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Published: October 2nd 2007
This will be a long entry, so please bear with me, as this blog will cover our, Pearl and I, vacation to the US. Since this was Pearl’s first visit to the States I wanted to show her as much as we could fit in our two week schedule, but in hindsight I think it was to hectic the first week.
The trip got off to a rocky start when we were going through customs I forgot that I packed some liquids/gels in one of our carry on bags, so we had 2 bottles of SoJu, a Korean type of Gin, 3 containers of pepper paste and some bottles of yogurt drink confiscated, I sure hope they put it all to good use. The next little glitch was when we went through immigrations; I quickly found out that when I got my Korean Visa renewed it was not for a multiple entry, so I had to go to immigrations to change my Visa to a multi entry Visa, all-in-all everything worked out.
24 August
Our first stop on our world wind tour of the States was Aspen Colorado, we landed in Atlanta after a 13 hour non-stop flight from
Hiking up Grizzly
Late in the evening, in Glenwood Canyon.South Korea, caught a flight to Dallas/Ft. Worth, we hopped on a plane to Denver, the flight to Denver was running late, when we landed we had about 45 minutes to get to our gate, we got to the gate 20 minutes before the flight left for Aspen….but….they had already stopped boarding, so we got on the next flight which was only 30 minutes later, which was not too bad. When we got to Aspen our bags were not there, flash back to Seoul, the lady in Seoul said she could check our bags all the way to Aspen even though we would have changed airlines 3 times. We talk to the customer service guy in Aspen and he said our bags were still in Denver, I guess they were just too tired to continue, and would be on the next flight which arrived around 9:30pm, so we went into town and got something to eat and drink. When we arrived we found out that the flight has been canceled and that they would deliver our bags when they arrived. Our bags finally arrived at 2:00pm and we finally got up around 5:00pm. Once up dressed we went hiking on
Creek
Creek along Grizzly some trails in the Glenwood Canyon, Grizzly and then Hanging Lake which was a very rewarding hike, at the top of the trail is a large waterfall fed turquoise blue lake full of trout. We rested there and watch the trout rise and eat; it was getting late and dark so we ended up running down the trail. You are probably wondering why there are no pictures of this very picturesque hike, while hiking up Grizzly my battery died, and the rookie photographer that I am, my spare was back in our room. That night we ate dinner in Glenwood Springs at a Cajun restaurant were Pearl had her first taste of Key Lime pie. The next day we had brunch with a close friend of mine, thanks again Lori for letting us stay at your place, hope you enjoyed the wine-in-a-can. We met at the Hotel Colorado and had a very nice brunch and caught up on old times. After our brunch it was off to Aspen to explore and do some shopping, 1st we took a gondola up Aspen Mountain, found a quite place and took a nap, after our nap we checked out the “Consignment” stores. That
night we ate dinner with some more close friends, had a great steak, and we will hold you to that promise of meeting in Thailand….lol.
We had a 7:00am flight out of Aspen to Dallas/Ft. Worth, so we were up very early and on the road, well I know this place in Basalt that has the best breakfast burritos, so we stopped and got one. We get to the airport at 6:30am, now this is a very small airport, only 2 gates, we were told we could not check in and had to catch the next flight which would depart at 11:00am that morning…..the burrito was excellent by-the-way.
27 August
After arriving in the DFW area 3 hours late, we headed to my good friend Casey’s house. We all rested and talked for awhile after which we went out for dinner, now before we left Korea Pearl an I had a meal list of certain types of food we wanted to eat before we left the states and they were, in no particular order 1) Steak 2) Mexican 3) BBQ 4) Italian and 5) Cheese Burger. So we went to Uncle Julio’s in Ft Worth ordered up some
Hotel Colorado
Pearl outside the "Hotel Colorado" “Swirls” and some great food. After dinner we went to a nice “Gender Specific” club for some drinks and watch some ladies dance…..lol. When we got home Pearl made us all SoJu cocktails from one of the few bottles of SoJu that made the trip. Thanks Casey and JC for letting us stay at your place and the wonderful hospitality.
