October 23
I was not incorrect in my observation of the number of
Mexican restaurants on every street corner. I learned, soon after my last blog
entry, that I actually did have 3 Mexican restaurants available to me within a
1-block radius! There was one on the same block as my hotel, one across the
street on the west side of the hotel and one on the north side! It was great
:o) The one I went to had mole, so I made sure to take advantage of that.
In any case, I didn't end up doing a whole lot while in California. The main thing I wanted to do while I was there is go see the Angels play the Yankees as I was only a 5-minute drive from the stadium, but the problem is that the game started 13 minutes after my fair ended, and the fair was a 45 minute drive from the stadium. Still, I found out it would be ok to go late, but I didn't think about the fact that I wouldn't be able to get parking, so I never ended up getting to go! The smart thing would have been to just drive to my hotel and take a taxi, but by the time I figured that out, it was too late to really go to the game.
I did go see the historic district of Orange, CA. I read that they had the highest concentration of antique malls in the state or the country or something. I thought there might be some nice, old architecture, or something, so I went there, but it actually wasn't that exciting. Most of it wasn't even picture-worthy. However, the one thing about some of the antique stores I went to reminded me of being at my grandma's when she used to have all her old dishes and stuff. It smelled the same and reminded me of the simplicity and the hardships of old times. I was also disturbed to see some things in the antique stores which were not antiques when I was a kid! Way to make a person feel old! So a couple of the photos I included are from the inside of the antique stores.
I drove to San Diego on Wednesday night and felt it would have been a pretty drive to do by day when you can actually see the ocean, along which you drive for much of the way. At least I had a harbor front view. I didn't get to spend any free time in San Diego beyond the hour before I had to leave for the airport. After my fair, I went to get a tea from Starbucks, which was across the street from a naval base, so I was able to get a couple of photos of the boats and ocean. I would have liked to spend more time in San Diego as it seems like a really nice city with a lot of interesting things to do. Maybe I'll get back one day. It would have been nice to slip down to Tijuana too!
In any case, I didn't end up doing a whole lot while in California. The main thing I wanted to do while I was there is go see the Angels play the Yankees as I was only a 5-minute drive from the stadium, but the problem is that the game started 13 minutes after my fair ended, and the fair was a 45 minute drive from the stadium. Still, I found out it would be ok to go late, but I didn't think about the fact that I wouldn't be able to get parking, so I never ended up getting to go! The smart thing would have been to just drive to my hotel and take a taxi, but by the time I figured that out, it was too late to really go to the game.
I did go see the historic district of Orange, CA. I read that they had the highest concentration of antique malls in the state or the country or something. I thought there might be some nice, old architecture, or something, so I went there, but it actually wasn't that exciting. Most of it wasn't even picture-worthy. However, the one thing about some of the antique stores I went to reminded me of being at my grandma's when she used to have all her old dishes and stuff. It smelled the same and reminded me of the simplicity and the hardships of old times. I was also disturbed to see some things in the antique stores which were not antiques when I was a kid! Way to make a person feel old! So a couple of the photos I included are from the inside of the antique stores.
I drove to San Diego on Wednesday night and felt it would have been a pretty drive to do by day when you can actually see the ocean, along which you drive for much of the way. At least I had a harbor front view. I didn't get to spend any free time in San Diego beyond the hour before I had to leave for the airport. After my fair, I went to get a tea from Starbucks, which was across the street from a naval base, so I was able to get a couple of photos of the boats and ocean. I would have liked to spend more time in San Diego as it seems like a really nice city with a lot of interesting things to do. Maybe I'll get back one day. It would have been nice to slip down to Tijuana too!
3:33 PM | Read comments (1) | Permalink | Travel
October 18
So for work, I had to travel to Southern California.
