It is about time to talk about my vacation
So after being too busy to blog for the last couple weeks I have found myself with some spare time to blog. First things first, I need to talk about the trip through California and the week I spent in Seattle. Unfortunately my server has been acting weird, so I can't get any photos of my trip online quite yet.
I had a really great time on my trip with Sandra. It all started out on July 15th. I got a ride to the airport to pick up my rental car. The agent ended up upgrading my sedan to a pretty swank Chrysler Pacifica. Sandra was on a late flight into LAX, so I wasted some time in Irvine, but apparently I didn't waste enough time because by the time I got to LAX I still had two and a hours until her flight arrived. I was on the phone with my mom at the time, so she told me to head to Manhattan Beach. So I drove to the beach and walked around for a while chatting with my mom. When the time came to get Sandra I rolled on over to LAX, which has crazy traffic even in the middle of the night. I would hate to try and catch a flight at LAX during rush hour.
On Saturday we drove down to the San Diego Zoo to see their famed pandas and of course other animals. I was pretty impressed with the zoo. I thought it was really nice compared to the pathetic zoo I visited in Kunming where the guy taking photos of people in an old army jet got mad at us for refusing to take a photo. (Visit this page, http://www.aapn.org/zoopage2.html, and search for 'Kunming'). Anyways, the pandas were pretty relaxed that day and all they did was lie around. The polar bears also seemed to choose being lazy as their choice activity for the afternoon as well.
On Saturday night Steven, Jentzen, Randall, Chris, Adam, Aaron, Sandra and I all went out to get sushi. We all had a great time. Chris was telling crude jokes that Sandra was more than enjoying, which kind of took Chris by surprise. Jentzen told us all stories of his hitchhiking trip that took him to San Francisco when he was trying to find himself. The one thing I learned from those stories was that you should wave at strangers and act as if they are your friends if you need to get out of a bad situation.
On Sunday morning we started our trip San Francisco. We planned on driving up Highway 1 up the coast. Our first stop was breakfast in Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is a nice little city. The historic district is especially nice to walk around in and window shop. Our next stop on the drive was near San Simeon. This is the small town nearest to the Hearst Castle. This is one of the many homes owned by the famous media mogul of the early 20th Century, William Randolph Hearst. He is also the father of Patty Hearst, the millionaire who was once "abducted and brainwashed" by the Symbionese Liberation Army to rob banks. This castle was built on top of this hill overlooking the ocean. The ranch included many thousands of acres of lands to explore on horseback. The land even included a zoo and a small airport. We took a tour of the estate and were amazed at it's grandeur. After the tour we got back on the road. I expected some amazing views of the sunset as we drove along the coast, but apparently someone forgot to mention there was fog for almost the whole drive. We didn't get to see much of anything besides the road. Apparently the hot weather causes the ocean to warm up and create fog. Since there was a heat wave at the time, it only made sense that there was so much fog.
While we were eating Sushi with Chris he told us not to go to the tenderloin jokingly. While driving into the city and looking for our hotel we drove into a sketchy part of town. I thought to myself that this was a pretty shady part of town and I hoped our hotel was not nearby when I saw a sign reading "Tenderloin Market". Then I knew what Chris meant.
While in San Francisco we did most of typical tourist things. We visited China Town, Little Italy, the Japanese Tea Garden, Haight Ashbury, Lombard Street, the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Embarcadero and Sausalito. We also got to ride the BART and a street car. We tried to pack as much fun into a couple days as possible. One of the funnest parts was visiting Sandra's friend Rich where he works. The 40th floor of his building overlooks all of downtown and the bay. I was surprised they were able to get any work done at all while sitting in front of the huge windows.
If you are in San Francisco and want a good Italian meal, I would recommend Pinnochio's in North Beach. It is on Columbus Street near Washington Square. The atmosphere is really nice and the meals are not over priced. Thanks for this suggestion Rich!
I would also recommend walking around San Francisco as much as possible. It is easy to start in downtown, or wherever and then walk to most of the places I mentioned. I think that some of the views on the hill near Coit Tower are some of the best views in the city and they aren't the same inside of a car. I would also recommend a good pair of walking shoes and water because those hills are pretty brutal.
