the rest of the story

i was able to get the rest of my san fran photos uploaded this morning. between two cameras and two computers i think i was able to get them all loaded. i did have to do some editing. i let adrian play with my slr and he thought it was neat that he could take sequence shots. so any shot of me you see, just know there's about 10 more of that same shot! he's too funny. it was so great seeing everyone and this year was perhaps one of my favorite academy meetings to attend. now we're back home and back to reality.

sight-seeing in san fran

today was a loooooooong day of sight-seeing in san fran. after we were able to figure out the public transportation system, we headed to golden gate park. i had downloaded about 12 caches in the park and we were able to find 6 before our feet told us it was time for to head home. here are some photos from our first day here. tomorrow we hit up fisherman's wharf, golden gate and the presidio. i'll try and update photos daily. i'm a little giddy that i can actually walk about and take pics with my new camera. now to figure out how to look a little less touristy. doesn't help that we're hitting all the popular spots. right now, i'm ready to hit the hay.

sweet mountain

brian and irina arrived friday evening and we had waited to eat dinner with them. they arrived around 7:45 and we were out the door by 8. we decided to treat everyone to makotos, a japanese steakhouse here in boone. it was the first time for most and everyone had a good time.

brian brought his wii wheel and we played a little mariokart after dinner. it was the first time we played with three players. really not a fan of the four-split screen. a little too chaotic for my taste. we did get to play angela and family for the first time. we kicked a little butt, i'm not bragging at all! ;)

saturday the weather finally cooperated and we were able to enjoy the mountains in full force. aaron had read in the paper that sugar mountain resort opened it's ski lifts for scenic summer rides. you can either hike or bike the trails. the lifts are rigged to carry bikes up. it was crazy seeing them float by. well, after a 20-25 minute ride up we decided to hike down. even mom managed to keep up, she even passed us at one point. here's the sugar flickr set. as you can see we all had a great time.

after hiking we headed over to sugar grove for their annual music festival. we caught the carolina chocolate drops and the kruger brothers. it was brian and irina's introduction to bluegrass. and i think they both enjoyed the music. when we arrived home, the weather was still great that we decided to get a little fire going. we sat outside, cracked open a bottle of wine and enjoyed the evening chatting.

so that's how our sweet weekend wrapped up. we didn't plan everything around sugar, it just happened. and before i forget, my mom picked about 10 gallons of blackberries. literally. our counter tops were barely visible, she had bowls and jars everywhere. luckily she took it all with her. poor brian had to haul it all back to maryland. another sweet item.

throwing the peace

we're home, phew! it always feels like you need a vacation after taking a vacation. especially one jam-packed with a lot of walking and site-seeing. jamie and i hit up chinatown friday. (although pretty much all of vancouver can be considered asiatown. apparently it's a mecca for migrating asians.) we planned on getting bikes but the weather dictated otherwise. we ended up doing a little shopping and looking for a few more caches. i think urban caching is an acquired taste, both aaron and jamie didn't like it too much. but we managed to find a few.

you went all the way to canada and all you bought was japanese candy? yes. i'm a sucker for pocky sticks. i ended up getting strawberry, milk and blueberry flavors. i also got japanese gum, taffy and chocolate. and yes, that's all i bought while on vacation. i did introduce aaron to the kinder egg this trip too. i managed to score a few while waiting at the airport. so we ventured over to the asian and european side of confectionary delight this trip. i can't believe i wrote a whole paragraph about candy! and boy is it making me hungry. :)

saturday aaron and i hit up the capilano suspension bridge. we were a little worried about the weather, but in the end it turned out to be the nicest day of our trip. we were able the navigate using only public transportation and didn't have a single hiccup with our trip. we also hiked through stanley park, and of course, looked for a few more caches. i combined photos from washington and vancouver for your viewing pleasure.

my mom is notorious for throwing the peace sign when taking photos. we ended up doing a homage to her. hence the photos and the title. apparently it's not only a mom thing but an asian thing. we noticed quite a few taking photos and throwing the peace sign. i guess it's no different than me throwing the devil horns and sticking out my tongue. but i had to post, it's just too funny. while i'm at it i'll go ahead and post the cherry blossom photos i took while in d.c. a few weeks ago.