Idaho

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Idaho in the Fall

Getting Around: There is no major public transportation system in Eastern Idaho or any other part of Idaho except maybe Boise and Coeur d'alene, so if you want to get around you have to drive.

In this part of Idaho I would recommend coming during the Summer or Fall. The summer can be quite warm, sitting around high 90's for a week or two, but these are the best times to go to the pools are mountain hikes. During Fall you can see the Aspens turn brilliant colors of orange, yellow, and red, with the green of evergreens poking out every once in a while. You may want to venture to this area during the Winter if you are an avid skier, snowboarder, snow shoe-r, or just some one that loves snow; you can really enjoy cozening up into hot springs, so there is that plus.

Attractions: 
Idaho Falls:

• Greenbelt: In downtown Idaho Falls, the Greenbelt is a city park the makes a loop around a section of the Snake River, there are many monuments that have erected and even some farmer's and craft's market that spring up during the summer months. 
• Downtown: this part of town is the old, historic portion of town, so it is densely populated with local stores and family owned restaurants. One of the best Chinese/Mandarin food is at Happy Chinese, you should eat here if you have the chance.

Outdoor hot pool, Green Canyon

Green Canyon Hot Springs: Is a family run camp ground that also contains an indoor swimming pool, with an outdoor cold pool and hot tub. The pool is heated naturally by a local hot spring. The main building also offers amazing BLT's any time of year as they grow their tomatoes in a green house (becoming one of the larges producers of out-of-season tomatoes in Eastern Idaho). The camp ground is in a gorgeous canyon that has a creek going right by.

Heise Hot Spring's Outdoor pool & Slide

Heise Hot Springs: A little closer to the central city of Idaho Falls, Heise offers water slide, diving board, hot pool, pizza parlor, camping, zip line, and some close by hikes into Kelly Canyon and Tetons National Forest. The pool is open during the winter to allow for people coming down from the ski hill, Kelly Canyon, to soak and relax. During certain times of the year, fall and winter mostly, you can often see moose, bald eagle's, and deer.

Big Jud's: Want to enjoy real American food in Eastern Idaho? Big Jud's the place you want to go, yes, it's a little out in the sticks, but you're in Idaho, what did you expect? Alright, back to FOOD. Their french fries, chicken strips, and any kind of burger is fantastic here, and don't forget the ice cream. They have a contest where if you eat a one pounder by yourself you get a photo on their wall. You can also do a couple other contests to get up on their wall, but man that is a lot of food. Enjoy this local eatery.

People tubing the Portneuf River

Lava Hot Springs: This place has all the water fun you can stand, from tubing down the river, pools, hot springs, and more. The main attraction of this town is the hot springs and tubing, so it may be a little more touristy then the rest of Eastern Idaho, but it's a whole bunch of fun, been there twice for parties. The hotel on the main road (I would list the specific road, but the towns so small there is only one road really) that is pretty cheap for a touristy destination, it comes with a fridge, microwave, and a really big Jacuzzi tub. Having the microwave and fridge allowed us to bring a frozen lasagna, stored it in the fridge to later microwave for dinner.

EBR-1

Idaho National Laboratory (INL)/ EBR-1: EBR-1 was the first nuclear power plant in the world, so they claim (I guess I'm a little skeptical since they say a man born to Rigby, ID was the first to invent the television), this is an interesting piece of history by any means. It did however power an entire city, now name Atomic City (the name's very inventive, isn't it?), now with a population of 29. They have since turned this nuclear reactor into a museum with displays, interactive tasks, and videos about how science was conducted. This museum even has the original knobs and gears for the switch boards and controls.




Arco: Doesn't have all that much going on, but they are close to Crater's of the Moon. An area where astronauts would practice for Moon like conditions before they had fancy anti-gravity chambers. You can see volcanic flows, ash, and cones.

