(Read the intro post for background on this trip)

We spent our third day of the trip in Yellowstone National Park. This was Andrew’s (24) first time at Yellowstone, and my first time in in maybe 40 years. We entered through the north entrance at 6:45am to beat the crowds. We hit the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Grand Prismatic Spring, and the Old Faithful area plus a few other stops when we saw something cool. Of course, the park is stunning. I didn’t remember how diverse and other-worldly the different parts of the park are – gorgeous waterfalls and canyons, alien-like steam wafting out randomly, colorful geothermal pools, and of course, wildlife like buffalo wandering around. We mostly had the park to ourselves early on, but the traffic picked up over the course of the day. We had to wait for parking at Grand Prismatic and circle a bit for parking at Old Faithful, but we managed to avoid any big traffic jams (or buffalo jams!) At Old Faithful, we hiked up to Observatory Point for a different view of the geyser than usual.

Yellowstone Falls

Old Faithful from Observation Point

Andrew blowing off steam…

We planned to stay in a lodge just outside the east entrance, but there was some mix-up with our reservations. Fortunately, they helped us find a room at the nearby Shoshone Lodge, which turned out to be a great place (and probably an upgrade). Dinner at the lodge was really good. Andrew’s “Bear Bite Burger” was a western-style burger topped with cheddar cheese, onion rings, and a spicy house-made huckleberry barbecue sauce. (The photo I took of the burger was terrible, and Andrew was too impatient to dig in for me to get a better one.) I had fried chicken for a change of pace. Both were excellent. Andrew described them as made with love. The meat was really good quality and tasted good, and the barbecue sauce was exceptional – spicy, sweet, tangy all in one.

We hung out around a campfire with some of the other guests for quite a while; some of the staff joined us later. It turns out, most of them are summer staff who found the job (and previous years’ jobs) on coolworks.com, which I had never heard of.) The other guests were interesting and from all around the country. It was a very enjoyable evening. The cabins at the lodge were basic but comfortable. The food and service are really what made it special. Andrew wants to go back.

Shoshone Lodge cabins (ours was the first)

(Read the intro post for background on this trip)

Andrew (24) got an early start today since we had about seven hours of driving today plus stops. We left Spokane and drove through Coere d’Alene, Idaho; it’s really pretty here with the mountains and big lake. We didn’t have time to stop, but I think it would be nice to come back.

We had hoped to try the Nutburger at Matt’s Place in Butte, Montana; this was one of the historical burgers we had really wanted to try. They cooked this burger on their original 1930s cast iron cooktop and topped it with chopped peanuts and Miracle Whip, which sounds odd but apparently worked. They had even won a James Beard award. Unfortunately, they’ve closed permanently. It looks like they had been for sale for a while including through June 2020; my guess is that no one wanted to buy a restaurant during the pandemic. Sad.

So, we kept driving through to Bozeman, Montana. My dad did his masters degrees at Montana State University there; it was also born there although I have no recollection since we moved away when I was two. Still, it was pretty cool to visit campus and walk around a little. It was crowded with students returning to school, so we didn’t want to brave the lines to buy a t-shirt. I’ll have to get one online.

We finished up in Gardiner, Montana. This is at the north entrance to Yellowstone Park, where we will spend the day tomorrow. After walking around a bit and checking out the Roosevelt Arch marking the entrance to Yellowstone. (Interesting connection to Seattle – the arch was initially proposed by Hiram Chittenden who also was instrumental in the design of the locks in Ballard that are named for him.)

After that we had dinner at the Iron Horse Bar & Grille. In line with our burger theme, Andrew and I tried the elk burger and the bison burger. Meh. The patties were thin but well cooked, with a little char on the outside for flavor. Both were dry and mostly similar to beef burgers, although the elk burger had a little more distinctive and gamey flavor. They listed brioche buns on the menu, but the ones that came out were more like ciabatta. The fries were commercially produced battered fries (the same ones as in one of the restaurants Andrew worked in), but I like them since they’re crispy on the outside and soft inside. Overall, the meal was ok but nothing memorable. The staff was friendly, and the outdoor deck overlooking the Yellowstone River and hills was nice (even though the air quality index was ~150, which is pretty bad and noticeable, presumably due to wildfire smoke.

Andrew with half of an elk burger and half of a bison burger at Iron Horse Bar & Grille

We hope to hit Yellowstone early tomorrow to get ahead of the crowds, so it’s an early night for us!

Andrew (24) and I started out today from Bainbridge Island this morning in our rental Mitsubishi Outlander on our burger-hunting drive to New York. We dipped our hands in the Pacific Ocean (OK, Puget Sound, but it’s part of the Pacific Ocean) before we headed out. If we remember, we’ll do the same in the Atlantic when we finish our transcontinental drive. We then picked up our traditional McDonald's “adventure meal” breakfast. (When the kids were little, whenever we’d go on an “adventure” – a day trip to hike or go to a beach or ride the ferries or something) we’d get McDonald’s hashbrowns on the way. It became a bit of a family tradition. After taking the ferry to Seattle, we started driving east.

Our first stop was Cave B Winery in Quincy, Washington, about 2.5 hours east of Seattle. This was Andrew’s first wine tasting and my first trip to Cave B. It was a really nice place, with an outdoor patio overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. They have accommodations there, and it’s right next door to The Gorge Amphitheatre – an awesome outdoor concert venue. Andrew especially liked their Viogner. I liked their Cabernet Sauvignon. After the tasting, we drove a few miles into George, WA (really, that’s the name of the town) and had super tacos at Mi Lindo Guanojuato. This is a super friendly, pretty big but spartan Mexican restaurant and bar with amazing tortillas. Andrew and the owner had a pretty long conversation in Spanish, which seemed to impress and surprise the owner. (Andrew studied Spanish in high school but really became pretty fluent working in kitchens.)

