back from Ukiah

Just because summer break is over doesn't mean the fun has to end. Speaking of which, I just came back from a trip to Ukiah with my parents!

Day 1

We had only driven a few blocks when a garage sale caught my eye. Dad pulled over so we could see what was available. I saw some nice items but didn't find anything useful. It wasn't long before we were back on the road.

The first real stop was the Santa Rosa Town Center. Because it was almost noon, my family had lunch in the car before exploring the area. I was surprised at how empty Borders was. Mom also wanted to walk to Cost Plus World Market at the nearby Santa Rosa Southside. She didn't see anything she needed, although I bought some snacks for the trip. :-)

Our car wouldn't start when it was time to leave. Dad called AAA and was told the battery was dead. Due to time constraints, he agreed to have it immediately replaced. There was a Lexus dealership just around the corner, but we took the AAA guy's word that his service was cheaper.

Ukiah was just an hour to the north. The plan was to go hiking in Smithe Redwoods State Reserve and Richardson Grove State Park after checking into our hotel. That was what made our last trip to Ukiah so much fun. However, I couldn't find either place no matter how hard I looked. It turns out my memory was wrong - the parks are located near Leggett rather than Ukiah. Oh well.

At any rate, the hotel was quite nice. The evening was mostly uneventful, although we had dinner at Denny's and checked out the nearby Wal-Mart.

Day 2

The morning began with a stop at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. This was our first time here in several years. The three of us attended the morning sessions before heading to the dining hall for lunch. To support the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association - as well as give back to the community - we bought some vegetarian food at the on-site restaurant and made an additional donation.

Dad wanted to take us to Point Reyes afterwards, but our GPS kept giving us wrong directions. That went unnoticed for over 30 minutes, after which we decided not to turn back due to the high overhead. On the other hand, there was a roadside oyster bar on our way home. Price aside, the oysters Rockefeller was delicious. The day ended with a nice dinner at the Szechuan Taste Restaurant in San Francisco.

Conclusions

The original plan was to spend two nights in Ukiah. Though we decided to shorten our stay because there weren't many attractions, all of us had a great time. Speaking of which, the stop at the oyster bar was my favorite part of the trip. Sometimes it's the little things that matter the most. I've posted some pictures from our vacation.

In other news...

Dad recently got an Olympus SP-800UZ digital camera. The 30x zoom and 14 MP resolution are impressive!

Currently listening to: "The Sound of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel