Lured by the smell of the Pacific

Hi everyone,
Well, here we are back on the west coast again and only a jump across the pacific to get home.  A home we hear has been shaking again - hope everyone is safe.  We drove from Elk Grove (near Sacramento) today and as we cruised down the freeway, i realised the difference 6 weeks makes of traveling.  Am much calmer now on the freeway, though Americans do need to slow down and indicate better, everything is about time here and they race everywhere.  The lushness we had in Yosemite and the productive lands of Ripon (Calif) have given away completely to the dry grasslands with little growing.  Oleanders line the freeway and i  have fallen in love with the crepe myrtle trees that lined the streets of Elk Grove.  So pretty.
We even drove passed quite a bit of scorched land that had been recently hit by the fires, even the wind farms that dot the landscape weren't protected from the rampant fires.  A few of them were completely melted or at least scorched.
The hotels and motels near the airport surely do have you hooked, as we found their prices quite considerably higher than elsewhere we've stayed.  However, we've booked ourselves into a Comfort Inn for 2 nights and hope to at least get a late check out so we can be fresh before we board our flight home.  12 hours flying, 2 movies and 2 meals and a short snooze and hey presto we'll be home.
This afternoon we spent a bit of time at one of SF's big malls The Tanforan Mall - with 2 department stores attached, plus other big stores and a huge food hall.  
Tomorrow we go into SF city and do a bit of touring around.


One last post to go.
Thank you for joining us on our journey, it's been lovely to know you're here.

Jane and Neil