We stayed at the Hyatt SFO just south of the airport, and as usual on my first day back in the U.S., the jet lag had me up at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m. or so. By the time the sun had started coming out, I was out and walking around. I managed to grab this picture before Paweł and I headed out for our one day shopping extravaganza on the only full day we didn't have to travel or work. :)
He had a shopping list from his wife, and I was looking mostly for some snacks and goodies to take back with me. The only other thing I was looking for was a Google Nexus 7 to use as an e-reader since my iPad is too heavy most of the time (I've found).
We went down to the shopping center near Stanford to start and wandered around. We had breakfast at Cocola Bakery which was very good. They also served the single best mocha I have ever had, anywhere. It's definitely a place I would go back to again and endorse unreservedly.
After Stanford Shopping Center, we headed over to Whole Foods in San Mateo across the street from our office to pick up some goodies. Then we headed up to the Shops at Tanforan in San Bruno to wander around and shop some more. One of the shops that stood out was a store that sold a bunch of goods from Japan. We didn't pick anything up on Sunday, but did go back on Friday after work to grab a couple of goodies.
Sunday ended quickly and it was then a week of work. The only different day was on Thursday night when my "aunt and uncle" Kriss and Frank Kastl drove over from Martinez to take me to dinner. Kriss is actually my Mom's cousin, but honestly they are more like a second set of parents as far as I'm concerned and I was very happy to see them. We went to a Mexican restaurant in San Mateo called Fernando's which is another place I would recommend. The portions were large and the food was good.
On Saturday our flight back to Poland did not leave until 9pm that night. So my Mom, my cousin Victoria, and her 3 children came down for a visit. Since Paweł had not been to the redwoods or the north coast yet, we drove to the Pacific side of the San Francisco peninsula. We started off by going to Memorial Park near Pescadero.
As always, the coastal forests and redwoods are my favorite places in California. It was great to be back among the giants of the woodlands.
This picture is looking up the core of a burned out tree to the sky. I liked the effect.
And here is Paweł, trying to enjoy the forest with 3 little kids running around.
And speaking of kids, here is Josh climbing on the largest tree in the park. It is 13 feet (3,96 meters) in diameter, 225 feet (68,58 meters) tall, and approximately 1600 years old.
Zack was his usual restless self. Here he is looking for banana slugs.
Here is Josh, feeling a bit like the Mighty Tarzan I think. :)
And Alli decided to join him in posing.
And yes, we did find some banana slugs. Including this specimen.
After finishing up at Memorial Park we drove down to Highway 1 and decided to head up to Half Moon Bay to get some lunch. On the way we stopped off at the beach. Unfortunately, the beaches near San Francisco aren't the warm types where people lay out in the sun at this time of year, so everyone got to enjoy the "warm" breeze off the Pacific.
After a late lunch at Half Moon Bay Brewery (the Kobe burger was great) we left my Mom and cousins behind and headed towards the airport. We made a brief stop at Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo to kill and hour and for me to get some See's Candy. After that it was back to the airport and our long trip back to Poland.
It had been in the low 70's (fahrenheit) in the U.S., but we we stepped off the plane in Poznań Sunday night around 11pm local time there was ice on tarmac, it had been snowing recently, and it was freezing cold. Welcome back to Poland I guess. :)
When I got back to my apartment, this was site in the hall as I got out of the elevator.
Apparently the incessant construction as they fix the building I live in had reached my floor while I was in the U.S. I have no idea what they were doing (or are doing, other than structural work in many cases) but they started right up Monday morning at about 9:30am. Happily, that was apparently the last day of the major noise on my floor and they started patching and painting the next day (finishing the last coat of paint today). The neighbors that I occasionally chat with told me this weekend that the noise was horrible while they were doing this. I can imaging as the noise from the work on other floors is bad enough as it is.
So that was the end of my brief adventure back to the U.S. Luckily, I managed to score a bunch of goodies this time as you can see from the picture below.
There is:
- The Nexus 7 I bought
- 5 boxes of tea (2 Good Earth, 3 assorted other)
- 2 containers Might Maple peanut butter (the good stuff) :)
- Spicy freeze dried peas from the Japanese store we came across (very good!)
- 2 ramen style noodle packages from the Japanese store (to try)
- 3 different Meiji chocolate bars from the Japanese store (white, milk, and "black")
- See's Peppermint patties (the best thing they make)
- 2 packages Krave beef jerky
- 3 packages of almonds (2 flavored, 1 salted)
- 4 things of Swiss chocolate from the duty-free store in Munich
- 1 Somersaults bag of snacks from Whole Foods
Have a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment