The Trip to San Francisco

    This summer, my family and I are going on a trip to San Francisco for two long weeks. We have a lot of fun stuff we want to do. I’ll use this “journal” to keep track of things along the way. 

Day One (Friday)-The Trip to San Francisco 

    I woke up pretty late today, but no one really cared, because our flight was at five o’clock in the afternoon. My brother and I went along with our mom to work, because there was no one who could take care of us today. We ate breakfast and played around for a while, before Dad came along and went home with us and Mom.

We got home and rested for a bit, then we called an Uber to pick us up and drive us to the airport. However, the Uber driver was driving to places that we didn’t want her to drive to, and it took forever for her to get close to us. Dad phoned the driver, and it turns out she had another customer THE WHOLE TIME. Dad canceled the Uber and called another driver, who, thankfully, didn’t have another passenger. Finally, we were on our way to the airport.

    The airport was practically empty, mostly because most people book their flights earlier. Because of the lack of people, we got through security and stuff much quicker than usual, which I am very, VERY thankful for. We were soon lounging in the business class uh...lounge. This gave me a chance to type this before we boarded the plane. I’ll write (type) more once we are in Hong Kong.

    The plane trip to Hong Kong was pretty short. I had a nice dinner on it though. The Hong Kong airport was quite a bit more crowded than the airport at Kaohsiung. Still, we were able to get through all the stuff pretty fast. Soon, we were all relaxed at the lounge again, only this one was a lot larger, with more food, and, best of all, free WiFi. I can’t wait to go to San Francisco! Our flight is at eleven o’clock at night. It will be a very long flight, fourteen hours, to be exact. That’s more than half a day! I’ll write (type) more tomorrow.

Day Two (Saturday)-Planes Rides and Hotels

    The twelve hour plane ride was really good, because our family was in business class. The seat was AMAZING! It could fold down to become a comfy bed, it had a leg rest, a big table, a screen, and just about anything you could want on a plane. On the plane, I watched Avengers Endgame and a few other movies, slept, and played some video games. When we got off the plane, we headed to the airport, grabbed our luggage, and got all the other stuff done. Then, we waited outside in the cold night for our shuttle bus to come. We hopped on and went to the hotel we booked, Homewood Suites. We ate dinner and went to bed.

Day Three (Saturday [It says that on my iPad])-Annoying Jet Lag and Delicious Dinner

    Today, we were going to sleep at our uncle’s house. After eating a yummy breakfast at Homewood Suites, Dad and my brother went to rent a car. It was a big, black BMW, but because it had a spare wheel in the trunk, It was hard to fit all our luggage inside. We drove to Walmart and bought some stuff, but I was tired and in a bad mood because of jet lag. My parents bought me some strawberry ice cream to cheer me up. I couldn’t finish it all myself, so I ended up sharing it with my family.

    After we arrived at our uncle’s house, I was very, very tired, so I sat down on the comfy sofa and slept for three hours. After that, we went to the pool, but my brother didn’t want to swim for some reason. I swam, but I soon found out that swimming by yourself is very boring, so I got out pretty soon. Still, the swimming gave me some energy, and I could always just swim at the many hotels that we were gonna stay at.

    Now, it was my brother’s turn to get jet lag, and he slept for quite a few hours, too. By the time he woke up, it was time for dinner. My family, including my uncle and aunt, decided to go to eat dinner at a place that served Italian food. And, let me tell you, the food there was DELICIOUS! There were salads with bacon bits, fried calamari topped with tomato sauce,veal, salmon, spaghetti meatballs, and a scrumptious chocolate cake. After dinner, we went back to our uncle’s house. I’ll write again tomorrow.

Day Four (Sunday)-Long, Long Car Trips

   Today, we were going to Apple Park, a visitor center made by AppleTM, and a hotel that was kind of close to the sea. We woke up at our uncle’s house and ate a delicious breakfast of burritos with eggs and sausages, peaches, toast, goat cheese, and various berries. I was very, very full! After that, we packed everything up and left for Apple Park.

    We came to Apple Park and went in. There was a basement, a first story and a second story, so we explored them all. There really wasn’t anything special though. The second story was a viewing station, the first story had a snack bar, and the basement was just bathrooms. So, we got back in the car and drove to the hotel.

    On the grueling three hour car trip, we passed by thick forests, barren plains, grassy hills and peaceful grasslands before eventually arriving at the hotel. We also stopped at a supermarket on the way, to pick up lunch/dinner and some snacks. When we got to the hotel, I was pretty tired, so I slept from twelve o’clock noon to seven thirty in the evening. We all ate a dinner of fried chicken, ribs, and salad, and then we relaxed. I’ll write again tomorrow.

Day Five (Monday)-Seagulls,Storks and Elephant Seals

    Today was a very eventful day! Mom had planned out a lot of interesting places that we could go to. We had a lot of fun!

