Even though it is the 1st day of holidays woke up early to get everything done - washing, cleaning, tidying, packing, and take the girls to my parents. Kay, as expected, didn't settle in well. We went back to my parents on the way to the airport to check on them. She was doing better - more adventurous, venturing outside of the bedroom.

Drive to the airport was uneventful, though a bit congested after the Pacific Motorway joined the Gateway. No dramas checking in, we were so early we has to wait for check in to open.

Nothing interesting at airport shops - not into souvenirs or shopping. However I was checked for a random explosive material check after going through the metal detectors. What the woman did was roll a device over my clothes and take out the strip and put it through another machine to see if you have any residue on my clothes. This was done a couple of times to get all of my clothes.

Drama at last! Meant to depart at 6:20, with boarding from 6pm. Went to gate around 6 and waited, and waited, and waited. 6:20 arrived and finally word on what was happening - waiting for the flight crew to arrive. How rude! Apparently there was fog in NZ that caused flights to be delayed (the guy at customs in NZ the next morning said that a number of flights were delayed, some even cancelled). We started boarding around 7, took off around 7:20 - 1 hour late. Great start to the holiday.

Flying on an Airbus A320 is cramped - 1 aisle, and 3 seats/side. Agnes had the window seat, so I was the rose between two thorns (dunno about the guy in the aisle seat as he didn't say a word during the whole flight. But then again I'm not the talkative type to strangers). Plane was full and getting hand luggage away was difficult. Seems that the back of the plane (where we were) is where people like to store their luggage and duty free.

Read on the flight, dinner was lamb pie and pasta salad. Nice. Due to a tail wind, flight was 2.5 hours, not three. So got into Auckland Airport right on Midnight (kiwi time).

No dramas getting out, bags collected immediately, now to find where to get transport to the hotel. Booked a place called Oakwood Manor (Traditional English hospitality). 10 minutes later on the road to the hotel. It definitely looked English with the traditional Tudor exterior. Thick kiwi accents greeted us. Room was basic, double bed. Went to bed around 1am. Wake up call is for 6:30, as shuttle bus to airport is at 8.

-top-

Wake up call (dunno the time, assume 6:30), shower, then breakfast. Took a bit to get to sleep the night before, so a bit tired waking up.

Line up for checking in, no dramas. But they wanted us to pay an airport tax of $25, the nerve of the New Zealanders. We got an exemption, not because we are Aussies, but because we got in the night before and the flight we were about to take is a connecting flight. Look around shops while waiting for boarding. Shops before and after customs are exactly the same, just in a different order. Better product availability than Brisbane Airport (but still didn't’t buy anything).

Flying on a 767 this time - 2 aisles, 2, 3, 2 seats in a row of seating. Air New Zealand doesn't have the luxury of Malaysian Air with each seat having its own tv screen. Didn't bother with watching the in flight entertainment on either flight. Just read my bookie, wrote some of this diary, chatted with Agnes, and helped out on the design of this website.

First meal was beef ravioli, with the second being chicken on turkish bread. Drinks available during the flight. The aircon really dries out your nose and throat.

The sunset, a couple of hours before landing in Honolulu was amazing. Unfortunately no camera to take a shot. A section of red in the midst of black, with black shapes rising in areas - cloud mountains on a sea of clouds. We followed this for a bit before it finally petered out.

Most people on this flight are middle aged or older. Couple behind us said they were part of a group of middle aged men, going to Hawaii to play golf.

-top-

"try to expedite your entry into the United States" is what I think the guy on the Homeland Security video said. What a joke! After exiting the plane I think we waited nearly an hour to go through the hassle of getting our fingerprints and a mug shot taken. Only 3 people to clear about 200 people through this point. Then came customs and the metal detectors and then finally outside. Ride to the hotel is quick and easy. Checking into the hotel is not. Again a nice long wait to get our room. We are in building two, on the top floor, nearly at the end of the building. The room is a dump.  Small bathroom, where you have to close the door to get into the shower.