Buffalo, Yellowstone National Park 

Yellowstone National Park:  Best time to go is over Mother's Day, although not advertised they allow you to stay in the Old Faithful Inn for the price of the year (ex. 2015, a night stay is $20.15). If you want a really good price during a time when most of the park is still closed and the animals are roaming around new newborns...go then. They do charge your credit card for the full price until you show up and then they debit back the difference, so make sure you call and confirm that they still do this. There is plenty of do here no matter what time of year, but do remember that in the winter we get a lot of snow, so passes and driving can be tricky and even dangerous at times. There is beautiful camping that is encompassed by tall pines with hot pools (to look at, to hot to do anything else with, maybe you could boil eggs..., just a thought after reading about Japan), day hikes, and nature to breathe in.

Jackson Hole, WY:

• Alpine Slide: Located at Snow King Ski Hill, this summer attractions has always been something I would like to do. Who doesn't want to ride a chairlift to the top of a hill and ride an alpine slide down? 
• This region has two major ski hills that are very popular during the winter months: Jackson Hole and Snow King. They both offer amazing snow, shopping, and a bunch of other attractions. I would probably go to Jackson Hole Ski for the mountain opportunities and Snow King for their amazing tubing.
• Other recreations: Jackson also offers some great pools, indoor water parks, hiking, and a bunch of other events.

Random Thoughts about Blogging and Travel

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Point marks my "permanent" address and the
point where I spend most of my childhood.

So far I have a couple posts out, they seem to be doing good...I don't really know yet, since there aren't any comments, but I guess +1's are good. I really wanted to add some content onto the blog, so there wasn't only one post. It would be so lonely, thinking it has no friends. And really, who wants to go to a website that only has one page? No one, that's who. haha. The posts that are here and that will be coming up in the next week or so are really there has a guide or resource when planning your next trip. Hopefully *fingers crossed* that's what the goal of them was anyways.

During some travels I will being posting, so you will be able to follow me around the Grand Canyon, Japan, or where ever I am at that point. Hopefully passing on some points of wisdom or spur some travels ideas.

I grew up in Eastern Idaho with a lot of travel to the surrounding areas over the summers to follow my fathers work (he helped pave roads back then driving semi's) and with the ski team over the winters. From those experiences I have an extensive knowledge of camping, hiking, and local hangouts of Central and Eastern Idaho, along with parts of Wyoming and Montana. Plus some family trips down to the extended family in Arizona and California.

Kappa no Yu (Onsen), Yagen Valley
Doesn't this place just look beautiful?

I look forward to sharing my experiences as I broaden my knowledge of the world and myself. We just received Lonely Planet's "Hiking in Japan" book and there are quite a few that seem really interesting with the little hiking huts that are available, so we (mother and I) might be taking some multi-day hikes, for you nature lovers out there. Plus what better way to commune with nature and rustic onsen then after a long hike and in JAPAN none the less. Have you caught on to how much I'm really looking forward to this summer trip? Nah! it was not obvious at all, was it?

Seattle, WA

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Seattle and Space Needle from Lake
Washington on the Duck Boat Tour

Beautiful water and cultural city. Largely known for the Space Needle and being a mecca of new bands and musics. I personally know it as the land of flowers, since I always see the flower sellers at Pike's Place (more on that later). Side note: Sea hawk's just won the Super Bowl; not much of a sports fan, but it is pretty cool to live by a city that just won.

I have also been to the Space Needle, Pine St shopping area, taken the monorail between the two (great transportation), then walked down to Pike's place and the new Ferris wheel. My father also talked me into going on the duck boat tours, since it was the only time he had been to Seattle and the second time I had. Some comments on these attractions:

Getting around: If you aren't willing or able to drive around, that's a-okay is this part of the Pacific northwest. There are many buses that can get you from Tacoma, to Sea-Tac Airport, to Seattle, to Olympia, and you can even catch the Amtrak down to Portland. If you do decide that buses are how you want to travel, make sure to come with dollar bills and quarters (you need exact change) or buy an Orca card. Orca cards allow you to get a little of a discount on the pre-loaded card and give you some benefits, such as longer transfer windows, and can even work on ferries.