    First, we went to a place called Butterfly Grove, where there were supposed to be Monarch butterflies. Sadly, the butterflies only came here in the winter, and now was the middle of the summer.

    Next, we went to a cliff called Dinosaur Cave. If you were wondering, it’s named that because someone built a concrete dinosaur there. It had a beautiful view of the ocean, and I took many pictures. There were tons and tons of water birds there, too. Seagulls, storks, pelicans, you name it. There was a big, flat, uninhabited rock island that was completely covered in seabirds! My brother even caught a slo-mo video of a seagull carrying a fish. The place stunk of rotten seaweed and algae though.

    Then, we went to a beach with elephant seals. They were so cute! They did nothing but lie on the beach with their bellies up, sometimes flipping sand on their chubby bodies. They kind of reminded me of my lazy dog, Midi. I took lots of pictures and videos.

    Last but not least, we went to another cliff called Ragged Point. This place had a nature trail, but we decided not to go there because it was too steep. This place also had a beautiful view of the sea and the mountains. There were also huge trees there, which me and my brother played around in. After all that, we were pretty hungry, so we ate some delicious cheeseburgers.

    We then drove to the hotel. I played in the pool there, and this time my brother joined me. But my brother didn’t really want to play, and the pool was very crowded, so we got out after about an hour. After that, we ate some dinner at a fast-food place called In-And-Out. We went back to the hotel and I typed my journal. I’ll write again tomorrow (as always).

Day Six (Tuesday)Carmel by the Sea

    These few days will be quite like yesterday, going to interesting places, playing around and taking pictures.

    The first place we went to was a place called Carmel by the Sea. Mom wanted to go there to look at houses because they were designed like fairy tale houses.  We walked around and took many pictures.

    By the time we were done exploring all the houses, we were hungry and it was time for lunch. We headed to this place called The Treehouse Café. The food there was very yummy, and the people there were very nice. We had salad, calamari, seafood spaghetti, clam chowder, risotto and a delicious fruity cheesecake.

    Next stop, we went to a big beach. My brother didn’t want to go down, so I went with my mom. We walked around and chatted for a while, and then I went down to the sea to play. It was fun, but it sure was icy! It was so icy that I got out pretty quick.

    Finally, we went walking on a nature trail. It was in a very thick forest, and it was very peaceful. We took many good pictures, and we also went to a cool whaling museum. It had ancient whaling weapons, old scuba diving suits, and even old whale bones!

    After a long day of sightseeing, we were all tired. So we headed back to the hotel. I was too tired to eat dinner, so I just went straight to bed.

Day Seven (Wednesday)-Beaches, Rocks, and Tidal Pools

    Today, we woke up and ate a big breakfast at the hotel, as always. Then, we decided to go to the gym/pool. The exercise machines at the gym were really special, because it had these things called “interactive courses”. There was a screen in front of the machine and it would show a path, you would get to choose where you ride/run. When you focus, you really feel like you are moving forward! After we were done in the gym, we played around in the pool until lunchtime. For lunch, we had microwaveable food, such as chicken fried rice and macaroni and cheese.

    Then, we set off to our next stop, a rocky beach. This beach had a good view of the ocean, but there wasn’t really anything to do. So, we took a few pictures and went to our next destination.

    Next up, we went to another beach, only this time we weren’t going down to the beach, we were going to a small town beside it. The town was very peaceful, and we took lots of pictures before moving on.

    Our next destination was yet another beach. This one we did go down in, and it had many tidal pools. There were a lot of hermit crabs there, and we had a lot of fun playing around there. We took lots of good pictures and then we moved on.

    Our next stop was a place called (I think) Bird Rock. It was a beach beside a tiny rock island with lots of seabirds, and some sea lions. We climbed around the rocks, looking for places to get a better view. We also took some really cool pictures of all the seabirds and other animals.

    For our last stop, we went to a big, wide beach. Me and my brother played in the sand, and we even found a little sand shrimp! The seaweed there was very cool, because they had these little bubble things were shaped like a bottle and could hold water just like one! We played around a lot before finally returning to our comfy hotel room.

    For dinner tonight, we ate at the hotel. We had salad, chowder, calamari and steak. Before heading to bed, we all worked out at the gym for a while. IWAT (I’ll write again tomorrow).

Day Eight (Thursday)-The Long, Long Road Trip

    Today, we were going to drive to a hotel in Reno, Nevada. It would be a long, long road trip, consisting of five hours! As you might expect, nothing really happened today.

    After eating a yummy breakfast at the hotel, we packed everything up and set off on our long, long five hour road trip. 

    In the first few hours, me and my brother both slept for about an hour. Then, l got a little hungry, so I chomped on some yummy barbecue potato chips. We soon arrived at a supermarket, and we picked up a lunch of hot meatloaf and Ceasar salad. We ate it all in the car.

