Around the world in 15 days

We visited the US mid-May and went from Michigan to Indiana to northern California and back to Michigan before returning to Finland. We saw most everyone and had some quality time with the girls in the redwood forests and Blue Lake, where we caught an excellent show of the graduating MA students in Claire's program.

And I finally met Nolan - the newest member of the family. He's a happy and healthy California boy, and quite good too. California provided beautiful weather and vistas and delicious food too, and I got to visit my old neighborhood Noe Valley, in San Francisco, our last night there. It's still a charming part of town, though more high end than the late 70s when I called it home. Here's a picture of Trinidad, up north on the "Lost Coast" past Arcata. Everywhere we looked in California was like looking at a postcard. It was a crazy chaotic trip but we managed all the travel with no major glitches. Hopefully, as we just have a year to go over here, we won't need to cover quite so many miles and time zones (3) in one visit again. I do prefer vacations you don't need to recover from, actually!