A start

We returned last night from California.  I'm sitting in Pittsburgh recovering trying to figure out how I can spend the remaining years of my life without ever flying on an airplane again.  Mind you, it was a great trip, as the pictures will attest to.  But seriously, I must have been mad.  And I never want to do it again.  At one point I though I might even go without my mother.  You can laugh out loud at this point, which is the rightful thing to do.  Ha.  Hahahahaha.  Except that now I am crying at the mere thought of the endless hours in the plane and in the car and in the hotel.  Makili was a total trooper, but I might never recover.  Here are some pics of the fun side of the trip (I did actually go to do some work stuff there).  I can't post them all at once, so I'm starting with our time with our friend Kathy, who lived in Pittsburgh when I was a kid, but as you can see is clearly a Californian at heart.  She started our trip off at high pace, but in total beauty - picnic on San Francisco Bay, a lovely dinner with her family, a hike up Mt. Tamalpais, then another down the Tennessee Valley Trail the next day.  From the pictures it is hard to believe that we spent scarcely more than 24 hours with her.  Whew.