Trip to San Francisco, San Jose, Muir Woods, Yosemite National Park (California)

I was pretty excited. I am going to spend my Halloween ion San Francisco. So everyone’s talking about how great San Francisco is and the weather is perfect. I know that I have to go see. Seeing is believing. It would be my first official trip to California (although I was in Death Valley NP last yr but I guess that didn’t count). The flight was a smooth one. No delays. When landing, I was the whole bay area was covered in fog. I will always remember that that beautiful sight. I arrive and then 1 hr later Chris arrived. He flew from NY. Then wasting any time, we drove to San Jose. It was only like 40 min drive from SF. Maybe it was just me but I thought the highway was dirty and old. It was full of trash by the rd. anyway …. We had lunch at this Vietnamese restaurant (pho). Then we went to the Sarah Winchester Mystery House. I have always wanted to go there after I have seen it on Travel Channel a couple of yrs back (Most Haunted). The Winchester Mystery House is a well-known California mansion that was under construction continuously for 38 years, and is reported to be haunted. It once was the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester, but is now a tourist attraction. Under Winchester's day-to-day guidance, its "from-the-ground-up" construction proceeded around-the-clock, without interruption, from 1884 until her death on September 5, 1922, at which time work immediately ceased.The cost for such constant building has been estimated at about US $5.5 million (if paid in 1922, this would be equivalent to almost $70 million in 2008 dollars).The mansion is renowned for its size and utter lack of any master building plan. According to popular belief, Winchester thought the house was haunted by the ghosts of individuals killed by Winchester rifles, and that only continuous construction would appease them. It is located at 525 South Winchester Blvd. in San Jose, California. It’s like a mad house with crazy stairway, door that leads you to nowhere, stairway that leads you to the roof, and etc. It built that way supposedly to confuse the spirits. Anyway, it was a fun experience. After that, we drove back to SF. Went to Doug’s house. His 2 cats (tanq and champagne) were adorable. Later we went out for dinner. Doug took us to this fancy seafood restaurant that was sitting right beside the Bay Bridge. The view was awesome.

The next day, we went to the Golden gate. It's also Hallowean day. Finally … after all these yrs seeing it on tv. Then we drove to Muir woods national monument. The park has some of the world’s tallest trees. It was drizzling when we got there but that didn’t ruin my mood. After that we drove to Sonoma Valley. It was beautiful. We stopped by a couple of vineyards and wine tasting some. Then we drove back. Went out for Halloween party. There was a hugh crowd on the street. Everyone dressed up in costume walking around trick or treating. It was fun but tiring. We wanted to go home early so we took a cab.

The next day, we took the grayline tour to Yosemite. It was pouring. And it was really early too. 7 am!! Well, the bus ride was at least pretty comfortable. When we got to the park it was raining,. I was kinda pissed. But then an hour later it stopped. And everything changed. The park looked so surreal after the rain, it was so beautiful. We got to see the waterfall which we didn’t expect to see because the park was suffering from a drought. Because of the rain, the waterfall was running on full stream. It was pretty!!!it was a long trip. 14 hrs. wasn’t cheap. 100 something dollars. But I guess it was worth it.

On the fourth, we decided to take it easy. In the morning we had dim sum, then we drove around downtown SF for the first time taking pic and relaxing. Late afternoon, we walked around fisherman’s wharf area to see the seals. I think SF is a very liveable city. The pace was kinda slow but I somehow liked it. There is a hugh asian community there but unlike NY, these asian ppl are the 2-3 generation. They are not only concentrated in their little own community but are everywhere as if they have been there for a while. A different kinda vibe from other cities that I had been to in the US. Well, I know I will back to SF very soon in the future.

Trip to upstate New York

On Oct 17 2008, I went to upstate New York to see the fall foliage. Specifically, Mohonk preserve. The Mohonk Preserve is located in the Shawangunk Ridge, a section of the Appalachian Mountains, 90 miles (140 km) north of New York City in Ulster County, New York. The weather was perfect and the foliage is close to peak. I did a short hike up the preserve. It was pretty from up there. You can literally see the different patches of color on the trees (yellow, orange, red). Two years ago I was at Acadia National Park, Maine. At that time it was already off peak. This time, I got to see the whole thing.