The rest of our drive to Spokane was pretty straight-forward although the air was a little smoky from wildfires. Andrew and I haven’t traveled much in eastern Washington and were impressed with the landscape. We were equally impressed by Spokane, which I haven’t been to as an adult. I think Andrew as there as a kid with Michelle, but he doesn’t remember. It’s a cute, clean city with a nice park/riverside area by the Spokane River. Riverside Park was originally the site of Expo ‘74, a world’s fair that somehow Spokane managed to land. The centerpiece the river and park are the falls and the former Expo pavilion.

We didn’t have a historical or region burger to sample in Spokane (especially since the milk bottle shaped Mary Lou’s Milk Bottle restaurant was closed on Sundays). We decided on Incrediburger and Eggs (how could we pass up a place with a name like that?!) We ordered their PB&J burger, a classic burger (both with bacon, cheese, and grilled onions), beef fat fries, and onion rings. Both burgers were smallish, bigger than a slider but smaller than you might expect (which was fine since we were still pretty full from lunch).

The PB&J burger has peanut butter sauce, jalapeno jelly, cilantro, Thai aioli, and pickled peppers. I’ve always been a fan of peanut butter on burgers – it adds a nice richness. The jalapeno jelly cut the richness but wasn’t too sweet. The patty was nothing special – no real browning or seasoning. It was fine. The classic burger was straightforward and fine. I liked the brioche buns, but Andrew pointed out that these airy buns collapsed pretty fast, resulting in the wrong meat/bun ratio.

They make all their own condiments there, which was really a highlight. We thought these burgers showed how far you get making a tasty burger with just great toppings and condiments since the meat was only ok – basically just providing texture and warmth. The beef fat fries were the highlight. Fries cooked in animal fat are just way better than those cooked in vegetable oil. The onion rings were the big disappointment of the night. They were overcooked and bland with a heavy batter. They just tasted like burned batter. (Sorry for the bad photo – need to up my game on the food photography.)

They did have wall art that seemed appropriate to start our trip. It was a good first day.

Andrew (24) has been working fulltime in restaurant kitchens for the past five years and has decided that he wants to really make this his profession, so he’s headed to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY to get a degree in Culinary Science. He and I decided to take two weeks to drive across the country from Seattle to get there. On the way we’ll visit national parks, interesting little museums, and two cities I grew up in. But, the really interesting focus of our trip will be finding historically and regionally important hamburgers. Andrew researched the trip using the book Hamburger America plus some online work.

To set up for the trip, we decided to set a baseline using the best burger in Seattle, arguably Loretta’s Northwesterner. This is a tavern near Boeing Field, south of Seattle. We had both the double Tavern Burger (their specialty) and their Deluxe burger as well as fries.

The double Tavern Burger was really fantastic, the stuff of recurring dreams since we visited. It’s a straightforward smash burger with crispy, well-browned patties. The bun-to-meat ratio is perfect and there were minimal toppings – just American cheese, pickles, chopped onions, and special sauce. It was just a super well executed burger (similar the way that In-And-Out is a just a good, well executed burger.)

Surprisingly, the Deluxe burger was nothing special, despite having lettuce, tomato, and red onion. The patty was a thicker burger (their menu calls it “restaurant-style”) vs. a smash burger; it was fine but not as flavorful. I suspect the meat was different (maybe frozen?)

The fries were very good too – fresh cut potatoes, well browned but not crunchy.

Overall, we learned that sharing burgers to try a few different ones is a good idea since the tastiness of the burgers can vary across the menu. We decided we would ask each place we go which burgers they’re famous for and try those. Loretta’s set a very high bar for our trip. I’ll definitely go back there.

Tokyo is one of my all-time, very most favorite cities in the world. Everything you see is either the coolest thing you’ve ever seen or the weirdest. It’s definitely worth going to multiple times. I’ve sent some variation of this note out to friends for years, so I figured I should finally just publish it. I’ll update it as I visit and learn new things.

Getting around

Airports

There are two main airports for Tokyo: Narita and Haneda. Narita is the bigger international airport, but it’s pretty far away (an hour by bus or train). Haneda is the older airport in town; it was recently refurbished so it’s my first choice if you can use it.

If you fly into Narita, there are two good ways to go to/from the airport. Taxis are not one of them (very expensive and Narita is far from town.)

• Narita Express (N’EX) – This is the train that goes from the airport to Tokyo Station and Shinjuku Station. From the train station, you can either take the subway or a taxi to your hotel, depending on how much luggage you have and your confidence navigating Japanese subways after a long flight. This is my favorite way to get to/from the airport during rush hour. I usually take this route when I arrive in Tokyo. Look for the JR East (Japan Railway) signs after you exit customs. You need to buy the ticket in the airport lobby then walk to the N’EX stop in the airport (maybe a ten minute walk). First class isn’t worth the upcharge (just a little more legroom).
• Airport Limousine Bus – This bus goes from the airport directly to your hotel. It’s super convenient and the least expensive solution. The only downside is that it can be deadly slow in rush hour. I usually take this from the hotel to the airport. Buy the ticket from the concierge ahead of time to reserve space. Note, when you arrive at the airport, there will be a security check where police come aboard the bus and check passports. You MUST have your passport on your person, not in your luggage stored below in the bus. Also, don’t lose your luggage claim tag since they’ll check them as you pick up your luggage.

If I fly into Haneda, I usually just take a taxi into town and back, although you can also take the subway or Airport Limousine Bus. There are excellent restaurants upstairs on the outside of security. I especially love Ramen Setagaya.

