Home! (and what happened in San Francisco)

Well, our drive from Vancouver to Seattle was pretty good - it rained a lot, the border crossing was busy (1 hour wait) but the scenery was good. Interstate 5 was really nice.

Took a detour off I-5 to Paine Field, home of Boeing's factory, the largest in the world. The place is really quite humongous but it's a plane nut's favourite place. Place was quiet on a Saturday before Christmas but I can imagine it being rather frantic during the week.

Dad then tried to find Microsoft (he's in IT after all...), we found it and to be honest, it's not that impressive. Looks like something you'd find at Macquarie Park. We flew back to San Francisco, no dramas, Alaska Airlines are quite good, albeit landed about 30 minutes late due to a late departure from Sea-Tac.

San Francisco - awesome city! Which is more beautiful, the Bay or Sydney Harbour? It's a tough one because the hills around the Bay make the view more accessible. The problematic thing is that the Bay is usually foggy, which obscures the tremendous view.

An aunt and her daughter live here - my cousin's kids thought 'he [that is me) speaks funny'. Does that sound like an Ameri-centric education to you?

We got taken everywhere, stuffed full of food (I had a sushi buffet on the last day before I left), shopped (I bought a whole heap of work clothes - 2 suits, 5+ shirts and ties - all cheaper than Oz), ate more food, went up Twin Peaks, ate more food, went shopping on Fisherman's Wharf (tourist trap!), ate more food, rode the cable car, ate more food.

It's like "you're young, so eat more!" Don't they get it? I'm overweight already and I'm not American and I'm 24, which isn't that young! Grr...

I really enjoyed my time there - was good to spend time with nice relatives who chauffeur-drove us around. We went on a day trip to Monterey and 17 Mile Drive - saw one of my favourite golf courses in the world, Pebble Beach - $USD450 a round, I'd do it next time. The fairways were so lush and so green *sigh*.

14 hour flights really bug me. They're painful, particularly when I can only fly economy class - the legroom is painful and I get numb. I'm glad I'm not taller (or fatter) - though I did get fatter in my month over there - there was a noticeable decrease in waistroom...

All in all, a great trip! But I'm still jet-lagged... someone called me a sleepy head this morning :(