Yellowstone Day Four

For each of the Days posts in Yellowstone, I’ll be pretty much photo dumping a lot of beautiful photos I’ve taken throughout my route for that particular day.  Some of you who wish to be mesmerized upon reaching there, you can just read the text in these beginning paragraphs.

Route taken (focus on southeast of park): West Thumb, LeHardy Rapids, Mud Volcano area, Sulphur Caldron area, Hayden Valley

For all my Yellowstone tips – The Best Tips For Yellowstone When Visiting From West Yellowstone

Spoilers ahead of amazing Yellowstone photos!!

Continue reading Yellowstone Day Four

Yellowstone Day Three

For each of the Days posts in Yellowstone, I’ll be pretty much photo dumping a lot of beautiful photos I’ve taken throughout my route for that particular day.  Some of you who wish to be mesmerized upon reaching there, you can just read the text in these beginning paragraphs.

Route taken (focus on Northeast of park): Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (Brink of Upper Falls then Lower Falls then Lookout Point then Inspiration Point), Washburn Hot Springs Overlook, Tower Fall

For all my Yellowstone tips – The Best Tips For Yellowstone When Visiting From West Yellowstone

Spoilers ahead of amazing Yellowstone photos!!

Continue reading Yellowstone Day Three

Yellowstone Day Two

For each of the Days posts in Yellowstone, I’ll be pretty much photo dumping a lot of beautiful photos I’ve taken throughout my route for that particular day.  Some of you who wish to be mesmerized upon reaching there, you can just read the text in these beginning paragraphs.

Route taken (focus on Northwest of park): Gibbon Falls, Artists’ Paintpots, Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth Hot Springs

*For Mammoth Hot Springs, we took a detour on day three to come back to see the Canary Hot Springs since we missed it on Day two.  However, we suggest that when you are in Mammoth Hot Springs to also visit there to save time

For all my Yellowstone tips – The Best Tips For Yellowstone When Visiting From West Yellowstone

Spoilers ahead of amazing Yellowstone photos!!

Continue reading Yellowstone Day Two

Yellowstone Day One

For each of the Days posts in Yellowstone, I’ll be pretty much photo dumping a lot of beautiful photos I’ve taken throughout my route for that particular day.  Some of you who wish to be mesmerized upon reaching there, you can just read the text in these beginning paragraphs.

Route taken (focus on southwest of park): Fountain Paint Pot Trail, Midway Geyser Basin, Biscuit Basin, Black Sand Basin*, Old Faithful

*For Black Sand Basin, since we didn’t have enough time on our first day, we actually did it on our 5th day, when we were leaving Yellowstone going through south to get to Jackson Hole.  But I suggest doing it on the same day if possible since the stops from the route above are perfectly in line with each other

For all my Yellowstone tips – The Best Tips For Yellowstone When Visiting From West Yellowstone

Spoilers ahead of amazing Yellowstone photos!! Continue reading Yellowstone Day One

The Best Tips For Yellowstone When Visiting From West Yellowstone

When I was researching about the busiest months to go to Yellowstone, I was worried.  Most people visited the place during the summer months of June, July, and August.  Nearing beginning of October, all the cabins in Yellowstone were starting to close, the north, northeast, and east entrances were closed, and the weather would drop to like 1 degree Celsius.  Would the roads be too slippery to drive?  Would there be more bears coming out in the wild?

Turns out, when we went during early October, it was the perfect time to go, and I wasn’t even exaggerating.  The number of people there was just right – you were always able to find a parking spot, and there were just enough people to not feel you were deserted and that you were going to be safe, but still had plenty of space to move around and take photos.

Then there’s the weather.  The weather was perfect.  Even in the afternoon, you could get by with a t-shirt.  It was only until a little before sunset when you would start to feel chilly.  That’s when you will need to wear a jacket.

All things considered, I’d say our trip to Yellowstone was perfect in terms of pacing, timing, and the overall planning of the trip, and I want to share my tips with you to ensure you have a good time there as well.

West YellowstoneA picture of West Yellowstone

Continue reading The Best Tips For Yellowstone When Visiting From West Yellowstone

Day Trip to Carmel By The Sea, Monterey, Santa Cruz

If you’re looking for a day trip from San Francisco, you can do what we did by visiting Carmel By The Sea, Monterey, and Santa Cruz.  I’ve been to the first two places before, but some of us didn’t, so we also revisited these places and also visit Santa Cruz.  If you haven’t already, you can read by Pacific Coast Highway, Not Really to read about my road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco a few years ago.

