A shi#@y day, turned good

St Joseph Cathedral -

Me and the Golden Gate Bridge
The Fairmont Hotel

San Francisco City Hall - real gold on top

St Joseph Cathedral


The famous bridge

Me and my friend

Well here we are in another city and another state of USA. Yesterday we had to say final farewells to the "Johnson Inn" and it's lovely occupants. I admit to lots of sadness, but happiness at the same time. Sad at having to say good bye, but happy because of the new friends that we have made. Sonja, Eric, Emily, Colin and Haley, you all have a special part in our hearts now, and will always be considered our friends. We are very much looking forward to welcoming you to our family,home, community and NZ next year. Blue Springs, Missouri is a special place, and indeed is a hidden jewel in the Mid-west. The experiences, people, and places have been momentous and have left us with "once in a lifetime memories". It is very hard to find the right words to say and we can never even begin to express our gratitude for the warmth, hospitality, great food, new friendships, and fun that we have had. A simple thanks is not really enough. Todd, Aletha, Zach and Addy we love your brisket and hope to return the favour in NZ one day by cooking you pavlova and roast beef. Todd your chef skills are impressive! Amy and Bob thank you for sharing your precious time with us and the lovely meal, we look forward to returning the favour one day,and hearing of your adventures. Robin and Terry thankyou for sharing breakfast with us and taking us to your new building and the Limestone caves - the gift that you gave us will have pride of place in our home. To everyone else THANKYOU. There are many of you that we have not mentioned but haere rā, haere ra, haere ra. (farewell and thankyou to you all). Farewell Blue Springs, but watch out for it is not the last that you will see of the Mabons.

Yesterday we flew to San Jose via Denver, Colorado. Denver is in the middle of a desert and very very barren. The airport is a major hub; it is HUGE and LONG. It took us fifteen minutes to walk from our arrival gate to the departure gate - and that was using the speed walk thingies(travelators - horizontal escalators). There were even tornado shelters in the airport. I wouldn't like to live there.

San Jose is different to what I pictured. It is not in San Francisco Bay and is a city in it's own right. It is a very pretty city. The hotel that we are in is in the middle of the historic district. Last night when Richard and I went for a walk to explore we found another St Joseph's - but it was a cathedral. The architecture and inside of the church were eye opening. The church was opened in 1805. The city felt alive and vibrant at night. It was fun exploring on foot. There were street beggars present and earlier in the day we saw a brief scuffle not far from our hotel - not enough to make us feel unsafe, but enough to keep your eyes open. The hotel here is very luxurious - we are getting used to this standard of living and it will be a bit hard coming home to housework and cooking. Again we have a King size bed - I kinda like this size bed. I sense a new bed coming our way soon.

Today the conference started and I had the privilege of a tour of San Francisco while Richard attended workshops. That is where the #$%&* bit comes in. It turns out that there had been a breakdown in communication and I wasn't booked on any of the tours. The bus was going to go without me. Not if I helped it - I was not going to miss out on seeing the Golden Gate Bridge as I had been really looking forward to seeing this and Fisherman's Wharf. The tour operator took pity on me and let me go on the bus, and Richard sorted it out tonight. The tour itself was great and we got to see as much as you could in a day. The bridge was hidden in a bit of cloud and it was actually quite cold, however the cloud gave a new dimension to the bridge. We didn't get enough time at Fisherman's Wharf and I intend to brave the train system and take myself there again on Monday. I really want to see Alcatraz and the Maritime museum. Just after the Golden Gate Bridge - my camera broke - URGGH!!! (It has had a fair amount of work in the last two weeks). This added to my less than ideal mood. Its funny how when you really look forward to something and simple things like that put a bit of a dullness on the experience. That is why I want to go back there - to see more, and to be a little more positive. Today we met with some fellow Kiwis, Simon & Lesley Markham who had travelled from Christchurch. It was nice to talk and not feel conscious of our accent.

This evening we met up with Eric (Blue Springs), Todd (Blue Springs), Robert (Independence), and David Dillner (City Manager, Edgerton, Kansas) for some medicinal ales and some food. Richard and the boys have now disappeared to the Old Wagon Saloon, a local establishment, and I hope that they are being well behaved. Robert has not had a great day*, and made my day look great. I felt better after hearing his tales of woe. Cheer up Robert tomorrow will bring a better day. Anyway San Francisco is a lovely city and very much reminds me of Wellington. It is full of history and fantastic sights. San Jose is also interesting and attractive. There is yet more to be seen. Internet access is expensive here at the hotel so I am not sure when we will get the chance to update the blog, so until then take care. PS - I fixed the camera, with a little bit of Flossy brute strength!

Postscript #2 - from Richard. I'm back safe and sound from the Old Wagon Saloon. Flossy wasn't joking when she said Robert had a bad day. His son's soccer team lost two matches, his college football team lost (at home and to a much lower-ranked team), the Mavericks Hockey team lost in a shootout, Robert lost $2M in play money playing poker on his iphone, he spilt David's beer all over himself and got hit on by a gay guy in the bar at the Fairmont. My day at ICMA University was good with two excellent sessions. I probably got more out of the morning session than the afternoon one but they were fantastic value.