Summer Vacation 2004

This summer, Ed had to attend a week long meeting in Portland Oregon, then another meeting in Palo Alto in California. Ed has relatives in San Francisco and so happen that Ed's brother (Alex) was on business travel from Sydney Australia and will make a stop over in San Francisco as well. So we decided to make this a mini-vacation for the whole family.

We arrived in Portland the weekend before Ed's business meeting is to start. We stayed at the Residence Inn that has a full kitchen and complimentary breakfast. We were pleasantly surprised that the transportant system in Portland is efficient plus there is free travel within the downtown area. We visited an open market near Chinatown on the Saturday morning and also browsed in some of the famous and expensive shopping downtown district such as Saks 5th Avenue (located on 5th Avenue of course), Louis-Vutton boutique (where they sell $200 neckties, $800 handbags), and Annie's favorite Swaroski crystal boutique. We also visited the beautiful rose garden of Portland. Portland The OMSI (Oregon museum of science and industry) was a great museum to visit. We have membership with our local science museum in Oak Ridge and so can visit OMSI for free. So while Ed was attending his meetings, Annie took the girls sight-seeing and to the many excellent bookstores and the library.

We flew from Portland down to San Francisco and had excellend Chinese food in Chinatown with Ed's cousins and relatives. Alex would arrive in San Francisco after Ed's workshop in Palo Alto so we decided to tour San Francisco with Alex. We went instead to visit Stanford University and the Tech Museum in San Jose. There is also a very nice IKEA furniture store in Palo Alto and the hotel we were staying in offered a free ride and pickup to IKEA. Annie and the girls can literally spend the whole day at IKEA.

We had a rental car and took Alex to most of the famous places such as fisherman's wharf, the golden gate bridge, Chinatown.

Here are some pictures taken during the vacation trip.

	Water fountain in Portland near Chinatown.
	Open street market in Portland. Annie and Gloria were very interested in the bead and string crafts.
	International MickeyMouse outside Nordstrom in shopping area of downtown Portland.
	Gloria and Maria outside OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). There is even a real submarine (USS Blueback) moored next to the museum and visitors can even climb in.
	Maria trying to figure out the weight of some blocks in the museum.
	Gloria was happy reading in the bookstores and libraries.
	The girls in the local public library.
	The girls in the beautiful rose garden. The locals told us we were very lucky to have such sunny nice weather in Portland.
	A playground near the rose garden in Portland.
	The tourist end of Chinatown. There is another part of Chinatown where there are crowded markets. We even bought some fresh sweet Lai-chee fruit that we can never get in Oak Ridge.
	A terrace overlooking the Chinatown.
	Maria was playing kitchen in the IKEA furniture store in Palo Alto.
	Gloria playing with the challenge to build a lego tower that can withstand an earth quake in the Tech Museum in San Jose.
	Maria was playing with a spy gadget that can listen in to conversations at the other end of the hall.
	Gloria is undergoing a three dimensional scan of her face. The image is display in another computer station. The machine rotates around Gloria's head to map out her features and shapes.
	Maria's turn to have her face scanned.
	The girls doing their "Star" pose outside the Tech Museum in San Jose.
	The girls in front of the "landmark" Chapel at Stanford University.
	The girls at one of the many fountains and artworks in Stanford University. This is outside the University bookstore.
	The girls in one of the long hallways at Stanford University.
	Ed wanted a picture with another landmark, the Hoover Tower, at Stanford University.
	Ed and his brother Alex at Pier 39 Fisherman's Wharf. Although it can be warm and sunny outside of San Francisco, the Fisherman's Wharf area can be pretty cool and windy.
	From the Wharf area, we can see the Golden gate bridge and the "Rock" Island of Alcatraz.
	It was pretty foggy when we visited the Golden Gate bridge.
	We all had a fun time visiting San Francisco.