Blogs from California, United States, North America - page 9

I wrote this back in 2014. Let's see how much our favorite city has changed. 2014: Borrowed from the Concierge at the Handlery Hotel: Where to find local wildlife: sea lions at Pier 39, elephant seals at Ano Nuevo State Park. harbor porpoises under the Golden Gate Bridge near Fort Point. What about the much maligned fortune cookie? Though they came originally from Japan, they were introduced to America at the Japanese Tea Garden out at Golden Gate Park in the late 1800s (about when my grandfather came to America). And if you go to 56 Ross Alley in Chinatown, you made watch them being made at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. So, who really care's about Ben and Jerry's in the City. Not people who prefer the local varieties, like Mitchell's, Bi-rite, or Swenson's. ... read more

This might be one of the most famous bookstores in the world!!! I wrote this back in 2013. I am reposting (2020), in the hopes that you might donate to City Lights Bookstore, as they struggle through the quarantine in San Francisco. It is by far, the most historic, and unusual bookstore I have ever visited. They have been running a successful "Go Fund Me" page. ​From 2013: Today is a special day for someone very dear. This lady grew up in San Francisco, in the Mission to be exact. But she has never been to the famous City Lights Bookstore. Today is the day! We also had dim sum at City View in Chinatown, and topped it off with some Blue Bottle Coffee at the Ferry Building. This is from a previous email written a ... read more

What a great start to our trip! We weren't able to do some of the things that we had hoped to because there was still too much snow, but on the other hand the snow made some other things more fun and interesting. It was a great day!... read more

(This is a cross-post with my personal blog at nicnakis.com) Nathan and I woke up in a place called Woodland, California. The sun was up early and so were we, taking a few minutes to polish-off the leftover Laos food from the night before. With only about 3 hours' drive to our next destination (in San Miguel), we weren't in much of a hurry. But, considering that our original plan had been to camp at the monastery the night before, we wanted no more delays. We didn't actually know anything about what the program at the monastery would entail. All I'd seen was a simple image, shared with me through a messaging app (Viber, I think?), all in Amharic. The only information in English was the date and the address. As we drove the dusty California ... read more

Disneyland is one of the most desired place in US, especially for kids. Its a place where everyone can enjoy. There are 2 parks : Disneyland Theme park and Adventure park. I would recommend staying there for atleast 1 night so that you get sufficient time to cover both parks. And preferably plan on weekdays, else you would spend most of your time in queues that are much longer on weekends. Disneyland offers stay in their own hotel / resort and they also collaborate with neighborhood hotels to provide combo deals with park tickets and accommodation. We chose one such hotel (The Anaheim Hotel) right across the street from Disneyland entrance. The package included a one park - one day access and we had to choose the dates for each park. Park hopper option is also ... read more