(Toilets in the States are filled with water. When I first saw this, I flushed the toilet to see if it was backed up or if this was normal. It's normal. Some toilets even flush for you as your get off the seat. There was one toilet that every five to ten seconds flushed for you automatically!)

No jugs of water, mini bar or anything else resembling hospitality/civilisation (but this is not the first time. The room in Auckland was similar, so it might be an airport hotel thing, shall have to wait and check out what the Outrigger and Crowne Plaza are like. After leaving the states I can safely say that we had cheap rooms, and with cheap rooms come no facilities. The rooms we stayed at in Indianapolis were definitely better). Two double beds in this room (again shall have to wait and see if this is the norm) so we chucked our bags on one bed and slept on the other.

-top-

Wake up before 6am the next morning was hilarious. You should have seen (or heard in my case) Agnes' reaction to the phone ringing for the wake up call (I am sitting here giggling like crazy just remembering it, so it was either really hilarious or the fatigue is really kicking in). No need to shower this morning as we did that last night to get clean and soak away some of the sore muscles. So just get into summer clothes (shorts, short sleeve shirt, and sandals) and then repack the bags to check in. Fun at the airport as our large bag (with the bag inside of it) was over the 50 lb limit. So take out the bag, and replace it with a carry on bag. Still over the limit, but barely so the attendant didn't mind.

Had breakfast in the airport as we didn't have time to have breakfast before leaving the hotel. We couldn't remember the exact time we had to be at the airport for the flight. So took the 7am shuttle to the airport. Breakfast choice was Burger King, chinese, or a restaurant I think was called Stinger Ray. We had bacon and scrambled eggs at the restaurant. Bacon in the States is not like bacon back home - you only get the strips, and they like to make it as crisp as possible - the exact opposite of how I like my bacon. Then we waited outside of the entry to the gate to soak up the manicured landscape of Honolulu domestic airport. Agnes wrote the start of her diary, while I was reading some of the brochures for the Big Island.

The flight to the Big Island was the first to leave on time. Yippee! The Brisbanites reading this will laugh at the next anecdote. As we were taxiing on the Honolulu runway, the pilot sped up the speed of the engines as he was taking the final corner before the long straight. Just like an Ipswich hoon! Only a short 30 min trip to our destination. It was also the first flight where you exited the plane onto the tarmac. Exit from both front and rear for quick exit. But then we had to wait for the luggage to come around. Again another first! Our luggage was virtually the first out. So a nice quick, clean getaway. Now to find where Alamo is for car rental. Unsure if it is just Hawaii, or all of the States, but at both Honolulu and Kona you take a "van" (unsure of any other word for the vehicle) to where you are going - in this case to the car rental.

Another wait in line, not too excessive and then we have our car. We prepaid fuel and paid for another day of car hire as we picked the car up at 10:30 am and wish to return it around 2/3pm on the 8th.

They call this a compact! 8-O A Chevy Impala that is about half again as large as our 323 at home. Power everything (even a sunroof!) It is an auto, but uses a column shift to move between gears. And instead of a hand brake they have a foot brake. So thankfully only one other stick to indicate and use the windscreen wipers.

Big Island coastline around Kona is barren. Not as in nothing to see, but rock and dirt for the main part, with what I think is Spinifex for grass. There is a large mountain all on its lonesome to our left. Haven't had any dramas yet driving on the right hand side of the road (writing this on a bar deck beside the ocean at the Outrigger Resort), except for driving into the entrance when I nearly went back to the left hand side of the road. But saw the other car and quickly got into the right lane.

We checked in, but can't enter the room until after 3pm (we found out that Indianapolis is not until 4pm), so we are sitting back and relaxing waiting for our room to be ready. Had some lunch. Agnes is trying to sleep but is not real comfy on two lounge chairs end to end. Weather is nice and warm/cool. Not too warm, but not cold either. It is hazy over the sea and there is a bit of cloud cover, but not enough to say it is overcast.