Taxis

Taxis in Tokyo are excellent – clean and easy to find; they are, however, very expensive (about USD$10 just to get in.) Uber is available there too, although I haven’t found the need to use it. Apparently, Line Taxi is more popular (since the chat app Line is super popular too.) One note: the driver will open/close your door via a lever. Do NOT close the door after you get into or out of the taxi since you may swing his lever and hit the driver. (Funny aside, taxi drivers around the world hate Japanese tourists because they leave their doors open.) Also, bring a taxi card or a note written in Japanese with your destination. Many drivers do not speak any English.

Subways/trains

Tokyo’s subways are awesome and very on time. They’re the best way to get around. They can, however, be confusing since there are several rail companies operating in the same stations. If you buy single tickets, you have to know which company to buy from and then use their station entrances/exits. You may also need to pay for transfer tickets. Ticket price is based on distance, so you need to know where you are and where you’re going. Use the big maps to figure this out, but it can be time consuming to figure out. Most rides in town are 100-230 yen.

It’s much more convenient to get a Pasmo card or a Suica card. These are stored value cards that you just swipe as you enter and exit the stations. This is much easier than trying to figure out how much your ticket price should be for each trip. You should buy a card at a subway station when you first arrive in Tokyo; you can get them from some of the ticket machines. Many stores (like the awesome 7-11s) and vending machines accept Pasmo and Suica cards for payment too. There’s apparently some difference in which train lines accept which cards, but I’ve just used a Pasmo with no problem. The minimum first purchase is 1000 yen (~USD$10). You can add money to the card later as needed; the turnstyle will tell you how much you have left as you leave the station.

The subway stations are a cool tourist destination on their own, especially the bigger ones like Shinjuku Station (busiest train station in the world) or Tokyo Station. Lots of cool shops and excellent restaurants. They can be huge, so make sure you use the maps to figure out where you need to exit the station. If you pick the wrong exit, you could be very far from your destination or even on the wrong side of the tracks with no easy way to get across other than going back through the station. If you talk to someone at your destination (e.g. a restaurant) you should ask them which station exit you should use. During rush hour, the stations can be ridiculously crowded. This can be fun to see (e.g. Shinjuku Station on the Yamanote Line platform) or horrific. Plan accordingly.

Street addresses

The Japanese have the most f’ed up street addressing system. They seldom use the street name in the address and house numbers (if there’s a number at all) are set by the order the building was constructed, not by the relative location on the block. Even when they rebuilt after WWII, they didn’t fix the stupid thing. As a result, maps are critical. Most business cards for a restaurant, etc. will have a map. Make sure you get maps from the concierge.

You’ll often see addresses in the form “5-5-8 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo”. Important concept: Japanese name the block, not the street. “Tokyo” is the city. “Chuo-ku” is the ward. These aren’t too helpful in this context. The first number is the district #. The second is the block#. The last is the building #.  “Ginza” is the sub-area in the district. You’ll see the block numbers on street signs and on buildings. Here’s a good visual explanation: http://sivers.org/jadr

Neighborhoods

Although Tokyo is one continuous, huge city, it is organized into wards and districts, similar to New York City’s boroughs and districts. When you’re talking about an place in Tokyo, you generally start by describing by ward or district (these are the places like Roppongi, Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Meguro that I mention below). More info from Wikipedia.

Hotels

I’ve stayed in a few hotels for work and personal trips.

• Grand Hyatt Roppongi: Great place in the middle of Roppongi. Nice to get a room with club access for an easy breakfast or a drink after walking around all day. This is our go-to hotel in Tokyo.
• Mandarin Oriental: This hotel is in Nihonbashi, an older, more business-y area of town. The hotel is on the top few floors of this 30+ story skyscraper. This is probably the nicest place we’ve stayed and the one we’d probably go back to again if not for the price. The restaurants are crazy excellent.
• Four Seasons at Marunouchi: This hotel is in the center of town, between the Imperial Palace and Tokyo Station. The staff will pick you up from Tokyo Station and lead you back to the hotel if you like (it’s that close). Service is impeccable, as you’d expect from a Four Seasons.
• Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel: This is a good business hotel, super well-located a stone’s throw from Shibuya Station. For people visiting Amazon Japan, this a convenient place to stay since it’s just a quick subway ride to Meguro, where the office is.
• Hotel New Otani: This is the grand dame of Tokyo hotels with a very 60s cool vibe; it’s in Akasaka near the Imperial Palace. The fact it was in a James Bond movie (You Only Live Twice), has a beautiful garden, and has two Kyubei Sushi branches (see below) makes it especially great. The rooms are small but pretty up-to-date. I can’t remember the difference between the Main tower and Garden rooms, so check reviews online before booking. I’ve frequently seen older Japanese women in kimono meeting in the garden restaurant/bar, which is cool to see.

I haven’t stayed at the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku yet (made famous in the movie Lost in Translation), although I’ve had a drink there. Other friends have recommended it highly.

Places to Eat

Tokyo is one of my very favorite eating cities in the world. Restaurants in Tokyo almost always specialize in one thing (ramen, katsu, etc.) vs. serving a wide range of stuff like Japanese places in the US. Tabelog is the local equivalent of Yelp. Most of it is in Japanese, not surprisingly, but the reviews and photos may still be helpful. Yelp is there too. Most of the restaurants I list below have English menus (I’ve noted the ones that don’t); the staff will have varying degrees of English, but you should be able to get by with pointing at the menus.

Ramen in Tokyo is awesome, as you might expect, with a lot of diversity of styles. Note, there can be a line at these places. It’s common to get some gyoza (Japanese potstickers) and a beer with ramen. Some eat rice too, but that seems too filling and crazy to me.

