The trip up to San Francisco was easy the next day but after arriving at the airport we found it very confusing and busy. Definately a lesson there in arriving much earlier.

San Diego was an interesting place and much larger than we had thought it would be. The contrast in areas was interesting and it has huge gullys everywhere. They say that for every mile out you go the temp rises 1%. As we were there for the Heart of the Samuri leadership course we didnt get to see a lot for the week but hired a car for the monday and toured around. Had lunch in old town with Debbie and Tracey which was nice, eating Mexican and drinking Marguaritas (at least Deb and Laz did!) and they were huge ones too.
Old town is old! but interesting. We did a bit of a night trip to the university section which is Spanish in style and very impressive. We would love to go back there and look around one day.
We headed up the coast, through La Jolla (more upmarket part of San Diego) and breakfasted/lunched at a gorgeous arty place on the way to LAX in Orange County on the coast. The houses were much more upmarket and the restaurants and shops worth checking out with an empty visa card I think! The dollar dropping was a big sick and surprised us a bit at the tellers machine (alot really!)

Cant say much about Heart as I don't want to spoil it for anyone but it is an amazing program. Touches the heart in many different ways and I highly recommend it as a great experience in working with your purpose in life.

LAX airport is huge and busy so a great man at the hire car place dropped us off at the Qantas part. The staff there were so friendly, heaps more so than at San Francisco, jovial and joking around with us.

We flew to Honolulu and arrived at 7pm then out to Kona (on the big Island of Hawai'i) at 8.30pm. It was great to catch up with Trish and Derek, Clint and Kent Doyle and see where they are living. They all looked so well and happily settled in to their new home. We did a bit of sightseeing and swimming with turtles and eating and lots of talking! It was fun and a good down time before heading home.

Upgrade again but no airbed this time. Much smaller plane. Definately the way to go on the long hauls as heaps more leg room and great to be able to lie down and raise our legs up. They give out really glam pj's too!

Time for a quick shower in Sydney airport before the last leg home on Sat night.

We had the best time, saw heaps, learnt heaps, made great friends, gained a bit of weight (only me. The thoroughabred reckons he lost some!) and travelled many miles on the wrong side of the road. It is always great to come home especially to see the garden flowering and the cat and dog still alive! (Jase did a good job there. One small tropical fish disappeared and two more were born! Amazing!)

For me, this trip was one of achieving some long time goals. Flying in a skybed, seeing Yosemite, going down into Mexico, riding on the cable cars in San Francisco and riding over the Golden Gate Bridge. Yosemite and Mexico were 2 dreams of mine since I was about 14 yrs old so it was a real buzz.

Where to next year? Rwanda for a mission trip and maybe more of the US. Who knows.

God bless you and thanks for reading our blog (even if most of it was late!) Love you x