New York!

Next time I go to New York, I will visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the MoMA (the SFMOMA was somewhat of a let down), the Guggenheim and maybe the Natural History Museum! Then perhaps I will be museumed out for a little while :)

New Hampshire and surroundings!

I guess I need to write about all this travel to get it out of my system. I'm not sure if I will be able to explore what New England has to offer before the weather gets cold given that I'm pretty busy during the semester (sadly busier than I thought I would be!), but let me just write about things I'd like to do in the spring, summer and fall of 2008!

I would like to visit the "Lakes Region" of New Hampshire, where there are some 273 lakes and ponds. Apparently there is a very scenic 97-mile Lakes Region Tour and there are boat tours as well. Some of the popular lakes in the area are Lake Winnipesaukee (which might be a bit too bustling) and Squam Lake (known for being quieter). There is also Mount Sunapee State Park which has some hiking and boat tours.

Then of course there is the White Mountains. How to miss the White Mountains. Mount Washington is the highest mountain in the Northeast and apparently has breathtaking views. One can drive up to the top of Mount Washington, but I want to hike up it! It's only a 6,000 ft elevation change, very do-able! Then there is the lesser known Monadnock Region with Mount Monadnock, which I also want to climb to the top of!

It's supposedly really good to go in the fall for the foliage.

Then there is Block Island near Rhode Island and Acadia National Park in Maine which have more outdoor deliciousness!

Fun Things to Do in California

I guess I feel like writing about travel now, so I will continue with a post on California. I had been to Yosemite National Park once five years ago and once four years ago. Five years ago, I did the Upper Yosemite Falls hike with Manyam, Suchi, Matt and Stephanie from IBM. Four years ago, I did the Half Dome Hike but didn't make it up in time to do the ropes up to the Half Dome and frankly I would probably have chickened out if I actually did make it there. I would like to go back and do the Half Dome Hike again, this time not chickening out! Honestly though, I think this summer, I was not in good enough shape to do the Half Dome hike, but maybe next summer or the summer after that after all my working out at Healthworks with Minh! As my friend Esha says, the good thing about national parks is that they are still there for you to come back to next time! :)

Probably farther away from the SF Bay Area are the Sequioa and Kings Canyon National Park and the Redwood National Park. Those probably have some fabulous hiking and amazing trees to look at! I did see some nice redwoods in Muir Woods, but I bet that the ones in this park are even bigger! One nice thing about Sequioa and Kings Canyon National Park is that they are less crowded than Yosemite. Also, Sequioa National Park has General Sherman, the which is 2,500 years old, which must be pretty amazing... Apparently the redwoods in Redwood National Park are taller but the sequioas in Sequioa National Park. Redwood National Forest represents only about 1 percent of the original forest since redwoods make for ideal lumber since they are resistant to both termites and rot.

I have also never been to Mount Shasta and Lake Tahoe, which both have really nice hiking! I guess when I think of Shasta I think of rock climbing and Tahoe I think of water sports in the summertime and skiing in the wintertime, but they do indeed have nice hiking. Tahoe a 165 mile trail around the lake rim, which may be just a little ambitious! Perhaps I should learn how to rock climb because Shasta is supposed to be do-able for in-shape beginners! Perhaps I should try rock-climbing at the gym first!

Of course there is Point Reyes also which I was really stupid for missing!

I think Point Reyes is a day trip from the south bay, Yosemite, Tahoe, and Sequioa + Kings Canyon are weekend trips, but Shasta and Redwood National Park are long weekend trips :) Apparently there is a 211-mile trail that connects Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequioa National Parks along the backbone of the Sierra Nevada. How cool! Again, too ambitious for me, but fun to know about.

I did have a lot of fun during my time in California. The highlights of my summer were hiking in Muir Woods, Rancho San Antonio, Castle Rock (which was sort of on the way to Santa Cruz), and Angel Island (I love boats and the water looked so blue!). I also enjoyed eating out on University Ave and eating yummy desserts at Cafe del Doge. I had fun going to Yoshi's for the jazz show and bumming around Berkeley. Reading Harry Potter, watching Harry Potter and watching Stardust were also a lot of fun, though I could have probably done that anywhere. And then there was a trip to Napa Valley though I'm not sure I will do that again since there is only so much wine that you can drink.

TV

Well today is Friday so the most interesting television days (Wednesday and Thursday) have just passed us, so how bad of a blogger would I be if I didn't write about them? Wednesday I watched America's Next Top Model (of course) and Kate Walsh's new show Private Practice. Thursday I watched Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy and the new show with cuties Dylan McDermott and Michael Vartan, called Big Shots. I do have to say, despite the two cuties, Big Shots seems really dumb. It also seems like they are dragging out this storyline of Dylan McDermott's character being serviced by a tranny pro in a gas station bathroom for far too many episodes. I mean such a story in one episode could be interesting, but three? A bit ridiculous!

I really liked Ugly Betty last season, but I'm not too excited about it this season, it's getting a bit too far-fetched and a bit too predictable at the same time. Is that possible? Predictable in the sense that Wilhemina and Bradford's wedding keeps getting postponed and Henry and Betty will soon get together (or so it seems). But completely far-fetched when it comes to the Alexis storyline and the Amanda storyline (though the latter is just a small portion of the plot).

