The Sequoia National Park, Part 2

As evident in the previous blog, we took Reggie and Manami to Sequoia National Park with such dramatic fanfare. Dan dropped them off yesterday morning and I noticed he wasn’t dressed for it. He explained he’s not going with us because he has a lot of chores to do. After dropping Adrienne off to school, we gassed up the Avalon and looked for a McDonald’s to have breakfast. On the way, Donna was rummaging through the car’s glove compartment looking for its registration only to find last year’s. When we got to McDonald’s and while they’re buying our food, I went out to look and the license tags are indeed August 2007. So I’m now anxious to drive it with the expired tags wondering whether I’d get pulled over and be given a ticket driving with an expired registration or is the car going to get impounded, etc. We decided to go back home and use the van instead. By this time, everyone’s upset with the situation. Dan, apologizing and not wanting to ruin everyone's day, suggested it’s worth the risk driving the car instead of the van, which is much older. Sequoia is a four-hour drive up north. I got convinced, so in spite of the time of day – almost 10 am, we proceeded to go.

Traffic on the I-5 wasn’t too bad since rush hour traffic was almost over. With a couple of stops it took us 4 hours to get there. We had lunch before entering the park and by time we paid for our entrance fee it was already a little past 3. The ranger was optimistic that we still have a couple hours of sunlight to run around the park. Unfortunately, tours for the day to Crystal Cave are over and to make matters worse, the trail to Moro Rock is closed. So all we have left, which actually is the main attraction of the park, is to visit General Sherman (which boasts to be the biggest living thing in the world in terms of mass) in the Giant Forest along with some beautiful fall colors which we never get to experience in Southern California.


Below is the virtual footprint of General Sherman. It was so big it wouldn't fit in the screen!



It was a bit hazy on top which resulted in some gloomy and blurry pictures due to the lack of sunlight and it was freezing!


This reminds of those fake trees they have in casinos in Las Vegas.



The good thing about our timing, being late and all, was the gorgeous sunset of the park along the Seven Ranges Lookout.



We stopped by Jack in the Box in Bakersfield for a quick sandwich dinner and we arrived at La Mirada a little past 11.

The Sequoia National Park, Part 1

To be continued... better still, see Part 2 above.

October in California 2

The weather forecast has not been too good for the last couple of days. Yesterday was no different so instead of going to Hollywood expecting to take gloomy pictures we just decided to take Reggie and Manami to lunch. They came over and we went to that old Thai restaurant by Cerritos Mall. It’s supposed to be owned by a Kapampangan married to guy from Thailand.

After lunch we dropped Donna off back to La Mirada so she can cook dinner while the four of us (with Dan driving) went to the Citadel Outlet stores in the City of Commerce off of the I-5. We walked around for an hour so amazed at how much renovation the place has gone through.

We then drove southwards trying to decide on the way where to go next. Right before we got to Norwalk, Reg thought about dropping by his high school buddy’s place. He hasn’t seen or heard from Fausto in a while. He lived in our neighborhood and has 4 kids. We got at their place and Reggie barely recognized their house. It turned out they added on and it looked a bit different. Fortunately Fausto, his wife Selena and all the kids were home. They’re all so glad to see each other again. Their oldest, Fausto Jr. (little Faustino as he used to be called) is Reggie’s god son and is not so little anymore.


Selena gave Reggie a bunch of the kids’ pictures along with new phone numbers and eMail address.

Instead of going to the Brea Mall as previously planned, Dan took them to the 99c Store in Norwalk where they picked up a bunch of snacks and other things. Then we went to La Mirada for their Mom’s much missed spaghetti dinner. Dan had to go somewhere and had to leave Reggie and Manami who got knocked out on the couch after dinner from all the running around.


We were going to go to Sequoia National Park today but they wanted to take Donna with us. And since she has an appointment to have her hair done, we decided to go tomorrow instead. When she’s back we’ll probably take them to Hollywood.

October in California 1

I can pretty much admit my craving for Japanese food is all but satisfied at this time. Donna was shopping for shoes one day and we had lunch at our favorite restaurant Sushi Samurai in Cerritos. Eph told us he wanted to hang out later that day and we ended up having dinner at the same restaurant.

Tuesday Genessee and Rachel took their Mom out for her birthday and we tagged along at this hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant in Long Beach. Of course we had to sing her Happy Birthday after the meal.


Eph sent me a list of names of friends and relatives who have yet to send their RSVPs. Donna and I made several follow up phone calls to get confirmation from people whether or not they’d be able to attend the wedding.

Rach eMailed me the list of their confirmed guests and we had to help them out sort the names as to who we think should sit together in the reception tables. Donna did her best but there were still a couple of tables with only 8 people in them, I believe. I have a feeling they’d be filled up during the reception.

We had to wake Adrienne up early yesterday so she can make up a welcome banner for Manami and Reggie.


Great job Adrienne! Below is the finished product.


I washed Eph’s shirt, which he’ll use for a video shoot along with some sheets so we had to drop them off in Long Beach before going to the airport to pick up Reggie and Manami. Dan was too tired to go, so Donna and I went. We got to the airport at exactly 12:52 Their Singapore Airlines flight from Narita was supposed to arrive at 12:50. We got to the arrival area and the monitor says their flight arrived at 11:46. At a near panic, Donna started making phone calls to make sure they haven’t arrived and called home wondering where we were. Satisfied that they’re still inside we patiently waited with our welcome banner and a few minutes later here come Reggie with Manami in tow for her first trip to the US.


Donna immediately ran to them hugged Reggie and handed Manami her roses.


Reggie was a bit upset because he needed the La Mirada address for their immigration paperwork, tried to call but no one’s answering so he ended up putting down our old Littchen address!


We drove straight to La Mirada where we had some lunch. They relaxed a bit and then we went to Eph’s place in Long Beach. Dan was by himself when we got there. Rach and Eph were at their video shoot. There was quite a bit of hugging and stuff when they arrived and a lot of bonding, looking at old pictures of the boys. Manami was a bit surprised to see Eph and Reg with a lot of hair when they were young.


When it got dark, and after Manami and Reggie have relaxed and taken a shower, we headed to the California Pizza Kitchen on Pacific Coast Highway for dinner and it’s ice cream time at nearby Golden Spoons. It’s so easy to want to over indulge because according to Rach, the smallest serving, appropriately called the mini, has only 60 calories. God Bless fat free frozen yogurt!