Trip to Las Vegas, Lake Mead, and Zion National Park

After almost a yr and a half, I am going to Las Vegas again! My flight to Vegas was not a smooth one. I missed my connecting flight in NYC and had to stayed over night in NY. Luckily Frankie was kind enought to pick me up at the airport and let me stayed at his place and drove me back to the airport the next morning. Thank you Frankie. I arrived in Vegas on Sept 5, 10 am. As I was sitting by the window, I saw the landscapes changed from the Rocky mountains to the deserts to the canyons. The guy sitting beside me was snoring the whole time. I really wanted to slap him awake but for some reason I didnt.

When I arrived, Chris came to pick me up. Chris arrived last night. We were supposed to fly together from NYC but I missed my connecting flight. Anyway, we had lunch at the lobby of our hotel, South Point Hotel. South Point Hotel is located about 3 miles south of the vegas strip. It is supposedly a 4-star hotel but none of us was impressed by the hotel. Anyway, it was cheap and that all it matters. The T-bone steak costs only 13 but the quality was alright. I guess you get what you paid for. After lunch we drove to the Hoover Dam. Chris never went to the dam. It was really really hot, 108F. I insisted to drive to the other side of the dam just to be in Arizona for 10 min since I love Arizona :-). I wanted to go to the Arizona Tourist Information Ctr but for some reason we couldnt find it. Anyway, after that we drove to Lake Mead National Recreational Area. I was there on my last trip but did not really explore the surrounding area. This time we drove to the scenic drive. It was pretty. At night time we went to this fast food reataurant , Jack in the Box. It was so good. I wish we have it in the DC area. Then we headed to MGM Grand to watch KÀ by Cirque du Soleil. It was an amazing show. They had fireworks indoors. That was pretty cool. I would definately recommend this show to anyone going to Vegas.

The next day, we woke up at around 9am. Then we drove to the Zion National Park. It was a good 2.5 hrs drive. The weather at the park was not as hot as in Vegas. It was actually pretty nice. Cars are not allowed in the park. We parked at Sringdale (just outside the park) and took the free shutte bus to the park. From the park, there are free shuttle buses that go around the scenic loop. We did a short hike to the Weeping Rock. Weeping Rock is an overhanging blind arch which rains every day of the year. The spring water seeping out of the rock 100 feet overhead takes nearly 2000 years to travel through the porous Navajo sandstone above. The percolation slows at the underlying dense, non-porous Kayenta sandstone layer, then follows a downhill course, raining on the observers below. It was gorgeous. We spent almost 2-3 hours at the park then drove back to Vegas. At night time, we has french food at Paris Las Vegas. The food was good. Was gonna have bufet at the Paris hotel but the line was long. I was pissed.

The next day, we checked in to Bellagio since Chris will attend a conference there for 3 days. Then we went to Ethel M Chocolate factory which is only a few miles away from the strip. There's a cactus botanical garden just right outside the chocolate factory and that was the main reason I wanted to go there. At 2 o clock we checked in to Bellagio. What a difference a hotel makes. The front view front the hotel room is unbelievable. You can see the Bellagio fountain and the Eiffel tower right in front of the window. At noon we went the pool. A perfect day to go to the pool when the temperature hit 103F. Since I did not have buffet my last trip, I insisted to have buffet this time. We went to THE buffet the Bellagio. It was expensive - around 30. Food was alright. no complaint. At 11pm, I flew back to DC leaving Chris behind. I wish I had more than 3 days but I still had a great time.

Trip to Long Island Vineyard, New York

I have never been to a vineyard before. So I was kind of excited. There were 16 of all together with 4-5 cars. The vineyards are located at the Hamptons, Long Island. It's funny that some of the roads there are not even in the GPS system causing some coufusions and delays since all 5 cars were driving at different times. We all had a great time there. Some of Ryan's friends are profesional singers working at the NY Philharmonic. So they were singing the whole time. It was really funny cause at one point someone was throwong money at them. After vineyard hopping for about 3 hrs, we went to have dinner at a steakhouse. On the way back, for some reason out of no where we saw fireworks display. It was geogeous. A perfect summer night