Summer 2023 Travel Recap

As summer break 2023 comes to a close for me, as I recently went back to UCSB for the upcoming 2023-24 school year, traveling to different places – including Lake Tahoe, Mono Lake, Bodie, New York, and Washington D.C. – has been one of the most memorable highlights from this summer.

Picture of my brother at the
South Lake Tahoe
hotel that we stayed at

During the evening of June 30, my family and I drove from our home in Palo Alto to our hotel in South Lake Tahoe. The hotel had a pirate ship vibe to it, and one of my parents took a picture of my brother in the hotel.

snow on Mammoth Lakes mountains

Tea House on the Emerald Bay Island

On July 1, the next day, we went to visit Emerald Bay in Lake Tahoe and kayaked to the island at Emerald Bay. It was the first time kayaking, and although some of the water went into the canoe that my mom and I were on, it was a pretty enjoyable experience. After kayaking, we did some hiking at the island in Emerald Bay. We hiked to the top of the island and took some pictures with the "Tea House," the small stone building on top of the island. We continued exploring the Emerald Bay area and then drove to our condo in Mammoth Lakes. On the way to Mammoth Lakes, we noticed that the mountains still had some snow on them, most likely from the past winter, where the rainfall and snowfall was above average in California. There was a TV at the Mammoth Lakes condo, and I watched Sing 2 and the first couple of Bridgerton episodes.

snow on the way back home

On July 2, my family and I explored the Mammoth Lakes area, including visiting Convict Lake and Twin Lakes. After that, my brother and I went swimming in the pool around where our Mammoth Lakes condo was. Around early evening, we went to Mono Lake and went on a guided tour of the lake. There were many interesting facts about Mono Lake and the area in general, including the fact that the height of the tufa in Mono Lake indicates that the lake level of Mono Lake was once that high.

On July 3, my family and I continued to explore the Mammoth Lakes area, visiting a lake called June Lake. Afterwards, we drove to a ghost town called Bodie. We saw many different buildings there, including a church, a schoolhouse, and various houses. We were even able to watch a video that described Bodie, including its early years and how it became a ghost town. A fun fact about Bodie is that gold was actually discovered there in 1859. After visiting Bodie, we drove back home to Palo Alto, and like on the way to Mammoth Lakes, we saw some snow on the mountains.

The last 3 pics of one of my Instagram posts consists of photos from my Lake Tahoe, Mono Lake, Bodie trip

On the evening of August 2, I took a plane from SFO to the east coast, specifically to Newark, New Jersey airport (EWR), to meet up with my family since my mom, dad, and brother were already at the east coast due to my brother going to Cooperstown, New York for baseball. The plane arrived at EWR during the morning of August 3. It was my first solo flight, and although I did not sleep that much on the plane, I tried my best to stay awake. When my dad picked me up from the airport and drove us to the New York hotel that he stayed at with my mom and brother, I also tried to sleep a bit on the car ride to the hotel. However, the hotel that my family stayed at had some water problems and so my dad ended up switching to another hotel, which was where my family and I stayed for the night.

During August 3, my family and I visited various places around New York City, including Empire State Building during the morning, Grand Central Terminal and United Nations Headquarters during the afternoon, and Vessel, The High Line, and Little Island during the evening. I also visited Top of the Rock by myself during the afternoon since my mom, dad, and brother already checked that place out. At Empire State Building and Top of the Rock, I was able to capture various photos of New York City's landscape. The Empire State Building is also considered to be the world's most famous building, and many celebrities like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande and cartoon characters like Miss Piggy from the Muppets have visited the Empire State Building. The Vessel has a pretty cool design, and the building's material allows people to be able to see their reflection.

On August 4, my family and I continued to explore NYC, visiting the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Wall Street, The Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art), and Central Park. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum explored the event of 9/11 in great detail, including showing how NYC looked before and after 9/11, audio recordings of some of the people – including flight attendants on hijacked planes – who were affected by 9/11, and detailed descriptions of the four attacks that occurred on 9/11. There were many different sculptures at The Met, including European sculptures and Egyptian sculptures, as well as pottery from Asia and various pieces of artwork. During the evening, we drove to New Jersey to the house where three of my cousins grew up in. At New Jersey, my family and I got to meet my uncle (my dad's brother) as well as one of my cousins and her husband. My brother and I also played the board game version of Codenames with my cousin and her husband.

My Instagram post featuring some of the photos from my New York trip

On August 5, my family and I went with my uncle, my cousin, and her husband to an Asian restaurant in New Jersey for lunch, and the food there was pretty good. After lunch, my family and I left New Jersey and drove to Washington D.C. On the way to D.C., we passed by Amish Country in Pennsylvania (Lancaster, Pennsylvania). We arrived at D.C. during the evening of August 5, and since our hotel was located near National Mall, we walked around the National Mall area shortly after we arrived and went to and saw some of the landmarks at National Mall, including the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and World War II Memorial, which featured 56 pillars representing U.S. states and territories that surrounded a fountain.

On August 6, my family and I visited some museums in D.C. and nearby Virginia, including D.C.'s National Museum of Natural History and Virginia's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The National Museum of Natural History had many different exhibits, including an exhibit on human origins and another exhibit on ocean life. There was a lot to explore at the National Museum of Natural History, as we did not have enough time to view all of the museum's exhibits. At Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, there were many different aviation and space artifacts, including Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird, a Concorde, and Apollo 11 Flotation Collar. My family and I then went to D.C.'s Chinatown for dinner, and the food at the restaurant we ate at was pretty good. Because it started to rain later in the evening, my family and I ended up staying at our D.C. hotel during the evening.

On August 7, my family and I visited D.C.'s International Spy Museum. The museum was pretty cool and interactive, as my family and I got to learn more about spying and different spies throughout history and work on a mission that uses spy skills. After visiting the International Spy Museum, my family and I went to the National Mall, and in addition to seeing landmarks that we saw two days ago – like the Washington Monument and World War II Memorial, we also saw the Vietnam War Memorial and the World War I Memorial. Later on, we went to the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) since we had a flight from DCA to SFO at 5:30pm. Although the flight got delayed, we were able to arrive safely at SFO.

D.C. Instagram Story

Overall, it was great getting to visit many different places this summer, and I look forward to visiting more places in the future. It was also nice getting to visit D.C. since I last visited D.C. 10 years ago in 2013.

New York, New Jersey, and D.C. travel recap

Below, here is a video recapping the different places that I went to this summer.