cabo

We're baaaack! Here are a few photos from our trip to Los Cabos.

The distinctive Arch at Land's End, the southernmost tip of Cabo San Lucas.







A fabulous view of the Sea of Cortes from our suite at the Casa Del Mar Resort.







Fine dining at El Tapanco restaurant in Casa Del Mar -- this is the tampiqueno dish which includes tacquitos, steak, enchiladas and a quesadilla.






The moths in Los Cabos are huge -- this one was about the size of a small bird! V. thought they were bats at first.








A sample platter displaying all the fresh seafood offered at Lorenzillo's on the Cabo San Lucas Marina. Very enticing but man that platter must be expensive.






We ordered the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail at Lorenzillo's, which set us back $46. Pricey but wow the shrimps were huge and they came in a pineapple bowl with a tasty sauce.






Here's the gorgeous Cabo sunset as viewed from the beach at Casa Del Mar. Almost every evening we went out to the beach to watch the sun creep slowly behind the hills. What a relaxing way to end each day.





For our last night at the Casa Del Mar we enjoyed dinner at the Mesquite Grill on the beach. This chef cooks your choice of meats or seafood on a mesquite wood burning grille which gives it extra flavor and you dine by candlelight only footsteps away from the water. Fantastico!





The Casa Del Mar Resort sits right by the beach overlooking the Sea of Cortes. Its location midway down the Corridor between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo makes it easy to visit either town, if you have a car. We took the resort's shuttle almost every day to downtown Cabo San Lucas.




Tropical storm Paul (downgraded from a hurricane) passed by one night bringing high winds and thunderstorms. Believe it or not, this photo was taken at 1AM! The lightning flashes illuminated the beach as if it were daytime.





At our second hotel, El Presidente Inter-Continental, the food wasn't as good as El Tapanco at Casa Del Mar, but the presentation of their dishes was nice. Here is their take on the tampiqueno dish.






We told people everywhere that we were on our honeymoon -- people are nicer to you and sometimes you get extra perks. The maids at El Presidente made these swans out of bath towels and even dressed them up with a hat and veil.





The Arch at sunset, taken from aboard the Cabo Rey cruise ship. As a reward for attending a timeshare presentation, we got a free sunset and dinner cruise aboard the Cabo Rey. I also got a free bottle of tequila but I think the cruise was a more memorable experience.

daydream

It would be a pretty shallow thing to say, what you drive defines who you are. But I'm sure plenty of car manufacturers and ad agencies would push this as far as they could. What if it were true? I sat down and thought about the top 10 cars that I would love to own, if I had the money and the garage space. Join me on my little daydream as we stroll into my dream garage... (click on name for more info and more photos)

Aston Martin DB9 - Few cars exude style and speed like an Aston Martin. No wonder James Bond chooses this as his ride in the new Casino Royale film.



Audi R8 - One of the newest supercars to leap from the drawingboard to the street, the new Audi R8 is a stunning work of modern style and technology.



Bentley Continental GT/GTC - sometimes you have to roll in style, and there's few better ways to do so than in a Bentley.




BMW M5 - the most practical 500hp 4-door sportscar out there. Because sometimes you have to bring some friends or family along right?



Corvette Z06 - What would a dream car garage be without some American muscle? Well I am not a huge fan of most American cars, but the Z06 represents proudly for the red white and blue.


Ferrari 250GT Spider - No dream car collection should be without a classic Ferrari, and the 250GT has a classic beauty to its lines.



Ferrari F430 A dream garage also needs a modern Ferrari - this one is faster than a Lamborghini Gallardo, and looks to be a classic in the making.



Porsche 911 GT3 RS - the classic Porsche 911 in race-ready trim. This would be the car I would take to the track and race with.




Porsche Cayman S - Sleek lines and curves make this new Porsche even more beautiful than the 911, and the mid-engine platform promises superior handling.




Toyota MR2 Turbo - This one may seem a bit strange amongst the others, but it's been one of my dream cars since high school and I owned one for about 2 years. I hope to someday own another, and this would be my project car to tune and tweak for fun.

Runner-Up: Ariel Atom - the ultimate minimalist track day car -- even more so than the Lotus Elise. But a little too minimalist to make the list -- I do like some comfort in my cars.

You'll notice I have no trucks, minivans or SUV's in my dream garage because I have no use for them. 'Nuff said.