• Jangara Ramen: Rich, pork (tonkatsu) based broth, sometimes described as funky (this is Kyushu style). I always go back to Jangara. There are a few branches including one on Omotesando Dori (Ave) – nice shopping/tourist street). Here’s my blog post. And another. There’s another one in Akihabara, the electronics district – good for a bite if you’re out electronics shopping. I seem to recall they only take cash, but that could be a mistake.
• Ippudo Ramen: This is a lighter (than Jangara) style of pork broth, originally marketed for women. It is also amazing. There are several branches of this place too. This is my sons’ favorite place. My blog post. There are Ippudo Ramen stores in San Francisco and NYC now (as well as other cities around the world).
• Ramen Jiro: This is the advanced class, not for the faint of heart. Jiro has been described as the “Ramen Nazi” ala the Soup Nazi. It was even highlighted in an NPR story. This is a super thick, fatty, rich, amazing bowl of noodles with a cult fanbase. No English here, but then there’s virtually no talking. You wait in line, buy a ticket from the machine to determine if you want a regular bowl, big bowl, and/or extra meat (get the low priced one – it’s huge). Bring cash and coins for the machine. When you come up in line, sit down at the bar. You will not get to sit with your friends. Put the ticket on the bar. Just before you get your bowl, they’ll ask you for options. You must reply in Japanese if you want vegetables/beansprouts (yasai), an extra ladle of pork fat dumped over your noodles – amazing (abura), and garlic (ninniku). When the bowl arrives, stick your face in and eat as quickly as you can. No talking. When you’re done, put the bowl back up on the counter, wipe your place setting, and leave. Quickly. It’s a bit intimidating, but it’s a truly Japanese experience. Some people (including me) simply cannot get enough, others are grossed out by it. Here’s a good step-by-step guide. There are several branches of this place too. My blog post
• Menya Ishin: This is a special ramen place; their soup is chicken-based vs. the pork based broths almost everywhere else. They’re in Meguro, near the Amazon offices, which is bonus for me. However, I don’t think they have any English menus.

Katsu is also excellent. These are fried pork chops, sometimes served with Japanese curry (katsu curry) – one of my favorites.

• Mai-sen: This is a famous shop with delicious katsu. The main shop is a few blocks in from Omotesando Dori. TripAdvisor write-up
• Katsukura: This is my wife’s favorite katsu place (she’s always right…) It’s on the 14^th floor of the Takeshimaya Department Store (tall tower) in Shinjuku. Excellent and a different, more sophisticated vibe than Mai-sen.
• Butagumi: Another excellent katsu place. We go here often since the Roppongi Hills location is pretty convenient. Bon Appetit write-up

Tempura (deep fried fish and veggies) in Tokyo is an art and way better than in Seattle. The most ridiculous places have Michelin stars and will set you back hundreds of dollars per person. In the interest of frugality, go to Tsunahachi. There are several branches.

Other places I love (in no particular order):

• Morimoto XEX: This is a Michelin one star restaurant in Roppongi opened by the Iron Chef Morimoto. Crazy awesome steak house – good for your Kobe beef fix. Not cheap (at least USD$150-200/pp). I still dream about this meal though. My blog post.
• Keyakizaka: This is another teppanyaki/steak place; it’s located in the Grand Hyatt Roppongi. My family still talks about the Christmas meal we had there once. Andrew (21) hasn’t ever liked fish (even in Japan) but he ate every morsel of fish he had at Keyakizaka. Another not cheap place though.
• Inakaya: This is a fun robata-yaki place in Roppongi. You point at stuff you want to eat (fish, veggies, kebabs, etc.) and they grill it for you. Simple and tasty. No place like this in Seattle. My blog post.
• Restaurant Kurosawa: This is another one of our very favorite places. They make their own soba here (buckwheat noodles) but everything is done very precisely and well. Nice décor too. It’s an homage to the Japanese film director by the same name. Right across the street from the Roppongi Grand Hyatt entrance. My blog post
• Kyubey Sushi: This is a famous sushi chain with a few locations. Ideally, sit at the bar and order the omakase (chef’s choice). You can keep eating until you’re full, then wave him off. He’ll put the “right” seasoning on each piece (a brush of soy sauce, a little salt, whatever). Don’t dip into wasabi/soy here.
• Harajuku Gyoza: We almost always stop at this gyoza (potsticker/dumpling) place for lunch when we’re in Tokyo. It’s delicious and pretty cheap. It’s a good stop if you’re checking out the Omotesando/Harajuku/Meiji Shrine area.
• Breakfast buffet at the Mandarin Oriental: We’ve had many good breakfast buffets in hotels around the world, but this was the Tiger Woods/Serena Williams/Wayne Gretzsky/Michael Phelps of buffets – special among the special. I think it was technically in the K’Shiki Italian restaurant, but the buffet drew from all of the restaurants at the hotel (most of which I think are Michelin-starred or should be). Everything down to the eggs and milk were sourced from the best places around Japan and were miraculously tasty. It doesn’t hurt that the restaurant and hotel enjoy crazy views since they’re on the top few floors of a skyscraper.
• Itadori Uogashi Senryo: This is a casual little place in the Tsukiji Outer Market (near the old fish market) that serves amazing mixed seafood bowls. I had their specialty: mixed seafood hitsumabushi. This is a big wooden bowl with rice and different kinds of sashimi. You first eat the rice and sashimi. Then, then they mix in sea urchin/uni, which adds a smoky depth. Then, then add soup to it to make a ochazuki (rice soup). Each phase is remarkable and delicious. We went for breakfast after touring the market. (Now that the fish market has moved, you probably won’t be there as early, but it’s still worth exploring the area and eating there.)
• Sangosho Moana Makai: If you go to Kamakura, you must go to this beachside restaurant for the very best Japanese curry I’ve ever had. It’s so ridiculously good that Michelle has spent years trying to replicate it. Their beef salad is almost equally memorable and definitely worth having too. They’re super popular and don’t take reservations AFAIK, so get in line before they open (and have your whole party with you). It’s doubly good to go on a nice day since they have outdoor seating overlooking the ocean and beach.
• KITKAT Chocolatory: This is a crazy little shop with fancy KitKat flavors (yes, KitKat candy bars). Upstairs is a ice cream shop/snack cafe where you can enjoy some of the KitKat flavors.

