It was planned ahead of time to have dimsum in Oakland's Chinatown with J.C. and C.C., who are brother & sister and have been a long time family friend of L & lil J's family. Here look at a picture circa 1987 or 1988..
L, C.C., J.C, and me @ some family gathering back in the days. Hilarious picture.Lil J had a dimsum restaurant in mind and we would have eaten there if we were able to locate it. Instead we found ourselves at Joy Luck Restaurant, which served ok dimsum, but was insanely cheap and I left with a full tummy.
Then we walked around the ever-so-crowded Chinatown. I hate crowds. We then ended up buying some Chinese pastries. I don't know what they tasted like. I was too full from dimsum, but they looked good. Sensory overload in Chinatown.
After we all bundled back into the car and drove to the City to drop C.C. at his place in Portola or Potrero district. It was near the Giant's stadium. Said bye and made our way to drop of J.C. Throughout the entire meal, L and I mentioned that we wanted to go to Cal Academy of Science since a couple people had recommended that we visit while we were here. J.C. said that she had an annual pass which meant she could bring a guest in for free. And A also had an annual pass, so we borrowed his id and pass before we left for dimsum that morning and planned to see if we could use his id and get in for free.
So we got to Cal Academy, L used A's id & pass to get in for free and J.C. got me in for free. Woo-hoo. $50 saved. J.C. had to study and she lived very close to the museum, so we said bye. Lil J did not want to explore with us and needed to do "work" (I'm guessing facebook) and said she'll be at some nearby cafe or park or something to do work. So L and I excitedly entered the museum and expected tons of fun.
It was fun. I liked the exploratorium way more. Cal Academy had a lot of water creatures and once you've seen a couple, you've seen them all. I liked the reptiles. And we visited the rainforest which was not as fun as I expected. They warned you of butterflies flying all around and to check your body and clothes for butterflies before leaving the rainforest. I saw 0 butterflies. But I did see 2 birds.
We then made our way to "The Living Roof" which I thought was going to be a MAGNIFICENT outdoor garden on the roof. Something similar to the Getty Garden, but better. Woops. Mistake. I think when we got on the roof, L and I turned to each other and said "this is it?" We spent less than 5 minutes and decided we're done.
After the museum, we found ourselves back at Union Square for shopping. L and I didn't buy a single thing, but lil J did buy herself a cute earflap hat. I love aimlessly walking around shopping areas. It's so fun.
Then by then it was dinnertime with R & B (L's Santa Cruz friends) at Pho Garden. Pho Garden is famous for their pho challenge which is 2 lbs of noodles & beef (click on the link for pictures). R & B brought their friend N to join us for dinner. We all passed on the pho challenge and ordered the reasonably sized phos. Pho eating, conversing, me shaking from being so cold. This was my first sign of sickness. Oh boy, if I only knew what was ahead of me.
It must have been like 11 PM or so when we were done eating and conversing. Said adios and finally went back home (after stopping by CVS for some cold medicine). LONG ASS DAY.
Then we walked around the ever-so-crowded Chinatown. I hate crowds. We then ended up buying some Chinese pastries. I don't know what they tasted like. I was too full from dimsum, but they looked good. Sensory overload in Chinatown.
After we all bundled back into the car and drove to the City to drop C.C. at his place in Portola or Potrero district. It was near the Giant's stadium. Said bye and made our way to drop of J.C. Throughout the entire meal, L and I mentioned that we wanted to go to Cal Academy of Science since a couple people had recommended that we visit while we were here. J.C. said that she had an annual pass which meant she could bring a guest in for free. And A also had an annual pass, so we borrowed his id and pass before we left for dimsum that morning and planned to see if we could use his id and get in for free.
So we got to Cal Academy, L used A's id & pass to get in for free and J.C. got me in for free. Woo-hoo. $50 saved. J.C. had to study and she lived very close to the museum, so we said bye. Lil J did not want to explore with us and needed to do "work" (I'm guessing facebook) and said she'll be at some nearby cafe or park or something to do work. So L and I excitedly entered the museum and expected tons of fun.
It was fun. I liked the exploratorium way more. Cal Academy had a lot of water creatures and once you've seen a couple, you've seen them all. I liked the reptiles. And we visited the rainforest which was not as fun as I expected. They warned you of butterflies flying all around and to check your body and clothes for butterflies before leaving the rainforest. I saw 0 butterflies. But I did see 2 birds.
We then made our way to "The Living Roof" which I thought was going to be a MAGNIFICENT outdoor garden on the roof. Something similar to the Getty Garden, but better. Woops. Mistake. I think when we got on the roof, L and I turned to each other and said "this is it?" We spent less than 5 minutes and decided we're done.
After the museum, we found ourselves back at Union Square for shopping. L and I didn't buy a single thing, but lil J did buy herself a cute earflap hat. I love aimlessly walking around shopping areas. It's so fun.
Then by then it was dinnertime with R & B (L's Santa Cruz friends) at Pho Garden. Pho Garden is famous for their pho challenge which is 2 lbs of noodles & beef (click on the link for pictures). R & B brought their friend N to join us for dinner. We all passed on the pho challenge and ordered the reasonably sized phos. Pho eating, conversing, me shaking from being so cold. This was my first sign of sickness. Oh boy, if I only knew what was ahead of me.
It must have been like 11 PM or so when we were done eating and conversing. Said adios and finally went back home (after stopping by CVS for some cold medicine). LONG ASS DAY.
Hands down for the exploratorium. Bleh to the academy. I have a picture of the albino crocodile/alligator creature.
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