Snow in San Francisco? Yes! At least it wasn't as rainy as it was supposed to be, but I feel sorry for Lan and Ashley coming all the way out here for their spring break and then it was so freaking cold. Actually, I don't feel that bad for them because I was so glad they came (plus, they had 80 degree weather waiting for them when they got back). I said this before when Lissie came to visit that it is so uplifting and comforting to have someone with you for 24 hours for four days straight spending quality time together. You don't get that in life very often. Actually, this past week I was pretty lucky in that I got to spend time with Stacy, Stasia, Lan, Ashley, Joey, Shahla, and Amineh- all of whom I care a lot about and don't get to see very often (or often enough). Of course, they can't be with you all the time and you still have to deal with those moments alone which are toughest.
Still, my spring break was pretty awesome. Lan and Ashley came in on Tuesday in San Francisco and so I picked up Joey and found the airport. Joey volunteered to be our local tour guide and thank goodness because I would be at such a loss of what to do there otherwise. He took us up to Twin Peaks where we could catch a cool glimpse of the city landscape. Then we walked through the Castro district (talk about a bit of culture) and took the subway into downtown. We learned all about the city public transportation options (from electric buses to cable cars to historic street cars) and toured the Ferry Building and Fisherman's Wharf. After dinner we drove around and gave the girls a sample of the craziness of driving in SF, including a drive down Lombard's curvy street. We spent the night there and then it was off to...
Monterrey! I had never been there, but it was pretty darn neat. They got to sample a little bit of the California beach culture along Cannery Row and then we went to the Aquarium. Wow! There is so much to see. Some of these animals have it made, like the sea otters swimming around on their backs scratching their bellies (what a life!) and the cute little penguins eating fish to their heart's content. Some of the displays were so awe-inspiring because of how huge they were. And they match the lighting and the music to make you really feel like you've been transported into another world. Especially around their jellyfish exhibit because those guys already look like their from a different planet. Oh! And I learned that octopuses are very creepy (and that they can distinguish people by tasting their skin with their suckers). I even got to pet a bat ray (slimy), a skate (look it up), starfish, sea urchin, abalone, and a decorative crab (not as decorative as you might think). The aquarium had an awesome view of the ocean and I'm so glad Lan and Ashley both had cameras so that we could capture all the Kodak moments.
From there we went up to Santa Cruz and walked along the Boardwalk, which was closed and a little sad. We got to go down to the beach and Lan, as can be expected, unintentionally fell into the ocean. Amineh treated us to dinner at UC Santa Cruz and the girls got to see the forest that they call a school. We got home just in time to watch Project Runway with Shahla's roomates, thank goodness! It's funny how captivating these programs can be. I would never choose to watch it and had no real interest in fashion design or modeling...until I watched the show. And then all of a sudden I had to see who won and had an opinion on everything. Well, Chloe won, in case you were wondering, even though I was rooting for Daniel.
We spent some time Thursday in Sacramento and went along the river and through Old Sac. I never realized how many photo opportunities are available in Old Sac! Next time I want to take pictures with someone, we're going to Old Sac. Vinny joined us for dinner and, of course, we had to take them to Leatherby's. Mmmm. Ice cream. It's never too cold for ice cream, if you ask me. Sometimes it's too cold after ice cream, but that's different. Oh, they also wanted to go to In-N-Out, so we made a stop there on Friday for lunch. Since they flew out of SF Friday night, we drove back and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge so that we could hit up Muir Woods and see some California Redwoods (the tallest living thing on the planet). We went to Chinatown and did some shopping. I'm starting to study some Cantonese, but it didn't do me much good in Chinatown. I did imagine that Hong Kong would be pretty similar, so that was neat. We even at at the New Hong Kong restaurant to sample some Cantonese cuisine. They gave us so much, I still have some in my fridge actually. Finally, I took them to this incredible rotating restaurant called the Equinox at the top of the Hyatt hotel which gives you an amazing view of the bay and the buildings downtown. We just had dessert, but it was so good. A really good way to end the trip.
I smiled a lot and made some cool memories and all was well. I also drove about 1000 miles, but it was so worth it. I wish they would move out here soon so we can do it again. It made me even more excited about graduation and all the people there are to see. As a matter of fact, I made a reservation today on a condo, so come out to Nashville in May for graduation and you got a place to stay!
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