Down the Rabbit Hole

I expected bright lights, loud music, and a long queue of cars making that last turn into the parking lot. I was mistaken because my family encountered a wall of black emptiness as we navigated the driveway.  That darkness slowly gave way to soft flickers of   light along the pedestrian paths, gradually turning into an otherworldly experience. Once we reached the exhibit area, we realised the scale of the place (thousands upon thousands of lights... and I am not exaggerating), yet the overall effect was more subtle, like the bioluminescent forest in  Avatar .  This was our first visit to Sensorio, and we were quickly drawn in by its magical atmosphere. Mommy, Daddy, Donan, and I were all drawn in by the magical atmosphere of Sensorio. We didn't just see the lights; we felt like we had stepped into another dimension. What I wish I knew: The temperature drop. I was expecting warmer weather because Paso Robles is around 180 miles south of the East Bay. But ...

Another slow Sunday. Another crisis of activity. After the successful IKEA trip , I had to think up another location that would engage both parties. Anna had suggested a visit to Placerville, and I jumped at the chance because it promised to be a perfect detour on our way home from Lincoln. But could the charm offensive of this gateway to the Gold Rush live up to a grandma's thirst for window shopping and a child's sense of adventure? What is Placerville? Placerville is a city in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Before the Gold Rush , the area was home to the Miwok and Southern Maidu indigenous peoples. When gold was discovered in the area in the late 1840s, multitudes of people from the eastern U.S. settled there, displacing the indigenous people  from the land or decimating them through exposure to pathogens like smallpox . The miners used to carry dry soil to the river to wash out the gold, which gave the city its old name, Dry Diggins. This, along with other mining activities,...

45:09. I checked the timer as I crossed the Solano Turkey Trot finish line, huffing and puffing the last of the chilly, crisp autumn air. It's that anticipation of the sense of accomplishment that got me to the finish line, especially after running too fast during the first mile. Victory was made even sweeter because I just came back from a setback: I didn't finish my first half-marathon attempt in Orangetheory's DriTri Sprint . This year's turkey trot was not just a regular 5K for me; it also held some of my firsts: First turkey trot, ever. Apparently, turkey trots are popular events in the USA. This local event has attracted over 2,000 runners. In fact, I was runner #1911 despite signing up earlier in the year. There were different distance categories (5K, 10K, 21K, and kids' fun run), catering to the various skill levels of the runners (or joggers... or walkers). All along the course, I noticed cheerers carrying banners that said something about "earning y...

I used to go on a Visita Iglesia  on Maundy Thursdays . It's a great tradition that combines travel with a deeper understanding of Jesus Christ's sacrifice and a sense of community, especially when done as a family or with a tour group. When I moved to California, Visita Iglesia  didn't occur on Maundy Thursday; instead, my family would visit parishes in the cities we were vacationing in. Donan had his first Visita Iglesia  experience when we stopped by Mission Santa Ines  with Mommy, Daddy, and Anna. Val was not with us at the time; his visits usually don't coincide with Holy Week. This year, with Val in town, I introduced Donan to another Maundy Thursday tradition: the Holy Triduum. It is the three-day period (non-working holidays in the Philippines but not in the USA) which commemorates Jesus' Last Supper , crucifixion , and resurrection . We went to St. Dominic's Catholic Church in Benicia. Façade of St. Dominic's Catholic Church (that's not our SUV)...

My family went to Florida just before the Christmas holidays. I always like to include a historical or nature tour whenever I visit a new place. So, I included in our itinerary an airboat tour of Lake Tohopekaliga to see alligators basking in the sun and a visit to Cape Canaveral for a taste of space flight history. A trip to St. Augustine was perfect for our Florida visit's historical aspect. We took the hop-on, hop-off tram tour (but stayed on it for the duration of the tour) to get a quick tour of the city and learn about its history. It claims to be the oldest city in the USA. The city was founded in 1565 by Pedro Ménendez de Avilés and served as the capital of Spanish Florida. The European settlement in this city was part of the  Viceroyalty of New Spain . Since then, St. Augustine has been continuously inhabited, making it the oldest European-established city in the contiguous United States. It is much older, of course, as Timucuan tribes were known to inhabit this part ...

Since I was exposed to Filipino gastronomy movements , I have visited Filipino-owned restaurants featuring Filipino cuisine in each city I explore. This hobby led me to insist upon dining at Kaya in Orlando, Florida , during my family's trip there in December 2024. Although I had difficulty finding time for our Kaya dinner, there was availability for our group on our last night in the city! (Kaya's signpost by the sidewalk. ) We went to Kaya straight after our gator adventure in Lake Tohopekaliga and arcade time at WonderWorks. The restaurant's façade was a welcome sight: a parol with twinkling fairy lights, kids playing street games in the parking lot, and a party in the front yard. The scene was the closest I could get to a fiesta in the Philippines. It was good that we had snacks before travelling to Kaya because the wait was long! Chef Lo Lalicon and General Manager Jamilyn Salonga Bailey brought over salabat to ensure we were warm and cozy while waiting for our tab...

