too soon in fear of not finding a parking garage later on (I'm used to hard-to-find parking downtown in my hometown), because there were garages and lots pretty much everywhere. Downtown Seattle is super hilly and reminiscent of what you might find in San Francisco, but it is still very walkable because everything worth seeing downtown is very close together.

The aquarium seems really small until you notice that it leads outside the pier enclosure for some bird, otter, and seal exhibits. I'm not sure the aquarium was really worth $22 a head, it needs some updating and is still fairly small, but the river and sea otters are worth visiting. There are a lot of deals to take advantage of that we didn't this time, like combination tickets with a harbor cruise tour or the great wheel, so the opportunity to save some money is there and make the trip more budget friendly.

Afterwards, we made our way to our hotel to wait for another friend to join us so we could eat out for dinner. We ended up walking to Black Bottle, a hip and trendy restaurant that serves food in a family style manner so that it's shared with your friends. They warned us about the "large plates" and people are often surprised by how "large" they are when they come out, but they really aren't. I guess I'm just used to Cheesecake Factory portions as "large". But I'd probably recommend ordering about 2 plates per person for sharing to feel full. Next, we made our way to Bathtub Gin & Co. for a drink before resting our eyes back at the hotel.

Day Two - Sunday

We woke up groggily to eat some breakfast at the hotel and drive to the Volunteer Park Conservatory. The park itself was very pretty, but the conservatory was cute and quaint with a glass enclosure over five different climate zones including tropical, moderate, and dry. There were a lot of cool plants with interesting colors and foliage, and the room with tulips made for great backdrops for portraits. The gift shop was adorable, too, and I ended up buying a necklace with a hand painted pendant of two koy fish.

We had a Savor Seattle food tour scheduled later that afternoon in Pike Place Market, so we decided to head that way early to explore on our own first. I shared a panini special at Sister's European Snacks to tie us over until the tour, bought some chocolate covered cherries from Chukar Cherries, waited for one of my friends to order a frappuccino from the "Original" Starbucks, and tried my very first European drinking chocolate from The Confectional, an amazing experience for chocolate lovers. Speaking of the "Original" Starbucks, it was explained to us that this was not in fact the very first Starbucks. The first Starbucks no longer exists. This Starbucks is the FOURTH Starbucks to exist, but is considered the second location of the first. I feel cheated.

Soon it was time to meet up at the Gum Wall for the start of our food tour. The gum wall was pretty gross! Apparently it started out a bit more sightly where people would use gum to stick coins up, like for wishes? But someone came by and grabbed all the coins so all that was left was gum and even with efforts to clean the wall, people kept putting gum there and so the city turned it into a gross tourist attraction and an accumulation of 30 years of used gum. Do you see our smiles? They are delicate smiles of disgust.

Our food tour was lead by a very informative, hilariously pun-filled, and charismatic guide named Santino whom we decided to call instead Sassy Santino after he alliterated all of our own names as well. Here we visited a number of locations for small bites that some might consider adding up to a meal, but over the course of two hours you don't really feel full.

- Daily Dozen Doughnuts for freshly made cinnamon sugar doughnut holes.
- Market Spice for its Market Spice tea, orange & cinnamon flavor that is surprisingly sweet on its own.
- Pike Place Fish for three types of smoked salmon and a fun fish toss in which one of our own got to participate.
- Pike Place Chowder for lobster bisque and award-winning clam chowder.
- Choice Produce for fresh, sweet grapes and apples.
- BB Ranch for charcuterie and stories inside their walk-in refridgerator.
- Beecher's Handmade Cheese for aged white cheddar on a cracker as well as mac & cheese famously praised by Oprah Winfrey.
- Pear Delicatessen & Shoppe for a small deli sandwich and time to purchase anything else from the store.
- Etta's for delicious crabcakes.

Feeling oh so satisfied, we walked over to the Seattle Great Wheel and enjoyed three rotations around the ferris wheel in enclosed capsules. The views offered up were picturesque and granted us decent backgrounds for selfies.

It was about time I needed to charge my phone, so we tried to find a Starbucks in order to do so. We found one right next to Showbox, the venue featuring Young the Giant later that night. Unfortunately, the Starbucks here in Seattle apparently cover their outlets because they're either stingily rude or environmentally friendly. Meanwhile there was a huge line wrapping around the block to get in to Showbox before doors opening, but knowing that my friend is a seasoned concert goer who knows how to get close to the stage, we saved our feet by hanging out in the Starbucks for an extra hour until the opening band would show.

