Monthly (?) update XO
Haha.. I forgot to post in this journal that I would be on vacation. XD; Ah well. I had net access most of the time, so I didn't miss anything in LJ-land.
Anyway, here's my California travelog!
Saturday, March 3rd: Home->San Francisco
Travel day, bleah. I always have grand plans for what I'll do with the long hours that I'm trapped on the airplane, but invariably, I'm too tired to do them XD; Yay for running on 3 hours of sleep XO The travel itself was fine, though. Yay for arriving with luggage ;D
The last time we were in SF, three years ago, we had planned to arrive for the Chinese New Year festival. It was kind of nuts, so we didn't want to do that this year. However, entirely on accident, we arrived the day of the parade anyway. X_x;; So the bus schedules and routes (we relied on the bus to get around town; who wants to drive in SF XD) were all messed up around Chinatown because of road closures and we had a hell of a time getting down there and getting back. All that, and we didn't even see the damn parade ;P We managed to get some good dinner, though, and eventually got back to the hotel.
Sunday, March 4th: San Francisco
Today was the requisite Ransack Chinatown Day XD It was also the last day of the CNY street fair, so we got some freebies from the various stands in between our shopping. Nothing especially cool, but the Kraft totebags came in handy ;D Didn't really buy a lot of goodies; we can only carry so much since we're going by air, boo. In theory, I could ship stuff home, but would have to find the PO first X_x; Had enough fun trying to find a place to buy a shipping tube to protect the brush-painting print I bought, though I'm afraid it's still got creases in it from just the silly way it's put together (thin paper glued to cardstock... the glue lines bubble up when you roll it ~_~) Ah well.
Had some pretty good dim sum for lunch and uninspired Vietnamese food for dinner... Never eat in a Vietnamese restaurant run by non-Vietnamese people, sigh ;)
Monday, March 5th: San Francisco
Went out to Fisherman's Wharf to look around and see the sea lions napping off of Pier 39. Lazy, noisy and smelly, but still somehow entertaining XD Rode out to Golden Gate Park to the Japanese Tea Garden, which was pretty neat. Actually found something in THAT giftshop that I've been looking for this whole trip -- mini folding fans XD Eventually went back to Chinatown to get some dim sum carryout for dinner and a little more shopping.
Tuesday, March 6th: San Francisco
Picked up our rental car for the rest of the trip today and drove out to Muir Woods -- it's a park showcasing those old gigantic redwoods. Really cool (temp-wise and neato-wise ;D) and humid and dark. The size of the trees is kind of mind-boggling... they had a section of trunk on display from a tree that was downed earlier in the 20th century, and they had marked significant events on its rings, like the establishment of the colonies, Columbus's journey, things like that, all the way back to the tree's "birth" in 909 AD. Eep XO
In the afternoon, we rode back to Golden Gate Park to visit the Conservatory, saw some pretty flowers and stuff XD Then, take a guess where we went for dinner! ;D We found a Vietnamese restaurant run by actual Vietnamese people, and the food was damn good. Will have to try to remember that place.
Wednesday, March 7th: San Francisco->Monterey
Took a leisurely half-day to drive to Monterey, where we visited the Aquarium :3 Didn't have quite enough time to see everything (got there at like 3:45, they closed at 6 ^^;), especially since we somehow missed an entire wing while we were walking around. Non-linear design is all well and good, but yikes XD Got to see the feeding of the big kelp-forest tank -- they actually send in a diver with a food bag and he hands/tosses the food out. They had a docent talking about it outside of the tank, but the diver also had a mic so there was some back-and-forth chatter, pretty cool. There was also an otter exhibit (squee!) of five adorable female sea otters. I forget how big they are, or maybe I'm thinking of river otters, cos the sea otters are 3+ feet long XO Still very cute tho XD
Had some tasty local pizza for dinner :d Hawaiian! XD
Thursday, March 8th: Monterey->San Luis Obispo
Stopped off in Pacific Grove (that's right next to Monterey) to see some of the migratory monarch butterflies... I think we missed the mass of them by only a couple of weeks, but there were still a few left. Then we embarked on our epic journey down CA-1, the highly scenic coastal highway. Nothing remarkable except the gorgeous scenery, but at one point near San Simeon, we found a small shoreline/mini-park/reserve for elephant seals! They were just laying like lumps on the beach, but it's amazing to see them up so close, regardless :3 Had BBQ for dinner, though I was so stuffy-sick that I couldn't taste it. >_<
The hotel we stayed in overnight was pretty cool, right on the beach, which isn't too unusual in that part of the state, but apparently they have weddings there and stuff, so the scenery was pretty cool. XD
Friday, March 9th: San Luis Obispo->Los Angeles
Had an uneventful (and uninteresting) drive into L.A. Our hotel was in Little Tokyo, so we wasted a little time there (not much, but anime store!) and, of course, Chinatown, where we had some pretty good pho for dinner XD As we discovered later, L.A.'s Chinatown is also full of Vietnamese.
