The Long Trip Home

 The short version of the long trip home is that approximately 43 1/2 hours after we left Dave and Shirley's we arrived in Little Rock.

Here's the longer version:

We got to the Dunedin airport and got checked-in.  We were very happy to be able to check our luggage all the way to Little Rock.  That used to not always be the case.  After a couple hours we boarded our flight to Auckland. 

In Auckland, we had a five hour lay-over.  We ate lunch, checked our email, and came up with things to keep LilliAnn busy.  For example, there was a wall with flight trivia a little ways from where we were sitting.  We'd send LilliAnn over to read some piece of trivia then report back.  Then we'd send her back to look at something else.  Mom also took her to an observation deck to watch flights come in and out.  About the most exciting thing that happened was that Dad's carry-on was apparently too heavy.  Never mind that it was lighter than the carry-on limit in the US and was fine for the flight to Auckland.  Luckily he just had to move stuff into our other bags.  Luckily they didn't suspect my backpack, I guess because it was a backpack, even though it was almost as heavy as his.

We then boarded the flight to San Francisco.  It was an 11 hour flight.  I think I may have slept 2 or 3 hours of it.  Ah well... so I was exhausted when we hit San Fran.  We then had a 12 hour layover.  After we cleaned up some, we found a desk where Dad could work and watch all our carry on luggage.  Then Mom, LilliAnn and I headed into the city.  As long as we were sitting on the Subway we had trouble staying awake. 

Once we got into town, we ate.  Then took a trolley car... isn't that what you are supposed to do in San Fran?

Here's one

LilliAnn rode standing up.

We rode the car all the way to Fisherman's Wharf.  From there we could see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Mom and LilliAnn at Fisherman's Wharf

A good family photo with a famous prison

 As we walked along the the tourist part of the  longest of the piers, we looked at a map trying to figure out if we could see the Golden Gate Bridge.  There was an opening between buildings.  We decided to see if we could get to the other side.  It fell into the category of things I don't suggest doing at night or alone.  There wasn't really anyone around.  But you could tell this was the part of the wharf where the fisherman name comes from.  The smell of fish was definitely in the air.  We got a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge and saw lots of traps the fishemen had used.

Golden Gate Bridge

Trap

On the same pier was a museum with a lot of old arcade games.  It was pretty cool.  Mom told LilliAnn she could pick one.  She picked one that had almost no electronic parts.  It was just two boxers.  You had to hit the other player in the mouth while charging forward.  This was much harder that it seemed.  After awhile we nearly gave up.  I tried to hold my boxer in position so that LilliAnn could maybe knock it out.  She managed to knock out her own guy.

LilliAnn concentrating

My victorious boxer

 The weather was pretty perfect.  It was bright, sunny, and in the 70's.  A cool wind was blowing off the bay.  We sat outside for awhile in a park soaking in the nice weather.  We then took a cable car to the Ferry terminal where we could see the Bay Bridge.  Then I especially was exhausted, so we headed back to the airport.

Bay Bridge

We then hung out at the airport for 5ish more hours, then boarded the plane for our second overnight flight, this time to Charlotte, NC.  I only slept an hour or so of this flight.  Partly because we had some excitement on the flight.  There was a medical emergency.  I'm still not sure what it was.  I thought for sure that we'd have to have an emergency landing, but we didn't.  We got to Charlotte for our last 3 hour layover, then finally boarded our last flight home.

Heather, Cassie, and Sophie were there to greet us.  We all got our luggage, so that was exciting.  When we got back to Mom and Dad's, I broke one of my overcome jet lag rules and took a couple hour nap.  It didn't make a difference, I still slept 11 hours Wednesday night.  Then I slept 10 hours last night.  I think I've almost made up for not really sleeping for a couple of nights.

I head for Costa Rica in 9 days... I'm clearly crazy.