Activities:

Seattle Public Library

• Seattle Public Library: a very interesting and modernistic perspective on how people interact with learning and books. They offer different lectures, never been to one, but just from walking around in the building I feel like they would be pretty good. The library has different colors for different floors, one was bright red, not faded or muted, but RED! It was spectacular, had a little photo shoot, right then and there with mother. 
• Space needle: personally, I wasn't very impressed with the observation deck. It was a good one time thing, but I wouldn't do it again, I wouldn't even recommend that you go up it. They did provide a free photo that they green screen the space needle into; you could e-mail the picture to yourself at the kiosk in the top of the needle. From experience I would just stand at the bottom and look up, see it from different perspectives there. The needle is an amazing engineering feet.
• Monorail: It's a lot of fun, faster than buses, and takes you right to Pine Shopping center from the Needle. I've taken it many times and it's still fun to wander through the shops in the shopping center and get a free tea sample from Teavana. Last time I took the rail it only cost 2$ per person.



Seattle's hardest working man

• Duck boat tour: Wow was this a goofy experience, the driver put on different hats while talking about different local attractions. They take you out onto Lake Washington, the building that is shown as the outside of the hospital in Grey's Anatomy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Hardest working man, the needle, and plenty of other sites. It was worth the price and gave you a very good tour of the city. Especially if you have limited time or you want a good overview of what the city has to offer.
• Ferris Wheel: Gone up in it twice and am still amazed with the magnificent view of the port. Especially on rainy days the clouds and calm of the water are breathtaking. 
• Underground tour: I heard a lot of hype about this place. It's where they give a tour of the original Seattle walk ways, before they lowered the grade a smidgen to correct plumbing and whatnot. I really had high expectations for this tour, but they really let me down. They did provide some good history of the city: fires, plumbing, how it started, infrastructure, etc. You do see a different side of the city on this tour. That's my two cents.
• Uwajimaya: If you are any kind of fan of Asia you will love this store. They have everything from candies to fruit to books to cooking supplies and everything in between. Ah, I have spent many an hour in this store and sometimes even take the bus from Tacoma up just to visit this place. 

  

   Flower stalls at Pike's Place Market

• Pike's place: Every time I visit this wonderful city I share Pike's Place Market. Yes, the market may be very touristy at this point, but I go to encourage the local flower arrangers, you can buy wondrous pieces of living art - I guess they are technically dead by the time the consumer sees them - for pretty cheap and the flowers, wreaths, depending on the time of year last a really long time. I would recommend anyone that's never been there to at least check it out once, plus you can see the first ever Starbucks and see the fish throwers. 

San Francisco, CA

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When people think of San Francisco the first thing that's conjured to the mind is the Golden Gate bridge, but there is so much more to this fantastic city. I was blessed enough to spend one month with family and friends in this magnificent city and truly marvel in all of its splendor.

Gallivanting Val (mother)
and Aunt in front of exhibit
located right in front of
Asian Art Museum

• Modern Art Museum: The exhibit that they had on display at the time seemed to revolve around the end of the world/wars. They had some very creative pieces and really made you think about what is considered art. One piece was colored lines draw directly onto the white wall.... Luckily they normally have free days but as the museum is currently under construction, you might want to check out some of the public art pieces. 
• Asian Art Museum: At the time that I visited (in August of 2010) they had the Shanghai Exhibit, it was an extra charge to see those pieces, but was totally worth it. Just checked their website to create the link and they had a yoga exhibit, makes me really want to head to San Fran and visit the museum. They even allow you to participate, how cool is that?! Don't forget to take your student ID card if you have one, they provide discounts.
• De Young Museum: Another fantastic museum, yeah I know that I said earlier I wasn't much of a museum person, but when I saw that they had a traveling Europe exhibit and this was the first and only time it was traveling to the US, I had to go. We saw Monet, Picasso, and many other amazing and influential classical paintings. I even still have a Monet print hanging up that I purchase there. I wasn't too impressed with their permanent collection, but the special exhibits are absolutely worth going to, especially on the first Tuesday of every month, when the museum is free. 

