California trip log, June 17

Off on another adventure! First of all, let me assure all of you who are following my exploits that I have culled all my Colorado photographs, rejected those of inferior or boring type, and have cropped and lit the rest to what I think might be rather good quality. I will post the photographs of that trip as well as this one after I get back to Dallas on June 28 and before I leave for the Holy Land / UK adventure on July 7. This morning I got up at 4:00 a.m. and the shuttle picked me up at about 5:30, then picked up a second passenger in the Galleria area before going on to the airport. Since I had had no breakfast at home, and after leaving security (I was, by the way, patted down because of the metallic filaments in my sweater!) I went to Starbucks and had some oatmeal and a tea before setting off on my next adventure. My first flight was a United hop from DFW to Denver. We were not able to leave right away because of thunderstorm buildup and massive lightning and thunder. Finally, after about 30 minutes of driving rain and thunder / lightning display, we rolled out onto the tarmac and became airborne. We arrived in Denver a little late, but my departure for San Francisco was 1 1/2 hours hence, and I decided to have a cup of coffee at Pour la France, check my emails and call several people to let them know where and how I was. Called Alexandra and Ann, but was only able to talk to Ann, as Alexandra was not answering her phone. Ann was going up to the yurts to do a massive yurt cleaning, so was going to be occupied with that all day. Leaving Denver, we were airborne for another two hours, during which I napped a bit and read my Holy Land guidebook online. We landed at about 1:00 p.m., and I had some trouble retrieving my piece of luggage, as it had arrived on a different flight two hours previously. I was so glad to be reunited with it. Maureen met me at the curb outside and whisked us away to Anderson's Bakery in San Mateo. I had a chicken salad and Maureen had a Cobb salad with chicken. Then we came home and I put my things away. Later on we had dinner--Maureen had prepared blackened chicken and a fabulous quinoa and sautéed zucchini, as well as watermelon for dessert. Subsequently, we sorted through Maureen's books and packed them in different boxes for selling, keeping, giving away, and storing. As Maureen is moving to another condo close to her son Randy and his family, this kind of purge is necessary, and we got a lot done. We discussed plans for Lake Tahoe, where we are going on Wednesday. But now I am off to bed, as I am quite tired and ready to hit the hay! Gute Nacht!