California to Perth--

We arrived in California at midnight on the 30th. As frequent travelocity users we got a discount on a convertible, so drove to our hotel in San Rafael in style. (Sorry Todd...I'm sure there are expedia discounts....) We sunk into a glorious California King, watched 10 minutes of cable TV, and fell HARD asleep.

July 31
As a little luxury we slept late the next day, before putting the top down to cruise up to Santa Rosa to spend the afternoon with Nathan's grandparents, Bill & Ethel. Bill asked a question about Australian geography, and we enjoyed flipping through the big Australian coffee table book to say, "We've been there, we've been there, we've got to there" We had to leave soon, so with big hugs, Bill & Ethel watched us drive our rented Mustang convertible into the sunset.

We drove a couple of hours North to Fort Bragg to see Nathan's Dad, Mike & his sweetie Terry. As its winter in Perth, the sunny drive was wonderful--except for the part where my nose and Nathan's forehead got terribly sunburned. We arrived in time for a tour of Terry's garden and sculptures, before Mike whisked us off to a fantastic seafood dinner. We kept trying to talk Mike into coming to Australia to drive truck for the mines, where drivers earn about twice as much as Nathan and I. We talked as late into the night as we could manage (Mike had to be at work at 5:45 am--late for him!).

Aug 1
We hopped up at 5:30am for a sleepy hug goodbye to Mike. We awoke again at 11:00am, time for a sleepy hug goodbye to Terry. After leisurely showers, and repacking for the international flight, we started to make our way to San Franscisco for the flight home. We stopped in Mendicino for a look around at the coastline and shops. After lunch on the veranda overlooking the ocean, and the purchase of Nathan's ritual "holiday shirt" (he buys one every vacation--with the number of tropical/hawaiian/fijian shirts that make the cut,, he must get his style from Mike!), we head down Highway 1 toward San Francisco.

We stop along the way for photos of the coastline, cows on the road, a group of seals sunning on the beach. Nathan tempts me into the grass along the road for a better view of the coast. On the way back to the car, I realise he is trying to increase my sympathy for his persistent poison oak problem by exposing my bare legs to a thicket of poison oak. Nathan's poison oak is improving with steriods, but he's still itchy everywhere. After confronting him about his evil plan, he agrees to take me to the nearest bathroom so I can scour this vile substance from my legs.

The rest of the drive my legs feel itchy, and I'm careful not to touch them to spread the poison oak anywhere else. When we get to the airport, I go to the bathroom for another scrub. Where I realise my legs itched because they were still caked in restroom soap from the last scrubbing.

We board our United flight at 10:30 pm, right on time. After qantas' delays on our way to the US, and some recent dramatic plane malfunctions, we were feeling pretty good about changing companies. Until we realise that United doesn't have the 4 essential things we have come to rely on in an international flight. 1) individual TV controls with movies on demand (1 screen at the front of the plane for 300 people) 2) an assortment of dietary requirement meals to accomodate a variety of vegetarians (he usually gets indianfood--which is vegie and tasty) 3) the little qantas snack bag that lets you eat fruit, choc, chips, every hour or so to keep from going stircrazy. 4) qantas service...which is very used to dealing with tired travellers after 14-20 hour flights.

15 hours later we arrived in Sydney, then hopped (5 hours) to Perth, then caught a cab home by 4:30 pm--August 3rd. We've spent 20 hours in the air, but lost a day to the international date line. Knowing jet lag will be difficult, we struggle to stay away until 8 pm, because I have to be on the right time schedule to get up for work the next day. 12 hours later back to life as usual.

The last 2 days of visiting in California was way too short, but it gave us a little more time with Nathan's family, and a little "unwind" time before heading back. Next year, we'll plan enough time for a more relaxed visit....I hope.