Daniel

Wow what a great trip.. And you have such gorgeous photos.. That picture of the hot dog was really awesome! I want one of these things so badly.. Did you get to see it in action???

Knicke.. Thanks so much for reading.. I love your quote, what an amazing book.. I think there might be a Lucky Dog visit somewhere in my trip..

Hmm manzanita sounds familiar Johnny.. Maybe it was too early in the morning.. I will ask my co-pilot if we did anything there.. Yeh the coast was really eerie at times.. Thanks for reading brudda.. I wonder if you find any similarity between Maine and Oregon besides the Portland connection.. I felt like there was a little of the same vibe going on..

DAY 5: We woke up in Venice Beach not really knowing too much about the hood.. We decided to get back on the road and try to get to San Diego without dealing with the morning rush.. Fortunately there wasnt too much traffic and we buzzed down the HOV rather quickly.. With only one suggestion in San Diego, we hoped to find at least another place.. In our minds, San Diego was going to be the taco capital of America.. The first spot we hit up was a place called Mexican Fiesta.. A very authentic, very great find.. Mexican Fiesta 1460 India St Dont let the hamburger throw you off.. Its the real deal.. Its a little stand that serves you on the street.. I ordered a couple of Pastors, a Quesadilla, and a Fish Taco.. Here is the Pastor or Pork Taco.. It was perfect, perfect! Spiced well, crispy, but not dried out.. The quesadillla was average.. I liked the fact that they used crema, and not sour cream.. But all in all it was boring.. The fish taco was pretty spectacular too.. The fish was fried perfectly.. The sauce went really well with the fish.. Not overly saucy.. Awesome breakfast.. Next stop.. El Indio.. El Indio. 3695 India St. This apparently is a famous place in San Diego.. It has been open for several years,since 1940, and they are definitely commercialized.. Selling t-shirts, pre-made tortillas, and it looks like a production line.. After reading about it online and in our Road Food book, we were very excited to try this place, especially after trying its unknown neighbor.. I wanted to try everything.. We got the Pastor again, we got the fish taco, a tamale, tacitos, flan, carrot salad, and beer.. This was going to be an amazing experience.. Wrong!!! The place was horrible.. There was not one thing that even tasted remotely good. Besides the carrots and the flan.. Is everyone suffering from some group delusions or something.. The Pastor was some stewed soggy mess.. The tortilla was completely soaking wet and soggy.. There was stewed tomatoes.. It was not only texturally gross, but the taste was average, if not bad.. Next was the fish taco.. Please scroll up and compare the two photos.. What the heck is that.. Like ambrosia salad on an over-fried fish stick..Yikes.., The tamale will remained close for your benefit.. But it was the most dry tamale i have ever had.. Street fairs and frozen grocery store ones win hands down.. Ahh whatever, i dont even want to finish posting the pictures.. Take my word, the place is garbage.. Well after a disappointing meal, we were on or way to Arizona.. We were on our way to Arizona, but my very smart co-pilot suggested we go to Mexico for some real Mexican Food..My girl found this route in Mexico that ran parallel with 20... It was a few hundred mile stretch that ran from Tijuanna to Mexicali.. About 40 miles into our trip, we ended blowing a tire in the middle of nowhere.. Now, I am not ashamed to admit this, but I dont know how to change a tire.. And would no way drive in any car where I was responsible for securing the tire.. Standing there in a foreign country, with my pretty girlfriend, on a desserted road in the middle of the desert was not the best feeling.. On top of my cell not working, i wasnt even allowed to take the rental car to Mexico .. I ended up flagging down this really nice couple.. A well dressed Mexican woman in heels gets out of the car and immediately goes to work.. She is is jacking my car up and changing my tire as I sit there watching her do all this.. It was really remarkable.. As we are now driving slowly down the road with a donut on the car, we notice all these tire stores popping up.. The first thing that comes to mind is that this is the biggest scam going.. I am envisioning little Mexican kids getting