Goodbye San Francisco, Hello Las Vegas!

This will be my last post on San Francisco, then we head off into the next segment of our trip, Las Vegas! After that, maybe I will finally be able to post about my trip to Alaska.

We got up relatively early this Saturday morning so that we could ride the cable cars without dealing with crowds. The Tuscan Inn is only one block away from one of the cable car terminals, making it very convenient for us. There were only a few other people waiting, so we got our pick of spots on the cable car. I chose the front left, as those seats are what I felt offered the greatest views.

This was a pretty quick trip since we just went up to the cable car terminus at Powell and Hyde, jumped off, watched them turn the cable car, then hopped on another cable car, but this time, the Beach and Hyde route. I liked this route for the return because it included higher hills and even more beautiful views. It was especially beautiful going down the hill headed toward the Fisherman's Wharf area.

Because our flight to Las Vegas didn't leave until 3:45 p.m., we had quite a bit of time to kill before we had to be at the airport. Once we got off the cable car, we walked around the waterfront, first watching a bunch of crazy people who apparently entered some kind of swimming contest. The water must have been freezing!!! Crazy. We went for one last stroll near the wharf, and walked by the sourdough factory...yum!!! It smelled so good!

Of course, after smelling the sour dough, I realized that it was breakfast time. We were just walking around the neighborhood and came across an IHOP that was only a block from the hotel. I know all of you in Hawaii are wondering what the big deal is about IHOP when we have two locations on Oahu now, but IHOP is still one of those special places to eat whenever I travel to California or Las Vegas! It was a little crowded, so we ended up eating at the counter, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good the service was! They were all amazingly attentive and the manager seemed concerned when we didn't have our food, even though we hadn't even waited that long. I would definitely return to that IHOP!

The only other thing on my to do list for San Francisco was to visit the Golden Gate Bridge. There is a lookout with spectacular views of the bridge. Before I continue with how beautiful it was, I have to share my camera's near-death experience. Because of my stupidity in having the camera in my lap in the car, but without securing the strap around my wrist or neck, I stood up to get out of the car, and my camera, my only 4 month old, $700 camera, fell to the ground. After releasing a few expletives and almost crying over what I thought was the death of my camera, it miraculously healed itself after pressing the shutter button once. I was finally able to relax after my camera recovered.

Anyhow, the lookout was extremely crowded, but I suppose that is to be expected, particularly on a Saturday morning. The landscaping at the lookout was almost as beautiful as the bridge itself. Sausalito and Alcatraz were both visible, and we could also see Fort Mason down below. There was also a neat little gift shop selling a variety of Golden Gate Bridge memorabilia.

After enjoying the views here, we still had some time to kill. When researching this trip, I read that the views were beautiful on the Pacific Ocean side of San Francisco. There are a couple of restaurants there, but after our huge breakfast at IHOP, we weren't that hungry. As we were driving away from the bridge and finding our way to the Pacific Coast, we came across a great find, the Legion of Honor.

The Legion of Honor offers spectacular views of San Francisco. Both the cityscape and the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz were visible from here. We decided not to enter the building since there was an admission fee and we didn't think we had enough time to look around inside. However, the exterior of the building, grounds, and surrounding scenery were enough to keep us and our cameras busy for a good period of time. There was a moving, but disturbing, tribute to the holocaust that we pondered before moving on.

We continued our scenic drive along the Pacific Coast, then drove through Golden Gate Park before making our way back to the airport. We were still a bit early, but it's a good thing because we missed the airport off-ramp! However, it wasn't too bad of a back-track. Another thing that takes a while, but is extremely convenient, is the AirTrain. The AirTrain is a monorail that connects airport terminals with parking structures, a consolidated rental car facility, and some other airport structures. I found that I prefer this to catching a shuttle to the rental car facility, since it's easy to wheel luggage or a luggage cart on and off the train. No need to lug heavy bags onto a shuttle bus!

