Graduation day! (and photos)

After three years at USD, our girl has earned her Juris Doctorate degree in law. It was a nice ceremony that was not painfully long, although I wished that her surname started with something like C instead of S. One of the graduates proposed marriage to his girlfriend as he walked across the stage, that was kind of cool. Amy was really happy and we are all so proud of her!

So, me and my extra ass landed in DC around midnight on Saturday. Happy to see people in Nats hats and even happy to see a little bit of rain. It's good to be home.

What a fantastic time in laid back San Diego. I will miss wearing flip flops everyday and working the word "gnarly" into my vocabulary. It was great to meet such free-spirited people. Most of all, it meant the world to me to spend quality time with my best friend of 18 years. I will never forget this experience.

Here are the photos from the trip. Photos 1 of 2 and 2 of 2.

Until next time...

Back in San Diego

We spent part of Thursday cleaning up and packing Amy's apartment since she needs to move out almost immediately after graduation on Saturday. For dinner, I went to a sushi bar with Jade, one of the guys we met while in Mexico. The place is called Sushi Ota on Mission Bay Drive, strongly recommended if you find yourself in the area. We were lucky enough to be seated in front of the head chef who was really creative with the food. It was the best sushi I've had and I'm drooling just thinking about it.

On Friday, Jade gave me tour of the University of San Diego on his scooter, so cool, and my arms got so sunburned! Amy's parents came into to town so we all went to the graduation mass and toured the law school. In the afternoon, Jade took me to Point Loma, a hilly peninsula that separates San Diego Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The purpose was to surf but I chickened out and just watched him surf. We also caught the sunset, which was SO amazing!

I had dinner with Amy's family at a Mediterranean place in La Jolla. The last time I saw her parents was during Amy's undergraduate graduation and it was really good to spend quality time with them.

Ensenada/Tacate

We woke up to, guess again, a sunny day in Ensenada. After a small breakfast, we took a stroll along the harbor. Ensenada hasn't changed very much since I was there in 2001, still looking like it's under construction. However, there's a lot of partying. The main street of Paseo Calle Primera/Blvd. Lopez Mateos was vibrant during the day, much more compared to last night. The restaurants are filled with people drinking Margaritas and jamming to obnoxiously loud music. For lunch, we (I) had a beer with $1 fish tacos and then decided that life is perfect. :)

We drove about one hour north on scenic Rt. 3 toward Tecate. Along the way, we visited the L.A. Cetto vineyard. We took a tour and tasted wine. I bought two bottles of reds and a bottle of olive oil...how I plan to transport them to DC, I don't know.

Tecate is a quaint little town. As we walked around the city's park, we spotted some locals playing Domino. Surprise, surprise, I made friends with them and played Domino. I lost miserably but what a fun way to spend an afternoon!

Back in San Diego again. Amy and I have been reminiscing about Mexico nonstop, recalling every funny moment. It was very special to spend quality time with my friend of 18 years.

My family in China is fine

Thanks to everyone who called and sent text messages/emails. The earthquake in central China did not affect my family. I really appreciate your concern.

Please do your part to help those affected in China and Myanmar.

TAKE ACTION

Rosarito/Ensenada

We woke up to the sound of the ocean on Tuesday and probably could have stayed in bed and watched the ocean all day.

Most of our day was spent walking on the beaches of Rosarito, chatting with the locals, drinking cold beers while lounging in the warm sun, and even did a little horseback riding along the beach.

About 30 minutes south of Rosarito is Ensenada, which is where we headed off to after horseback riding. We arrived Ensenada around 7pm and pretty much crashed in the hotel room. We forced ourselves out of the room to look for dinner, but we're both tired of Mexican food and eating in general. So, in lieu of dinner, we walked around downtown Ensenada...and got hit on by a couple of 19-year-olds...ha!

Rosarito, Mexico

I woke up at 6:30am on Monday morning. Thanks to Jim, I didn't have to wait around until 11am for Amy to get out of bed. Jim and I went to breakfast in a nice restaurant in Pacific Beach...I ate so much food that I nearly threw up, but it was so yummy!

