Rainy Cherry Blossom Festival in DC

I've been traveling 4 days a week to Washington DC for a client since the end of January. Since this project coincided with the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in DC, I decided to stay one weekend and fly out Daniel from Chicago. Since it's been a couple of crazy workweeks for both of us, I didn't get to the usual researching and planning of tourist recommendations and food establishments.

Dan called on Wed to ask, "So...what are we doing in DC?" I had vague notions of us strolling around Tidal Basin oohing-aahing at cherry blossoms. And eating good food. And maybe visiting a national museum or two. And since we are a couple with priorities, the first thing we did on Sat AM was to visit Good Stuff Eatery, the very popular burger joint by Top Chef Spike. It was crowded, but indeed delicious. We got the burger with bacon and farm fried egg and rosemary fries. Can't tell if it was delish because we were starving or because it was legit. I'd definitely recommend it.

The weather on Saturday was alternately beautiful or downpouring rain/hail. We walked to the waterfront to take advantage of food trucks who were catering to all the cherry blossom festival visitors. Two notes. #1 Majority of the cherry blossoms are not pink. Those of you expecting a riot of pink-ish tones should look to other arboral species. They're white, but still beautiful. #2 It is very crowded. In fact, there were "traffic jams" along many of the walking paths where you had to be careful to avoid being runover by a stroller or over-enthusiastic photographer.

Here is Dan with the Red Hook Lobster Pound food truck. Decent lobster, but overpriced and tiny portions. We're also spoiled by fresh lobsters that we eat annually in Maine. The pink truck in the 2nd picture is a cupcake-mobile. I got an oatmeal raisin cupcake, tasty tasty.

Here is picture of aforementioned NOT PINK cherry blossom.

Here's Dan and me in front of the Washington Monument. See all those white trees? Those are the cherry blossoms.

Dan has this thing for riding bikes in strange cities. Wherever he goes, he'll look to rent a bike in the most cost-effective fashion. It usually takes me a little while to get onboard because it almost always involves sweating profusely. In a city like DC, it totally makes sense. It's very walkable, but pretty spread out. The first day we were there, we ended up walking almost 12 miles on foot. On Sunday, we decided to use the 2-wheel approach to avoid additional blisters. Our friends, Josie and Tim (from Arcadia) happened to fly in Sun AM and we joined up for a late lunch and bike ride to the Lincoln Memorial. Note that Josie and Tim had never urban biked, and probably now think that Dan is a psycho for making them bike through the most congested street traffic they'd ever seen. Since Dan and I are used to biking around Chicago which is full of street traffic and crazy drivers, we were used to squeezing in dubious spaces between cars. They were clearly not. Sorry!

Sadly, Dan had to leave me to go back to Chicago Sunday late afternoon. We did finally make it to the Lincoln Memorial. Other mentionables: Eastern Market, Cherry Blossom Festival fireworks, Maine Fish Market, Air & Space Museum, Santoki (ask Dan), and weird science jokes courtesy of NPR's Science Fridays.

Happy (second) One Year Wedding Anniversary

Daniel and I were married (for the second time) last year on March 27, 2011 in front of 350-odd guests in Hollywood, California. We had a 10-course lavish Chinese dinner with the USC all men's acapella group serenading us for our 1st dance, a traditional Chinese tea ceremony, Korean drummer troupe, Chinese dragon dancing troupe, a Korean bowing marriage ceremony, 550+ cupcakes, and an after party that including 3 pinatas.

For our 1 year wedding anniversary, we took it easy and spent a quiet weekend at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Believe it or not, it snowed while we were there.

I love you more than life, dkwan. Can't wait until our adventures in Year Numero Dos.

We *Heart* Shedd Aquarium

Friends and family know that we love Chicago's museums. Because of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition aka "World's Fair", much of the construction and ideals of public exhibits and spaces permeates Chicago's lakefront area. About 3 years ago, we started buying 1 yr memberships to one select museum to explore to our heart's content. We started with the Museum of Science & Industry close to the University of Chicago, moved onto the Field Museum more north, and are now finishing up our stint at the Shedd Aquarium. And of the 3 museums so far, I think the Shedd Aquarium is the most accessible and easiest museum so far.

Maybe it's because I'm fascinated by sea animals. For example, the (giant) turtle. Here's the stuffed animal version that hangs next to the anaconda exhibit. It's so furry...how can you resist rubbing up against it and getting public cooties? You can't. Their giant turtle, Nickel, had his back flippers permanently injured by an outboard motor off the coast of Florida. He's called Nickel because when he was brought to the Shedd to recover, they found a nickel in his stomach (via X-ray). He paddles around the giant tank with the butt up in the air.

And here is a fish that Dan and I have spent countless minutes staring it, trying to get it to move positions and its color. It's a rockfish that can adapt its skin tone to match its surroundings. Here, it looks like part of the plant it's clinging on to. I've seen lots of visitors pass by this exhibit without even noticing its magic tricks. Their loss.

