More from CA -

The main conference we came out here for was the 4th-7th and went very well. I think even Nam and his boss were surprised how many attendees there were and how active the participation was. I can't count the number of times I heard that this was the most detailed and in depth participants went to solve the questions presented. I certainly learned a lot, got to rub elbows with the seniors, and spend a goodly time enjoying sunny Monterey. I didn't realize how chilly it would get here though and am finding I lack enough long sleeves for the mornings and evenings :)

Today was great though, I'm now officially on vacation...Nam had to haul himself into work this morning to help write up the conference paper. I spent my morning sleeping in then after a quick trip to Starbucks I sat on the beach down by the wharf and read. I went for a nice walk on the beach too, but during that time my parking meter ran out and I ended up with a parking ticket. That put a bit of a damper on the afternoon, so I decided to head back to the hotel. I didn't want to just stay in the room though, so I decided to camp out by the pool. I think I may have even gotten a slight burn on my legs... For being so cool in the evenings, the sun is quite hot. The breeze off the bay keeps the temperature down is deceptive. Today is Nam's b-day so for the evening we've planned to have dinner down on the wharf and stroll along the beach. I'll remember to plug the parking meter this time though!

Yesterday we camped out in the hotel bar to watch some of the early football games (it's really weird to be having a beer and watching football at 10am). I went out and cruised the town after that and found myself over in the neighboring town of Pacific Grove. The shore there is beautiful and the rocks are easily climbed over. I climbed down into an area where the rocks blocked the cool breeze and another was molded like a chair. While I enjoyed the warm sunshine three sea lions put on a show just a ways out in the bay. I forgot the cord to upload my pics while I'm here, but I'll post he link when we get back.

Saturday we drove up to San Francisco and spent the day walking around the city. Literally. We plotted it on a map and it showed that we walked almost 14 miles. Its no wonder my feet still ache today. The only downsides were that it was too foggy to see the Golden Gate Bridge and we got to the park to late to enter the Japanese Garden (after we'd navigated the city's bus system!). For me the highlight of the day was Pier 39 where the sea lions congregate. I love their barking noises and watching them shove each other off the rafts they were sunning on. After being really touristy down by Fisherman's Wharf and having our first lunch we decided to wander our way to Chinatown. I'd been there once before for a short time and remembered it was near the Transamerica Pyramid (or the big pointy building as I kept calling it). It was a much longer walk then we'd thought but it was fun to see the different neighborhoods. When we finally got to Chinatown Nam was surprised at how immense it was, especially compared to the DC Chinatown. After we walked up and down all the streets and alleyways we had our second lunch at a small street shop - dumplings, pork buns, and my favorite red bean dessert. It would have been even better if I hadn't watched the lady put the first one on my plate where it slid off, give me a fresh one, then pick the one off the floor and put it back on the pan with the rest. Ick. We then hiked back toward the wharf, realized we were going to take the bus across town, and that we'd be driving back through the area we had just walked from. Oh well. Like I said earlier, we tried to go to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, but by the time we figured out the bus route, got across town, and walked the 10 blocks to get to the park, it was 6:02pm. They closed at 6. Argh. On the plus side there were a million hippies in the park for some sort of concert or something so the people watching was phenomenal! Because of all the hippies we couldn't squeeze on a bus so we walked some more. We plotted our bus route back but the bus wasn't coming. So we kept on walking. Finally as it was getting dark the bus came and we ended up back where we started. After a late dinner on the wharf we drove home. All in all the last few days have been very busy but very fun!