I left my heart in San Francisco

Image | September 22, 2019September 22, 2019 | Tammy Fong

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Short hike at Limekiln State Park off the coast!

DSCF7092 DSCF7097 The drive to Julia Pfeiffer State Beach was interesting to say the least. It’s a small narrow road, allowing only 1-way so you constantly need to pull over to let the oncoming cars through.
DSCF7168 DSCF7176 DSCF7195 DSCF7197 Kitchen Story has now become one of my favorite restaurants in SF; I cannot wait to go back to eat it again!

DSCF7221 My not-so-favorite traveling companion.. always ruining my photos.

SF is one of my favorite cities to visit, probably because it was one of the places I ever traveled to first with friends; it holds a very special place in my heart. This trip, we got to catch up with friends and just relaxed a ton; we even went swimming at the pool in our hotel!

Looking forward to my next trip to the bay area ❤

TTFN!

The PNW: Seattle & Vancouver

Image | March 24, 2019March 24, 2019 | Tammy Fong

Currently planning a trip up to Seattle & Vancouver! I’m super excited for this trip as I never really got to explore much of Seattle, and it’ll also be my first time visiting Vancouver.

I have a rough itinerary going already, but I’m open to food suggestions in both cities, and especially nightlife. What I’ve noticed is that there isn’t much (on Pinterest at least) about nightlife for non-drinkers so I’m going to try my best to see what there is to do for those like me and document and share.

Until then, if you have any food or points of interest suggestions, please feel free to share in the comments!

A Weekend in Arizona and Utah

Image | June 14, 2018 | Tammy Fong

My first ever trip to Arizona was back in 2012. During this trip, I hit 3 different states over the course of the weekend and it was exhausting but exhilarating. However, I didn’t get to spend much time in each location but luckily for me, I had the opportunity to visit each respective location more than once and so for that, I’m grateful.

Back in April, I had the privilege to visit Arizona and Utah for the third time with some friends and we hit up: Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend and Bryce Canyon!

We set off for our journey around 9pm on a Friday night and made it to Page, Arizona around 4am, Saturday morning and checked into our hotel. *Pro-tip: call your hotel ahead of time if you’ll be checking in late, like really late, otherwise they may cancel your room because they’ll assume you’re not coming.

After we re-booked our room, we settled in to sleep so that we could get up for our 11am tour at Antelope Canyon with Ken’s Tours. I highly recommend Ken’s Tours, not because it’s my 3rd tour with them, but they are the more budget-friendly company. If you’re planning to visit Antelope Canyon, I would recommend going early to beat the crowds and heat because this place is only going to get more and more popular. When I first visited this place back in 2012, tickets were only $20/person and this trip, we paid $50/person and I had to squish with a bunch of other tourists in the canyons.. not that fun. Here are some shots:

After Antelope Canyon, we headed into the city to find a place for lunch before we headed to Bryce Canyon. The drive from Page to Bryce was about 2.5 hours but it’s definitely do-able if you are just planning to do a short day trip. We left around 2:30 pm and arrived around 5pm, with just enough sunlight to do a short hike: Navajo Loop Trail and watch the sunset over the canyons. The Navajo Loop Trail is fairly short but part of the trail was closed and it was getting dark so we went back the way we started (just a heads up). Here are some shots!

Afterwards, we headed back to Page so that we could rest up early to make it for sunrise at Horseshoe Bend. Every time I visit Arizona, I always stay in Page because it’s closer to the border of Utah so it makes it easier to visit the National Parks but keep in mind that because it’s a small city, many restaurants close early so when we got back, it was close to 10pm and we could only order pizza, not that I complained haha. We all turned in pretty early, and woke up around 5:30 am the next morning to head to Horseshoe Bend. The last two times I’ve been, I’ve always gone during sunset and so I was very excited to finally go during sunrise and it did not disappoint. We didn’t make it right at sunrise (we were late) but the colors were still amazing as the sun started to hit the rocks.

Overall, it was a fun and relaxing trip and we accomplished a good amount. If you’re ever traveling to Arizona, feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need recommendations. Or, if you’ve ever been and would like to share your tips, let me know! I’d love to hear your experience 🙂

TTFN!

Inside Look: Packing The Essentials

Image | March 7, 2018March 7, 2018 | Tammy Fong

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Packing for any trip is sometimes tedious because you have to take into account the weather and what you’re planning to do so I wanted to share some of what you’ll find in my bag typically when I’m on the to!

