Last days of birthday trip home..

Lunch from the 18th... Because I thought it might make you hungry!

Followed by the packet of French toast you can buy in the states.. thick sweet and so yummy!

Smothered with syrup of course!

Walking to the reservoir crossing with a discarded trainer! Looked a bit random!

They are presently refilling the reservoir could take some time!!

Had a bit of a Stephen King moment.. passed a lady and then passed her again.. which would have been impossible given the size of the reservoir, and time to take walking around it!!

Very odd! She looked at me and acknowledged me with a nod the first time, and then the second did the same!!

Freaked me out!! Lol

The last even we ate out.. felt good, but sad too..

The last morning my brother drove us upstate to my niece's ... We met at Molly Browns.. 

I had one pancake and five rashers of bacon, with syrup and coffee... Coffee's plural!

One pancake was more than sufficient!

Wow!

Then.. after visiting their home, it was back on the road, heading downstate.. collected my bag and off to LAX.

Good flight home, extremely tiring, ten and half hour flight to Gatwick, four hour stopover, luckily with international onwards travel I didn't need to collect my bag and skipped through directly to the departures again...

Managed not to fall asleep anywhere.. kept eating and drinking plenty of water, took my meds.. and boarded again for Malága and home.

When it came to collecting my bag was a bit confusing as no one had said my bag wouldn't come through the normal channels.. and when I stood almost alone and no more cases coming through.. I spoke to a couple next to me also waiting.. He asked and we went through to the international flight arrivals baggage section.. and lo and behold my case was there! Lol They too had arrived from LAX.

But I wish I'd known...

Thankfully I didn't need to drive home, and by the time we got home I'd been up about 30 hours!? Something like that, I woke up at 5am on Saturday morning and got to bed at about 23:30 Sunday evening.. nine hours time difference and two flights..

I had an amazing time with my family, didn't want it to end, but also so happy to come home...

My family east coast missed me not stopping over.. next time...

TTFN
Marian

July 18th

Well there had to be a first time for a pedicure! And it had to be in California! Look at those toes of mine! Lol.. I have never seen them look so good!

Yes I still chose bright red.. No change there since I was 13 years old! Always been red! Except one evening when Sarah and I went to Watford and I painted them green! Awful night! Still have a scar to prove it!

On my hand! From a lit cigarette end that stuck to it while we were dancing!

Given a thin pair of flipflops to leave with I t they had dried sufficiently!

Neat eh! Lol My last pair came free with Cosmopolitan mag have only just given up! They lasted about twenty years! Don't think these will do so well!

Also at the same time the chairs were massage chairs! Could have any number of different massages.. from shiatsu to ... Whatever! Can only remember that one type, but I started fiddling with it and was getting a massage I hadn't prepared for! So switched it off! Hurt my neck!

After Lori and I had finished in the happy feat place! We went for lunch somewhere we'd been earlier in the week, beautiful salad filled with fruit, the freshest bread and amazing chilled tea...

TTFN
Marian

My Birthday!

Bet you're wondering what happened to me! Sorry! Been otherwise occupied!

So! My birthday! Looks like the last post registered as July 17th, guess it was already here, but not for me.. Need to update the date!

On my birthday my sister-in-law and I collected her mom and we went to downtown Disney.

Just the shops and restaurants, lots of Disney around, and right next to you park.

We shopped and walked and ate lunch. I cheekily told the waiter it was my birthday, and he brought out a big dessert cake with three spoons after we'd finished our main course! Even had a lit candle in the middle of it!

I bought a couple of things, only! In a store, came to about $38+ and on leaving the car park the ticket read $49 to pay, the guy asked of we'd purchased anything, I gave him my receipt and he took that value off plus a little more, I think it came down to $7 to pay, not $49... Wow! Thank goodness I bought something! Lols

Beautiful pagoda... So beautiful, near the Disney hotel, large lawns.. of fake grass and no seats!

The Lego shop was outstanding.. from the outside with George and the dragon...

And the islands had Disney designs.. you had to walk around them until they made sense.. different parts of each character positioned just so... And therefore like a live animation...

Everything was pretty expensive.. of course.. but a great place to spend quality time in, and we did have quality time..

Such a lovely day with Lori and her mom...

Oh, and the second cake shown at the start?
At the Italian restaurant in the evening.. The Olive Garden Italian Restaurant.

The brought me out a mini Tiramisu, with candle, and sang to me!

Was a wonderful evening, my brother his wife, her family who have adopted me into theirs...

Thank you.. truly.

TTFN
Marian

Cali roads...

A local reservoir... A nice walk around, quite a few walkers, and a few cyclists, plenty of dogs too!

It's been such a long time since I actually walked anywhere! Every single muscle in my legs and adjoining are aching, real bad! Even those muscles at the front of my shins!!! Crazy eh!?!

That photograph above could be the view from the terrace! The mountain bit I mean...

The information at the reservoir, I, not intentionally! followed a woman onto the entrance to the area, I turned right at the gate, she went left, we past eachother on the route around and she left just before me, but I stopped a few times to take photographs, and stopped for a drink!

This photograph I took yesterday on my way down to the local shops, climbing back up to here was challenging! Lol... For eight weeks on placement, the furthest I walked was around the supermarket! Nothing up or downhill! I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest climbing back up here!!

Last Saturday we went to Palm Springs, what an amazingly fabulous evening! Met up with a cousin I hadn't seen in far too many years... And I had one too many Screaming Zombies!

Popped into a casino on the way home too!

Cali - my first road...

I am here, I arrived okay, tired, but okay. I did a Blog draft on my Kindle on the flight over but haven't even checked it out!

As I write now, I am tired! I woke up at 4:30am! I don't think it's jet lag now, just my normal head being busy and too much thinking crapola!

Because yesterday although I woke initially at 3am I slept through to 6:30 and got up feeling more refreshed than I had in what felt like years!!

So? Yes I arrived into LAX, my brother and his wife came and picked me up... It was a drive-by dash and grab for me and took a couple of drive-by's to find me! Whilst waiting I people watched... So many men with bouquets of flowers! Small, large, impossibly grand (looked like a window display!!), to the potted variety! And some guys had teddy bears!! So sweet...

Once back to their house I got a second wind as 'they' call it and managed to stay up and awake for quite awhile, but when I did go to bed I had been up for 25 hours! Blah!!!

That was Monday... A good flight, a couple of short naps on board, but with a new born and a toddler in front, not a quiet one! Even LAX was a breeze, caught it just right, passport control, baggage and final check...

Leaving Gatwick my only conversation at the gate was in Spanish, a guy returning to LA, but he originally came from Torremolinos! And then at LAX my first conversation was in Spanish! A couple of guys traveling with all their gear, a heavy metal rock band!! And waiting outside the doors for my brother... A Spanish couple asked me, in Spanish where the taxi rank was!!

Why does anyone teach any other language than Spanish! It's just not necessary!

Okay! Tuesday? Bro worked, and we, went to a burger place and Target for shopping... Wednesday? We had a fright-fest on TV day, just chilling... Metaphorically, it's been in the high 90's here!! Yesterday, Thursday, my very first Thanksgiving here in the states since I was a baby! Crazy eh! And we went to my sister-in-laws mom's, only a ten minute drive, was lovely to be invited... A great family... I was a bit nervous beforehand..  so many new people, but of course everyone made me feel at home, and I did...

Today we're having lunch with my brother's brother!