Kelly gave me a 5 day treat to North California. Essentially Kelly fly up for work weekly so why do I say this is a treat? Cos I get to meet up with my only friends in US, who all stay in the North. WHY?! And instead of me tagging along on Monday, we flew in the day before and took a loooong drive to Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Carmel-by-the-Sea. I love how poetic it sounds. Carmel is a small charming coastal community by the Monterey Peninsula. The natural coastal beauty draws the crowds to its beaches.
Can you believe this is a mall? Looks like an European inn.
I love the downtown. It's got a quaint feel, almost like a cross between Hobbit land and Fairytale village.
A funny scene we saw. The sign outside this inn states NO DOGS but one is obviously lying in full view. I hope the dog is sunbathing and not shot dead from trespassing.
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At Campbell
After a relaxing Sunday, it was back to work for Kelly in San Jose while I visited friends. Who had an active baby and hyper kid. All that kiddo-holding left me with no hands to take pictures. The only pictures I took was during my short trip to Campbell. Nothing to do with the soup.
Campbell's distinguishing landmark is a huge water tower.
It was a very very quiet town... nothing happening.
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At San Diego
Some friends were visiting San Diego and invited us to join them. [ Psst, you might know these friends too! ;) ]
The big attraction in San Diego is Seaworld where you can see killer whales perform acrobatics and lots of cute sea animals. Since we had visited Seaworld before, Kelly and I decide to check out the historical Gaslamp Quater in downtown. This neighbourhood was named for the gaslamps that lined streets during the late 19th century.
Beautiful old architecture
All that walking around left us thirsty and we stopped at a cafe for some drinks. Turns out to be a shisha cafe. Shisha costs $25 a pop here. Freakin $25!!!!
If only we discovered this earlier! We can get around on this trishaw-bicycle thingy. Can put leg up somemore.
But we saw of the city by walking. Funny bar signs. I love the last!
Kelly and I decided to stop (again) to drown our sorrows with beer and onion rings.
We were still waiting for our friends to finish their tour of Seaworld. Very hungry by now. Order nachos while we wait...and wait...and wait...
Finally I got a call telling me to meet at Joe's Crab Shack which was in another city. After much driving around, getting lost, walking a lot, we found the place!
It was a Verigy reunion. I only know Don, Adrian and his family. The lady in green used to be Verigy. The man in Red is an engineer from Verigy China. I am sitting next to Jabelle, Adrian's wife.
And this is Adrian's kid, Kaydeon! Last I saw him was at his first month party! He's a big boy now.
Kelly doesn't take seafood. The only thing he could eat in the restaurant was (yet more) onion rings. But I made him wear the big ugly bib anyway. hahaha!