In case you want to go browse a massive collection of supercar photos and wallpapers, and do a little daydreaming of your own, go check out Serious Wheels.

excursion

We're now only a week away from our next big vacation trip, and I have to say I am a bit excited about it -- after considering travel to places like Tahiti, Bora Bora and Hawaii, we decided on Los Cabos in Baja California. A major draw for me was the much shorter travel time so we can spend less time in transit and more time on the beach. It's only about 4 hours total air time to sunny San Jose Del Cabo airport. And let's not forget my love of Mexican food. To go way back in time, I have wanted to visit Mexico (and no, trips to Tijuana do not count) ever since I read all about their beaches in the 1989 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Besides the usual fabulous supermodels in swimwear, the 25th anniversary issue also was chock full of information about Mexico's beaches, and I probably spent more time reading about them than staring at Kathy Ireland's photos. OK maybe not, but I did read through their 100 things to know about Mexico pretty carefully.

Anyways fast forward to 2006 and I managed to talk V. into planning our next vacation in Mexico. Beautiful beaches, abundant seafood, plush resorts -- what's not to like? We'll be in Los Cabos for 1 week and we each picked a hotel.
For the first 4 days we'll stay at my choice, the Casa Del Mar resort -- we'll enjoy a Luxury Suite with ocean views and be pampered at what was picked as one of the top 10 Mexican Beach Resorts by the Travel Channel. It's a fairly small resort with only 56 suites and we're sure to enjoy the quiet and private setting by the beach.

After that, we'll spend 3 more days in Cabo staying at V.'s pick, the Presidente Inter-continental Los Cabos Resort. It's a larger resort -- featuring 400 rooms and 6 restaurants. It's also an "all-inclusive" resort which means all food and drinks are included in the cost. With 24-hour room service, I may never leave the place. I have some reservations about the quality of the food and amenities at these all-inclusive places, but I guess we'll have to see.

Anyways there should be lots to see and do in Los Cabos such as snorkeling, boating, kayaking, horseback riding, cactus-petting. OK I made up that last one. Stay tuned for photos from our trip.

digestive

After last night's dinner my adorable V. said one of the funniest things I had heard in a while, and I just had to immortalize it here before I forget.

We had ordered the Tiramisu for dessert at Broadway Prime after our lavish feast of a dinner, and after the first bite V. was visibly disappointed by the consistency of the creamy layer on top.

"There's nothing worse than bad dessert -- it makes eating dinner a waste of time."

That didn't stop us from finishing the dessert though -- guess it wasn't so bad after all.

carnivorous

With my birthday this week, this past weekend was a never-ending blur of carnivorous consumption. Some good eatin' fo' shizzle.

On Friday, we went to the newly opened Claimjumper at the Pacific Commons shopping center in Fremont. We had reservations for 8:15pm but they are almost a formality. You're in for a wait no matter what. We arrived early at 8:00pm to check in and didn't get seated until 8:30pm. But consider this -- if you show up at dinnertime without a reservation, expect to wait at least 1hr 45min. That's just crazy.

But all that aside, once we were seated at CJ's things were very impressive. We had a massive booth for the 7 of us, and the tables were so spaced apart that it almost felt like we had a private dining area -- noise level was high but I could hardly see any of the other patrons from where I was sitting. The menu is pretty varied and offered something for everyone, from vegetarian to full-blown carnivore (that would be me). I ultimately selected the 24 oz. Prime Rib with garlic cheese toast and cheese potatocakes. Ohhh baby. I couldn't finish it, not without suffering irreparable harm at least. It was good, but not great -- some quality seemed to be compromised to deliver such a large cut of prime rib, it was a little tough.
Fellow carnivore Ryan ordered a hamburger dubbed the Widow Maker with double-thick cheese, bacon and onion rings. Everything was ridiculously huge, and you see people walking out in droves with take-out bags and boxes after their meals, or should I say feasts.

On Saturday, I finished off my prime rib for lunch -- not too shabby. Then for dinner we went out with my dad to Dynasty Chinese Seafood at the Grand Century mall in San Jose. I've been to both the one in SJ and the one in Valco Mall at Cupertino, and the SJ one is much better. The food and service is great at the SJ location, whereas both suffer in Cupertino. Seafood is a specialty of theirs, so we ordered a Boston Lobster with noodles. They also have a $49 dinner special where you can order 4 plates -- this is actually a good deal plus it comes with soup. We had the crab meat and fish maw soup, followed by Seafood in a Bird's Nest, Beef and Scallops in XO sauce, Broiled Sea Bass, and Garlic Fried Chicken. It was all pretty good, but the Sea Bass is the real standout dish -- very nice. It's cooked to perfection and has a slightly crispy and sweet glaze on the outer edges... mmmm good. The lobster was decent but not outstanding for the price they charge... I think it was around $33 for the 2-lb critter.

