Pink's Hotdog in Los Angeles, CA

At the same location for 73 years !   Pink's is a family-owned hot dog stand that started in 1939.  Pink's chili dogs, complete with a large warm bun, oversized hot dog, mustard, onions and thick chili sold for 10 cents each in 1939.

Travel with me to England

Do not wait for special moment to celebrate, instead celebrate each day as special. - Eng

From my part of the world to yours ... Enjoy ! 

Shabu Shabu

Shabu-shabu  is a Japanese variant of hot pot. The name shabu-shabu is derived from the "swish swish" sound of cooking the meat in the pot. The dish use thinly sliced meat and vegetables and are usually served with dipping sauces. It is considered a winter dish, but is eaten year-round.

Ancient Skyscrapers, San Gimignano

One of the most unforgettable travel experiences for me is to see and to be in one of the most beautiful city in the world... San Gimignano, in Italy.

we bought this painting in one of the shops in San Gimignano

Harding Icefield...Staircase to Ice Age

Harding Icefield Trail

Harding Icefield….from the face of one of its outflowing glaciers,

The Luberon ochre hills in Roussillon

" Welcome to the Ochre Foothpath! "your's truly :) enchanted by the ochres foothpath but still trying to be funny ;)

Matanuska Glacier

A Glacial Lake Inside Matanuska Glacier

Matanuska Glacier is a rare roadside glacier that one can actually look down on from the road. 

Come with me to St. Louis Missouri

Please allow me to share with you one of the most precious trips our family had ....

This was the year we celebrated Christmas in St. Louis, Missouri.  It was a lot of fun but we missed Jack   who couldn't go with us on this. Jack was still serving in the US Air Force in North Dakota.  I missed him a lot, so after our vacation I mailed a couple of good pictures to him and some souvenier goodies I found which I thought he would like.  Jack was so surprised and happy when he picked up his mail at his apartment mailboxes.   

Things to see and do in St. Louis MO. I regret now that I didn't take as much pictures or visited all the nice places in this town. 

Torrey Pines to Del Mar on a Windy Day

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve (cell phone shot)

April 14, Saturday, time for me to relax my very tired mind in the healing power of nature. Though I very much love my job, but I always look forward to weekends as my reward for having a good week. The best reward for me always is a time spent with our natural world, whether it be hiking or riding the ocean's waves with my boogie board. I am happiest when I am out, though I am not saying I am not happy when I am indoors. Quoting fellow TSS sister Cher of Sweet Memoirs, " I am too blessed to be stressed", so that makes me happy anywhere. :) 

San Pedro, California

San Pedro is a port district of the city of Los Angeles, California. San Pedro, began and thrived in the fishing industry, evolved into a working-class community and port area of Los Angeles, which annexed it in 1909.

I happen to come across an ad of this place in Facebook. Our family love seafoods, so the next opportunity we found, we drove 60 miles to check out this place ....

San Pedro Fishmarkets and Restaurant 

Reminiscing the Past in Indiana and Kentucky !

Dear Mom and Dad,

I pray that this letter and pictures reached you in your perfect health. How I wished you were with us on this trip so I can show you all these amazing places. I missed you both a lot you know. One day I wish that you can come and visit us here in the US.  One day, I promise you it will happen.  I always keep that wish close to my heart.

I wanted to share with you these photos we took on our trip to Indiana to spend Christmas with Jeff's family. It was my first White Christmas. We were a little frustrated cause they didn't really get a lot of snow that year, so the White Christmas didn't come as I was expecting, but I still call it my first White Christmas. 

This is the Ohio River Bridge to cross from Indiana to Kentucky.  We had to drive 75 miles from Indiana to Kentucky to pick up Logan so he could spend some time with us.

This is a good old fashion home cooked country meal restaurant Jeff had visited countless times growing up.

This is the manufacturing plant that Jeff built for his "storage building" business.  He sold this business to his dear friend so he can come to California to pursue his dream to become a lawyer. I will share you more about what happened why he didn't end up to be a lawyer, but instead he became a mental health therapist. I still think that God directed him to that path because it is such a wonderful profession. I will talk to you more about it on my next letters.  

A sample of the storage building they used to build. This place is now owned by his dear friend.

This is a site of a house that was burned down some 40 years ago. What was left was the steps leading to the front door.  I found this place interesting and so I took picture of what was left of this home.

Mom and Dad...  you would probably find it interesting if I tell you about the Amish people who live in the remote area of Kentucky.  They use horse and buggy to travel around town.

Amish guy driving around on his horse and buggy. He kind of shy away when he saw me taking pictures of him. Jeff told me that they don't like it when people look at them or take pictures.  I waved at him to apologize, but he just drove off.

