Dannie likes Sunshine. Warm Seas. Golden Sands. Lulling Breezes. Sunny Beaches. Girls in Bikinis. Wife in Bikini.

So we're driving along Hwy 120 into Yosemite National Park and I see a sliver of white on the mountain peaks.

YL (excited shriek): Hey baby, I can see SNOW on the mountain!

DC (panic): WHAT?!? Snow?!?! I'm in berms and a T-shirt!

YL (hasty reassuring): Ahhh, no lah, it's just old melty snow I'm sure. Anyway, we're not climbing any mountains.

5 MINUTES LATER....

DC (really panicky): What's that?

YL (looking around): What?

DC (pointing with his chin): That! That bit of WHITE STUFF... ON THE ROAD.

YL (realising it really is snow at human level): Oh er. That's... styrofoam! You know, like what shopping malls in Singapore sprinkle on their facades during Christmas. It's fake snow.

DC (hysterical): THERE'S MORE OF IT!! SOME MORE THERE!! AND THERE! AND THERE! THERE THERE THERE THERE THERE TOO!!

YL: Baby.... stay calm... just keep driving.

DC (wailing): Why you bring me here in winter?!?!?!

For the records, it's not suppose to be winter. We see advertisements on TV declaring "Spring has Sprung!" (oh.ha.ha.) and Old Navy is having a Shorts Sale. Macy's has created a Spring blossomed-themed showcase. The kids here are all on Spring Break right?!

So don't blame us if we came unprepared for snow! :( We were dressed in T-shirts and our pants only reached up to our knees/ankles and I was in ankle socks! Boo hoo. I could at least keep semi-toasty in my 2-layered La Fuma jacket but Dan had to make do with his Giordano windbreaker. Poor thing. I felt bad about pooh-poohing when he asked whether he should pack his possum-fur gloves (Note: possums are classified as pests in New Zealand - we apparently did the country a favour by buying possum-fur products) and his Ski Dubai cap for this trip. The weather charts at the Visitor Centre declared that the minimum temperature for that day was minus 1 degree Celsius and a grand maximum of 8 degree Celcius. I swear the numbers on the chart were laughing at us. How mocking.

Mummy, where are my gloves?

Anyway, Yosemite Park is absolutely scenic and there was no letting the cold stop us from seeing it. On our way to the village centre which was cozily tucked in the Yosemite Valley (read: warmER temperatures there - although very minimally warmer), we stopped to photograph a few pretty waterfalls.

Scenic spots are everywhere in Yosemite.

I love photographing waterfalls - the challenge of 'freezing' moving water into a picture perfect image of a dreamy misty white flowing ribbon. So amid frozen fingers and blue fingernails (my fingernails really turn a scary grey-purple-blue shade when cold), I spent minutes at each fall just toggling the knibs and knobs on my camera and exploring different settings each time until I got it absolutely RIGHT. Here are my 2 most favouritEST waterfall pictures which I'm very happy with:

Splish splash, no I'm not taking a bath.

Splash down point!

Most national parks in the US have free shuttle bus service that ferries visitors along the most scenic routes, so as to cut down on private vehicle usage within the park and to keep the air clean. In a bid to be green (especially after being part of the mega carbon footprint created by the super long Singapore-LA flight) and also to give Dan a break from driving), we hopped onto the shuttle to Lower Yosemite Falls - which turned out to be one measly bus stop away. And so that was our half-baked attempt at being part of the green MOVEMENT.

It was absolutely freezing at the falls. We made pathetic attempts at convincing ourselves that we were slowly adapting to the cold, but the moment the wind blew a curtain of misty spray from the falls in our direction, we went absolutely batty and started tap-dancing on the spot like Mexican jumping beans to keep warm. We managed to keep still long enough to photograph the beautiful falls though.

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls.

Lower Yosemite Falls - the easy one to get to.

You can trek to the base or the top of the Upper Falls.

Water water everywhere, all of it trying to go somewhere.

The top of El Capitan had been sitting in cloudy gloomsville and shrouded from sight. However, the skies cleared considerably in the late afternoon, enough for us to have a peek at the peak of the infamous Half Dome from Sentinel Bridge.

