[Super Duper Fantastic] ISFP/INFP. 4w5. World Explorer. Super Hero. Rose-colored Glasses.

No photos can really do such a majestic/magnificent place justice, but I gave it a shot anyhow. We spent a few hours driving through, making stops for photos, and then a hike down to the supposed “Hat Shop.” During the hike, we debated whether the shop was real, and if so, how they would bring all the hats down into the canyon – pack mule perhaps? As it turned out, the “Hat Shop” is not actually a shop… So when I did a search for photos online, I wasn’t as disappointed that we didn’t make it all the way there. We had to turn back as I decided peeing on the trail without toilet paper just wouldn’t do.

We did, however, see ones that resembled sombreros. See ‘em?

The hoodoos reminded me of the Terra Cotta Warriors in China – so uniform in nature. What a crazy geological phenomenon!

Now imagine the photo above stretched all the way across the screen. Looking down on something like that, knowing that if you were to hike down there, you’d just be a tiny speck in the vast landscape – now that’s something!

More photos of Bryce Canyon National Park: here!

On Friday night, RV and I began the drive eastward. Our Google Maps-recommended route from San Francisco to Bryce Canyon National Park was through Yosemite National Park and would take approximately 12.5 hours without any breaks.

Little did we know or think to do the research ahead of time, but the road through Yosemite was actually still closed for the winter. So around 2am, I’m driving around Yosemite in the dark, navigating via GPS since there was no cell phone reception where we ended up. I think I drove the same loop 3x before figuring out that we’d have to head south before heading east, aka “the long way.”

Most of that drive was through fields – nothing too exciting. RV took over the driving after he’d gotten a wink of rest and we’d reached Fresno. Then I conked out until the stretch through the Mojave.

Around the time that we would have arrived at Bryce Canyon, we arrived in Vegas. A quick Yelp search led us to Island Style, a delicious Korean/Hawaiian place off the strip with fantastic service. I was famished and ready to devour the Loco Moco I ordered.

We continued our drive through the rest of Nevada and through the northwestern part of Arizona before finally reaching Utah. The landscape once we hit Arizona was a little more interesting than Nevada. Southern Utah was a welcome sight by the time we reached it.

Since we had made this detour, we drove through St. George and Zion National Park to get to Hatch, where we were staying. We checked in around 5:30pm, but we didn’t realize that there was a one-hour time difference, so we actually lost an hour in transition, so it was really 6:30pm. After dropping off our belongings, we decided to freshen up and head out to Bryce Canyon for sunset. It always amazes me how worn out one can get from just sitting in a car all day. The same thing happens after a long plane ride. We drove out to Sunset Point inside Bryce Canyon National Park, checked out the scenery, and then headed back.

After the long day, we rewarded ourselves with dinner and boots of beer.

To be continued…!

The weekend trip to Pismo Beach with RV’s dad and brothers was supposed to happen Memorial Day weekend. I had filled up the weekend calendar, thinking that we’d be home this weekend. RV realized at the last minute that the trip was actually this weekend and not the next, so I expected to keep the plans I’d made while RV would head down to Pismo Beach.

Obviously based on the title of this post and the photos attached, that didn’t happen. At the last minute, I decided to go. What would compel me to travel with his father again after the last time when I ended up in tears on day one? Having an escape vehicle helped!

Left: RV’s father is quite the character. He can take his motor home somewhere and spend almost entire days in it. It has satellite television, and he’ll bring 15+ DVDs for a week-long trip. RV and I get cabin-fever and just have to get out and explore.

Right: RV’s dad brings his cat along for his trips. Sam’s just a fat photogenic cat.

On Saturday, we explored the area north of Pismo Beach. We stopped in at Kelsey See Canyon Vineyards for a quick tasting. They were very nice in the tasting room, and afterwards, we were invited to wander around the grounds a bit. Here are some of the peacocks sitting in the shade of the vines:

On Sunday, we returned to some of the spots we’d scouted the day before for a little bit of hiking, photography, and fishing. Of course, since I’m totally weak-in-the-knees afraid of looking down the side of cliffs, RV and I had to compromise on a less windy cliff-side fishing spot. The pictures definitely make it look as if it wasn’t that far up, but my mind is quite vivid, and I kept picturing all these scenarios of tripping and falling off the side to one’s death…

After the hiking and fishing, we grabbed refreshing beverages in Avila Beach [below left], checked out some tide pools [below right] by the Palisades Bluff Walkway, had lunch at a mediocre Japanese place in Grover Beach, and when we’d had enough of the beach towns, we made the drive back up.

It is so good to be home!

The best part of living in a city so saturated with fantastic food and drink options is that there is almost always a “new to you” place to try if you decide not to revisit a favorite or a “safe” spot.

Last night’s new spot: Social Kitchen & Brewery.

Left: When the rest of the table’s food arrived before mine, they brought over a complimentary cup of their cauliflower curried soup. It was quite tasty.

Right: The sister ordered mussels, which were slightly overdone, but came in a yummy sauce, which she later sopped up with an order of fries.

I ordered the Short Ribs Pot Pie. Here are photos of when it arrived at the table and just a few moments later. Since I’m the piggy that I am, I cleaned up my plate.

Reviews for the place have been pretty harsh, but I had a good time, so there will likely be a revisit [if not more]. Next time, just beers and appetizers, which are both decently priced and sized. They have tempura-battered sweet potato fries, which I would definitely allow RV to try making at home in our deep fryer. He’s been looking for excuses to use the thing, and since I don’t eat many fried foods, I’ve given him every excuse not to use it! Oh, sweet potato fries – my weakness…

PS: Thanks to those who noticed the Google Connect box on the right and are following. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

I love brunch.

