From DC to Philly Cheesesteak Heaven

I woke up on Leslie's couch at 8am. I had a bus to catch at 10:15am. As I had some cereal and packed my bags, I watched some CNN (the TV stations here seem to emphasize national news more than entertainment) - the program was debating Marijuana legalization; specifically, Prop 19. Yet another example showing that wherever I go, I can't escape California.

I said bye-for-now to Leslie (she's going to Philly too, but on the next bus), and I walked to the bus stop in the same parking lot as yesterday's food truck festival. The city was much quieter this Saturday morning. People queued and boarded the bus. Our bus driver was an entertaingly loud and friendly black woman named Carolyn. She prodded us passengers to say "good morning" like we meant it! (Unfortunately all these east coast people were more interested in getting to their destination than talking.) Carolyn then proudly proclaimed without any hint of timidness, "I HAVE MENOPAUSE."

Okay, now she got my attention. "This means that the temperature in the bus can either be TOO HOT or TOO COLD. Feel free to come up here and tap my shoulder or slap me in the face so that I'll adjust the a/c."

I was happy to finally encounter someone with a shred of genuine personality.

As the bus left DC, I began texting my friends in Philadelphia to see whether they'd meet me there or wait until Leslie arrived. After a few minutes, I looked up from my phone and saw that we were already driving through the forest (aka suburban Maryland). The rest of the ride went by smoothly.

• I kept my ipod on as the scenery flew by. As I tried to take a picture of the scenery, I had a difficult time juggling my camera, phone, and ipod; I wish there was some gadget that combined all three into one! IF ONLY!
• The bus passed through a tunnel underneath Baltimore harbor, and suddenly the freeway signs read "95 North - New York" ... but what about Philadelphia? Isn't that the next city?
• The bus stopped in a suburb north of Baltimore to pick up more passengers. I noticed that the bus driver announced the stop as "Murryland" - is that how the locals pronounce it?
• Every car on the freeway is from a different state - Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, New York, DC.
• I noticed the couple in front of me, about college-age, were playing a luge/bobsled game on their iPhone.
• Traffic is bad. Especially with all these toll plazas every few miles. The worst backup was trying to cross into Delaware.
• I just crossed from The South into The North. Interesting.

Before I knew it, the bus had whizzed through the industrial areas south of Philadelphia and I arrived in the city of brotherly love.

Bringing Some California Cool to DC's Bureaucracy

Many people just stared at me, confused...

It was my second day in Washington DC, and Leslie and I walked to the Curbside Cook Off in a big parking lot near Chinatown. We had learned our lesson from the previous day's lunchtime rush, and we arrived there just after 11 AM. Nevertheless, the queues at each of the trucks ran almost across the entire lot, with at least 50 people waiting for each truck.

We chose the Sâuçá truck, serving "globally inspired food." Each dish on their menu represented a different region of the world. I went for an Italian sausage wrap while Leslie got an Indian butter wrap. The food was delicious, but not completely filling for $8. The owner was really nice, though, going out and passing out samples of their lemonade to all those waiting in the warm sun. I also got him, and several other people in line, to give me high-fives. Only about 1 hour in, and I was at over 60 high-fives. OH YEAH.

The next stop: Ford's Theatre. Most famously known as the place where President Lincoln was shot, the theater is still a functioning one, and in fact my visit just happened to coincide with a rehearsal of that evening's show, so I was not allowed in. (Yet another building in DC with restricted access! Lighten up people - it's not like I'm climbing in your windows and snatching your people up.) Across the street, the Petersen Boarding house, where Lincoln actually died, was closed for renovations. So Leslie and I had to be content with browsing the exhibit of Lincoln's life and presidency. At least the entry was free.

Happy Hours and High Fives

In any city where there are people in suits roaming the streets, you can feel a collective exhale at 5 PM. Everyone finally gets to loosen their collar and head home, or, as I soon discovered was very common in DC, to the local bar or restaurant for happy hour drinks.

It was my first evening in DC, after a red eye flight and a day exploring the city on foot. So by 5:30pm, I was definitely exhausted and in need of a beer. I met up with Leslie at her office and we walked over to a place called Recessions. The bar is between Dupont Circle and Farragut (to the best of my DC geography knowledge), perfectly positioned to attract many young employees from the nearby think-tanks and policy agencies. And as I expected, the bar filled up mostly with 21-26 year olds. The atmosphere felt more like a lounge in a college dorm than that of an underground urban bar.

