I Love the Smell of Palm Trees in the Morning

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday to drive to the Dayton airport. If you recall, there was freezing rain that day. As a result, the plane was delayed on the tarmac (after boarding, of course). We were stuck on the tarmac for about 30 minutes while the de-icing trucks treated planes and runways. Then the de-icing truck broke down and had to be fixed. That was about 45 minutes more.

Here is a shot of the icy airplane window and the [now fixed] de-icing truck:

Something green on the wing

Finally the plane took off. Of course, our connecting flight in Minneapolis took off before we even left the ground in Dayton. So we had to find a new connection to our ultimate destination, San Jose.

The next connection was SIX hours later. Luckily we got one to a nearby airport, San Francisco, that was just 90 minutes later. So we walked through the Minneapolis airport which was apparently built by a mall developer. I have never seen so many shops & restaurants in an airport. I saw this store for the first time:

We sell, you buy

Fifteen hours after waking up to freezing rain, we landed in 65 degree weather in San Francisco. The SFO airport is HUGE. Here is the tram we took to the rental car site:

What are those things on the trees... leaves?

Then we got in our rented PT Cruiser and drove to San Ramon. Actually, before we did that I had to take the tram back to baggage claim and return Mr. Khan's bag which I inadvertently picked up because it looked exactly the same as mine. Luckily, he wasn't there to ask me why I picked up a bag that had his name on it in two places.

Anyway, we got on the road and crossed this very long bridge across the bay.

It's 3 times longer than what you see here

So eventually we made it and had a great time. At the hotel I saw a guy playing tennis outside... IN JANUARY.

The wedding was a blast and had some touching moments as well. I've been to a lot of weddings but I don't think I'll ever hear a toast better than the one given by the groom's brother. It was the toast of all toasts.

My family is crazy but they're a lot of fun. We live all over the country and I wish we could get together more often. We always say it but it never happens. I'm going to do something about that.