  

  Rain Forest Dome at the
  Academy of Science

• Academy of Science: We stood in a line for about one to two hours on a beautiful Sunday morning, looking back I think the line added to the experience, you know that the attraction is going to be great when all of San Francisco lines up to attend. The line stretched out the admission doors, down the block around the corner, all told, it probably totaled at least half a mile. Once in those admission doors you have free rain of the entire place. There is a four story tropical rain forest, planetarium, aquarium, and a host of other interesting exhibits. What's even more interesting is that the entire building is very eco-friendly. They have a living roof that you can go up and see, it looks like the rolling hills that surround San Francisco. Select Sundays are free. 
• On a day that my mother and I went on a full blown excursion of San Francisco, we took the Amtrak from Menlo Park (where we were renting an apartment for the month) into the city. 
• We weren't really sure what the day would bring, but we decided to head in the direction of Pier 39. Once there we got some lunch at Boudin Bakery Cafe where we both got a bowl of clam chowder in a bread bowl. As you sat and ate, you could watch the bakery section move freshly made bread on a bucket wire system that sailed above you. They bread into different shapes; my favorite was the turtle. 
• We then continued to walk towards the Golden Gate bridge. Suddenly bicyclist started cropping up all over the place, you could tell they weren't regular bicyclists, they were rented bikes. Alrighty, so how do we get one of those? Following the water front we found a bike shop! Renting one of those bikes we headed off to the Golden Gate. You can ride across the bridge and down into Saucilito. One of the best things we did on that excursion. Taking the ferry back from Saucilito, you can land back at pier 39 and drop off you bikes. One the ferry ride, you get motor by Alcatraz Prison and get a beautiful view of the city from the water. 
• A quick peek of China town for some dinner and off to the Amtrak station.
• Alcatraz Prison: as a child we went to the Prison and received a walking audio tour. You can see famous cells and get a great history of the island. It was one of the most memorable trips to San Francisco as a child. I would endorse this tour for anyone that likes history and/or has kids. 
• Environs:
• Santa Cruz Boardwalk: Admission can be pretty cheap during some promotional periods, we went when it was ten dollars off admission with a empty coca-cola can, with the pier logo on it. The best ride was the white roller coast, not jerky, took some funny pictures of us on the ride (we didn't pay for the photo, just took a picture of TV screen...), the second best was probably the Fireball (got my Aunt to go on this one, and she doesn't like roller coasters).
• Great America Theme Park: decent theme park, only had one good roller coast the Flight Deck, it was smooth, not jerky (essential for a mother that has a bad leg, she want's to enjoy the fun too), fast lines, and you don't feel like you are going to fall out of the restraints. For smaller kids they have plenty of great fair rides, I even enjoyed them as a break from the Flight Deck. 



Red woods, California

• Red Woods: With a fascination of trees (love to draw them), driving through northern California to Portland, OR (ten hour drive) we had to pull off to the side of the road and take some pictures. The Red Woods are a great place to stretch your legs and get some fresh air in your lungs during a long drive.  

Tacoma, WA

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Many websites don't really supply helpful information of things to do in Tacoma. The only website I could find for things to do was tripadvisor.com but that wasn't all too helpful when I wanted to show my mother why I fell in love with the area.

Getting around: If you aren't willing or able to drive around, that's a-okay is this part of the Pacific northwest. There are many buses that can get you from Tacoma, to Sea-Tac Airport, to Seattle, to Olympia, and you can even catch the Amtrak down to Portland. If you do decide that buses are how you want to travel, make sure to come with dollar bills and quarters (you need exact change) or buy an Orca card. Orca cards allow you to get a little of a discount on the pre-loaded card and give you some benefits, such as longer transfer windows, and can even work on ferries.

