20th February

Rayls drove me to the airport, not often that we are apart for this length of time but I am sure she will be brave and manage without me!!

Check in and security process was a breeze.

Each Qantas plane is named after an Australian city/town, my flight tonight is the Margaret River - that's annoying.

We left right on time, 11:35pm and myvflight tracker shows we flew over the top of the house next door to my house. The flight was smooth and uneventful.

21st February

The flight landed in Melbourne on time - bit over 4 hours in Melbourne. Went through the immigration process and then into the Qantas Lounge where I managed to kill the time, I'm OK at killing time.

QF93 was the flight, an A380 to Los Angeles. The boarding process is abysmal - only the security people seem to know what is going on and they seem too aloof to tell anybody. There was an announcement, too low in volume to hear and we all just barged forward and onto the plane we went - no particular order.

The flight was fine, left a half hour late and very long but I did say I was good at killing time. The on screen entertainment is a bit disappointing these days. It's more for young people or people who like zombies and weird comedy that I just don't get - bring back the Three Stooges I say. I ended up watching two Melissa McCarthy movies. One was a serious one Can You Ever Forgive Me and the other had Muppets in it but was not family friendly.

The flight seemed to go further north than normal and we landed in Los Angeles about 20 minutes late.  Immigration was OK but the suitcase took ages. Scott was waiting for me, it was nice to be met.  Although it was early we tried for the hotel I am staying in for two nights and it looked good for a bit but sadly the answer was no. So we went to Scott's in-laws place where I met Shannon's grand parents who are visiting from Waco, Texas. Maria and Charlie were there as well as the famous Harley.

Around noon Scott took me back to the hotel and I managed to check in, have a shower and change clothes - phew.

A nap, a wander over the road to the South Bay Pavilion and then a very pleasant dinner at Chilis with Scott and Shannon ended a very long day.

22nd February

Scott picked me up around noon and we headed to Anaheim to an outlet mall where he wanted to go to the Bose shop to get some adapters for the headphones.

Then onto Foothill Ranch and the Oakley glasses head office where he asked about his sunnies. Very pleasant drive, taking the scenic route where we visited a Fry's Electrical before a couple of rounds of mini golf at Camelot Golfland.

Back to the hotel for a rest and then dinner at Olive Garden. Scott and Shannon love this place but I was feeling bit blah so ate very little.

Nice day.

23rd February

Scott picked me up at 6:00am and took me the 10 minute drive to Long Beach Airport.

My Southwest flight ran as scheduled and we were in the air for 43 minutes as we headed to Las Vegas.

This time my suitcase was on the carousel and I headed straight out to the Rental Shuttle Bus. The rental process was very easy and I chose a BMW over the Mustang Convertible.

Once I figured out the car I headed out onto I15 and north. I couldn't get the Bluetooth to work so the first part of the trip was in silence. The media thingie was showing my iPhone but just didn't seem to read it.  After an hour I played around with it some more and managed to fix it. Turning the volume up makes a big difference!

A quick stop in Mesquite and then on into Arizona for 40K or so before heading into Utah at St George. 45 minutes further north to Cedar City where I was greeted by Amy and Steve.  It was very nice to be back - as always I was made to feel very welcome.  We chatted for a bit before heading out to a very late lunch/early dinner at Golden Corral, a new edition to CC's long list of restaurants. Very busy but very nice.

Back to the house, we watched a movie called The Old Man & the Gun with Robert Redford. I was wiped out and went to bed at 6:30pm. In my defence I did lose an hour of my life today as I headed east.

24th February

Steve, Amy and I headed up to the Cedar Breaks turnoff on Highway 42 near the Zion National Park Outlook.

There has been massive recent snow and wow the scenery is just magnificent. We walked along a path with snow piled up on each side. Saw snowboarders and skiers - it seems you need to be fit to ski!

We were at just under 10,000 feet. Much higher than any point in Australia.

Back to Cedar City for lunch at Culvers. Back to the house for a relaxing afternoon and Applebees for dinner.

25th February

 

I was unsure if I was going to stay in CC or head towards Vegas today. The decision was easy - I love it here both the people, the house and the city. So I stayed another day and has a very pleasant day relaxing. 

Thanks Amy and Steve.