Southern Californiacation (San Diego, Los Angeles, Joshua Tree National Park)

As always, I am not excited about my trip until I actually got there. This trip was plan in such a rush; I literally bought the ticket 3 weeks ago. And I changed my itenary at the last minute. Anyway, I flew from dc to Philly to San Diego. The morning flight in DC was frustrating because the one of the flight attendant did not show up and therefore the flight was delayed. Because of that, I missed my almost missed my connection flight in Philly. I got into the plane but not my luggage. When I landed in San Diego, I wasted almost 1 hr dealing with my lost baggage. Anyway, I took a taxi to the hostel. The taxi driver was an asshole and weird. When I told him where I wanted to go, he turned up his radio so loud a couple of times. I had to scream at him. Anyway, I checked in at the hostel but couldn’t take a shower cause I didn’t have my bag with me. My room was freaking awesome. It had its own bathroom and the mattress is tempur pedic !!! later I had lunch with Mark. Mark (my boss) had checked in to the hostel (he’s doin an eastern seaboard hostel tour and ironically we are staying the same hostel at the same time). We went to this authentic Mexican restaurant just a couple of blocked away. I had salmon with beans with corona beer. It was good.. and relaxing. Later we walked around downtown. At night, I went to this Japanese restaurant a couple of blocks away from the hostel. Wasn’t that good but I was glad after dinner because my bag arrived!!! Took a shower and went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up at 4.15am. Took the Amtrak to LA to meet with Connie. Connie is an ex college friend of mine whom I haven’t seen for almost 5 years!! The ride was scenic. The first half of the ride was by the Californian coast (orange county). It was pretty. Also, I saw orange trees for the first time on the train. That was cool. I got to LA downtown around 9. then we headed to get some breakfast. Went to this dim sum take out place. So cheap!!! 99 cents dim sum. Cant beat that. Also, went to Mcdonalds café (they don’t have it in dc) to get some mocha blended. Then we headed to Joshua tree national park. The first sign of approaching Palm Springs is seeing power windmill. That was an awesome sight. The weather was perfect. A bit chilly but sunny. The park loks exactly like what I though would look like. It was beautiful. I bet it would be more beautiful during spring time. We spent like 2 hrs driving around the park. On the way out the park, we passed by this cholla cactus garden. They look weird and beautiful. Anyway, I got stung by a cactus when I was posing to get my pic taken from Connie. That was funny. On the way out, we went to see the fan palm tree. It’s one of the only native palm trees in the US. It was cool to see them face to face. On the way back, we tried to go see the date tree plantation but it was getting dark. So we drove back to LA and had Chinese food. We had lobster and goeduck. It was good but not cheap tho. The meal was 100 but it was worth it, at least I think. Then connie drove me to santa monica. The hostel was awesome as they gave me a private room with a balcony!!! I was tired and I just wanted to crash.

Next morning, woke up walk around the santa monica beach. weather was perfect. It felt so laidback. I could just sat there looking at the ocean pacific enjoying the view, later connie came and we had lunch at this Cambodian restaurant. After that she drove me to Huntington beach, san clemente beach. on the way we stopped by the orange county fair to see vegetable farms. That was the first time I was celery and asparagus. Neat. Then she drove me back to San Diego . thanks connie,. I didn’t go out that evening, just stay in the room and rest. The next morning, I checked out and out my luggage at the hostel. It was raining cats and dogs. And my flight was not until 11pm. I didn’t know what to do. So I went to BORDERS bookstore that’s located a block away from the hostel. At around 1pm, the rained stopped!! I catch a bus to go to the zoo. I knew I wont have a lot of time so I literally ran around the zoo. I didn’t get to see the Galapagos tortoise which was kind of disappointing. But I did get to see the polar bear. Also I didn’t get to see the Mongolian wild horse. It costs 32 dollars to get in but I think it was worth it. at around 4, I walk in to the Bolboa park area. Man, I was glad I went, it was a pretty as shown in my travel guide books. I feel like I am in mexico/spain. It gets dark quick, at around 5.30, it started to get dark, I took the bus back to the city. Went to the Mexican restaurant one more time. Bought some san diego t shirts and then went tto the airport. This trip was a rush one. Saw so many things in 4 days and I love every second of it!!!

Historical Presidential Inaguration - DC

What a day. When I woke up this morning, it was 19F with 14F windchill. Since there'll be about 1 million ppl jamming the metro today, I decided to brave the cold and bike to DC. The potomac river was frozen. It's not something you see everyday. The usually congested GW parkway was completely empty today. That's because all the major bridges going into DC are being closed. When I was biking, I could hear a faint cheering coming from the National Mall area. At hat point, I knew that this inaguration is REALLY something. When I got in to the Mall, I was amazed with the hugh crowd that was already there. That must have been close to 1 million ppl,. Some people came as early as 4 am to camp at the Mall to get a nice seat trying to catch a glimpse of the new president. I got there at around 1030am. I was already packed with people. I have never seen that many people in DC before. Everyone was so friendly and the mood was definately positive. I was really glad to see people from all walks of life putting away their differences to celeberate the newly elected president. Hopefully President Obama will live up to his campaign -OBAMA FOR CHANGE. I am just glad that I was able to experience this historical moment.

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.