Carry on

Any trip I go on, I always make sure to bring a pair of slippers or sandals because it just makes my life easier–after showers, not having to step around barefoot (it’s just in my Asian blood to wear slippers indoors) or just going out for a late night bite or drive and you don’t want to put on socks. Either way, I always make sure to pack something easy to wear.

Comfortable shoes are another staple I always pack when I go anywhere. Always pack good walking shoes because chances are, when you’re traveling, you’ll be walking a lot and exploring the city like a local. I recently invested in Nike Flex running shoes (mainly because my old free runs are dying and I need new ones) but I heard they were extremely comfortable so I’m super excited to start wearing them! I’ve gone on a few trips where I just brought regular sneakers (Chucks or Janoskis skate shoes) and my feet tend to hurt fairly early in the day so I started bringing comfortable shoes. I’m not too much of a girly girl so I don’t bring a ton of shoes to match my outfits–I’m more of a comfort over style kind of girl if you will :-).

Long sleeves and t-shirts. I am always grateful that I pack these aside from ‘going out’ clothes because there are bound to be days where you don’t want to dress up too much and you want to be lazy, or if you decide to take an easy day to just laze around your Airbnb and it makes your chill time that much more comfy. Plus, sleeping in big, comfy t-shirts is one of my favorite things.

Bathroom Essentials! I don’t use make up of any sort and have like a very minimal daily routine when it comes to skin care so I can pack all my bathroom essentials in a small bag. I usually bring with me a travel size shampoo and conditioner (thank you, Target!), a tooth brush and toothpaste, some q-tips, a razor, face moisturizer and face wipes. That’s all you really need, in my opinion! Keep it minimal, so that your bag isn’t too heavy.

Last but not least, obviously, your intimates. I always bring 1 more than the planned amount of nights I’m traveling just in case and I pack them in a small bag so that I’ll have a bag to throw the dirty ones in.

Personal Bag

Ever since I bought my first down jacket from Patagonia, I never go anywhere without it and I bought a second one because I just couldn’t pass it up! I have a regular down (hood recommended) and a thinner down (perfect for not-even-that-cold-LA weather). It’s such an easy staple to carry and it is so useful, especially if you’re traveling somewhere with cold weather. What I like best about Patagonia downs is that you can turn it into a small little bag so that it fits easily in your carry on.

Another staple item is a torrentshell/rain jacket. I have one from Columbia and Patagonia (I love both equally) and they are super light and easy to carry and trust me, you will thank me in the future! I always use this the top layer over my down to provide as an extra shield from the wind and it works wonders. I’ve visited New York in the dead of winter and I was able to survive with a total of 3 layers: my normal top, my down, and then my torrentshell. My Patagonia shell is also able to be turned into a little bag so that I can easily carry it in my backpack without it taking up too much room.

The other miscellaneous stuff that I carry in my personal bag includes wallet and/or passport, my chargers, basic skin stuff like chapstick and lotion and that’s about it!

I hope this helps you when packing for your next adventure! Pack light and smart and you’ll be able to enjoy your trip 🙂

Leave your comments, suggestions or concerns!

TTFN!

Calgary, Alberta

October 15, 2017March 6, 2018 | Tammy Fong

So I haven’t quite finished editing my photos from Canada but I wanted to share a bit of what I already have and also tell you guys what I did. I spent a total of 5 days in Calgary, and about 4 of those days in Canmore, which is about an hour drive west of Calgary.

Day 1: We landed in Calgary around 12 noon but we didn’t set out for Canmore until about 4pm because of our rental car situation. Tip: consider renting OUTSIDE of the airport especially during the summer because it is extremely busy and a lot of the cars weren’t ready for pick up yet. After we picked up our rental, we got dinner in Calgary and also stopped by a grocery store to pick up some supplies such as water.

Day 2: We set out for Banff National Park and for our first destination: Lake Louise. We had planned to do the Lake Agnes Tea House hike. We had alotted maybe about 3 hours for the hike but it took much longer than that; an additional 2 hours or so because we wanted to eat at the tea house and there was a wait. The hike is very much recommended though, the views are breathtaking.

After Lake Louise and Lake Agnes, we set out for our last destination: Moraine Lake. This is a very popular spot so be ready to wait in lines and fight for parking as this lake is SO WORTH SEEING. Make sure you do the short hike up to the top (it’s really just a bunch of steep stairs).