This is one of the Amish homes. They don't use electricity or modern technology. They do everything manually by hand. Mom, this is almost like what it was in our province in the 60's or early 70's. I remember you told me you grew up using oil lamp as there was no electricity in the province. Mom, this is how they live. They wash their clothes by hand and hang dry them on clothes line at the back of the house.

A farm out in the Amish town.  

After checking out the Amish town, we drove back to where Jeff used to live. This is an 8-bedroom home Jeff used to live with his family. It was built in the middle of nowhere, their closest neighbor is 10 miles away.

These are Jeff's two good looking boys. 

They are Jeff's mom and dad. We went to this restaurant to have our Christmas lunch. 

This is Jeff's brother and his two beautiful daughters. 

I find this really cool. To cross from one town to the next town they had to drive their car on this boat

We drove and take a look at the house Jeff lived when he was in grade school.

This is Harrison school where Jeff attended grade school.

This was the home Jeff lived when he was in high school.

This was Jeff's school when he was in Junior High.

In the place where we live they have this commercial cluster mailboxes. This is pretty common in new housing developments, apartment complex and businesses.  ApprovedClusterMailboxes.com is the ultimate source for Cluster Mailboxes of every size, finish, style, and material. They come in different styles and colors just like these pictures below.  

Mom and Dad... this is how a clustered mailbox look like. This one is an eight-door cluster mailbox. 

This CBU mailboxes is bigger and has more unit and pretty common in businesses. 

This is all for now mom and dad. I will call you one of these days and we can do skype so I can see you and I also want to see Tristan, the new dog that you guys got. 

Love you dearly,

Aligaga

Submitted by Aligaga for TSS

Our Family Trip to Mammoth Lake, California

Once a year, we take a couple of days off work to spend some family time.  With our children growing fast, time is running out and one day it would be very hard to get them to go with us. So while we can, we make sure to spend a lot of time with them.  This trip was one of the best trips we had, perfect weather and fun for the whole family.

There is so much to do in Mammoth Lake, one weekend is not enough to explore the whole place, but good enough to enjoy the sight and have a relaxing weekend with the family.

La Jolla Shores

Birds In Flight, La Jolla Shores- Torrey Pines Beach, San Diego

La Jolla is an affluent community in San Diego more known for its luxury homes, fine dining and upscale shopping. Though an affluent community, but the beaches in La Jolla is free for everyone to enjoy. Whenever I do not feel so well to do more physically challenging hikes, we would just spend our day taking a long walk from La Jolla Shores to Torrey Pines Beach. 

Places

" Life is like a hike.....it has lots of exhilarating ups and challenging downs, confusing crossing trails, rugged and windy steep terrains; but most of all, it is filled with beautiful, inspiring and wonderful scenic turns!" - Betchai

Harding Icefield, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska

Whenever I am out, I feel that the grandeur of nature invites a prayer of thankfulness for God's majestic gift to all of us. I find that nature is not only healing, not only relaxing, not only rejuvenating, but is also one great teacher. Some of the most beautiful places on Earth, some of the oldest living creatures are those which have surpassed the harshest tests in time. We may be going difficult challenges in our lives, we may forget temporarily that there is a beautiful reason for everything, but each time we come out from the test, we are so filled with JOY for God to have directed us the way, and not us leading the way! 

Here are some of the places, which brought tears, inspiration, prayer of thankfulness, prayer of surrender, indescribable happiness, that God wonderfully is in control.

Matanuska Glacier, Alaska

 Channel Islands National Park, CA

McWay Falls, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Big Sur, CA

South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

Navajo-Queens Garden Loop Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, CA

Half dome, Liberty Cap and Nevada Fall, John Muir Trail, Yosemite National Park, CA

Mono Lake South Tufa State Reserve, Lee Vining, CA

Antelope Canyon, Page, AZ

Arches National Park, UT

Canyonlands National Park, UT

Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA

Harding Icefield, Kenai Fjords National Park, AK

The indescribable feeling whenever I hike can best be summarized by these words of John Muir below, 

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." ~ naturalist John Muir, 1913.

YOUR GRAND CIRCLE ITINERARY

Best Time to Visit: Fall- Spring, summer can be too hot and also too crowded. However, for those who may not like the cold, the winter can also be too cold and icy. Some trails last spring were still covered with snow and the temperature was still sub-freezing especially at night. However, comparing our spring 2009 hike with our summer 2007 hike, I prefer the cool, uncrowded and silent parks during off peak season, that is fall-spring, lodging is cheaper this time of the year too. :-) 

Grand Circle Wonders, AZ and UT

( you can click on the image to enlarge )