Off to the US

Fri 30th
Busy getting last minute things ready. Spent the night in Wollongong and got home at 10am with one hour to spare. We flew out at 1pm, Qantas QF73 to San Francisco. It was torture flying economy for 12 hours but the kids were in high spirits and never complained.
At SF Michele, Kath and the kids flew on to DC. Neil and I were staying overnight and going to San Diego for old friend Adrienne’s wedding.
I had a lot of pent up energy after the flight, and went for a two hour run up to La Honda. This is a steep ridge behind Burlingame where we were staying. I just followed my nose and stumbled upon a terrific trail which ran through the San Andreas fault. There was a dam at the bottom of the ridge called Crystal Lake, and a closed road which meandered along through the picturesque valley. Got back tired but happy and had a big serve of pasta followed by apple pie at the local diner.

Unknown to us the girls had missed their connecting flight in Dallas and had to get another flight to DC without their luggage.

Sat 31st
At 6am Neil and I were sitting in our plane to fly to LA when it was announced that the flight was cancelled because the pilot was sick! We then had to stand in a line for 2 hours while the airline sorted out the mess. We finally made it to LA at 1pm, but roads were choked to the San Diego. Eight lanes gridlocked. We made the ceremony with 5 minutes to spare.

It was a lovely service on a cliff top balcony overlooking the ocean. Afterwards we went to a very pleasant reception where we caught up with our old friends Cindy Taylor (and new husband Fred) and Helen Fricker and husband Glenn and Stephanie Wilson. All old mates from the UNSW Diving club.

Didn’t get to run today unfortunately.

Sun 1st April

Managed to drag myself out of bed at 6am and go for a run with Stephanie. There was a heavy fog so we weren’t sure where we were going some of the time. I ended up running about 15k at a gentle pace. Had to be careful not to trip over homeless guys in the fog.

We met up with Fred for a spectacular and memorable flight in a Cessna 172. We flew along the coast at 500 feet and then went west to the edge of the desert, then south down to the border and finally directly over the city centre. What made it such a good flight was that Fred is a long time hang glider pilot, and he flew us along the ridges that he uses for hang gliding. San Diego has a real mixture of landscapes including spectacular mountains and valleys, fertile plateaus and beaches just like NSW’s. But just 50 miles to the west it turns to desert. We flew over one ridge and then there was nothing, no trees or scrub, just bone dry dirt.

After the flight we headed down to a beachside suburb called OB1 which was very similar to Coogee. We sat down at a Mexican restaurant but I was completely unfamiliar with the dishes. It was very pleasant and what I was eventually served was beans and brown rice which I enjoyed.

Mon 2nd Apr
Hung out in the motel and took care of some work things. At 10am I had a productive meeting with Dick Wilkins the manufacturer of our Vibrocorer. Left at about 1pm and drove up towards LA. Stopped on the way to get some stationery and a mobile phone. I got a new mobile for just $18 and 250 hours of prepaid talk for just $50 including unlimited calls to Australia! The lady who served us was very helpful, because she said “You have sexy Australian accents, and you’re twins, Oh my lord!”

Flew out of LAX for DC on the “redeye” at 9.30pm.

Tue 3rd
Arrived DC at 5am (three hour time difference). Felt energized to be finally off the plane. Ran with Kath to Wahington monument and then ran by myself to Lincoln memorial, Arlington, along the Potomac, and back up to the Capitol building and finally to Mary’s house in 12th St. I put in a bit of effort. All up it was about 25k in two hours. DC is flat so running is fairly easy. Its also very popular. It was a beautiful day and the start of the Cherry Blossom festival so everybody was out on the streets.

The layout of Washington must have been an inspiration for Walter Burley Griffin when designing Canberra because the similarities are striking. DC is impressive architecturally but the number of people is daunting. And cops, every government department seems to have their own police force, they are everywhere. Fortunately they are friendly because they carry some big guns.

Later we all went for a tour of Arlington cemetery, and the Natural History museum. I started shutting down though and eventually crashed on one of the lawns. I had felt a sore throat coming on for a couple of days and over the course of the evening I felt worse and worse.

Wed 4th
Felt like crap so I have stayed in bed all day while the others do the tourist thing. It feels like a 24 hour “lurgy” I hope so.