Most of the stores in both Asian locations close up pretty early, so that was about it for the evening :p
Saturday, March 10th: Los Angeles
Didn't have any really concrete plans, but we got trapped in the hotel room in the morning watching "The Interpreter" XD It was pretty good, hehe. Went to Chinatown for a few hours... LA Chinatown has somewhat different content than San Francisco, and it seems a bit more catered to locals than the touristy-trapness of SF. Not that there aren't a few of those tourist-oriented shops, but there are also a LOT of kitchen/home stores, bookstores, music stores, and take-care-of-your-altars stores. Found a store (we later discovered it was a chain, there were two other stores in a different location) that had Chinese carved stone name-stamps, but none of the three stores had "Andrea" T_T (I found "Mara", though! Haha!) Picked up some cheapass jewelry for parts and a few other knicknacks, and then we bundled up to go to Torrance.
The Volks store is so tiny! XD I looked around at the little Dollfies for a bit (I didn't know they made the Neo EB (or whatever it's called.. the super-jointed body) in tan now! This may call for a mini-Mara mk. II in the future... XD (But she'd have to be rooted... geh XD;) Went upstairs to the land of wonder (i.e. the Super Dollfies), where I met Bailey and spied some pics by people I know in the owner picture album X3 I didn't buy *too* much, a pair of metallic eyes, some tabi-feet, and one of the Dolpa 16 outfits. It was definitely cool to go there and just see the place, though, and seeing the FCS layout was pretty cool. XD Was also nice to see some of the other elf-heads in person XD
We got cheap tickets to see the play "Biloxi Blues" in a small playhouse... it was hell finding it, but the play was really good, worth $8 XD
Sunday, March 11th: Los Angeles
Ugh, today was the start of the hot spell. It hit 90 or so, which sucks in March, wtf T_T We went up to Hollywood to do touristy things (take pictures of the stars on the walk, see the Chinese Theater, etc.). I had my picture taken with a pretty good Jack Sparrow cosplayer/street performer XD He had the voice down pretty well too, hehe. Wandered around a bit and had some awesome Coldstone ice cream for lunch. After getting our fill of sightseeing, we ran down to Chinatown again. XD Saw the coolest Asian dolls ever -- fully costumed Peking Opera dolls! All the Chinatowns I've been to, I've never seen those before. We didn't get one though... too hard to pack, and a bit worrisome to ship. >_<;; (Also hadn't found a P.O. yet, and when we did find one on Monday, it was a tiny little thing tucked away in one of the Chinatown malls -- not too much by way of services and packing and stuff.)
Wandered a bit more around Little Tokyo in the evening; there was a store there selling mostly house goods, but they had beautiful chiyogami/origami paper for so cheap XO I got lots of paper and a little hard cardboard box with a handle on it, specifically for carrying 6x6" paper XD ::is dork::
Monday, March 12th: Los Angeles
We got tickets through the mail to see the Tonight Show (I will point out now that we asked for these weeks ahead of time, and had no idea who would be on), and today was the day for that, so we killed some time in the morning/early afternoon -- guess where -- Little Tokyo and Chinatown ;D Was soooo tempted to get a Gundam or two in Chinatown, they had some for such good prices, but too damn hard to pack, and they'd need some or other weird-sized box to ship. Sigh. Had some awesome dim sum for lunch (goodbye, good Chinese food!).
Today was even hotter than yesterday, which, in a word, sucked ;P Especially the "waiting outside for the Tonight Show" bit. >_< As it was, we barely made the cut to get in -- they hand out more tickets than there are seats, and since the musical guest was My Chemical Romance (!), the MCR kids had shown up hella early to get good seats. We were waaaay up in the back by one of the spotlight dudes. XD The show guests were Mark Wahlberg and Brad Garrett (sp?), so interesting, at least. Besides MCR (who played "Famous Last Words"), another musical event of note was the Tonight Show band playing Evanescence's "Whisper" XD It was actually pretty good, hehe.
Tuesday, March 13th: Los Angeles->Home
Ugh. Getting up early FTL! The final travel day... not much of note, except that we saw a B-2 bomber while we were flying XD Sweet!
