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// Fullerton is pretty cool, actually
Zemu's summer adventures continues. (IDK if I'll write a blog post for every trip I go on, but I'll try!) On Thursday July 9, 2026, I went to Fullerton, CA. I was there to visit a friend but also to explore the city for the first time. A special thanks to the Metrolink OC line — it might not be the most scenic route, but it's certainly an important one for commuters.
Coming with me on this trip is my lovely wife Snow Miku ❄️🩵 She's my first nendoroid! I got her recently from Anime Expo (didn't go this year but had someone proxy buy for me lol) and I'm sooo excited to bring her on trips with me and take photos. A big reason why I got her was because this design is perfect for oshikatsu. The desert theme is made for food photos and I really like all the different expressions the face plates come with. She's perfect and I love her.
// Fullerton Downtown
The trip to Fullerton was uneventful (as it should be let's normalize train rides). The first thing I did was to walk around the downtown area. TBH I had semi-low expectations because Reddit posts of people asking about what to do in Fullerton were not promising. It's also a mostly residential city and is not really known for much other than the Cal State. Happy to report that the downtown was pretty nice. I give it a B.
90% of the downtown was bars and restaurants. Not much to do besides that, which would've earned the place a C if not for two cool shops: an bookstore and an antique store. I have a love-hate relationship with antique stores because I like spending a long time looking through everything, but I never find anything that speaks to me! I really want to buy something as a souvenir, but so far I haven't found anything I actually want to buy... I feel like I'm just not the target audience. Still cool to look around though. This time I found some cool space stuff: NASA truck and STS-33 mission patch.
// Lunch Time
After walking around downtown for a bit and making a brief visit to the Fullerton airport I got lunch at Noodle St. I already forgot what I got (signature beef something) but the soup was reallyyyy good. They make their noodles in-house which is pretty cool.
// Cal State Fullerton Arboretum
I love arboretums so much!!! Cal State Fullerton Arboretum was soooo good; A-tier arboretum!! There were lots of tall trees so lots of shaded areas. Even for a hot summer day the shaded areas were cool and comfortable. I got to see some of my favorite trees: California redwood, ginkgo, and some bald cypresses that were actually by the water! Oh yeah there's a stream running down the center of the arboretum. Tons of ponds with turtles and tadpoles. It's so calming to just side in the shade and take in the surroundings. Nature is healing.
A WTF moment was seeing uh, this weird looking thing. Aristolochia gigantea, commonly known as the Brazilian Dutchman's pipe. There was a whole wall of them. From afar I thought they were eggplants.
I guess on the topic of odd things I saw, there was some parent who let their kid swim in the stream. Just why.
// Troy High School
After the arboretum we visited the legendary Troy High School. If you're not from SoCal, you probably have no idea why this school is so infamous. It's an extremely competitive public high school and is high-ranking in just about anything. I think you can imagine what the school culture is like. My friend went there for high school so I got a guided tour. I know Troy from how cracked their Science Olympiad team is — they've won 13 out of 29 national tournaments and has always finished 1st place in the SoCal states tournament. It's gotten to a point that at the states awards ceremony barely anyone is clapping for them, including their own team. No one's excited about it anymore it's just expected. I honestly kinda feel bad for their SciOly team; I can't imagine how much pressure they face every season.
Don't tell anyone this but I """acquired""" a souvenir. Was walking past a dumpster and saw a bunch of 2025 yearbooks thrown in it. I may or may not have swiped one and am now in possession of a Troy High School 2025 Yearbook.
// Cal State Fullerton
I had such a blast wandering Cal State Fullerton I didn't think it'd be this fun. I might make it a tradition to go to the local college/university when I visit new places now. This campus is such a vibe, but I'm sure that's partly because I don't have any negative memories associated with it haha (aka being in a lecture hall and suffering).
The art campus was so whimsical! Look at this giant ice cream statue!! Since it's summer there's barely anyone on campus. The peace and quiet added made it extra scenic. I like the architecture style they got going on; very modern and bright.
I went into random buildings because you can just Do That. Open campus and all that. Shout out to the random unplugged microwave sitting on a chair in the corner. Gave me a good laugh.
Overall I give this trip a rating of 4/5 stars. It's a shame that I got to Cal State Fullerton too late to go into their library. Since I went on a Thursday, the Fullerton train museum wasn't open — rest assure that I will be returning o7
Originally this post was only gonna be about Fullerton, but I didn't finish it by the time that I went to Long Beach on Sunday, 07/13/2026. I didn't feel like Long Beach warranted its own post, so here it is.
// Another Chance at Long Beach
This is my second time going to Long Beach. Last time I was there all I did was to walk down The Promenade and eat at this waffle place called "& Waffles". I didn't have a lot of time to look around before I had to go. This time around, I got to see the city a bit more. I specifically wanted to see the light house, but of course, as my luck would have it, there was a ren faire going on and they blocked the whole area! Here's a photo of the lighthouse from afar. My bad for not doing prior research, didn't even cross my mind that something like this could happen. The event is Pirate Invasion Long Beach; saw some people with cool costumes walking around :> Got to see the Queen Mary by the docks too. She has quite a commanding presence.
My overall experience was mixed because while I did enjoy the scenery, I didn't enjoy the atmosphere. I know I don't dislike beaches and oceans — in fact, I find the ocean to be quite calming when I am passing by it on a train — but walking from the Shoreline Village to Alamitos Beach made me realize that I am not much of a beach person. (Well, part of it comes from not being able to experience the beach in proper beach attire due to dysphoria, but that's a topic for another time.) It's not the natural landscape itself; I don't take California's beaches for granted I think they're very lovely. It's the people. I love a calm, quiet beach, but not when it's bustling with people. I think I need to be in a very specific mood to be able to handle it. It's weird because crowds are generally not a problem for me. I go to malls and conventions just fine. I think it's the specific vibes of a popular tourist destination.
It's hard to describe what I was feeling. Just didn't feel like I fit in I suppose. Maybe it was too loud? Come to think about it, I think I do prefer quieter places like museums or arboretums haha. I got a similar feeling, though less prominent, when I went to a zoo during a pretty busy weekend. I think seeing families with kids makes me nervous: kids are loud, a family of 4+ people takes up a lot of space, and they generally make their presence known. You could say I was, ah, slightly overwhelmed. I suppose today I just wasn't feeling the best to begin with :P
Next Sunday I'm going to San Clemente (+ Oceanside) so I'm excited to give the beach another shot! I think by then I'll definitely be in the right headspace to enjoy it; just gotta mentally prepare myself. My next trip is actually gonna be to San Bernardino/Redlands, so expect to see a blog post on that next :D