L.A. Christmas Story

I'm really behind in my posts so here's trying to catch up on the last 6 months of travels...

For the first time in probably over 10 years, I didn't celebrate Christmas in New York.  Instead I hightailed it to Los Angeles to spend the holidays with Alyce, who had moved out there over the summer.

Okay. I've only been to California once (excluding layovers at LAX), and I was a teenager then.  And maybe I had it in my head that I would get a sun tan on this trip.  I was also slightly misled into thinking I wouldn't need anything more than a light jacket.

On a sunny day hiking up to the Hollywood sign, a t-shirt sufficed. But LA gets COLD.  And rainy. And people here don't believe in insulation.  It got as cold as the upper 40s at night! My new best friend became the zip up down-filled sleeping bag I slept in. I still remember that sleeping bag fondly.

LA was a pretty relaxed town and it was nice being show around by a new local.  Alyce picked me up from the airport and we made our first stop at Randy's Doughnuts. Yummy!  It didn't make sense to have to narrow down our selection, so we got an even dozen which we slowly worked on during my stay.

We hiked up to the Hollywood sign, cooked a delicious Christmas rib roast with all the fixins, went to a house party of the daughter of one of the Eagles, and played lots of Bananagrams. We also went to see a couple of movies.  All in all it was a really fun time with one of my besties.

Of course, on the day I was heading back to NYC, the weather turned absolutely gorgeous.  We sat outside  at In-N-Out next to LAX,  watching the planes fly overhead while eating some burgers.

Randy's Doughnuts! 

Merry Christmas!

Grauman's Chinese Theater
(not as impressive as I had thought it would be.
And super touristy.)

Day Tripping: Beacon, NY

5 and I were way overdue for a day trip.  It was free admission to DIA: Beacon so we jumped at the excuse to take a trip up there on a crisp fall day. I hadn't been up there since it first opened, and it was definitely a different experience so many years later.  The town of Beacon has developed a lot since then (all I remembered was a desolate town and a sketchy Mexican restaurant we ate at) and we actually ran into some friends on Main Street.  Two minor disappointments:  the Warhols weren't up and it rained during our frantic run to catch the train back into the city.

Oh Vegas, My Vegas!

 

I had the opportunity to visit Sin City for the first time in September.  It's never been high on my list of places to go, as I'm not a huge gambler, strip club frequenter, or Celine Dion fan.  But I do love to eat, and the idea of phenomenal buffets had its allure.

But I was excited when I found out my annual work conference was going to be held in Vegas.  Not only would I get to eat to my heart's content and learn more about clinical research, I was going to give my first big conference talk.  Woo-hoo!  Accompanying me on this adventure were Vickie (of course), Sandy, and Zoo Melanie (also her first time in Vegas).

My shortlist of Vegas activities:

• Eat Buffet
• Bellagio Fountain
• Downtown Vegas (Fremont)
• Sunshine
• Slots

And guess what?  I crossed each and every one of those things and then some. The buffets were pretty great, particularly the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar's Palace.  It just had a $17M renovation and although the food wasn't life changing, the selection was. Gelato station, made to order dessert crepes, pho/ramen/soba noodle station, little deep fry baskets of everything you could ever want deep fried (a midwestern girl's dream!) and so many meats (brisket, prime rib, pork chops, ribs...) and endless seafood.  It was worth the 90+ minute wait and $39.99!   

We also took a gondola ride at the Venetian, ate French food at the Paris, went to some ridiculous igloo bar and drank out of cups made of ice at the Monte Carlo, and cruised around town in a Benz (at the economy rental rate).  No hookers, no excessive booze, and no excessive gambling losses.  No fun, right? Oh, but it was.  Did I forget to mention we went to see Chippendales? Yes. For reals. I really had high expectations for the dancing.  There was no Magic Mike. And some of them were pretty pathetic in their efforts. Yet, the girls went wild. What was most interesting was that there was no stuffing of money in g-strings.  I mentioned it to my mom and the convo was as follows:

     Fortune: We went to Chippendales and it was weird because they didn't take dollar bills!

     Mom:  Of course they didn't take dollar bills! They want $10s and $20s instead!

     Fortune: Ummm, I meant that they didn't take ANY bills at all, Mom. 

     Mom:  Oh. That is weird.

Riiiiiiight.