A few other things

• “Draft beer” is “nama beeru”. It will always be icy cold and delicious…
• It’s customary to say “ita daki mas” when someone brings you food.
• Bakeries in Japan can be ridiculously good, especially for French-style pastries.
• 7-11 has very good to excellent quick meals. Really. They are totally different in Japan and China than in the US. Hot deli food plus good refrigerated meals.
• Yoshinoya is a good fast-food place with yakiniku beef (thin slices of marinated beef) on rice.

Other good things to eat – ask your concierge for recommendations

• Shabu shabu: this is where you cook meat, veggies in a shared pot, like a fondue. Delicious.
• Yakiniku: Korean-style grilled meat – grill at your table. Awesome.
• Yakitori: grilled meat on skewers, like satays. I like the grilled chicken wings and grilled chicken meatballs. This is bar fare. Eat with beer and edamame (boiled soybeans). Definitely more casual.
• Izakaya: Japanese bar food and just awesome. Kind of like tapas/appetizers with grilled/fried bits, sashimi, salads, etc.
• Kaiten sushi: this is conveyor belt sushi. It’s lower-grade/lower-priced sushi than places like Kyubey above, but better than most conveyor belt sushi in the US.
• Coffee: The Brazilians (Columbians?) exported super high grade coffee beans to Japan early on, so the Japanese developed a taste for really good coffee. Find a good (expensive) coffee shop for a great cup.

Things to do

• Tsukiji Fish Market area: The fish market moved recently (October 2018), but the area should still be fun to shop around the area – great shops with awesome knives, Japanese dishware (which we love), other food, etc. Also, fun to eat around the area, as noted above. Tekka-don (tuna sashimi over rice) is a common local dish – very fresh tuna indeed…(My blog post) 
• Harajuku/Omotesando/Meiji Shrine: I lump these together because they’re all close to each other, but they’re really three things:
• Harajuku – Start at Harajuku Station. On Sunday mornings, the kids come out all dressed in their cosplay – rockabillies, Lolitas, etc. There’s a bridge by the entrance to the park where they seem to congregate. Turn right after you leave the station, as I recall.
• Takeshita Dori (Street) is just across the big road from the station. It has more youth culture shops, etc.
• Meiji Shrine – this is a lovely park with an old wooden temple. I almost always come here when I first arrive in Tokyo. It’s a good place to walk around and be in nature after a long flight. My blog post 
• Omotesando Dori (Ave): sometimes called the Champs Elysees of Tokyo. Nice (expensive) shopping street. Jangara Ramen, Maisen, and Harajuku Gyoza (listed above) are in this area. The Kiddyland toy store is here too.
• Akhiabara: This is the electronics district. Tons of huge electronics and camera shops. Yodobashi Camera is the biggest, baddest camera shop. Bring your passport for duty free purchases. We like the video game arcades too.
• Roppongi: Upscale area, more popular with expats. Big, upscale malls at Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown (a few blocks from each other). Fun nightlife, but watch out a bit for the dudes pushing drugs. The Mori Art Museum is good too. We usually stay in Roppongi, hence all the restaurants above.
• Asakusa: Fun area. I usually wind up here on most visits. There’s a nice temple (Senso-ji) here plus lots of little shops/booths on the way up to the temple. Find a place making fresh sembei (rice crackers) – awesome. The guys on the central drag will be more expensive than on the ones off to the side, but heck, they’re only a Y100 (~USD$1 so maybe you don’t care…)
• Imperial Palace: I’ve been here once. It’s pretty; good for photos on a nice day. Good place for a run, but note that everyone runs in one direction (CCW) around the park. The entire loop is a 5K.
• Shinjuku: Go out the east exit of the station (west is all office buildings) Lots of shopping here. Fun place to check out at night – pachinko, etc. The department store basements all have awesome food shops, like in England, etc. Takeshimaya is the most famous/best. There’s a Starbucks, REI, and Microsoft office near the south entrance of the station, so it’s sometimes called “little Seattle”. Krispy Kreme is there too…
• Shibuya: Busy shopping area. Lots of young people around. There’s a famous, super busy intersection by the subway station, called Shibuya Crossing. Fun to watch. You can also watch from the two story Starbucks looking over the crossing. Be sure to visit the statue of Hachiko at the station. This is in honor the dog that used to meet his professor owner every day after work; even after the owner passed away, Hachiko kept coming back every day. The Mandarake shop in Shibuya is a well-known manga/anime shop; it’s a basement overflowing with geeky goodness.
• Kamakura: Nice day trip by train to get away from Tokyo a bit. The main draw is a big Buddha statue, but the town is good too.
• Tokyo Disney: I’ve never been, but if you’re collecting Disney visits, here you go. You can take the subway/JR line there.
• Video games: ask the concierge to find you some video game arcades. Japan has way cooler games. I usually take my boys to a few in Shibuya. Some good ones in Akhiabara too. My blog post
• Look at the vending machines. Although these are less fun than they used to be, you can find all kinds of crazy stuff in them including panty hose, full-sized bottles of wine, hot soup (Michael (18) especially loves the corn soup), etc.
• Andrew (21) is a huge Gundam (big battle robots) fan, so a visit to the giant (60’) high Gundam statue in Odaiba was a must. They’ve replaced the one we saw a few years ago with a new one.

