Thanksgiving in South California

A holiday tradition for me and hubby is to get away from the SF Bay Area everytime we get a chance in Thanksgiving holiday since our families live way too far away from the US. Making a road trip to San Diego and visiting some old friends on the way in Newport Beach seemed to be the best deal for us this Thanksgiving. On our last day we woke up at 5:30am, checked out at our hotel at Seaport Village and started the trip back home very early in the morning so we could avoid the holiday traffic. We made it home in about 8 hours and not hit any traffic at all. That was one of the best parts of the whole trip :)

What I loved loved loved about our trip to San Diego;

- Our friends' 11 month old boy Bora
- panda and koala at the San Diego Zoo
- taking the trolley to Coronada Island
- Glass art work in Spanish Village in Balboa Park
- trees in Spanish Village decorated with gift box ornaments
- kids in matching clothes posing for family photos
- walking around in Seaport Village
- petting the rabbits there...
- visiting the Old Town, having tequila and Mexican food
- random bridal photos in Balboa Park

A visit to the fog city

The weather has been amazing recently here in the South Bay Area but just yesterday we found out that the rain clouds would make a week long trip to the Bay Area. Before the rain hits the area we wanted to have made one last trip to San Francisco prior to my in laws departure. This time the destination was Ocean Beach...

The first stop was at the Cliff House to have a Saturday brunch with family. The Cliff House is one of my favorite restaurants in the city. It is located on the headlands on the cliffs by the Ocean Beach, next to the historic remainings of Sutro Baths. I have a lot of great memories at the Cliff House as this place has witnessed several of my happiest moments such as my graduation celebration party, post wedding celebration dinner and many more...

Brunch at the cliff house was delicious as usual and after this huge meal we did a short hike on the Lands End Trail.

Carmel by the Sea

My in laws have a few weekends left to spend with us here in the San Francisco Bay Area and we try to spend as much quality time as we can before they leave. Because of our +50hrs/ week work schedule, neither me or hubby can come home early during weekdays so weekends are the only time we can take them out for sightseeing trips.

This weekend was extremely joyful. We went to Carmel by sea with the parents and some friends, walked down to the beach, enjoyed the beautiful weather, watched the surfers ply the winds in ocean and the dog gang race around and jump into the waves. It felt soooo good :)

Lancaster,PA - Amish Country

I departed from San Francisco International Airport last Sunday at around 11:00am in the morning unaware that my travel trip to Lancaster would take as long as a flight to Europe. By the time I arrived at the final destination Airport at Harrisburg,PA and rented a car to drive the 30 mile road to Lancaster, my clock was showing 12:00 am in the morning. I was almost there... Almost made it to my hotel...One more thing left to get to my target point was to rent a car and drive for 30 mins. Just 30 more mins...And my fake motivation did not last long when the lady at the car rental passes me the keys for a 4x4 Jeep which was just too big for me to handle but that was my only option. As if this was not enough, the car was so hightechly equipped that it took me 15 mins to figure out the engine button and start the car. ( I was looking for an engine key all that time) I started driving slowly under the rain thinking what a great coinsidence it was that I started hating technology as I was driving to an Amish Town where people would use no electricity due to religious reasons.

Was that a sign to me from god?

At least the Hotel was worth the trip. It was close to downtown area which did not seem very safe to me to walk by myself at all so I limited my daily gasoline usage to road trips from the hotel to work and from work to the hotel. The Lancaster Arts Hotel was a modern and clean hotel where mostly families stay. They had a small art gallery that displayed oil paintings and sculptures. The room service would bring a red rose every day to the room and place it on the bed. This was just too romantic for me to handle at a business trip tough...

Having realized my interest in the lives of the Amish people, our business partner Rick offered to give me a quick tour to an Amish Farm during a lunch break. We drove to a produce farm where an extremely cute and smart Amish boy named Samuel was running the cash register operated by battery. Surprisingly, he allowed me to take his picture but I promised him not to make it public so I will not be posting his cute face on my blog. One more thing that surprised me besides Samuel's friendly and welcoming attitude was how clean and organised their farm was. They live such a simple life free of worries like career goals, stock market or retirement plans.