And now , the end is near …..🎶🎶

After nearly 9 weeks , multiple beds , thousands of miles driven, meals eaten, Gins drunk, beds slept in , showers negotiated, meeting lovely friends, seeing unbelievable scenery, taking hundreds of photos , walked kilometres……. It’s time for home.

But first we have a few more friends to visit.

We said goodbye to John & Lisa our ‘in laws’ who are so much fun to travel with and flew to LA.

It always amazes me that our beautiful fun friends Dan & Izzy Garr live about 10 mins from LA airport but when you get there it’s a quiet children friendly suburb. Westchester is great. Only 11 mins to the beach Dan swims at most days, 29 mins from Dan’s work called Hot Buttered Elves, a design place where he invents – products , toys and makes models for movies. It’s 15 mins from Izzy’s work at Mattel, where she is head of the design team for Barbie.

As you can tell they are creative. And their sons Max , 21 is studying Film at College and Luke 15 is at school.

Our first night with them Dan cooked up a storm for us. Beautiful home cooked chicken Cordon Bleu parcels. Their kitchen is a cook’s paradise.

The next day they both had work commitments so Steve and I had a very late start and headed off up to Paradise Cove – a favourite spot of Dans. It’s by the beach up past Malibu. We had a beach walk and an early lunch before heading back and stopping at Culver City shopping mall to check out an LA mall. Much the same as ours!

Izzy was waiting for us when we returned. She really wanted to take us to her workplace’s toy store. It’s full of toys all made by Mattel. She said ‘ you really have to take your little grandsons some toys’ . I wish I had prepared better. It’s like Aladdin’s cave and I couldn’t decide. I was limited by size as we still had a flight from San Diego to San Francisco. But I managed a bag of toys. Thanks Izzy. Big staff discount as well.

Back at their house Dan was preparing for dinner. He is a super cook !

They kindly invited our friend Betty (my wing woman in Galapagos and Turkey swim treks ) and her husband Craig.

What a fun night. Dan has a big open teppanyaki grill and did the fried rice. Then there was the bbq – fish , scallops, beef, chicken. Enough for an army.

We had the best night. Betty’s husband Craig has amazing stories of his time in the US airforce as a lawyer. As a cook he was …. But with Dans encouragement he was great.

Another wonderful night with friends. and a 🛌🛌🛌 bed rating. What comfort.

Saturday we headed down the 405 – the freeway south. It was super busy and fast so we got off and took the scenic road through the beaches.

There was an airshow at Huntington Beach. People everywhere.

We continued south to San Capistrano. It’s a mission established in the late 1700’s when the Mexican Catholics lived in this area.

We called in briefly to the outlet centre. Steve bought more than I did!

We arrived at our friends Ben & Sharon. We met Ben on our first ever swim trek but have caught up about 5 times since. He and Dan & Izzy are old friends. I’d never met his wife Sharon as she said swims are his thing! But we hit it off.

Their house in Del Mar just north of Dan Diego is beautiful. They are still doing renovations but they welcomed us and we had a 🛌🛌🛌 stay.

After a glass or two of Veuve 🥂we headed off to a jazz night. Their son Eric is in a group at his school and they were the opening act for a more established group. We had dinner there and a great night.

And a good sleep. Thankfully as our flight home is 11.50 tonight!

This morning Ben & Steve walked down the hill to the beach and Sharon & I slept in. around 9.30 we headed down for breakfast with son Eric. A great cafe.

We had a great walk around the area.

Before long it was time to leave. Many hugs later we headed off.

A little detour to La Jolla just a few kilometres south. This is where Rob & Jordan stayed for a few months after leaving NY during covid. Leo has run his toes through the sand here !

A beautiful piece of coast.

Finally…….. the airport. A flight to San Francisco where we are now drinking a glass of bubbles thinking how lucky we are to have enjoyed a long ….. long ….. trip and still be loving it all.

But I’m ready for home. For our sons, our daughter in laws , especially our grandsons, my friends, the pool.

See you all soon