On Sunday I was left to my own devices for lunch and being a little lazy, snuck down to the local 1/3 lb. burger joint called Bob's Giant Burgers. And they aren't kidding, the burgers are pretty big. The burgers there are good, not spectacular, but hey you gotta support the local joints sometimes, I'd much rather go here than McDonalds for sure.

For dinner, it was off to Santa Clara to meet up with my mom and wait for a table at the Cheesecake Factory inside Valley Fair Mall. They don't take reservations on weekends, but it wasn't too bad -- just about 30 minutes to get a table. We got a massive booth for 3 of us which was pretty funny. The booth had mirrors like the nightclub that Tony Montana liked to hang out at in Scarface -- good for evading the sniper fire, you know? This place is also known for their humungous portions, and I ended up choosing the BBQ Beef Ribs with Onion Rings and French Fries. Wow. You gain weight just looking at it. V. asked me, "is the meat tender"? And as if on cue to respond, the meat fell right off the bone I was holding and rolled off the plate onto my shirt, leaving a nice big BBQ trail. Boy did I look stupid walking around Blockbuster later that night with a big brown stain on my shirt. I compensated by drooling and slapping myself to embarrass V. even more.

Good times, I tell you. And then Monday morning, the day of reckoning at the doctor's office for my annual physical exam. The verdict: -3 lbs. The doctor said "good job, now try working on losing the other 20 lbs". It's gonna be a tough holiday season for sure.

Tuesday night, V. and I revisited Broadway Prime in Burlingame, and I ordered ... what else, prime rib. Yes, more prime rib. The 24 oz cut at CJ's wasn't nearly as satisfying as the 16 oz Broadway cut I had tonight. Fantastic. It's really about quality, not quantity here. But don't get me wrong, I was plenty stuffed when I wobbled out the door.

Ok, tomorrow I think I better have a salad for lunch. The guilt is killing me.

shelby

Since I was going to be travelling to Arizona on business, I decided to splurge a little and rent myself something nice to drive around for a few days. After checking my schedule I decided to stay in Arizona a little longer and take a short daytrip somewhere, do some sightseeing. Last time I was in Arizona I was able to rent a G35 sedan that scooted around town quite nicely, but this time I wanted something more sporty. It wasn't long before I found myself reading up about the Hertz Shelby GT-H. Quite simply, it's a high-performance Mustang GT with some extra embellishments provided by racing legend Carroll Shelby's company, and made available exclusively through Hertz. It's a throwback to the "Rent-a-Racer" program Hertz had in the 1960's where you could rent a hopped-up Shelby Mustang GT350H. Aside from a general resemblance in shape, it also shares the black with gold stripes paint scheme with the old version. It makes for a sharp looking ride. I book it on the web and with my AAA discount, it's mine for $89.99/day with unlimited miles. Rock 'n roll baby!

So I arrive at the Phoenix airport and catch a shuttle to the rental car terminal. The new rental car terminal is stunning by the way, very nice and as large as some small airport terminals. I pick up the car from the Hertz garage and after a very meticulous inspection of the exterior they let me out onto the streets. Almost immediately I am playing with the throttle, listening to the sounds the car makes. The car comes equipped with Sirius radio, but I turn it down to hear the car's own tune. The modern Shelby GT-H is powered by the same V8 in the Mustang GT but has an upgraded performance intake and exhaust system that gives it an extra rumble and roar when you get on the throttle.

The car definitely garners attention -- the fat gold racing stripes, the bulbous front hood and billet aluminum front grille all shout look at me. Before I've even made it to the freeway I pull up next to a Pontiac GTO at a light. The driver rolls down his window and I do the same, giving him a nod and a grin, as he no doubt expects to see. "How is it?" he asks. "I just picked it up, but so far so good," I respond. Despite probably having a 75hp advantage over my ride, he nods with admiration and we part ways.

The rest of the drive to my hotel is uneventful, although I am able to sharpen my impressions of the car a bit more. The car is very comfortable cruising on the highway, and where the tightened suspension made bumpy streets a bit rough, it seemed well suited for higher speeds. Like many performance and luxury cars, the ride, handling and noise levels are deceptively damped enough that you end up going a lot faster than you think you are. 80mph feels like 50mph, and 100mph feels like 80mph... and next thing you know a state trooper's on your tail. I tried to keep it under 80 but just nudging the gas pedal the car wanted to leap forward and swallow the black asphault in front of you. That's V8 torque for you. Hot damn, I think I actually could see the fuel gauge needle moving down as I drove along.

Well for the next 2 days I didn't really get to drive it much as I was pretty much holed up at the resort and conference center for our training workshops. At least the food and accomodations were good (see other entries below). But when the work was done and Saturday morning arrived, I was ready to hit the road. One of my co-worker joined me as passenger and navigator, and we set off north of Phoenix.

