01 Sunday Sep 2013
Posted in Disney, Florida, North America, Orlando, United States
Tags
Disney, Disney World, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Florida, Hollywood Studios, Muppet*Vision 3D, North America, Orlando, Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, The Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror, United States
Hollywood Studios is dedicated to the heyday of Hollywood during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Mr. Selfish and I enjoy walking around the fake sets and posing for photos.
31 Saturday Aug 2013
Posted in Disney, Florida, North America, Orlando, United States
Tags
Animal Kingdom, Dinosaur, Disney, Disney World, Expedition Everest, Florida, Kilimanjaro Safaris, North America, Orlando, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Tree of Life, United States
Since we lived in Orlando for eight years, Mr. Selfish and I oftentimes had annual Disney passes. Not only do we love the Disney parks, but our friends and family who visited undoubtedly wanted to go to Disney.
Even though we’ve been to the Disney World parks dozens of times, I never took that many photos since I was always figured I would go back. With the exception of Epcot, which we re-visited during our selfish year, I don’t have that many photos of the other three Disney World parks. So here’s my disclaimer: these next three posts on Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Magic Kingdom will not have as many photos as my other Disney posts.
Although I don’t have the photos to do it justice, I feel that Animal Kingdom is the best designed Disney park. Not only does it never feel crowded (despite being the 7th most visited park in the world), the foliage and ambiance are on point.
The center of the park is the Tree of Life, which is an artificial tree that is 145 feet tall and 50 feet wide.
We love walking around the Tree of Life. In particular, we enjoy seeing the two red parrots that are always screeching at one another in a loving way.
30 Friday Aug 2013
Posted in Disney, Florida, Food & Drinks, North America, Orlando, United States
Tags
Disney, Disney World, Epcot, Finding Nemo, Florida, North America, Orlando, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Soarin', Spaceship Earth, Test Track, The Living Seas International Flower and Garden Festival, Turtle Talk with Crush, United States
Yesterday, I went over how much me and Mr. Selfish love the World Showcase at Epcot. Even aside from the World Showcase, Epcot is a very enjoyable park.
We love all of the different festivals that occur at Epcot, such as the International Flower and Garden Festival. This annual festival usually occurs between March and May. It’s fun to see what Disney has dreamed up in plant form each year.
29 Thursday Aug 2013
Posted in Disney, Florida, Food & Drinks, North America, Orlando, United States
Tags
Disney, Disney World, Epcot, Florida, North America, Orlando, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, United States, World Showcase
Before our selfish year trip, Disney’s Epcot was definitely our favorite Disney park. Now, it’s a tossup between Epcot and DisneySea in Tokyo for me. I need to visit DisneySea a few times to make that decision considering that we’ve been to Epcot probably dozens of times.
When we visited Orlando recently, we decided to stop by Epcot for old time’s sake. We love Epcot mostly due to the World Showcase, which is a permanent world’s fair containing 11 pavilions each representing a different country. The pavilions are all around a man-made lake that has a perimeter of 1.2 miles.
28 Wednesday Aug 2013
Posted in Cross Country, Food & Drinks, North America, United States
Tags
Arlington, Chicago, Cross Country Drive, Lake Tahoe, Mount Rushmore, North America, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Sioux Falls, United States, Willingboro, Yellowstone
Mr. Selfish and I are almost done with our selfish year. We begin our cross-country drive from Richmond, VA to San Francisco in less than a week.
Here’s our itinerary: (1) Richmond, VA, (2) Arlington, VA, (3) Willingboro, NJ, (4) Pittsburgh, PA, (5) Chicago, IL, (6) Sioux Falls, SD, (7) Mount Rushmore, (8) Yellowstone, (9) Salt Lake City, UT, (10), Lake Tahoe, and (11) SF.
We are definitely looking forward to the following:
Do you have any recommendations for us? We would greatly appreciate food recs or pointers on random tourist attractions we should see on the way!
26 Monday Aug 2013
Posted in Food & Drinks, New York City, North America, United States
Tags
72nd Street Bagel, Casa Adela, Food & Drinks, Go Go Curry, Go!Go! Curry!, Katz's Deli, Momofuku, Momofuku Noodle Bar, Motorino, New York, New York City, North America, Russ & Daughters, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, United States, Wafels and Dinges
Mr. Selfish and I love New York City. We have considered living there but I don’t think I would like the winters too much. We therefore included NYC as our final stop before heading to my parents’ in Virginia. Not only do we have some great friends that live in the city, but we love the cheap, plentiful, and delicious food. Here are some of our favorite eats during this last stop.