Here's a list of some of the things we did (most free or very low in cost):

Puget Park, in the ravine

• Puget Park to Rushton Way: On this walk you start in the proctor area walk towards Point Defiance but head into Puget Park, a ravine, that you can "hike" down into. You end up coming out on Alder St that leads right to Rushton Way, we turned South-East towards downtown Tacoma and walked along the water front. You can then take a bus from downtown heading up 6th Ave to make it back to the proctor area (bus fair: ~$2.50)
• Many sites talk about downtown and being able to museum hop, I love the arts, but that isn't really my idea of fun while on vacation, I highly recommend going to all of the free exhibits. Being the hometown of Dale Chihuly and main other great artists, there are plenty of art pieces among the buildings and also in some government buildings. Definitely check out the glass bridge: loaded with glass pieces and they also have faux glass torches that are a lot of fun to pose on. 
• Tacoma Art Museum: has many great local, modern, and well known pieces. They do house 50 years worth of Dale Chihuly, pieces that have been donated by him over the years, with some really cool videos of large exhibits he has done around the world. If you are an art enthusiast I would highly recommend this. They do offer free days for specific bank holders and the third Thursday evening of every month is free.
• Museum of Glass, affectionately known as MOG: had different exhibits with some interesting videos of how specific pieces were completed. The best part of the tour was when you could actually see them blowing and shaping the glass. They offer this free with the price of admission. I highly recommend taking a meander around the outside of the museum, they have plenty of pieces that allow more human interaction and a beautiful view of the port. If you are a college student you may want to take a gander on Sunday's as your admission is free.
• Other Museums: also located in downtown Tacoma are the Children's Museum and the Natural History Museum. I haven't been to either one, so if you have any information on them that you would like me to add, let me know.
• Point Defiance: a must see for anyone coming to Tacoma, even if you only go on the five mile drive. Side note: this was the first place I took my Aunt's family when she visited, we have a little bit before the sun set and drove down to the marina to take a stroll along the Sound. There are many things going on in this beautiful park, most of which are completely free! 



Walrus at Point Defiance Zoo

• Flower gardens: free and if you love taking photos you can have a blast posing around nature to create some amazing pics to share with friends and family. Or just take some amazing pictures of different species of flora. There is a rose garden and Asian themed garden.
• Zoo: They had some animals that I hadn't seen in a while, only larger zoos generally have them, ie: elephants, walrus, and many others. I would highly encourage you to go when it's feeding time. The attendants will stand at different points along the enclosures and tell you about the history, care, and facts of the animal while you get to see them up close and personal. 
• Wright Park: a great place to cool off and see a little bit between downtown and the north end.  They offer a great water park for little kids to escape the blistering heat during the summer time and a nice conservatory that only encourages a small donation when entering. 

Food:

Cashew Chicken, Pad Thai,
& Thai Iced Tea at
Wild Orchid

• Corina's: a local bakery is located only a couple blocks from Wright Park, near downtown Tacoma, and has great food. Pick up a scone and coffee then head off for a stroll around park.
• Wild Orchid: located at 3023 6th Ave, this is an amazing Thai food restaurant. They give pretty big servings for relatively low cost (general range is 9-13$). There red & green curries, cashew chicken, fried rice, and Thai Iced Tea are all really good. During warmer days they open up a side of their restaurant and allow you to eat outside.
• Engine House 9 (E-9): Another restaurant on 6th Ave is also a brewery. For 21+ year old's this is a great place hang out and drink: local micro brews, drinks on tap, and normal are all offered here. Even if you have kids this is a pretty family friendly destination with plenty of delicious appetizers. Fabulous nachos (which are mountain, easily feeding 2-3 people, for 12$), deep fried macaroni & cheese, hummus plate, and an abundance of other lip-smacking yummy's.
• Gateway to India: located on 6th Ave. has amazing Indian food, I can't remember the main dish I purchased but it was really good and I had never had Indian before. The naan was really good. If you are a student they provided you with a discount, yay! 
• Shakabrah: Is an all day breakfast restaurant. I personally haven't been their, but whenever I make that statement I get shocked faces and avid encouragement to go spend my last couple of bucks there, not saying it's pricey. Once again, located on 6th Ave.
• Trapper's Sushi: A new sushi place in the north-end they are a huge hit with the students in this area. They offer all you can eat sushi during lunch hour, so if you want to get your fill, best place to go for sushi. 