El Capitan looms over us - keeping a straight face throughout.

View of the cloud-capped Half Dome.

Sunset is suppose to be the most gorgeous time to see Half Dome and the Yosemite sky at its best. As we were firmly convinced that Mr Sun had been skiving at home and didn't come to work today, we didn't think he would turn up just to demonstrate how he goes to sleep behind a mountain. So we didn't stick around for the no-show.

We made our way out of the park as dusk fell. The splendid views were very truly appreciated from the warmth of the car!

Beautiful.

Dusky drive back home.

I'm truly happy that I've finally made it to Yosemite - one of the places which I've always wanted to visit (it's marked with a big green thumbtack on my world map at home.) One of the highlights of the day was spotting a wild coyote (just like Wile E. Coyote from Looney Tunes!) I thought it was a small funny-coloured wolf at first though.

Who are you calling a funny-coloured wolf?

After finding out that it was a coyote, I was in a real smuggly bubbly mood at having spotted one! Although Dan still keeps insisting otherwise.

YL: I think I just saw a wolf!

DC: It's probably a dog.

YL: It doesn't exactly look like someone's pet you know. It must be a wolf!

DC: Okay, then you can get out to snap the photos here. I'll just stay in the car.

YL: But what if it's really a wolf? You're letting me go out there alone?

DC: No lah, what rubbish. You saw a rabbit. Stop imagining things. Now go snap the photo. I'll stay here and look after the car....

Yeah I know, my husband loves me alot. His actions say it all.

Mysterious mystifying mist walk.

YL

written by  DanYilin on April 10, 2009 from Yosemite National Park, California, United States
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Not that it was bad BAD and we know we didn't pay for a luxury spot. But when you arrive in the dark, and you're cold and tired, and the crusty old gnome at the reception doesn't say a word of hello and barks "CREDIT CARD!" at you - it doesn't speak wonders for Txxxxxlodge (note: 'T' is not for 'Tranny' - although we were staying pretty near the Castro.)

There was no heating in the room. We had sheets stapled to the window for curtains, cos all the motel was undergoing renovation works. And of course, the room being renovated HAD to be the one next to ours. The safe didn't work. We found out only upon checking out that continental breakfast was served daily (where in the world was the brekkie place?!) And whenever we needed a favour from Mr Crusty the Crankeroo, he yells "TAHHN YEEEH LIHHHNN?"... "I NEED I.D!!!"

But what really took the cake was the bath and shower. On our first night in Txxxxxlodge (note: 'T' is not for 'Tarzan' - he of all people wouldn't have been able to figure out the shower), we twisted and turned the water lever a gazillion times but just couldn't make the water come out of the shower head instead of the tap. So we gave up and looked for something to use as a scoop. The only option was.... the coffee pot.

And so, for 5 freezing nights in San Francisco, two clueless Singaporeans wallowed in a very strange makeshift Japanese bath with a coffee pot. What would we have done if Txxxxxlodge (note: 'T' is not for 'Tissue' nor 'Tablas' nor 'Thrush') did not offer coffee and tea-making facilities in the room?

We invented the coffee-pot bath.

So don't anyhow go making free coffee using the pot in your hotel room. You never know where it has been. Drink Starbucks.

Afternote: This Very Nice Inn which we're staying in now has the same shower system. But This Very Nice Inn provided clear instructions on how to use the shower so that poor freezing ignoramus guests from Mars need not bend so low as to use cooking utensils for bathing. We very simply had to pull down on the mouth of the tap to activate the shower. How were we suppose to know that? Or see any pullable thingamajig UNDER the a knee-level tap? Our eyeballs aren't on our toes for god's sake.

Still. Stay safe. Drink Starbucks.

YL

written by  DanYilin on April 8, 2009 from San Francisco, United States
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Little Girl: "Mummy mummy! What song do you think this is?"

(Proceeds to sing at the top of her lungs very loudly) "Row row row your UNDERWEARRRRRR, gently down the CAAAARRRR!!!!"

We couldn't help but snigger and burst out laughing as we walked ahead.