After Moraine Lake, we headed into downtown Banff for dinner. Drive into downtown and you’ll be able to find parking lots for free but keep in mind there are a lot of people around so drive carefully!

Day 3: We planned to do Johnston Canyon upper and lower falls hike and if you’ve seen the many many photos on social media of the lower falls hike, then you’ll definitely want to go. The hikes at Johnston Canyon were much easier than Lake Agnes Tea house. It’s not as steep but it is across a steel bridge which sits on top of the stream so if you’re scared of heights, don’t look down. The hike was pretty fun and was covered for the most part and since you’re by the stream, there was a nice, cool breeze to help you stay cool.

**Note: unfinished/unedited draft.

I will continue editing photos and will continue sharing when I can! Hope you guys enjoy these photos 🙂 Feel free to drop some suggestions on more places to see in Canada for my next trip!

TTFN!

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park and Yosemite National Park

June 27, 2017June 27, 2017 | Tammy Fong

Finally went camping for the first time this year during Memorial Day Weekend (yay for camping for the 4th time ever too!) and we decided to camp at Sequoia National Park. We went up Sunday morning and we were afraid that we would have a hard time looking for a campsite, but luckily, we didn’t! There were actually a lot of sites open so in case any of you ever want to go camping last minute in Sequoia, just know that there will be slots available.

It was my first time at Sequoia and it is absolutely beautiful. We did Moro Rock, a very intense, steep incline, stair-master type of hike but trust me, the view at the top is so worth it. We also visited the General Sherman Tree, the tallest single stem tree in the world.

For sunset, we went to Beetle Rock. We originally wanted to visit Sunset Rock (obviously for the name and the purpose it’s supposed to serve) but we couldn’t find it. The sunset from Beetle Rock was absolutely breathtaking, hands down, the best sunset I’ve seen so far. My photos do not do it justice.

There is still snow on some of the mountains so nighttime was still quite cold so be sure to bring down jackets and warm clothing. I had such a wonderful time making burgers around the fire and just being one with nature again.

On Monday, we decided to do a day trip up to Yosemite. We figured it would only be a 2-hour drive–boy were we wrong. It was definitely a 4-hour drive but it was so worth it. (Yosemite was much busier than Sequoia so keep that in mind if you’re planning on doing a day trip during Memorial Day Weekend.) We stopped by Tunnel View and got to see El Capitan, Half Dome and other waterfalls all in one frame. We also did the short hike/walk to see the Lower Yosemite Falls and we all got soaked but we all had a great time. I cannot wait to go back to Yosemite and camp and hike. It’s a must-visit for anyone who loves the outdoors.

Here are some photos from the trip! Enjoy : )

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TTFN!

3 days in Chicago

May 2, 2017May 3, 2017 | Tammy Fong

I haven’t visited Chicago since I was in the 5th grade and at that age, I was honestly too young to understand anything so to be able to visit Chicago again now that I’m older and more appreciative was a good experience.

Back in March, my friends and I went to Chicago for a weekend to celebrate our friend’s birthday and it was lots of fun! Chicago is known for their deep dish pizza (and for being the windy city) so I was very excited to try it again. Before going, I kept trying to remember the taste of deep dish pizza from back in 5th grade haha talk about being nostalgic. Anyways, so here’s what we did that weekend!

Friday, March 3

We arrived really late at night, around 1:50 AM so we didn’t get to do much. We checked in our hotel and got ready for bed.

Saturday, March 4

We spent our first official day with a lazy morning. We were so exhausted from getting in so late that we didn’t really get up til close to 10:00 AM. After breakfast, we headed to Chinatown. We walked around a bit and settled on getting dim sum for lunch. After lunch, we walked around some more, checked out the little gift shops they had and then headed to downtown! We had planned to check out the 360 degree Observation Deck and the new Tilt! ride (Read about Tilt! here) Tilt! was a lot of fun and very affordable for only $7 USD; 10/10 would do it again! A few of my friends were scared of heights and they were screaming while we were tilted but the experience overall was fun! (P.S. They don’t allow you to take photos. The workers there will take photos for you and they’ll be available for purchase)

After the observation deck, we headed over to the popular Lou Malnati’s for some deep dish pizza. I wasn’t too impressed with their pizza even though many other people were. It just didn’t make me think about when I was in the 5th grade and eating deep dish pizza. Anyways, we also met up with our friend Stephen who had moved from LA to Chicago two years ago and got to catch up with him for a bit. After dinner, half of the group headed back to the hotel to rest and the other half went out for desserts.

