Thursday was my visit to Yosemite. Right after I took off, I had to take a gas break. Next to the station was the Bravo Farms Cheese Factory. Yes, they actually made cheese there, plus it was a shop with all kinds of food related stuff. You know the cute little shops in cute little towns that specialize in food stuffs like salsas, hot sauces, dried fruits, and the like.
I found this fascinating line of items – Fartless Factory. Fartless corn bread, fartless popping corn, fartless chili bowl, a pair of fartless factory tightie whities. Very amusing stuff.

Here is a picture of real california cheese being made. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I’ve seen this process on the food channel a lot. It was cool to see it in person. I think there’s curds in that vat. Those little arms were swooshing everything about. Mr cheese man had to mug it up for my camera.

Ah Yosemite…. It’s grand. And vast. And enormous. There’s not so much big trees here as big rocks. Huge rocks. El capitan – the big giant granite monolith. Lots of falls, but unfortunately they were dried up at this point of the year. Everything is just big. You feel so small being this little person in this giant park amongst huge bits of earth. It’s very humbling. I just kept on stopping and taking pic after pic. I would have loved to have had time to climb something.

Luckily for visitors to Yosemite, there are much better choices for food here, than at Sequoia. This is also a big camping park, so there are many markets to stock up on staples. The main store is fairly big, bigger than the average trader joe’s, and pretty much is a regular grocery store. There is also a food court! And several delis and grill joints. There is also a swanky hotel called the Ahwahnee and there’s several fancy restaurants in there.

Wednesday was my trip to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The centerpieces of these parks? BIG ASS TREES. Whoa. Sequoia is home to the biggest tree in the world. 36.5 feet in diameter. 265 feet tall. When I say big, I say big. Look how small these tibetan monks look. These trees are also very orange. It was just so strange as I’d never seen trees like this before in my life.

Food in Sequoia? Ugh. Not much to be had really. It’s more of a camping park, and so really, you should be cooking up your own food on a fire you build. They do have a decently stocked market for those campers. I’d been snacking on beef jerky and fig newtons all day. I wanted real food, but there was only one little snack grill place open that had burgers and hot dogs, and I wasn’t quite feeling it. So I just picked up a cracker jack and a jones soda to go and kept on snacking for the rest of the day. It wasn’t until after I bought the soda that I noticed it was sugar free and made with splenda. Even still, it was pretty good. Look at these cute little s’mores kits that they sell. I don’t ever remember seeing anything that handy and prepared when I was growing up.

As I left the park, I took the windiest road ever. EVER. Seriously, I gave myself motion sickness driving back. It was rather unbelievable. And it took forever. I stopped in the bustling metropolis that is Visalia to get something to eat. Of what I saw, my choices were 7-11 or chinese buffet. I went with chinese buffet. As shocking as it was to me, it was actually pretty good. I had the worst expectations going in, so perhaps that helped. But really, I’ve had much worse chinese food in my life.

I stayed at the Best Western in Three Rivers. You won’t get confused, there’s only one. Outside of the office was this lime tree. Yes folks, in California, you actually see fruit trees. But not only fruit trees but citrus fruit trees! Gosh, I wish I had a lime tree in my backyard. I would make margaritas all day long! I want to say that the Best Western rocked, it really did! I even had a fridge and microwave in my room. And their continental breakfast was also great. I made myself a waffle and ate that on my drive to Yosemite. Along with a banana and some muffins, I was quite good to go!

For dinner tuesday night, A and I met up halfway between where she was and I was. A suggested Miyake, a sushi spot on Palo Alto’s University Ave. Palo Alto, if you don’t know, is home to Stanford University. Yes, people who go there are really smart. Freakishly smart. It’s also one of the most wealthiest universities in the universe, so the campus itself is really beautiful and swanky. The main strip is also fairly swanky as well. Nicer than any college or university I ever went to… not that I’m knocking University Circle in Cleveland or Guadalupe in Austin, but we didn’t have sushi joints.

Miyake is made for college kids. It’s cheap. It’s close to campus. It prides itself on getting people drunk on sake bombs. It has disco lights. Did I mention it’s cheap? In the short time we were there, they put the lights on a couple of times and made some kids get up on chairs and do sake shots. Do you see the lights? And all the mirrors on the walls? But at least there’s no pretense here. They know people are here to just have a good time and get drunk and maybe have some mediocre sushi. Let’s not pretend it’s haute cuisine.

A got a few rolls… the summertime roll, a spiy tuna roll (it was supposed to be a hand roll but it came out a regular roll), and another roll with eel in it. I loved the bright and colorful dishes they served everything on.

I wasn’t really feeling like sushi, so I went with a nebenyaki udon. I had no idea it would come in a giant metal cauldron of a bowl. It was huge. It tasted ok. I didn’t expect much. It was only $8 or so, and the bowl was huge, so it was rather a bargain. In any other normal japanese restaurant it would have been 1/3 of the size and at least 50% more expensive. So all in all, it was a good deal.

I also got a spicy california roll. It was also ok. Better than I expected really. Beautiful plate. The service here is fairly fast and friendly. It’s a very strange looking place inside. Large dining area, one entire side being the sushi bar. There is a sushi conveyor belt. The decor sucks, and there are two out of place giant corinthian columns in the middle of the dining rooms. But I hear the place is really fun on the weekends and when you scream “sake”, everyone else screams “bomb”.

Miyake
140 University Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 323-9449