Amy and I headed to Mexico in the afternoon. We drove along the pacific ocean for about 20 miles to Rosarito and checked into an old missionary home turned hotel with an ocean view. Here is a photo from our balcony. After settling in, we went to Puerto Nuevo, a tiny town nearby for some bargain shopping. One of the vendors tried to charge Amy extra because she wanted to pay in Pesos instead of US Dollars. Right, what country are we in?

We had a divine Mexican meal at an oceanfront restaurant (I think I am growing an extra ass) and made friends with a group of fun and laid back Americans on a dirt bike tour. We hit the bars in Rosarito and felt like we owned the entire town since it wasn't very busy on a Monday night. We were treated like kings and queens by the friendly people of Rosarito.

Amy and I were very smart and stayed away from the Tequila!

Falling in love with San Diego...and its plants?

Sunday morning was sunny and warm, not that I expected any less of San Diego. I threw on a tank top, jeans, flip flops and took off for a day of adventure.

By the way, does anyone remember the last time they slept till 11am? I don't! I woke up at 7:45, a long wait before Amy and Tom got up at 11. College life.

We walked around Balboa Park, the country's largest urban cultural park, and had an outdoor lunch. San Diego's flowers have such intense colors. My newly identified favorite is the Red Bougainvillea, which is a radiant red flower bush, usually found alongside walls. Here's a photo of my cheesy self with a patch of them. We also visited the Botanical Building and I took a gazillion photos of different species of orchids, which I will spare you from. This sudden love of plants is overwhelming! :)

The highlight of our day was our kayak and snorkel tour to the 7 caves of La Jolla. It was cloudy in the afternoon so we couldn't see very much underwater, just a lot of bright orange Garibaldi fish, still fun though! We did swim within feet of sea lions!

We had dinner in La Jolla with my friend, Jim, and had a few local beers. I fell asleep within two seconds of getting home.

San Diego - Day 1

I left monsoon weather DC early Saturday morning and arrived San Diego around 2PM local time. The weather was absolute perfection! High 60's, blue skies, with a gentle breeze. Amy picked me up from the airport and we set off to her apartment where she spent the last three years of law school. Along the way, my breath was taken away by San Diego's amazing tropical palms, trees, and other plants. My favorite would have to be the passionate purple Jacaranda .

We walked around the San Diego Harbor in the afternoon and had a late lunch while we watched sailboats on the Bay. My first vacation meal was definitely an unhealthy one as we had chips and salsa, fried calamari, fried fish, and fried onion rings. Here is a picture of Amy's boyfriend, Tommy, with the biggest onion rings I've ever seen. I felt my arteries clog as we dined.

We had a very relaxed evening at home with a big salad and fruit cocktail, as if that would make up for the earlier grease intake.

I am so happy to be here! We're planning to do a lot of water activities, I cannot wait!

Tag

OK, so this is outside of the travel world but my friend, Maggie, tagged me and I thought this would be fun. The rules are as follows:

1. Write six weird and/or boring things about yourself. (See below)
2. Link the person who tagged you. (See above)
3. Mention the rules in your blog. (Doing it now)
4. Tag six other bloggers by linking them. Emily and Kim(I don't have six blogger friends)
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs so that they know they've been tagged. (Done)

As for six facts about me,
1. I recently made a huge commitment to having bangs.
2. My left eye is a lazy eye.
3. I have never broken a bone and would love to keep it that way!
4. I can roll my tongue into three folds.
5. I am an ethnic minority of China, specifically, the Miao nationality.
6. My great, great, great, great something like that grandmother is Russian.

......And I'm leaving for the airport in less than eight hours and I've yet to pack! (It's more fun thinking of random facts about myself!)

CLi is back on the road...

...beginning Saturday, May 10th. This time, I will be going to San Diego where my friend of 18 years (holy cow) is graduating from law school. She has accepted a position with a New York based law firm in their Shanghai office, which means we won't see very much of each other for several years...unless Uncle Coopers ships me off to China again, which is likely. We are going to spend some quality time in San Diego with a couple of days in Mexico. I cannot wait!

I will try my best to maintain the blog. As always, travel along with me and enjoy!