Cali trip August 2013

We took a Cali trip in August before QuocNam is going back to school. Started the trip from Boston to Atlanta to Orange County on Monday 8/19. Arrived at Lemon Tree hotel in the evening. We went out to eat late around 9pm and picked a new restaurant on Bolsa called com tam Thanh Huong. The dishes were good and we saw Phan Dai Nam there so it must be good... Lemon Tree is an old fashion hotel and setting like old Europe. Here we met a Japanese group and had a good time with them. We chatted with Mashiro Kawasaki and she is a visitng teacher from Japan. Her son is Noah and very cute. He was nice and friendly and hung around QN

During our stay in Orange county for 4 days, we met Thao's friends Phuc, Quang Lam, Hoai Phuong and their kids: Mi and Sean. We had dinner at a Chinese Buffet and then went to QL rented home. It was nice a spacious. Oh...we also visited ba Hai and had dinner at Bo de Tinh Tam chai...this restaurant has nice settings and the food was good too...btw they take credit card. Next day, we went to Knott Berry Farms. It was a hot day and many rides require a taller kid...We were able to take the train, and the water log trip (this is a fun one) and a few other kiddy rides...we watched a few shows too and the best one of all is the late show called Boom Town. This show had many performers with acrobic moves and jumps and it was fun to watch...

On Friday, we checked out Lemon Tree...Mashiro and Noah was checking out too...and we said farewell and exchanged emails for future contact

Went to Pho Nguyen Hue at Bolsa and enjoyed pho ga before our journey north to San Jose. We took Highway 1 along the coast to enjoy the scenery and many available beaches...On our route, we stopped at Santa Monica beach (fun at the moment) and play in the water for a couple hours...water was a little cold but QN did enjoy it when jumping on waves

After a couple hours at SM beach, we continued our journey North but somehow Highwway 1 stopped for a little bit and i kept going straight into deep into the farmlands and valley...when realize I went too far...i decided to take a shortcut to route 23 at Simmey Valley north...This is a scary ride on this route as it curve like snakes and valley on one side and car came on the opposite...I was numb holding on the wheel to keep a firm control. We finally made it to Morgan Hill and checked in Quality Inn at 1am Saturday. This is a dirty and broken down hotel. I accidently booked a smoking room and it was unpleasant with a dirty bathroom. In the morning, we checked out Quality Inn and then drive to San Jose to see Hanh and Dat...we then took a trip to Santa Cruz and enjoy another fun day at the beach and boardwalk. QN enjoyed the water there too

We checked in at Fairmont hotel. This is rated 4 stars and it was nice. The room is spacious and luxury and everything setup well. Especially the marble bath room, with separate toilet. One complaint is it doesn't have parking and everything is extra (internet, water).

Sunday was fun time with Thao's friends Ngoc Anh, Kim Lan, and Minh Hang. We met for lunch at a dim sum restautant in SF. Then drove to Pier 39 and took some pics at the pier. We then went back to San Jose for dinner at Bun bo Hue An Nam restaurant.

Monday, we went to shop for food and goodies to bring back and I mean a lot, but the food are good and worth it. We then drove to Golden Bridge and took some pics there. When coming back across the bridge, we almost got a big ticket for 'reckless driving' since there was no toll booth available to take our money. We were then told that they would take a pic and send you the toll bill.

Finally we met for dinner together at Nha Trang restaurant and thanks everyone for their time. QuocNam had fun with anh Duy (big brother) and Nhan and Thien. Together it was a quality time in San Jose. We flew back next day to Boston and was exhauted. Overall it was a good vacation and QN love it...Good bye