遇見柯林頓: Spring of 1992

After spending several vacations in enchanted national parks, my daughters came out with comment without natural qualities. “If you see one, you see them all”. So, instead of dealing with the beautiful nature, we decided to go to metropolitan area of northern California. We planned to visit campuses of UC Berkeley and Stanford University, visiting relatives and sightseeing were also included in this trip. My children had only blurred impression for S.F. from 1985, now they are more anxious because they were eager to feel and see the backdrop (background) of the two books they read, “Joy Luck Club” and “Kitchen God’s Wife”. My sister, Ching-Hui, arrived from Taiwan two days before our trip, she was also well prepared to explore S.F. with us.
On our way to S.F., the mountains along I-5 were gorgeous with blooming wild flowers, Mother Nature mixed all different colors of flowers together and it was just like a splendid painting.
We checked in to a hotel at 7th St., not far from Market St. The hotel provided shuttle to and from Union Square where you can easily access to cable car, BART (subway) or walking to China Town, Fishermen’s Wharf, etc. We moved on to tour China Town after a short rest. I could see my daughters tried to find the footsteps of the people Amy Tam described in her novels. They found a street by the name of Waverly, which is a name the author gave to one of her character.
San Francisco is a popular city to visit. Golden Gate Bridge and its nearby Golden Gate Parks which filled with museums, rose garden, and Japanese garden are spots tourists often visited. A delightful encounter occurred unexpectedly while we were waiting forcible car to the Fishermen’s Wharf. One cable car filled with campaign team and Bill Clinton stopped right in front of us, so everyone presence had the pleasure to shake hands with the presidential candidate.
When completed two days of sightseeing of metropolitan area and touring UC Berkeley, we were guided by relatives who live in Palo Alto to see Stanford U. We stayed with them for our last night in Bay area. Before we were about to conclude our trip, my husband decided to add two more tourist attraction for my sister. So we visited 17-mile Drive in Monterey Bay and stopped at Solvang - the Danish Town to have the afternoon tea.
At 17-Miles Drive, everyone seemed to have his/her own favorite scenic point. My sister enjoyed watching numerous seals on seal rock with binocular. I was amazed by the nursery area the park prepared for the young seals and mothers. My husband was contented with the 1992 US Open visor he purchased at pro shop of Pebble Beach Golf Club. We ended our trip with a delicious seafood dinner in Santa Monica.
It was most unfortunate to learn that besides S. Central L.A., some of the places we visited in S.F. were also looted and gathered with rioters.
My sister said before she left for home that “My trip to Ca. was filled of surprises, earthquake, riots, and even shake hands with candidate of U.S. President”.