Once at the terminal, we still had some time to kill, even considering some slow downs going through the security line. I found a place that made sandwiches to order that was actually quite good! The portions were very large too. Although I ordered two sandwiches, we only ate one because it was so large, and it came with fries, making it even more filling.

We flew Southwest Airlines to Las Vegas, and it was an enjoyable experience. The only thing I don't like is that there are no assigned seats, but they do have seating areas (Priority, A, B, and C), so it's a little more orderly than when they used to have cattle calls where people would be waiting in a line at the gate for over an hour to be the first on the plane. The crew is hilarious too..."in the rare event that this flight turns into a cruise on the way to Las Vegas, inflatable flotation devices will deploy..."

We arrived safely in Las Vegas around 5:15 p.m. Saturday afternoon, the day of the UH-UNLV game. This turned out to be a GREAT time to arrive in Las Vegas, as there were no crowds at the airport!

Ending here for now, will continue the Vegas Adventure in a new post.

San Francisco, Part II

Again, I must apologize for the long delay since my last posting. Those of you who know what my work entails know why I haven't had time to update my blog lately! I have broken the cardinal sin of blogging...not providing regular updates. They say people lose interest once a blog goes out of date, and I'm sure that's true with my blog too! Oh well. Thanks for the two of you who have hung in there with me!

Anyhow, so back to where I was...

After checking in to the hotel, we set back out, MUNI passes in hand. Except I didn't have a plan, a rarity for me. I had already accomplished one goal of seeing the Palace of Fine Arts. My other goal was to ride the cable cars, but we weren't going to wait 45 minutes to hop on one. We decided on the F-Market Street Cars, which are kind of retro and reminded me of the movie, Heart and Souls, starring Robert Downey, Jr. We decided to head to the Westfield Shopping Center, although we weren't really in the shopping mood, so we didn't stay there long. We ended up walking to Union Square, which I didn't think I've ever been to before.

Again, no plan, so much of the time was spent roaming! Across Union Square was the Disney Store, so we paid an obligatory visit, although we did not buy anything (personally, I think the Disney Store has gone in a strange direction in recent years, and I have little interest in it anymore). We stumbled across Chinatown and took a few pictures there. Then we walked. And walked. And walked some more. Next thing we knew, we were at the Ferry Terminal. I kinda wished we had gone in there, since we were there. I've read that there are a number of shops and restaurants there. But, I didn't have a plan, so we ended up hopping back on a street car back toward the Fisherman's Wharf area.

We spent most of the early evening at Pier 39, mostly looking at seals and admiring the beautiful sunset. We had dinner at Neptune's Palace, the same place we ate dinner during our last visit to San Francisco many years ago. We started with Caesar salad and calamari appetizer w/ really yummy accompanying sauces. Our entrees were a hazelnut crusted seabass with gnocchi, and the seared swordfish. Although it was okay and some people rave about it, the seabass wasn't really my cup of tea. I think it was too sweet. I was also disappointed in the gnocchi which seemed undercooked. That entree was really the only thing I didn't care for though. Everything else was terrific, including a mocha cake we got for dessert! The views were very nice, and service was good. The only thing that's kind of unusual about this place is that they have a $1 per person minimum wage surcharge. Apparently, restaurants are able to pass this on to their customers. It would have been nice if they told us about it, or had something explaining it, rather than it just appearing on our bill. I've read a lot of complaints on Yelp.com about it too -- most people think they should just factor this into their prices, rather than having it show up as a separate charge on the check.

After dinner, we stopped by the Hard Rock Cafe in Pier 39. We are amateur pin collectors and make it a point to stop at any Hard Rock Cafe that is easily accessible. Our experience here was a little annoying. The girls at the counter decided it was more important to flirt with the guy in front of us, instead of one of them trying to help us while the other described some great clubs to go to in the area. Then, when we asked about their signature pin, the answer was, "well, they're all signature pins." Unless things have changed, there are only one or two true signature pins to each Hard Rock Cafe location. So we left it up to ourselves to decide which ones might qualify as signature pins.

