Californication

The flight back to the states was quick and uneventful.  We did think it was a little weird that they served us a meal at 1:15 am but we ate it.  I also got to see a great movie called "Date Night" with Tina Fey and Steve Carrel (sp?).  Other thing of note is that Continental only gives you one checked bag on international flights (Delta gives you two).

We arrived in around 10am and after immediately taking a drink on the nearest water fountain and visiting the nearest clean bathroom, we headed into the city.  We met up with our good friend Lance Johnson and had lunch on a beautiful San Francisco summer day.  Then we decided to take a "quick walk" around the city, walking off our delicious lunch.  The only problem is that it was so nice outside and we were having such a great time with Lance that it turned into a 2 hour walk causing my brother Luke to start getting worried about whether our flight arrived or whether we were on it.

We then stayed with Luke and headed down to Carmel to go to our good friend Anne's wedding.  Anne is one of our longest friends from Notre Dame, and Suzanne and Matt are Archie friends and Matt lived in Omaha (definite plus for Suzanne).  The funny thing is that Anne also knew both of us us but separately.  We each belonged to a separate world in Anne's life.  I knew her from her dorm friends and Suzanne knew her from architecture.  Anne was the first person I asked about Suzanne after I asked Suzanne up on our first date.  I knew that Suzanne was an architect and since I knew Anne so well, I asked what she thought about Suzanne and she paused and said, "Suzanne... is one of the nicest people I know".  I knew then that if Anne would say that about someone, then she had to be pretty special.  :)  So anyway, we had a great time at the wedding.  The ceremony and reception were all very beautiful and very fun.  We hope Matt and Anne who are currently on their honeymoon enjoy their new life together and we are so happy for them.

Now we're back in Berkeley hanging out with my two brothers which is really great.  We took our time coming back and really enjoyed the amazing California coastline, including the famous Pebble Beach golf course and 17-mile drive.  Our next plan is to head to Omaha for a bit before we get to Chicago for the next wedding we came back for, Suzanne's good high school friend Nicole.

Couple of observations:  1)  Putting toilet paper into toilets is just as awesome as we expected.  2) ditto for drinking water.  3)  Free water at restaurants, also awesome is helping me justify tipping more than 10%.

~Mike