paid for each tire they pop with the nails they throw on the road.. We pulled up to this tire hut and with in five minutes we had a used tire put on and we were back off.. As I said before tires are not my specialty.. I can only assume that they gave us the crappiest tire in the store.. The tire was like 20 bucks and all i knew was we had another three thousand miles to ride on this sucker.. We were not confident.. In Mexico there were ton of taco places lining the road when we came to civilization.. Unfortunately, a lot of them were closed.. We stopped at one of the first places opened.. It was a little convenience store.. Here we got beer, pistachios, and a lot of mexican candy.. A lot of there candy is extremely salty, has a lot of tamarind flavors, and chili powder in them.. It is surprising to try at first.. But its really good once your taste adjusts.. The first place we went to was this place called Cafe Lalo.. It was an indoor place that had a pool table and some video games.. It seemed like an upscale type of place.. One really bad thing were the huge amounts of flies.. It was kind of gross, but hey, no one else seemed to mind.. This taco was pretty bad.. It was super greasy.. The meat was tasteless.. The only good thing about the taco were the condiments.. Here was the fixins bar.. The guacamole was really good, incredibley smooth and the salsas were all really fresh... We also got the Carne Asada from a different stand under the same roof.. This was a lot better. .The steak was flavored well, cooked on a charcoal grill, and the tortilla was better.. Next stop 20 minutes down the road.. We stopped at a place called Asadera Morlan.. This place was a great taco place.. There was a charcoal grill and they were cooking steaks.. We found a little queso fresco and added it to the taco with some hot sauce.. Very good.. .Only problem was Donde Esta Cervesa? Where is the beer.. I guess I will go with a nice tall glass of ice cold tap water please... Maybe we should have a couple more.. A little further down the road we found the best place.. Place was called Taco Banny It had a really cool condiment set up.. You can see bowls over spicy carrot salad, grilled scallions, oninons, lettuce, 4 different spiced salsas, green salsa, and other items.. This place was really cool.. Also had Ceviche, but I wasnt going to Push it.. These might be the best tacos I have ever had.. We got the Pastor and they were absolutely perfect.. Crispy without being dry, well spiced.. Notice that these places have the plates wrapped in plastic bags.. I am assuming its because the water is so dirty it makes better sense to throw out the plastic bags then clean plates with dirty water.. Either way, i tried not to think about it too much.. Dressed up Nekked... After our tacofest, we drove up into the mountains.. We were really really high up, and we were driving on roads without any sort of railings.. We were literally feet away from our deaths.. My girl began to panick.. Its not bad enough that she would have been scared to begin with, but now we have some shady tire on the car.. We both are thinking this tire is going to fall off at any moment.. To make matters worse, the entire road is lined with white crosses.. I try to tell her that its because people are just very religious here, but that doesnt work very long.. It turns out that below us is littered with wrecked cars.. Noone even attempts to collect the cars.. I am not kidding when I tell you there was probably 40 cars and 7 eighteen wheelers just sitting their smashed at various points along the drive.. It was really wild.. This is one example, but there it was like this for the 30 minute ride on this road.. We drove up into Mexicali and crossed the border with ease.. Very happy to be back in the US.. After we crossed the border my first stop was a tireshop.. The guy looked at my tire and told me it was perfect.. I told him I had another three thousand miles to drive and he said it would be fine.. The day ended with a gorgeous sunset.. We drove for a while and hit a Jack in the Box attached to a gas station.. Another chain that we dont have on the East Coast.. Jack in the Box was absolutely horrible.. One of the grosser burgers I have had.. And the onion rings were lousy too.. I will add pictures later. Jack in the crack At this point we were a little delirious.. Dry, over coated onions... Day 6 comming up