After this, we walked even more and this time went to Ghiradelli Square. There wasn't a whole lot to see there, at least not by the time we got there, but it was still a nice visit. After that, we decided to check out the cable car line at the Beach and Taylor stop. There was no line! We were the first ones there. We had to wait quite a while before the next car left, and a number of people had joined us, but it was worth the wait. We got off at the turnaround on the other end near Union Square, and decided to check out the Virgin Records Megastore we had seen when we rode the street car earlier. We were very disappointed when the Megastore in Vegas closed, so this was a nice surprise. I think we must've been there for over an hour! It was a big store, and it was worth our while to go there.

By the time we left the Virgin Records Megastore, it was about 10:30 p.m., and time to head back to the hotel since we planned to get up early to ride the cable cars in daylight with few crowds! The cable car ride back to the hotel was really nice, especially once we started heading downhill and could see all the beautiful lights. It's amazing that a number of people were still riding the cable cars that late at night, including locals, but we were still able to get on the first car that arrived.

To be continued, again...

I left my heart in San Francisco (Part I)

On Friday, Sept. 14, we enjoyed our Sweetie Pies breakfast, checked out of the Napa River Inn, then headed back to San Francisco for one night before flying to Vegas. We decided to go through Sausalito and cross the Golden Gate Bridge into the city. We didn't stop in Sausalito since I wanted to spend most of our time exploring San Francisco, but it was worth driving through the seaside town before heading over the Golden Gate Bridge.

I have always wanted to visit the Palace of Fine Arts after seeing it in so many pictures of San Francisco. We decided to check it out since it was on the way to the hotel. It was really a beautiful place, and there were lots of people either walking around like us, exploring and taking pictures, or locals jogging or relaxing on one of the benches overlooking the water. There is a place called the Exploratorium that is located at the Palace of Fine Arts that AAA and other sources say is worth spending a couple of hours. Again, my timeline did not allow for this, but I was happy just spending time taking photos outdoors.

After our photography expedition at the Palace of Fine Arts, we headed to our hotel, the Best Western Tuscan Inn. Being San Francisco, parking is in demand, and only valet parking was offered here. The valets/bellmen wear cute little outfits similar to those you might see on a gondolier, but not so masculine given their mauve-ish color. At the front desk, I found that our room was not ready yet, which was fine given that I was checking in about 3 hours early. However, I was pleased to hear that I had been upgraded to a one-bedroom suite. Also, the front desk clerk took my cell phone number and offered to call me if my room was ready ahead of the official check-in time...a nice touch! Additionally, the Tuscan Inn offers a discounted parking rate for AAA members ($29 instead of $37), and offers wine and cheese in the afternoon and biscotti and coffee in the morning. We left our luggage with bell services and headed out for a stroll at the Fisherman's Wharf.

The Fisherman's Wharf was a very quick walk from the hotel, perhaps 5 minutes. It was about lunch time, so we were in search of food, while taking in the surroundings of the vendors selling fresh seafood. While I had researched restaurants before this trip and knew which ones were popular or offered good food, I did not make reservations, nor did I have a strong desire to eat at any particular restaurant. We found one right on the water called the Franciscan. Ironically, this is a sister restaurant to the Crab Pot at Pier 39, which I considered and read great things about (known for their garlic crab). The greatest thing about the Franciscan is the magnificent water views. The restaurant is designed in a way that allows a good view from every seat, as the restaurant is tiered. The service was good, and the food, while not spectacular, was good, and I would return again to enjoy the view. We started with the clam chowder and a butter lettuce salad, and had entrees of a half order of garlic crab (more than enough for one person), and a prime rib french dip sandwich. One of the most spectacular sights we took in while having lunch was seeing pelicans and other birds flying by in formation.

