los angeles to san francisco - packing it all in, as usual

I arrived in LA on Friday evening, May 31, and enjoyed dinner with Vince and the kids (Sarah was out studying).  The next day I headed out for an early lunch at Din Tai Fung with Debbie and Judy.  DEE-LISH-US!!  We hung out for a bit and then I headed over to Irene's house and enjoyed dinner with Irene and Joe.  That evening, I got to spend time with Sarah and Esther, a friend I haven't seen in a while.  Esther was also an architecture major at Cal, but unlike Sarah and me, she is still working in the field.  Sunday morning I met Kim, my "big" from Emory, for breakfast before helping my friend John move from one house to another in Huntington Beach.  In the afternoon, I got together with my cousin Queenie for a cup of tea and a chance to catch up before heading north to Valencia for dinner with Debbie and a night's lodging before heading north to the Bay area.

debbie and judy at din tai fung

kim and me after breakfast

me and queenie and our cups of tea

I drove up to the Bay Area Monday morning, and enjoyed dinner with my parents at a new Shanghai dumpling place down the street from their house.  Tuesday I drove up to Oakland and had lunch in my old stomping grounds, Oakland Chinatown, with an Emory classmate before dropping her off at the airport to head back to her rotation in Portland.  Wednesday I headed up to Tahoe for a couple nights, staying with Lisa again.  On my way I stopped in Folsom for lunch with Pearl.

me with my emory classmate angela in oakland chinatown

pearl and me after lunch

As usual, my brief time in Tahoe was full of adventure.  Soon after I arrived, I entered my first stand-up paddle race on a borrowed board and was quite happy not to finish in last place, especially since it had been over 2.5 years since the last time I'd paddled.  My host Lisa and her boyfriend Dean also raced for the first time and got 2nd and 1st in their respective divisions!

race starting line

I got a couple of peaceful morning paddles in, heading out Lisa's back door onto the dock and dropping her board into the water there.  I also managed to catch up with my good friend Danielle, who was expecting her first child at the time (he should have arrived by now, I haven't heard), drop by my old office to say hi, and head down to Minden to visit Marissa and Leigh Wayne at the ranch and help them prep for a ranch party that Saturday (also squeezed in a short horseback ride on Tango).

danielle and me in her back yard

emerald bay pt office dog, moose

tango-back view

peaceful morning paddle

 On the way back to Cupertino, I spent a night in Walnut Creek, catching up with Libby and family.

libby and me

One last day spent in Cupertino, then my parents drove me up to San Francisco on June 9 to stay with our family friends Trudy and Steve in Dolores Heights, sandwiched between Noe Valley and the Castro.  Parking is an issue here, so my car is staying in Cupertino while I commute via the MUNI streetcar or BART.

My mother, Trudy, and I walked up Corona Heights to work up an appetite for a mouthwatering Peruvian dinner at Limon.  They feature rotisserie chicken and scrumptious ceviche, in addition to a blue corn juice with a delightful flavor.

mama and trudy walking up the stairs to corona heights

inca blu "exotic peruvian juice"

I am comfortably accommodated in the basement floor of a pre-1906 Victorian house with my own bedroom and bathroom and a short trip up the steps to the rest of the house.  It's a short walk to the MUNI stop and an even shorter walk from the Embarcadero Station to the clinic...

tuscon to california

My last week in Tucson was completely packed.  Tuesday after work I was taken out to dinner by Daniel and Alice, joining Les and Sharon (all members of Tucson Chinese Baptist Church) and the volleyball team on which both couple's kids (twenty-somethings) play.  It was a good time hanging out and saying good bye.

Wednesday evening I drove out to Saguaro National Park East.  There's an 8 mile one-way driving loop that I took, enjoying the desert on the other side of Tucson.  I didn't have enough time to hike, but did get out of the car to check out a few scenic spots.

probably the tallest saguaro i've seen

first time seeing the flower of the hanging chain/ chain-fruit cholla

another gorgeous sunset

Thursday was my last day at work.  I got off at lunchtime after going through my final review, since my CI McHaley was leaving then anyway.  I went for a run and then made sure my stuff was all packed up before going to meet Kelly (another friend from TCBC) for my last dinner in Tucson.

me with mchaley right before we left

after dinner with kelly

The next morning I slept in a bit and hit the road by 9:45.  I drove I-10 up through Phoenix and across toward California.  Once into California, I passed a town called Desert Center.  The one thing that stood out about the place was that all the palm trees looked as if they'd been decapitated!  It looked as if a tornado had whipped through and ripped the tops off of all the trees.  I finally got around to looking it up online and learned that Desert Center was founded in 1921 by Stephen Ragsdale, an eccentric cotton farmer from Arkansas.  The palm trees were planted in 1990 by his son, Stanley Ragsdale, because "he said he always wanted 'a tree-ring circus.'  Since his death in 1999, the trees have fallen into disrepair and many have died," according to Wikipedia.  The town is also the birthplace of the Kaiser Permanente medical system.  Yes, I bring you more completely irrelevant information!