Thanks for being so sweet Chufi..

Thats awesome you went there Doc.. I dont have much San Fran experience, I just know what I like.. And this place is really good.. You are right, you are right. It was head..

Thats funny you should say that about a Jack Nicholson movie. My mother and aunt mentioned something like that, but didnt know the movie. I will definately have to check it out.. Thanks for reading it Diva.

My favorite place Dim Sum in Manhattan is Oriental Palace? I think the address is 103 Mott.. I just noticed after going this weekend that there was an English name written on the window outside. I have been to most Dim Sum places, but this seats you at tables with random people and two people get seated immediately.. I like the variety of food and its really really inexpensive. I love this one pepper beef dish.. Fatty pieces of grizzle on the bone soaking in oil covered in pepper and a scallop dish i really like.. They also have great peanut filled sesame buns.. I have never had a bad experience there.. Have you been there? I did notice the tripe.. I most likely should have gotten it..

Day 4: After doing these road trips, I have some car sleeping experience. I prefer the seabring 2004 regular model to the 2005 gt.. The 2005 gt which we had this time, has a much sportier seats and you cant remove the top head rest.. The top head rest normally makes a great pillow to hug in the middle of the night.. That aside, it was really cool waking up to such a beautiful scene outside.. After driving through some really crazy, curvy mountainous terrain in the middle of the night.. We were really happy to see daylight. So we were off and looking forward to breakfast in Point Reyes.. Here we stopped at a place we have heard very good things about.. The Station House.. This place was extremely stuffy.. Maybe it was the shock from being on the road and only dealing with really nice people, or maybe the Wine Spectator reviews went to their head.. But either way, they certainly felt like it was our pleasure to be "served" by them.. Now I am not a breakfast person.. Sure I like eating in the morning, but am more of a two lunch type of guy.. With no non-breakfast choices I went with a fried oyster and bacon omelet.. Of course with a bloody mary.. My lovely and suite co-pilot nicely asked the waiter for a BLT .. The He said this was not an option.. I asked him, do you have tomatoes? Yes.. Do you have toast? Yes.. Do you have bacon and mayo? Yes and Yes.. "Riddle me this, Mr. Pro-active, whats the problem?" The problem it turns out was, he was an ass.. Being that we had just woke up in a car 2 hours prior and were rather hungry, and the fact that I was asked nicely to not cause problems, she ordered something else.. An egg fritata with spinach,peppers, bacon and cheese.. Not just cause the guy was a moron, but the food was rather tasteless. I think we both ordered rather jazzy things.. But it was really bland.. Only after adding salt, pepper, and ton of tabasco did it taste like a salty, peppery, tabscoy thing.. Not only after the initial confrontation was the service bad.. But I was not even asked for a second drink or see our waiter until the meal was over.. Might be the second time in my life I left no tip.. Bottom line is, we should have left immediately.. Most of route 1 looked like this from time to time.... It was extremely foggy and only when the fog cleared up did my co-pilot realize just how far up and just how close to the edge we were driving.. It was somewhere around Stinson Beach where she almost lost it. San Francisco would be the end of our trip along the coast.. My aunts house is extremely easy to find.. She lives on Ashbury St.. Right off of Haight.. We ended up semi-surprising my aunt, uncle and parents who happened to be visiting.. It was so great to see them and to shower.. hehe.. After changing recharging, my aunt had made reservations for us at a local dim sum place.. Tom Kiang 5821 Geary Blvd San Francisco, CA 94121 Dim Sum is a great way to share and enjoy a meal with people.. Everyone sitting around a circular table sharing little plates off a cart..Then putting them on this carousel (L.S) that spins around for everyone to share.. We ordered a ton of food and it was all delicious.. As good as my favorite place in New York with some different dishes.. Even though we didn't use the guide because i think we ordered everything.. Its a really good idea.. Here is the line up of photos that came out clear and that I kept track of. Not getting too descriptive but here is a basic breakdown. Meat dumpling with Worchester Sauce.. The best chicken feet I have gotten at any dim sum place.. Shrimp and Pea Dumpling Some sort of bean curd with an excellent sauce..This was one of my favorite things Shrimp and Cabbage Dumpling Pork Bun excellent Sticky Rice with Pork.. This is one of the best stick rices I have had.. Some Asparagus Something very good.. Sesame Balls for dessert A Sugar Donut There are probably 5 or six things I am missing.. But the bottom line is that place is very solid.. But what was the best part of the meal and maybe my trip, was just seeing everyone.. So weird to just stop on by San Fran and have a casual fun lunch with my parents and Auntie and Uncle.. Very surreal.. We had 7 days left on our trip and we were still all the way on the West Coast.. It was time to get off the slow moving route 1 and make up some time.. We drove a couple of hours when I notice a sign for Gilroy.. All i know about Gilroy is they have that huge Garlic Festival.. So I had to stop and see what was going on.. Well there wasn't much besides a place called Garlic World.. And it looked like it was a place designed to over charge people like me who turned off looking for some garlic products. So we decided to pass. But what we did find was a really good taco place.. Tacos El Grullense Jal - 251 1st St, Gilroy, CA 95020 Besides the welcoming sign, there was another good indication.. There were a table of Mexicans playing dominos right out front.. I dont know about the Dominos, but you get the point.. I mean if it was six tourists from Sweden playing gin rummy, it wouldnt hold the same weight.. Menu: Having just eaten a large meal not to long ago.. I didn't want to overdue it, but I felt compelled to at least try a couple.. We ordered the Pastor.. They were phenomenal.. Some of the best I have ever had.. Served with a terrific spicy carrot salad.. I had to try one more taco.. It was a hard choice between the tongue and the brain.. I went brain.. It was a little too brainy for my liking.. I should have gone tongue.. But still those Pastors were awesome.. We drove for awhile with a destination of San Diego.. Unfortunately there were bridges closed, our GPS was broken since we picked up the car and we got very lost.. I must say, that LA drivers are whack jobs.. I mean I am a pretty "progressive" driver, but that's in a seabring. That night, there were at least 6 Lamborghinis, 2 Bentleys, and other foreign sports cars flying down the road weaving.. It was wild, especially after having been up and driving for the last 18 hours.. We eventually made it to Venice Beach.. The guy checking us in at the Best Western took it easy on us and gave us a really nice suite for pretty cheap.. It was the last room in the place and we almost slept on the beach again.. After checking in, we went to one of the only places opened.. Good old In-N-Out Burger. Here we got two cheeseburgers, fries and lemonades.. Good fast food burgers as usual.. And the lemonade was strangely strong.. Day 5: Coming up..