After lunch, we continued our stroll in the Fisherman's Wharf area. Some of the area was reminiscent of the touristy areas of Waikiki or an older Las Vegas, with t-shirts and other items for sale. We walked past the Argonaut Hotel, a place I would like to stay if my budget allowed for it. We noticed that here too, the valets where cute outfits befitting the nautical theme of the hotel. Again, maybe not so masculine, but cute nonetheless.

Sometime during this stroll, I received a phone call from the hotel notifying me that my room was now ready. At this point, we were near the cable car turnaround at Beach and Hyde Streets, so we went to pick up 3-day MUNI passes good for a number of transportation options, and watched the cable cars and the people waiting in a line with an estimated wait of 30 to 45 minutes. After this, we headed back to the Tuscan Inn to get settled in our room before heading back out into the city.

To be continued...

I'm a baadddd blogger...

Okay, so I've been a bad blogger. So much for my grand plan to update my blog daily while I was traveling!

I'm back at home from my travels to Northern California, Vegas, and Alaska, and do not have any plans to travel until next summer (at the earliest), so now I plan to catch up on the blogging I did not do earlier! My apologies to those of you who have actually been checking my blog on a regular basis hoping for updates (all one or two of you).

Day 2 in Wine Country (Thu. Sept. 13)

Before I go into our adventures in Wine Country, I have to tell you about the breakfast provided at the Napa River Inn, which is prepared fresh by Sweetie Pies in the hotel complex. When we checked in, we were given cards to hang outside our door by midnight to request our breakfast for the next morning. The picture to the right is a picture of a breakfast for two (we probably could have just shared ONE of the breakfasts!). We each got a choice of a pastry or bun, a choice of a breakfast croissant or parfait or quiche, AND a choice of fresh-squeezed juice or fruit. It was all very delicious! It was great to be able to have a leisurely breakfast in the room and not have to find a restaurant first thing in the morning.

After breakfast, we drove out to Sonoma County, which people claim has "better" wineries. I think by "better" people mean less commercialized and more of what a true winery should be. I chose to go to Benziger in Glen Ellen, because they offer a tour on a tram pulled by a tractor, and they are known for their commitment to being green. While this tour was enjoyable, we liked Beringer better. Beringer seemed more interesting and the people there seemed friendlier.

The Benziger tour started with a tour of the vineyards. We stopped and got out of the tram to look over the vineyards toward Mt. Sonoma, and got a quick lesson on the types of soil and why it's good for different types of wine grapes. The tour continued by showing us some of the machinery used to process the grapes, including a tour of their wine caves. Some of the facts provided to us were similar to what we learned during the Beringer tour. The tour culminated with a tasting of two wines in a special tasting room. We were given the option to taste two more wines on our own in the tasting room, but we needed to make a lunch reservation in Santa Rosa, about 30 minutes away.

I made a lunch reservation at a restaurant called Syrah. I chose it based on good reviews, and because I could make a reservation on Open Table. The restaurant was very interesting in it's decor inside and out. The building was covered with vines, and the inside was somewhat artsy and just interesting in general. For example, while looking around, I noticed a Pillsbury Dough Boy resting on the beams.

While the food was pretty good, something about the restaurant disappointed me a bit. I think it was the service, which kind of made me feel as though they catered more to locals than tourists. I also didn't like how our waiter immediately took our wine list away because we ordered iced teas, without even asking if we still wanted to look at the wine list. Too bad, his loss. I probably would have ordered wine had he left the wine list.

Our entrees were a pork, pork, and more pork sandwich, which was an open faced sandwich with pork loin, bacon, and chorizo, topped with a fried egg, and the housemade ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and topped with a tomato-based sauce. Both were good, although not as good as the dinners we had in Napa. If I returned to this area, I would look for another place to have lunch.

After lunch, we hopped back in the car again for a quick drive to the Charles M. Schultz Museum, also located in Santa Rosa. I have to say that although the entire trip was memorable, this was probably the greatest find. I found myself emotionally overwhelmed by Charles Schultz's contributions to the community which will remain his legacy for generations to come.