Normally, this is my colleague's territory, but she wasn't able to make this
particular trip, so I ended up having to cover. I've never been really excited
about California. I have no attraction to LA or any part of the state, except
for maybe San Diego, but only because it's so close to Mexico! I will actually
be in San Diego during this trip, but for such a short period of time that I
won't be able to take a side trip down to Mexico, unfortunately. The good part
about this area, though, is that there are so many Mexicans living here that
there are Mexican restaurants with authentic food on almost every street
corner! It's great. The hotel I'm staying at in Orange has a restaurant so near
that it smells of tortillas in the air. I love it! I'm definitely eating there
for supper.
I arrived at the Burbank airport, a.k.a the Bop Hope Airport, situated among hills that look like the ones you always see on TV with the word "Hollywood" in white on them. I was half expecting to see that at any moment, but not really knowing where I am in relation to Hollywood, I wasn't really sure what to expect. It was quite hot that day and just as hot the next. I found I didn't really pack appropriately as I didn't bring any clothing that's cool to wear in my downtime, like a pair of shorts and some sandals. Thankfully, as I wanted to go shopping anyway, I found some stuff for next summer in Edmonton that I can wear now. Last night, I went to a place called La Luna Negra, a tapas restaurant with live Flamenco on the weekend--or so they advertise. The food was ok, but the Flamenco dancing wasn't really Flamenco. It was more classical Spanish with elements of Flamenco. The male dancer and the guitarist were the best. The female dancer wasn't great as a dancer, but she was much better as a singer, and I wish she would have stuck to that. In any case, it was a good way to spend the evening alone. That's the one downside of travelling for work is all the meals alone. I try to do take-out when I can, but it's not always possible. And sometimes, it's better for my health just to get out than to just sit in my hotel watching TV while eating take-out.
I haven't taken any pictures since I got here. The couple of things worth taking pictures of were in places where I could hardly stop to take them--on the Interstate--and traffic is here much too heavy for me to snap any photos while I drive. I need to concentrate a lot more than usual here! One thing that kind of disgusts me, though, is the pollution. I forgot to take a photo from my hotel in Pasadena, which was just of the parking lot and the other side of the hotel, so I took a photo from my Orange hotel as soon as I got here. But I noticed that there may be little hills in the background, and you can't tell due to pollution. There's a lot of smog here, and it's pretty gross. I started wondering about the commercial about cheese coming from happy cows in California. I wonder how healthy those cows can be when they're drinking the water of polluted rain. I don't know what other source of clean water they have, so it kind of concerns me.
In any case, I'm hoping to get to see a MLB game tomorrow. Turns out my hotel is 5 minutes away from the stadium where the Angels play, and they're playing on Monday and Tuesday, so I'm hoping to see the game on Monday, even though I'll have to show up late after the fair I'm at in the afternoon. Better than not going at all!
I arrived at the Burbank airport, a.k.a the Bop Hope Airport, situated among hills that look like the ones you always see on TV with the word "Hollywood" in white on them. I was half expecting to see that at any moment, but not really knowing where I am in relation to Hollywood, I wasn't really sure what to expect. It was quite hot that day and just as hot the next. I found I didn't really pack appropriately as I didn't bring any clothing that's cool to wear in my downtime, like a pair of shorts and some sandals. Thankfully, as I wanted to go shopping anyway, I found some stuff for next summer in Edmonton that I can wear now. Last night, I went to a place called La Luna Negra, a tapas restaurant with live Flamenco on the weekend--or so they advertise. The food was ok, but the Flamenco dancing wasn't really Flamenco. It was more classical Spanish with elements of Flamenco. The male dancer and the guitarist were the best. The female dancer wasn't great as a dancer, but she was much better as a singer, and I wish she would have stuck to that. In any case, it was a good way to spend the evening alone. That's the one downside of travelling for work is all the meals alone. I try to do take-out when I can, but it's not always possible. And sometimes, it's better for my health just to get out than to just sit in my hotel watching TV while eating take-out.
