Travel Eat Drink Like a Local

We will be empty-nesters in couple of months and see ourselves exploring distant vistas with Oakley. One thing we had wanted to do this summer was to take Oakley on a road-trip to see how he fares. Also we had always wanted to hike Yosemite. Having lived in California more than for half our lives we have never had the chance to do so. As we were planning our trip to Yosemite National Park, the first question we asked was: " Why not try this with Oakley?" Then next was, "Do they allow dogs to hike with us?" because somewhere I had read they allow only guide dogs on National Parks. It took some research and planing. The answer is, yes, with few restrictions. It didn't make sense to write it all over again. At the end of the blog post you will find two very well written blogs on the subject that helped us in planning our trip. We left on a Thursday afternoon because we wanted at least one weekday in the park. It takes only 3.5 hours from San Francisco south b...

Days 8, 9, 10: Ginza | Kabuki | Tsukiji Market | Buddhist Hall | Asakusa | Senso-ji  From Kyoto back to Tokyo we took the beautiful N700 Nozomi aka “Wish” the fastest shinkensen, the bullet train. Covers about 450 km in two hours and twenty minutes. Little pleasures of train travel in Japan. High quality age old traditional confectionery and Hot-Cold Vending Machine Tea/Coffee with Lotus Root Chips, only in Japan. So good! Lotus Roots to die for! Upon arriving in Tokyo we went to Sagawa luggage counter of Tokyo Station (near the Nihonbashi Exit) and send luggage to the hotel. 2000 Yen /piece. We were craving Rice and Curry and walked to a Sri Lankan restaurant Kandy near Tokyo Station. Their offering was extremely limited and the place was deserted. We let go of that idea and took the metro to Ginza near the hotel. Ginza is the trendy hot spot of Japan. Once again, our hotel, Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel Ginza was chosen to ensure proximity to all main public ...