We spent 2-3 hours in this area, first exploring the museum, which housed memorabilia, original art, and an exhibit of various Peanuts comic strips. There was also an outdoor area which included more original art and a kite-eating tree.

After the museum, we walked across the street to a Snoopy Gift Shop. We didn't find as much stuff to buy as I thought, but it was still worth a visit. Next to the Gift Shop is a skating rink called Snoopy's Home Ice. The Warm Puppy Cafe, where Charles Schultz spent time almost every day, is located here. We joked that the Warm Puppy Cafe might've been a better lunch choice! We did stop there to pick up drinks and take a quick peek at people skating, before driving back to Napa via Calistoga and the Silverado Trail, which is parallel to the major road there.

Dinner that night was at Celadon, which was most excellent! I read that their calamari appetizer was very good, and it was. It was cooked perfectly and seasoned nicely, and was interestingly served with Japanese ginger, like the kind they give you with sushi. The ginger was a nice complement! Our entrees were a flank steak served with mashed potatoes and yellow and green beans (a special), and achiote rubbed duck served with a corn and bacon risotto. The duck was so awesome! The skin reminded me a bit of a nicely crusted prime rib, and it was nice and crispy with a very thin layer of fat that kept the meat moist.

Celadon was a great way to cap off a nice stay in Napa before we headed back to the City of San Francisco!

Day 1 in Wine Country

After weeks of planning, I am finally in Wine Country! Last night, we arrived in San Francisco from Honolulu sometime after 9 p.m. Before I get to the important stuff, I have to say that our experience with the people at Enterprise Car Rental was wonderful! How many people can say they had a "great" experience with a rental car agency??? They were quick, efficient, friendly, and overall just made us feel like valued customers. Let's hope we have a similar experience with the Enterprise folks in Vegas.

After getting the car and getting slightly lost, we drove to the Doubletree Hotel in Burlingame, just a few miles away from the airport. I got this hotel on Priceline. While there was nothing wrong with the hotel, other than the parking situation which was not-so-good, my general impression was just, "eehhhh." I wouldn't mind staying there again if I got a good rate on Priceline, but I wouldn't go out of my way to specifically book it.

Today was a good day. We drove up to Napa, which took just over one hour. We're staying at the Napa River Inn, which I LOVE! This is a picture of the superior room I booked. It's located in the Plaza Building, and has a balcony overlooking the Napa River (the river really isn't that great, but it's still cool to have a balcony) and a fireplace that turns on with the turn of a dial. I'm really looking forward to the breakfast that is included. We received cards that we checked off to indicate what we wanted, and they will deliver it to our room in the morning! How cool is that???

After checking into the hotel, we went to COPIA. I must admit that at first, I was thinking, "this isn't worth my time." But, the more time we spent there, the more I enjoyed myself. I had to remind myself that it is a museum -- there was a lot of art around, and while I enjoy art, I would prefer that it be created by different people. There was one room with LOTS of paintings done by one artist, and they all were based on the same subject...vineyards. And it got old pretty fast. A lot of the paintings really looked a lot alike.

Things got better when we reached a room that contained historical objects. My favorite was a display describing how vineyards got around prohibition. There were a few legal uses for wine, including for churches and for "medicinal" purposes. I also really enjoyed a section devoted to food. Part of this exhibit explained the diets of different cultures, and their food budget for a week. Another portion of the exhibit contained displays of various foods or food containers. One of my favorites was the Pez dispenser exhibit.

After COPIA, we drove north to St. Helena. We had some time to kill, so we stopped at the CIA. No, not that CIA...the Culinary Institute of America. It wasn't planned, and I had no idea whether it was open to the public, but my noseyness paid off. We walked around a little and also found a great gift shop. The building itself is really beautiful, as most of the buildings in Napa Valley are. There seems to be a concerted effort to ensure architectural fluidity in the area, so everything is beautiful, yet nothing sticks out like a sore thumb.

