#  >  > Non Asia Travel Forums >  >  > Travel the World Travellers Tales Forum >  >  Graduation Trip and Tour

## aging one

We took off from Bangkok on June 7th. Destination California for my daughters graduation from UC Santa Barbara and a tour of California and southern Oregon.

I am lucky to have a close friend since university living in Marin County Ca. His house was the first stop on the journey. 

Crossing the Golden Gate and arriving at Chez Mike on a beautiful day.



Mike sent a car for us.





Nice house 



The next day was a big surprise, Mike is a car collector and these are his latest since I last saw him 3 years ago. First a Lamborghini.





Then a Ferrari and a Shelby Cobra.

Friday night was game 7 of the NBA finals Warriors vs Cavs.   On the flight from Bangkok to Tokyo I had a shock on the inflight entertainment they had the Cavs Warriors game 6 live. The game made the flight fly by.

The bar as you enter the home theater.



Seating



The start of the game and drinking. Don Julio is good tequila...



The next day was the Belmont Stakes horse race so we went over to Golden Gate Fields to make some bets, see Mikes new horse, "Angelo's Pride" and then watch the Belmont there.

Angelo's Pride, just a lovely 2 year old who would run his first race and come third the next day. He would have won but it was his first time out of the starting gate.



Racing on a lovely day.




Much more to come, but falling asleep due to late arrival and jet lag.

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## David48atTD

Great stuff ... nice wheels  

opps ... congrats on the graduation.


Enjoy the celebrations ...

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## Luigi

Damn, good stuff AO.


Firstly, congrats on the graduation.


Secondly, any more pics of the Ferrari and Lambo?


 Thirdly, can I also go visit Mike?  :Smile:

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## bsnub

WOW! That is a very impressive start to the thread!!!

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## Norton

Yes. Congrats on your daughter's graduation. You need to get up to Cotati and show her her papas alma mater. The gravensteins are in season. Bake her a graduation apple pie  :Smile:

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## aging one

Few more car shots for you.



Roong got to drive it down to the gate.




The Shelby Cobra



The racing garage with the guest house we stayed in above.

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## HuangLao

June of 2017, AO..??

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## aging one

College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley. Vanessa will complete her studies in December, but wait until May 18 next year for her graduation walk.

This squirrel loves pistachios.




The clock tower from Vanessa's faculty.




Went to the Thai temple in Berkeley for a little blessing on our journey which would cover just over 4000 kilometers of driving.

Vanessa after getting off her summer job at Environment California. They make her wear nicer clothes than her normal ripped jeans. A great summer job she can save some money from.

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## aging one

> June of 2017, AO..??


the last month mate. Just got home 1am last night. :Smile:

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## SKkin

So this was K.'s graduation and Vanessa next year?

Congratulations on a job well done Papa.  :Beerchug: 

Looks like you're well connected.  :Wink:

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## bsnub

Beautiful girls who will do great things! All the best AO!

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## aging one

Rather than a nap which I reckon would result in waking up at 2am I think I will put up photos of Sonoma County Ca.

My friend Arthur's house who once again I have known since uni. Its right on the Russian River in Guerneville.  



The back yard down to the river from the back deck.



We ate well mostly barbecues. Tri Tip, Fresh Prawns, and Jalapeno's


Then we were off to Jenner by the sea, Shell beach, and Armstrong woods for the Redwoods.





This area is a seal sanctuary and it was full.



Real life



Close up of hole in the rock.



Jenner



Off to Armstrong Woods.



The tree itself.



Tree with fire damage, Redwoods must have fire to germinate their seeds. 230 F is necessary for the seed to grow.



Nice paths through the park.




Artie explaining the growth and life cycle of a Redwood to my wife.



Legal in California now. Nice packaging.

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## Loy Toy

You must be so happy and so proud AO.

Well done Mum and Dad!

All that work and sacrifice has paid off big style.

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## qwerty

Very nice pictures, beautiful daughters and a good choice of school!   

My parents met and married when they were students at UCSB.

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## Topper

Congratulations AO! 

I can remember when your girls had just had to have their hair cut going into M1 and were still upset about it when we met up. 

Great thread and pics, thanks!

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## parryhandy

nice pictures. Is your friend  a retired teakdoor crypto trader ?

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## Neverna

Nice pics, nice thread, AO. Congrats to the girls.

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## Dillinger

Wow, cool thread AO.

Congrats

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## Jack meoff

Amazing thread.
Thanks AO

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## Chittychangchang

Top Dad and a top thread!

All the best to you and yours.

Did you get to have a drive in any of the cars?

Thanks for sharing.

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## bobo746

Good stuff mate looks like a great trip. :Smile:

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## aging one

Sonoma county also has the lovely little town of Sonoma with its Mission, worth a day tripping around.

The residence of the mission




Cacti flowering and budding





Chateau St. Jean Winery







Found wild Coho salmon at Sonoma market. With some fresh sweet corn, grilled asparagus just in season, and a big salad, wine and sourdough as well.



Soon off for Monterey, then Santa Barbara and K's big day.

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## beerlaodrinker

Nice thread AO father of the year award for sure

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## aging one

So time to take off for Monterey. We have always done the coast so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Thai's love to shop and love a bargain so I found Gilroy Ca. Known as the garlic capital but also home to California's biggest outlet mall.  Not much of a shopper myself but the stop really made the wife happy..Store Directory for Gilroy Premium Outlets® - A Shopping Center In Gilroy, CA - A Simon Property

Then down to Monterey for one night.