I haven't been to very many concerts, but I have to say that Young the Giant was the best I've ever been to. I had the foresight this time to learn most/all of their songs so I could sing along, they were incredibly energetic and the crowd was loud and enthusiastic. I give a lot of props to the lead singer Sameer Gadhia. By the end of the night, my throat was weirdly shrilling involuntarily when I yelled up at the stage. I hurt my vocal cords but kept singing, anyway. Seattle turned out to be the last city in their Mind Over Matter tour, so I felt very lucky to have been there. Even without my phone charged, it lasted the night with 1% energy left, so I still managed to get all the photos I wanted to take of the show. I went ahead and bought a Young the Giant sweatshirt, which I needed. I just did. We left the venue pumped and slightly deaf on our way back to the car and hotel for some much deserved sleeps.

Day Three - Monday

I woke up slowly and groggily from the sleep aid I used (I didn't sleep well without it the night before), as well as sore as shit from all the walking we've done. One of our friends was leaving town this day, so we had to sneak in a trip up the Space Needle before he went. There were hardly any lines, probably because it was a Monday morning, and we were blessed with good fortune in the form of sunshine and a clear view of Mount Rainier to the south and the Olympic Mountains to the northwest.

We had originally intended to eat at the restaurant within the Space Needle, as I have heard that it is supposedly superb, but at our entry before 11am the restaurant was not yet open. We settled on the cafe there instead and I consumed the only hot dog we ever managed to get our hands on before leaving the city. On the way to the airport, our friend leaving us wanted to take an emergency detour to a souvenir shop. While we were trying to guide him back to the car over the phone, he asked us to describe our surroundings. This is when we saw an old man running shirtless down the street with a Jamaican flag cape tied around his neck, and it was legit, the funniest thing that had ever happened on the entire trip.

Next thing on our list of things to do was take a harbor cruise with Argosy Harbor Cruise Tours. By the time we arrived at the counter, we were an hour late for the one we had initially planned on attending, so we settled for one two hours later and walked around downtown a bit more. Feeling in the mood for something cold and sweet, we worked our way up four blocks of steep sidewalks to Gelatiamo. I ordered four flavors: lemon sorbet, blackberry sorbet, peanut butter cup gelato, and chocolate hazelnut gelato. The gelato is the most delicious gelato I've ever had. Other "gelato" I've tried have been reminiscent of ice cream, but this here, THIS, was unquestionably gelato. I was in heaven.

After failing to find a hot dog stand anywhere, we begrudgingly made our way back to the Seattle Waterfront. Upon discovering a small arcade, I whooped some ass playing air hockey. A ten year old boy boasting lightening reflexes challenged me to a duel, and I felt bad about beating him so I gave him all of the tickets I won. All 36 of them.

Lining up for our Locks Tour Harbor Cruise, my friend started making a fuss pointing at someone she claimed to be SAMEER GADHIA departing his own cruise tour. Remember that guy? The guy we saw belting on stage the night before? Yeah, I wasn't sure it was him for a while, because he was tying his shoe and all I could see was his butt. Which was fine. He was wearing sunglasses when he stood up, but his look and style lead me to agree that she was right and it was indeed the lead singer of Young the Giant before my eyes, walking off down the street away from us. And I had just taken off my Young the Giant sweatshirt. And we could have been on the same boat as him. I almost died inside.

As for our harbor cruise tour, it was really fun and relaxing. I'm glad we took the longer tour because our feet were killing us. The trip was commentated over the intercom with history and facts about Seattle and Puget Sound. We got some pretty great views of the skyline and that made me and my iPhone camera very happy.

This particular tour took us up and over Seattle through a locks canal and Lake Union. It was really neat seeing the locks in action. They're meant to separate the higher freshwater levels from the lower seawater levels. There were a lot of cool ships and houseboats along the way. Supposedly, we passed the houseboat used in the movie Sleepless In Seattle, as well as the ship used in the show The Deadliest Catch, but none of us saw what the commentator saw. He may have been lying.

Once we docked in Lake Union, a bus took us back to our original location and it was about time we headed towards Kerry Park for some iconic sunset shots of the Seattle skyline.

Our last day in Seattle happened to be the start of Restaurant Week, when even upscale restaurants have affordable 3 course menus. We took the chance to fine dine at Dahlia Lounge where we enjoyed the most delicious bites of food yet. Can't you tell by our empty plates?

It was then declared as a toast that we would continue to discover new cities together every year! ...And hopefully during Restuarant Weeks.