I was connecting the new alarm clock radio I got for my birthday and happened to hear an announcement about the O-bon Festival in Japantown San Jose this Saturday and Sunday. Fortuitous! I had gone last year and it was a lot of fun, so I was excited to take Chrissy there and have her see the San Jose Taiko drum group.
We started the day by heading to Tanto for delicious Pork and Kimchi donburi. Following a few errands, we headed over to the O-bon Festival and got there just as they were setting up the Taiko drums. They played for about an hour and...it...was...awesome. Photos here. Chrissy totally wants to join a taiko drum group now (and I kind of do too for that matter). We ended our Japan Day by hitting up Azuma Japanese Cuisine for some tasty sushi.
I turned 25 on Friday (the 13th!). It had been awhile since I'd fired up the grill, so rather than going out to eat I grilled 2 New York Strip steaks for Chrissy and I. We also had one of my favorite summer foods, corn on the cob, and fresh sourdough bread. Yummy! For dessert, Chrissy made me brownies with vanilla frosting and we also had ice cream sandwiches.
As for presents, my parents and grandparents sent me some packages so I fired up iChat so that they could watch me unwrap them. This is the first time I haven't been home around my birthday to celebrate, so it was cool to still be able to celebrate that way instead. From the homefront, I got Scrubs Season 5, Write Great Code Volume 1, Sony Alarm Clock, an iron, Planet Puzzle League for the Nintendo DS, and kitchen tongs (requested for corn on the cob). From Chrissy I got (wrapped in Transformers wrapping paper no-less) corn trays, kitchen tongs (yes, I amusingly received two sets of kitchen tongs), new socks (they're ankle socks so she doesn't have to be embarrassed when I roll down my longer socks when we play tennis or go to the gym) and two Lego sets! I was really excited about the Lego sets...in fact I already built a racecar and then rebuilt it into a Delorean:
Chrissy and I took a roadtrip to San Deigo over Fourth of July weekend. We'd been wanting to take a roadtrip at some point this summer, and the lengthy weekend (since we took Thursday and Friday off) combined with the fact that her sister, Susan, lives in San Diego provided the perfect opportunity.
We left around 5 pm on Tuesday evening and took I-5 all the way to San Diego. Traffic was smooth the whole way (even through LA!), and we arrived in San Diego around 1:30 AM. We also stopped for over an hour for dinner. First, we went to what must certainly be the slowest Taco Bell ever. Then we went across the street to TCBY, which was connect to a Subway. And not just the buildings were connected, there was only a single person running both stores! So we had to wait for the cashier to finish up a Subway order. There also a fireman waiting in front of us at TCBY, but unfortunately, while we were standing there his radio went off about a fire or accident on I-5 N, so he went running off. I felt bad for the guy, all he wanted was some tasty frozen yogurt.
We had originally been planning to only drive partway down on Tuesday and then finish the drive Wednesday morning, but Susan warned us that she lived in the main party area of San Diego, and parking on Wednesday would be crazy. So when arrived Tuesday night, she had saved us a spot on the street. Earlier in the evening when she saw someone parking she went over and offered them $5 to come over to her apartment and let her know when they were leaving. They said, "We're Canadian, we won't take your money, but we'll come get you when we leave." And they did. Rock on! Then when we had the TV News on at Susan's place that night, they were running a story about how bad parking on Wednesday was going to be.
We started the Fourth off right, by hitting a local breakfast joint and having mimosas (champagne and oj). We then spent the afternoon at Mission Bay Beach, just block's from Susan's apartment. Later we went back to Susan's to grill some burgers and hang out until heading back to the Bay for firewoks that night. Good times.
The remainder of the trip was split between Seaworld, Legoland, and Hollywood (links are to photosets on Flickr).
Highlights:
Thursday
- Chrissy bought an 8 GB iPhone at the San Deigo Apple Store. After playing with Ricci's, she'd been desperately searching for one, but was finding only a few 4 GB models in stock around here. Favorite moment: Chrissy upon entering the store, immediately sees an employee and says very excitedly, "Do you have any 8 gigs?"
- Spent the remainder of the day at SeaWorld. I hadn't been to SeaWorld in at least 10 years (I've been to SeaWorld Ohio, which doesn't even exist anymore) Favorite shows were Cirque de la Mer and the Sea Lion show (because it made fun of all the other SeaWorld shows)
- Rekindled childhood desire to be a whale or dolphin trainer
Friday
- Had Puerco Pibil on the beach with Chrissy and Susan. That stuff is so tasy, and made a great beach meal.
- Drove up to Legoland and spent about 4 hours there. There was actually more to see there than I was expecting. Miniland was fantastic. There was so much detail in all the city scenes.
- Drove up to LA, stopped at a Wendy's (thanks GPS!) just before getting to our hotel
- Slept in the most comfortable bed, ever!
Saturday
- Self-toured Hollywood using public transit which was made all the easier by having Chrissy's iPhone
- Visited Grauman's Chinese Theater
- Took pictures of the stars for slightly more obscure celebrities on the Walk of Fame: Forest Whitake (Ghost Dog, The Shield), Edward James Olmos (Blade Runner, Battlestar Galactica), Spike Jones (lots of music videos), Herb Alpert (musician)
- Ate a delicious sausage and rigatoni dinner on the Sunset Strip
Sunday
- Enjoyed the hotel's breakfast buffet for a second straight morning
- Headed home via Highway 101
- Stopped at Pismo Beach for fuel (both for the car and us) and happened upon the Rock & Roll Diner made out of an old train car. Perfect roadtrip stop! Also waded into the Pacific Ocean for a while before resuming our journey
- Arrived home around 7:30 and unpacked
- Went back out for Panda Express
- Went to see Transformers and rather enjoyed it
Roadtrip == complete success!
