Travel With A Butterfly

If you’re looking for a day trip from San Francisco, you can do what we did by visiting Carmel By The Sea, Monterey, and Santa Cruz. I’ve been to the first two places before, but some of us didn’t, so we also revisited these places and also visit Santa Cruz. If you haven’t already, you can read by Pacific Coast Highway, Not Really to read about my road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco a few years ago.

This time, I had more time visiting Carmel and even had a meal there. Santa Cruz I initially wanted to go for the clam chowder, but of course I later realized the restaurant I wanted to go was Barbara’s Fishtrap which was in Half Moon Bay. Still, it was good to visit Santa Cruz and visit its amusement park there.

This post will be written by splitting the sections into the three places. You’ll need to scroll down a bit to find photos for Monterey and Santa Cruz.

Carmel By The Sea

Il Fornaio, an upmarket chain Italian restaurant which I didn’t try Continue reading Day Trip to Carmel By The Sea, Monterey, Santa Cruz

Travel

Seriously, What to Do in San Jose and Fremont?

ByRyan Lee

I admit again, NorCal really isn’t my favourite place to visit. I always felt that the culture and the vibes weren’t what I desire, and the food and things to do here were just meh. But since I had to come here due to personal reasons, I was brought around to try different things and did a bit of research to maximize the things I could do at this place.

Regardless of how you feel about NorCal, here I’ve written a couple of things that you can go visit or eat and my opinions on them.

Accommodation (Airbnb)

A super practical, simple, and well equipped Airbnb that’s incredibly clean and with a communicative host. There were three bedrooms each equipped with their own bathroom, own towels, the host bought a small vacuum cleaner while we were there because we requested for one, an electronic fireplace, and a comfortable living room. The Airbnb was also in a quiet neighborhood but a less than a 10 minute drive from downtown.

Master bedroom Continue reading Seriously, What to Do in San Jose and Fremont?

Travel

Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival

ByRyan Lee

Half Moon Bay was a must visit for this trip for one reason – Barbara’s Fishtrap.

My orthopedist, who grew up in San Francisco, suggested me to go to this restaurant for the best clam chowder. He told me that Santa Cruz usually had an annual clam chowder cook off. So, all this time I thought Barbara’s Fishtrap was in Santa Cruz, but it actually was in Half Moon Bay. Regardless, I visited both places. Santa Cruz blog post will be out soonish. My cousin also told me to visit Barbara’s Fishtrap – she was the one that told me it was in Half Moon Bay.

Anyway, to our luck, there was a Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival on the weekend I went to Barbara’s Fishtrap. Had I just went for the restaurant, I wouldn’t have done much in Half Moon Bay and probably left shortly after. While Half Moon Bay wasn’t the clam chowder city, it did host the largest annual pumpkin festival in the world. Continue reading Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival

Travel

Hello Bozeman Montana, Hello Montana State University

ByRyan Lee

The Bozeman airport was the recommended airport to get to Yellowstone. Prior to landing at the airport, I’d assume Bozeman airport was some sort of small, dingy airport where tourists go just to go to Yellowstone. But when I arrived, I was thoroughly impressed by how clean and themed the airport was. Anyway, that’s why we were at Bozeman.

I continued to be dazzled by the fact that because of going to Yellowstone, I had to travel through 3 states – Montana for the airport, Idaho for the Airbnb, and Wyoming for the actual Yellowstone National Park.

Very midwest feel, lots of people wearing cowboy hats, and magnificent trees. Downtown Bozeman feels very much like college town, with lots of support for their university as everywhere was displaying their mascot the Bobcat.

Continue reading Hello Bozeman Montana, Hello Montana State University

Travel

One Day In San Francisco

ByRyan Lee

San Francisco to me has never been one of my favourite cities. I’m definitely more of a SoCal person than Norcal. I just feel like there’s not much to do in SF, homeless people are scattered in different areas particularly in downtown, where you’ll be able to smell piss, food is mediocre and expensive, accommodations are expensive, and people there are too carefree and “chill” for my taste (for example partying in tshirts and shorts and slippers). And I’ve been here multiple times and my perspective hasn’t changed. You can read that right from the title of my other SF blog I Didn’t Leave My Heart in San Francisco

Having said that, I asked for suggestions to do besides the lesser touristy activities like Fisherman’s Wharf and Golden Gate Bridge. Continue reading One Day In San Francisco

Travel

Grand Teton – One Day Visit Itinerary

ByRyan Lee

If you’ve never been to Yellowstone, you would think that Grand Teton is one of the most incredible national parks in the world. We went in early/middle October, right after Yellowstone. To be honest, it’s very hard to top Yellowstone, but Grand Teton by itself is magnificent to go to regardless and should be included as part of your Yellowstone trip. While most blogs might advise two days to visit Grand Teton, we managed to do it one day at a comfortable pace.