Yes, everybody is happy in SF. Everybody who has been here tells me they love SF. It's the only city I know of that has the honour of achieving a 100% 'I Love' hit rate - not London, not Shanghai, not New York. Many cities try to stake their claim on the "we have something for everyone" for "people from all walks of life" cliche. But uh uh, get your dirty paws off the title everyone, for in my books, SF is taking home the trophy tonight.

We've had a very good time here. So much so that we are considering changing our departure flight from LA to SF in 2010. So much so that we are considering buying an apartment and moving here. Okay, the latter part was just me dream-typing.

In a bid to save money, we only kept the car for 2 days in SF, to be used specifically to access the really must-see places - like Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. It's scary where our priorities lie - never mind the scenic Marin Headlands and Point Reyes National Park or even the obligatory drive across the Golden Gate Bridge! Rollercoasters? Okay, let's go! La di daaa!

On the first day when we had the car and I had Dannie the Driverman, we scaled Twin Peaks for a view of the city sprawling at our feet. It was such a clear beautiful day with no hint of the notorious San Francisco fog that we could see all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz and the Marin coast beyond.

The king sits atop a hill and peruses his fine city.

Little professionals.

The top-of-the-world feeling? Yeaaah. Definitely.

After that, we drove to have a look at the world-famous 'Crookedest Street in the World - Lombard Street. Also cos Billy, our beloved brother-in-law, had asked Dan to let him vicariously live through the experience of skateboarding down Lombard Street. And of course, my dearest He Who Does Not Read Travel Guides thought it was no biggie, and then promptly shrieked "MY BROTHER-IN-LAW IS TRYING TO KILL ME!!" when his one and only source of travel information (aka The Wife) educated him on the perils of the 'S' street.

Anyway, we parked the car nearby and went to have a look. There was actually a line of cars waiting to drive down Lombard - which to us looked like an ordinary ramp in a HDB multi-storey carkpark back home.

This ain't the supermarket check-out queue.

Thrill-seeker. Pffft.

Hmmm. Maybe it looks more crooked from bottom up. So we trotted down to have a looksee.

Twist and shout!

Looked the same. Even when I was sitting on Dan's shoulders to get a better view of the curves (not that adding our heights together makes us the human equivalent of the Empire State anyhow.) Anyway, since it was such a famous amos street, we just took pictures.

My mule.

On our car-less days, we hopped onto the 'F'-Line streetcar that took us all the way down Market Street, along the Embercadero and plopped us at the doorstep of Pier 39. Dannie got a thrill out of activating the backdoors of the streetcar by being the first passenger to step down onto the second step. He kindly offered me the chance to try it on our second ride but the driver spoiled his fun by activating the doors herself.

It rained on our first day at Fisherman's Wharf (or Fisherman's Barf according to Dan) so we headed back again the next day. What a difference the sun made! We laughed, sang, skipped, cheered along with other people at the wrestling sealions, posed for pictures with the spring flowers, dug into dugeness crabs, dug (literally) into a bowl of clam chowder and ate the bowl, tricked obnoxious greedy seagulls by pretending to toss food and laughing at them, watched the ferries sailing in, tried on silly hats at Krazy Kaps, made Dan feel at home at the Lefty's store for left-handers. The snapdragons were in full bloom. I showed Dan how to make 'dragons' 'snap' by squeezing the flowers at the nape and the 'jaws' open. That was fun.

Wish I could tell my boss that I can't work on rainy days too.

Good business on a sunny day!

Now THAT makes my bath sound really enticing. Gory yeah.

The Sandman at Fisherman's.

My Rubber Dannie must have cost $8. Tee Hee.

Spot the sea lion who believes he's a boat.

Toot toot! Coming in!

Pier 39's famous residents lounging on their patios.

Prancing ponies - I always chose the brown ones when I was little.

If it's public enough for you, it's public enough for the gulls too.

The picture of Spring.

Sea creature - I like. The fact that it's food - a bonus!

The little island where naughty people get left on.

Mixed-blood.

Now, where did I berth my yacht? Hmmmmm.

Spring has sprung!

Doing the Dugeness crabs.

