Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Gilmores Spin Along on California Road Trips

Since my children's book, CORA COOKS PANCIT, was published in March, our family has been on our share of great California road trips. I've been signing books up and down the state and we've had the excuse for some fun trips to hang out with friends and explore new areas. Our road trips have included Los Angeles (for the LA Times Book Festival), Palo Alto (for Kids Otter Read Day), and Stockton (for Filipino Heritage Month).

Our most recent trip was to Oakland, where I had the opportunity to sign books at the Northern California Independent Booksellers conference. This trip was also an excuse to spend the night at our friend Danna's new condo (in San Jose) rendezvous with Ericlee's cousins from Atlanta (who just happened to be in Santa Clara) and my college roomie Jen and her fam (who drove over from Escalon). Delia, Ella and Meilani (pictured above) squealed with delight as they were reunited at the Tilden Park in Berkeley after mama's book signing. We rode a historic Merry-go-Round.

We hiked around this beautiful lake with leaves crunching beneath our feet and birds singing in the trees.


Then we followed our maps to our fave Ethiopian restaurant right on the border of Berkeley and Oakland. Asmara serves up family-style Ethiopian with the famous injera bread (aka Ace Bandage bread) for dipping. The VanderMeulens were great sports and all tried out with wild and spicy cuisine with our family.




We appreciate how the VanderMeulens are game for new adventures and even joined us in the midst of our busy weekend. The girlies are already planning their next road trip and sleepover soon.

1 comment:

VM Family said...

Jen VM likes this. :)