I haven't taken any pictures since I got here. The couple of things worth taking pictures of were in places where I could hardly stop to take them--on the Interstate--and traffic is here much too heavy for me to snap any photos while I drive. I need to concentrate a lot more than usual here! One thing that kind of disgusts me, though, is the pollution. I forgot to take a photo from my hotel in Pasadena, which was just of the parking lot and the other side of the hotel, so I took a photo from my Orange hotel as soon as I got here. But I noticed that there may be little hills in the background, and you can't tell due to pollution. There's a lot of smog here, and it's pretty gross. I started wondering about the commercial about cheese coming from happy cows in California. I wonder how healthy those cows can be when they're drinking the water of polluted rain. I don't know what other source of clean water they have, so it kind of concerns me.
In any case, I'm hoping to get to see a MLB game tomorrow. Turns out my hotel is 5 minutes away from the stadium where the Angels play, and they're playing on Monday and Tuesday, so I'm hoping to see the game on Monday, even though I'll have to show up late after the fair I'm at in the afternoon. Better than not going at all!
October 13
I did get to do some touristy stuff while in Denver. I
went out with a friend of my brother's, and we went with a couple of other guys
to an Italian place. The one guy we were with is Italian, and this was a place
he highly approved of, so it was nice to go to a place that you know is
authentic. And the prices were reasonable. Darned if I can remember the name,
however! On Sunday, I went to the Denver Art Museum. They had a variety of
different exhibits. One of the things that makes this museum unique, or so they
advertise, is that the exhibits are constantly changing. I didn't get as many
pictures from there as I would have liked, mainly because the museum doesn't
really allow people to take photos. So I took the few I could steal. On Monday,
I went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. They had a variety of
exhibits there as well. You could take pictures there, but the lighting was
quite poor. In any case, I hope the pictures suffice.
October 09
So,
here I am in Denver, Colorado. This trip was quite a bit longer than the one I
did last year because I was able to register for more of the college fairs in
the area this year. The first part of my trip was the same as last year,
beginning in Aspen and then driving to Colorado Springs from there through
Independence Pass, through the mountains and over the continental divide. It's
a beautiful trip. Last year when I went, I just remember feeling that I was
driving down what I would imagine heaven's streets of gold to be like. The
yellow trees in the sun appear to glow from within in the sun, like dimmer orbs
of the sub itself emanating a warm light. I was so looking forward to that
again. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the same. They had already had snow in
Aspen this year, and as a result, many of the trees were already browner or had
even lost their leaves, and then it was snowing for quite a ways through the
most mountainous part. It was still pretty, though, and I stopped in some
different places from last year so as hopefully not to duplicate too much from
last year's photos.
I ended up not doing anything touristy in Colorado Springs this year and am hoping to do some stuff in Denver this weekend. I was hoping to get some NFL tickets for the Broncos game on Sunday, and I could have found some on eBay, but the forecast for Sunday is meant to be quite cold, and I don't have proper clothing for sitting out in that type of weather, so I don't think I should go just to freeze myself to death! I don't know yet what I'll do this weekend. I was hoping to go salsa dancing tonight, but I'm not sure if that will end up happening, so I'll have to see what else I can do. Maybe there's an opera I can see or something. I'm sure I won't be bored no matter what! I did spend a bit of time in Boulder today as I had to go out there anyway,and I went to a place called the Pearl Street Mall, a pedestrian mall with lots of little artsy shops and Tibetan/Indian-type import stores. There was also a tea shop where I tried to refrain from buying any, but there was such a great-smelling black-vanilla tea that I couldn't help myself, plus it was on sale, so what could I do! I highly recommend a visit there, though. I ate lunch at a place called the Paradise Bakery & Cafe where I had a great bowl of butternut squash soup, something that just warms the soul on a chilly, fall day. Let's see if I can post some pics soon! One cool thing that happened was very happenstance. I got to a school where I had a meeting way too early, so I was trying to figure out what to do to kill time. As it turned out, the school was across the street from a sculpture garden. There were tons of really interesting sculptures in there, and even though it was snowing, I decided to walk around the pond to snap a few photos. It was right in a residential area, so there are people that live right across the street from this. That would be so cool!
