Hotel Diamond Chico

Hey everyone,

I made it back from Hong Kong to San Francisco today on a 12 hr. non-stop flight. My adventure through China was something I will always remember and I hope that you enjoyed reading little tid-bits from my experiences there.

- Michael

It rained all night again. It was raining heavily this morning. Weather.com did not say anything favourable about the day. The hiking we had originally planned in the Redwoods had to be shelved because it also involved a nine mile drive along a dirt track. Visions of being bogged and stuck in Crescent City again did not sound like a good idea. Over breakfast, we tossed around possible new itinerary ideas. We could not head through the ...

... is Beijing. Don't forget to leave comments as you read the blog entries and also sign my Guestbook. I hope all will enjoy checking this from time to time as I provide updates of my travels!  This map gives a rough idea of where my travels will be taking me.

Well, it's been a week of little happenings and big experiences. I have, as expected, had a wonderful time in Chico. Days have been spent in a relaxed, almost lazy, fashion. Donna is of course an excellent host. Her cooking would rival any chef and I have been treated to meals that would rival anything found in your favourite restaurant (well that is unless your favourite restaurant is of the vegetarian nature). Duck Breasts with Orange Sauce ...

... travellers tended to be a little bit more , hmm, interesting than the first half. I had a firefighter from Seattle talk my ear off for the next 2 hours, which was all well and good. And before you say it he was an old firefighter. Let's not go there. I arrived in Chico just before nine, right a Donna bounced out of her truck and came scooped me up. Not much else to report for the night... relaxation ensued. And so another week of hanging with a good and happy friend begins. Hurrah!!!

... on my list of places to go in Chico.

Chico is a college town, and is where I called home for five years. :) I guess not much has changed except for the age of the students... I did sorta feel like the oldest person in the crowd, but whatever...we still got hit on by 22 year-olds. No matter what, Chico, you'll always have a piece of my heart, and a nice chunk of my student loans....

... The others head off to the casino. Prior to this we picked up two jars of olives as Corning is the olive capital of North America. They have this store called the Pit Stop which has every type of olive stuffed with virtually anything. Of course we picked up some martini olives as well as some that were stuffed with Romano and Parmesan cheese. As usual we have discussions of our next destination and we decide that we want a shorter day and we think ...

... Both he and Jennifer will be over tomorrow for Christmas dinner. I couldn't wait any longer for the kids to open the Xbox 360, so we gave it to them on Christmas Eve and played Rock Band for a couple hours. No one other than me and the kids would give it a shot. As always, it was a late night for me. Even though ...

... at a newer section of town (we had stopped there once before). The temperature was over 100 degrees F. We finally arrived in Chico. We went and picked up my SS who is going to college there. We had lunch at Teddy Malibu's, a fabulous taco shack where you can get simple tacos for $1 or double tacos for $2. If I lived in Chico, I'd eat there all the time...and weigh 300 lbs. We did a couple things...like go to Target to get a disposible camera since I ...

July 15, 2007 - Sunday Chico, CA to Pasadena, CA First day on the road. We find ourselves traveling in an overloaded rental van, filled with gear and anticipation, as we are headed toward the L.A. basin. At this point we are one crew member short, as our sound and lighting man Bruce is on another assignment and won't be joining us until the end ...