January 28, 2007

  • The Lost Adventure

    THE LOST ADVENTURE

     

    The following is whatever scant detail I can recall about a trip my mother, aunt, and I took back in August 2005.  For those of you who have read my travel tales before, it will be in less detail than usual (I can imagine some of you exclaiming “Oh thank goodness!).  Ordinarily I write about my travels right after my return from them but this time I neglected to (why, I don’t really recall).  Now on this New Year’s Day of 2006, I decided to begin documenting this trip to add to my collection of travel tales.  Besides, I like to write and haven’t done so in a while.

     

    August 24, 2005 - My aunt Tim, mom, and I went with a Chinese tour from Alhambra on our way to Solvang.  It was about 7 AM at the latest, I think. My aunt Tim is visiting us from Thailand.  We figure that it is only fitting to take her to see something while in the States.  I don’t think one flies all the way from Thailand just to stay home and watch TV.  Solvang is a place I have not been to in many years, perhaps a decade or so.  This would be a neat revisiting.

     

    Around 10:30 AM we arrived in Solvang.  For those who had never been there or even heard of it, it is a Danish village off the 246 in the Santa Ynez valley where the buildings are built with architecture to make you believe you were back in old Denmark.  The weather here today was sunny and in the upper 70’s.  The structure that stands out is a windmill.  My mom has come here more often and she must always visit the Solvang Bakery.  We bought a bucket of their famous Danish butter cookies.  Light, crunchy, and with a tinge of sweetness make these little delights a potentially addicting treat.  Concerned for the welfare of my stomach, my mom also bought a sandwich there for me.  Solvang is not large in area.  It is quaint and has a nice old world charm to it.

     

    At 11 AM, the bus departed from Solvang.  Outside I saw a shop that sells Danish hot dogs.  Man, if I had seen that earlier, I would have sunk my teeth into one of those.  I never tried a Danish hot dog though I envision it being something like a kielbasa in a bun.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.  As for my sandwich, it was pretty good but man…that bread was hard to tear.  It gave my teeth a good workout.

     

    Onward it was to Hearst Castle.  Basically it used to be the home of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst.  For more history, either scope the Internet or watch Citizen Kane.  The thing is we had just come here the previous year so it’s a been-there-done-that sort of thing.  We just hung around the gift shop and ate.  The weather here was sunny but chilly due to the blustery conditions.  It felt like it was in the 60’s.  Though a bit pricey their barbecue is pretty good.  Our luncheon was visited by crows here and there.  We wanted to save our money instead of seeing something that is still fresh in our memory.  I bought a few items from the gift shop basically as early Christmas shopping.  Hey, I like to get to an early start.  Most stunning things (to me) about Hearst Castle are the Neptune Pool, Roman Pool, and the Billiards Room.

     

    After the others returned from their tour of Hearst Castle, we journeyed onwards to Fresno.  There we had dinner at a Chinese buffet called King Buffet.  The moment we stepped out from the bus, it was hot, very hot even though it was night time.  I guess the food was typical Ameri-Chinese though it was much better than the ones documented on my Eastern Travels 2004.  I thought about this day going from nice to cool to hot.  It goes to show you that California is a big state.

     

    We stayed that night at Travelodge in Fresno.  There we watched some “So You Think You Can Dance?” and then called it a night.

     

    August 25, 2005 – The bus took off at 5 AM.  We headed off to one of California’s most spectacular natural wonders, Yosemite National Park.  The bus took us to where almost vehicle goes to.  It’s a turnout with a view of El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridal Veil Falls.  El Capitan is a gigantic granite peak.  Half Dome is a peak in the distance that looks like its name.  The view was obstructed by the fact we were facing the sun.  It made Bridal Veil Falls nearly invisible but at least the visual guide showed us where to look for it.  It’s always a breathtaking view here at Yosemite.

     

    The bus then took us down to Yosemite Lodge for breakfast.  High above the lodge were towering peaks and at the top of one of them was Yosemite Falls.  From where we are, it looks like a mere trickle but just to see a waterfall way up with my head reaching nearly all the way back was a trip.

     

    We then took off from Yosemite.  On this trip, this was what I wanted to see.  It’s not everyday I get to see and admire some of our natural wonders so I cherish this opportunity.

     

    We stopped at the Merced Fruit Barn for a little breather.  There were plenty of fruits and nuts sold here.  I like the many plates of free samples.  Due to the warm weather here, I got myself a berry smoothie (it was actually a slushie since it lacked yogurt but whatever).  It was so satisfying due to it being cool and flavorful.

     

    The bus then ventured on and at long last we made it to San Francisco.  We were dropped off at Fisherman’s Wharf.  We had lunch at Boudin.  I used to remember this as a little shack.  Now they have a large building with a restaurant, store, and bar.  As usual, I ordered clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl.  It’s a cannot-miss here in San Francisco.  We then boarded a boat for a cruise on San Francisco Bay.  As we took off, at the end of one of the piers, were a pod of sea lions lounging around.  Perhaps they were taking in some sun.  Those that weren’t were barking away.  Aboard, the guide told us a history of San Francisco.  The boat took us towards the famed Golden Gate Bridge.  We took many photos and then I got a view I never got before.  We were right under the bridge.  Aunt Tim and I took more photos.  Later on this cruise it took us around and pretty close to Alcatraz Island where more history was divulged.  Finally back to the docks we returned.  This boat trip took about a couple hours but it was fun being on the San Francisco Bay.

     

    The tour next took us to a place I have always seen from afar when coming here but had never visited – The Palace of Fine Arts.  To finally see it up close, I found it to be grand and beautiful.  It would be a fantastic place to just take a stroll amidst its Corinthian columns, read a book, or just lounge and do nothing while housed by its Roman rotunda.

     

    The tour bus then took us to Golden Gate Park.  From here we can get a different view of the Golden Gate Bridge.  There is a piece of the cable on display that is a good example of what consists of this suspension bridge.  My aunt found this fascinating and took several photos of it.

     

    We had dinner in Chinatown.  Afterwards it was off to our hotel for our much-needed sleep.

     

    August 26, 2005 – The bus dropped us off and left us to hoof on our own up the very steep Lombard Street.  My mom needed some help, rest, and motivation.  At long last she made it.  Lombard Street is known for a small section that is very crooked.  Back and forth it zigzags.  Besides that, it is also very picturesque as every zig and zag is adorned with bushes and flowers.  Looking away from the crooked street we can see a lot of San Francisco in the distance with Coit Tower high atop Telegraph Hill barely showing itself in the morning mist.  Then down and down we went back to the bus.  The bus then took us back to Chinatown for breakfast, dim sum that is.  We sat at the table with the only non-Chinese people on this tour.  I believe the place was called Pearl City.  Afterwards, we had some time so I went to take a couple pictures of the nearby Transamerica building.

     

    Now it’s the journey home.  We arrived back in Los Angeles in mid-afternoon.  Once again this concludes this trip.  Our guide is a Chinese guy who goes by Eddie.  He looks sort of like Daniel Dae Kim from the ABC show Lost.  He conducted the tour in both Chinese (Mandarin, I presume) and English.  He has a terrific sense of humor and tremendous patience.  Though most of the people on the tour are older folks (though there were some kids), most of the films they showed were action flicks.  What I remembered were Black Hawk Down, and Walking Tall.  There were at least a couple others where there was lots of gunfire.  The only non-action flick was The Terminal.  My mom liked that one.  She can’t take the action flicks.

     

    I intended to include pictures in this lost adventure but couldn’t fine them.  When I asked my mom if she knew where they were, she said she gave them to Aunt Tim who has returned to Thailand.  Oh well.