Blogs from California, United States, North America - page 1012

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North America » United States » California » Monterey December 30th 2006

One never has a bad day in Monterey Bay.... read more
Ocean Beach sunset
Carmel
Going going gone

North America » United States » California December 30th 2006

L.A. and Vacaville We left Tucson and headed to L.A. the night. On the way we went to Joshua Tree National Park and stopped in the town of Joshua Tree for food. We found a place called The Beatnik Café and I ordered a meatless meatball sub..delicious. After spending the night at Kelci’s, we left around 0930 to make it to Vacaville so we could join Shay and her boyfriend at his mom’s house for New Years Eve dinner. Dinner was great. Mike’s mom and her husband are always great company and some of the most generous people I’ve met. We went back to Shay’s around 930 pm and played Jeopardy. We were in bed before midnight and missed ringing in the New Year. On New Year Day we left Shay’s around 3pm to go to ... read more
Joshua Tree
Beatnik Cafe
Beatnik Cafe

North America » United States » California » San Jose December 30th 2006

I have a lot of catching up to do. Here goes with September's Mid Autumn Moon Festival: This Chinese holiday falls upon the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar throughout most of Asia with huge celebrations of the bountiful harvest brought by the monsoon rains. The moon is shines brilliantly at this time, with special mooncakes eaten by all. There is a famous Chinese folk tale about a Chinese Princess that accidentally floated to the moon from earth though the details of the story escapes me. One of my earliest childhood memories of Vietnam was celebrating this very popular Chinese holiday with family and neighborhood friends. I would compare it to Halloween without the costumes. Children would get their own lantern (usually made of colorful durable plastic) in the shape of ... read more
Lotus charms
Can't resist hello kitty charms

North America » United States » California » San Diego December 29th 2006

Today we went to the "World Famous San Diego Zoo". We started on a tour of the Zoo which took us around to each area. It was a big place with lots of types of animals and beautiful gardens. It is actually listed as botanical gardens. So we walked around and saw lots of animals. There were apparently 4000 animals there from 800 species. You would see a big but there would by 10 varieties and the same for monkeys, dears etc. We actually saw a dear just after it was born. (An hour old). It was tiny and struggling to walk around- very cool. My favs were the hippo, rhinos, zebras, grizzly bear, feral bush pigs and pandas. Well there was a huge line to see the pandas and we couldn’t be bothered waiting at ... read more
Loved the hippo
Panda
Grizzly Bear sleeping

North America » United States » California » Big Sur December 29th 2006

Limite occidentale de notre voyage: le Pacifique North America » United States » California » Big Sur By BerenDecember 29th 2006Gaëtan Nous sommes arrivés le 27 au soir près de Sequoia national Park dans la Sierra Nevada où nous campâmes. L'endroit était charmant et verdoyant, mais nous apprîmes le lendemain qu'il était interdit d'entrer dans le parc sans avoir de chaînes pour les pneus et qu'il allait nous couter un peu plus de 60$ pour en obtenir... courte discussion et prise de décision. Nous reprîmes la route vers l'ouest, si nous ne pouvions pas aller e... read more
Petit déjeuner dans la Sierra Nevada
Flore de la côte du Pacifique
Vautour

North America » United States » California » San Jose December 28th 2006

On Christmas Eve were asked by dad to stop by his work in Gilroy just before we went to the house for Christmas dinner. A little voice in the back of my head knew what he had in mind. A few days before Christmas eve, a 2-engine plane had crashed into the water treatment tank in Gilroy. There were three Japanese nationals on board. Naively I thought they somehow survived the crash until the news regretfully informed that there were no survivors. It was just too close to Christmas for me to believe they had all perished. When we arrived the first thing that I noticied that I had never seen were flowers left beside the gate in memory of the three Japanese citizens who met their fate on that day. I never once heard from ... read more
Memorial for plane crash of 3 Japanese

North America » United States » California » San Diego December 28th 2006

Wow! Interesting day. Today was the day of the Holiday Bowl- big Gridiron match for the holidays. Kinda like our old State of Origin. Benn tried for a few days and we finally got some tickets to go! The game started at 5pm. It was a huge event- everyone was talking about it. So the day started with a Balloon Parade in Downtown San Diego. So we headed down at 10am and sat and watched the parade. It was awesome. Just what u see on TV or the movies. Like hot air balloons expect shaped as different things and characters which are carried down a main strip with marching bands inbetween them. So this was very exciting start to the day. Next we ventured down to Tijuana (which is actually Mexico- just cross the American Boarder). ... read more
Benn amongst it all
Crossing the boarder
In the main street

North America » United States » California » Mammoth Lakes December 28th 2006

It’s as though someone is chiseling at your chest. After the work, the strain, the arduous momentum to bring yourself to the present moment of your journey—of all things!—now this: You’re strapped down, inclined by force, and your eyelids are wrenched open in an undefined spaciousness. Someone, something, is chiseling at you. It’s strikes your rib cage, prying towards your heart. It’s searching for something more, and as it pounds, the sensation is everything but painful. In fact, what holds you down and stretches the eyelids is your own volition. That someone, that thing, digging into you at the cavity of your torso is of your own manifestation. You allow it. You create it. You smile with inexplicable delight. Come the Hammer & Pick Inspiration: we flourish with it. It is an imaginary force of mental ... read more
Mountain Visions
A Field To Stand
Highways & Byways

North America » United States » California » Los Angeles » Long Beach December 27th 2006

Seasons greetings and Happy Holidays!! As you may have guessed and if you didn't already know, I'm off again on a 2 month round the world trip. I have a 3 month summer break from uni so I figured "Why not?". First stop: Sunny California. I love this place so much. The winter weather reminds me of Brisbane. Christmas day was about 25 degrees. Nights are alot chiller though. I'm here to visit my good friend Marcus, who I orginally meet when travelling in Greece back in the summer of 2002. Since this was my second visit and it's Christmas, the agenda included visiting family and friends, baking cakes and eating and drinking. Let's begin with the cakes....Marcus' family has been baking Christmas cakes for 4 generations (rather cool if you ask me) to give to ... read more

North America » United States » California » Los Angeles » Long Beach December 27th 2006

I've set up a travel blog but I sent the first entry before I'd put in any email addresses. Oops!Definately something I would do. It did let me which in hindsight I think is strange. But anyway, read the last entry and I'll be in touch again soon. M xx... read more




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