I was not a happy chappy! It was with incredible sadness that we said goodbye to Paul, Sue, Grace and Brandon in Florida. We had 3 wonderful weeks in Florida, but it wasn't enough! Lots of time in Naples, a few days in 'the keys' (which took us to the most Southern Point of the US) and 5 days in Orlando area going to Disney, Islands of Adventure (which included 'the wizarding world of Harry Potter'), Disney Water Park and the Kennedy Space Centre on the coast. Orlando theme parks were incredible and were 'must sees' but I still wanted more time to hang out with family. There were more things in Naples alone that I wanted to do...
Most of all it was great just to be around family, and as the plane left Florida soil, the unknown of when we will see them again brought much sadness. Thank you Paul, Sue, Grace and Brandon for having us to stay and welcoming us into your home. We love you all so much.
San Francisco here we come!!! We had a layover in Atlanta -the worlds busiest airport apparently- it certainly looked huge - and we never left the transit area! On arrival in San Fran, we sighted our first hills in 3 weeks. Florida is extremely flat and the only hill we experienced there was the slight elevation of a bridge! So, a huge change of scenery and a sharp jolt in temperature change. At last we have a need for all those clothes that we have carted around for the last 3 weeks! I will miss that warm weather - and I am sure I will miss it even more once we are back to Queenstown's winter! We had 2 hotels booked in San Fran , the first one close to the airport, so that we didn't need to drive far with 3 tired children on arrival. Glad we only had 1 night there as it was a bit shabby (and scabby!) but it suited our needs location wise. The next hotel was much nicer - Sheraton Four Points - had the most comfortable pillows I have experienced anywhere...ever! I managed to pick up some bug and had a fever for a day, so was grateful for a little comfort. In saying that, I dosed myself up with flu medicine and we all headed out to bike over the Golden Gate Bridge. Now that was an amazing experience! Really windy on the bridge. Reeeeeeeeeeeally windy! San Fran certainly gave us a dose of reality weather wise - after 3 weeks in tropical Florida weather, we were now freezing! That wind really whips into the bay. Also went to Alcatraz, which was facinating. Drove down the world's most crooked street, rode the cable cars and went to Chinatown. Loved every minute of it. So much to do, and not enough days to do it. Would love to come back some day....a touristy city but there is something special about it. Last time I was in San Francisco was 25 years ago, so it brought back some fun memories for me.
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