This time, I had more time visiting Carmel and even had a meal there.  Santa Cruz I initially wanted to go for the clam chowder, but of course I later realized the restaurant I wanted to go was Barbara’s Fishtrap which was in Half Moon Bay.  Still, it was good to visit Santa Cruz and visit its amusement park there.

This post will be written by splitting the sections into the three places.  You’ll need to scroll down a bit to find photos for Monterey and Santa Cruz.

 

Carmel By The Sea

Carmel by the Sea

il Fornaio Carmel by the SeaIl Fornaio, an upmarket chain Italian restaurant which I didn’t try Continue reading Day Trip to Carmel By The Sea, Monterey, Santa Cruz

Seriously, What to Do in San Jose and Fremont?

I admit again, NorCal really isn’t my favourite place to visit.  I always felt that the culture and the vibes weren’t what I desire, and the food and things to do here were just meh.  But since I had to come here due to personal reasons, I was brought around to try different things and did a bit of research to maximize the things I could do at this place.

Regardless of how you feel about NorCal, here I’ve written a couple of things that you can go visit or eat and my opinions on them.

 

Accommodation (Airbnb)

A super practical, simple, and well equipped Airbnb that’s incredibly clean and with a communicative host.  There were three bedrooms each equipped with their own bathroom, own towels, the host bought a small vacuum cleaner while we were there because we requested for one, an electronic fireplace, and a comfortable living room.  The Airbnb was also in a quiet neighborhood but a less than a 10 minute drive from downtown.

Airbnb

AirbnbMaster bedroom Continue reading Seriously, What to Do in San Jose and Fremont?

Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival

Half Moon Bay was a must visit for this trip for one reason – Barbara’s Fishtrap.

My orthopedist, who grew up in San Francisco, suggested me to go to this restaurant for the best clam chowder.  He told me that Santa Cruz usually had an annual clam chowder cook off.  So, all this time I thought Barbara’s Fishtrap was in Santa Cruz, but it actually was in Half Moon Bay.  Regardless, I visited both places.  Santa Cruz blog post will be out soonish.  My cousin also told me to visit Barbara’s Fishtrap – she was the one that told me it was in Half Moon Bay.

Anyway, to our luck, there was a Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival on the weekend I went to Barbara’s Fishtrap.  Had I just went for the restaurant, I wouldn’t have done much in Half Moon Bay and probably left shortly after.  While Half Moon Bay wasn’t the clam chowder city, it did host the largest annual pumpkin festival in the world. Continue reading Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival

Hello Bozeman Montana, Hello Montana State University

The Bozeman airport was the recommended airport to get to Yellowstone.  Prior to landing at the airport, I’d assume Bozeman airport was some sort of small, dingy airport where tourists go just to go to Yellowstone.  But when I arrived, I was thoroughly impressed by how clean and themed the airport was.  Anyway, that’s why we were at Bozeman.

I continued to be dazzled by the fact that because of going to Yellowstone, I had to travel through 3 states – Montana for the airport, Idaho for the Airbnb, and Wyoming for the actual Yellowstone National Park.

Very midwest feel, lots of people wearing cowboy hats, and magnificent trees.  Downtown Bozeman feels very much like college town, with lots of support for their university as everywhere was displaying their mascot the Bobcat.

Downtown Bozeman

Continue reading Hello Bozeman Montana, Hello Montana State University

One Day In San Francisco

San Francisco to me has never been one of my favourite cities.  I’m definitely more of a SoCal person than Norcal. I just feel like there’s not much to do in SF, homeless people are scattered in different areas particularly in downtown, where you’ll be able to smell piss, food is mediocre and expensive, accommodations are expensive, and people there are too carefree and “chill” for my taste (for example partying in tshirts and shorts and slippers).  And I’ve been here multiple times and my perspective hasn’t changed.  You can read that right from the title of my other SF blog I Didn’t Leave My Heart in San Francisco

Having said that, I asked for suggestions to do besides the lesser touristy activities like Fisherman’s Wharf and Golden Gate Bridge. Continue reading One Day In San Francisco