Chinatown, Etc.

Posted on January 14, 2016 by pearlsandprose

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In 1848 the first Chinese immigrants – two men and one woman – arrived in San Francisco. One year before gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill.

During the early stages of the gold rush, when surface gold was plentiful, the Chinese were tolerated. But then when gold was harder to find, animosity toward the Chinese escalated. They were subsequently driven from the mines and settled in cities like San Francisco, taking low-paying jobs in restaurants and laundries.

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We were there the week for Christmas, so there were decorations in some of the windows. I’m pretty sure that’s a cactus cowboy on the right.

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I did love this neon sign, even though I can’t stand Budweiser. 🙂

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I was startled to look up and see the Transamerica Building. The first time I saw this landmark (years ago) I was blown away. Now I’m kind of used to it.

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Can you tell I’m a little obsessed with the lampposts?

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The Chinese Exclusion Act was a U.S. federal law signed by President Chester Arthur on May 6, 1882. It prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers and was the first law enacted to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed by the Magnuson Act on December 17, 1943.

I don’t remember studying this in school at all. Immigration has become a big issue in the political race here because of the Syrian immigrants.

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Then we saw something a little different:

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Sabra serves Israeli and Mediterranean food.

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I think this French bistro was on the outskirts.

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Rain was threatening, so we ended our little excursion. I’m still thinking about that dim sum. 🙂

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

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An Occasional Treat

Posted on January 11, 2016 by pearlsandprose

A Sprinkles Cupcake shop opened in La Jolla recently and I had to see if all the hype was true. I’m here to tell you…it is.

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I selected a red velvet and it was pretty much to die for. Really fresh red velvet cake with thick, rich cream cheese frosting. The best I’ve ever had, and I was pretty partial to Georgetown cupcakes before we left the East Coast. The calorie count has to be terrible, but this is a rare thing for me.
How cute is the wooden flatware they give you? The vintage plate is mine.

Hope your week’s going well so far.

{carole}

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Chinatown

Posted on January 7, 2016 by pearlsandprose

I had not been to Chinatown in many years, so it was fun to go there again. My husband had never been!
Follow along with me, won’t you?

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The Dragon Gate, AKA the “Chinatown Gate.”

According to Wiki, this is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese community outside Asia. Chinatown is also the most densely populated urban area west of Manhattan.

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Well of course we had to ride the cable car. Honestly, it never gets old for me.
I’m so glad we saw the city with my son and his girlfriend. They know the city really well and my son had every route planned out in advance. Otherwise we’d probably still be waiting on a street corner somewhere. 🙂

The stuff you can see and buy in Chinatown pretty much runs the gamut….

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We went to Alcatraz the next day. I’ll do a post or two on that in the future.

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I’m love the colors and embroidery on these shoes.

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Aren’t these sweet?

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Lions are believed to have powerful mythic protective benefits in the Chinese culture.

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The architecture is so varied and interesting.

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Great colors too. I especially liked the decorative lampposts.

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It’s even prettier lit up with the red lanterns behind.

Oh, we had the best dim sum in Chinatown. A truly memorable lunch.

I’ll have a few more photos next week.

{carole}

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Instagram Nine

Posted on January 4, 2016 by pearlsandprose

Hello, everyone. Hope you had a wonderful holiday. I enjoyed my week off so much, spending time with family and friends.

Instagram has something called “Best Nine” and it’s where members post collages of their top nine photos of the year. The ones that received the most “Likes.” Here are mine:

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As always, some surprised me. Just when I think I know what people like. 🙂

Hope your week’s going well so far. I’m hoping to have a post on San Francisco’s Chinatown this Friday.

{carole}

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Christmastime in San Francisco

Posted on December 22, 2015 by pearlsandprose

We were in San Francisco over the weekend to visit my oldest son. Had such a great time seeing everything! I took a lot of photos, so will have a blog post or two on the city in the future. For now, I’ll leave you with shots of Union Square decorated for Christmas.

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The white column is the Dewey Monument that commemorates Admiral George Dewey’s victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War.
According to Wiki, the statue at the top of the monument, “Victory”, was modeled after Alma de Bretteville, a Danish-American stenographer and artist’s model. She eventually married one of San Francisco’s richest citizens, Adoph Spreckels.

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Union Square was built in 1850 and got its name because it was once used for rallies supporting the Union Army during the American Civil War. It is a California Historical Landmark.

