nykeiko travels: Hiking to Iceland's tallest (second tallest?) waterfall with a baby- Glymur

Nope that's the wrong way!

OH HELLO! I'm alive! Yes, yes. New job, semi-new baby and life is getting in the way of me posting a proper blog post here. Not yet ready to share a glimpse of my daughter's life makes it very difficult to blog about anything at all since she is 100% part of my life now. She just turned 16 months (December update: she is now 23 months. This is a very late post) and I am finally in love with her cuteness, personality and quirky personality.  It is hard not to find a picture without her in it on my phone. I could blog about her all day (not really, because I don't have time for that anymore!.  Don't ask me where I'm writing this at the moment. Could be on the poop bowl, on the bus, lunch time, in bed...).

I am determined to write at least one blog post about our Iceland trip and it's going to be about the time we went for a hike to find Iceland's tallest waterfall and got lost one too many times (with a baby in tow!). 

Here is what we wanted to achieve on our 7-day trip in Iceland:

nykeiko plays: Hike it! Mt. Tammany trail in New Jersey

Winter is definitely over but the temperature has been hovering in the chillies these past few days. We took advantage of the not-so-hot weather this past weekend to get the heck out of the city and hike up some (mini) mountain. Because we haven't hiked in a while (since Iceland back in September), David decided on a semi-easy 3.5-mile hike up Mt. Tammany trail in Northwestern New Jersey. 

In pictures: All I see is green...prepping for Iceland! [Hudson Valley hike]

We are planning a trip for our honeymoon anniversary and the destination is Iceland (Já!) Why honeymoon anniversary? When we set our dates for our trip and booked the plane tickets for the end of August, we realized that we are going to fly out on the same date we flew out for our honeymoon to Hawaii last year. Total coincidence. Anyway, we will be celebrating our one year wedding anniversary here in the city (July 26!) and Iceland is one of our dream destinations.

Dave recovered a Google chat conversation from back in 2009. He asked me if I would eat whale meat and out of nowhere he said: "Let's go to Iceland!" At the time, we were just friends and half way across the world. But now, 5 years later, we're together, married and going to Iceland! Will I eat whale? Will I ?!?

In Iceland, we are planning to do a few hikes and because we really haven't hiked since last year (on Kalalau trail), we really needed to step up our game and put our hiking shoes back on. So this past weekend, we decided to borrow the parent's car and drive to the Hudson Valley for a moderate 2.6 mile hike up North-Point. It was also a chance for us to test out our new fancy backpacks before our trip. It is so fancy we even drove by REI to have mine fitted to make sure it's the right size.

The hike was short and sweet. The view from North Point supposedly overlooked all 5 states surrounding New York state. We also saw the Hudson river and the North-South lakes. We were not even sore the next day so we think we can challenge ourselves a little more with a harder hike before our trip. 

In pictures: A hidden trail off the Kalalau lookout [Waimea Canyon, Kauai]

Just some pictures from our incredible hike at Waimea Canyon State Park off the Kalalau lookout. This was one of the highlights of our trip. We couldn't find much information about this trail and it is not shown on the park's maps. We happen to have found it when we saw two people walk out from the forest. We decided to put on our hiking shoes and check it out. We thought it would just be a short hike to get a better view but it turned out to be a legitimate hiking trail. We walked further and further because the view was getting more and more incredible. When we bumped into a couple of hikers and were told it would be 2-3 miles to the end, I looked at Dave like woah but we knew we didn't want to stop. Those are the times where I am happy to have someone like Dave by my side. We're both crazy. Since it was an impromptu hike, we didn't have sun lotion nor water on us. It was a bit difficult and because of the altitude, we were out of breath more quickly (or maybe simply out of shape). It was a great hike and not too difficult. At some parts of the trail, you have to watch your steps because you definitely do not want to slip as you may just fall to your death.

Here are just some of the pictures we took on top of the ones I have previously posted before.

We were in awe every step of the way...

A waterfall!

A rainbow!

We heard goats echoing in the valley. We thought they were seabirds at first.

Almost there to the end..

The view below. The Kalalau beach which is the end of the infamous Kalalau trail. 

Hey, when you finally get up there..you have to take as many pictures as possible.

On our way back:

Dense foliage in some part of the trail

One last glimpse

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Long weekend

Hello!

We had a long weekend for Memorial Day and I'm super ready for our 4-day work week!
I felt that, contrary to some lazy weekends we have had, this past weekend's schedule was filled to the brim with activities. From a farewell rooftop party, dresses and wedding ring shopping, hiking, museum, dinners and of course, eating loads of food; I should be exhausted but I am not... ok, maybe a tad!

Random shots from the weekend:

Two little Red Hen's cheesecakes are amAzing!!! I think this is one of my favorite cheesecake ever and guess what! I don't really like cheesecake at all! This was eaten at a friend's farewell party on his rooftop overlooking Central Park. We scolded him for not having more parties before! The view of Manhattan and Central Park was so nice!

Cheesecake from Two Little Red Hens

On Saturday, I got to try some rental dresses that come with our photography and videography service for our reception. I picked two dresses out that I liked..out of maybe 100 I did not like AT ALL. Therefore, it all came down to if it fits or not. One of the dresses I picked, I'll have to lose an inch or two to be more comfortable if I want to eat! 

Picking dresses...

On Sunday, five of us went hiking on Breakneck Ridge up in Fishkill NY. This time, we did the 5 mile loop but did not make it up Sugar Loaf mountain! Scrambling up the rocks for the first hour of the hike is always my favorite part of this trail!