Ever since the layoff of 2009, however, I’ve not made as many brunch plans as I had in the past. Weekends that were once reserved for brunch, bottomless beverages, and afternoon people-watching and lounging in the park were replaced with other plans.

Today, we traipsed across the bay to hang out with a group of friends and enjoy the view at The Terrace Room.

It was absolutely lovely, especially because we saved some big $$ by using a Restaurant.com certificate. That site is amazing – we basically paid for $50 worth of food with about $4 [80% off!]. There are restrictions, of course, so if you do use the certificates, you have to read the fine print. For The Terrace Room, we had to get the group to spend $100+.

That was easy, considering there were ten of us and bottomless mimosas, bellinis [a raspberry version], Bloody Mary’s, AND Bloody Caesars. Delicious times!

I definitely love brunch.

I had dinner last night with DH and MC at a Cambodian restaurant in the area that I’d been meaning to check out. Food was excellent! It was no surprise that we polished everything off, even after ordering two appetizers and three entrees [all of which were decently sized].

It seems that no matter how much effort we put into our email communications to meet up, we only get together once a year. Conflicts in schedule, injuries, etc. The last time we got together was at DH’s wedding last summer.

This time, we have moved onto phases of our lives with different news to share. DH and his wife live in a house in the next city over and are expecting a baby girl later this year. MC is planning a move to DC to start a part-time MBA program. I’m in my new house, jaw surgery completed. Yet no matter how much seems to change in our lives, we haven’t really changed all that much in terms of who we are. I mean, we are definitely different from when we were in elementary school, but it feels like since we’ve reconnected in our mid-20s, we’re more or less the same people. We see each other rarely, but our meet-ups are the same comfortable conversations. We’re just old friends who catch up, and it’s not all that awkward. The time in between just gives us more to talk about.

Aside from the two of them, I don’t really maintain friendships with people from those particular years in my life. You know, before the age of 13… I reached out to a few on Facebook today, which I think might be odd, considering I hadn’t sought them out before. Wonder if they will accept the request…

Oh great, now I’m one of those weirdos who adds people on Facebook they knew a long time ago and weren’t quite friends with. Yeah, I’m having Facebook Friend Search + Request regret…

Let’s look at photos of food instead:

Update: They all accepted my request, even the ones who picked on me at some point. Perhaps twenty years later, we can become friends?

Thursday evening, I attended a #Chardonnay Taste and Tweet event with St. Supery [@stsupery] and Hahn Estates [@hahnestates]. A bottle from ONEHOPE Wine [@onehopewine] was also open for tasting. The purpose of the event is to join people, specifically those wine-drinking types who use Twitter, to celebrate the Chardonnay grape for the day.

I consider myself a red wine drinker, so it was neat to see what these Chardonnays were all about. The next community tasting in September will focus on #Cabarnets. It’s several months away. Will you be joining in?

Aren’t these absolutely fascinating to look at? You get to see all the nuts and bolts of the operation. Click on the photos for a larger view!

It irks me that the screws seem to be facing such arbitrary directions, but whatever – they get the job done! There are no visible scars, but if you run a finger along my lower jaw on each side, you can feel the gap in the bone. Kinda creepy, but neat too.

From the surgery until forever, I’ll have these titanium plates and screws in my face! They fortunately do not set off any alarms. Here are a side view and a full view of my head:

Time for another Moment of Awesome posts, where I focus on the positive rather than the negative. It’s about what’s gone right, rather than wrong.

MoA #1: Earlier last week, I reported for jury duty. Luckily due to my current employment circumstances [under a contract and not paid for jury duty], I was excused from a trial that would potentially run through April and May. While it would have been interesting to take part in a trial longer than a week [I was on a jury two years ago for a week], I wouldn’t have been able to take a month and a half off comfortably. This girl’s got bills to pay!

MoA #2: Pizza overload. On Tuesday night, RV and I ordered a large pizza after postponing dinner time from our usual 6pm to about 9:30pm, and RV surprised me by eating half of it. Whoever came up with the idea of Indian + pizza is a genius. Hi Zante Pizza! Did I mention how the leftovers work wonders after a rough night with gin? Several nights later, we tried the pizza [super thin crust] at a newly discovered happy hour, and it was only so-so. The following night, we went out for Chicago-style pizza [deep dish!] with a group of friends. I think I’ve eaten more pizza in the last week than I have in several months’ time.

MoA #3: Funtastic and sunny weekend – checking out Lake Chabot with RV, dinner at a friend’s house, April Mistakes birthday party, street fairs, stopping in at a softball game+BBQ.

MoA #4: My blogalicious self was picked to receive an advance copy of Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness. It comes out June 7th! The book arrived this past week, and I have an extra copy to give out. If you know someone who may want the book, please let them know about the giveaway. Here’s how to enter:

1) Leave a comment with an awesome moment from your past week.
2) Be sure to include #DHBook somewhere in the comment, so I know it’s an entry for the contest!

Easy, right? I will pick a winner at random on April 30th, which also coincides with when Tony will be making an appearance in SF for a #DeliveringHappiness Happy Hour! I wonder if it’ll be at the SF Giants Tweet-Up!?

Update: Random.Org has picked the #3, so the winner of this giveaway is Jennifer. Congrats! :)