Sunday, March 5

Happy birthday to our birthday girl!! Haha, anyways, so we woke up slightly earlier and headed to museum campus to visit The Adler Planetarium and the John. G. Shedd Aquarium. We spent all afternoon there basically and then headed to Crsip for some Korean fried chicken, YUM! Our group of 6 girls has a tendency to over order so we ended up ordering about 40 wings (these aren’t your tiny BBW wings) without even consulting each other, 3 orders of bibimbap, 2 orders of fries and 2 orders of fried mushrooms. We ended up finishing everything but man, were we full. After dinner, we got some ice cream and wanted to check out the famous Bean! Unfortunately, some shady stuff happened so we ended up going back to our hotel early and we just played some games and hung out.

Monday, March 6

Our last day in Chicago was the one and only day we all made it to breakfast together haha. Today, we visited the famous Chicago Skydeck and I loved it. It was so cool (definitely recommend it, even if you’re scared of heights!) We spent a good hour just taking photos for each other on the deck and then we left to go visit one more museum; The Museum of Science+Industry!!! This museum is A MUST VISIT! There were so many cool exhibits and was so much fun! After the museum, we went to our last pizza spot: Giordano’s! Now this pizza made me think of my 5th grade self. We ended up each buying a few frozen pizzas to bring home to LA! After dinner, we finally got to visit The Bean without any disturbances. It was definitely a sight to behold, to be able to see the skyline right behind it and then reflecting against it if you’re viewing it from the side that reflects it (did that make sense haha) We spent a good half hour or so taking photos and then we picked up our stuff at the hotel and headed home!

3 days in Chicago allows you plenty of time to do lots of things! It’s not really a city that requires an extensive amount of time, it’s more of a weekend city, much like LA so if you’re ever looking for a weekend getaway, Chicago is perfect! Just make sure to pack warm clothing because it was extremely windy when we were there. There were several times we almost got blown away (haha half kidding). The public transportation there is also very easy to understand and very convenient! Anyways, if you have any comments or suggestions, let me know!

TTFN!

Death Valley National Park

March 13, 2017May 3, 2017 | Tammy Fong

I finally visited Death Valley National Park this past Saturday after wanting to for a while and I was not disappointed. There’s something about deserts that just really fascinates me. Brandon and I decided to do a day trip and even though we left LA really late (around 10:00 AM), we were still able to see quite a few things! We arrived at the park around 2:45 PM and our first stop was Dante’s View. To get here, you’ll pass by Mesquite Dunes (we didn’t stop because it was going north and we were going south). Once there, it’s a quick, very short hike, (really just a walk up hill) to the view. Dante’s View gives you a view of the valley from over 5000 ft up.

We spent about 30 minutes here and then continued our way down to Badwater Basin. On the way, we drove past Artist’s Palette, The Natural Bridge and The Golden Canyons. We didn’t stop because it was nearing sunset (about 5:00 PM) and we wanted to see the basin before it got dark. The Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America and it’s approximately 282 meters below sea level! It was so cool just standing in the basin and looking up at the canyons and mountains on both sides and admiring it all. Up on the canyons (where Dante’s View is), they had put a sign that indicated where sea level starts and seeing how high up it was was just amazing! It was a bit hazy that day so Telescope Peak wasn’t very clear but the sunset from the basin was still beautiful!

Just some quick tips if you’re planning on visiting:

Take the 15 fwy up to Bakers and enter the park through highway 127 through Shoshone (this is the shorter way). You’ll hit Badwater Basin first by going this way and make your way up to Furnace Creek Visitor Center.
Bring lots of water and snacks (there wasn’t that many stops for snacks as the park is HUGE)
Make sure you have enough gas. We were leaving the park from Badwater Basin and exiting through highway 127 to Bakers and we were down to our last hundred something mile range (I was slightly nervous we weren’t going to make it but we did, yay!) Plus, gas can get really expensive in the park (this is partially because gas prices have been going up regardless, haha).

Here are some photos from the trip, hope you enjoy!

TTFN!

