Rain, rain, why won't it rain in Australia?

I wish it rained in Australia more. We've been praying about it at church for awhile. The mission I go on goes to a town that is unbelievably dry and I've never seen the town dam more than 24% full.

Why does it rain so much in Vancouver and Seattle and so little in Australia? Only God knows.

Vancouver was fun - sort of - it rained a lot and meant that I couldn't get many good photographs and didn't see much. I wish I had more time there in order to get to Whistler but I didn't get the chance, Dad had friends and relatives to see. I managed to buy a lot of CD's at Sikora's Classical Records (lots of Strauss, Mozart and Dvorak - no Mahler!!!) at pretty cheap prices (30% off).

Vancouver's a very picturesque city with a great location and a laid back atmosphere. It also has the worst traffic this side of Los Angeles and the peak hour traffic is appalling at best and gridlocked at worst. The 2 major bridges, Lions' Gate and Second Narrows, north of Vancouver have 3 lanes and 6 lanes respectively. Considering the 3 lane bridge is the closest one to downtown, it creates unbelievable chaos - even worse is the fact that the speed limit in the city is 50km/h!!! Over the bridge, it's 60. SLOW.......

Dad got to drive but I couldn't because Seattle in Washington state does not let people under the age of 25 drive. Eh well, it was the same car that I hired in Boston - so a big, wallowing, gas-guzzling V8 Mercury Grand Marquis. At least it had comfy seats.

Washington state is really beautiful - the fir trees that line Interstate 5 are pretty. Mountains pop in and out of view of the trees and of the clouds, they were snow-capped and cloud-covered.

Flew back to San Francisco on the 23rd - took the cable car, went to Fisherman's Wharf, went up Twin Peaks blah blah - all the tourist stuff is great, but it's been good seeing my cousin and her husband my first cousins once removed, as well as my aunt and uncle. Dad has met a friend he hasn't seen for 35 years and they drove us around the place.

I'm stuffed after a steamboat Christmas dinner, so I'm going to sign off. I haven't had turkey, ham or anything like for Christmas hehe - we had yum cha for lunch!