My LA & Mexico Trip: Thanksgiving weekend 2008
11/27/08 to 11/30/08
Day 1
Start of the trip. Got up @6am. Mom was awake at 5:57am!!! I thought the pigs was flying due to mom is not a morning person. Took the #38 Muni to downtown to meet w/travel group. Stop by Starbucks to say hi to Karla (she works there). Its turkey day and she have to be in work at 4am! Wow.
We got on the bus, left San Francisco; pick up more people in the bay area and head down to LA. Our bus number is 2801.
Casa Del Fruita:
This is a fun rest stop. It has fruit, wine tasting, burritos, etc. It also displays a ton of old farm equipments. One of them has a sign reads “for your safety, do not climb on antiques”. I got a picture of that. There’s choo choos, horror tunnel & a carousel. There’s big market that sale fruit. One of the items is the smallest apple I ever seen. After that we continue our trip to LA. Stop @McDonald's for lunch, due to it’s the only place open on Thanksgiving Day.
LA
We finally got to LA around 5pm. It’s already dark, so the HOLLYWOOD sign can’t be clearly seen. It’s ok. I saw the Chinese theater, got pictures of the stars on the road. I got Big Bird & Bugs Bunny and others. In my opinion the walk of fame is not much of honor due to it’s on the side walk where everyone walks all over your name. Not to mention that homeless people & dogs pees, poos on your name. Then we went to the theater where Oscar use to take place before the 1950 & the new one theater was build next to the Chinese Theater. I like the fountain. We had dinner & check into hotel
Worked on 2nd of Joy’s sock during the bus ride.
Day 2
Got up @6:45am. Head to San Diego.
San Diego
Stop by the old town. It was very clean & nice, but not impressive as the old town in St. Augustine. Then, it’s to San Diego’ harbor. Took a one hour cruises around it. Saw a nice bridge. After that it was lunch, then off to Mexico
Tijuana
Crossing the boarder to Mexico, it’s so easy. We stop by Tijuana for about an hour for shopping. It’s an interesting place. Only stay on 1 block of the shopping area. I got warning of things happening there. Mom & I brought some nice bracelets for gifts & took some pictures w/a donkey. OH MY GOODNESS!!! On the donkey. I know it’s a donkey, but it was painted to look like a zebra!!! There are also people selling craft on the streets. It was mother & her kids, 2 girls, maybe between age of 5 & 7; the mom was holding hand of 2 year old boy & caring a baby on her back. HOLY ******! She’s a human rabbit. The shopping area was very nice & clean, but once we driving out of the area, everything is so poor. We head down to Ensenada toward south.
Ensenada
It’s a nice town. It’s a tourist trap!! On the way to the place, there’s a lot of real estate development. The houses are so nice, they were all mansions like buildings where here in the state will sale at least for 2 million or up, but I think it will be cheaper in Mexico. We check into a hotel in Ensenada & when to dinner. The town takes US dollars which is nice. Mom & I had a wonderful whole steam fish, I also had oysters and it was only $22 including tips & taxes.
Day 3
Got up @7am and head to La Bufadora at 8am.
La Bufadora
Took about an hour to get there from Ensenada. It’s where the waves come up so high up to cliff. It’s nice & a lot of shops for tourist. Another tourist trap. I brought 2 dresses that’s hand embroidered for $30. A blue one & a light purple one. Then we head back to the US.
Finished Joy’s sock & started on 1st of sock for Grandma.
Drive Back & Crossing Boarder
It took us about 3 hours drive to get to the boarder. There’s a long line crossing the boarder. I mean IT WAS A LONG LINE. I’m so glad our driver knows the area, he make couple of circles & got us almost in front of the line. It only took us a little over an hour to cross to boarder. It could have taken up to 4 hours.
Worked on Grandma’s socks while waiting to cross the boarder and started on baby booties. The boarder police check luggage like the airport and I don’t want my knitting needles to be taking away, so I put projects on them.
Hotel Del Coronado
We had lunch in San Diego and head to the Hotel Del Coronado. Nice big hotel with a lot of trees which is not good for my or mom’s allergy. Afterward head back to LA to check into hotel.
Day 4
Got up @6am & left LA @7am to drive back to bay area.
Santa Barbara
Its ok, I grow up in Florida, beach like that is dime in a dozen. I did see some nice art work by this guy who speaks really good Chinese. He said to us in Chinese “you like my art work; I like your credit card”. Mom & I both laugh, but we didn’t buy any art, no room for them on the bus. Then we head down to Solvang.
Solvang
I’m very impressed w/this town. It’s not because it has a Yarn Shop. It has a total European feel to it. I feel like walking in some really old English or Danish town in Europe. It’s really cute. The shops sell little European charms, but all of them are made in China.
We head back to the bay area.
Worked on Grandma’s socks.
I got home around 9pm. It’s a nice trip, just right amount of time.
Here is the pictures of my trip
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yanhonglu/sets/72157610630792492/