We walked around the resort for a bit and looked in the rock pools. Able to get into our room just after 3pm. We unpacked, showered and got dressed for dinner at the resort. Nice food, but the weird thing was the names of the courses - appetisers and entrees. Entrees are what we call main meals. We both ordered an appetiser, and shared a main between us, which was a good idea as between us we couldn't finish the meal. As we were walking to the restaurant the sun was just touching the ocean to go down - was a beautiful site, and of course we didn't have our camera on us to show you all. Another difference between the States and Australia (I might have to put into a table all the differences in one handy area) is the butter. Now I know you might think that it can't be too different, but the butter here is white, not yellow like everywhere else around the world. Agnes thinks it is because it could be creamed butter.

-top-

This morning was the first morning that I haven't woken up with a sore back of my neck and a headache. That is what a good night's sleep will do for you. We woke up early to get an early start down to the south of the island to see the volcano national park. Driving this morning I wasn't as confident as I normally am on Australian roads, and the drive was an eye-opener as to what the car can do for you. For example, it tells you the temp outside and what direction you are going, gets annoyed if you don’t have your seatbelt on when the car is started, puts the lights on automatically when required (and if you decide to override this setting, gets really angry when you forget to turn the lights off before you turn the car off).

The drive was magnificent at times - broken lava on either side from earlier eruptions, crashing waves along the coastline, rainforest. It took about 2.5 hours either way to drive from where we were staying to Volcano House. It rained on and off during the drive, but got worse when we pulled into the visitor centre. After a 20 minute video and some other questions, we drove to the lava tubes. We stopped at a lookout, pulled on our ponchos, had a bit of a look around and found a sign to the lava tubes. So we walked there and on the way saw the Kileaki Iki crater. (Apparently parts of the remake Planet of the Apes were done in this crater). Took some happy snaps and continued walking. The area for the lava tube was busy with buses pulling in, but we beat the tourists and made our way down to the tube. Awesome. Returned to the road and found another sign for the trail we had been following. Little did we know what we were in for.

We followed the trail down, and down and finally got to the crater floor - or what looked like scenes from the moon, but in black. There were a couple of active steam vents that could be seen with steam rising from them, as well as some vegetation amongst the black lava. We took 30 minutes to walk across the crater, while exploring, photographing and playing amongst the ruin. The end of the crater was more difficult with broken lava all over the place. Then it was time for a 2.4 mile walk up the other side of what we had walked down. Oh btw most of this walking was in the rain. Not heavy rain, but rain borne by the lashing winds. It was drizzle and at times not very comfortable. The climb up was grueling at times, but eventually we made it back up, 2 hours after we started. We hadn't know what we were in for, so we hadn't taken any water and I hadn't taken the small camera.

At this point, I would encourage readers to look at the album to see some of the photos of the landscape of the volcano crater to see what I am describing above. It really needs to be experienced to be believed. Everything is black, with up thrusts of rock every now and then. About half way across the crater are two little hills with steam rising from them (I tried to climb one of them to see if there was water or something like that that caused the steam, but didn't want to trust the rocks in the rain). I places my hand beside one of the steam vents, and the rock was definitely warm. I didn't pull my hand away immediately due to the heat, but it would have been uncomfortable to keep my hand there.

We ate lunch where we parked, while drying and emptying our shoes of the grit that had accumulated. Continued the drive to Chain of Craters Road that leads down to the ocean. Was a steep decent at times but worth the view. Stopped off at an earlier erupted crater that was deeper than the one we had walked across. Lots of tourists on the road, so didn't pull over to every crater or old lava flow. Made it to the bottom, but unimpressed with the amount of cars already there, we headed straight back up the incline, stopping at more stops along the way, rain permitting of course (Have I mentioned it rained a lot today?)

Stopped back at the Volcano Visitor Centre so Agnes could ask some questions, then arvo tea. Drove back to the hotel, stopping at Black Sand Beach along the way. Nice site of black sand (instead of the white we are used to), and waves crashing on the lava rocks. Drive back was more confident and made easier due to the cruise control. Amazingly while listening to the local radio station we heard Missy Higgins playing. However it was a version of her song "Scar" that was different to the way that it is performed back home.

