Geo: 36.15, 137.24We let ourselves enjoy sleep again. Or at least tried. Our room here at Country Hotel is fascinating. All I can think is how our tall friends would probably die. Everything is built for short people like me lol. The bed is also rock hard. Like I'm pretty sure the ground is softer when I go camping!! That being said, Chris and I were both so tired we slept like rocks. Probably the best sleep I've had yet. Most of our group barely rested, though. Another interesting room feature- the electricity only works when the key tag is inserted into the wall of our room. Took us a good 15min to figure that one out. We didn't tell Michelle how it worked for our own amusement- which lasted most of the day. She found ... read more

Geo: 35.67, 139.77Of course, our one full day to explore Tokyo, it's raining buckets nearly the entire day. This ended up being the second longest day this trip, starting at 4am and ending shortly after midnight.I was a little worried about getting around so early in the morning- the trains and subways don't start up again until 5am. But we needed to be out and about earlier than that for our sushi quest at Tsukiji fish market. I tried to book a taxi ahead of time online but that didn't pan out. Our Airbnb host assured us taxis would be readily on hand, even at 4:30am. And he was totally right. We walked out to the major street right outside our house and within a minute two taxis were approaching. We hailed them both and head ... read more

Geo: 35.67, 139.77We arrived safely in Tokyo!Eric and Beth got to our house about 630am. All four of us carpooled to the airport together. We made very good time considering it was Monday morning commute time. We ate incredibly expensive breakfast burritos in our terminal, and even had time to read before boarding for our flight.The flight to Japan was fairly uneventful. We were crammed into tiny seats with no leg room. I was really irritated because I expected to have a personal monitor or to at least be able to rent an iPad with movies for the long flight like we have on other airlines in the past. No such luck and boy was I disappointed. All United offered were the movies on the tiny monitors in the aisles. Half were movies I'd already seen, ... read more

Geo: 33.8327, -117.916We started the day off with coffee and mimosas and nice clear view of Anaheim from our balcony window. =) Then it was off for a full day in Disneyland!dWe hit up all of our favorite rides. We kept wondering what drama would befall us that day but literally nothing crazy happened. We got on Splash Mountain with virtually no wait in the line. Rides kept breaking down this weekend, and we managed to get to the ride right as it reopened. This is my favorite ride in both parks. It's just so damned happy and fun. =D For lunch, Anna and I slipped out to Downtown Disney to get Earl of Sandwich and some wine. Then I realized Chris had my ticket to get back in so he had to come rescue me. ... read more

Geo: 37.948, -119.788On our drive the day before, we saw that Hetch Hetchy Reservoir was open. I hadn't ever been there that I could remember, and I've been trying to do at least one new "thing" every visit to Yosemite for awhile now. So, we decided we'd head there today. As it turned out, we were the ONLY visitors there that morning. And, unlike the rest of the park, they actually take down licenses and give temporary "passes" for visitors entering the park towards the dam. My brother, later, made a good point- it's a huge reservoir that supplies water for San Francisco and much of the East Bay Area. Of course they regulate it. BUT, we had the whole place to ourselves. There was a rock slide on the loop road near the dam so ... read more