The route I had picked was recommended on azcentral.com for driving enthusiasts, and it was pretty much what I had hoped for -- a nice drive up a mountain and down the other side. Traffic was a little more than I expected but we were rewarded with some great vistas and silky smooth roads. Along the way bikers waved and gave us the thumbs-up when they saw the Shelby GT-H. Coming down the other side we caught a glimpse of the red rock formations of Sedona off in the distance, and stopped for lunch in the small town of Jerome perched on the mountainside. The place we had lunch was questionably called the Haunted Hamburger but the burger and steak fries were not bad at all. And the view from their patio deck is quite nice.

After lunch we continued down the mountain and headed towards Sedona. The red rock formations as you approach the town are nothing short of breathtaking, I felt like I was driving up to the Grand Canyon, it was that level of natural and scenic beauty. Photos don't quite do the place justice, but in person it was like the rocks were glowing with red light. We found a few spots to stop and take some photos. Unfortunately there wasn't much time to do any more than that, we had to turn around and head back to Phoenix and catch our flight home.

My overall impressions of the Shelby GT-H? It's a great car to be seen in and fun to drive, but not as responsive as I would like. Unfortunately the rental version comes only with an automatic transmission, and I felt like the clunky transmission was slow to downshift and really robbed the car of its power. When I floored the throttle the car didn't accelerate with the sort of authority that I expected. Maybe it was the weight of 2 guys and their luggage in the trunk, or maybe the engine was somehow restricted in this rental version. My co-worker and I came away not that impressed, we'd both driven other cars that seemed to really push you back in your seat in a way that the GT-H did not. So the car has more bark than bite.

And our whole experience with the car soured on the way home. Somewhere along the way back the radio seemed to lose signal, and not only could we not hear anything on the Sirius radio, but we couldn't listen to the FM radio either. It was like the antenna broke off or something. The rest of the way back I was relegated to listening to the engine, wind noise, and the monstrous hood rattling with bumps. And as if to add insult to injury, I was charged an extra $50 by Hertz for bringing the car back an hour late. I was outraged that they would charge me so much for one hour, for that much you can rent another car for a whole damn day. That's just lame. They made this car out to be something special, and they even checked over the car when I brought it back as if I had rented it to steal parts off the car, or pry off the Shelby badging, etc. But c'mon, the car is worth what, $35,000 maybe? I didn't get this kind of anal scrutiny when I rented the G35. I tried to talk the manager into waiving the charge but he didn't seem to care about losing my future business and I had a flight to catch. The whole ordeal has left me with a bad taste in my mouth and I doubt I will use Hertz again because of it.

scenic drives in Arizona: http://www.azcentral.com/travel/drives/travel_scenicdrives.html

arizona 2

More photos from my trip to Arizona. These were taken near Sedona, AZ.

I really like this photo because it makes it look like I am really taking some off-the-beaten-path route into the desert. I actually just pulled off the side of the main road and went up a hill but it looks so much cooler.



A small bridge just outside of Sedona. Some hiking trails nearby take you to some impressive vistas.






Here's some of the great red rock formations of Sedona. They are very striking to look at in person.








I thought this sign was pretty funny. I mean, it's a serious thing, but the graphic was just so dramatic. I wanted to take a marker and draw a skateboard on the guy's feet. Extreme grinding dude!




Another view of the magnificent red rocks of Sedona. Wish I could have spent more time travelling the desert and checking out the sights.

arizona

Photos from my trip to Arizona. These were taken at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort. More details about the trip to follow.

The resort is located in Scottsdale, Arizona -- a swanky affluent community just outside of Phoenix. There are an incredible number of golf courses and resorts out there which is somewhat incongruous with the oppressive heat of the desert. Temps were around 100F during the day but cooled to a very lovely 70F at night.

The Fairmont resort has a very Southwestern theme to it -- lots of stucco and clay type design to the buildings. There are also an abundance of water fountains and swimming pools. From what I hear the pools are open 24 hours which is somewhat surprising to me -- you'd think at a resort people want some peace and quiet at night, not some loud drunken cannonballers at 4AM.

This Southwestern homage to Princess Leia made me laugh -- well maybe George Lucas spent some time in the Southwest before making Star Wars.





The food at the resort was pretty good for the most part -- the last night there we had dinner at La Hacienda, purportedly one of the best Mexican restaurants in Arizona. The appetizer and entrees were quite good. Check out the size of that shrimp!

There was a fair amount of wine and alcohol provided as well. Let's just say I drank plenty, but others drank even more.






Dessert was pretty cool -- "Three-Milk Bread Pudding with Ice Cream and spun sugar". The spun sugar coil was a nice touch.