san francisco - Travel With A Butterfly

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

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

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

Travel

I Didn’t Leave My Heart in San Francisco

ByRyan Lee

Tony Bennett’s song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”, isn’t a good impression of San Francisco. He makes the song so silky, smooth, deep, vibrant and charming, but my impression of San Francisco didn’t give me that.

After my PCH trip, I started driving up to San Francisco and of course, I had to be greeted by the severe traffic that doubled the time for me to get to downtown San Francisco.

From my car window, you can see a pile of cars waiting behind me.

While driving there, you get to see some cool train tracks. Not the best weather that day btw. Continue reading I Didn’t Leave My Heart in San Francisco

Travel

Pacific Coast Highway, Not Really

ByRyan Lee

I got the idea of driving along the Pacific Coast Highway from one of my Bucket List links illustrating some of the top 10 drives in America. Since I had to be in the west coast, and I wanted to minimize my time in Los Angeles due to the lack of things to do as a tourist visitor, I thought to myself… why not drive PCH?

I was extremely excited by the prospect of driving along the sea coast; I was imagining all the magnificent views I would be getting. Continue reading Pacific Coast Highway, Not Really