3 Days in Portland

February 22, 2017May 3, 2017 | Tammy Fong

The Pacific Northwest Pt. 2, Winter 2017 Edition

So, I’ve been back from my trip for a little over 2 weeks now but was extremely busy getting back into the groove of work and so I’ve been slacking on editing photos. Luckily, I had some down time last week so I was able to edit a few photos to share!

Portland in the winter is just extremely wet haha I’ll just share in a short summary of what we did by day so if anyone is ever interested in visiting Portland on the weekend, it’s totally doable!

Saturday

We woke up around 9am (we were supposed to wake up at 5 and drive up to Vancouver, Canada for the morning but we were too tired) and headed out around 10:30am for Seattle, Washington. Our first stop was Mt. Rainier National Park, yay! We had allotted 3 hours for Mt. Rainier but we didn’t account for the amount of snow and the fact that we needed to put on chains so we did not leave Mt. Rainier until 3:30-4:00pm. I gotta say though, it was worth it. Seeing falling snow for the first time was absolutely magical. We were planning on seeing the Narada Falls but there was so much snow, we couldn’t find the trail so we just admired the snow and had a mini snowball fight. We also stopped off and visited the visitor center to get our cancellation for our national park passport.

Afterwards, we continued our drive up to Seattle. It was another 2-hours but it wasn’t too bad. We had wanted to visit the Space Needle and the Pike Place but it was dark already so we opted for the REI Headquarters and dinner with my friend Michael. After my visit to the REI HQ last summer, I knew I had to take Brandon. It was such a cool place and I knew he’d love it. We ended up spending about an hour there and met up at The Patio Thai Cuisine for dinner. Afterwards, we stopped by Victrola Coffee for a little pick-me-up for the long ride home.

Sunday

On Sunday, we had originally planned to visit Bend and Crater Lake National Park but unfortunately, due to weather and time, we didn’t think we had enough time so we settled for just Bend. I had signed us up to take a tour of Deschutes Brewery so we set out for Bend. We didn’t get there until after 4pm because again, we didn’t think we needed chains but of course, we did, so we had to look around to find a merchant that would rent it to us. On the way, Brandon saw these 2 bridges and because he knows I love bridges, we stopped and admired the view and of course took a few photos! Fast forward, we finally made it to Bend and made it in time for our tour. They started off our tour with a sample flight and to my surprise, I actually liked a few of their beers! I can’t remember the names so I can’t recommend any right now but I definitely recommend taking the tour. It’s free and the staff was so friendly and accommodating. After the tour, we went down to the Deschutes public bar and had dinner and tried some of their house beers. I thought their food was just ALRIGHT, it definitely looks better in pictures. After dinner, we didn’t know what else to do because everything around us was already closed with Bend being a small town, so we just headed back to our Airbnb early.

Monday

Our last day in Portland was extremely busy! We had so many activities packed and for once the entire weekend, we woke up on time (somewhat). We were planning on getting The Screen Door for breakfast and then head to Rowena Crest, Multnomah Falls and explore Downtown Portland, all before our flight at 5:30pm.

Anyways, so we ordered The Screen Door to-go and ate it quickly in the car before heading to Rowena Crest. We decided to do Rowena Crest last minute the night before because we had both seen photos of it and thought it was beautiful so why not! It was closer than we thought and we figured we could stop by Multnomah Falls on the way to Downtown. So, we got to Rowena Crest and ugh, the drive up those canyons were so much fun.

Next, we headed to Multnomah Falls and I was hoping it would be frozen but no, oh well! It was still beautiful and we met the cutest, most hyper golden retriever named (Miko, Meeko? Idk) but anyways, we just took in the beauty that is Multnomah Falls and continued on our way to Downtown Portland!

We didn’t get to spend much time in Downtown Portland but with whatever time we had, we spent it at REI, of course! Haha, while at REI, we found out our flight got delayed so we thought we could take our time but that probably wasn’t a good decision.. Anyways, after REI, we went to go grab dinner to-go at Grassa and basically rushed it to the airport because we were about to miss our flight. Long story short, we made it but we nearly missed it by THIS much. The entire flight was waiting for us and they had almost closed the gate but luckily, they waited. Once we boarded, I immediately started laughing but Brandon didn’t find it funny yet, heh!

Hope you enjoyed my little recap of our trip! We had approximately 3 days and although we didn’t get to visit Mt. Hood, we got quite a lot done so if you’re ever planning on visiting Portland (and Seattle) for the weekend, you can do a lot! Here are some more photos from the trip, enjoy!

TTFN!