Los Angeles

12/28/2015 -- 1/2/2016

[Gallery] [Back to Photo Page]


Los Angeles, situated in Southern California, is the second-largest city (after New York City) in the United States.  Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, sprawling metropolis, and as a major center of the American entertainment industry.   Although we have lived in Northern California for more than 20 years, Los Angeles was not on our list of frequent travel destinations in the past. Because Saratoga High School marching band and color guard (Iris plays trumpet in the band) was invited to participate in the 2016 New Year Rose Parade, we decided to join the shadow tour to cheer them on.

Getting there ...

After dropping off Iris at Saratoga High for her bus ride at ~9AM, we started our own long drive at ~10AM.  Although we left about 30 min later than their buses, we actually caught up with them not long after we got on highway I-5 (they had a stop at Coalinga/Avenal rest area).  The traffic got pretty bad when we started to ascend at Grapevine on I-5, and it started to rain (and some fresh snow on the ground) when we entered the high elevation areas.   It took us almost 7 hours (with a short lunch/gas break) to get to our first stop in LA: Griffith Park.

 

First Day (11/28) ... 

 


Second Day (12/29) ... 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

Third Day (12/30) ...

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

Fourth Day (12/31) ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fifth Day (1/1) ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Day (1/2) ...

We decided to use this opportunity to take Iris to visit a couple of colleges in the Southern California: USC and UCLA. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going Home ...

On our way back, we met with my old friend Jimmy (my roommate at Stanford...) and his son to have lunch together.  It was good to see an old friend after so many years (we actually met once last year, but we did not have many other chances since he moved down to LA area ~ 10 years ago). 
It was a long drive home, so we all took turns to drive:  Linus (405 --> I-5 @ intersection with 58);  Iris (I-5 --> 46 @ Paso Robles close to 101, this was a new route to avoid traffic on I-5 and it turned out to be a quite interesting/challenging route for Iris...); me (101 to Salinas with dinner break); Woanyu (101 --> 85 --> home).



[Back to Photo Page] [Gallery]