After CIA, we headed down to Beringer Winery for the Historical District Tour. Beringer is the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley. Remember how I mentioned that some wineries were able to survive even during prohibition? Beringer is one of them that survived by providing wine for "medicinal" purposes and for sacrament. Beringer is a really beautiful property, with a number of historical buildings. The people there were really great too. The guy who conducted our tour started off by giving each of us a bottle of water, with a Beringer label on it...a nice touch!

We toured the Hudson House, an adjacent wooded area and courtyard, caves where wine is aged, and ended up in the Rhine House (shown above) where a gift shop and tasting rooms are housed. Our tour included wine tasting in the reserve room upstairs, which was really nice. The wine was REALLY good, and we ended up buying a bunch of stuff and joining their wine club...hey, these guys are smart. They get you all liquored up and then send you downstairs into the gift shop!

We drove back down to the Napa River Inn where we barely had enough time to change and make our dinner reservation at Angele, one of Napa's premier restaurants. The service was very professional and attentive, and the food was excellent. The bread was nice and warm and toasty, and we started off with French onion soup, which was very yummy and cheesey. For entrees we had a bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin served with a red pepper sauce, and a side of what looked like corn mixed with some kind of rice, and a ribeye (which really looked more like a filet mignon) served in a red wine reduction with french fries. Everything was really yummy!

Napa's only downfall is that there really is not a lot to do at night. We ended up walking around Downtown Napa (this must've been around 8:30-ish), and the only things still open were restaurants and Mervyn's department store. Yet somehow I still managed not to get my blog updated until 4 days later! All in all, a really great day in Napa.

A Wedding, Two Movies, and the Greek Festival

Just for fun, let's try a different font and color today. I'd say it adds variety to my blog, just as my weekend consisted of various events.

Yesterday morning, I attended a beautiful wedding at the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki. All of my experiences at the Halekulani have been wonderful, and it is the epitome of quality and excellence. Everything about the wedding was perfect...the courtyard setting, the service, and the food at the reception. I don't think I've ever been to a wedding where I actually remembered how great all the servers were. Most of all, the couple that were married are great people and couldn't be more perfect for each other.

Yesterday afternoon, I attended the Greek Festival at McCoy Pavillion (in Ala Moana Beach Park). I have never been to the Greek Festival before, so I didn't really know what to expect other than what I've seen on the morning news shows. While it was a bit smaller than I imagined, it was still a good value at $3 (and I could've used the ticket stub for entry today as well).

There was a variety of entertainment, including dancing and Greek music which was quite good. Although the picture to the left consists of just a few people dancing, it became almost like a disco later in the evening! There was one vendor selling Greek grocery items such as olive oil, capers, and other canned and jarred foods, one selling clothing, and another selling art and music. There were two very popular drink booths selling Greek wine and beer, and about 7 or 8 food vendors. The gyros booth was by far the most popular, with the second being a cafeteria style vendor selling food such as moussaka and spanakopita as a complete meal with rice, salad, and baklava. I decided on a salad booth where I had a combination Greek salad and pasta salad plate. While the Greek salad was good, I was a little disappointed that it was made out of plain iceberg lettuce, although the dressing and particularly the feta were excellent. The pasta salad, however, was very good! I ended up abandoning the iceberg and eating the feta together with the pasta salad!

While I was at McCoy Pavillion, which is a pretty attractive area with a number of water features, I decided to practice my photography skills and test out the new lens I recently purchased for my Nikon D50, a 55-200 mm AF-S VR. I was playing around with various settings, which I am still familiarizing myself with. To the right is a picture I am particularly fond of because of the way the water drops appear to be suspended in mid-air.