Although Mr. Selfish never really cared much for lox bagels, I have enjoyed them in the past. When our friends recommended Russ & Daughters (179 E Houston St NY , NY 10002) for lox bagels, we figured we would give it a try.
We were astonished at the amount of choices you had for a single lox bagel, but we ordered an everything bagel with regular cream cheese, the Irish salmon, and red onions. As the man at the counter was handing us the bagel, he told us, “You’ll love it.” And indeed, we did. It was mind-blowingly delicious!
Although the lox bagel from Russ & Daughters was mighty delicious, Mr. Selfish still wanted a regular bagel while we were in the city. We tried a cinnamon raisin with regular cream cheese at 72nd Street Bagel (130 W 72nd St, NY, NY 10023).
It didn’t disappoint. Mr. Selfish gobbled up that thing so fast that it was gone in a matter of seconds.
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25 Sunday Aug 2013
Posted in Disney, Food & Drinks, Los Angeles, North America, United States
Tags
Cafe Orleans, Disney, Disneyland, Food & Drinks, Los Angeles, North America, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, United States
Mr. Selfish and I finished our Disney tour with the first ever Disney park – Disneyland in California. It opened in 1955 and is the only park designed and built under the direction of Walt Disney. It is the second most visited park in the world with 16 million visitors in 2011 (Orlando’s Magic Kingdom has the highest attendance).
I was quite surprised as to how small Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is. It is tiny compared to all of the other Disney castles around the world, but I guess it was the first one. It is nevertheless quite photogenic, just like all of the other castles.
Mr. Selfish had previously visited Disneyland but I had never been. I therefore had a list of rides that I wanted to try that aren’t at the other parks, including the Matterhorn, Mr. Toad’s, and Indiana Jones.
24 Saturday Aug 2013
Posted in Disney, Los Angeles, North America, United States
Tags
California Adventure, Disney, Disney California Adventure, Los Angeles, North America, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, The Selfish Years, United States
Mr. Selfish and I were excited for the last of the Disney parks around the world. We both had never been to Disney’s California Adventure before and were not too sure what to expect. California Adventure opened in 2001 to negative reviews and has never hit targeted attendance levels. However, we had heard great things about Cars Land, which opened in June 2012. In 2012, the park had 7.78 million guests making it the 11th most visited park in the world.
We arrived at the park fairly early and headed straight for Cars Land. Mr. Selfish and I were quite impressed with the theming of Cars Land. It was straight out of the Cars movie.
11 Friday Jan 2013
Posted in Flashback, North America
Tags
In 2008, Mr. Selfish and I went to Seattle. I had heard many wonderful things about Seattle, so we wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, we went during the month of March. Despite the fact that Mr. Selfish told me that it never snows in Seattle, it was very cold and indeed snowing.
The snow didn’t stop us from enjoying Seattle though. We went to the Space Needle to enjoy the views. There was of course a coffee shop at the top.
28 Friday Dec 2012
Posted in Flashback, North America
Tags
Chicago, Chicago Style Hot Dogs, Deep Dish Pizza, Ethiopian Food, Flashback, Friday, Geno's, Illinois, Lincoln Park Zoo, Millenium Park, North America, Wieners Circle
In May 2008, Mr. Selfish and I visited our good friend Becca in Chicago. Becca had been raving about Chicago, and we decided to take her up on her offer to let us crash at her apartment. This was my first trip to Chi-Town, and I found it to be quite charming.
First, we went to Millenium Park, which actually was opened in 2004 (only four years behind schedule). I love taking pictures in front of the Cloud Gate, which is better known as the “Bean.” Also, Crown Fountain is nice because it’s fun to watch all the kids splashing around in the water and their parents trying not to get wet.
09 Friday Nov 2012
Posted in Flashback, North America
Mr. Selfish and I lived in Florida for over eight years. We went to Miami twice during that time. During our first trip, it was August and crazy hot. As a result, our second trip was during February. Not only is the beach not crowded but I find it much more tranquil in cooler weather. I don’t have to swim in the beach to enjoy it.
The Selfish Years 