Shops

• Muji: This is a global phenomenon now and my family’s favorite chain store. (I’ve also been to the Mujis in Beijing, San Francisco, Vancouver, New York City, London, Paris, Munich, and Madrid. I have a bit of a Muji problem.). They have great office supplies plus clothes (too small for all of us), housewares, small appliances, furniture, food, and even pre-fab houses. You’ll see them all over Tokyo. Most will not have everything; the main store in Ginza is the best, but they’re all awesome.
• Sake Shop Fukumitsuya: This is a definite favorite of mine if you like sake and sakeware. Lovely, lovely sake glasses and pitchers. Excellent sake from the Fukumitsuya brewery, including aged sake – a rarity. They also have a sake bar. However, really no English spoken here. They have shops in Ginza and Tokyo Midtown. My blog post
• Takeshimaya: Big department store chain and the first department store in Japan. You’ll find everything here. The food court in the basement is gorgeous and awesome, although there’s no place to eat there so you’ll have to take away.
• Kamawanu: There are a few of these shops that sell tenugui – printed fabric used for towels, gift wrapping, handkerchiefs, wall hangings, etc. These make great gifts. We almost always visit when we’re in Tokyo; we use their tenugui all the time.
• Yodobashi: The biggest, baddest camera store ever. Worth going just to see the accessories.
• BIC Camera: The second biggest, baddest camera store ever.
• Don Quixote: I’ll admit, I don’t love this dollar store as much as my wife does, but it’s an amusing place to browse. Watch for odd products like face tissues/kleenex for men.

Cultural tips and other stuff

• No tipping, except if you have a private tour guide
• Hand over things like business cards and credit cards with two hands with the writing facing the person you’re handing it to, so it’s easy for him/her to read.
• Receive stuff like business and credit cards with two hands. If you’re receiving a card, read over the card thoughtfully. Treat the card as if it’s the person, so put it away nicely. Don’t shove it into your pocket.
• Don’t try to figure out the bowing thing. It’s a very complex deal. A small nod is probably all you need.
• In meetings the most senior person will sit in the middle of the table, like Jeff does. The most senior person from the other side will sit across (ala the hot seat). Seniority then sorts from the middle.
• In meetings, junior guys may defer to the more senior folks. You may need to draw them out.
• Remember that Japanese drive on the left side of the road, so watch out crossing the street.
• Credit cards are pretty widely accepted now including in taxis, but some cash is good for smaller places.
• Offices can be warm by US standards, so dress in layers.
• Japanese shops will take great pride in wrapping whatever you buy very nicely. It’s honestly a bit of a hassle since it takes a long time.
• Enjoy the fancy electronic toilets. Here’s a YouTube video explaining the buttons, since it can be a little intimidating the first time you encounter one. Note, the seats can be heated too, which is lovely but surprising the first time…

I was just in Paris for a quick, fun stop on the way back to Seattle from a business trip to Dubai and Bangalore. My travelling colleague and friend, Andrew, is really into craft cocktails, so we checked out the Experimental Cocktail Club in the 2nd Arrondissement.

This cool, intimate bar was simply awesome. We sat at the bar and were treated to extremely well-made cocktails (they were very careful to measure and taste everything). The bartenders, who spoke excellent English (or were English), were happy to chat and discuss different spirits; they were generous in sharing tastes of different spirits as we discussed them.

They had a small but well-selected bottle collection including some amazingly rare, age-statement Japanese whisky; they had apparently inherited them from another bar that went out of business.

Anyway, if you’re in Paris and enjoy a good cocktail, I highly recommend Experimental Cocktail Club.

37 Rue Saint Sauveur 75002 Paris

Well, I sucked at writing blog posts in 2016. I'm actually cheating now and back-dating this post by a day so there's an entry in 2016. I did think about writing a lot of posts since it was an interesting year. Here's a quick recap, as much for my future reference as anything else.

We started powerboating in earnest this year. Michelle and I were sailors before we had kids, but last year we tried cruising powerboats and really enjoyed it. We chartered again in February and decided we could even enjoy winter cruising, so in June we bit the bullet and bought a 47 foot Selene trawler. After some refitting and renaming her Tonic (her former name was Eric K), we cruised her up into Canada as far as Princess Louisa Inlet (really stunning). We spent most weekends aboard through the summer and fall and look forward to more cruising. Since we're only a few years from being empty nesters, we're also using this boat to see if we could realistically downsize and live aboard. Stay tuned on that front.

Tonic in Princess Louisa Inlet

Andrew (19) scouting ahead as we cruise in Canada.

 

I also continued to race sailboats with my buddies this year aboard the J-24 Rajun' Cajun. We moved from racing in the Lake Washington J-24 fleet to the much less competitive (and more fun) Duck Dodge races in Lake Union. We've been racing together for so many years that we've lost count, but this was the first year I drove the boat for a few races (since our skipper Rico was out cruising on his new boat). We didn't do as well as usual, but it was fun and a good learning experience (except the part where I hit another boat, causing a bunch of damage to their outboard...)

 

Aside from boating, we had a quick trip in June to Chicago for my cousin Eric's wedding. It was a fun occasion and great to see family from all over the country in one place.

Me photobombing Eric and Melodie while Andrew (19) looks on. Michael (16) is on his phone, as usual.

 

Three generations of Chor boys and Michelle

 

Michael turned 16 this summer and got his drivers license. I'm not sure who is more nervous, Michelle and I or Michael (although he is a good driver). Oddly (at least to me), Andrew (19) never got his license. He's gotten back into rock climbing in a big way when he's not playing PC video games with his friends online or telling me everything is my fault.

