Round the World part 7 - US!

Whew! and Boo Hoo! Deanna and I have to leave Down Under now and head back for the States. But the good news is, we get to visit relatives! First, after flying across the International Dateline, making Monday two days long, and not being able to sleep while sitting up in the airplane, we made it to San Diego. Aunt Alice was waiting for us at the airport. It's been years! She let us stay in her apartment. Cousin Wendy arranged her nursing schedule to spend two days with us, too.

Deanna and I were determined to beat jet lag by staying up all day. We went for a walk on the beach. We succeeded! But then we slept for 13 hours. Tuesday we felt a lot better. We wandered through Balboa Park. It is full of beautiful old buildings filled with museums.

We had to see The Old Globe theater for our theater major - Deanna. It wasn't open, though.

Japanese friendship garden - koi pond with huge koi

The cherries were just starting to bloom!

We're in springtime now that we're back in the Northern Hemisphere. The weather was cool and breezy, but don't you love it when things are just starting to bloom? There was a fantastic tree in Balboa Park. A Ficus Macrophylla with a span of the canopy of 145 feet, or about 48 meters.

Moreton Bay Fig, native of Australia

The sculpture garden

That evening, we feasted on potato pancakes! I loved those when Grandma made them for us as kids, and Deanna likes them, too. Ed never liked them too much, so I didn't cook them that often. After dinner, we had fun playing a card game called Shanghai. 

Paragliders at Torrey Pines

Wednesday, we all relaxed on a bench, well away from doing it ourselves, watching people leap off a cliff at Torrey Pines. Have you seen "The Intouchables" movie? That has a great scene where the quadriplegic guy does this and makes his terrified assistant do it, too. Wednesday night, we had a good dinner at IHOP. I didn't know they cooked good dinners! It was wonderful to see Alice and Wendy after so many years.

They were having lots of bad weather back east - specifically at my next stop, New Jersey. Deanna headed back to San Francisco, and I was sad to say goodbye. My flight was delayed due to weather, but the flight was smooth as silk. Nice hugs with Neal at baggage claim! It was his last day at his job at Sussex County. He's moving to near Burlington, Vermont. He's enthusiastic about the move up to one of his favorite towns and ski areas. His dogs Furgus and Carson will have room to romp, with a couple of labrador retrievers.

Furgus, Neal and Carson in Jersey City

That's the new World Trade Center going up to the right.

We had fun in the kitchen. Neal fried tempura the first evening, and the second, we took his 2006 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook to the fish market. It is such a different book than my edition from 1968! (BHG timeline) We decided on salmon wrapped in filo dough with dill-mustard sauce. While looking for dill, we found rutabaga. Neal had never had it, so I mashed it for us. Great dinner!

Neal reserved a table at a jazz club in West Village in New York City. Renee Roseness led a quartet through a very tight and professional show. Neal and his friend Evan enjoyed it so much that they agreed to stay for the second set. They told me about big storm Sandy last year, when everyone who was evacuated stayed with Neal. His half of the block was the only place with electricity. He had stocked up on necessities, so they all played Wii and invited over their relatives. Crazy weather!

The end of the Round the World tour. I was gone for 22 days. Here's the loot.

Chest x-rays, Bob Downe program, Koala pic, Glowworm cave picture book, Aussie fridge magnets and coasters, PowerHouse museum things, calendar, kiwi, koala and sheep keychains under American candies, mardi gras jewelry, boomerang and Bilbo Baggins' door magnets, duck quacker, Sydney Opera House info, New Zealand yarn, and postcards. Plus good memories!