Adams River - Salmon Run 2010

Hubby and I decided to go for a short weekend getaway by going to Adams River (about 45 min N from Kamloops). Boy, was it sure busy there........and smelly! But what a sight! Never in my life have I ever seen so many green-headed red salmon swimming around. The river was literally filled with them and all you're able to see are streams of dark red colour. However, not everything was a pretty sight. All along the shores were filled with dead, rotting fish, hence the bad smell. Thankfully, the weather was great so we didn't have to walk through rain or mud or anything like that. Below are just a few pictures we took:

Cycle of life and death

Quick update

We're now in Oregon at a McDonalds using their free wifi. The last few days in Cali was quite fun.

Last day in Disneyland:
- we took advantage of the magic morning (enter 1 hr before official opening)
- rode a few rides and then Ron wanted me to go on space mountain with him. I got owned by the ride! He forgot to mention about the virtual spinning room. I got motion sick and whiplashed on the ride. That was the end of my going-on-rides for the rest of the day.
- did our souvenir shopping as we had a 20% off coupon

Sea World
- super duper hot but at least there was a bit of a breeze!
- got wet from the splashing whales
- really good shows!
- went to Phils BBQ for dinner...crazy line up so had takeout instead

San Diego Zoo
- too big!! So much walking
- did the guided bus tour which was pretty good
- saw some questionable activities from the animals...they need to get a room. Haha
- panda was cute! The panda climbed up and down a tree
- Ron fed a camel with a blade of grass
- went to McDs for lunch: $4 20 piece mcnuggets

Sunset Bay, Oregon
- camping
- great views on the beach and awesome sunset
- bird pooped on our tent twice :(

LA - midway point

So we're half way through our LA trip. Let's just say it's been quite packed with things to do. Quite tiring to say the least but fun. We've already spent 2 days in Disneyland and 1 day at Universal Studios.

Disneyland:

Our first day was great! Weather was cool and sunny; barely any lineups! Our longest wait of the day was only for 30 min. We spent most of the time at California Adventures side. I hate going on rides but tried to go on as many as Ron wanted me to go with him. I put my foot down on the California Screamer ride though...that's just way too intense for me. My fave ride was the 3D Toy Story one...which was our longest wait to get into. In the evening, we watched the World of Colours. That was pretty cool...water show with clips of Disney movies being projected onto a sheet of mist

Day 2 was brutal in terms of crowds (and weather). It was definitely the opposite. We did not know that it would the baseball All Star game that day and that all the festivities and parades would originate from inside Disneyland. It was packed with fans all in their fan wear. Streets were lined with people sitting on the curb waiting for the parade of all stars......sitting there 3 hours before the parade started! I thought with the All-star festivities, there would be less people lining up for rides. Was I ever wrong! After the parade, all those people went for the rides. I think a lot of them got into the park as VIP for the all star game stuff...I dunno, I just saw a lot of people with guest passes walking around. The only upside to all this was being able to use fast pass....but even the fast pass lanes were quite long......sigh. In the evening we watched the fireworks and Fantasmic (another water show). Fireworks crowd reminded me of the Celebration of Lights crowd.....crazy.

Universal Studios:

We met up with a couple of friends and their family. I enjoyed my time there but I must say, if I had to miss this attraction, it wouldn't be a biggie for me. Must say the day was way more relaxed than our 2 days at Disneyland. What cracked me up was the "chinese-ness" of our friends...they bought 2 food passes (unlimited purchasing of food) and shared that amongst 10 people. Another blazing hot day but at least they have all these cooling water misting fans all over the place...especially at line up areas. Couple rides that really stood out for me was the 3D King Kong show and the 4D Shrek movie. The animal show was pretty cute too. But the rest was just "meh".

That's pretty much the summary of our trip so far. Pics will be posted up soon

Boston Pizza...you should learn from Red Robins

Finally almost a year and a half later, I've decided to start blogging again (with some prodding from my sis). So I will blog during my vacation.

We're in Portland for a night before heading off to LA. My impressions thus far:

- people here are quite polite

- great customer service (hence my title but I'll get back to that later)

- NO TAX!!! :D

We booked our hotel through priceline for $40. Pretty good deal. Hotel is clean, spacious (2 beds. hehe) with 2 sinks, and microwave/fridge. The bed is aw

esome!! You can change the firmness of it to fit your needs with this remote.

Anyways, to the subject of this blog - most of our friends already know our horrible customer service experience at Boston Pizza which is why we haven't gone back to any of their restaurants for more than a year. Today we decided to have dinner at Red Robins in the Portland Airport area. Dinner was great! Here are the reasons why:

- server was friendly and always made sure everything was going well with us

- never had to ask for refills. He just automatically brought it to us whenever he saw our drinks getting low

- somehow our appies order didn't get to the kitchen so instead of just apologizing, they made it right away and comped it

- Ron was so excited about his bottomless rootbeer float. His burger (had bacon, swiss and cheddar cheese, mushrooms and onions) that came with bottomless fries was only $6.99!

- we shared a appy combo of onion rings and battered mozza sticks for

only $5.99 and portion was huge! and I had my usual freckled lemonade. Only had 3 cups...couldn't do more as I was stuffed

- all together, our dinner was only $14

after 6 months of marriage (and most of winter)

Wow, who would have thought it's been past 6 months already!  I must say at times it has been challenging but well worth it.  We got to celebrate Christmas at our own place with our little Christmas tree =)  My first tree...albeit a very small one (only 3 ft tall) but quite well lit and decorated =)

Hubby and I getting ready to open our Christmas gifts...midnight on Christmas day 

(see the very small Christmas tree in the background?)

We had a huge snow dump so for most of the holiday, we stayed at home cuz our cars couldn't make it thru the snow...roads weren't always cleared...and I'm talking about big roads...don't even think about side streets...those were never cleared.  If you parked on a side street, you'd be stuck at home with no where to go.  Thank goodness our cars were parked in the garage. 

Look at the road..barely cleared and that's considered a "main" road already...imagine what the small streets look like...

The good thing about the snow was we were able to go tobagganing!   That was uber fun but the hill was oh so steep...

me and my cousins getting ready to slide down that hill

I also went snowshoeing  and skating with a few of my girlfriends while hubby went off to Kicking Horse with his snowboard buddies.  

it was very bright and sunny outside....

me sitting on the snowbank and posing

the girls being silly on the Olympic Oval

So all in all, this past winter holiday has been great as well as the first 6 months of our marriage.  Stay tuned for more updates...sorry, it'll prbly come in about another 6 months knowing my track record...hehe