 

Andrew (19) finished his first year at Evergreen State College. He decided to take some time off, so he's working at a nearby ramen restaurant now. We also had our first drink together in Canada, where the drinking age is 19. It was fun to hang out in a pub near the marina we were in and shoot pool together.

 

I started going to JabX Kickboxing, a nearby gym, in November of last year. I was a mess when I started; I couldn't even get through the ten minute warm-up. Here's me lying the on the ground after my first warm-up.

Despite the inauspicious start, I kept it up all year, going most weekday mornings at 6:00am for the hour-long workout. I'm much stronger now. I also lost about twenty pounds and two inches off my pant size.

I got called to jury duty again, just a little over a year from my last time. This time I had a civil trial involving a slip-and-fall outside a local grocery store. Although the plaintiff was severely injured and was really sadly impacted by his injuries, we found in favor of the defendant. Despite the inconvenience of being on jury duty again, I thought it was interesting to see a civil case and contrast that with the criminal case from the year before.

 

On the work front, I completed my third year at Amazon. I continued to lead the Detail Page team (we make the shopping pages that have the information about each product like the picture, title, price, reviews, etc.) and added the Shopping Experience Platform team (we build the user interface framework and key API platform for Amazon's shopping experience as well as ensuring the site is great for customers with disabilities.) Despite whatever reputation Amazon has for being a bad place to work, I still really love it there. A big part of my team is in Bangalore, so I went there three times this year. On one trip, I ran into a bandh (protests), trapping us at the hotel for two days and forcing us to leave the office early one day. Fortunately, we had fun on other trips. I got to catch a performance at the Hard Rock Cafe by a local band, Agam, that two of my teammates were in. The Hard Rock staff apologized about the high cover price saying there was a "famous Indian band" playing; we told them we knew the band. They were skeptical until our friends came down to welcome us. It was cool to see the crowd all singing their songs. They're really good and worth checking out.

 

I also finally left the airport in Dubai and spent a little time exploring there with some of my colleagues. We checked out the Burj Khalifa, hung out with some friends from Beijing, shopped around the old areas of Dubai, and went dune bashing in the desert (where our 4x4 got stuck and had to be rescued). Here I am in the desert, waiting for help. The Facebook caption contest returned themes Dune, Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, lost golf balls, new Amazon offices, and how generally dumb I was to wear black into the desert.

Of course, I was most happy to find the "pork room" in the Burj Khalifa, a big deal in a Muslim country.

In the new year I'll be starting a new job in the same division, leading the new Shopping OS team. I'll keep the platform parts of my current team and add more platformy parts. We'll be building the next generation of Amazon's shopping application platform. It should be interesting, but I'll miss the detail page part of my team.

 

Personally, I learned to enjoy my life more. I stopped commenting on politics on Facebook. It was no fun and frankly kind of stressful to get into those kinds of discussions with friends, especially in such a contentious year. I was also reminded that our time on earth is precious. Two of my former teammates lost their spouses unexpectedly and a teammate on a partner team suddenly passed away. They were all younger than I am and were apparently healthy. We need to really enjoy every day.

Here's to enjoying every day of 2017!

After our amazingly fun rafting trip on the Deschutes River last year, Andrew (15) and I decided to go rafting with some friends again this year. Even better, Michael (12) decided to join us this time.

Our friend and trip planner Don chose the Grande Ronde River for this year's trip. This river is in the north-eastern part of Oregon. Like the previous trips, we used the awesome Oregon Whitewater Adventures guys. We drove down to La Grande the day before and enjoyed the comforts of the Rodeway Inn motel there (a little different from the resorts we normally frequent.) The next morning, we drove to Minam and set out on our three day, two night adventure.

The Grande Ronde River was a nice change from the Deschutes. It was a little less exciting from a rafting perspective; it had fewer big rapids (it's rated 2-3 vs. the Deschutes at 3-4) and dropped more consistently (vs. the pool-and-drop Deschutes). However, the scenery and camping were more picturesque -- more green than the high desert Deschutes valley. The additional moisture meant we could have fires in the evening too - a big advantage! Plus, there were no trains to interrupt our sleep and fewer other people on the river. We went around 50 miles over the three days -- pretty easy.

Like last year, we had two boats with our friends plus two gear boats. The staff did all of the work; we only had to set up our tents. We had great water fights and nice rafting, although we swam less since the water was more shallow this late in the season. On the Grande Ronde, there were no Bureau of Land Management campgrounds, so we camped in more primitive sites; in particular, there were no outhouses, so the staff set up a tent and porta-potty (really a seat on top of a big ammo can). Our guides were excellent again, with Colby and Jeff returning from last year and the crazy and wonderful Pamela plus the owner Dave joining us this year.

We all enjoyed the trip greatly and are already looking forward to next year.

The boys and I on the river.

The kids playing cards (BS) in camp. It got pretty hardcore!

Our camp site the second night.

One day at lunch, we hiked up the nearby hill for a better view. It was quite steep, actually, but well worth it.

The views along the river were lovely. The hill in the background is the one we climbed. We made it about 2/3 the way up.

Michael enjoying a swim.

Michael enjoying some quiet time in camp, reading by the river. One of the best parts of the trip was having no electronics and no cellular signal.

Andrew (14) and I spent the last three days rafting on the Deschutes River in northern Oregon, about two hours east of Portland. We went with our friend Selva and plus two of his friends; they had taken this trip a few years ago and decided it would be fun to bring their kids along. We were joined by another father/son pair (although the son was bit older than the other kids, entering his senior year of college).

