27 March: Monday. After a relaxing morning, we said one more "see you next time" and headed to the Auckland Airport. Rain threatened all day but didn't start until we arrived at the rental car return when the sky opened up. Someone at the return suggested it was New Zealand weeping at our departure! Check in and security were easy, and we settled into the Emperor Lounge to wait for our flight. We have easily become accustomed to these comfy lounges with great amenities.

27 March: Monday, again! We arrived in Los Angeles before we left NZ...gaining back the day we lost on the way over in December. We had a slightly turbulent but otherwise uneventful flight from Auckland to Los Angeles. Once again, I slept for several hours and Buzz watched lots of movies. We were through passport control, luggage and customs and at the South West terminal in less than an hour! There was a slight pause at Passport control because Buzz"s curly hair and bushy beard don't match his passport photo! In the end they let us through. We took a short flight to Sacramento to spend a couple of days with Lanie and Jay Keystone. Lanie met us at the airport. As we drove to their home in Vacaville, she pointed out all the wetlands that have filled with water after the recent rains and the heavy snowcap in the mountains have eased the years long drought. We had a quiet evening. Buzz and I managed to stay awake through dinner but not long after.

28 March: Tuesday. On this warm sunny day, Lanie and Jay took us for a drive to Sonoma. What a lovely place. We walked around the town center, browsed the shops, visited the Soldiers Barracks, had lunch, and walked through the park. It was an entirely satisfactory day. In the evening we went to Fuso, an Italian restaurant, for a very good meal.

29 March: Wednesday. We packed our bags for the final time of this trip. Back to the Sacramento airport. The flight to Chicago was crowded, bumpy, and the landing was a little wild, but I loved looking out at the snow covered Rocky Mountains on the way. An hour later we were on our flight to Manchester. Heather and Kevin had left our car at the airport for us. In our absence, Robyn's boyfriend, Bob, had cleaned Buzz's car...we hardly recognized it! Thanks, Bob.

30 March: Thursday. We were home by 1:15am. It was very good to sleep in our own bed. This morning we unpacked, sorted, and put some stuff away. Noah came over, and we are all very pleased to be together. Tonight we joined our friends at Milano's for our "usual" preminyan meal. We are glad to be home...even though it is going to snow tomorrow!

Some Statistics: Days away from Home: 109
Kilometers driven: 8888 Miles Driven: 5523
Number of different places we stayed: 19
Number of friends we saw: 52