A Reunion

We'd planned to go back into San Francisco for the morning, but with the smoke overshadowing everything and being satisfied with what we'd seen yesterday, we decided to just hang around the hotel until checkout at 12pm. Instead we used that time to book our next trip - Sri Lanka and India in January/February 2019! Watch this space.

So we checked out, drove up into San Fran and then across the Bay Bridge to Oakland. First stop was a random Trader Joe's supermarket where we had lunch (cheap wraps and salads), then back to the car heading a bit further to east to Walnut Creek.

Walnut Creek is where my cousin Ian lives with his girlfriend Tracey. I was really excited to see them both, as I'd never met Tracey and it had been nearly two years since I'd seen Ian. And coincidentally, his mum/my aunt was also in town after a trip to Mexico, so we had a nice little family reunion! Ian seems very settled in his life in California, working in the tech field while Tracey does something in the finance industry in San Fran.

We had a great afternoon relaxing and catching up, then wandered over to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner. Tasty food though with enormous American portions - none of us could finish! Wandered off to bed very full and satisfied.Read more