California Trip in Trichotomy

Aug 12

We had a late flight, from 6:30pm to 10pm, but it’s pacific time so the flight is actually 6.5 hours. But our flight was delayed for half an hour before we boarded and another half hour while we were on the tarmac, so the flight was actually 7:30-11:00 pm. By the time we landed, it was 2am NY time. But it was a smooth process getting our luggage (Sacramento is a small airport) and I was surprised how fast we were able to get an Uber. Airports now have designated rideshare pickup spots, so it was easy to get to, and because it was so late, there wasn’t a crowd.

So we got to the hotel smoothly and got settled and in bed by midnight.

Aug 13

We stayed at downtown Sacramento, so it was easy to take the morning to walk around waterfront shops, a touristy area. Most shops weren’t open, except a few a candy stores, where we got some gifts for people we’re going to see.

Spencer and his wife and adopted child came to pick us up at 11am. It was the first time I saw our nephew. He is fluent in English already, having spent 2 years in the states. We went to their place, saw their cats, had lunch at a vietnamese restaurant. I got to practice my Cantonese a lot on this trip speaking to family and waitstaff at Chinese restaurants (you can never be sure what dialect they speak). In the afternoon we went to a park, and then to my parents’, where I sorted through a bunch of stuff that I’d left behind. I distilled several suitcases worth of junk into half a duffle bag. There were old photos and trophies and memorabilia, like a tile from my primary school wall. We’ll take it with us next time we visit. I planted a tree. Then we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant with Auntie USA and uncle USA, as well as my Uncle Ming and his wife. It was a nice visit.

Aug 14

This was a transit day. We walked through the Golden center (where the Kings play) to another hotel’s restaurant to get breakfast. It was a convenient downtown area. Then we checked out and walked to the train station through Chinatown - which was just one block. The train left on time, but we were stuck before Davis for an hour, because somebody left a golf cart on the tracks. So we only got moving at 1pm. But we had nowhere else to be, so it was a leisurely time. I had lunch on the train (a hotdog and coke) and enjoyed the view and listened to podcasts, while La Professeure caught up on work. It’s a train I’d taken many times before so I was already familiar with the views.

We got to Jack London Square at 3pm, and it was easy finding the hotel. I’d never spent time here before, so it’s nice to check the area. It’s a touristy spot, with lots of shops and restaurants and a marina. Reminded me a little of some areas of Montauk. We had dinner at a French place there, and got gifts to bring to my friends when we visit tomorrow. We were planning to go use the pool at the hotel, but decided it was too much work, so we watched TV instead.

Aug 15th

We woke up early and got milk tea for breakfast, then putzed around the area until 11:30, when we took an uber to Berkeley to see my piano teacher. She is getting up in age now, and had just lost her partner in March - they have been together for more than 10 years, so it would have been a difficult loss. So I’m glad we get to see her. We reminisced, caught up, and played some music, so that was nice. I find it funny that she doesn’t like the Yellow River concerto - just how I played it - and said I could have had a career in music, which was very kind. She has fewer students now (18-20), but that’s still quite a lot. It’s also nice to see she has a social support structure with friends in the area, and visits from/to her daughters. She has a cat with her which is very friendly, likes attention, and jumps onto the table sometimes.

We took an Uber back to the hotel. The Uber driver warned us not to venture away from the Jack London Square area (she’s the second person to warn us that). We putzed around again in the afternoon before having dinner with my cousins in a restaurant in Jack London Square. It’s nice they came to us so we didn’t have to go anywhere. It was a school night though, so the kids weren’t very engaging. But it was good to catch up with the adults in person. Since we started family zoom tradition in the pandemic, we’ve been keeping in touch more, so there was less news to catch up on, but it’s different being in person.

Aug 16th

We got pastries for breakfast, then we went to the California Academy of sciences. We had been there before but didn’t see all of it, so this will be a good chance to catch more of the exhibits.

We took the ferry, which was just steps from our hotel, out to the SF ferry building, which was itself a scenic ride (there were people who took the ferry there and back). Then we took Waymo to the academy of sciences. It only took 6 minutes for the car to show up outside the ferry building. The experience was smooth. I was impressed by the cognition the car could do - it can see around walls to detect pedestrians and other cars, and recognise stop signs, turn signals, and traffic lights. It navigated tight city traffic well, and it was such a smooth ride that sometimes I’d forget that nobody was driving. The only time I was reminded that no one was in the driver’s seat was when we had avenue all to ourselves, with no obstacles in front, but it wouldn’t go above the 25 mph speed limit. It was slightly more expensive than an Uber but cost the same if we include tips for the Uber driver.

We got to the academy of science around lunch time, so we ate at the cafe there first. Reviews said it would take 4 hours to explore the whole place, and that was a slight underestimate. We left a little before 5. We did spend ½ hour in the planetarium show though, which wasn’t worth it.

We had trouble getting a Waymo out of Golden Gate Park (it was evening rush hour), so we ended up getting an Uber. But it ran into rush hour traffic, so we missed the bart train at Glen Park. As a result, we were ½ hours late to dinner at Milbrae. The dinner was fun, and a nice time to catch up with my old classmates Jimmy and Vicky - and we found that Vicky is expecting a baby! Unfortunately we only could spend an hour at dinner because we had to catch the last ferry back to Oakland.

I think the ferry and BART made travelling easy. From Milbrae we could take the BART back to Embarcadero and the ferry building is just a few minutes walk away. It was only then that I noticed that the homeless problem in San Francisco hasn’t changed since I left.