Don't eat the bowl!

It was a day to love. And an even more wonderful day to be in love on.

YL

written by  DanYilin on April 8, 2009 from San Francisco, United States
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The weather was perfect! It was warm (enough) and sunny with clear blue skies and fluffy white clouds. It being a Sunday, the beach was filled with local families and other beachgoers who didn't sound very local but nevertheless fit right into the beach scene.

I wanna stay with you forever. Until the sky falls down on me.

We're all on a journey. Together yet alone. Alone yet together.

It was absolutely bliss lying on my back, propping myself onto my elbows, and just taking in the scene, just watching people....and their dogs.

It's amazing how people choose dogs that match their personalities:

- The pudgy guy who looks like he could do with more exercise than just keeping the beach towel in place on the sand had a bulldog. The bulldog's name was Nelson. Nelson kept kicking sand onto my bag.

- The cool quiet dude chillaxing on the towel with his iPod had an equally laidback mixed-breed lying next to him. Both of them didn't move an inch throughout our time there.

- The woman with a huge brown bouffant who couldn't get her hair wet in the sea had a huge brown poodle who refused to take a dip.

- Another woman with stringy hair hanging down either side of her face had a papillion with long furry tassels hanging from both it's ears, framing it's face.

- The jock guy's lab made a flying dash for the water the moment it was off the leash and landed with a huge splash.

- The gungho-looking dude had a dog that simply could not get sick of fetching a ball from the sea over and over again with gusto. In between playing fetch on repeat with his dog, the dude was simultaneously playing fetch with his wife using a frisbee (i.e. Dog fetch, throw frisbee to wife. Wife fetch, throw ball to dog.)

It was highly amusing. I amused myself even more by taking photos of my slippers, my travel guide (thanks Jennifer for the book - it's been my travel bible!), my feet against the sea, the sand, the sky.

Barefoot. Sand between my toes. And in places where I don't want sand to be in.

Guess where we are!

The picture that got the book all sandy.

All this while Dan was engrossed in his Star Wars book he was bent on finishing (also cos there were hardly any girls in bikinis on the beach.) I don't like reading when I'm in a new place (unless it's a travel guide book.) I like to check out the new place. I like to watch people. To soak in the atmosphere. To be present in the moment. I like to get lost in my thoughts and daydream till I fall asleep. Reading transports me to a different world - a world set in a story, in another place, in another time. I feel that it distracts me from the present and when I return, my real life has been fastforwarded without me realising it. I only read when I'm at home and there's nowhere to go. Or in the couple of hours before I go to sleep (which, recently, have been used for emailing and Facebooking the folks at home, blogging or doing travel research.)

Find your own special way to enjoy the day.

We were raving starving monkeys after a whole day out and were driving around looking for a place for dinner when we spotted an IHOP! We quickly signaled, change-lanes, right-turned and parked (don't worry Dad - it was a very carefully calculated signal-change-turn-park process) and honed in onto the menu. This is what we had:

Breakfast, lunch or dinner? Just feed me!

Strawberry Nutella Banana Crepes. Nuff said.

I love the beach in San Francisco. I will love the water too when it's not so cold.

YL

written by  DanYilin on April 8, 2009 from San Francisco, United States
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Anyway, I'm glad that SF is a really walkable city. Here are some highlights from The New Adventures of the Walking Kind:

- Hanging out in our all-time favourite fruit/store in the USA. They have free lessons on Mac applications! (But I dozed off during the Garage Band tutorial.)

The heavenly sweet fruit we pay homage to in every city.

- Milling around public spaces like Union Square, photographing the gorgeous Spring blossoms. Talking to pigeons and watching people (or is it suppose to be the other way round?)

No one's taller than I am! Nyeah nyeah.

I know what Trumpet Fish look like but these are... Trumpet Flowers? (Dad - need your help here.)

Dan looks good in pink.

Hooray! Behold the new iPod touch applications!

- Appreciating public art. None of the chi-chi fine art gallery stuff for us.

Colourful handpainted murals in Chinatown.

Your words fall on deaf.... feet.

The words fell outta these pages!