This is what I affectionately call the "Nemo tank" in the Amazon Reefs special exhibit. It comes right after the floor to ceiling shark tank, and you can hear the cries of "Nemo! Nemo" from children. It's a cutie.

And the beluga whales! There is a whole family of them in the Oceanarium. The baby, Nunivik, is the greyest of them all. Their mouths are shaped such that they look like they have permanent gentle smiles.

And here is Lucy, the male dragon lizard. At least, that's what the trainer said. The Shedd got 2 lizards, one female and one male. They called them Lucy and Ricky, but got the genders mixed up (apparently it is way way hard to figure out which sex you are if you are a lizard). They still call them by their original names.

Shedd Aquarium had a Members' Night where members such as us got a "behind the scenes" experience. The coolest part was being able to go to the top of the prominent Caribbean central tank and peer down at all the animals. We try to be green and take the El (public transportation) there whenever possible. Picture below of us at the North/Clybourn subway stop.

Tangent: When I took Dan's grandma and brother, David, to the Shedd last June, Grandma would point to various fishes and say "How-tze, how-tze". "What's 'how-tze'?", I asked David. Grinning, he said, "It means, delicious." So she was trying to tell me which fishes were tasty to eat. Love it. I look forward to traumatizing our children some day by pointing out which fishes are delicious to eat.

Where we imagine our retired selves yelling "Ahoy! Ahoy!"

The weekend after Dan and I came back from our sailing vacation, still in the happy shiny cloud known as post-vacation bliss, we took it upon ourselves to go to one of the biggest sailboat conventions in the US. At Chicago's very own Navy Pier, all the major manufacturers came out to display their newest models.

Called Strictly Sail, it was like a Star Wars convention for sailing enthusiasts. The Beneteau First 30 (seen below), was my favorite for day sails. It was really gorgeous and shockingly affordable.

And here I am in another Beneteau with their retractable steering wheel. I think this was the 37'. Can you see the teak flooring in the cockpit? Tres swank.

At last, but not least, here is the Hunter 50 that Dan and I will retire on when we have enough money to stop working, want to live on a boat for at least 6 months out of the year, and plan to invite friends/couples/families onboard for short jaunts. It has 3 cabins, 2 heads, and a kitchen bigger and better than the one we currently possess. I have a serious case of boat envy.

And we are back after a long, long hiatus! I'm pretty sure I missed the entire last quarter of 2010 on this blog, but I've declared "blog bankruptcy" and start anew. First up, Dan and I took a week long sailing vacation during the frigid month of January in Key Largo, Florida. Our boat was the "Kaya", a 41-foot, 40,000 ton Morgan that was like a tank; almost impossible to heal. Most of the readers of this blog know that we love to sail on Lake Michigan during the magical summer months. But to truly charter boats around the world, we would need a whole another level of training. So we decided to take a 6-day ASA (American Sailing Association) course to get our bareboat charter certification.

Dan and I slept in the V-shaped berth in the aft (back) of the boat.

The Kaya was moored at Gilbert's Marina, which is a tiny marina + hotel + tiki bar frequented by leathery locals. Apparently, this is the "real deal", not like those other tourist traps disguised as tourists traps. We are fortunate (or not) to have very calm weather while we were there, which made for smooth sailing but not much excitement on the water.

View from the Kaya to the other side (another marina).

And this is the Kaya looking at the stern.

Daniel wore this shirt too many times during the trip. We didn't take any showers while we were on the water so the shirt ended up acquiring quite the B.O. Our crotchety captain and instructor, Lenny, had bought cookies as part of the provisioning to "please the ladies" as he put it, but Dan ended up eating at least 70% of the cookies. Lenny accused me of hogging the cookies, to my chagrin and Dan's utter amusement.

 

This was the most peaceful vacation week I've ever had. Despite the not 1, not 2, but THREE one-hundred multiple choice tests I had to take to pass my certifications, I was literally off the map for a week. No cellphone, no laptop, not way a client or my work could reach me. Now I recommend that sailing trips for fellow consultants who are expected to be "on call" even during vacation if they are plugged in.

View from starboard side; you can see Pumpkin Key and another anchored boat.

 

We were so fortunate to have Neil and Nancy M as our sailing companions. From Sante Fe, this was their first foray into ocean sailing, and were the best sports to have around while Lenny would berate us time and time again for our apparent lack of sailing skills. 

Here's me and Neil.

Here's me and Dan, eating our dinner on deck. Notice he's wearing the same shirt as in previous shirts. Seriously, we were completely filthy and gross (having not showered in errrrr....4 days?), but so deliriously happy.

We saw beautiful sunsets every night we anchored. It was so relaxing and yet challenging (imagine cramming US Naval guidelines on safety and navigation every night) that I can't imagine a better getaway in January. Dan and I are totally planning to do this all over the world, and perhaps one day even sail around the world. After all, who wouldn't want to go to end a day with a view like this?