Planning hints

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Whenever starting the planning stage of an excursion I go through a few steps. Of course these may not work for everyone, but they have worked for me so far.

1. Set a time period and destination 
• You cannot give justice to Europe in one week, so make them a little more realistic



My beginning part 2 of Asia map. How do you fit all of those
countries into one flowing trail without covering the same area?

• Leave enough wiggle room to allow for change of plans or additions to the travel
2. Go on to Google Maps or any other planning engine and draw up a hypothetical map
• Of course you don't have to stick to it, but it helps me solidify that I'm actually going and this is a potential route that could work to accomplish the basics
3. Start somewhere, pick a point: beginning, end, middle, country
• Start doing research, a few good resources I've found:
• nomadicmatt.com
• lonelyplanet.com
• Eyewitness Travel guide book
• Getting friends advice (oddly enough, mother got a tip from an e-bay customer, so you never know where that next idea will come from)
• Of course there are a whole lot more than this, but I've had the most success beginning with the Eyewitness Travel book (actually read the whole book on Japan, minus the Okinawa section because it wasn't in the budget). 
• Once I wrote down in the margins what would be most interesting I went to the country specific sites: JNTO and Japan-guide website for more information on those towns. Picking out more attractions. 
• After I felt I had enough of the obvious things I just started googling "Japan's hidden secrets", "most missed Japan" and other key words like that trying to get lists or ideas of less touristy attractions. Of course posting more of these online will sadly make them touristy, but hopefully not too much. 
4. Leave flexibility



Part of the word document I created so that we could
have our travel details close at hand and ideas brewing.

• Keep the things you are really excited about, water down the information
• I summarized into one sentence and maybe a picture everything I thought would be interesting
• Planned out how many days each city would take 
• Allowed for some down days: soaking up the sun in a park, chilling at the local cafe, doing as the locals do 
• Still have 9 days that have nothing, so in case someone mentions something that is a "can't miss" then we won't be scrounging for time, won't have to cut anything, and ultimately enjoy the time we have; if we get a hankering to take the ferry to China or Korea, we can :)
• Luckily we don't have anything that requires us to nail down dates, so we can spend as much or little time as we see fit. 

Hope these tips can help a little in the planning stages. If you have any additional comments or things you feel I may have left out, I would love to hear them.

Test Run: Grand Canyon

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The Grand Canyon trip was first created as my next excursion out into the world. I have always had the travel bug, as I grow older it appears that I now get to pursue that urge.

During the beginning of my mothers last visit to Washington, we decided that it had been a little too long since the last time we had really traveled anywhere. Yes, we want on little vacations to Vancouver and Victoria, but they never actually satisfied those exploration urges. We wanted big, whopping, ocean hopping explorations, and I was only in college once. THIS is the only time that I won't have to work around work vacations. I could take up to three months off and not worry about losing a job or any other commitments. She agreed that this was quit logical. Mother finally caved in and agreed to help me raise enough money to travel to Japan.

Mother's x-mas present to help
with last minute items for our packs
and also to try out some Japanese food.

It had been a while, since we had seen my grandparents. While we were in the state we may as well go see the long told of Havasupai Reservation. As we neared the end of her two week stay with me in the summer of 2013, I started telling her that the time to travel was now.

Since we have never been minimalist travelers or travelers outside the US, we were going to have to complete some research and do a test run. The Grand Canyon trip seemed to be the perfect goal for having our gear together and test everything out. First off we would be in the same state, we could both give feed back on how things worked, improve them if necessary, or decide to chuck them all together. Second, we could organize who should carry what, who should collect what (food, medical, cleaning, etc). Third, it was already planned, mostly paid for, and would be a bunch of fun!