The hour long scramble up Breakneck's rocks while overlooking the Hudson river

On Monday, we had no plans except to eat lobster at Dave's parents but we figured, we had the car for the day and looked for something to do. When a Vietnamese restaurant we wanted to try was closed, we decided we would drive somewhere we can't easily get to by subway. So, we decided to check out ABC Carpet and Home outlet in the Bronx. We picked up Laurie who came with the promise of good food in her belly. We checked out Arthur Avenue in the Bronx know to be the REAL Little Italy in New York.

homemade tangliani pasta with leggy octopus

So pretty driving through the Queensboro...enough for me to make a video of it back and forth..

After dropping off Laurie so she can get back to some "studying", we took the Queensboro bridge back to Brooklyn and as we drove by MOMA PS1, we decided to make a quick stop. I have never been there before and Dave can get free tickets, so we went!

There were some questionable art pieces. As usual, some art was worth the thoughts and some art was garbage...literally.

 trash cans...yup, that's it

A wolf and a deer in one room...what happens next?

And it all ended with a delicious lobster dinner. Lobsters were only $5.99/lb and Dave's parents made some for us on Monday night. They were sweet and salty...no butter or condiments needed...just perfect!!

via my instagram

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Breezee! The view from up there [Bear Mountain]

Bear Mountain: Yellow to red beauty

I am traveling to Chile and Argentina for 20 days and trekking and hiking will cover half of our trip's itinerary. Hiking across Torres Del Paine and glaciers is going to be oh so awesome! So, I leave you off with some pictures from my last hiking trip in NY during the last week of October in Bear Mountain, NY. If you are surprised to see me venture into the "wilderness" so many times already these past few weeks, I am too.  This new rugged me is only temporary I think. We'll see what happens after the trip and during next hiking "season". Oh, we also went to the museum, did some Korean resto eating, Oktoberfest and shopping too, all in one day!

After seeing Kusama's Fireflies on the Water at Whitney museum, we drove to Fort Lee in NJ for a big hardy lunch. We went to So Kong Dong which is popular for their ribs and soft tofu soups-the only two but, delicious things on their menu. We digested the meal by making a quick stop at a scenic overlook off the NJ Palissades highway. 

The view from up here: Scenic view off the Palissades

Must take a closer look down...

Short ribs $15

Spicy seafood tofu soup $9

We then set out on our hiking journey up in Bear Mountain to hike the Perkins Tower trail which is a 3.9 mile challenging loop up and down the mountain. You can drive up there but climbing there is a much more rewarding experience! There was some steep rock climbing upwards and a more pleasant stroll downwards by taking the the Appalachian trail. The Appalachian trail is known to be the third longest marked hiking trail in America. We arrived to Bear Mountains in a timely matter but to our dismay, the parking lots were rapidly filling up and crowds swarmed to attend the last weekend of the annual Bear Mountain Oktoberfest festival held by Hession Lake. Word of advice, if you want a nice quiet stroll, do not go during Oktoberfest :) We decided we would check out the festival after our hike. A nice cold beer after hours of trekking didn't sound so bad but when we finished our hike, all we wanted was food! We enjoyed some German potato salad, a large pretzel and an all-dressed waffle. Although we were tired from the hike, a trip to Woodbury Commons which was on our way home was our next destination solely to return a shirt from Colombia purchased three weeks ago. Our friend who joined us for hiking had never been to Woodbury and so he was excited to check it out. So it was my duty as a friend to accompany him :) Instead of one hour, we shopped until closing time. Poor D, he had no interest in shopping and after looking at a couple of stores, he went back to the car to nap while monetary damage was done but not by me kinda. Naoto wanted to shop all the good Italian brands Prada, Gucci, Burberry, Bottega, Dolce and I complied.

The view from up there: Bear Mountain

The Appalachian trail by Perkins Tower

Appalachian trail were easy peezy to walk

Oktoberfest treat! All-dressed waffles!

Oktobertfest pretzel and potato salad

Woodbury Commons

Only that small bag is mine :)

All photos by me or Naoto Kitamura!

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Hiking in Watchung Reservation [what to do in NY...oops NJ]

I think hiking during the Fall time has become one of our faaaavorite activities! When the air is chilly and crisp, it is the most perfect time to hike. You'll definitely get hot while hiking but you won't be uncomfortable because the cool air balances it out to ultimate comfort level. Not sweating profusely like a piglet (do pigs really sweat?) if you were hiking say, in the Summer. And unlike Spring, it is not wet and yucky and smelly. Enough about the weather, this is probably common knowledge right!? But for someone that's rarely outdoorsy like moi, it is good to know!

This October, we been on two short daytime hiking trips already to get ready for our trip down South as I have mentioned many times already. We're now both happy with the shoes we have bought though D is still having some issues with his big toe hurting and we hope to do one last hike before our voyage to Chile/Argentina in less than 3 weeks! Excitement level elevating day by day...

Our last hike, we headed to New Jersey's Watchung Reservation park. D's cousin invited us over for some delicious waffles, eggs, bacon and sausages for breakfast before our hike. That was so great! Then we met up with D's college roomie who lead us through the trails as he grew up around the area and knows the park like the back of his hands. We climbed trees and went up and down hills which gave me a chance to test out my grippy shoes.

Here's Dave being courageous jumping from one tree trunk to another

Dave's friend was our guide and took us off trail which was a lot of fun!

Most delicious caramel apple! So simple and sweet!

Pics taken from iPhone with PicFx app.

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