I landed in San Francisco on July 4th and stayed at the Pickwick Hotel. My original plan was to go see some fireworks for Independence Day but those plans were quashed by jetlag and unexpectedly low temperatures. It was surprisingly cold in San Francisco. Having gotten used to the high temp and humidity of southeast Asia, and being unprepared for the weather with adequate apparel, I was frequently shivering during my stay.
Since I was so exhausted I didn't do much on the 4th besides visit a dispensary and sleep off the jetlag.
On the 5th I scheduled a telehealth appt for my PA medical cannabis card which I would like to keep active even though I may only ever use it once a year. After that I visited and walked around the Haight Ashbury area. For those who don't know, this area was a center of counterculture and hippy lifestyle in the 60s, and that legacy lives on today. I walked from Buena Vista Park to Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden where I enjoyed tea and a light lunch.
My friend Cristian and I were planning to meet up and camp for night in Potwisha Campground, which was halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Unfortunately, due to some medical concerns he was having with his infant daughter, those plans were scrapped. As such, I made a point of finding some other outdoor activities.
I drove to Cataract Falls and enjoyed a lovely hike.
Then I went to Stinson Beach, Red Rock Spring, Red Rock Beach, Muir Beach, and Pirates Cove. Each location involved varying degrees of hiking. While it was certainly too cold to swim I still made a point of putting my feet in the water at Muir Beach. The photos below are not in the correct order.
I am disappointed I did not hike all the way down to Pirate Cove but I was running out of water and the terrain was getting quite difficult.
On my drive back I stopped for this photo of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Later in the day I wandered around San Francisco Center Mall to kill time.
On July 7th I checked out of the Pickwick and went to the Travelodge by Windham, which was closer to the airport. Before going to my new hotel I got some Mexican food at El Faro, then did some hiking at San Bruno Mountain State and County Park, as well as took a walk on the San Andreas Trailhead.
July 8th I checked out of my hotel early, returned my rental car, and took my flight to Philadelphia. San Francisco was cool but expensive. It was my first time in California and I expected warmer weather. I will return again but next time will likely fly through LA instead.
I will start this post with some fantastic news. Faye got a tourist visa for the US!. She applied in early September and had her appointment at the US consulate in Guangzhou on September 19th. I took a day off to join her for moral support. She was originally scheduled for an appointment in Hong Kong on Monday the 22nd but thanks to a last minute policy change requiring all applicants to apply in their country of origin, she was forced to cancel her appointment with no refund and reschedule in Guangzhou. Fortunately, through a combination of our efforts and a bit of luck, it was all worth it and she got the visa. Here she is on the way to her appointment. Here she is minutes before getting in line. Here she is after she got approved for the visa. Afterward we celebrated by relaxing in Guangzhou for the rest of the weekend. I worked hard all September, and even had to report to work on a typhoon day to teach remotely because my school won't...
After my trip to the US and Canada I had two full days of rest at home in Shenzhen. During which time I prepared for the next trip. Faye and I flew out of HK on the 12th of July. There was a brief layover in Bangkok and then we landed in Stockholm Arlanda Airport in the morning of July 13th. I foolishly exchanged currency forgetting that Sweden has gone mostly cash free as of late. Then we took the Arlanda Express into T-Centralen and from there we used the metro (t-bana) to get to Fridhemsplan. From there it was a short walk to the Courtyard Marriot Stockholm Kungsholmen. We were very early, so we got some coffee. We were prepared to wait for a while to check in, but when we asked the front desk if we could store our bags until check-in they actually were able to check us in early and even upgrade our room to one with a better view of the park. So we checked in, then walked to Joe and the Juice for breakfast. Our flight ...
It has been a busy couple of months since my last post. While I may have settled into a sustainable flow state at work. I am still quite busy during the week. I am maintaining my fitness routine of at least 3 weekly gym days and a weekly swim. If I skip the swim I add a gym day. On October 19th, the day after my last post, Faye and I went for a walk and stopped at a bar where I enjoyed petting the owner's dog while we had a refreshing drink. On October 20th the high school bio teachers got training on some new lab equipment from MiniOne. The training was focused on gel electrophoresis but we also bought a PCR, micro-pipettes, mini centrifuges, and a bunch of other resources from them. We took a quick weekend trip to Bangkok over the weekend of Halloween. We departed from Shenzhen late on Friday the 31st and got back late Sunday November 2nd. We spent our time there relaxing, shopping, and I introduced Faye to the se...
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