We drove down from Seattle the day before and stayed at the Best Western in Madras (the Mexican restaurant next door has the biggest margaritas I've ever seen.) The next morning we started our adventure in Warm Springs and drifted almost fifty miles over the three days, getting out a little past Maupin. I didn't know whether the trip would be strenuous since I haven't really done much rafting before and have never done a multi-day trip. It turned out to be quite easy. The Deschutes is a "pool-and-drop" river. This meant we had long stretches of pretty calm water where we drifted along, paddling only to help correct our position in the river. Occasionally, we'd hit a short stretch of rapids which required a few seconds of hard paddling then more drifting. The guides steered the boat from the back and gave us instructions of when and how to paddle. Our group filled two boats plus we had two gear boats, packed with dry bags containing our camping gear and effects, the kitchen, food, camp chairs, etc. Raft camping is a lot like car camping in the sense you can live pretty comfortably since weight and space are less of an issue than in backpacking.

We generally left shore around 9:30-10:00am and rafted until 11:30-ish when we'd stop for lunch. We'd push off again around 1:00pm and raft until 3:00pm where we'd set up camp for the night. This left us a lot of time to chat, admire the high desert scenery, look for wildlife (including wild horses, bald eagles, turkey vultures, and dozens of ospreys), and engage in boat-to-boat water fights. There were a few exciting Class III rapids including "Buckskin Mary", which Andrew and I swam twice -- very fun. There were many camp sites along the river with pit or composting toilets so there wasn't too much trouble getting good sites with enough space for our group, both for lunch and overnight. We stayed at the Wingdam camp site the first night and Buckskin Mary the second. We ended our trip at Sandy Beach, which is the last pullout before Sherars Falls. We had good weather with only a few rain drops and alternating sunshine and slightly overcast skies. Our clothes dried very quickly each day. The evenings were warm so sleeping in the tents was not a problem. It was pretty different from camping in Western Washington where the nights are colder and more damp. The only downer of the camp sites were the trains that ran along the river; they came through a few times per night and were quite noisy.

We did our trip through the very excellent Oregon Whitewater Adventures; they did an excellent job making the trip comfortable, fun, and safe. I recommend them highly and would go again with them. They took care of pretty much everything -- loading and unloading, cooking, and cleanup. The food was pretty basic but good -- French toast/pancakes or eggs for breakfast, cold cut sandwiches or Costco oriental chicken salad for lunch, poached salmon or Spanish chicken and rice for dinner (although they forgot the rice so we had Spanish chicken and toast instead). The other rafters brought beer, wine, liquor, and soft drinks so we had plenty to drink in addition to what the company provided. Our guides Lauren, Colby, Jack, and Jeff were fantastic -- very friendly and great with the kids, safe and expert on the river, and full of stories and jokes.

Andrew and I had a really great time. I could easily have kept going on a few more days, and we're both eager to do more rafting trips.

 

The beautiful high desert landscape

 

Andrew and I scouting Whitehorse Rapids.

 

Camp life

 

Our camp site at Buckskin Mary.

 

Andrew playing "Paddle of Trust" where you stand up, hook paddles with another person, and lean back. Invariably, one or both players gets wet.

 

Not that Andrew minded getting wet. He jumped into the cold water as often as possible

 

All-in-all, it was a great mini-vacation.

Andrew (14) and I spent the last three days camping at Spencer Spit State Park on Lopez Island, which is in the San Juan Islands north of Seattle). We had never been the Lopez Island before; we found this park through recommendations from friends on Facebook (search really is better with your friends...) Aside from a huge downpour that started right after we set our tent up, the weather was perfect -- sunny and warm.

 

The park has an odd very pointy beach, the result of alternating tides that have build sand up to form this point, aimed at the heart of the little nearby Frost Island.

 

We tried our hand at sea kayaking for the first time. We launched from the south side of the beach and circumnavigated Frost Island. We managed to successfully stay dry until a fell on my ass getting out of the boat, soaking myself in the process.

 

We spent a lot of time on the beach. Andrew loves driftwood beaches; he's always making stuff. Knowing this, I brought along some paracord (always useful and good to have around). Andrew used the paracord to fashion a hoe, chiseling holes through a shell and tying it onto a driftwood stick.

 

The shells made nice targets for our new slingshot, which we tried out for the first time. They exploded in a very satisfying way when hit, although we didn't manage to hit them directly too often since we were still learning how to aim the shots.

 

We also used some shells to boil seawater, in an experiment to harvest salt. After boiling off the water, we did manage to get a little salt in the bottom of the shells. I think we'd have to keep adding seawater to get enough salt to scrape out. Note: the shells can pop and explode, I'm guessing due to pockets of moisture in the shells. Andrew got hit by a "shell fragment".

 

Beyond our beach adventures, we played with a night-vision scope, which was much more fun in the woods than at home. We even watched a doe for a while through the scope. She didn't notice us (or didn't care) so we got to watch her feeding on the trail for a while. (No photos of this, unfortunately.)

Our campsite (#2) was pretty good. It got sun for a good part of the day and was conveniently located to the water, garbage, and restrooms. It was OK private, but a little noisy from the nearby group camping sites (although I'm not sure any sites would have been quieter). The park has a few walk-in camp sites on the beach, which would have been fun to try, although they're not very private and use a composting toilet instead of the nice clean flush bathrooms servicing the other parts of the campground. (They do have a cart at the parking lot to help you bring your gear down to the site, however.) It's also worth remembering that you can buy firewood at the campground for $5/bundle. (The "camp hosts" will even deliver it to your camp site); bringing enough firewood is always a hassle, so this is a nice perq, although I don't know if they have this service year-round.

We both really enjoyed the campout (and the visit to Lopez Village). Andrew kept saying "this is the life" and thanking me for taking him along. It was definitely a trip I'll always remember.