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issenlloSo, 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.
***
Protective Coloration, Byerly, Vorkosigan, by a_t_rain
The Family Expert, Gregor, Mark, Vorkosigan, by Minutia_R
We're All Mad Here, Dono, Olivia, Vorkosigan, by a_t_rain
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.
***
Protective Coloration, Byerly, Vorkosigan, by a_t_rain
The Family Expert, Gregor, Mark, Vorkosigan, by Minutia_R
We're All Mad Here, Dono, Olivia, Vorkosigan, by a_t_rain