Tag: traveling

Buddy Trip to Big Bend National Park – Day 1

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4.5, 1/680 sec, ISO200
 “Iconic Sign” Big Bend, 2019

Two friends and I began the weekend a day early to head on out to Big Bend National Park for a short camping trip. The drive started at 5 am because it takes several hours of driving to reach the park. We got there at about 2 pm and stopped by the Panther Junction Visitor Center to get a back-country permit for our next evening’s campsite, and then headed to our first trail: Grapevine Hills Trail.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO200
 “Grapevine Hills Trail” Big Bend, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/450 sec, ISO200
 “Grapevine Hills Trail” Big Bend, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/350 sec, ISO200
 “Grapevine Hills Trail” Big Bend, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO200
 “Balanced Rock” Big Bend, 2019

The highlight of Grapevine Hills Trail is the balanced rock at the end. It’s very cool! This trail starts easy, but includes a little bit of scrambling up rocks and could be difficult for some people. I really enjoy these sections though, so I was loving it.

Next, we drove out to the eastern part of the park to the Boquillas Canyon Trail. This is another very short trail, but the canyon is gorgeous! The Rio Grande is amazing the way it cuts through the rock to form the canyon. Nature is awesome.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO200
 “Boquillas Canyon” Big Bend, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/7.1, 1/90 sec, ISO200
 “Cairn” Big Bend, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5, 1/160 sec, ISO200
 “Towards Boquillas Canyon” Big Bend, 2019

On the trail we came across this critter. I’ve never seen a millipede this big before! It was a little scary, I’m not ashamed to admit.

After the trail, we took a look at the Boquillas Overlook, where you can get a nice view of Mexico across the river.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/850 sec, ISO200
 “Boquillas Canyon Overlook” Big Bend, 2019

After that we headed to camp to set up the tents and have dinner.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5, 1.2 sec, ISO800
 “Camp Setup” Big Bend, 2019

The rib-eyes and cold beer really hit the spot! After a little bit of astrophotography, we crawled into the tents to get some rest. It was a great day!

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!