Steph and I had a decent week in California. The flight was pretty terrible for me. I was taking a different set of flights compared to Steph due to my extra stop through Atlanta on the way back. Steph had a whole row, while I was stuck in a middle seat on each leg with a full flight. We got to the hotel and met her parents there. They were so nice and brought some magic chili tofu, mango pudding, and other delicious foods for us.

We tried to work from the hotel at the start of the week, but the internet was terrible and the jet lag was bad as well. We spent too much time in the dark room, and I ended up taking some naps, so I didn’t transition as quickly as I could have.

Tuesday I had a great time playing pickleball with Tina, Amit, Chris, Rachel, Michael, and Michelle. We traded of games and mixed it up. Most of them hadn’t played since I was there last, but everyone seemed to have a great time of it. It is interesting, the thought that everyone might enjoy something and want to do it, but it doesn’t happen due to a lack of impetus.

I helped Russell and Elaine set up their new TV with the Smart TV functionality.

Wednesday evening we played games at George’s, with some silly UK quiz game cards that didn’t really translate well to a quiz game. We ordered food in because we wanted to spend more time at George’s together. We didn’t realize it when we bought the crackers, but they had some gunpowder in them, so we were surprised that we got them on the plane.

On Friday, we did the Robotopia Room Escape with Paul and Yutong. It was really well done and a much longer room escape at two hours. We managed to do it without asking for any clues, so I was quite happy with that result.

Saturday, we met up with Ricardo and Irene in Napa. It was good to see the two of them. Irene is pregnant again, and they’ll be taking some time off in Greece next summer. We may be able to join them in Greece for some time, depending on if the timings work out with our other trips.

Sunday morning, we did a hike with Michael and Michelle through Edgewood Nature Preserve. Then we met up with Jeff, Patty, and Elizabeth for dinner at Osteria, near where we used to live on G Street.

Diana was so nice in taking care of the kitties while we were away.

What would be London Weekly 150