Aug 17th

Today was a transit day to LA. We were taking a 12-hour train to Union station. The Oakland train station is walking distance from our hotel, so it was easy to get there after checking out. I think we’ll stay at Jack London Square again next time. Very convenient. The train was delayed for ½ hours, though, so we had a lot of time hanging out at the station. So I got some pastries for breakfast - I couldn’t wait until the train gets in to get the free breakfast there.

We boarded at about 9:30, and our attendant Lorna was very helpful in explaining how things work. Our roomette was, to put it nicely, out-dated, but it was at least spacious and being able to close the door for privacy, and to leave our stuff inside when we are out on other train cars is nice. We spent half an hour in the observation car first, then went back to our our car for an hour (there wasn’t much to see - just Oakland’s dilapidated buildings), then got lunch at noon, then spent another half hour in our car, then went to the observation car - our room was on the “wrong” side of the train to watch the ocean, so we planned to go there when the train rides down the coast after St. Luis Obispo.

Amtrak is very low tech. The meal reservation system is basically our attendant with her pen and paper. We got snacks from the cafe and managed to find a spot on the right side of the observation car before St. Luis Obispo. We stayed there from 2:45 till at least 7:30, and saw some nice scenery. First the valley before SLO, and then the coast after. The national park services had rangers come on at SLO to Santa Barbara to give a running commentary about the scenes… farms, space x launch pads, icbm missile silos, etc. We had to leave our spot during the most dramatic part, where the train rode along dramatic rocky cliffs though, because we had our dinner reservation from 5 to 6:30. So I enjoyed that scenery while rudely ignoring our tablemates and peeking over the other tables. At least I was pleasantly surprised our spot was still there when dinner was done. They closed the observation car for the last hour of the trip (for staff to clean it, since LA is the last stop), so we spent that time back in our room. The train ride was nice, but I don’t need to do it again.

We got to LA on time, at 9, and took an Uber to our hotel in Korea town. It is not as nice as the first two hotels, but it does have free breakfast.

Aug 18th

We had a lazy morning, after the included breakfast at the hotel, I went back to our room to watch Match of the Day and find out how to use the metro system in L. A. Then it was time to go to lunch with cheesedog and his partner at a restaurant 2 blocks from the hotel. It was nice to catch up… So it was productive as well: I signed a piece of paper to support my cousin to become the administrator for the reparation fund for our grandfather’s village. I guess they are as high tech as Amtrak. Cheesedog and his partner came in from the suburbs but luckily it’s a Sunday so they’re both free. I realized they’ve been together since the pandemic and it’s only the second time I saw his partner.

We were done by 1. We rested a bit back at the hotel, then took an uber to Griffith observatory. We got there by 2.30 but it was crowded. The view was nice though… you can see all of LA, but covered in a haze of smog. We explored the observatory a bit, then watched a show in the planetarium. Both are quite clearly geared towards children, but it was a nice way to spend the afternoon. We checked out the rest of the observatory to wait for the temperature to cool down, then took a hike up a trail afterwards for a better view of the Hollywood sign. We didn’t go far because it was still hot, but we did walk for 40 mins. We went along Mount Hollywood trail to a lookout point with some metal block seats with a sign that says it was gifted by Tiffany and Co., which was a weird place for advertisement.

It was 5:30 by the time we got back to the observatory, so we had dinner at the cafe then took an Uber back. We figured we will have an early night since we have to wake up early next day for our city tour, and even earlier the next day for our flight back.

Aug 19th

We woke up early at 7am to take the Metro to go to Santa Monica to join a day tour of LA. We got to Santa Monica by 8:30, ate breakfast at a McDonalds there, and joined the small tour group (only about 16 people or so, in a van). We first went to Santa Monica beach, which reminded us of coney island, and stayed for 30 minutes. We then went to Venice beach, where we got iced coffee, checked out graffitis and people working out, for 30 minutes. Then we went to Via Rodeo at Beverly Hills for 40 minutes, which reminded me of Fifth avenue and where we peed at the hotel where they shot Pretty Woman. We then headed to the original farmer’s market, which reminded me of Chelsea Market, for an hour-long lunch. We then went back to the Griffith observatory, which was closed, so it was much less crowded, but we were glad we went yesterday, since we only spent 40 minutes there. We then went to Hollywood, which reminded me of Times Square, and stayed there for 50 minutes. All of those places except Griffith observatory have an equivalent in New York, so none of those places were a new experience for me. I was impressed with the tour guide though - she has impeccable timing and great delivery of facts as she pointed out sights along the route such as movie studios, locations used in TV shows or movies, or court houses where celebrities had their trials, so it was very entertaining while we were not off the van looking at stuff.

The van took us back to Santa Monica in the evening (I had misremembered and thought that we would be dropped off in downtown LA), so we got dinner at a Cheesecake factory from a mall there and took the lightrail back to the hotel.

By the time we got back it was 7:30pm. We packed while the democratic party convention was playing on the TV in the background. We have an early flight tomorrow to catch.

Aug 20th

Our flight was at 7:30am, so we woke up at 4am to get ready to call an Uber within minutes. We were advised to leave early in case of traffic (even in that hour). Luckily there was no traffic and we got to LAX by 5. The security line was long though, so we only had 45 minutes after we got through the gate before boarding started. We sat down and got a quick breakfast, and then it was time for the flight.

The flight itself was delayed but we landed at 4pm New York time. It was also a smooth ride back from the air train then to the long island railroad then to an Uber.

I realized how reliant we are on Uber for this trip. It was a great alternative to taxis and we didn’t have to rent a car.