National Auto Museum

Last weekend, we went to the National Auto Museum here in Reno.  Pretty
nice place, lots of interesting cars. Would have been nice to see more
modern era classics and more concepts, but hey, this is Reno.  I really
need to make an appointment to go to the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles
someday.

Anyway, here's Linda with the gold DMC-12.

Turkey Day 2010

Ahhh yes.

Some more pics.

Took my mom up to Pyramid Lake one afternoon.  Took some pics.

A couple pics from 11-13-10

We went back to the NV State Museum in Carson City to check out the
new wing.  A few pics.

JAPAN: A Summary

Let me think back.  As a kid, I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was already interested in Japan.  I was a huge (and still am) fan of all things Ninja. (sorry Pirate fans, Ninjas FTW) I loved Voltron and Tranzor Z and Spectreman.  It wasn’t until I was in my teens that I realized these awesome shows were all made by the Japanese.  And it wasn’t until later in life did I realize that lots of the weird toys I played with as a kid were Japanese too.  So basically, I’ve been a “Japanophile” all my life.  And I think the same goes for Linda.  For as long as I can remember, we’ve both wanted to take a trip to Japan.  We both love the food, the Otaku culture, and everything in between.  For a long time, a Japan trip just wasn’t in the cards.  We were either too busy or too broke or both.  Several times we started the planning process, but things just didn’t pan out.  We would just get our fix at the nearest Japan Town.  However this year, we got serious.  We started planning back in January, and with the tickets bought and the hotels booked, we were going to Japan for Halloween 2010!

Our arrival to Japan was somewhat muted, as we had to fly from Reno to LAX first, and then catch an eleven and a half hour flight to Japan from there.  We arrived at 4:00pm Japan time, and it’s hard to believe, be we didn’t even get to go outside until we arrived in Kyoto, where it was already dark.  Kyoto is a four hour journey from Narita International Airport.  Basically, you get off the plane at Narita, clear immigration, and walk through the airport and find the JTB counter to get your Japan Rail passes.  Then you go to a JR desk and secure seats on the Narita Express to Tokyo, and at the same time you can get Shinkensen (bullet train) seats as well.  Next, you walk through the building to the track and catch a train to Tokyo, which is about a 40 minute ride.  After the train ride to Tokyo’s Shinagawa station, you exit the train, still inside an enormous building, and walk to the Shinkensen track bound for Kyoto.  Then you board the train, and take a comfortable three hour ride at roughly 150 mph.  We chose to start our adventure in Kyoto, because travelling there and then back to Narita at the end of our trip would have just been too much.  Plus, we had events to attend in Tokyo during Halloween weekend.  So Kyoto had to be first.

DAY 14: Time to pack it in and pack it out...

A sad short post of pics from our last morning in Japan. 

This is the mess of shopping bags we left behind.

DAY 13: Our last full day in Japan :(

Just me and Linda for a day spent in Ikebukuru and Harajuku. By this time
we were both pretty spent.  But I have to say, this is the first time I've been
on a trip where I can honestly say, I wasn't really ready to come home.

Normally, after a long vacation, you kinda long to sleep in your own bed,
and do things in a familiar way.  At least I do.  But Japan was so much
fun that I really didn't want it to end. To know that after today we had 10+
hours of flying and traveling to do, all to come back home and dive right
back into work and all the responsibilities that go with life, was just plain
depressing.

That's not to say that I wasn't still super happy to have had the experience
and been able to see and do all the things we did. An A+ trip.

Thanks to my lovely Linda for all her hard work planning the trip, and
thanks to my good friends Tom, Jim and Kris for meeting us and
sharing the experience.  Let's do it again soon!

I love the girl in the middle.  Such a cool custom kit.