Hey doc.. You got me thinking about the cooked oyster thing.. I remembered I ate one more meal on the third day.. So I added it with pictures on the previous page. It was baked oysters with swiss cheese and bacon.. As well as raw oysters.. It was at a great little seafood shack called Port of Call in Brandon..

Thats right I am not afraid of going to Seattle when the situation calls for it... Yeh, I loved Seattle and definately will return for a longer visit. What a beautiful, interesting city.. And you are right it was Kells.

Yeh thats my average on a good day.. 4-5 meals.. hehe.. Here are a couple of other trips I have taken.. Its about the same amount of meals.. NY to Maine :nEW YORK TO MAINE First trip Las vegas to New York First trip Las Vegas to New York: Second Trip Las Vegas to New York : Third Trip:

I agree.. And that sauce is amazing.. I was upset she only had sauce in styrofoam containers that needed to be kept cold.. Otherwise i would have bought a case at least...

Another thing about Olympia were the huge amounts of forest being harvested by some paper company.. We drove off the road into some crazy wooded areas..We were surrounded by these huge trees and cleared land.. It was really wild, i thought the car was going to get stuck a few times.. Oh the joys of carefree care renting..

That was a mistake.. They were the best fried oysters I have ever had.. I too normally only eat raw, with the exception of Po Boys fried, or baked sometimes in my mothers stuffing or in other dishes.. But if this place was close to me, i would be eating a lot more fried oysters then I do..

Thanks DOC.. Going to Chicago for a week or so on Thursday so I am trying to get as much down now before I have to leave.. I have 11 days to write about..