When I first visited Orlando, FL (in 2005), Kuya Rendo  and Ate Lori drove me around the tourist spots in their home city. I noticed an upside-down building; it was as if a tornado pulled it out and then dropped it with the roof on the ground where it now stands. It has intrigued me since then; when we had some free time between the airboat ride and the dinner at Kaya , I checked in with my parents, my sister, and my aunt to see if they wanted to see it. They all said yes, and so we drove to WonderWorks. (Façade of WonderWorks. The rest of the family was not in the photo because I was taking the picture while Daddy was making sure Donan wasn't too close to the road.) WonderWorks is where we can let our imaginations run wild (the company's motto). It is divided into zones crammed with hands-on exhibits. It was sensory overload. Extreme Weather Zone Anna and I were blown away by the 74-mph wind in the hurricane simulator.  As if that wasn't chilly enough, we dunked our hand...

Spina Farms Pumpkin Patch appeared on my Instagram feed in early October. It's the perfect pumpkin patch for a child whose current favourites are dinosaur toys, pumpkins, and trains. Anna and Daddy wanted to see it, too, so we visited it on Indigenous People's Day. Just as the reviews promised, this pumpkin patch was packed! Students on a field trip, families on an excursion (like us), and friends on a day off trooped to what has become an annual tradition in the Morgan Hill region. It was an enjoyable trip: I wrote about what I liked about Spina Farms and what I didn't. The good Spina Farms has perfected the combination of interests that attracts children of all ages (and their parents or teachers) to visit annually; for example, it has animatronic dinosaurs, flying pumpkins, confusing corn mazes, colourful flowers, and sculptures of giant insects.  Godzilla was on hand to welcome guests of all ages, too! T he parking area is well-organised and can accommodate many visitor...

It's Filipino-American History Month in the USA. This piece is my small way of contributing to this celebration. --- While working in rice quality research , I encountered several discussions on why Filipino cuisine has not been "elevated" to fine dining and why it is not as popular as Chinese or Thai cuisine in the USA. I did not follow the discussions, unfortunately. However, I have been discovering Filipino restaurants in the Bay Area. Many of them, like Lutong Bahay  and Island Pacific's PhilHouse, are of the turo-turo style (think cafeteria). Others, however, have ventured away from this restaurant style and sought to feature Filipino food in their own way.  The fare has, so far, been satisfying.  Aldas Kitchen and Bakery My go-to pick-up counter for brunch. I found the owner's business model to be very smart because he/she can concentrate on preparing delicious food instead of dividing his/her attention between food preparation and service. The food comes b...

Daddy and I decided that it would be much better for us if either of us drove rather than Ninang Trining (we're more experienced with long drives than her... and driving with a baby too). It's supposed to be a four-hour non-stop trip north from Troy to St Ignace but I opted to have a few stops along the way so we could all stretch our legs and allow my son some wiggle time and allow for diaper changes. I estimated that our trip would be about six hours long with these breaks. Naturally, my first order of business was to install my son's Clek Foonf into Ninang Trining's SUV. It was an easy installation because I'm already used to doing seatbelt installations and the lock-off mechanism of the Foonf is very convenient. I didn't expect that each time my son had to go on it, I had to check if the seatbelt was still in place. With three people riding in the same row, detaching the wrong seatbelt is easy. View this post on Instagram A post shar...

Tull Lake is a man-made lake in the White Lake Charter Township in Michigan. A day after Ninang Trining's birthday , we drove over to visit Kuya Lemuel and Ate Adora. They have a house by this lake and invited us Californians over to experience riding a pontoon around the lake. Their house is a back split-level home. From the front, the house seemed to have one level. However, the backyard is sloping, with outdoor stairs from the deck leading to the lake on one side, and a lower level visible on another. The deck is equipped with lounge chairs. Mommy certainly had a field day relaxing on the deck. The backyard was huge! My son found a patch of garden soil very interesting and spent a good hour there. He had fun putting soil into a toy bus that we discovered during our exploration of the backyard. In the process, he also smeared soil all over his face and clothes; but no matter because he had such a wonderful time playing. The highlight of our visit was the boat ride around Tull Lak...

I haven't visited a zoo in a long time. My last visit to a zoo was in 2019 when I went to Singapore's Night Safari with Val. For this trip to the zoo, I was with the whole family, including Val and the wee one. It's pretty exciting for me because it's our son's first time to see the animals that he's only seen photos or videos of. I really appreciate that Biboy and Barbara invited us to join them because it's such a fun trip. I didn't expect that we'd meet the resident lesser flamingoes just beyond the zoo's gates. These pink birds are known to thrive in salt marshes in Africa (including Benin) and India. They are omnivorous, but they eat Spirulina , a type of algae that thrives in alkaline water. This alga has pigments that make the flamingoes turn pink.  After we've passed the flamingoes, we encountered a few reticulated giraffes. These are mostly found in the wild in the Horn of Africa, preferably living in savannahs, woodlands, or floodpl...

Last year, I explored Ouidah , a city in modern-day Benin. It was a significant location in the transatlantic slave trade when it was still known as Fortaleza de São João Batista de Ajudá. For my next visit to Benin, Val took me on a car tour of Benin's capital, Porto-Novo, another city whose name suggests a prominent Portuguese history. For me, it is fascinating to find a city with a Portuguese name in a country where people largely spoke French. Upon crossing the bridge from Cotonou, the first thing I saw was a government building that's currently under construction. It sat right by the banks of an inlet of the Gulf of Guinea.  In downtown Porto-Novo, the pace was much slower than in Cotonou. There weren't many multi-story buildings where we drove past. There are fewer vehicles on the roads here... but it could also be because we drove in when people were currently at work. There were not as many tourists as in Cotonou too. What I noticed (again) was the prese...