The golden Christmas tree at the Hong Kong airport
What is, to me, the fairytalest of fairytale castle - Disneyland, Anaheim
Great memories of New Year's Eve at Universal Studios, Hollywood
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Tis the season
Hi guys, I was going through some of my old files, trying to declutter my hard disk, when I found some of my favorite holiday photos to share with you.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Two quick stops, Carmel and Monterey
As we were leaving Gilroy the day after our visit to San Francisco, I couldn't resist making a lunch stop at Carmel. To me, it's one of the finest places for seafood, and by seafood, I mean clam chowder. The drive into town on that day in late spring was picturesque, as always...
... with quaint little shops like this lining both sides of the street. The shops are cute but I think it's the sunny tree-lined sidewalks that I'm more drawn to.
After lunch, we were hoping to take a leisurely drive down The 17-mile Drive to see the ocean. But first, we passed by lots of beautiful houses like this one and wondered if we might spot any of our favorite celebs out there. Driving through Carmel, you see flowers everywhere in all colors, it's like driving through a garden.
As it turned out, you now have to pay to enter The 17-mile Drive. I didn't know that. The last time I was there, it was still free. So we decided to skip it this time, and continued our drive to Monterey. This is the place where we always come to buy souvenirs. Seriously, how many souvenirs do we need from just Monterey alone?
And of course, no trip to Monterey would be complete without a walk down the pier to gaze out at the Pacific Ocean. I could spend hours sitting on a bench listening to the waves crash onto the rocks below and watching the gentle movement of the sea.
I wish we could've stayed longer but we had a long drive back to Fresno. Trust me to be still thinking about that clam chowder we had at that little Italian restaurant in Carmel (it's a shame I can't remember the name).
... with quaint little shops like this lining both sides of the street. The shops are cute but I think it's the sunny tree-lined sidewalks that I'm more drawn to.
After lunch, we were hoping to take a leisurely drive down The 17-mile Drive to see the ocean. But first, we passed by lots of beautiful houses like this one and wondered if we might spot any of our favorite celebs out there. Driving through Carmel, you see flowers everywhere in all colors, it's like driving through a garden.
As it turned out, you now have to pay to enter The 17-mile Drive. I didn't know that. The last time I was there, it was still free. So we decided to skip it this time, and continued our drive to Monterey. This is the place where we always come to buy souvenirs. Seriously, how many souvenirs do we need from just Monterey alone?
And of course, no trip to Monterey would be complete without a walk down the pier to gaze out at the Pacific Ocean. I could spend hours sitting on a bench listening to the waves crash onto the rocks below and watching the gentle movement of the sea.
I wish we could've stayed longer but we had a long drive back to Fresno. Trust me to be still thinking about that clam chowder we had at that little Italian restaurant in Carmel (it's a shame I can't remember the name).
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Day trip to San Francisco
Hey friends, today I'm going to share with you my trip to "the city by the bay, the city that rocks, the city that never stops". Remember that 80's song by Starship, "We built this city"? Yup, that one...
For starters, have I mentioned how much I love San Francisco? Well, I do! Somehow when I'm on vacation, I find myself going back there again, and again. I was there again this past spring with my two older kids. The trip was to celebrate my Big Guy's college graduation.
We were staying in Gilroy for a couple of days to do a bit of shopping at the outlets. When I say "a bit of shopping", don't you believe me for a minute. I shop like a maniac but that's a story for another day. Anyhoo, San Francisco being what I think of as my adopted hometown, I just had to get into the city, even if it was only for a day.
Spring in San Francisco is some seriously gorgeous weather, sunny but crispy cool, which I adore. We drove past these beautiful town homes on our way in. I'm thinking it must be nice living in a town home, tall and narrow with that quaint gate and sliver of a front yard.
First stop, the Golden Gate Bridge. The first time I ever set eyes on this sight was soon after I started college way back then. Nothing has changed, it's still as stately and beautiful as ever. That's me looking for a parking spot.
