I haven’t had a good vacation in quite some time and I’m excited to go to Shanghai today!
But first, the mandatory beer at LAX before take-off.
family
Christmas Day
I woke up in cracker dawn to take the first flight out of Denver to make it in time for Christmas lunch in Hacienda Heights.
Spending Christmas with my LA family is the next best thing to spending Christmas with my Swedish family!
We started off with a Gingerbread House Decoration Contest. We teamed up two and two and my team made an awesome 4 story house! Unfortunately, the rest of the teams took too long to put their houses together and the icing provided to glue the houses together was not that great, so our house fell apart.
My teammate Annie is a quick thinker though so we named our project Sandy after the recent west coast storm, so we managed to win the contest!
After all the fun and games it was time to get serious with the White Elephant Gift Exchange.
I scored a bottle of wine!
Christmas Day
I woke up in cracker dawn to take the first flight out of Denver to make it in time for Christmas lunch in Hacienda Heights.
Spending Christmas with my LA family is the next best thing to spending Christmas with my Swedish family!
We started off with a Gingerbread House Decoration Contest. We teamed up two and two and my team made an awesome 4 story house! Unfortunately, the rest of the teams took too long to put their houses together and the icing provided to glue the houses together was not that great, so our house fell apart.
My teammate Annie is a quick thinker though so we named our project Sandy after the recent west coast storm, so we managed to win the contest!
After all the fun and games it was time to get serious with the White Elephant Gift Exchange.
I scored a bottle of wine!
Adamson House
We started the day with breakfast at Gjelinas and coffee at Intelligentsia in Venice.
We then drove back up the coast to Neptune’s Net to check out the bikers. It was a little on the colder side today so there wasn’t as many bikes as usual.
We stopped by the historic Adamson House on the way home; one of the first houses in Malibu.
Pacific Coast Highway
We headed back to Los Angeles today, but stopped by Martin’s studio first to see where all the magic happens.
We took PCH down and the scenery was amazing! I didn’t really know it was gonna take us 12 hours to drive though… I think PCH is totally worth the ride, but I would do it over two or three days if I were to do it again, everything in one stretch is a little to much.
Alcatraz
We woke up bright and early to a sunny San Francisco and headed out to the wharf for breakfast.
After the breakfast we took the shirt ferry ride over to Alcatraz
The Bay Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge
Our destination, Alcatraz!
Mom and Dad ready for some sightseeing!
I’ve been to Alcatraz before a few years ago, but I think it’s really cool and a little creepy and think it’s worth going every few years.
The audio tour is really interesting and you need at least a couple of hours on the island to be able to see everything.
We came back to the city around noon, just in time for lunch. But we had time to walk by the Sea Lion wharf; apparently they just showed up one day after an earthquake and then just decided to stay.
Lombard Street, a funky steep street in the middle of the city.
Thanksgiving in San Francisco
I woke up my parents at 4am this morning so we could drive up to San Francisco and don’t hit the holiday traffic. They didn’t come to America to sleep anyway, right?
We made it up to San Francisco before 11am and the first stop was the Golden Gate Bridge.
A view over Alcatraz, the Bay Bridge and San Francisco.
After our sightseeing we headed over to friends to celebrate thanksgiving. They wanted to see my parents new house, so mom had a tour on the phone.
Thanksgiving – not a big deal for me as I did not grow up with it, but for some it is, having excel sheet of who is doing what and recipes are important! All color coded off course.
Turkey is baked and ready to be carved!
The mash is always by favorite at a Thanksgiving dinner, I am a sucker for potatoes.
Coffee after dinner. Wait, someone put an octopus in my cup!
Parents in Town
My parents are visiting for a week, so excited to see them, they are always a big laugh!
Parents in Town
My parents are visiting for a week, so excited to see them, they are always a big laugh!
San Diego Day 2
We had a few hours to stroll around San Diego in the morning before my bus was leaving back to Los Angeles.
They had a long distance swimming competition that was pretty exciting to look at. I don’t think I would have gotten very far if I were to compete in one of these competitions.
