Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon was on Katie’s Bucket List, so we loaded up Ol’ Blue and rode the deserts of Arizona to the Grandest of Canyons.

I wore my “Grand Canyon” hoodie so as to blend in with the locals.

What’s cool about the Grand Canyon is that it evolved over the course of about three thousand million years during a period of slow and gradual glacial migration, which is pretty frickin cool. Three cheers for Stratigraphy!

Thus, adventure ensued.


Nara Deer Park


Everybody should go to Nara, where the deer are polite and bow back. It’s an easy ~45-minute train ride from Kyoto, we took a day-trip to Nara and hung out with Nature.

And because you definitely got the JR Rail Pass, go use it. Train station in Kyoto’s big and wonderful, hop on/hop off, and you’re back in time for supper.

I recommend CHAOCHAO’s, without question the best dumplings in Kyoto, and not to oversell them: but also planet Earth.


Antelope Canyon


Antelope Canyon was on Katie’s Bucket List, so we loaded up Ol’ Blue and crossed the desert to Navajo Country and you should, too. For it is glorious. They’re a pair of slot canyons in the American Southwest. On Navajo land east of Arizona, Antelope Canyon includes two separate, scenic slot canyon sections, referred to individually as “Upper Antelope Canyon” or “The Crack”; and “Lower Antelope Canyon” or “The Corkscrew”.

Katie & Antelope Canyon
Antelope Canyon – 2018

Deep Time Equations: 1 line = 100 years, 1 inch = 1000 years



Antelope Canyon

Hawaii

We went to Oahu and you should, too.

Swim with Galapagos Sharks, hang out with turtles on the North Shore, dine at a legendary shrimp truck, swim in Kate & Sawyer’s waterfall from LOST, run a marathon, and beach the beautiful beaches. Everyone should go to Hawaii, for it is glorious.

Masterclass: Blending in with the locals.
Lighthouse at sunset, O’ahu

North Shore Shark Dive


Waikiki Beach, Honolulu

View from the room night and day


Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck

Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck

Giovanni’s is to food trucks what the Troubadour is to rock ‘n roll.

It’s worth the drive, it’s worth the wait, it’s worth cheating on your vegan diet for the best garlic shrimp on planet earth. Truly, this place is a national treasure and their food a delicacy.

Make your pilgrimage, thank me later.


Lanikai Beach

Lanikai Beach, Windward Coast

Glorious, parking can be nightmarish so move early.


Swim in Kate & Sawyer’s Waterfall

We love LOST. Just a great show that slaps you in the feels. Most of it was filmed in Oahu, and one scene in particular was shot at Waimea Falls in North Shore Oahu. We drove there and took a dip, because, “well… come on Freckles, after all we been through on this damn island, don’t we deserve somethin good?

Waimea Falls

Turtle Beach, Sharks Cove – North Shore, Oahu


Run the Honolulu Marathon

Hear me out. It sounded like a good idea at the time.

Pearl Harbor

Pretty impressive history here. A geography of immense strategic military importance, Pearl Harbor is the crossroads of the Pacific and everyone should go there. We ferried out to the great warrior battleship “ARIZONA” and hat-tipped America’s entrance into one of the all-time great stories of American Mythology.


Take a Sunset Cruise

Took off from Waikiki Beach, Honolulu