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The long line of people is for the skating rink (not visible).

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The Westin St. Francis Hotel, built in 1908! I love the architecture of San Francisco so much.

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I thought the palms in front were lit so beautifully.

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This was inside the hotel lobby. It revolved to music and mesmerized everyone.

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The Macy’s store is huge and there’s more than one in the square. I thought the windows looked so pretty with the wreaths. Can you imagine hanging all those?

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Here you can get an idea of the scale. See the people in the windows? That kind of blew my mind.

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Union Square is also where you can buy tickets for most of San Francisco’s performing arts the day of the performance at a discounted rate.

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Not sure which store this is, but I love the tree and all the purple.

The Peanuts gang was in a window around the corner:

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Random tidbit: Union Square boasts the world’s first underground parking garage and was designed by Timothy Pflueger.

My favorite place to see Christmas decorations is Rockefeller Plaza, but I have to say Union Square is a close second.

Happy Holidays, everyone! I’ll be back after the New Year.

{carole}

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Winter Skies

Posted on December 14, 2015 by pearlsandprose

I’ve probably said this before, but I love winter in California. The winter solstice is a week away, but the air is already clearer, the temps much lower and the skies are deep, deep blue.

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So nice to see the mountains again.

I miss posting twice a week, so will do one or two photos on Tuesdays with a longer post on Fridays. We’re going away this weekend, so I won’t be posting this Friday.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

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More on that Glacier

Posted on December 10, 2015 by pearlsandprose

So, back to our little “flightseeing” tour.

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Glaciers are made up of fallen snow that, over many years, compresses into large, thickened ice masses. It’s so strange to me that glaciers move, like really slow rivers. The ice erodes the land surface and carries broken rocks and soil debris far from their original places.

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Moraines are created when the glacier pushes rocky debris as it moves. These long, dark bands of debris are visible on top and along the edges of glaciers.

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“Kettle” lakes form when a piece of glacier ice breaks off and gets buried by glacial till or moraine deposits. Eventually, the ice melts, leaving a small depression in the land, filled with water. Kettle lakes are small, more like ponds.

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The pilot pointed out that this hole was formed by the glacier. Weird, huh?

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I thought this terrain was more “glacier-like.” I needed to remember that we were in the summer, not winter. (Never mind the snow provided by WordPress!)

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All too soon, we were heading back to the airfield. I loved being in that plane and wished I was flying it.

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Has anyone see the movie Into the Wild? It’s from 2007, but I just saw it at the library recently. That film really shows how isolated Alaska is. I could never live in a location that remote…how about you?

Great weekend, everyone!

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Favorite Colors

Posted on December 8, 2015 by pearlsandprose

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“Sunset is still my favorite color,

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and rainbow is second.” ~Mattie Stepanek

{carole}

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Flying Over a Glacier and More

Posted on December 3, 2015 by pearlsandprose

Denali (known as Mount McKinley when we were there) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190.5 m) above sea level. One of our friends and I had signed up to fly around the mountain, but there were too many clouds that day. We had a choice of flying over one of the glaciers, or waiting to see if the clouds lifted. We chose the former, since rain was forecast that afternoon.

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This is the company we used for our “flightseeing.” I highly recommend K2 Aviation!

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We went up in this. Believe it or not, six of us fit inside. I used to be a little leery of small planes, but I loved this. I’m so envious of high school students in Alaska who get to fly their planes to school every day. My dad used to fly his own small plane and now I see why.

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The hardest part was getting in that little plane! I am tall, so literally had to get on my knees to reach my seat. It was pretty comical. As you can see, we were given headsets so we could hear the pilot talk.
We sat in the last row, but had the bigger windows, thankfully.

Here’s what we saw along the way….

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These “settlements” were few and far between.

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No roads for miles, just trees and water. Electricity is really expensive out here, so generators and firewood are used to light and heat the homes. There are also “dry cabins.” No running water, no toilets, no showers. I just couldn’t.

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The closer we got to Denali, the cloudier it became.

Then the terrain changed.

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Somewhere in the distance, Denali. Below us, the beginnings of one of the glaciers.

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It was the strangest landscape I’ve ever seen. Evidently, when glaciers retreat, they often deposit large mounds of gravel, small rocks, sand and mud. It was almost like seeing the surface of the moon.

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More next time.

{carole}

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 25, 2015 by pearlsandprose
image via cartoongraphics

image via cartoongraphics

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate. 🙂

{carole}

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