- Exploring Chinatown. Seeing whether the fictional Singapore Noodles is on the menu, as always.

Welcome to China...town.

I like walking. Especially when I get rewarded with a hot fudge sundae.

YL

written by  DanYilin on April 8, 2009 from San Francisco, United States
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For those who don't already know, my husband is a Completist when it comes to any Mission. He MUST complete any series or games he starts: comic collections, Star Wars books, computer games (each game is played repeatedly until every single extra stage or side game or secret passage is explored and conquered.)

And so, the new Mission is to complete all the Maximum Thrill rides in all 15 of the Six Flags theme parks that our season pass gets us into. The theme park SOP now is to hurriedly park our car, hop onto the tram service that brings us right to the front gate, flash our season pass (ooohhh, the joy it brings!), study the park map quickly and make a beeline for all the Max Thrill rides. Only when we've finished them all, do we (1) eat (2) check out the Moderate Thrill (pfffft!!!) ones (3) go around snapping photos in the park.

As I'm less of a perfectionist, I consider an assignment completed once I've finished all the rides - except the spinning ones. The last I checked, I'm not a piece of dirty laundry that needs to be spun around in a washing machine. No spinny spinny things, thank you. Spinny makes Linny wanna puke in the binny.

So we've ticked off Assignment No.2 - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo - on our checklist. Enjoy some pictures of the Max Thrill rides while we plan to conquer Assignment No.3, which we will report on back to you soon.

Heading east to Vallejo

When waiting to cross the toll gates, you DO NOT cheekily point to this lane and tell you wife that she should be in THAT lane. Grrrrr.

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - more than just thrill rides.

Look Ma, I've finished building my coaster!

Kongquer the Kong!

You spin me round round baby right round.

The Hammerhead chews up its victims and spits their bones out.

ROARRRRRR!!! The all-wooden coaster.

Roaring down the track on the Roar

The most deceiving moderate thrill ride in the park.

This pic looks outta place here - just wanted to show how pretty the spring blossoms are!

Non-Spinny Linny

written by  DanYilin on April 7, 2009 from San Francisco, United States
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Dan and I love scuba-diving. We had picked up the hobby separately before we met, so it was an added bonus to discover that we could be life buddies as well as diving buddies. He taught me how to get started on underwater photography (and he still sweetly cleans and maintains my camera housing on most dive trips for me) and I educated him on identifying marine life beyond Red Fish, Yellow Fish and Anemone.

So exploring the aquarium in Monteray Bay together - said to be the best aquarium in the nation - was a delightful experience. Amazing sea-creatures, large tanks to ogle at, interesting exhibits and someone to share my excitement with. What more could I ask for.

The old warehouses along The Cannery - now housing shops and eateries.

Charming buildings by the sea at Monteray.

Sunny sidewalks and happy people.

Looking out across the bay.

Sunny days are here again.

The great ocean does not make distinctions between the big and the small.

Beautiful stingers.

Moongazing

Crystal necklace anyone?

The jellyfish is my favourite animal - not exactly a contender under the Top Ten most popular creatures I know, which would probably include the usual dogs, dolphins, giraffes, etc. I once did an exercise where we were suppose to imagine ourselves to be animals. Everyone else turned out to be something strong and powerful like a snake or lion or an eagle. I was rather alarmed when I opened my eyes and realised that I was being a jellyfish!!! I'm attracted by it's quiet beauty and graceful movements. And how one creature can encompass both the polar opposites of fragility and deadliness. Unlike lions, tigers, bears, cheetahs, sharks, etc. who portray power through their size, gait, roar or bite, the jelly doesn't bother to boast of such things. It swirls around in an ethereal dance in a distant world. It seems to be laughing merrily and whispering for you to draw near and join it in its weightless swim. It charms, mesmerises and hypnotises. Lovely.

Strange way to make a baby.

Pucker up!

And Bob's their name. Bob bob bob...

The small furry face of a Giant Otter.

Immerse yourself in a different world.

YL (The Jellyfish)

written by  DanYilin on April 6, 2009 from San Francisco, United States
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Now that I've finally emerged from hibernation, I thought I'd do a quick update on what we've been up to in Cali before we leave the state. And also cos we promised to keep the folks at home posted - (waving) Hi Mum! Hi Dad!

