Tag: travel

Drive to Alpine

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"Alpine Bound" West Texas, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/900 sec, ISO200
 “Alpine Bound” West Texas, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

I’m writing this post as I sit by the fireplace in the lobby of The Holland Hotel in Alpine, Texas. Today we started our vacation in which we will visit Big Bend National Park for the first time! But to get out here, it takes forever… Texas is so darned big. 😜

"Endless Highway" Texas, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/10, 1/420 sec, ISO400
 “Endless Highway” Texas, 2016

So this first day, we decided to drive to Alpine which is a 6-hour journey by car. Luckily the speed limits on I-10 in west Texas is 80 MPH so we cruised along and made good time. 💨

"Shark" Alpine, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/6 sec, ISO1600
 “Shark” Alpine, 2016

We arrived in Alpine around 3:30 in the afternoon (we got a nice, late 9 AM start) and wanted to go to the Big Bend Brewery, but unfortunately they are closed on Mondays 😔 so we just checked in at the hotel, shot some pool, and relaxed before heading out for dinner. We decided on the Reata restaurant, which is known for their steak and it was only a few minutes walk from our hotel.

"Riata" Alpine, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/7 sec, ISO3200
 “Riata” Alpine, 2016

The steak was delicious (we split a 16 oz. between three of us) and we also got a sour-cream enchilada plate which was also yummy. A great meal to start the vacation! Oh, and we toasted with a couple of Big Bend Brewery draft beers, so we did get to taste the local brew. 🍻

"Night Walk" Alpine, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/20 sec, ISO6400
 “Night Walk” Alpine, 2016

And that brings us up to date with the trip! I’m going to finish my glass of wine (we brought a couple bottles along with us) and then get some rest.

Hope you had a nice day!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Time is Flying

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"Yummies" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 “Yummies” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

It’s incredible how quickly these weeks fly by! Already it’s a third of the way through November but it seems like October just began. It’s good and bad as far as I’m concerned… Good because vacation is coming up soon, but bad because I’m running out of time to finish all my 2016 projects at work. 😟

But let’s focus on the good thing… vacation! We’re planning on spending another Thanksgiving on the road. Last year we took a road trip along Route 66 to New Mexico and this year we are heading out to Big Bend. We’ve lived in Texas for 18 years now, but have never been to the National Park which is located in the western section of the state. It should be fun and I’m hoping to get some nice photos. 📷😄

We are also visiting the McDonald observatory again, and should be in Fort Davis at Thanksgiving. I wonder if we’ll be able to find a nice turkey dinner there! Even if we don’t, we’ll still be able to enjoy looking at the night sky at the Star Party. I’m really looking forward to that! 🌠

Today’s photo is of a container of fancy sweets that Mariko bought. I usually don’t eat sugary things, but I’ll definitely have to give this a try.

I hope you had a nice Thursday!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

 

Cooler Weather

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"State Stickers" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
 “State Stickers” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

We made it to the weekend! Yay! The weather was so nice today… sunny with wispy clouds and cool enough that I could drive with the windows rolled down and hang my arm out the window in super-relax mode. It was great. 🌤

I was chatting with my friend about motorcycles 🏍 a bit and I started cleaning up my bike, making a mental list of things I need to do, such as replace some dash bulbs, re-check my maintenance supplies, and bleed the brakes among other things. It’s fun to work on the bike and I can save a bit of money too. 😀

Today’s photo is of the stickers on my bike, which are of the states I have ridden to. We live in the middle of Texas, which is a huge state, so to get to the border it takes something like 4 hours. And if you travel west to New Mexico, it will take about 8 hours. Isn’t that crazy?! 😖

But I’ve done it a couple of times and it was a lot of fun. I once rode east to Louisiana, then up to Arkansas and spent the night there, then rode the entire next day to Oklahoma and then back home to Austin. It was fun, but tiring as you can imagine. And my motorcycle isn’t the most comfortable for long-distance touring because it lacks wind protection and had a pretty strong vibration (because of its single-cylinder engine design). However, I have pretty good endurance for riding (and driving) so I don’t have a problem with it. I kind of get into the groove and can just keep going and going!

BTW, if you are interested at all in motorcycles, I have another blog where I post about rides, link to motorcycle videos, etc… it’s at motofuji.net.

I’m kind of getting excited about going for another long-distance ride, but now with two cats and a dog it will be a bit more difficult to do an overnighter. Oh well, day trips are fun too!

I hope you had a nice Friday!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Catching a Ballgame

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"Kids at the Game" Arlington, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/1250 sec, ISO200
 “Kids at the Game” Arlington, 2016

こんばんは！

Today we drove up to watch the Texas Rangers play the Oakland A’s in Arlington. It’s a bit of a drive to get up there from Austin but it was fun because all six of us (my family plus our friends Matt and Kumiko) drove up in my mini-van. 🚐

The weather was blazing at the park ☀, and the seats that I had bought were in full sun… it was way too hot and we only sat there for an inning before relocating to a shadier part of the park. In fact, the women didn’t even venture down to the seats in the sun! I don’t blame them. 😩

Must remember to only buy covered seats for the day games!

"Spectators" Arlington, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/640 sec, ISO800
 “Spectators” Arlington, 2016

We then found some other seats in the shade, and watched the rest of the ballgame. Too bad the Rangers lost, but it was still fun!

After the game, it was time to head over to Kula Sushi for dinner. That was a great experience! Kula Sushi is a kaiten-zushi, or conveyor belt serving style. But Kula takes it even further, because you can order anything on the menu via a tablet, and it will be prepared and sent to the table via another conveyor belt which is above the main belt. It’s very hi-tech! Loved it!

"Sushi Time" Carrollton, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/90 sec, ISO3200
 “Sushi Time” Carrollton, 2016

Anyways, that is all for today. It was a long drive back home, and now it’s late. In fact, I need to cheat a little and set the posting time an hour back so that I can have a Sunday post. 😜

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Getaway Vehicles

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"Colorful Motorbike" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
 “Colorful Motorbike” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today’s photo is of my motorcycle, which is set up as a long-distance mile-eater. If you want to read more about it, you can check out my other blog. But after I took the photo, I started thinking about what kind of vehicles I like, and why.

As someone who loves to travel, I love vehicles that have a go-anywhere, self-contained feeling.

For instance, one of my dream cars when I was younger was a Toyota Townace 4×4 Van. They were so bizarre but I thought they were really cool. Plus, it would make an awesome camper. Pair that with Toyota dependability and it seemed like a perfect vehicle.

I still want something like that to go camping in! Long road-trips are so fun. I love them.

Right now, I drive a Honda Minivan, which is excellent. It is so versatile and can hold a ton of stuff, so it is great for camping. But it doesn’t have that walk-in feeling like a VW camper or full-size van. It’s kind of just a big car. Also, it only gets 20mpg. 😒

In the ’90s I had a really fun vehicle – a Toyota 4×4 truck. That was an awesome vehicle for camping and getting to those primitive sites. We’d take it off-road on some fairly gnarly trails, with the bed filled with camping gear. That’s another vehicle I’d consider buying again, but the fuel economy just sucks… even worse than the van.

Anyways, back to my motorcycle… it sort of fits the bill because it’s set up to go off-road (although it’s pretty heavy), can travel long-distances (I’ve traveled out of Texas on it), and gets great gas mileage. On the downside, the comfort level is lacking… especially in the Texas heat.

I guess there isn’t a perfect vehicle out there for me at the moment, so I’ll stick with the two extremes… a large car and a small motorbike. Maybe one day a hybrid 4×4 van will come along. Until then, though, I’ll just have to dream about it. 😄

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto