Benicia, CA

On the weekends in college, I would make the drive down to San Jose from Davis to visit the parentals. Because that trip was weekly, it became pretty routine. I didn't have to think about where I was or where I was going. I was on autopilot. But, there was one section of the ride home that I always looked forward too. As you drive past Benicia, one would easily be able to notice a strange odor coming from Valero's oil refinery. I drove past it so many times, that I will remember the smell forever.

Capture California, Facebook Adventure Fridays

Capture California, Team Avocado Pits
ADV 220: Facebook Fridays, April Showers Bring May Flowers
Diana found a white rose in her own neighborhood. Who doesn't love roses? Did you know a white rose symbolizes a happy love? Diana, I happily love you as the best Capture California partner ever!

Historical Downtown San Jose, CA

With so much history in Downtown San Jose, Diana and I decided it would be fun to explore the past over the weekend. On Saturday, I met up with my good friends Hania and Aravind for lunch and invited them to stroll a few blocks together to hunt for historical markers.

Here are some of the things we learned.

Capture California, Team Avocado Pits
ADV 3: Hysterical Landmarks: San Jose Academy
 Founded 1850, held it's first graduation in December 1851 which was the earliest in the state! It could also be considered a forerunner of California's oldest chartered college - UOP because San Jose Academy's principal - Reverand Edward Bannister went on to be UOP's president.

And so it begins...Capture California 2013

Last year, my friend Diana and I signed up to play Capture California. It's basically a list of adventures to complete in California with each adventure awarded a different point value. (And you know how much I love lists and crossing things off of them.) Our team, Team Avocado Pits ended up in third place last year (which is what we wanted!). We scored sweet REI camping gear. This year, Diana and I are even more determined to land in the top three again. This year, they have a longer list of adventures (yay!). Some are repeats and some are new. We are looking forward to trying out some of the SoCal adventures this summer since last year we focused our time in NorCal.

To warm up for the season of adventure-grabbing, we completed some simple adventures over the weekend.

Adventure 89: Take a Walk; Adventure 8: Dog-friendly
We took Kiki for a walk around the Evergreen Community Center by my parent's house.

Adventure 3: Hysterical Landmarks
Kiki practicing her balancing skills on top of Montgomery Hill, State Historic Landmark # 813, site of the 55 successful flights of the "aeroplane" of John Joseph Montgomery.

Adventure 8: Dog-friendly
We couldn't help but stop by Montgomery Park to show Kiki around since it was a short drive away from the marker. However, there were tons of those stickler things that got stuck in her hair. She wasn't too happy about that. Sorry, lovebug!

Adventure 5: Take a hike
This trail head at Montgomery Park led us to the top where John Montgomery's "aeroplanes" took off. Exciting!  He probably landed his planes where my high school now stands. So much history in our own backyard!

There are a few more pictures I am waiting from Diana. Enjoy the sunshine!

Hue

Hue, known as the Imperial City, was quite...Imperial.  Great city to learn some super ancient history. Also, a great city for night life. The employees of various bars roam the streets and walk you to their bar. They literally fight over you. One convincing girl encouraged us to go to her bar, Brown Eyes. She walked us all the way there (to ensure we didn't change our minds of course). But as Angela and Lynn walked hand-in-hand like the little love birds they are, the girl grabbed my elbow and escorted me personally to her bar. We flirted the whole way there - they sure know how to make someone feel special!

Hoi An - Where all your clothes fit just right

I'm getting super lazy with my blog posts. :x

We left Da Lat in quite a hurry. We wanted to make it to Hoi An's Full Moon Lantern Festival. Phuc helped us arrange a sleeper bus to Hoi An, a first for us.  Instead of chairs, sleeper buses have lines of bunk beds. While it was probably better than sitting up for ten hours, it was quite a bumpy ride.  Hoi An is a gorgeous city. We stayed in Old Town to be close to the Full Moon Festival, which was quite a delightful experience. The food in Hoi An was pretty top notch, as well. So were the drinks...the many free drinks you get for entering an establishment. It was mostly rice wine, but it also included this pleasant beverage in a baby's bottle. If you ever decide to visit Hoi An, I would also recommend staying at least a few days. We were able to get some nice clothes tailored at extremely reasonable prices.

Cutest little munchkin selling lanterns

Right before I let my lantern drip into the water.

Lanterns floating in the water.

Lanterns lanterns lanterns!

Lanterns lanterns lanterns!

Yummy Cao Lao place

Yummy Cao lao spot!

Delicious street Che

Free shots!

Free shots!

Free shots!

View from our hotel

Free baby bottle shots!

Dalat - My Future Home and the One Where I Found Out I Ate Rat

Let me start off by saying, I LOVE DALAT. I am going to move here! It's in the mountains, so the weather is cooler and it's so hilly! There are a lot of hiking opportunities and a beautiful lake in the middle of the city. We became good friends with Phuc, our tour guide from the Mekong, and he met us up in Dalat to show us around.

And, by the way, Phuc let me know the "bird" he fed us while we were touring the Mekong Delta was actually rat. Lovely. Though, it did taste pretty good. Couldn't be mad for long.