Duration: 14 days
Calculated Distance: 1,166 miles
Actual Diantance Traveled: 2,222 miles
Regular Participants: Eric Papa, Nancy Mama, Selina.
Occasional Extras: Theresa the landlady, Auntie Grace, and an old classmate of Papa.
Locations: Irvine, CA; San Diego Safari Zoo, CA; Huntington Beach, CA; Sequoia National Park, CA; Yosemite National Park, CA; Mt Shasta, CA; Lincoln City, OR; Astoria, OR; Seattle, WA.
Vehicle: KIA SOUL aka ‘ugly butt’
Camera: my beloved Canon 60D 18-135mm lens
Day 1-4 Irvine, San Diego, and Huntington Beach, California
I arrived late on a Wednesday night in the aptly named John Wayne Airport, well, it is California, the land of the movie dreams afterall. Mom and dad had managed to sublet a room from a Real Estate agent- Theresa- in a very nice neighborhood and a very nice house in Irvine. It was sunny almost everyday with temperature hovering around 70s, but that’s just me freaking out as a Pacific-Northwesterner.
The very next day, mom couldn’t wait to take me to eat rice rolls (飯糰) in Ranch 99. I snickered a little, because their sometimes erratic behavior reminds me that’s probably how most immigrants started their lives in the United States. California is filled with Asians, there are parts especially around Irvine where you don’t even have to learn to speak Engligh. To me, it’s just rice rolls, something originated in the homeland, but not so special that you take the out-of-towners to eat immediately like it is some kind of regional treasure. This thought bothered me for the next few days to come because it showed me how appreciative my parents are to these readily available vendor food from Taiwan and simple joy it brought them, but most of all, how I am somehow acclimated to living without the taste of home, like I am somehow immune to it.
My dad and I visitied San Diego Safari Park while my mom and auntie Grace went to a nearby outlet to shop. It is funny how everywhere we went, even in New York, it was only my father who volunteer to go to the zoos with me. I imagined, to my mom, she thinks my fascination with animals are just silly and obviously not important enough to compete with a shopping trip. This Safari Park boasts about their collections of thousands of species, however, much to my disappointment, 90% of them are birds. Not that there’s anything wrong with birds, I just much prefer something other than ducks, herons, condors, cranes, pheasants, horn bills, or eagles. I think my favorite was the flying mammal, you know, I never imagined they eat up-side-down as well.
In the next few days, in preparation of ending their month long stay in California, we proceeded to have many farewell meals with their old friends. My parents have expressed many times of their love towards California, though I am uncertain whether it is because of the abundance of the solar energy, the proximity of good Chinese food, or the presence of their friends, maybe all of the above? Following one of these meals, we visited the famous Huntington Beach, supposedly a surfing palace, however, we didn’t see many surfers that day. The day was gray, I did see a bunny in a parking lot eating rose bushes though (not easily side track at all!).