Have I mentioned local wildlife yet? I don't think so. While at the Volcano Information Centre we watched an introductory video supposedly about the volcanoes. Instead it was a brief history of the island, and the reason why Hawaiians need to preserve their heritage. A number of local creatures have been wiped out due to foreign animals. In an effort to combat rats in the cane fields, the Hawaiians introduced the mongoose. The mongoose ate the rats and anything else (especially local bird eggs) it could find. The reason why I am bringing this up, is that on the one day we encountered about four different mongooses (what is the plural of mongoose? Alica?) all trying to cross the road (and no I won't try to come up with a crossing the road joke). The first time it happened I thought it was a large lizard or something crossing. The second one, we found out that it was a mongoose as we stopped the car to allow it to pass and had time to get a good look at it.
Another animal found on the islands that is not welcome is the house cat. The Outrigger Resort that we stayed at had a fair number of them. Apparently they are captured by resort employees, neutered, then released. All are feral and the resort feeds them so that they stay in the one area. It was interesting on our second morning to see some cats on the rocks around the rock pool.

-top-

Today was the day we went to do what I thought would be interesting - seeing the Waipi'o Valley on the northeast of the island. We had to fight a small traffic jam of people getting into Kona first thing in the morning, then drove inland on the 19 to Waimea. From there to Honokaa and then another 9 miles to Waipi'o.

The Lonely Planet guide for Waipi'o said that it was a steep 30 minute climb down the trail to the valley floor from the lookout. This is a load of baloney. Agnes slipped, I slipped and the trek was grueling. We finally got a lift from a ute for the rest of the way and at the bottom it was disappointing that the roads were mud-logged. If you wish to walk down and then back up the road, I (not any book you might read) would recommend hiking boots, water, poncho, or other rain gear) and loads of practice climbing steep things and plenty of time to stop and appreciate the view while having a drink of water..

We hadn't taken hiking boots as we were expected an ok walk down a hill and then to the beach. So we were wearing our sandals and thus we didn't feeling like slogging through the mud, or keep falling into the mud. This is not to say that the day was a failure. The view from the top and going down the road was gorgeous, but not the Garden of Eden that one local described it as.

A number of 4WDs and utes had been going up and down while we were walking. While at the bottom waiting for a ride, we had to wait a fair bit. More tourists arrived, having done the grueling walk. There was even one family where the father and one daughter went quickly to get away from the bitching of the mother and other daughter. When the daughter finally arrived (the last one) she looked so grumpy, she could have shattered glass. We finally got a lift back up the road, and left Waipi'o Valley behind.

Drove along the coast to Hilo to check out some waterfalls. Car is getting low on fuel and the warning light did come on while looking for a gas station. That is one big difference between Australia and Hawaii, in Australia there is at least one station per town, here there is one about every 12 to 15 miles, regardless of how many towns are in between. The drive along the northeastern coast isn't as varied as the drive to the south. While very green, there is very little to see in flowers or varied greenery. We stopped at a World Botanical Gardens with the Umauma falls. They wanted $11/person to get in. Off we went to the other falls. These were fair but needed work done to the greenery along the walk so that branches do not obscure the view of the two waterfalls.

(SIDEBAR)

The volcano side of the island with its national parks seems in better condition than the rest of the island. But even then I wonder whether they have people who regularly maintain the areas. For example in the Volcano Park ginger plants with beautiful flowers are easily visible. However they are considered a pest and should be destroyed wherever found. But we saw them growing easily beside the path. Why was no-one destroying them if they are a pest? The north side of the island is extremely similar to north Queensland in looks, but the plant life is not as varied. Also it was very green, but few flowers.

(END SIDEBAR)

Drove back to Kona and stopped off at Waimea for a bite to eat. Had finally seen a MacDonald's in the States. We didn't stop there, but just felt like mentioning it. Instead we stopped off at something called a deli where they had a lot to choose from for something to eat. When back at the resort went for a swim, lost the key to get into the room and had a shower. Spent the night packing and getting ready for the flight tomorrow afternoon. I also found a drugstore and tried some of the American chocolates to see what they were like.

