Tag: san diego

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California 1/2

As a colleague and I are presenting a paper at an international engineering conference in San Diego (IDETC09), we extended our stay by two weeks.
We arrived one week ahead in San Francisco and we will be leaving the US from Las Vegas a week after the conference.
So far the trip was really interesting. Starting in SF we stayed in a hostel (Green Tortoise), visiting some touristy places like Fishermens Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge, which we even crossed.

From SF we took a rental car to Sequoia National Park, camping in those beautiful forests and going for a nice hike through the Giant Forest and even climbing the stairs up to Moro Rock. Staying in this amazing nature, we saw plenty of wildlife; birds, squirrels and deer. Just before leaving the park we even saw a black bear!

On our way back towards the pacific coast and San Diego, we went for a refreshing swim in a small river coming from the mountains we just crossed (we went up and down all the time, reaching altitudes as much as 2200m). With a short stopover in Ventura, we even spent a whole afternoon at the beach, watching the surfers ride the rolling waves.
 

So far for now, I guess I’ll write the next update when I get back home.
Cheers, Tim

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Relaxing in Charleston

As the trip from San Diego to New York was quite stressing (midday-evening – SD to LA Airport, the night at the Terminal, flight to NY in the morning, arriving at the hostel in the evening) and as most hostels were booked for the next weeks because of the republican convention I decided to move on and find some more relaxed place. Looking at the map, and by what others had told me I decided to take it down to the Carolinas. Looking for something at he coast I ended up with Charleston, SC wich seemed quite nice judging by it’s website and street-press.
The transfer to Charleston, a 15hrs overnight busride, wasn’t relaxing, but the Hostel and the town seem to be worth it.
With three colleges Charlestin is quite a student city and offers plenty of nightlive with a range of live-music to choose from. (reports on that will follow, so far I just recovered from all the restless moving around)

Cheers, Tim.

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Hang loose in San Diego!

Well, after a LONG travel taking me from Wellington to San Diego (11hrs nightbus well-auck 4hrs sleep, day in auck, 11hrs flight LA 4hrs sleep, 2hrs bus airport – greyhound, 3hrs greyhound LA – SD 1hr sleep) I had a good night with a few Dutch guys, two british girls and Peter (THE peter! ;-)).
Today I just had a looong sleep and then met up with the rest at the beach wich is just a 5min walk from the hostel. After a nice lazy day on the beach, bodysurfin’ ,we just bought all the stuff for a nice big BBQ!

Finally back to warm weather, sunshine and late sunset! 😉

Cheers, Tim.