Meeting Alice

At long last, the time for my trip back home to meet Miss Alice Mae Lukaszewicz  arrived - and in true Kondo tradition, Kei decided to join me last minute - making our visit extra special.

A little swoon looking at my man with a baby... ;-)

It was tough to say goodbye after the unexpected twists, turns, and emotional whirlwinds composing this trip... But as expected, it was amazing getting to see the family, weather the unforeseen storms together, play some epic sheepshead games, and hug all those little (and big!) bodies I've been missing so terribly. Love you all to pieces!! xxx

Visitors, Executions, & the Best Cup of Coffee in San Francisco

One of my good friends from law school, Eli, and his wife Molly are in the midst of a seriously awesome honeymoon that consists of driving across the country without a strict plan and accruing an eclectic assortment of adventures as they go.  We were lucky enough to intercept them along the way and had a super fun visit for the last two days.

My cognizance to pull out a camera and record our adventures was characteristically spotty, but a few things were just too nuts/awesome to miss - and right atop that list are a few shots snapped at the Musée Mécanique - a bizarre, haunting, and oddly alluring place near Fisherman's Wharf, where they have free admission to wander about old games and mechanical entertainment from yesteryear... ranging from 80's arcade games, to "Zoltar" a-la-the-movie-Big, to multiple depictions of executions (the "British Execution" machine depict an animated hanging scene, while the French opt for decapitation - both kick off with a priest offering final blessings, and are thoroughly disturbing, though you also can't help but want to insert another quarter and be disturbed again...).  Yes, a mere few dollars in quarters get you hours of entertainment one 25¢ deposit at a time, or 50¢ for the real doozies... like "Laughing Sal" for instance:

She's a cross between Chucky's lesser-known-but-equally-frightening cousin and a maniacal bar-marm who responds to your 50¢ by erupting into a good few minutes of evil laughter - complete with smokers' cough and doubling over.  C-R-E-E-P-Y.  When you visit San Francisco - this is not to be missed, or Laughing Sal comes after you in your dreams.  You've been warned.

Molly & Eli unable to peel their eyes off Laughing Sal - though simultaneously backing away unconsciously...

 And here is a random assortment of us maximizing the possible value of a quarter:

Several "look at this naughty photo" booths peppered the museum - some more saucy than others, though all successfully making you look more-than-a-little voyeuristic.

Plenty of opportunities to test one's strength...

And one's driving abilities...

And one of my favorite little series of pictures... Kei having to face his "good guy" image:

Hoping for "Wild"

Actually "Harmless"

What can you do?

Outside of the museum, we wandered through Fisherman's Wharf, stopping briefly to allow Kei his moment of solidarity with the working gals..

And of course paid a visit to our pals, the sea lions... which Kei begrudgingly accepted since we were far from the crabbing pier.

And after Eli's research into the $20,000 cup of coffee, Blue Bottle's signature "siphon coffee" - we clearly had to go see those halogen lights, brass trimmings, and bamboo stirring rods in action.  Truth be told - the coffee was, in fact, amazing.

Kei is convinced this guy is the biggest player in San Francisco.  Probably right.

 It was so awesome having you guys, Eli & Molly!!  Happy adventures for the rest of your trip! xx

Memes! (Yes, we're cool)

The other day, Kei and I were joined by our friend Kyle at Crissy Field, and the topic of "memes" came up.  It commenced with the standard old-people talk of, "I think it is just a trend of pictures people post...?" and as we got into it, we touched on one of the more recent ones (I dare not call it "most recent" for fear that I will again betray my out-of-touchness): Vadering, and had to give it a try.

... and its predecessor in Asia, "Street-fighter-ing"

Happy Meme-ing! xx

Happy Birthday, Mystery Gal

So, I am not sure about my rights to identify a certain birthday gal in our family, but suffice to say she was on our minds a lot last Thursday!  Gutted not to be there, we did the next best thing: bought her some birthday goodies and saluted her while enjoying them in Delores Park!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY _ _ _ _ _!!! xxx

Sister Trips & Sakura

Geesh!  Not that this will come as a staggering surprise to any one of my four readers, but I fell way behind!  Prepare thyselves for a blog dump!

First up: I crashed Kelley's trip to D.C. to lobby for immigration reform, and the timing couldn't have been more incredible - right in time for sakura (cherry blossoms)!  Well, perhaps more accurately: right day, wrong time... D.C. got hammered with rain the morning I arrived, which not only delayed my flight a few hours, but also beat up the trees a bit.  Not to be deterred, Kell and I headed down to Tidal Basin to get an eye/iPhone-camera-full.

Traveling with your sister is amazing.  Traveling with an aspiring photojournalist & avid blogger, however, means you see a lot of this:

No-matter.  If sakura do one thing, it's inspire the photographer in all of us.  It doesn't, sadly, have the same effect on our modeling abilities, as evidenced by our many attempts to take romantic "smelling the flower" shots:

Ahhhhh, my favorite:

Nailed it!

The following day, Kelley spent all day cooped up in the hotel conference room while I roamed the streets free as a bird.  When she asked me how it was outside, this was my response:

To which she responded: "Jerk."  :-)

Kelley wasn't sure if she had seen the Supreme Court building before I got there, so I thought I would swing by and snap a photo to see if it looked familiar to her.  Well, the bad news: there was a tarp over the building.  The good (?) news: they try to trick you into thinking it's still a photo op. Very weird. (But then again, there I was snapping a picture, so who am I to criticize?)

Kell - I had so much fun with you!!  Sign me up for the next time I can convert your work weekend into an excuse to travel and see my sister! xxx

Sassy Spaniards Sure Know How to Pick 'em..

After we got married last year, Kei and I spent several weeks on an island called Malapascua in the Philippines (where Kei became a divemaster and I an instructor) - an island named by Spaniards in the 16th century who got caught here on Christmas day and called the island "Bad Easter" as a lamentation for having to be away from their families on the holiday (not clear why they picked on Easter instead of Navidad, but you just never can tell with those 16th century Spaniards, after all...) I digress.

We continued on our beautiful-places-bestowed-with-cursed-names-by-sassy-Spaniards tour as we embarked on our FIRST (and long overdue) camping trip in the Bay area at Mt. Diablo - thus named because in the 19th century, several Native Americans escaped from their Spanish captors to this peak, leading the Spaniards to call it "Monte del Diablo," which means "thicket of the devil." This sounded to the *cough cough* linguistically savvy English speakers so much like "Mount," that it was widely misinterpreted, and ultimately the name "Mt. Diablo" stuck.

Am I the only one who loves these stories?

Well, if that's the case and you're already scrolling for pictures, this state park will still not disappoint - because it boasts some seriously stunning geologic masterpieces, jaw-dropping views, and phenomenal campsites at Juniper Campground. Seriously.

Kei snapped a few secret pictures of his beautiful.... 

...binoculars.  These were his prize possession throughout this hike - and rightfully so!  Thanks Santa!

And on the drive, I played Nat Geo photographer once again and snuck up on a flock of vultures: yeek!

Never ones to miss the opportunity to climb up on rocks that - while super easy by rock-climbers' standards - make us feel badass and adventurous...

What else to do on top of the world?  

YOGA!

And back at camp... LOVVVVVING our new gear on its maiden voyage:

And the site itself... not too shabby!

A gorgeous sunset from our amazing site (#13 for future reference!)...

And characteristically, we also snuck in a few brewskies to enjoy after the sun went down (don't tell!)