Travels: Northern California

Last weekend, we took a trip up to NorCal with H's parents and cousins to attend H's cousin Harry's wedding. It had been more than 2 years(?) since I had been up north so I was really excited. We started driving Saturday around noon.

The drive was...scenic. Lots of emptyness.

 We saw a bunch of grapevines and other fruit fields where we tried to guess what the fruits were.

More nothingness... 

Oh yes, lots of coffee.

Random tractor. 

Stacks of hay. 

We also saw lots of tomato trucks. We lost count. I told everyone about how tomatoes are actually picked when they are green and are made to mature during transportation, but I'm not sure if everyone appreciated that nutrition tidbit, ha!

We passed by The Oracle, home to the Golden State Warriors.

So much traffic I thought I was back in Los Angeles. Oh but wait, there is a toll bridge!

I love bridges. This is the Bay Bridge. Too bad we didn't get to go through the Golden Gate Bridge.

More random views of SF.

We got to San Francisco (where the wedding was) 2 hours early, so we dropped by Japan Town where they had their annual street fair.

I think they were having some kind of dog show or contests because we saw lots of interesting pooches.

SF is so green. Even their food containers at the fair were of recycled material.

The wedding itself was at a bank reserve. How neat is that! (and no, they are not in the financial business)

Wedding flowers.

Violin trio during the ceremony.

Decoration - isn't this beautiful?!

The wedding menu. One of the very very few American-style weddings I've been to where the food was awesome and filling.

Centerpiece - so beautiful, again.

It was a wonderful, beautiful wedding, and I had lots of fun bonding with H's family and meeting his other cousins. Too bad we had to leave right after the Sunday wedding to drive back to LA because H's parents wanted to go back to work on Monday. We ended up getting home at 4:30am... It was terrible... But at least we made it home safe!

Huntington Library (Part 2)

Last time I shared pictures from my trip to the Huntington Library, and this time I will share pictures specifically from the subtropical garden. It's very unique with all its weird plants and odd cacti.

Some barren trees. This was a few weeks after the unusual, major wind storm that traveled through the area.

But these flowers! They grow amid the barren-ness (is that a word?). They are fighters.

These are the normal cacti.

Pretty flowers! I wish I knew my flowers to give a name.

Uh oh... the cacti is starting to get weird here...

Another lone, barren tree. This looks like it could be something out of a Tim Burton movie.

Some willow-y looking plant. Or a gigantic monster with some serious hair issue.

Flowers and cacti.

I love the red in the back.

Another name-less pretty flower. Can you tell I'm a flower kind of gal?! Ha.

Another Tim Burton prop. Maybe the trees come to life during the night and start grabbing at things. Too much imagination? Yah I think so.

Prickly cacti! I once killed a cactus plant by overwatering it. True story. No one ever trusts me with their plants after that.

Cacti garden. It's a good way to ward off burglars 'cuz it's hard for them to get away!

I call these, Christmas cacti.

These remind me of ribbon roses (something way too complicated for my simple mind to figure out).

I have no idea what this is or what kind of plant it is...

Or this... Although this looks like a gigantic girl alien... (Imagination at work again, sorry.)

Anyone called for a ultra-large ginger root? 

I'm starting to wonder what the red things are.

These remind me of a popular Asian fruit called the loquat. They are really sweet and juicy. I call them Asian cuz I've had them in Asia but very rarely in the US (only from someone's backyard).

Firecrackers or chili? Your pick.

I've seen these around but am not sure what they are. They look so puffy!

Flower garden.

Berries? I don't think they are edible though.

Another willow-y plant but I love the lightness of it.