SFO to JFK: Home Bound

After 5 days in California, Christine and I are home with a lot of fantastic memories. We took Virgin America from SFO to JFK, and Christine was amazed that they had individual touch screen monitors on the back of every seat. Of course, one could use these little personal media portals to access such humdrum entertainment options as watching television programs or movies on demand... but we opted to use its map feature, which tracked our plane's progress as it made its way across the United States, while providing up-to-the-minute flight details such as altitude, temperature, speed, and distance remaining. We also used the touch screen to order snacks: an "adult drink" for me, a Ghiradelli hot chocolate for Christine, and chocolate chip cookies for us to share.

As we sipped our drinks and munched on our cookies, we began brainstorming plans for our next adventure... Alaska anyone?

San Diego Day 2

The day started with a trip to the Reins stables to visit my mom's passion - horses. Reins is a therapeutic riding program, and my mom's second home. My mom had polio at the age of 5 and spent a year in the hospital. They said she'd never walk again, but she proved them wrong. Not only can she walk - but she is an incredible rider - training for the paralympics.

After a visit to the stables, Christine and I ventured on a 9 mile "hike". Fallbrook is known for beautiful trails, but we chose probably the only non-scenic walk in CA. It started out hopeful enough ... but then twisted and turned past freeways, an abandoned drive in movie theater and swamp-like marshes. Oh well...at least it ended at the ocean.

Start of 9 Mile Hike
Hopeful our walk will be somewhat scenic

Middle of 9 Mile Hike
Trail is dubbed "The Denny's of Hiking Trails" by Christine

End of 9 Mile Hike
Pacific Ocean

By the time we got to the end of the trail, we were too tired to do anything more than snap a picture of the beach. We then proceeded directly to "Pappy's Bait and Tackle Shop" for ice cream.

One thing that kept our spirits up on the trail was the thought of pie. Not just any pie, but the best pie I've ever had in the world - which was waiting for us at home.


So after we had pie and ice cream, we showered and changed for dinner with my sister in Claremont (now THAT's a vacation). My sister's in medical school, and this was the first time I got to see her new place and meet Lil - the cutest, littlest dog in the world:

My Sister's Dog Lil

After a tour of my sister's digs, we went to a gastropub, The Back Abbey , for dinner. It was delicious; the pommes frites were particularly tasty - twice fried in duck fat.

It was a short visit, but I miss my little sister very much, and it was great to see a little slice of her "new life" as a medical student. I'm very proud of her.

San Diego Day 1.5

After three days of serious sight-seeing in San Francisco, Christine and I decided that we'd relax our first night in San Diego with a movie - so we grabbed some snacks and an electric blanket, and plopped in a VHS tape (yup - they still exist) of my favorite movie of all time: Now Voyager (Bette Davis).

On a side note, Now Voyager is also my mother's favorite movie...we argue over who picked it as their "favorite" first. If you haven't seen it - you're missing out on a true Hollywood classic.

THE untold want, by life and land ne'er granted,

Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.

- Walt Whitman

San Diego Day 1

Ahhhhh ... My mom's house has everything a girl could ever want:

Sunshine and a pool ...

My dogs: Christine with "The Gretch" (above) and Bently (below) ...


Charley and his shinanigans ...





...but best of all, it has my beautiful and amazing mom -


serving up her homemade lasagna with love and a smile ;)

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