Poolside at the Country Inn Motel

We have flown from Ottawa to San Francisco today, and I'm writing this on a chaise longue by a swimming pool in Palo Alto under a clear sky. It was pink a moment ago but the darkness is arriving and the stars are beginning to show. The kidney shaped turquoise pool is lit from below the water level. All around it a garden seats with cushions, patio tables, parasols and raised flowerbeds with roses and hibiscus blooming. The water temperature felt just right for my evening swim. Chris came down from our bedroom floor here at the Country Inn Motel on El Camino Real, to sit with me.

The incoming plane at Toronto was late, so we were delayed by about an hour, but our seats at the front of the plane were comfortable. We flew past the western end of Lake Ontario, north of Lake Erie, cut the corner of Lake Huron and thence over the mid west to the Rockies near Denver, huge towering cumulus on the horizon there. After the attentive flight attendant had served us a pleasant meal (we could choose from a menu) on real plates with real cutlery and wine in a real glass, I watched some of a feature film about Japanese businessmen hoping not to lose face in front of one another. Then I slept a bit. After my sleep we were out over the Utah desert; I think I saw the Grand Canyon or something like it. We have taken this route before. The snowy Sierra Nevada and some more desert and salt pans follow, then the coastal mountains and hills, bare, pale brown and scrubby.

We had gained half an hour en route but lost it again waiting for our gate to come free. Planes sat at their gates from all over the world: Portugal, Sweden, Australia, Turkey. Another longish wait for the luggage to arrive at the carousel, but a little Chinese boy ran over to play with Chris, reaching to touch his hairy arm out of fascination. Then we caught an airport train --- the one after the train they threw us off because an unclaimed piece of luggage sat in it, surely an innocent mistake, but "for your security..." they said --- to the car rental area. The AVIS agent granted us an upgrade and we ventured out into the concrete junctions, getting lost immediately, but managed to turn round and find the correct way onto the freeway, the 101 South. It was a 25 mile drive to Palo Alto, exiting at San Antonio Road.

We walked down the Camino Real to a Vietnamese restaurant for supper.