Travel


9
Aug 09

Day 3: Avi Resort & Casino – Fort Mojave

Map picture

I made a discovery today. We’re not actually in Laughlin – we’re in Fort Mohave in Arizona. Also learned that Avi means money in the native language of the Pipa Aha Macav (People by the River).

In the morning, we all headed over to Bonanza Cafe in Fort Mojave, outside of the casino grounds. It’s small cafe that appears to feed quite a few visitors and locals. I had my staple of corned beef hash with eggs over easy. It’s interior reminded me of what diners looked when I was a kid, before the introduction of standardized and sanitized interiors of which we’re all familiar given the various Denny’s and Denny’s-like chains that have cropped up. The closest thing I could compare it to is “A Bite of Wyoming” in San Jose, but not quite as good. If you’ve ever been there, you’ll know what I’m talking about (well recommended by the way…). We’re supposed to meet with Angela’s mom at noon, back at the casino.

Everyone had a great time. Lulu had toast for the first time – to no surprise, she enjoyed it and managed to eat some, while managing to scatter bits over herself and the vintage 70’s high-chair. Ana had a HUGE breakfast (not any bigger than the rest of us) – toast and two servings of cereal. Myles and Savannah had their breakfast-out staples. You really couldn’t pick a better place to build this kind of memory.

Afterwards, we were off to Target to buy things we sort of needed. To our surprise, Angela bumped into both her mom and Jim! No need to rush back to the casino! As to be expected, we paid for our stuff, bought some Starbucks and headed back to the hotel.

For the rest of the day? We were supposed to spend the day at the beach, but with molten sand and no cabanas, no way. Instead, we spend the day at the pool – a nice break from the 100-degree or so heat. For the most part, Myles and Ana were gathering kids together and playing. That was a pretty cool site. Lulu spend time with pretty much everyone, but she enjoyed her time with Yaya while in the pool. To everyone’s amazement, she started kicking like a frog once she got in the water. Next time I need to bring the video camera.

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Middle: Savannah, Right: Myles needs sunblock

Next thing we knew, it was time for dinner. Off to Native Harvest Buffet for dinner and off to bed… until tomorrow…


9
Aug 09

Day 2: Bakersfield, CA to Laughlin, NV

Avi Casino and ResortWe arrived at the Avi Casino and Resort just outside of Laughlin, Nevada around 4pm on Saturday to a nice and balmy 104-degree. Savannah, Myles, Lulu and Angela are travelling well so far… only one mishap. Lulu fell of the bed this morning. Poor thing… she’s all better except for a mark on her face….

We met up James, Jessica and Ana and met up with Angela’s mom.

So far, Avi is an interesting place – your typical visitors to desert resort / casinos.

We go exploring tomorrow….


12
Apr 09

Happy Easter from Cayucus

From Gina's Coffee Shop

Happy Easter! In the photo, Savannah, The Easter Bunny and our friend Deborah Caldwell.

Caycus, California

4
Nov 06

Willits, California – Mushrooms

My parents bought some property up in Willits a few years ago. Until I heard the term "California Rainforest", I never tought about this area in that way. Although most of the properties in the area are zoned for housing, many of the properties appear to keep a good percentage of the trees — I’m going to guess that this might be regulation, I would hope. I know that other states, like Washington, have laws similar to this.
This year is the first time I hiked around the property with my daughter. We were walking along a path when my daughter saw these. We were located a few hundred yards from west shore of Lake Ada Rose.

Willits is kind of a neat little town — there’s definitely more people there than when we last visited 5 years ago.

The camera I chose to take was the Kodak P880 — I like this camera, but I’m finding it’s not all flexible, and has a worthless macro function and is really finicky in lighting that most cameras should be able to deal with. This was definitely frustrating.

Next time, I’m bringing my dSLR, or the my old Canon PowerShot G3.

I’m just going to assume these are poisonous…


28
May 06

Visiting Atascadero


Pressed Coral, originally uploaded by digitalized.

We’re in Atascadero hanging out with Angela’s dad – her mom’s been busy working. On Saturday, we went to Cayucos to check out the tide pools. Lots and lots of crabs. Savannah was a little hesitant at first, but joined us after we had waved her over to cross a little stream. Once there, she had tons of fun. Myles was a bit uneasy crossing rocks, but in time, he got the hang of it.


23
Mar 06

Mom and Dad are back from their vacation



They had a really good time visiting the holy places in the Middle East. Here are some photos:

Mom and Dad’s Middle East Vacation


5
Dec 05

Reno


After thanksgiving, we went to Reno just to do something different. Here are some photos from Reno and Virginia City.

See the photos here


18
Jun 05

Trip to Los Angeles and Joshua Tree

Mom, Dad, Me and Myles go down to SoCal to celebrate my cousin Rachelle’s college graduation.

See Joshua Tree Photos
See Rachelle’s Photos


16
Jun 05

A Quick Trip to Pigeon Point

Savannah, Myles, Lynette and myself decided to take a trip out to the coast to see Pigeon Point Lighthouse. Here are some photos from the trip.

See the photos


23
May 05

Lick Observatory

While Angela was hard at work at the Hotel Montgomery, me and the kids decided to visit Lick Observatory.

See the slideshow