Day 3: Day 3 Started at 5:30 in the morning.. We were really excited to start heading down the coast.. So we wake up extremely early and head out on the road.. Its always upsetting to pass places either in the evening or morning that are closed.. There were a couple of really cool spots that I was sad to pass. Here are a couple of cool places we had passed early that morning.. Very neat tunnel.. We started driving down the coast.. It was really pretty, although very gray.. So after a few hours driving places started to open.. Our first stop was The Parkside Coffee House.. This was a little bakery that served some soup and sandwiches.. What really drew me in, besides the restroom was the claim of great chowder.. They were pretty surprised I ordered chowder so early in the morning, but they had it ready.. This chowder was really good.. They used bacon instead of salt pork, but the real difference was in the milk.. They used half and half from a local creamery.. She also told me of a cheese factory that had tours starting at 10 am.. Within 10 minutes we were standing outside the Tillamook Cheese Factory.. It was kind of sureal walking into this factory.. It was exactly 10 o'clock and we were shocked to find it opened.. Complete with a pre-taped tour, ice cream store, cheese sample room, and a breakfast diner.. We did a quick tour and went straight for the ice cream.. Large blocks of cheddar.. One thing that surprised me was how fit the majority of the staff was.. After some samples, my favorite were the cheese curds, it was on to the ice cream.. They really had a great selection of ice creams.. And also made their own cones and cone cups.. I sampled a few things, one being the Root Beer Float flavor.. Oddly enough, it tasted like a root beer float.. I ended up getting german chocolate cake.. This was outstanding .. Dark chocolate with the super sweet coconut in a home made bowl.. Excellent.. We drive on looking for local cuisine.. Since it was still early and most places werent open we decided to have a little something... We saw this place that looked interesting.. Here they were serving fresh seafood as well as some smoked items.. We decided to take a little smoke salmon in the car with us..Although this was the first of its kind we happened to see.. We realized that these road side smoked fish places is rather common in Oregon.. This stuff was fantastic.. Had a super smokey flavor mixed with a little teriyakki.. After eating the salmon it was time to explore the other smoked fish options.. Unfortunately we did it at this place.. Yah i dont know how exactly clean Mr. Bill is.. Here are photos of beef jerkey, smoked shark. and smoked mussles.. Nothing was good. As we drove on, it started to clear up a little more.. But was still super foggy and gray.. Something I never knew about Oregon.. In fact, all i knew about Oregon was that a lot of my pot smoking friends move to Eugene to blow glass into bongs.. Oregon is one of the largest producers of oysters in America.. And there are just tons of oyster farms all over the place..Right outside Willapa Bay i think we found this road side gem.. This place had a boiling pot of seawater outside, and a fry basket inside.. I think everything was covered.. Restaurant Photo Missing: Just like crabs in a bucket.. I like them better like this.. And hands down the best fried oysters I have ever had.. They were in a really thin batter.. Super crispy and juicy.. Not to mention HUGE!!!!! I need to find this place again.. I am so upset I didnt write the address down.. We then came upon a bbq place.. Let me tell you, better then a sign, the thing that brings customers in is signs of cooking.. Wether it be the smell of food, or boiling pots of water, or smoke comming out of a huge smoker... There is such a strong smell of alder wood being burnt, that there was no mistaking what they are doing.. We ordered a brisket sandwich and a half a rack of ribs.. The ribs were fall off the bone tender.. Covered in the thick smokiness of Alder wood... The dry rub was almost non-existant.. But they were still fantastic, saved by the great sauce.. The brisket was shredded.. It tasted like a dry beef sandwich.. The fries were only fried once and g-d awfull.. Soggy, oily, just horrible.. From there we hit the dunes.. It was so surprising to see such massive beaches and dunes.. Granted, it doesnt take a genious to see Oregon is on the coast.. But the images in my head was that Oregon was just one large forest.. We wanted to take ATV'S on the dunes.. But the line was hours long and I nothing is worth waiting that long for.. We drove a couple hours until we reached Brandon, OR.. There we found a little place called Port of Call.. 155 First Street, Bandon, OR 97411,, This was a cute little shack directly on the beach and they just happened to sell beer!!!! They had oysters ridiculously cheap.. We got a dozen for like 12 bucks.. They were fresh and so tastey.. They also had something really terrific.. They were oysters baked with swiss cheese and bacon.. It sounded really strange to me also, but it worked really well.. It was heated really just enought to melt the cheese, you can still see all the fresh oysters juices sitting in the shell.. Fantastic.. Better then fresh oysters, no.. But its good to have both.. Later that day we crossed the border into California.. We stopped at some weird Jamaican Place where i got a jerk chicken sandwich with avacado.. ugh.. It was horrible.. Will include pictures later.. We ended the night sleeping in a little place right on the beach.. And when i say on the beach, I mean on the beach.. After not being able to find a hotel,motel, hostile, or manger, we decided to check into Chez Seabring, our car.... The accomodations sucked, but the views were excellent.. Day 4 comming up..

