Back to the Motherland (pt 1)

Judy and I have finally arrived in "the Motherland" - by which I mean my motherland, the United S of A. The plane ride wasn't that bad. We flew Singapore Airlines and it was, all things considered, a comfortable flight, save for the little kid behind me whose mother saw fit to allow him to kick the back of my seat for ten minutes every hour. We both breezed through immigration and customs and met my parents. The next day, a little jet-lagged, Judy and I woke up past 1pm, so our tour of San Diego started a little late. My parents took us to La Jolla, which is down by the Pacific Ocean.


There were thousands of birds and some very interesting rock formations. We took a stroll, snapped a few pictures and then headed out for a nice dinner at a ritzy pseudo-Japanese restaurant called Japengo. Not sure exactly what style they were going for - they had good sashimi, but the delicious cuisine was anything but Japanese. Guess I'm spoiled. The next day, we began our trip north to Yosemite National Park. I'll talk about that in a different post.


We came back to San Diego after a long ride home from Yosemite. We rested the next day; actually, I rested, but Mom and Judy went shopping for 7 hours. Later in the weekend, we toured around some more of San Diego. Mom and Dad took us to Coronado Island, a beautiful island in San Diego Bay. We ate some great Mexican food (boy, had I been missing Mexican food!) and then visited the Hotel Del Coronado, the oldest building on Coronado. It has stunning old wood architecture and a spectacular view of the ocean. That's where we snapped the picture below.


Next, they took us to Point Loma and showed us the old lighthouse that guided ships into San Diego during the 19th century. It has a commanding view of Coronado, the bay, and the ocean. It was lovely and cool, with a nice breeze rolling in from the ocean. After we had our fill, we headed back into San Diego. So far, it has been a splendid trip. We have about a week left in San Diego before we head up to Washington. I'll update the blog with pics and stories from Yosemite next, but I might not get the Seattle pictures up until I return to Taiwan.


DISCLAIMER: I know this blog is supposed to be about my adventures in Taiwan, hence the name "Big Stupid Laowai" (foreigner). So technically, I shouldn't be talking about all of this. However, Judy is with me, and while neither big nor stupid, here she is, like me in Taiwan, a laowai.