You drive through the coastal valley. Home to artichokes and garlic.





The wharf/pier in Monterey, cool that its summer and it stays light so long. About 830pm here.



Damn good meal. Steamers and mussels in a rich tomato garlic broth, along with a seafood medley that had fresh halibut and Dungenesss
crab.



Pismo beach, such an active beach.

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## aging one

Santa Barbara.  These photos are of my daughter Kayleigh who pulled off graduating from UCSB in 3 years. Yes she does have an internship to do quarter one, but a great job at university by her.

1 day old born at Chula hospital in 97.



At 3.5 years she fell in love with Tie Dye, worn this dress with various t-shirts for almost a year.



Only 3 years and a month ago she graduated from the Harrow School here in BKK



Leaving for graduation. She has a wonderful little house on a hill in Santa Barbara.



With her mom at a reception thrown by her faculty, everybody got drunk on red wine. I guess they did not know she and her sister are not old enough to drink.



The family still during the ceremony but she came to say Hi!!



On the beach just a 10 minute walk from graduation green.



Her best friend Fern who flew in from London for 3 days for the big event.



Family at graduation dinner. Her mom has finally accepted her boyfriend Josh.



The graduate.





Cool T-shirt the gray blob in the middle is actually every graduates name in the class of 2018 from UCSB



Santa Barbara beach and town to come.    Well done Lee Lee!!! :Smile:

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## cyrille

Great thread, ao!

 :goldcup:

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## Topper

Friggin cool.....

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## fishlocker

Good for you all AO, congratulations. Nice to read something positive every now and then. 

Thanks for the pics and stories.

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## katie23

Congratulations to your daughters, AO, and to the proud parents too. As has been said, thanks for the pix & stories. More please.  :Smile:

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## tomcat

...probably the best TD thread in years: congratulations to Vanessa and to you, ao, for the pictorial!...

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## bsnub

> probably the best TD thread in years


Excellent indeed! AO you are very lucky to have such a nice family. I am out of greens.  :Smile:

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## aging one

> ..probably the best TD thread in years: congratulations to Vanessa and to you, ao, for the pictorial!...


Sincerely TC thanks.   K walked this year but has a quarter more to do an internship. V came down from Berkeley for the ceremony and informed us she would finish course work in Dec, but wait to walk until May 18 next year. This way she can walk with all her friends.   Both thinking about $$$$ and trying to give their folks a hand.

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## reinvented

you must be delighted and very proud. congrats to you all

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## aging one

One thing genetic Kayleigh inherited from me was a love of the sea and oceans of any sort. So the decision to go to Santa Barbara was easy. She is an avid surfer and loves to scuba dive.  

UCSB is not actually in Santa Barbara but about 12 kilometers north in Goleta Ca.  Its on the tip of a promontory and sits basically on its own as you can see.

 

We had one day before the graduation and one day after to explore the area.  It was easy as its sort of like small town life. No traffic jams and the pace of life is slow. Less than 100,000 people including the students and the town of Goleta.

So much of the life revolves around the water.





Not a well know beach as its for walking your dog... Hendry's beach.



The Boathouse restaurant where we had graduation dinner.  





The pier 





Luncheon spot 

Just off State St. is the Presidio of Santa Barbara, not a mission but a control spot for the Spanish long ago.



Then you have mission Santa Barbara.





There was a rose garden as well. This was the only day of the trip it was not clear, but the smell of the roses was fantastic.



Downtown Santa Barbara, and the venue for the graduation





Now we will head back north. Up to Lake Tahoe Ca. Down through the central valley where it was to hot up to Mt Shasta. From there to Crater Lake. On to Ashland Oregon and the Rogue River, ending up cutting through the coastal range to Crescent City and down through the Redwoods back to the SFO bay area for a last weekend with the kids.

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## hick

2 cuter than cute Luk Kruengs have grown into beautiful, sophisticated young women headed for fortune & happiness.  

As if they had a choice.   :Razz: 

Congratulations.   :Smile:

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## tomcat

...^nicely put, hick...

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## cyrille

Yes, let's overlook the punctuation.

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## hick

> Yes, let's overlook the punctuation.


 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 
 :Smile:

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## TizMe

Congratulations AO and family.


Great thread and pics, thanks!

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## aging one

Fire season has really kicked off on the west coast. Here is the fire danger at Tahoe on June 14.  Now there are many big fires burning in Ca. and Or.  

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/...e-13056342.php

tps://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/20-structures-destroyed-by-wildfire-Santa-Barbara-13056816.php?utm_source=sfgate&utm_medium=article&  utm_campaign=breakingnow

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/artic...s-13051137.php

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## bsnub

Gonna be another bad fire season for the entire west coast I am afraid.

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## katie23

Hi AO, I tried to send you a  PM, but your inbox is full. I'll try again in a few hrs.  :Smile:

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## hallelujah

Cracking pics, AO.

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## katie23

Hi all, does anyone know AO's email or Line addy? Or whatsapp, Skype, phone no? If yes, pls PM it to me. Would like to contact him & his inbox here is full. Thanks!

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## aging one

I cleared my pm box Katie...

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## laymond

great job Ao,you have a good solid family there,with lots of love for each other as well.happy days to you all (green on the way)

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