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This will be my last post on this blog!  I have really enjoyed keeping up with this and hope you all enjoyed reading it.  One of the things that made it so much fun to do was having access to Alan's pictures!  Since we were sharing his laptop on the trip, I could include his photos as well as mine.  His are always better!

Our last day in Santa Monica was spent eating breakfast at IHOP, where I got another Senior Special!   This time was eggs, bacon and pancakes.  Then we drove down to Venice Beach. I had hoped to walk from Santa Monica the day before, but time just was not on our side.

Although it was early Sunday morning in Venice Beach, there were still loads of people out and about, skating, cycling, playing volleyball on the beach and so much more.  There was even a group of young women playing basketball.  With one of the players having her baby strapped onto her front!  This was exactly what I would have expected from Venice Beach and am so glad we drove by to see it.

And there was one more travelling obstacle course - British Airways is on strike again, and our domestic flight from London Heathrow to Glasgow was cancelled.  We had been aware of this for a few days, but at least we were grateful for the knowledge that we would at least get to the UK.  Within our last 24 hours, we were notified that an arrangement had been made with British Midlands to get us to Glasgow airport. 

All four of us have nothing but good to say about the way British Airways handled the problems with the strike and did not inconvenience us at all.

While we were waiting to check in at LAX, there was a young couple in front of us.  I happened to notice they had quite a collection of casts on their arms, legs, ankles and wrists.  So it had to be asked - what happened? 

They were from the Netherlands and had been in the US for 4 months.  I was quite envious of what they had done - bought a car in Florida, not any car but a Volkswagon Van!  Drove it 13,000 miles, from Florida to the State of Washington and down to California.  In LA, they were on the freeway and witnessed a car heading toward them driving erratically.  Eventually, they were hit head on by this car!   So they were quite lucky that their injuries were almost superficial, considering what could have been!  Unfortunately for them, the driver had no insurance and did not speak English.  So they lost their car and could not travel anymore due to injuries. 

The sad thing was they were going to sell the car in two weeks and go to Hawaii for another two weeks or so, before going back to the Netherlands.  My heart went out to them, but they have four months of memories and their injuries should heal fairly well. So they were very lucky.  I know their families will be so happy to have them back home!

We covered 2,590 miles in our Chrysler Town &  Country and have many, many good memories.

Wonder what we will do to follow this up!

            "Vacation used to be a luxury, however, in today's world, it has become a necessity."