We are now 14 days away from our plane and drive to the rim. Last minute preparations are in order: getting a lite weight can opener (wouldn't have thought of it, until we had to start planning on what to hike down to our camp ground for 2 nights and 3 days), making sure tents, sleeping bags, clothes, hygiene, and everything else was in order.

LUSH's Godiva 2-in-1 Shampoo
and Conditioner

Just came across a article that mentioned LUSH had solid shampoo and conditioner, for pretty cheap too. That way those two items don't cut into the amount of liquids you can carry onto planes; very necessary when you want to travel lite, but clean. We are now replacing those two go-Toobs with olive oil and dish soap.

Clipped toe nails and finger nails (yeah, it's gross to mention) but when your planning on walking down hill for most of a day, you really don't want your toes jamming into the tip of your boots causing serious pain (mother actually had this happen the last time she hiked down as a child, lost quit a few of those nails). Gross, but necessary preparation.

The only things that we have left to really do before heading off on our first documented gallivant is to pack and head for the airports. Waiting is the problem, two more weeks of school before break and I believe they are going to be torture. If I had anything other than planning money (we are selling things on e-bay to raise funds for these trips) and school it might be a little different. I guess I will just muddle my way through to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Synopsis: Trips 2014-15

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As the first blog I should probably give you the low down of what's in the works.

   

First trip: Grand Canyon (oh yeah, for not much of a hiker, definitely jumped into the deep end).

We (my mother and I) are going meet up in the Salt Lake City Airport and fly down to Phoenix, AZ. Pick up the rent-a-car and drive to the Canyon edge. As this will still be March, it may be a bit chilly. We are making the transition from Northern US to a little bit father south, so I'm not expecting too much of a temperature shock, but just in case it is too chilly for camping on the rim, we will have a car to sleep in. We are fine with sleeping in cars, tents, hostels, pretty much anywhere as long as we have running water and cheap food somewhere close at hand. 

Havasupai Falls, Grand Canyon

After a night on the rim, we will be waking up bright and early to hike down into the Havasupai Indian Reservation. This place has always been on my mothers bucket list to go back to. I grew up hearing "If there is one place I could take someone before they died, that would be the place". How can you blame that idea when she's actually been there once before and it looks like that. Naturally, when thinking of a place to get our feet wet and "test" out our gear before a big trip, we wanted to check it off.

Second trip: Japan

When asked about where we are going in Japan, the simple reply is everywhere, of course one cannot travel to every single place in a country in 49 days, but we will sure try. This will be taking place right after my Junior Finals are over, from mid-May to the beginning of July. We will be taking off from Seattle- Tacoma Airport and landing in Tokyo with our Japan Rail Passes in hand. Some of the highlights are:

Hagurosan Approach (2,266 steps),
Dewa Sanzan

• Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo
•  Ueno Zoo (Giant Pandas!), Tokyo
• Sumo Tournament, Tokyo
• Ghibli Museum (yes, I am one of those Americans that grew up with Miyazaki; yes, I do own all of his movies; and I have made a quilt that is captions from all the famous movies that he produced, that were out in 2010).
• Hakone Loop
• Takeda Castle Ruins, Asago
• Kii Peninsula Hike
• A-Bomb, Hiroshima
• Bike Shimanami Kaido (Shikoku to Honshu)
• Floating Torii, Miyajima Island
• Takachiho gorge
• Dinosaur Park, Sakrajima (next to Kagoshima)
• Yakushima Island 
• snorkel with turtles
• watch turtles lay eggs



Shirantani Unsuikyo, Yakushima Island

• forest that Princess Mononoke was based on
• Akiyoshi-dai Tablelands
• Noto Peninsula
• Hagurosan, Dewa Sanzan
• Rishiri-Rebun
• Jigokundani Onsen, Nakano (bathe with monkeys)

We will be seeing plenty of shrines, temples, rice patties, museums, ryokan, and other attractions along the way. Didn't want to bore you with all of the details in one shot, when all I know is what I and my mother have gleaned off of the internet.