Day 2: Day 2 started a little rough... We had gotten in around 4 am and unfortunately our 8 am wake up call came at 8 am.. By 10 o clockish we were out the door and ready to see Seattle in the daylight.. We were really fortunate to find a gorgeous day waiting for us.. We headed down towards the Public Market. My only experience with the Market is seeing fish being thrown through the air.. But there is obviously a lot more to see.. And since the majority of the people at the Market were tourists like me, we all stood around like idiots waiting for some guy to throw a fish that never came.. One of the most surprising things were the flowers.. Some of the prettiest flowers I have ever seen.. And being sold at a ridiculously low price.. The next time we go to Seattle, we decided to rent an apartment for the sole purpose of filling it with these flowers.. I think these were like 10 bucks a bouquet.. These were $8.. But whats even prettier then those are these.. Look at all these crabs at Pike Market.. Fresh Dungeness Crab.. There were other things.. But since we are from the East, its a rare opportunity to find them so fresh... We were going to eat a place right in the market.. But since they didn't serve beer, we opted for a place called Ivar's.. This place is a Seattle Institution opened since 1938.. They also have a fish and chips place connected to the more upscale version.. We sat down and had a couple of those morning drinks Seattle is famous for, blood mary's??? These were really good, I had a few made with clamatoe juice.. Ivars photo missing.. We started out with a crab dip.. This was really good.. After drinking tequila, whiskey, and beers the night before, having this to start the day off could be either really good or really bad.. I am happy to say, it was good experience.. Next we moved on to the real reason we were here.. The Crab.. Besides Dungeness, its also a treat to get an Alaskan Crab Leg with out being frozen.. Instead of the mushy water logged consistency I am use to, it was fabulous.. No butter needed.. This was the best crab I have had to date.. These beauties are outstanding.. So meaty, so sweet and fresh.. Again, no butter needed.. We spent the next hour or so happily eating a way, drinking beer, and watching children feed french fries to the Seagulls out of one of the huge windows.. You talking to me? Now I happen to love seagulls.. They are the natures ultimate eaters.. They will eat anything, show up literally anywhere, and have a great personality.. They are like little dogs with wings. I love to watch them draft in the wind.. Its really a great thing,.. People take there left over french fries from Ivars Fish and Chips and feed them to the gulls.. I was wondering what the cholesterol level of these birds are, or was picturing birds to fat to fly riding around on those scooters people use.. However, this guy looks rather svelte.. As we were walking out, I notice a little hut called the Frankfuter.. The date it was established escapes me now.. But it has been around long enough to peak my interest.. They have a wide selection of dogs as well as having squeezed upon order lemonade.. I got an old fashioned dog which is 2/3 beef and 1/3 pork and a lemonade.. The bun was the best thing about the dog.. The lemonade was great.. It was then time to go to the Airport and pick up our car.. We got really lucky again and had a really sweet lady help us at the National Desk.. She only charged us an extra 13 bucks a day for a convertible.. We were told on the phone that we would not be allowed to take a convertible back to New York.. She really made our trip.. About 69 miles away from the Seattle airport we noticed on the other side of the road a sign with a pig on it.. Our radars immediately started going off... So we turn off the highway and down a wooded road to find this amazing place.. Ranch House BBQ 10841 Kennedy Creek Road Southwest, Olympia, WA 98512 Judging by the trophies alone, I would say they definitely have a lot of trophies.. They are a serious force on the bbq circuit.. The name escapes me what the compete under.. They have one every award there is for their chili.. There brisket has one several things also.. But I have seen this woman on the Food Network a few times.. It was also really interesting to see a woman pit master/cook.. First thing I ordered was the chili.. It was really good.. A little too beany and not enough meaty for me.. If it wasnt billed as the worlds best chili I would have been pleasantly surprised about how good it was .. I ordered the sampler plate.. It came with brisket, pork, chicken, ribs and hand cut garlic fries.. Ohh baby.. This was really good.. The star of the plate was the chicken.. This might be the best chicken bbq chicken I have ever had.. It was juicy, smokey, and really flavorful.. Everything had healthy amounts of smoke.. I like when the brisket comes sliced more then shredded.. The pork was good too.. Overall this is one of the better BBQ places I have been to.. I would order any of them individually again.. Their bbq sauce is awesome too.. I dont know for bbq, the sauce tastes like a better version of Peter Lugers steak sauce.. More garlicky.. For dessert we had caramel bourbon pecan pie.. It was served hot with ice cream and whipped cream.. Outstanding.. The best pecan pie I have ever had.. We drove for some time until we reached the Columbia River Bridge.. We crossed it into Oregon and stayed in Astoria.. Astoria is a really cute town.. There are a bunch of places to eat, but unfortunately we got there too late.. We looked all around town for a place to stay but it was all booked.. Fortunately we tried one last place..Its called the The Cannery Pier Hotel,, It was its first night in business and was completely empty.. This is a really cute botique hotel directly under the bridge.. We were given a room with a balcony and a fire place.. It was beautiful. I would recommend this place to anyone in the area.. Our balcony was over the water and almost directly under the bridge.. What a gorgeous night.. Day 3- Coming up

