Back home again

It's Monday morning and we've now had 4 nights back in our own bed. Jet-lag does funny things to you. You get very used to the West Coast time zone after 6 weeks over there and it always takes a bit of adjustment when we return - and it's no different this time.

Generally we're waking at 2/3/4 am in the morning and struggling to get back to sleep after that, but, on Saturday we both managed it and it was nearly 11 am when we finally arose. It was a more conventional night last night, so I'm planning to head out on a bike ride soon.

Ross and Lizzie came over yesterday afternoon, which was nice. Gary and Luca had planned to be there too but Gary had to cancel after his long morning training run - he was shattered after it. He needs to get some miles under his belt before the Fort William marathon in 2 weeks' time.

My last blog post was a week ago - just before we headed down to Crystal Cove.  Jo and I had taken a short walk up to the viewpoint and the pagoda there:

This was the view from that point:

When we got down to Crystal Cove, everyone bar the injured Scott entered the water - even Jo, finally. The waves were fun:

Jo and I walked back to our villa from there, stopping for a quick beer at La Vista pool bar:

It was another early start on Tuesday morning for the drive back north to San Francisco - we had to be there in good time for the Alcatraz trip Lucy had booked. As it happened, we were there in plenty of time - in fact, too early to check in at our hotel, but we parked the car and walked down to Fisherman's Wharf and had lunch - Clam Chowder all round - after which we strolled along to Pier 39. I spotted a photo opportunity with Alcatraz in the background. Scott took this one - didn't notice the bird above Lucy's head until later:

Alcatraz was great. It had been 16 or 17 years since we had last done it and, if anything, it was better this time. Highly recommended.

We had dinner and Irish Coffees at Buena Vista - a favourite local spot apparently.

On Wednesday morning, it was time to do the cable car thing. We strolled down through Ghirardelli Square:

The cable car turntable was interesting - as was the view when we climbed to the top of one of the hills:

We had lunch in Chinatown and then headed back to our hotel to pick up the car and head to the airport, where we said our farewells - Jo and I headed to the BA lounge and the Lesinas drove back to Grants Pass. Both journeys went fairly well, although Scott had to detour a bit due to an accident on the road.

I always take an end of holiday photo outside Delsie Drive, but this year it had to be taken a little earlier - before we headed down to California:

I'm now planning to catch up with my golf again after a longish break. I played at Banchory yesterday and tonight, it's our annual trip to Balmoral.

To close, did you know the Moon Landing was 47 years ago today - or was it? It was also due to be Kelly and Chris' wedding this week at Drumtochty Castle - that would have been nice, but I'm sure they did the right thing by postponing this. Another time, another place.