After our time in San Francisco we drove to the house where I grew up and then headed over to Yosemite National Park. After a few days in the city it was time to get into nature. We spent the first day in the park in the valley. We started by enjoying the spectacular views from Glacier point. In the afternoon we hiked up to Upper Yosemite Falls. The hike was strenuous, but worth all the energy once we got to the falls. Along the way we stopped along the way to eat lunch. We had a little Blue Bird join us for lunch. He seemed to be interested in the seeds from the lychee I was eating. He was so interested that when I would throw them over the edge of the cliff he would dive bomb after them. I don't think he ever caught them though.
The second day in Yosemite we spent the morning back in the valley. After I tried to do a little bouldering we went to see the lower falls. When I was climbing Sandra got bitten by a mosquito. I was also bitten, but the reaction she had was ridiculous. Her arms started to swell up really big around the marks. I am not sure why I the bites I had seemed to go away, but hers were there for a couple days.
We left Yosemite in the afternoon for our long drive. No, the 12 hour drive from San Clemente to San Francisco was not the long one. I thought it would not take so long, but driving from Yosemite to Ocean Shores, WA really does take 14 hours. I thought that was an overestimation. Luckily there are no large cities between Sacremento and Portland. We were going to Ocean Shores to stay at a beach house that Sandra's boss owned. She was gracious enough to let us borrow the beach house for a couple days.
Once we got to the house we crashed and woke up late the next. We took a trip to town to get some groceries and coffee. Once we got back to the beach house it was time for some relaxation. All we really did was sit around and read magazines on the deck, but that was fine by me. I was already exhausted from the trip already. That evening we watched the sunset at the beach after getting some more coffee. We liked to get coffee at one of the local gift shops because the Korean lady who owned the shop was really nice and friendly. After watching the sunset and taking photos we drove back down the beach to get home. Before getting off the beach I had to do some doughnuts in the sand.
Eventually we made it back to Seattle after ten days of fun. I don't think there was anytime during the trip I didn't have fun. The most important part was that I got to spend some nice quality time with Sandra. I am also happy that I got to share her first real vacation with her. I hope it won't be our last either.
I had a really great time on my trip with Sandra. It all started out on July 15th. I got a ride to the airport to pick up my rental car. The agent ended up upgrading my sedan to a pretty swank Chrysler Pacifica. Sandra was on a late flight into LAX, so I wasted some time in Irvine, but apparently I didn't waste enough time because by the time I got to LAX I still had two and a hours until her flight arrived. I was on the phone with my mom at the time, so she told me to head to Manhattan Beach. So I drove to the beach and walked around for a while chatting with my mom. When the time came to get Sandra I rolled on over to LAX, which has crazy traffic even in the middle of the night. I would hate to try and catch a flight at LAX during rush hour.
On Saturday we drove down to the San Diego Zoo to see their famed pandas and of course other animals. I was pretty impressed with the zoo. I thought it was really nice compared to the pathetic zoo I visited in Kunming where the guy taking photos of people in an old army jet got mad at us for refusing to take a photo. (Visit this page, http://www.aapn.org/zoopage2.html, and search for 'Kunming'). Anyways, the pandas were pretty relaxed that day and all they did was lie around. The polar bears also seemed to choose being lazy as their choice activity for the afternoon as well.
On Saturday night Steven, Jentzen, Randall, Chris, Adam, Aaron, Sandra and I all went out to get sushi. We all had a great time. Chris was telling crude jokes that Sandra was more than enjoying, which kind of took Chris by surprise. Jentzen told us all stories of his hitchhiking trip that took him to San Francisco when he was trying to find himself. The one thing I learned from those stories was that you should wave at strangers and act as if they are your friends if you need to get out of a bad situation.
On Sunday morning we started our trip San Francisco. We planned on driving up Highway 1 up the coast. Our first stop was breakfast in Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is a nice little city. The historic district is especially nice to walk around in and window shop. Our next stop on the drive was near San Simeon. This is the small town nearest to the Hearst Castle. This is one of the many homes owned by the famous media mogul of the early 20th Century, William Randolph Hearst. He is also the father of Patty Hearst, the millionaire who was once "abducted and brainwashed" by the Symbionese Liberation Army to rob banks. This castle was built on top of this hill overlooking the ocean. The ranch included many thousands of acres of lands to explore on horseback. The land even included a zoo and a small airport. We took a tour of the estate and were amazed at it's grandeur. After the tour we got back on the road. I expected some amazing views of the sunset as we drove along the coast, but apparently someone forgot to mention there was fog for almost the whole drive. We didn't get to see much of anything besides the road. Apparently the hot weather causes the ocean to warm up and create fog. Since there was a heat wave at the time, it only made sense that there was so much fog.