Grey's Anatomy is okay so far. (Yes, I know I should be able to come up with a better descriptive word for it but I guess I can't make up my mind about it yet). In the last two episodes, I felt sorry for Lexie and maybe Meredith a bit. I like how Meredith is becoming a stronger person and I like how they are showing the vulnerable side of Christina in a believable way. I don't like what the writers are doing with Izzie. They are giving her some very strange lines. What was that whole Bambi monologue about? And I still remember her telling George, "You are the glue. You are George". DUMB! Perhaps the dumbest thing about her is that in her year as an intern, she went out with Alex, fell in love with Denny Duquette and killed him and fell in love with her best friend George. I mean really! Isn't there a limit to the number of times that a person can fall in love in a year? Still despite that, I will continue watching. I have a feeling that McSteamy will get some interesting lines and that maybe McSteamy and McDreamy will rekindle their friendship. McSteamy is generally a fun character, mainly for the fact that he is a man-whore so these are positive things, I think... I didn't get into the whole Alex and Ava thing at the end of last season, so I don't care too much if they are going to pursue that storyline some more or not. But I do think it's kind of funny the way Alex keeps checking out Lexie. Poor girl needs some lovin' right about now. Oh and I am very much relieved that McDreamy won't be shacking up with Meredith's estranged half-sister any time soon.

So Kate Walsh's new show... Not that bad. I thought it was going to be really bad when I saw the previews for it, but it's decent. And they are two cute boys on the show, Dell the receptionist and Addison's new love interest (don't know his name yet). I like Taye Diggs as well. I think he is good actor and got to love a man who can sing! I'm kind of disappointed that they replaced Naomi. I liked the actress who was in the preview episode in May better, she was prettier and softer... I also like the Judging Amy lady as an actress... But I do have a feeling that I will get bored of the show very quickly. Just not as bad as I thought :)

Finally, ANTM! I wonder if I should stop watching that show because it seems to portray women in a negative light. It seems to portray women as catty and stupid, but I guess this cycle has more intelligent seeming women so I will continue to watch it. But as far as intelligent seeming women, I don't like the edits that the Yale girl gets. It seems that they only want to show her talking about Yale and that makes her seem very one-dimensional. I do love Heather though, she is so beautiful and she seems like a really nice girl. I'm hoping that uber-bitch Bianca gets axed next, but I doubt it because she keeps things interesting. (That's another complaint that I have about the show is that they don't seem to go on actual merit, they seem to go on who makes the show interesting which is kind of disappointing in my mind). If I had to guess, I would think that Janet goes next. Next episode should be very interesting since it's the makeover episode and apparently one girl goes bald! Hopefully it's Bianca :)

If you are bored of my rantings of TV, quite possibly my next post will be on Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail because that is also one place that I'm dying to go to!

Fun things to do in Vancouver

Since I'm bored of working, let me write about fun things to do in Vancouver in case I make it there over the summer. I think it would nice to go to Vancouver/Vancouver Island for 1-2 weeks over the summer and make a detour to Yoho National Park. On Vancouver Island there is Pacific Rim National Park, Whale Watching, Butchart Gardens, and the Royal British Columbia Museum. I've never been whale watching before and it's supposed to be especially good on Vancouver Island since it has the largest concentration of killer whales in the world. Of course, Pacific Rim National Park and Yoho National Park have great hiking, which I'm totally in to these days... I think it would be fun to go in late July or early August. Now I need to find someone to go with!

Places I hope to visit next year

Want to go national parking in Utah:

1. Arches National Park
2. Bryce Canyon National Park
3. Canyonlands National Park
4. Capitol Reef National Park
5. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
6. Moab and Red Rock Country
7. Monument Valley
8. Zion National Park

I think it would be fun to go to Alaska over the summer (perhaps as part of a cruise) and Vancouver.

Desperate Housewives

So I watched the season premiere of Desperate Housewives and though it was pretty entertaining I did have a few complaints. I think the show is reverting back to season 1. The new neighbors have this hidden secret which reminds me of Mary Alice. Since "Dylan" is not the real "Dylan", what happened to the old "Dylan" and how did they get this new "Dylan"? And why did they leave Wisteria Lane in such a hurry last time? It just reminds me a lot of Zach Young and Mary Alice. Bre is hiding her daughter's pregnancy instead of hiding the fact that her marriage is falling apart. I suspect that this storyline will become similar to the season 1 storyline as people start to find out that Bre is not actually pregnant. Lynette is now juggling cancer and motherhood instead of a career and motherhood. And Gaby is having an affair again -- this time not cheating on Carlos but cheating with Carlos. Susan... well I guess I can't come up with a parallel for Susan with season 1. Perhaps in this season she will be losing Mike instead of getting Mike? Though Susan and Mike have broken up and gotten together so many times, perhaps they should just be happy together this season. Nevertheless, I was pretty entertained and I think I will continue watching Desperate Housewives. After all, I do need to make time to knit and watching TV is perfect for that!