We spent 2 days coasting the Pacific Coast Highway aka Hwy 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco. A local told us that this was "the most beautiful highway in the world." Well, I don't know about "the world" (haven't seen that much of it yet) but so far in our short stay in the US - yes, it was a very enjoyable, scenic and beautiful drive (at least for the passenger.)

Marine vistas

Blue waves washing up on the shore and turning into a white lacey wedding train.

Rugged coast on one side. Rolling hills on the other. What a view!

Wildflowers out in full bloom!

The ocean merged seamlessly into the sky - so much so that you can't tell where the horizon is. If infinity could be captured, it would look like this:

The Big Blue Thing

And, as we learned from our visit to Universal Studios, movies are shot against a simple wooden board painted in varying shades of blue to portray an endless sea or skyscape.

Some friendly folks at the Bridge Street Inn in Cambria told us about the elephant seal colony on one of the beaches on our way up north - and true enough, there were hundreds of them spread out on the sands!

They're just lazy. Not dead.

They didn't look like elephant seals to me - where's that trademark trunk-like nuzzle? Still, it was incredibly amusing to watch a couple of them put in the incredulous effort to move themselves off the beach for a swim. Why don't they just roll sideways down to the water?

What a life!

Dan telling you exactly what the thinks of the seals.... phew!

Under The Broadwalk - we found this cute furry resident living there!

The nice Japanese-Hawaiian-American man whom we chatted with the night before recommended a cliff-top restaurant called "Nepenthe" for lunch. It was rather crowded when we got there with fellow roadtrippers, with many of them waiting to get a table with a view - which was pretty good. The food was even better cos we were starving. Obviously above our budget, so we shared - while enjoying our view of unsuspecting people sitting below a fearsome carving of some man-eating bird (or so we made it out to be.)

Sunny deck where diners eat side-by-side and soak in the view over lunch.

Sun-drenched steps for that post-lunch lounge-around time before hitting the road again.

This spot with the gorgeous view is the waiting area!

The Ambrosia Burger - the difference between a $16 and .89 cheeseburger.

Beware the perils of the coast or be eaten alive.

We made more stops at stupendous vista points as we pushed northwards that day. What made the experience even more beautiful was seeing people from all around the world and all walks of life journey to this wonderful place. To do nothing more than to open their hearts to the ocean, their lungs to the fresh ocean air and their eyes to the beautiful hues of nature.

Everyone has a soft spot for a heavenly view - even the toughest-loooking people on the road.

YL

written by  DanYilin on April 5, 2009 from San Francisco, United States
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Being on the road with Yi Lin is an interesting experience. It's obvious that we need each other to navigate these roads safely, so we really don't want to urinate each other off.

She really, really doesn't want to drive, because she doesn't have the road confidence. But when push comes to shove, she will drive. Just that she will do whatever stools necessary to avoid taking the wheel.

When I first met her 5 years ago, she was telling me that she draws in by creating a partial vacuum at reading maps and navigating. Yet, during this trip, she has now successfully navigated within Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as our route in between. Pretty good, eh?

But that's not all, here are three additional roles she performs to be the perfect driver's companion:

1) Food - Ordered a meal at a drive-in? She hand-feeds the fries to me, passes me the drink whenever I ask for it, uwraps the burger and carefully places it in my free hand so that I can eat while I drive. When I have munched the burger down to the paper, she takes it back and unwraps it some more, then puts it back in my hand. We bought ice-cream and chocolate too. Hand-fed. All I had to do was to open my mouth!

2) Music - Sets up the FM transmitter and syncs it to the car radio and plugs a choice of 3 iPods. Chooses music that keeps the driver awake. Sings and dances along if necessary.

3) Sleep - When I am really too tired, she doesn't complain if I pull up at a scenic sight, lean back in the seat, and snore my donkey off. She may step out and snap a couple of shots (of the scenery) but otherwise, patiently waits in the car for the 15-30 minutes that I require to recharge.

