I haven't had much time in the past days to write here... we have been busy all the time. But I'll try now to update you about what's been going on for the past week.

Tuesday, Sept 2 and Wednesday, Sept 3: Time to pack all our things.... And we could actually close our suitcases even if it wasn't easy! Bonnie took us out for breakfast, to a really nice place where they had good French toasts. Then she drove us to the airport and it was time to say goodbye. We had plenty of time before our flight, which was good since it took some time with all the x-rays etc. We really didn't want to go home so it was quite sad to be there at the airport.
The flight was really good though, took only 10 hours to go back to Frankfurt, compared to 11 ½ hour when we came to the U.S. one month ago. I slept most of the time, which was surprising since I never sleep on airplanes! The flight from Frankfurt to Stockholm went well too, and for some reason it felt like the flight home went a lot faster than the flight out to San Francisco. We had too many bags, so we took a taxi from the central station to my place, and now I'm trying to unpack everything and go through my mail. Will probably fall asleep soon, because I'm really tired! The last week was so busy so we never really had enough time to sleep. We are very happy with our vacation though, and it couldn't have been better! We have met so many wonderful people and done so many fun and interesting things!

Monday, Sept 1: We had to get up early to drive up to Los Angeles to return our car. We arrived to the airport at 9.30 and returned our car, which was sad since we really liked it. Then Bonnie came and picked us up and we went home to her and Jeremy's place. They have a very funny bird that talks a lot and entertained us! :) After relaxing for a couple of hours Bonnie took us out for some sightseeing and we went to Huntington Beach, and also looked around in Long Beach where they live. It was really nice to see this side of L.A. compared to downtown and Hollywood.
When Jeremy got off work we all went to a nice restaurant for lunch, and I had some good pasta. After that we drove to Disneyland and spent a couple of hours at Downtown Disney where we did some shopping (Pooh of course) and just enjoyed looking around. On our way home we stopped at Diary Queen and got one huge ice-cream each!



Sunday, Aug 31: Today we tried to see as much as possible of San Diego. First we drove to La Jolla and looked at the beach and hoped to see some sealions but they were not where they usually are. Then we spent a couple of hours walking around in Seaport village where we also had lunch. Then we walked through Gaslamp Quarter to Horton Plaza where we did some more shopping. After that we drove to Fashion Valley to make one last visit to Old Navy. It was a good decision because they had a Labour day sale so we did some good bargains. After all the shopping we were quite hungry so we went to Old Town and Bazaar del Mundo where we had a very nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

Saturday, Aug 30: Today we had to leave Phoenix, which was sad since we liked both the city and Joan. We drove towards Palm Desert and arrived there at 1 pm and found our way to Russ and Julia's condo. We spent the afternoon and evening with them and it was very nice to finally get to meet Russ. They had a nice pool where we swimmed for an hour or so, and then we went to Hometown Buffet for dinner, and after that they drove us through Palm Desert and Palm Springs so we got to see what it looks like. It was really beautiful. After that we had to say good-bye and head for San Diego where we arrived to our hotel, Travelodge, in Hotel Circle at 11 pm.



Friday, Aug 29: Today we went to Eggseptional for breakfast and after that on a sightseeing tour with Joan to find some cactus to take pictures of. We were out for about five hours and saw many cactus and also got to see Scottsdale. When we came home we spent one hour in the pool, which felt nice since it was 107 degrees! Later we went to Target and to the Post office and then home to Gene and Charlie to see their place before they took us out to dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant.

Thursday, Aug 28: We slept longer than usual, and when we finally woke up Joan gave us breakfast before we went out in the car with her as ou tourguide. First of all we drove to Fiesta mall and went to Disney Store. We also looked in downtown Phoenix and then went to Cracker Barell for lunch. After lunch we went to Chandler Mall, a really big shopping mall.
In the evening we had dinner at Red Lobster, together with Gene and Charlie, two of Joan's friends. It was really nice!

Wednesday, Aug 27: We woke up already at 6 am since we had a long drive ahead of us again. We left the hotel at 7 (but would have liked to stay longer) and drove towards Grand Canyon. First we passed by Hoover Dam which was interesting to see and take some pictures of. We passed by many other beautiful places on our way to Grand Canyon, before we finally reached this fantastic place. We really loved Grand Canyon and stopped at so many places there to take photos and just admire the view.

Next, we started driving towards Phoenix and our destination Mesa. We arrived at Joan's house at 9 pm and went straight to the pool where we swimmed for a while before we had dinner.



Tuesday, Aug 26: Vi began the day with breakfast in one of the restaurants in the hotel. Then we went out on "The Strip" and tried to see as many hotels and casinos as possible in one day. We went to Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Paris, Caesars, Treasure Island, The Venetian, Hard Rock Casino and some other ones that I don't' remember now. In the evening we had dinner at Rainforest Cafe, at MGM Grand and I had a really good crab sandwich. After dinner we spent a couple more hours in the casino in our hotel before we went to bed late at night again.

Monday, Aug 25: The day started with George's pancakes, and then he took me and Janne to Modesto, where we picked up our rental car. We got a Pontiac Grand Am, just the one we wanted to have. We immidiately began our trip towards Las Vegas, which took about nine hours with some short stops. For example we stopped in Primm and looked in some outlet-stores.

We arrived to Las Vegas about 7 pm and checked in to our hotel, New York New York which was very nice and very big. We got a room at the 16th floor with a nice view. The casino looked like many different parts of New York and was really beautiful and the nicest of the hotels and casinos that we visited.

Later in the evening we went to Caesars where we had dinner at Planet Hollywood. After that we looked around in all the different stores they had there and walked back to our hotel. On the way back we went in to Bellagio which is also a very nice and luxurious hotel. When we came back to our hotel we gambled a little and went to sleep around 4 in the morning!