    After getting to the hotel, we got everything out of the car, went to our room and rested for a while. Then, we decided to go to the pool. My brother, my mom and I all went to the pool, but Dad hung behind. First, we practiced swimming for a while. Then, we decided to play this game called “Apple, Banana”. It was the same as “Marco, Polo”, but we thought that was weird, so we just said apple and banana. Then, my brother had the bright idea of changing up the game a bit, so instead of saying “banana”, we just made small noises. And, believe it or not, it actually made the game a lot more fun! It was funny to clap the water somewhere and watch the catcher blindly rush toward the place you were, only to crash into the wall.

    A good strategy was to clap the water as far as you can reach and clap the water, then quietly move sideways. That way, you can throw the catcher off pretty far without too much risk of being caught.

    After a while, our dad joined in, and he loved being the catcher. He would stretch his hands all the way and and walk around the whole pool, whether he heard noises or not. A good strategy to avoid him was to dive down and avoid his hands, quietly arise behind him, and escape.

    After we were tired, we all went into the hot jacuzzi beside the pool. We talked and chatted in there, and even played a few games of Guess Who.

    When we were done we went into our room and relaxed. We had a dinner of instant noodles. IWAT.

Day Nine (Friday)-Kayaking Trip Gone Wrong

    Today, we were going to Lake Tahoe for some kayaking. It was a pretty long drive, but we THOUGHT it was going to be worth it. Guess what? It wasn’t. At all.

    When we got to the parking lot, we ran into our first problem. There wasn’t a single empty spot in the whole parking lot, mainly because it was tiny. We drove around left and right, but just about EVERY SINGLE possible place to park a car was full. Finally, we found a flat parking space about eighty thousand quadrillion miles away from the lake. We got out of the car and started walking. After about fifteen minutes of walking we decided by the time we were at the lake, our legs would have already fallen off.

    So, Dad took the liberty of dropping us off at the parking lot, driving all the way back to our old parking spot, and walking all the way back. We thought our problems were over, but no. The parking lot and the rocks around it were crowded with bees! Every time we tried to sit down or have some fun, the bees would literally chase us away. By the time Dad got back, we had already changed spots about twenty times. 

    We were ready to go down to the lake for some nice kayaking, but of course there was a THREE MILE walk down to the lake. After an eternity of walking, we finally made it to the lakeshore. And get this: we had to wait a whole HOUR to get our kayaks. We weren’t waiting that kind of time under the hot sun and with crazed bees chasing us, so we headed back up. After another eternity of walking, we finally made it to the dreaded parking lot. Once again, Dad walked all the way back to the car(poor him) and drove it back to us. By now, we were starving, so we decided to eat lunch at our favorite restaurant-Applebee’s.

    This was probably the only good part of our trip. We had a delicious meal of tortilla chips dipped in warm spinach sauce, fried shrimp, chicken tenders and ribs before going back to the hotel, satisfied. We relaxed and watched TV. I was too tired to eat dinner, so I just rested. IWAT.

Day Ten (Saturday)-Tiny Cabin in the Woods

     

    For the last four nights of our trip, we were going to stay at a tiny log cabin beside a river, in the woods. After eating a yummy breakfast, we drove a long long way to the cabin, making a few pit stops at some supermarkets.

    The cabin was small, but cozy. The inside was very nice, it had one king size bed, one bunk bed, a kitchen with a microwave and a small oven, a comfy couch, and small tea table and a large dining table.

    After settling down and having a few snacks, me and my brother went down to the river for some swimming. The water was pretty shallow, and the water was very icy-perfect for a hot summer day. We played around for a while, and then we discovered something-a dead crayfish. We wanted to find more ones that were alive, so we started flipping rocks and stuff. It wasn’t long before we came across a medium sized one, and I quickly snatched it with my hands. I had seen other people do it on YouTube; the trick is to grab it right behind the head, where it can’t pinch you.

    We caught a few more small ones and one medium one. Soon after, it was time for dinner. We had some delicious soup, corn on the cob, salad and our crayfish. Since they weren’t really big, they hardly had any meat, so we didn’t really like it. After that, we watched a few movies on the old DVD player and went to bed happily. IWAT.

Days Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday)-More fun at the Cabin

    The reason I put all these days together was that we did practically the same thing every day. So, here we go.

    Normally, we would wake up early in the morning and rest, because it was too cold to go outside. When it was warmer, but still too chilly to go down to the river, we would take our hot drinks to the small table beside the trail down to the river.

    After that, we would have a yummy breakfast, then my brother and I would go down to the river to play. During these days, my brother and I found a LOT of crayfish. The owner even lent us a trap to catch some more! We caught some very big ones, and they were yummy. We would either barbecue them, skewer them over the campfire, or boil them.

    

     For dinner, we usually have a barbecue, because they had a barbecue grill. We would grill bacon, hot dogs, chicken, corn, potatoes, asparagus, zucchini, steak, and even crayfish! Because there were annoying wasps everywhere trying to steal our delicious barbecue, we would barbecue outside and eat inside.