Tormenting the extremely jet-lagged

Mrs Notthat and The Boy came home from Germany yesterday. While in Germany they befriended two sisters from Arizona who were keen to see San Francisco. So Mrs invited them to stay with us and offered to put on her Travel Guide hat and show them around.

It's amazing how simple plans fail so easily.

As is my trademark, I got to the airport early. I parked in the garage (when parking garages charge by 20 minute increments you really don't want to be too early - unless you are me) and went up to the arrivals area. Cleverly they have a number of monitors set up so that you can see people escaping from customs a few seconds before they come through the doors. This allows people who are waiting for someone to not have to crowd around the door (which some people did anyway - the same people that push the elevator button 10 to 20 times, just to make sure).

An older British couple were standing behind me, and with almost every woman that appeared on the monitor, the husband would say "There she is!" and the wife would say "Are you kidding? That's not even close!" (The woman they were waiting for thankfully did show up, which seemed to surprise the wife a bit when the husband actually got it right.) There were at least four people that brought their dogs to greet the people they were waiting for. Idiot Dog Teddy would have had a blast, although security would have hustled me out of there within a minute or two.

So I waited and waited, watching a wide variety of people coming through the doors (many wearing face masks) and then I finally saw The Boy and Mrs Notthat.

I can't explain that face he is making - I probably caught him mid-yawn. Mrs was a site for sore eyes.

Mrs Notthat then spent a fair amount of time saying goodbye to some couple they met on the plane.

Finally we made it home. Everyone was very tired and wanted to just kick back and soak up some California rays. The guests, Ettezzil and Ahtnamas (not their real names - they are the two women in the center of the picture above) had tickets to fly out the next day at noon. A little bit of research brought bad news - changing the tickets for later in the week would cost $150 each (on top of their $15 bag fee and $10 armrest usage fee).

So they sighed, yawned, and decided that they would just have to leave the tickets as they were. It was only about 5 PM, so I asked if they would like to do a quick trip to the coast for dinner and at least a drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. They were thrilled by the chance, so we all piled into the car and headed over to the coast.

We ate dinner at a place a bit north of Half Moon Bay called Barbara's Fish Trap. The sun was rapidly setting so we continued up the coast.

It was amazingly fog free along the coast, but it was not warm. This picture at the Pacifica beach was to show the sunset, but the hazy skies smudged out the sun.

Along the drive, they all took turns falling asleep. I felt bad for them and kept offering to go home, but they wanted to keep going. We drove up to the overlook on the north side of the bridge, but by then it was completely dark (although still fog-free). We drove down Lombard Street and then wandered around for a bit trying to find a freeway to get out of San Francisco. We finally got home a bit before 11 PM. There was lots of snoring by the time I pulled in the driveway.

It's great to have Mrs Notthat and The Boy home. They had a great time, even if the weather was less than ideal, and it appears The Boy does not have my anti-travel gene. Which makes Mrs Notthat very happy.

Ettezzil and Ahtnamas are by now safely huddled in front of their air conditioner in Phoenix, a bit disappointed that they were unable to extend their trip but happy that they at least got to see a bit of the coast. And I think Mrs even managed to get them to try some fried calamari.

They'll be back. And who really needs an armrest anyway.

That's it - move along...