Lots of photos and a walk down the bridge later, we hopped over to the Palace of Fine Arts which is a skip and a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge and it's another place I never miss visiting whenever I'm in SF. Just strolling through the gardens with its fountains and geese and gazing at the magnificent architecture takes me to a different place and time. Maybe I was a Roman princess in a previous life, you never know LOL.
Big Guy, my trusty navigator, took us through the roller-coaster streets of SF and we ended up parking on this slope of a street. See that arrow, that's my car, precariously clinging on for dear life at 45 degrees. When we opened the car doors, we had to pull ourselves up from an incline. It was some crazy stunt. We had to swing our legs out without the car door slamming shut while hanging on to keep ourselves from falling backwards.
A short climb up the hill and here we are at Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. I'd love to be living in one of those houses lining this crazy crooked street. Look out way over there! I think that view alone is worth the hordes of noisy tourists milling around your front door taking pictures all day lone.
We'd planned to have a good lunch along Fisherman's Wharf where I remember tasting the best clam chowder ever years ago. But it was so crowded everywhere with tourists spilling out of every corner, it was impossible to find a good place to sit down and have a nice, unhurried lunch. So we ended up at McDonald's across the street from the wharf.
As we were leaving, we took a turn to Chinatown. My kids have never been there. They've only seen it on TV, those little old Chinese men huddled over stone tables playing checkers on the street. So they were excited they actually spotted this same scene playing out right before their very eyes as we cruised through Chinatown.
It was hard saying goodbye to San Francisco. It always is. It's like my heart belongs there somehow. We arrived back in Gilroy just in time for dinner and a bit of shopping. We were up early the next morning for our day trip to Carmel and Monterey, another of my favorite pieces of California. Stay tuned for that.
For starters, have I mentioned how much I love San Francisco? Well, I do! Somehow when I'm on vacation, I find myself going back there again, and again. I was there again this past spring with my two older kids. The trip was to celebrate my Big Guy's college graduation.
We were staying in Gilroy for a couple of days to do a bit of shopping at the outlets. When I say "a bit of shopping", don't you believe me for a minute. I shop like a maniac but that's a story for another day. Anyhoo, San Francisco being what I think of as my adopted hometown, I just had to get into the city, even if it was only for a day.
Spring in San Francisco is some seriously gorgeous weather, sunny but crispy cool, which I adore. We drove past these beautiful town homes on our way in. I'm thinking it must be nice living in a town home, tall and narrow with that quaint gate and sliver of a front yard.
First stop, the Golden Gate Bridge. The first time I ever set eyes on this sight was soon after I started college way back then. Nothing has changed, it's still as stately and beautiful as ever. That's me looking for a parking spot.
Lots of photos and a walk down the bridge later, we hopped over to the Palace of Fine Arts which is a skip and a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge and it's another place I never miss visiting whenever I'm in SF. Just strolling through the gardens with its fountains and geese and gazing at the magnificent architecture takes me to a different place and time. Maybe I was a Roman princess in a previous life, you never know LOL.
Big Guy, my trusty navigator, took us through the roller-coaster streets of SF and we ended up parking on this slope of a street. See that arrow, that's my car, precariously clinging on for dear life at 45 degrees. When we opened the car doors, we had to pull ourselves up from an incline. It was some crazy stunt. We had to swing our legs out without the car door slamming shut while hanging on to keep ourselves from falling backwards.
A short climb up the hill and here we are at Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. I'd love to be living in one of those houses lining this crazy crooked street. Look out way over there! I think that view alone is worth the hordes of noisy tourists milling around your front door taking pictures all day lone.
As we were leaving, we took a turn to Chinatown. My kids have never been there. They've only seen it on TV, those little old Chinese men huddled over stone tables playing checkers on the street. So they were excited they actually spotted this same scene playing out right before their very eyes as we cruised through Chinatown.
It was hard saying goodbye to San Francisco. It always is. It's like my heart belongs there somehow. We arrived back in Gilroy just in time for dinner and a bit of shopping. We were up early the next morning for our day trip to Carmel and Monterey, another of my favorite pieces of California. Stay tuned for that.
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