I met Leslie's friends Mari and Anna there. What was awkward was that Leslie and I sat at our own table, and a dozen or so of Mari's friends filled in the tables next to us. We had a strong feeling that this was the group we were invited to join, but without Mari there to introduce us, it was just Leslie and I enjoying our drinks.

Also, I was able to cross another item off my list: Take a picture wearing the craziest hat I could find. Unfortunately, there was hardly anyone wearing a hat that I could find, let alone a crazy hat, so I settled for the first moderately cool-looking hat I could find:

The hat guy had asked us for a quarter so he could use the jukebox. He and the friend with him were from California. And at the time, I was sitting with Anna and her friends, Peter (?) and Ashley, also from California. Apparently DC has undergone a west coast invasion?

Discovering DC on Foot

The best way to explore a city, especially a big, vibrant, cosmopolitan city (like Washington DC) is on foot. You might think that you won't be able to see as much as you would if you were in a car, train, or bus - but in fact the opposite is true. The most rewarding parts of a visit to a new city are the small, unexpected details. Everyone's seen the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building, but what makes the trip really yours is the little old lady who tells you about what used to stand on that empty lot, or the hidden alleyway filled with colorfully artistic murals. It's only by interacting with the city on a personal level - which can only be done at a human level, i.e. on foot - can you gain the most rewarding experiences from your visit.

So, during my first day in Washington, DC, it was a no-brainer that I would spend the day exploring on foot. What would I discover?

A Red Eye and a Real Red Eye in DC

Washington, DC. The capitol of the United States of America. This is where the country's--no, the world's--power is concentrated. It's impressive, especially considering that this city was merely a small town for many decades after it was built on a drained swamp over 200 years ago.

My arrival in DC was neither triumphant nor glamorous, but pretty mundane, commuting into the city with lots of workers. I flew into Dulles Airport, about 26 miles (41 km) west of Washington. It was 6:45 AM, and the earliest splashes of daylight were just emerging to the east.

LAX to Dulles, Making My List

It has been a chilly and damp week so far in LA, but the forecast calls for sunny and warm weather all weekend on the east coast. I can't help but smile at this irony.

I'm sitting at the gate here at LAX, staying relaxed ahead of my flight. It isn't too hard to stay seated and rest, since I'm running on less than six hours sleep. I'm definitely going to get some shut-eye on this overnight flight.



My trip was planned somewhat spontaneously. I am currently of the opinion that I need to get out of LA at least once a month in order to maintain my sanity. So, with some friends of mine on the east coast, what better time than now to visit?

Tijuana

I have traveled to countries all over the world but had never been to Tijuana. It's the nearest non-US city to me, and easily accessible by day trip. Yet embarrassingly, it remained more unknown to me than the hawker centers of Singapore or the old town streets of Prague.

So I set out to change that.

Not wanting an opportunity to go to waste (and wanting to put some miles onto my new car), I decided to go on my soonest day off. Why not? I tried to gather people together to join - but in the end, only Michelle was available for the day trip. And so things began to fall into place: TIJUANA HERE I COME!

It had been a fun week, with two Aussies surfing my couch for a few days. The night before, I had a night out with a close friend who's leaving for grad school. That night I ate yak meat for the first time, took in some live music, and enjoyed good times and Belgian beer. Life was rolling on. Thus, that Saturday, I woke up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy - adventurous and unstoppable. Well, unstoppable until I hit the traffic on the 405.

Sequoia National Park

In late June 2010, I traveled with some friends for a weekend camping trip at Sequoia National Park.

Located in the southern Sierra Nevada, Sequoia National Park encompasses a large swath of land that includes several groves of the largest tree in the world, the Giant Sequoia.


View Larger Map

Moro rock.

Big tree. There were plenty of big trees.

Jamaica

One place in the world I want to go is Jamaica. It's so close to the US, also English speaking but still with a very distinct culture and lifestyle.

I was looking for a tour guide and found Traverse Jamaica.

A Day as a Jet-Setter

I had an important meeting to attend. This meeting was in the Bay Area. It was on a Thursday. I needed to be at work on Wednesday and Friday. A dilemma?

No, it was an opportunity: I flew to the Bay Area in the morning and returned back to LA that afternoon.

Even though it was simply a visit to the Bay Area, where I'd been many times before, the timing and circumstances of this trip really made me feel like a jet setter. This was my first time flying somewhere and back on the same day. It was also the first time I parked my car at an airport lot, and the first time I flew on a plane without packing a change of clothes!

A Birthday Trip Back to the Bay

I returned to the Bay Area for the second weekend in a row. Only one night, but one amazing time!