Month: November 2021

Monument Valley Trip

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Due to Covid-19, Japan has closed their border and does not allow any travelers to get in their country, which means our trip to Japan is cancelled.  The Stunning Tours company gave us the option to postpone the trip to next year (Nov 2022) or to take the credit; we chose to postpone to next year.   This meant that we had a full week of vacation with no where to go so we decided to take the road trip to see the Monument Valley, a place where the famous movie was film: The Forest Gump.  This would be our longest road trip ever with the driving of 8.5 hours on the first day to reach to the first destination and the total trip days was 6 days.  Before this trip, we only arranged the trip to drive max of 6 hrs a day and 4 days in total.  This was also the first time that we missed Thanksgiving dinner with our family.

Saturday 11/20/2021: Drive to Page, stop at Las Vegas for lunch and break.   Stay at Home2Suite hotel in Page.

  • There was traffic after we left Las Vegas that it took us 6 hours to get to Page.  By the time we got there, it was so late.  Fortunately Hilton hotel allows us to digitally check in so we went straight to our room upon arrival.

Sunday 11/21/2021: explore Page, stay 2nd night at Page.

  • Horseshoe Bend, Upper Antelope Canyon tour.

Monday 11/22/2021: drive to Monument Valley from Page (2 hrs)

  • First stop was View Hotel, took a quick drive on the scene drive, then Sunset tour of the back country.
  • Check in a Goulding Hotel around 5:30 PM.

Tuesday 11/23/2021: Forest Gump Point, Mexican Hat, Valley of the Gods.  Drive back to Page.

  • It was raining and cold this day but we got a good shot at the Forest Gump Point.
  • Stay at Home2Suite hotel in Page for 1 night.

Wednesday 11/24/2021:  Zion National Park, Las Vegas.

  • On the way back to Las Vegas, we stopped by Zion Park.   Did not know it still had beautiful yellow leaves so we stayed here longer than we planned.
  • Arrive to Las Vegas and check in to Hilton at Resort World, a brand new hotel just opened this year.

Thursday 11/25/2021: Las Vegas.

  • Spent our Thanksgiving at Las Vegas.  Explore the hotel Resort World.  William loved to swim at the hotel pool until they closed at 5:00 PM.
  • Walk to Paris Hotel to see the Effeil tower lit at up night; and Bellagio to watch the dancing water.

Friday 11/26/2021: Go home

  • Check out the hotel and go home, there was no traffic at all so we got home early around 4:00 PM.

 

Discover Scouting

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Newport Sea Base organized a family event “Discover Scouting” for free so we signed up.  This is a 4 hour event which is full of fun activities.  First we learned how to fish, then kayaking and play balls, then bird watching on a small boat.  William seemed to enjoy all of the activities but when we got home, I asked him did he like it, he said he likes boating but not kayaking!  The weather was hot so it was great to be near the water.  We had a great time; glad the we joined.

 

 

 

 

 

Festival of Flights

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Festival of Flights returned to Long Beach after skipping last year due to Covid-19 pandemic; I remember William as having so much fun in 2019 Festival of Flights, he loved the cannons!

We were asked to show the vaccine cards; they offered free rapid PRC test for those who are not vaccinated; so William had to take one.  It was nasal swab, William did it by himself.  We waited only for 15 minutes for the result; it was negative.

I was a bit disappointed because this year there was not that many airplanes and booths like in 2019.  Luckily there was 1 airplane that allowed us to get in and touch the controls; William loved it!

We sat on the fake lawn to each lunch and watched the performers on the stage; William did not pay much attention to the music because he was busy playing with the Jack’s Game  that he got from 1 of the booths.

We got some chicken noodles for lunch, at first he said no but after the first taste, he loved it.  It’s really good but too salty, I guess because there’s no veggie; I did not know that if we want veggie we need to order it, which costs a bit more.  From the pictures on the truck, I thought veggies is included.

Then I went to get some Churros Sunday which has ice cream on top of the churros; I asked to have the churros separated from the ice cream and that all the toppings should be on the ice cream but they misunderstood, they have the ice cream on a separate cup but the sauces and toppings (I chose Hershey chocolate and Oreos) are on the churros!  William took the ice cream and did not want to eat the churros because there was sauce on them.  From his look, I think he enjoyed this event.