travel Archives - Page 16 of 32

Joshua Tree National Park

June 8, 2013 by popnea

Not surprisingly, we had no serious plans for the weekend but decided to take a road trip to Joshua Tree.

Last trip to Joshua Tree I learned the tree’s got its name from some religious missionaries that thought the trees looked like Joshua reaching his arms up to the sky.

They are funny looking!

Stop for a picnic in the 100 degree something… why wouldn’t you?

The Skull Rock!

All deserts come with an oasis, right? This fascinates me!

I am not a big fan of California roots music, in fact, with the exception of a few bands, I think it’s pretty crap. But I was invited up to the California Roots Festival up in Monterrey, and I had nothing better to do so…

Still had a lot of good time watching everyone move in slow motion.

Las Vegas

May 11, 2013 by popnea

No Vegas trip is complete without a stop at a buffet! Since we were tired from driving, we all fell asleep early last night, and woke up early this morning! We headed over to the Excalibur buffet when we saw a sign of all you can eat all day at both Excalibur and Luxor for $32! We had to confirm, and it was really true; breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet, all for $32!

We had breakfast at Excalibur, it was really poor. Jumped in the pool and came back for a quick lunch before heading out to the outlets. Lunch was better, but still not awesome.

We went over to Luxor for dinner and I got to eat a colony of Alaskan Crabs! With a side of mashed potatoes, off course!

We stayed at Excalibur, because it looks cool!

There is a few things I like to do whenever I am in Las Vegas – eat buffet, gamble for $20, and check out the seasonal decoration at Bellagio. May was apparently Holland month.

We saw the Bellagio water show from a distance, but wanted to get up close. We hanged out for a while and started to wonder, shouldn’t it start soon, hasn’t it been more than 15 minutes? A quick search on the phone and we realized it was past 2am and the show is not running during at night. Lame, I thought everything was 24h in Vegas!
Got the classic shot of Paris though.

Yeah, we went shopping earlier – a lot of Vans shoes!

Joshua Tree & Las Vegas

May 10, 2013 by popnea

I took Friday off from work and we knew we wanted to go somewhere, but not where we wanted to go. Around lunch we made an impulse reservation in Las Vegas, rented a car and headed out!

Erik made himself comfortable in the backseat.

Driving Los Angeles – Las Vegas takes approximately 4 hours on a good day with no traffic. We were in no hurry though, so we took the long route through Joshua Tree and Mojave National Preserve.

Some 9 hours later I was deadly sick of driving and just wanted to make it there. Veronica thought I drove like a crazy woman and was not comfortable in the drivers seat, but we made it there safe and sound! Yay for Vegas!

Last Day in Shanghai

March 29, 2013 by popnea

Last day in Shanghai was mostly just involving beers, but we did go to get our nails done before starting drinking.

Love the color!

Mmmkay… I wasn’t gonna…

Qibao Water Town

March 28, 2013 by popnea

We took a trip out to Qibao today, a cute water town – like Venice but different!

We got to see the sun today, a good day to do your laundry!

It wasn’t just us there.

Stinky Tofu! Tempting to try, but I stayed away.

Some other food that was not as tempting;

We had lunch at the Shanghai Brewery, finally an IPA!

Classic mom & dad photo; mom is lecturing dad, dad is pretending to listen.

A quick nap in the car over the river, and we were in Pudong.

Stroll Around Shanghai

March 27, 2013 by popnea

We had nothing specific planned for the day so we just had a lazy stroll around the city.

A bunch of guys watching some other guys playing cards in the park. I wish we had this tradition in Los Angeles. I wish we had more parks in Los Angeles.

We have plenty of this in Los Angeles as well though.

Some interesting fruit that I never got to try.

I don’t quite get this sign; Should I look out for falling people, or should I watch my step?

Love the name of this store!

I wish I had the guts to try the food from the street vendors.

We headed to the market to pick up dinner, it was super crowded! At one point I did not move my feet, but I kept moving anyway.

Dinner time!

Shanghai Natural History Museum

March 26, 2013 by popnea

The Shanghai Natural History Museum is very awesome and creepy at the same time! Totally worth a visit!

Taiwanese lunch!

Time for a visit to the insect market after lunch, also creepy and awesome at the same time and totally worth a visit!

The sun was still nowhere to be found, but the laundry racks were still visible. On a sunny day all these racks would be full of laundry.

Tons of these bicyclist around the city and I’ve been trying to catch one on camera. One finally came up close and I totally panic and couldn’t get the setting on the camera correct.

Australian food for dinner!

Fresh pineapple from a street vendor as dessert!

The Shanghai Museum

March 25, 2013 by popnea

Today was culture day, we started of at the Shanghai Museum, the museum of ancient Chinese art.

A very old gem. I don’t think I can wrap my head around how old this is. 6000 BC!

Old Chinese money;

Yep, this is a pillow! Tired anyone?

After the Shanghai Museum, we headed over to the Shanghai Sculpture Space. Very cool and artsy, probably where I would spend a lot of time if I lived in Shanghai.