I stopped for gas at Chiriaco Summit.  Who knew that stopping at a podunk town to fill the gas tank could be so interesting?  It turns out that the little town of Chiriaco Summit is the home of the General Patton Memorial Museum and the "West Coast Vietnam Wall" as well as a collection of military vehicles, antique weaponry, and classic cars.

chiriaco summit classic car garage

general patton memorial museum

west coast vietnam wall

ed hastey memorial vehicle park

I rolled out of Chiriaco Summit and shortly turned off I-10 onto Cottonwood Springs Road into Joshua Tree National Park.  There was a trail called "Bajada Trail" about half a mile in so I stopped and walked along the trail and learned quite a bit from the informational signs.  Several miles further in, I came across a ranger station and asked for a recommendation with minimal time available to check out the park.  I was told to drive another mile or so to Cottonwood Springs Oasis and walk around there, and also told I didn't have to pay the $15 fee since I wasn't staying long.  I took a short hike from the oasis down a wash.  It was beautiful, and pretty cool to see the funny little (there weren't any big ones there) Joshua trees.  It turned out to be just a 16 mile detour, well worth it.

dead tree along bajada trail near the freeway

cottonwood springs oasis

one of the bigger joshua trees i saw

beaver tail cactus

I continued on from Joshua Tree and ended up at Sarah and Vince's place in Los Angeles, where I spent two nights and reclaimed the stuff I'd stored back in March.  More on LA in the next posting...

last weeks in tucson

My final three weeks in Tucson flew by with a bunch of "lasts."  I went for my last hike from there on May 11, heading a bit Northwest for the Tortolita Mountains.  I started out by driving through the gate of the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain Resort.  The friendly guard at the gate told me exactly where to park to find the trailhead, and offered me both a large and pocket sized map of the area.  From the trailhead, I took the Wild Burro Trail and ended up making a big loop (approximately 10 miles).  I had a lot of chances to listen to one thing I will truly miss from my time in Tucson - the sound of wind rushing through the spines of a saguaro cactus.  It's inimitable.  I can't even describe it, but I can say that it's soothing, a very peaceful sound.

cloud shadows and wind were respite from heat and bugs, respectively

old ranch building

this portion of wild burro canyon had an awesome echo

remains of a "line shack"

That week, I expected to spend my birthday at home by myself, working on my project.  Instead, in the afternoon I got a text message asking if I was free for dinner, and I ended up getting taken out to dinner by a group of friends from Tucson Chinese Baptist Church.  We had Mexican food at El Guero Canelo (apparently, there's a song about it...) and later went out for some amazing gelato at Allegro.  They had flavors like Pink Grapefruit with Black Pepper, Pineapple Basil, Spicy Chocolate, and Cucumber.

happy post-gelato faces

On Saturday, I took a midday run - that was crazy, it was so hot!  That evening, I searched online for the best places to check out the sunset from Tucson and ended up taking a short trek south to the San Xavier Mission.  I was a little late for the actual sunset, but it was beautiful anyway and therefore worth it.

Sunday I had my second tennis experience in Tucson, and am proud to report that I was able to return more than half the balls hit my direction not only over the net but in the court!

Friday night was the full moon, and it was beautiful!

Saturday I went out to my "farewell" lunch with an even bigger group from church, since the three girls in the group photo above were leaving for a vacation trip to the east coast.  I had to work on Sunday, but got off early enough that I took a drive up Mount Lemmon (recommended since day one by my landlady Jamie) where temperatures were cooler and the view was gorgeous.  Mount Lemmon is the highest peak in the Santa Catalina Mountains at 9157 feet.

one of two deer at the molino canyon vista

view from the top

crazy spider webs on the aspen trees at one point near the top

cool rock formations

Monday night I went to Meet Me at Maynard's for my last downtown run/walk, enjoying the fun and funky architecture as well as earning my free t-shirt.

two sides of a structure in downtown

The remaining few days will be covered in one last Arizona blog post...