Oodles of pics to go through... hopefully I'll have some to post by the weekend. In conclusion, going to work the day after vacation sucks. XO
Anyway, here's my California travelog!
Saturday, March 3rd: Home->San Francisco
Travel day, bleah. I always have grand plans for what I'll do with the long hours that I'm trapped on the airplane, but invariably, I'm too tired to do them XD; Yay for running on 3 hours of sleep XO The travel itself was fine, though. Yay for arriving with luggage ;D
The last time we were in SF, three years ago, we had planned to arrive for the Chinese New Year festival. It was kind of nuts, so we didn't want to do that this year. However, entirely on accident, we arrived the day of the parade anyway. X_x;; So the bus schedules and routes (we relied on the bus to get around town; who wants to drive in SF XD) were all messed up around Chinatown because of road closures and we had a hell of a time getting down there and getting back. All that, and we didn't even see the damn parade ;P We managed to get some good dinner, though, and eventually got back to the hotel.
Sunday, March 4th: San Francisco
Today was the requisite Ransack Chinatown Day XD It was also the last day of the CNY street fair, so we got some freebies from the various stands in between our shopping. Nothing especially cool, but the Kraft totebags came in handy ;D Didn't really buy a lot of goodies; we can only carry so much since we're going by air, boo. In theory, I could ship stuff home, but would have to find the PO first X_x; Had enough fun trying to find a place to buy a shipping tube to protect the brush-painting print I bought, though I'm afraid it's still got creases in it from just the silly way it's put together (thin paper glued to cardstock... the glue lines bubble up when you roll it ~_~) Ah well.
Had some pretty good dim sum for lunch and uninspired Vietnamese food for dinner... Never eat in a Vietnamese restaurant run by non-Vietnamese people, sigh ;)
Monday, March 5th: San Francisco
Went out to Fisherman's Wharf to look around and see the sea lions napping off of Pier 39. Lazy, noisy and smelly, but still somehow entertaining XD Rode out to Golden Gate Park to the Japanese Tea Garden, which was pretty neat. Actually found something in THAT giftshop that I've been looking for this whole trip -- mini folding fans XD Eventually went back to Chinatown to get some dim sum carryout for dinner and a little more shopping.
Tuesday, March 6th: San Francisco
Picked up our rental car for the rest of the trip today and drove out to Muir Woods -- it's a park showcasing those old gigantic redwoods. Really cool (temp-wise and neato-wise ;D) and humid and dark. The size of the trees is kind of mind-boggling... they had a section of trunk on display from a tree that was downed earlier in the 20th century, and they had marked significant events on its rings, like the establishment of the colonies, Columbus's journey, things like that, all the way back to the tree's "birth" in 909 AD. Eep XO
In the afternoon, we rode back to Golden Gate Park to visit the Conservatory, saw some pretty flowers and stuff XD Then, take a guess where we went for dinner! ;D We found a Vietnamese restaurant run by actual Vietnamese people, and the food was damn good. Will have to try to remember that place.
Wednesday, March 7th: San Francisco->Monterey
Took a leisurely half-day to drive to Monterey, where we visited the Aquarium :3 Didn't have quite enough time to see everything (got there at like 3:45, they closed at 6 ^^;), especially since we somehow missed an entire wing while we were walking around. Non-linear design is all well and good, but yikes XD Got to see the feeding of the big kelp-forest tank -- they actually send in a diver with a food bag and he hands/tosses the food out. They had a docent talking about it outside of the tank, but the diver also had a mic so there was some back-and-forth chatter, pretty cool. There was also an otter exhibit (squee!) of five adorable female sea otters. I forget how big they are, or maybe I'm thinking of river otters, cos the sea otters are 3+ feet long XO Still very cute tho XD
Had some tasty local pizza for dinner :d Hawaiian! XD
Thursday, March 8th: Monterey->San Luis Obispo
Stopped off in Pacific Grove (that's right next to Monterey) to see some of the migratory monarch butterflies... I think we missed the mass of them by only a couple of weeks, but there were still a few left. Then we embarked on our epic journey down CA-1, the highly scenic coastal highway. Nothing remarkable except the gorgeous scenery, but at one point near San Simeon, we found a small shoreline/mini-park/reserve for elephant seals! They were just laying like lumps on the beach, but it's amazing to see them up so close, regardless :3 Had BBQ for dinner, though I was so stuffy-sick that I couldn't taste it. >_<
The hotel we stayed in overnight was pretty cool, right on the beach, which isn't too unusual in that part of the state, but apparently they have weddings there and stuff, so the scenery was pretty cool. XD
Friday, March 9th: San Luis Obispo->Los Angeles
Had an uneventful (and uninteresting) drive into L.A. Our hotel was in Little Tokyo, so we wasted a little time there (not much, but anime store!) and, of course, Chinatown, where we had some pretty good pho for dinner XD As we discovered later, L.A.'s Chinatown is also full of Vietnamese.
