The DeWalls

We woke up early for our big day. Our things were quickly packed, and since the parking lot was a little less scary in the day, we decided to eat the continental breakfast. The waffle iron worked, but there wasn’t much else. A nice French Canadian family ate next to us—asking “Where is the milk?” and “Have you seen the tea?”. We wished them well and headed to Yosemite. The easy drive got us to the southern entrance before 10 AM. We pulled up to the Ranger Station and were informed that the Muir Grove was packed too full and that the park roads were under serious construction. Zack drove us through the winding, torn-up roads and we sat in traffic for a long time before reaching the Valley floor. As we got close, we went ... read more

We got up in the morning and had coffee with Jimin before heading out to the next destination. Zack had seen a special on the Food Network about Pink’s Hot Dog Stand years ago, and was delighted to learn that it was not that far from Koreatown. We decided to get one of these famous meat products, so we committed ourselves to standing in the 45-minute line. The wait wasn’t too bad, it was the deciding part that was tough. There are all kinds of specialty dogs, named after the people who have eaten them. Martha Stewart, Ozzie Osbourne, the Today Show, and Rosie O’Donnell, were just some of the options-some of them included multiple hot dogs. Zack got a bacon chili dog, I got a Chicago Polish Sausage. The food was good, not mind-blowing (it’s ... read more

Jimin was at work and we woke up late. We got dressed and hit the town. We turned left onto Santa Monica Blvd and just started driving. We passed through Beverly Hills and blasted WEEZER! The stores were incredible-we passed a store completely dedicated to caviar! We continued driving toward the ocean. The traffic got thicker the closer we got so we pulled off at the public library. We paid the meter and went for a walk. We stopped at the Goodwill, where Zack picked up 2 T-shirts for $4. This was the craziest goodwill ever. All the clothes were Lucky Brank, Ed Hardy, and American Apparel. Haha-I guess we aren’t in Nashville anymore. We continued walking passed a lot more ritzy shops and finally saw the ocean. We made it to the Pacific! The Santa ... read more

The next day greeted us with that same vicious heat. We were in the pool before 11 am and thankfully there were less people. We stood still in the water, so as not to accidently exercise, and tried to keep cool, but it wasn’t working. We went back to the room for lunch. Zack prepared delicious grilled chicken avocado sandwiches and Ralph’s French loaf. Ralph’s has the most amazing bakery bread! After lunch, we napped. For 2 hours we slept! In the middle of the day! We got up and decided to go to Joshua Tree National Park to see in the night sky. So at 6:00, we ventured out to the local Sam’s Club, our “home away from home”. We always go there on our vacations for discount pizza and giant sodas and the strange ... read more

Another late morning arrived and we enjoyed our coffee and cereal while watching a PBS special on how to find Supertwisters. Did you know a tornado can create winds of over 300 mph? The vicious heat prompted us to find something to do inside. We drove around the city of Palm Desert and found an entire strip mall of thrift stores! It was exciting, but pricey. We left with a few records to add to our collection and hunger that could only be satisfied with fish tacos. We went in search of Rubio’s and found on within a half mile. Four fish tacos, chips, a coke with lime, and a cup of pintos for $12.00! The food was delicious! Seriously, the best fish tacos we have ever eaten, and we live in little Mexico! We spent ... read more