Grand Teton encompasses mountain ranges, pristine lakes, valleys, rivers, open skies, alpine terrains, and if you’re lucky beautiful wildlife. In Grand Teton, your itinerary should be almost like a loop.

If you are coming from Yellowstone, unless you are already living south of Yellowstone, I highly recommend moving to an accommodation near Jackson so it’s more convenient for you to reach Grand Teton. For more information on Jackson, you can read Jackson Hole, The Affluent Town.

I forgot which stop this photo belongs, so I’m using it as a way to preview Grand Teton. I think it’s Potholes Turnout or Lower Willow Flats Overlook, although I’m not 100% certain. Continue reading Grand Teton – One Day Visit Itinerary

Travel

Jackson Hole, The Affluent Town

ByRyan Lee

To preface this blog post, technically Jackson is the town while Jackson Hole refers to the entire valley. But to make it easier for everyone to recognize the place, I’ve named the blog post as Jackson Hole, The Affluent Town. In fact, besides our Airbnb, most of the things we’ve visited is around the Jackson Hole Town Square.

Prior to this trip, I didn’t really had any impression about midwest places, probably a bit more cowboy themed and less affluent than cities like Los Angeles. While the cowboy part + wild west themes were quite true (lots of people wearing cowboy hats and plaid shirts), little did I know I would actually enjoy Jackson Hole very much. The town is very clean, polite, more upscale… a lot of my non-US friends complain before that US didn’t have any culture, basically it was just burgers and movies and cities… everything that you can find mainstream globally. But if you really want to experience “American culture” you have to go to Midwest, or at least Jackson Hole because you really do experience the midwest culture here, very different from top cities like LA and NY.

Speaking of difference, having visited Los Angeles and New York and other cities like San Jose and San Francisco, the race population is quite diverse. When I was in Idaho / Montana / Wyoming (Jackson Hole), the population is over 95% white, so it was quite refreshing to go to a town that has a different population group. The obvious question might be asked – did I experience racism (I’m Asian)? To be quite honest, not at all, except for one weird elongated glance from a neighbour when we first moved in our luggage to our airbnb when we first arrived, but other than that never felt it, despite being in a predominantly white area.

Continue reading Jackson Hole, The Affluent Town

Travel

Napa Valley, Round Two

ByRyan Lee

Due to our decision not to go to Yosemite, we decided to go to Muir Woods and then Napa Valley.

This is my second time going to Napa Valley, and I have to say that this time the wineries I visited were even better than the first one! Perhaps it was because the first time around, I was guided by a tour on Viator, but this time I got to choose to go to the higher class wineries.

If you haven’t already, you can also check out my blog post the first time I visited Napa Valley at Missed my Bus at Napa Valley and Sonoma County

Restaurants

The one we ended up going, Bouchon Bakery. There was a long line throughout the day! Continue reading Napa Valley, Round Two

Travel

The Gigantic Trees of Muir Woods

ByRyan Lee

Muir Woods National Monument is a great and wonderful walk for families, seniors, and even advanced hikers.

We were supposed to go to Yosemite. But after realizing that most of the water from the waterfalls has dried up there, and that the Glacier Point Road was closed in 2022, meaning we won’t have driving access to other viewing points such as Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome, and Taft Point, we decided that it wasn’t as worthwhile to go there and we planned something different.

Just a little north of San Francisco, Muir Woods is one of the last remaining preserved redwood forests in the Bay Area. Some of the redwood trees are 1,000 years old and reach more than 250 feet tall.

From the tree rings you can estimate how old a tree is. Continue reading The Gigantic Trees of Muir Woods