While we were eating Sushi with Chris he told us not to go to the tenderloin jokingly. While driving into the city and looking for our hotel we drove into a sketchy part of town. I thought to myself that this was a pretty shady part of town and I hoped our hotel was not nearby when I saw a sign reading "Tenderloin Market". Then I knew what Chris meant.
While in San Francisco we did most of typical tourist things. We visited China Town, Little Italy, the Japanese Tea Garden, Haight Ashbury, Lombard Street, the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Embarcadero and Sausalito. We also got to ride the BART and a street car. We tried to pack as much fun into a couple days as possible. One of the funnest parts was visiting Sandra's friend Rich where he works. The 40th floor of his building overlooks all of downtown and the bay. I was surprised they were able to get any work done at all while sitting in front of the huge windows.
If you are in San Francisco and want a good Italian meal, I would recommend Pinnochio's in North Beach. It is on Columbus Street near Washington Square. The atmosphere is really nice and the meals are not over priced. Thanks for this suggestion Rich!
I would also recommend walking around San Francisco as much as possible. It is easy to start in downtown, or wherever and then walk to most of the places I mentioned. I think that some of the views on the hill near Coit Tower are some of the best views in the city and they aren't the same inside of a car. I would also recommend a good pair of walking shoes and water because those hills are pretty brutal.
After our time in San Francisco we drove to the house where I grew up and then headed over to Yosemite National Park. After a few days in the city it was time to get into nature. We spent the first day in the park in the valley. We started by enjoying the spectacular views from Glacier point. In the afternoon we hiked up to Upper Yosemite Falls. The hike was strenuous, but worth all the energy once we got to the falls. Along the way we stopped along the way to eat lunch. We had a little Blue Bird join us for lunch. He seemed to be interested in the seeds from the lychee I was eating. He was so interested that when I would throw them over the edge of the cliff he would dive bomb after them. I don't think he ever caught them though.
The second day in Yosemite we spent the morning back in the valley. After I tried to do a little bouldering we went to see the lower falls. When I was climbing Sandra got bitten by a mosquito. I was also bitten, but the reaction she had was ridiculous. Her arms started to swell up really big around the marks. I am not sure why I the bites I had seemed to go away, but hers were there for a couple days.
We left Yosemite in the afternoon for our long drive. No, the 12 hour drive from San Clemente to San Francisco was not the long one. I thought it would not take so long, but driving from Yosemite to Ocean Shores, WA really does take 14 hours. I thought that was an overestimation. Luckily there are no large cities between Sacremento and Portland. We were going to Ocean Shores to stay at a beach house that Sandra's boss owned. She was gracious enough to let us borrow the beach house for a couple days.
Once we got to the house we crashed and woke up late the next. We took a trip to town to get some groceries and coffee. Once we got back to the beach house it was time for some relaxation. All we really did was sit around and read magazines on the deck, but that was fine by me. I was already exhausted from the trip already. That evening we watched the sunset at the beach after getting some more coffee. We liked to get coffee at one of the local gift shops because the Korean lady who owned the shop was really nice and friendly. After watching the sunset and taking photos we drove back down the beach to get home. Before getting off the beach I had to do some doughnuts in the sand.
Eventually we made it back to Seattle after ten days of fun. I don't think there was anytime during the trip I didn't have fun. The most important part was that I got to spend some nice quality time with Sandra. I am also happy that I got to share her first real vacation with her. I hope it won't be our last either.
posted by Jon Keto at
2:20 PM
1 Comments:
the trip was awesome! i'm going to piggy back on jon's blog since i'm too lazy to start one of my own.
jon's friends are way cool. i had a blast hanging out with them at dinner. i can see why jon enjoys work so much when there are so many interesting and unique personalities that keep the job fun. if i had co-workers like these guys, i'd be in on the weekends as well.
i love san fran and i can't wait to get back there. hiking up half dome is also a must for future vacation plans. i'd totally recommend going to half dome and camping for a few days during august because of the meteor showers. the view should be spectacular.
-sandra
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