After a refreshing 3 hour nap we were up at 4:00am for our 7:00am flight….we were not going to miss this flight….lol
28 August
The flight to New Jersey was a smooth flight, no missed planes, no lost luggage. After picking up our car we headed to my cousin Joe’s house to visit with him and his wife and their two lovely “squids”. We ate dinner and visited, after wards we played with their son and daughter who are so sweet and precious, and very photogenic. Later that night we went to my cousin Jackie’s house were we spent the next two nights, Jackie and Ursula thank you both for opening up your house to us. The next day we went to the bakery to let Pearl try some excellent Italian pastries, next we walked along this new
Aspen
Pearl next to her dream car, an Enzo Farrari development by the beach, it includes shops and restaurants, we ate an Asian lunch, and after lunch walked along the beach. That night Jackie took us to one of his friend’s Italian restaurant, wish I could remember the name of it, it was great. The dinner started off with an Antipasto course of mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, prosciutto ham and cured olives, the appetizer course was next, which consisted of baked clams and mussels, this was followed by the pasta course, linguini and clams, last was the meat course, pork cutlets and veal cutlets. We were soooo full, but it was fabulous. After dinner Jackie introduced us to the owner, who is a stalky gentleman, he has a very thick Italian accent and was very friendly and talkative.
For the last time on our vacation we again had to get up early for another early flight. We were off to Charlotte to visit with my cousin and my 99 years young grandmother.
30 August
This was a short flight and we were in Charlotte before noon, my cousin Lawrence picked us up and took us to their place, were my grandmother has her own living area which consist of
Aspen
Riding up the gondola to the top of Aspen mountain a bed room an other living/bedroom area, and her kitchen and living room are all in one room. Thanks again Lawrence and Maryann, hope I spelled your name correctly, for your wonderful hospitality. The next day we went into Charlotte to the museum to see an exhibit about the human body; it was called “Body World”. Basically it was real bodies that have been donated to science, some were just the skeleton, and others showed the muscles around the bones, others were whole body sections. Unfortunately there was no photography allowed in this area. It sounds kinda gross, but it is very interesting, if any of you get a chance to see this traveling exhibit, see it.
That night for dinner my grandmother fixed us manicotti and gravy, Italian sausage, for dessert we had some of her homemade cheese cake.
The next day we got ready for our final leg of our trip, a late flight to Chattanooga. Before we went to the airport we stopped at a flee market, Pearl’s first, and made some nice purchases.
1 September
We all arrived, my daughter Leighanna, Pearl and myself, in Chattanooga in the late evening and headed to
Aspen
Small lake on the way to the top my folks house to surprise my mom, who had no idea that I was in the States. When we arrived my mom was busy, so we sat quietly waited in the living room until she entered, and to her surprise her son and his girlfriend, and her granddaughter were waiting for her. It was a great moment for me until my mom started grabbing her chest, I thought “oh know what have I done”, but all ended wonderfully. We stayed up late talking and catching up, it has been over 20 years for my mom and daughter to see each other.
The next day we went to the aquarium, and might I add it is a great aquarium, the addition is great. That night we went out for BBQ (only 1 more food item left on our list - Cheese Burger) to a place called “Sticky Fingers”, the ribs were very good, the chicken was kinda dry, the service….well lets say it sucked. Other activities we did while my daughter was in town was, the tram ride up “Look Out Mountain” the tram is the steepest in the world, with a greater than 70% incline towards the top, we
Aspen
Enjoying a nap in the cool mountain air also went to the IMAX 3D theater and saw a movie about the ocean, very interesting. My daughter left on Wednesday, and we all had a great time visiting with her.
The rest of the week was devoted to shopping, and looking at houses, Pearl and I did very well on the shopping end, even though we did not get half the items we wanted. And might I add that I’m still very impressed in Pearl’s packing ability, we were able to take everything with us except the painting we bought at the flee market. I also bought a house while in Chattanooga this time, it is a nice split level with 4 bedrooms and 2 ½ bathrooms, a nice landscaped yard and two decks. We also had a great Cheese Burger at a little place by my folks house.
The trip back home was a long 15 hour flight, and after a week I think we are finally back on Korean time.
I want to say thank you to everybody for making Pearl feel so welcomed and comfortable on her first visit to the States.
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