Most of the stores in both Asian locations close up pretty early, so that was about it for the evening :p
Saturday, March 10th: Los Angeles
Didn't have any really concrete plans, but we got trapped in the hotel room in the morning watching "The Interpreter" XD It was pretty good, hehe. Went to Chinatown for a few hours... LA Chinatown has somewhat different content than San Francisco, and it seems a bit more catered to locals than the touristy-trapness of SF. Not that there aren't a few of those tourist-oriented shops, but there are also a LOT of kitchen/home stores, bookstores, music stores, and take-care-of-your-altars stores. Found a store (we later discovered it was a chain, there were two other stores in a different location) that had Chinese carved stone name-stamps, but none of the three stores had "Andrea" T_T (I found "Mara", though! Haha!) Picked up some cheapass jewelry for parts and a few other knicknacks, and then we bundled up to go to Torrance.
The Volks store is so tiny! XD I looked around at the little Dollfies for a bit (I didn't know they made the Neo EB (or whatever it's called.. the super-jointed body) in tan now! This may call for a mini-Mara mk. II in the future... XD (But she'd have to be rooted... geh XD;) Went upstairs to the land of wonder (i.e. the Super Dollfies), where I met Bailey and spied some pics by people I know in the owner picture album X3 I didn't buy *too* much, a pair of metallic eyes, some tabi-feet, and one of the Dolpa 16 outfits. It was definitely cool to go there and just see the place, though, and seeing the FCS layout was pretty cool. XD Was also nice to see some of the other elf-heads in person XD
We got cheap tickets to see the play "Biloxi Blues" in a small playhouse... it was hell finding it, but the play was really good, worth $8 XD
Sunday, March 11th: Los Angeles
Ugh, today was the start of the hot spell. It hit 90 or so, which sucks in March, wtf T_T We went up to Hollywood to do touristy things (take pictures of the stars on the walk, see the Chinese Theater, etc.). I had my picture taken with a pretty good Jack Sparrow cosplayer/street performer XD He had the voice down pretty well too, hehe. Wandered around a bit and had some awesome Coldstone ice cream for lunch. After getting our fill of sightseeing, we ran down to Chinatown again. XD Saw the coolest Asian dolls ever -- fully costumed Peking Opera dolls! All the Chinatowns I've been to, I've never seen those before. We didn't get one though... too hard to pack, and a bit worrisome to ship. >_<;; (Also hadn't found a P.O. yet, and when we did find one on Monday, it was a tiny little thing tucked away in one of the Chinatown malls -- not too much by way of services and packing and stuff.)
Wandered a bit more around Little Tokyo in the evening; there was a store there selling mostly house goods, but they had beautiful chiyogami/origami paper for so cheap XO I got lots of paper and a little hard cardboard box with a handle on it, specifically for carrying 6x6" paper XD ::is dork::
Monday, March 12th: Los Angeles
We got tickets through the mail to see the Tonight Show (I will point out now that we asked for these weeks ahead of time, and had no idea who would be on), and today was the day for that, so we killed some time in the morning/early afternoon -- guess where -- Little Tokyo and Chinatown ;D Was soooo tempted to get a Gundam or two in Chinatown, they had some for such good prices, but too damn hard to pack, and they'd need some or other weird-sized box to ship. Sigh. Had some awesome dim sum for lunch (goodbye, good Chinese food!).
Today was even hotter than yesterday, which, in a word, sucked ;P Especially the "waiting outside for the Tonight Show" bit. >_< As it was, we barely made the cut to get in -- they hand out more tickets than there are seats, and since the musical guest was My Chemical Romance (!), the MCR kids had shown up hella early to get good seats. We were waaaay up in the back by one of the spotlight dudes. XD The show guests were Mark Wahlberg and Brad Garrett (sp?), so interesting, at least. Besides MCR (who played "Famous Last Words"), another musical event of note was the Tonight Show band playing Evanescence's "Whisper" XD It was actually pretty good, hehe.
Tuesday, March 13th: Los Angeles->Home
Ugh. Getting up early FTL! The final travel day... not much of note, except that we saw a B-2 bomber while we were flying XD Sweet!
Oodles of pics to go through... hopefully I'll have some to post by the weekend. In conclusion, going to work the day after vacation sucks. XO