Overall I had great time. It is always fun being a tourist and the number of lights in Vegas puts Times Square to shame. It wasn't really how I imagined it to be, but I definitely wasn't disappointed.  If I never go back again, I'm okay with that.  But if I do go back, I would like to eat more buffet and check out the spectacle of the rest of the casinos like we did in Macao.

One last thing to mention:  I totally rocked my talk!  It was at 8:30am on Saturday morning, so I figured the turnout might be sparse.  Turns out, it was standing room only!  I had a bunch of questions from the audience and a lot of positive feedback.  A girl came up to me later that day and told me it was the best talk she had heard at the conference.  That was nice.




Buffet Round 1: Prime Rib, Kobe beef, and fixin's. 
Round 2 was very similar.

 


Crab legs galore!  Not my thing, but the quantity was amazing.

 


 

Howdy, Cowboy! Fremont Street.

Touring like mad in our nation's capitol

It was Cinco's birthday and this year we went down to Washington, DC.  DC was officially founded on July 16, 1790.  George Washington chose the site from land donated by Maryland and Virginia, as it was a compromise between the northern and southern states.

I have been to DC a few times in the past, but I don't think all of the things I saw in those trips combined were equal to what we saw this past weekend.  The beauty of DC is that so many things are free, and a lot of it is walkable.  

There are two main gripes I have about our nation's capitol:  the 10% tax is ridiculous.  I know someone has to pay for the lovely White House lawn and the Smithsonian, but 10%? Geez. Gripe #2 is the DC Metro.  We seemed to always just miss the train, and the next one wouldn't come for another 15+ minutes.  For a city of over half a million, you'd think the weekend public transportation system would be more efficient.  

Here's the breakdown of activities: 

FRIDAY:

• White House (no tour)
• Washington Monument
• Jefferson Memorial
• FDR Memorial
• MLK Memorial
• Bureau of Printing and Engraving (tour)
• Old Post Office and Bell Tower
• Museum of American History
• Texas BBQ birthday dinner
• Drinks with friends in Dupont Circle

SATURDAY:

• National Building Museum (we snuck into the Lego Exhibit)
• National Archives (saw the original Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights)
• Capitol (tour)
• Library of Congress
• Supreme Court (walk by--building was closed)
• Ford Theater (walk by--was closed for a matinee)
• Air & Space Museum
• Arlington National Cemetery (was so exhausted at this point, we took the trolley tour--just looking at the hill the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sat upon made me want to cry.)
• Dinner on U street with all of my DC friends. And Vickie.

We left on Sunday and I was lucky enough to have breakfast with Little Cookie, who just happened to be in DC from NC.  I had missed her visit to New York because I was in Taiwan.  It was a really great way to end the trip. 

White House.  We didn't see any snipers, just lots of kids.

The Capitol!

On the trolley at Arlington National Cemetery

Great Hall, Library of Congress

Washington Monument!
It was closed from the earthquake last year.

Air and Space Museum

Breakfast with Little Cookie

Heading South of the Tropic of Cancer

We needed some warmer weather and headed south via high speed rail (think bullet train) to Taiwan's second largest city, Kaohsiung. Kaohsiung is the "harbor capital" of Taiwan, sitting on the west coast along the Taiwan Strait.

Dragon and Tiger Pagodas on Lotus Lake

Taiwanese fortune telling machine

Dream Mall:  Asia's largest shopping mall

Ferris Wheel on the roof of the Dream Mall

Coin operated vehicles

Site of the 2009 World Games

More Taiwanese Eats

Fresh scallion pancake.

Fried pork chop lunch box. 

Hot red bean cake.  The cream filled ones are fantastic too.

Hot pot!

More pics from Macau

Colonial architecture

Ruins of St. Paul's. Built in the 16th century by Jesuits,
it was the largest Catholic church in Asia at the time.
Destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835.

Gondola ride in the Venetian Hotel, Macau.
Ridiculous.

 Roman-themed shopping center at the Macau Fisherman's Wharf,
a complex built in the style of different world seaports.
It was a cool area, but almost all of the store fronts were empty.  

Senado Square

Incense coils at A-Ma Temple

Monte Fort.  Built by the Jesuits in the 16th century,
later served as the first residence of the governors of Macau. 

Macau was handed back to China in December 1999.
In celebration, each  province gave Macau a gift.
This is a woodcarving of the Stork Tower,
gifted by ShanXi province.