I was chatting with my ex-yoga instructor just a couple of nights ago. She confessed that she just sleeps while her husband navigates with the GPS. Tsk, tsk. :)

So, I celebrate my good fortune with a song. Sung to the tune of Calcutta, by Doctor Bombay:

I am a lucky driverman in Cali-for-nia,
I drive my Mazda in Cali-for-nia,
Lucky, lucky, lucky in Cali-for-nia,
I am a luckydriverman-an-an!

DC

written by  DanYilin on April 4, 2009 from Cambria, United States
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It all started off with the Case of the Expired Shower Gel. I have absolutely no idea why it would occur to me to check the expiry date for shower gel of all things. It's not like you can eat it or drizzle it over your ice-cream sundae. My mind works in strange ways sometimes.

So into Ralph's we went in search of shower gel with a more desirable life expectancy. We're moseying down the aisles when all of the sudden we're mesmerized by a large glass object illuminated in a heavenly silvery aura and I swear we could hear a chorus of angelic voices whispering "draw near, oh Chosen Ones.. draw near..." Eyes glazed over, we approached in a trance, lifted our chins... and stood in awe before AN ENTIRE FREEZER FILLED TO THE BRIM WITH BEN & JERRY'S ICE-CREAM!!

Member's price: 2 pints for $6. We hurried over to the cashier to ask what it would take to become a worthy member of Ralph's, wondering how much of the store we would have to buy up to do so. Membership was FREE. It was a no-brainer. We signed up on the spot and were given spanking new plastic. Oooooh!

Oh wait, why are we in this hypermart again? Ahhh yesss, the shower gel. The challenge was in finding a scent that both of us liked:

DC: Let's get this - one bottle in 'Aquamarine' and one in 'Pacific Fresh'.

YL (sniffing cautiously): This one smells like chlorine!

DC: Okaaay, how about the other one?

YL (inhaling): Smells like a swimming pool. How about this? Citrus is unisex right?

DC (snuffing shower gel): Errr. Smells like dishwashing liquid. Hey look - 'Oat & Honey'. I could do with oat and honey!

YL: Okay, settled. Let's go.

DC (wrinkles nose): Wait wait! It smells FLORAL! I don't want to smell like a sissy!!

YL: Fine! You choose. Just don't make me smell like a man.

DC: How about we both smell like freshly-washed dishes?

YL: So... citrus? Er... okaay.

DC: Great! DONE! Let's go pick out our ice-cream.

Agreeing on ice-cream flavours was a significantly easier task. 2-For-1 deals are marriage-savers.

Life on the road is good when you can have ice-cream for lunch! (Thanks Yean Pin for the neat Benetton travel utensils kit - we've put the spoon to good use already!)

Americone Dream - vanilla ice-cream with fudge-covered waffle cone bits and caramel swirls. Yummsss.

Cinnamon Buns - caramel ice-cream with cinnamon streusal swirls and bits of cinnamon bun dough. Doh!

We also picked up some cheese crackers before leaving Ralph's. I couldn't decide on one type of cheese flavour so was psyched to find this box with a mix of 2 cheesy flavours! Since it was 2 boxes for $6, I picked up another duo-mix box and wandered off happy that I didn't have to make a choice. I'm a Libra - life is easier when you don't have to choose between all these wonderful options that the world offers you on a silver platter.

My favourite snack of the moment - and I've OD-ed on it less than halfway through the first box.

Unfortunately, my stomach decided at 4am that night that two pints of ice-cream and half a box of duo-cheese crackers were not its idea of fresh American produce. And it just HAD to go about protesting on our first night in a hostel without an en suite bathroom (see blog entry below on our lodging in Cambria.) Getting to the toilet was akin to completing an obstacle course twice over - climb over sleeping husband, fumble with door knob, tiptoe on creaking floorboards through dorm, fumble with second door knob, scurry down corridor, fumble with third door knob and practically leap into the bathroom. Then do it all over again in reverse.

Still, when it comes to food in the US, I think we could go on living the Americone Dream for awhile.

YL

written by  DanYilin on April 3, 2009 from Cambria, United States
from the travel blog: go.
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