Category: Traveling

Birthday Brunch at the Queen Mary

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Family Photo” Long Beach, 2019

こんにちは! My family loves to eat! So, for my mom’s birthday, our original plan was to take her to brunch at the Queen Mary, but we started the birthday weekend a day early with the barbecue. However, we still wanted to treat her to a nice brunch so all loaded ourselves up in the minivan and headed to Long Beach for the Queen Mary Royal Brunch.

We started off with coffee and mimosas, then dug into the extensive spread which ranged from tradition breakfast items, to sushi, seafood, Mexican food, barbecue, prime rib, salads, crepes, ice cream and sweets. I had my fill of oysters on the half shell (just ok), crab legs, sushi, eggs benedict, prime rib, and even tried the “Texas Brisket” which was surprisingly good!

There was even a live band and they wished my mom happy birthday twice. The first time, my brother told them it was Linnette’s birthday, but they said “Rosette”. My dad and I (we were at the buffet and didn’t realize the mistaken name) told the band that there’s another birthday girl, whose name is Lee (my mom’s nickname). So she got to hear two versions of Happy Birthday, just for her. 😆

I hope you had a great day!

またね～

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/17 sec, ISO6400
 “Crab Legs Galore” Long Beach, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/25 sec, ISO6400
 “Sushi Spread” Long Beach, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/25 sec, ISO6400
 “Live Music” Long Beach, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Silly Family Photo” Long Beach, 2019

Surprise Birthday Celebration

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/150 sec, ISO200
 “Parents and Sons” Redondo Beach, 2019

こんばんは。For my mom’s 80th birthday, we decided to surprise her by having me fly to California to join the rest of the family for a birthday dinner. We had to coax her to come to my brother’s house for a barbecue because she wasn’t feeling 100%, but when she arrived, it was fun surprising her since she was not expecting me to be there. (She thought I was home in Texas)

After the surprise, we settled in for a nice dinner of ribs, sweet potatoes, beans, salads, and of course birthday cake! And we also enjoyed the beautiful sunset, which was unfortunately extra-colorful because of the wildfires in the state. 😕

I wasn’t sure if my mom would be happy to be surprised by me flying over, or if she would have preferred we save the airfare money, but she said she was very happy to see me. So, yay, it was a success! 😄 I have to say, it was nice for us three sons to be with my mom and dad on her birthday, just like old times.

またね～

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
 “Dinner Spread” Redondo Beach, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/300 sec, ISO200
 “California Sunset” Redondo Beach, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/25 sec, ISO3200
 “Wildfire Sky” Redondo Beach, 2019

Travel Companion on my Wrist

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO2500
 “Travel Companion” Cedar Park, 2019

As you may know, I love watches. I’m not a collector by any means, but I’ve always owned a couple throughout my life, starting with my first digital that I received as a Christmas gift from my parents when I was maybe 8 years old. I still remember wearing that non-waterproof watch in the water at Ho’okipa Park on Maui… and watching it die… luckily after it dried out, it came back to life. Whew!

Anyways, my favorite watch for the past couple years has been my Seiko SKX007 dive watch. What I like about it is that it’s so rugged and simple that I fully expect to keep it for the rest of my life. Maybe it will need servicing at some point, but I’d love to just get it repaired instead of replacing it. And because of this “buy it for life” aspect, I like to take it with me on my travels as a sort of travel companion. We’ll travel the world together forever! 😆 Being a dive watch, I want to dip it in many of the world’s famous bodies of water (and I still need to scuba with it!). Hopefully, the list will keep getting longer, but here’s what we have so far:

  • Yangtze River
  • Mediterranean Sea
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Gulf of Mexico
  • Caribbean Sea
  • Atlantic Ocean

The one other item that I take traveling and that I absolutely adore is my Fujifilm X100T camera, but that will eventually become obsolete only to be replaced. However, the rugged Seiko watch, with its automatic battery-less movement should stay with me until I die. I kind of like knowing that!

End of the Cruise and Relaxing in Miami

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/125 sec, ISO200
 “Sunrise” Miami, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

We arrived at the Port of Miami early this morning and were back at my cousin’s house relaxing by 11 am. It was a bit sad to leave the ship since it meant our vacation was coming to a close, but the disembarkation was easy and also we still had a birthday celebration to attend.

So what was on the menu for the birthday? Sushi!!! ❤️🍣 Not only that, but my niece made a cake and lychee ice cream for her dad. Super-yummy!

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO800
 “Sushi Boats” Miami, 2019

And if that wasn’t enough, that evening we went out for drinks at Monty’s Raw Bar and Cuban food at La Carreta. My Cuban Sampler dinner was huge and I didn’t come close to finishing it. 😲 But it was delicious and so much fun to hang out with my family. It’s the best!

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/150 sec, ISO200
 “Family Time” Miami, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec, ISO200
 “Brothers” Miami, 2019

I hope you had a good day!

またね～