USA trip

[issenllo]

So, I went to California with my dad. Not necessarily as a holiday, though there were holiday-like bits. My dad's old friend had emigrated some 30 years ago and they hadn't seen each other in 20. I was the designated caretaker who got to accompany dad on a reunion trip.

We touched down at San Francisco, was picked up by dad's friend who lived an hour (or so) away, and spent most of our time in the countryside (do you call it countryside, USA'ians?), only venturing outwards for a few days through a bus trip to Yosemite, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, very touristy. Notes:

1. Huge country, many, many cars. Mind-boggling to think of people zipping up and down roads for hours and hours each day in cars.

2. Why is your water not drinkable? From the tap, that is? I'd have expected that from a country like China but...

3. I've spent far more time at McDonald's whilst in the USA than I have ever done so in a year, in my own country. Because (a) hot water, and (b)familar food - ahhh, Americanisation - for my father's notoriously fussy palate, without which he'd rather starve. Strangely, he did not take to the Chinese food in California.

4. Las Vegas: big, impressive and very amusing. Do people really buy into that psychosis about whatever happening in Las Vegas staying in Las Vegas? That would explain the pyramid...

5. Saw the Golden Gate Bridge and went on a whale-watching tour (but not on the same day). My dad's friend was disappointed that the whales didn't swim up to us and leap into the air.

6. The insistence on outlet shopping. No, I do not even like shopping that much, especially not with two retired men trailing after me trying to persuade me to buy a handbag.

And we returned home jetlagged and nursing coughs and colds. I think recovery will take a while yet.

***

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Comments

[edenfalling]

2. All tap water is supposed to be drinkable -- various agencies do quality analyses on municipal water supplies every year or two -- but in some places trace elements in the local aquifer or reservoir either create a funny/bad taste or freak out people who think the official "safe levels" of various chemicals are too high. Or the local water supply is fluoridated to help prevent cavities and people think it's going to cause cancer or something equally absurd.

There are some locations (particularly poorer ones, with older infrastructure) where unfiltered tap water IS kind of worrying. To offer a very mild example, I used to work in a building whose plumbing was a century old; whenever a section of leaky pipe got replaced, the sudden increase in water pressure knocked rust loose from the surrounding pipes and made the tap water run opaque orange for a couple hours. That is not something I would voluntarily drink! But in California, I suspect the choice to drink bottled or filtered water instead of unfiltered tap water is almost always a flavor thing, an "I am more health-conscious than you" snobbery thing, or a conspiracy theory thing. *shrug*

4. I don't think there is any rational explanation for Las Vegas...

[issenllo]

Aha. Maybe it's got to do with where we were staying, then. Don't think it's the health-conscious reason because my dad's friend isn't the type. But the sight of those gallon-sized tanks made one apprehensive and wonder if tap water was full of pathogens, like they warned in China (where tap water was supposed to be drinkable if you boiled it, but us mollycoddied tourists didn't want to risk it.)

[meigui]

California is also having a water crisis right now, so everything water-related there is generally more awful than usual. I lived in SoCal for much of my childhood and even normally it's hard to get soft water there--as I recall it was because it's just so expensive to get fresh water piped in that the extra treatment to make it not all gunky from the weird minerals in it becomes cost-prohibitive. There's no pathogens! It just tastes weird, and sometimes it can be a problem to shower in for people with oily hair or extremely sensitive skin.

[issenllo]

Yup, our tour guide pointed out the extent of the water crisis, and I saw plenty of signages about recycled water (on lawns, etc). It's good that water is so easily available despite that.

I don't really like soft water - or hard water, for that matter. There must be a happy medium somewhere.

[februaryfour]

It took me a while to get over the culture shock. Take LOTS OF FLAT OPEN SPACE and juxtapose this with Tokyo or Singapore. ^_^ It was a while before my head stopped constantly swiveling everywhere.

It sounds like you had a lot of fun!