This past spring break, I booked a trip to California for the first time to visit my sister Vicky. Before visiting California, I had always imagined myself living on the East Coast. But once visiting, I realized California might be a place where I want to live. Here are some of my favorite things from the trip!
Big basin Redwoods state park
My first full day in California, I went hiking with Vicky and her friends at the Big Basin Redwoods State Park. This specific redwood forest had gone through a wildfire back in 2020 that was caused by a lightning strike. 97% of the forest was affected across almost 90,000 acres of land. As we drove up to the forest, we started to see the bare trees that were recovering and the char, which looked as if they were freshly burned.
Once we arrived, we were welcomed with a map with many different trails. Out of all those trails, we decided to pick the three-hour-long trail. We brought sandwiches and small treats to eat as we hiked through the forest. Throughout the hike, I saw huge redwoods and bright Banana slugs.
Some things to keep in mind if you ever visit is that you will not have signal in the forest. With that said, make sure you come with a fully charged phone or portable charger when entering and leaving the park.
Grey whale cove state beach
I love the beach so much, and my goal when visiting California was to go to the beach. The one I visited is called Grey Whale Cove State Beach, located in Half Moon Bay. This location is about 30 minutes outside of San Francisco.
The drive to the beach was beautiful. It was an amazing coastal view of the Pacific Ocean, and there was a warm breeze of air. The parking lot was packed. When walking down to the beach, each step was very steep and slippery. But once you made it to the bottom, the views were amazing, the temperature was hot, and the ocean was super cold but refreshing.
I happened to be in California at the perfect time because the weather was starting to warm up and it was 80 degrees all week. The beach was calm and the views of the coast were so pretty!
Vistiting UC Berekeley
This past summer, I worked at a summer program and met my friend Lauren, who is a student at the University of California, Berkeley. We had a chance to meet up while I was visiting. We met at her apartment, and I got to see the shopping areas. Before we started our day, we went to the Korean Superette, which is a restaurant she loves. We ordered the Bap Sang meal that came with a stew and bulgogi. We ate our food in the outdoor seating in the shade.
I also got a tour of the UC Berkeley campus, which was huge! I didn’t realize their student population was double that of the University of Connecticut. The campus was lively people were sitting outside enjoying the beautiful weather. There were shopping areas around the campus as well.
san Francisco: day one
I decided to split San Francisco into two days, with day one being the shopping day. I went shopping all over the place. The first place we went to is China Town San Francisco. I grabbed a matcha at Matcha Café Maiko. We then headed to get lunch at a place called Delicious Dim Sum where we had fresh Dim Sum for about $12.
After we finished eating, we visited a jewelry shop called A&K Jewelry, where they hand-make their jewelry pieces. In that shop, I was able to customize my own necklace. I got to hand-pick a jade charm and a chain that complemented it. The owner of the shop then made my necklace on the spot. Vicky ended up getting a bunch of different jewelry pieces, ranging from handmade pearl earrings to necklaces with unique charms. We then ended our day in the Japan Center Malls and went thrifting at stores nearby, where I bought a leather jacket for $17!
san Francisco: day two
Vicky and her boyfriend Mario took me sightseeing to the Golden Gate Bridge. Many food vendors were selling fresh fruit and hot dogs. I decided to get fresh mango. We later went to visit the Golden Gate Park and got to see the de Young Museum as well as the Blue Heron Lake. Right after seeing these sights, we went to see the painted ladies, which are some of the city’s iconic Victorian homes in Alamo Square Park. They were actually quite underwhelming, but it was a really nice park!
Thank you
Thank you, Vicky and Mario, for hosting me at your apartment for my whole spring break! They were amazing hosts. Vicky always made sure I woke up and had a matcha in my hand every morning, and Mario made sure I tried In-N-Out the minute I landed in California. Overall, the trip was so much fun! Now that I visited, I think that I can see myself living there soon.