So its been two weeks since I am home from my trip.. It was such an amazing experience.. To be able to see so much of the country with little amounts of time, is really intense.. There age huge changes in climates, changes in geography, population, neighborhoods, cuisine and time zones.. Waking up at the Beach going to sleep in the dessert, its the tour of America for people who cant sit still. DAY 1 of 11: Having to work in Vegas that day, I booked a flight for us at 8 o clock to Seattle. We arrived in Seattle, it was a beautiful night.. The air was perfect.. After staying in Vegas for 8 days, I hadnt left a smoke filled, super air conditioned convention center, hotel aka "Gambeling Pod", since I arrived.. The crisp, salty air off the water was reacting with brain, providing it oxygen again.. We stayed at the Westin.. A top notch place.. Everyone was really professional and more importantly nice.. We check into the hotel and hit the mini bar immediately.. Since we are only staying one night in Seattle we little time to see the city before the bars closed.. We walked across the street to some trendy Thai place and had a few drinks.. After that we walked down to Public Market area.. There we went into another bar down some alley way.. It was English Style Pub and had great beer selection.. Around 2 oclock the bar tender warned us and we each ordered two 16 ounce beers. Very cool of him.. In addition to that move, he also informed us of a place called Beth's Cafe.. This place is known for its multi egg omelets, I remember somewhere in the 12 egg range.. It is also known for its late night drunken/drugged customers.. It must have been loud at the bar, or the bar tender was messing with me, but I thought he told me to order cheese fries with eggs.. So here I sit with my bacon cheese burger with cheese fries and eggs on top..However it happened, it turned out to be really good.. A really interesting introduction to some of the locals at their finest hour.. Here is one of those obscenely large omelets.. Apparently, I made friends and snapped a picture of this girls food.

I was asking about this cake a few months ago.. I made a pretty good one using the red food coloring.. I was surprised to hear all the stories from people who thought that this was only popular in their region.. Its the official cake of Guam.. Its popular in Canada, Ohio, and through out the South.. These are just some of the places I heard about.. Here is a link to a recipe.. recipe

Both places are pretty blah.. Best chicken in Manhattan is at Popeyes... Second is the fried quail at Grand Sichuan... You would have the best chance of getting a good meal at Jacques-Imos..

Thank you guys for directing me here.. What a great place.. Mamey Shake and Coconut Soda Papa Relleno.. Filled with ground meat of stewed goodness... Roasted red peppers stuffed with octopus salad.. It was all resting on a fresh avocado puree.. This dish was really refreshing.. Had great textures.. Awesome peppers. Suckling Pig with some buttery fluffy white rice.. The meat was a little dry, the rice was just amazing.. That black beans are some of the best I have had.. Garlicky, more soupy then thick and chowderish.. Side of boiled yucca.. Was not stringy at all, was perfect texture, perfect amount of garlic.. Really nice... Cafe con leche with rice pudding.. Some thick rice pudding.. This place is a really cool spot.. I will come back here.. Thursdays are oxtail soup day, is one of the many reasons on the list..

Went to the butcher and fell in love with a Porter House.. With the 2lb cut I made potatoes with chunks of prosciutto fat, butter and pearl onions.. Green beans with lemon and garlic.. Broiled each side for 5 mins.. Rubbed in huge amount of black pepper. It looks so shiny.. Took the photo with a flash in my darkened kitchen.. Filet on the left, ny la derecha..

It certainly still is.. Very weird, they told me that cant serve liquor yet but they just got approved, but also said i couldnt bring beers either... A couple walked in with a six pack and were not allowed to drink...

Went there this evening.. Had a couple of really interesting dishes.. One was fried mackerals, another was a salad where you wrapped a mixture of coconut,lime wedge, chiles, peanuts,and other items in a leaf.. Really spicy, great flavors, and a lot of fun.. I must say the jungle curry was very disappointing.. The sauce was weak and thin. Sitting at a two person table, after trying a little, i just gave the dish to the waitress to make room on the table.. The menu provided by menu pages omits portions of the menu..There are some pretty interesting options I will go back to try.. This blue fish dish in particular will annoy me until i go back.