Because I was so busy yesterday, today was my "chore" day, which consisted of doing laundry and some minor household cleaning. While waiting for my laundry, I watched a couple of movies that I would occasionally tell myself that I wanted to see, but never really made it a priority.

The first one was Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which was on one of the HBO channels. I missed the first 3 minutes, but from what I gathered, the mother of one of four teenage girls passed away, further establishing a strong bond between the friends. I was pleasantly surprised with this movie for a number of reasons, and found myself wishing that I had seen the movie when it debuted in 2005. However, the movie is probably more special to me now because of two of its stars, and the timing of my viewing. One of the four girls turns out to be America Ferrera, who stars in one of my favorite new television shows, Ugly Betty (which is deserving of its own post, perhaps when the new season begins in September or October). Her father in the movie turns out to be Bradley Whitford, one of the stars of the ill-fated Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (cancelled after one season) and formerly of The West Wing. His performances and humor in The West Wing turned me into a fan.

Aside from my admiration of these two stars, the movie was really well-done. It's a chick-flick, but a very good one demonstrating the meaning of true friendship and learning to deal with personal insecurities. The four friends, aged 16-17, go into a store where one of them decides to try on a pair of jeans, and she makes the others try on the jeans too. Ferrera, who is chubbier than the rest of them, is urged to try them on too, despite her obvious weight difference. But lo and behold, they fit! They agree that the pants are magical.

The four, going their separate ways on their summer break, decided to make the pants into their very own Travelocity gnome by taking turns with the jeans, and sending a letter together with the "traveling pants" to the next person about their most exciting experience while wearing the jeans. Their separate journeys take them not only to far away places, but also to new experiences of self-discovery and personal challenges. I will leave my description at that, but suffice it to say that this is a good movie that sends a great message of belief, friendship, and self-respect to its viewers.

After I completed Traveling Pants, I decided to watch a movie I ordered from Netflix a while ago that has been sitting around thanks to my now-defunct DVD Recorder, which is a long story that I won't bore you with. The bottom line is that I was able to watch it on a decent DVD player that does not skip. I guess I should tell you what movie it is: Little Children.

I can't even remember why I ordered it, but I think I read good reviews about it and some of the actors received Oscar nominations, including Kate Winslet, who is the female lead. Although it's probably not something I would want to buy, it was a very good movie that is also full of life lessons. Kate Winslet plays a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) that doesn't quite fit in with the other SAHMs that show up at the park every day. Winslet is kind of homely and doesn't always get things right like the other "perfect" and somewhat-snooty SAHMs at the park. Then the "prom king" walks in, ruffling the features of the snooty SAHMs, who dare Winslet to get his phone number. The "prom king" is played by Patrick Wilson, who I've never heard of before, but I would guess will be making quite a name for himself if he plays his cards right. Wilson plays a stay-at-home dad, and his wife is portrayed by Jennifer Connelly. It becomes pretty obvious early in the movie that Winslet and Wilson are both bored with their lives, and that something is going to happen between them.

In addition to this, the story gains complexity with the addition of a creepy man in the neighborhood who has been known for indecent exposure. A former cop is particularly obsessed with hunting down the possible would-be child molestor. The story is complex enough to keep the viewer interested, without giving them a headache like some other movies I can think of (Memento comes to mind). The other thing I found very interesting about this movie is how it is narrated in some parts, almost like a children's story. This is appropriate because in a way, it is childish. I don't mean to say that the movie itself is childish, but the characters, although grown and most with children, are adolescent in so many ways: naming mister mom the "prom king," the former copy bullying toward the child molestor, daring Winslet to get the prom king's phone number, and so many other things. I will also end this review here because I don't want to give away too much to any potential viewers. My overall comment would be that this is a good movie that kept me glued to the tv. I could NOT predict the outcome of this movie until it actually happened, and there were times when I was experiencing feelings that never game to fruition (which is a good thing).

That's about it for my weekend. Next weekend is another wedding, and possibly another festival (the Okinawan Festival at Kapiolani Park)!