I ended up not doing anything touristy in Colorado Springs this year and am hoping to do some stuff in Denver this weekend. I was hoping to get some NFL tickets for the Broncos game on Sunday, and I could have found some on eBay, but the forecast for Sunday is meant to be quite cold, and I don't have proper clothing for sitting out in that type of weather, so I don't think I should go just to freeze myself to death! I don't know yet what I'll do this weekend. I was hoping to go salsa dancing tonight, but I'm not sure if that will end up happening, so I'll have to see what else I can do. Maybe there's an opera I can see or something. I'm sure I won't be bored no matter what! I did spend a bit of time in Boulder today as I had to go out there anyway,and I went to a place called the Pearl Street Mall, a pedestrian mall with lots of little artsy shops and Tibetan/Indian-type import stores. There was also a tea shop where I tried to refrain from buying any, but there was such a great-smelling black-vanilla tea that I couldn't help myself, plus it was on sale, so what could I do! I highly recommend a visit there, though. I ate lunch at a place called the Paradise Bakery & Cafe where I had a great bowl of butternut squash soup, something that just warms the soul on a chilly, fall day. Let's see if I can post some pics soon! One cool thing that happened was very happenstance. I got to a school where I had a meeting way too early, so I was trying to figure out what to do to kill time. As it turned out, the school was across the street from a sculpture garden. There were tons of really interesting sculptures in there, and even though it was snowing, I decided to walk around the pond to snap a few photos. It was right in a residential area, so there are people that live right across the street from this. That would be so cool!
I realised that I wanted to write a blog entry about
this a while ago, but I had just been so busy, so I'm going to do 2 separate
entries since I was about to write an entry from Colorado, where I'm currently
situated. Oddly, I meant to use the title of my blog today to refer to the fact
that I'm back to travelling for work again, but it seems more fitting to talk
about having gone horseback riding at my aunt's place, an activity I haven't
done for quite some time. Pictures should be forthcoming as I've already
downloaded them from my camera and posted them on Facebook for the same of my
family that prefers them there.
In any case, that was a great weekend. It was meant to be a farewell to my cousin and his wife, who are moving out of province, but not a lot of our family could make it. Still, it was such a relaxing little holiday. I think I'll need to go out there regularly just for the stress relief of riding horses. It was so peaceful and relaxing that I forgot about all the problems of the day--and there are sure enough of them, but out in the trail, you're just there with your horse and a few other people with you and nature. Maybe it's because I'm a prairie girl, but I do find fields of crops to be very peaceful scenery, so relaxing, especially under a warm sun with a cool breeze. There is so much beauty in our province. The leaves on the trees had already started to turn yellow, and one of the things that I love about trees like that is the way they reflect light. It's like they're glowing from within. I'll describe them in further detail in my next entry about Colorado!
It was great to get to do something I love so much, though. I used to go every summer as a child when I spent my holidays and my grandparents' farm, and when I got close to the horses again, the smell of the saddles and the horses together was nostalgic in such a happy way. Can't wait to go again!
3:04 PM | Permalink | HobbiesIn any case, that was a great weekend. It was meant to be a farewell to my cousin and his wife, who are moving out of province, but not a lot of our family could make it. Still, it was such a relaxing little holiday. I think I'll need to go out there regularly just for the stress relief of riding horses. It was so peaceful and relaxing that I forgot about all the problems of the day--and there are sure enough of them, but out in the trail, you're just there with your horse and a few other people with you and nature. Maybe it's because I'm a prairie girl, but I do find fields of crops to be very peaceful scenery, so relaxing, especially under a warm sun with a cool breeze. There is so much beauty in our province. The leaves on the trees had already started to turn yellow, and one of the things that I love about trees like that is the way they reflect light. It's like they're glowing from within. I'll describe them in further detail in my next entry about Colorado!
It was great to get to do something I love so much, though. I used to go every summer as a child when I spent my holidays and my grandparents' farm, and when I got close to the horses again, the smell of the saddles and the horses together was nostalgic in such a happy way. Can't wait to go again!
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