-top-

Finished packing, checked out, then off to Kaileu-Kona for some shopping. We had found some shopping malls on our way back from Waimea yesterday, but today we couldn't seem to find them. Instead we got caught in the tourist trap. Lots of jewelry stores, mainly focusing on the sale of pearls. We learnt a few useful facts about pearls (did you know Australia exports a number of its pearls to Hawaii, as well as opals or that there are also yellow/gold pearls?) and I purchased a white gold chain to replace my rusted ol' chain for my pendant.

Took the car back to the rental place and checked into Kona Airport. I realised when I re-read parts of this diary, that I had forgotten to mention the uniqueness of Kona Airport - It is the first one that I have seen (bar Cairns and Townsville airports) that has no air conditioned enclosures for people to wander. Instead there is a restaurant for aircon, and the outside general area to wait for flights. And you enter/exit the plane via stairs on the tarmac.

Checking into Kona was a bit of a nightmare - have luggage go through Agricultural scan first, wait in line for boarding tickets (we purchased an upgrade for more leg room), weight the bags, take the bags to TSA for scanning by the feds. Then off to security so that you and your hand luggage can also be frisked. They seemed a bit interested in our carry on luggage for a bit, then decided to give it back.

In flight entertainment is definitely a life saver when you want to kill time. We had a 7.5/8 hour fight to Chicago O'Hare and watched the "Sentinel", then "Over the Hedge" to kill time. After the movies, we tried to sleep for a bit, but that didn't work well. No meals provided on the flight, you must purchase what you want to eat. So an 8 hour flight to Chicago, a two hour wait for our next flight, a delay while waiting for take off, apparently caused by a storm in the mideast, then we got to Indianapolis.

It was funny trying to guess how many of the passengers were gamers. Some were easy to spot, others not as easy. We chatted to a guy called Jeff who was a volunteer at the Wizards of the Coast booth, where he would be a demonstrator for some of their games.
(I started writing this at the hotel in Indianapolis but the writing was definitely becoming weird and hard to understand due to the lack of sleep. I am now updating my whole diary in Holland).

-top-

It was raining in Indianapolis when we arrived. Had to take a cab to the hotel as this was our first hotel that was not close to the airport. I was a bit concerned during the trip for our life as the cab driver was doing a fair bit over the speed limit, it was raining, and the driver had this weird habit of flexing his body while driving. It is difficult to explain, but what he was doing was like a hiccup with his whole body where he started in his middle by lifting his back away from the seat, flexing the rest of his body, then his back would come back to rest against the seat. At first I thought he was doing this in time with windscreen wipers, but then realised that there was no rhyme, nor reason to when he flexed.

So I was extremely glad when we arrived at the Crowne Plaza hotel. Before we left, we had found out that normally it is a 4pm check in to the hotel. I emailed customer service, informed them of the situation and was told that we would be put on an early check in list. Hurrah for early check in! We were able to get into the room about 12, I think, and immediately turned the room into a disaster area with clothes and the rest of the bags strewn all over the place.
The room looked wonderful - a king-size bed, luxury wallpaper, bath/shower (instead of just a shower), comfy chair, etc. We showered, Agnes rested and attempted to update this diary. That was a failure due to lack of sleep. I can't remember if I rested for a bit as well, I don't think so.

We went down to the Convention Centre to get our badges and try to orientate ourselves. No dramas getting our badges. We walked around the huge centre (and I do mean huge. If possible we will try to scan some of the map layouts so you can see what was where). We took a seat and started reading through the thick book about what was happening during the convention. I went for a bit of a look around and to get some water. When I got back, Agnes had started a game of Settlers of Catan with some guys. I went for another look around, and this time they had started another game - Puerto Rico. By this time I was started to get tired, so while I looked on, I wasn't really taking it in. I went to get the grab bag (kinda like a Ekka show bag) and even went into the Exhibit Room (which I found out later I shouldn't have been able to do, as only Exhibitors should be going in to set up their booths). Then I went back to the game.

When the group had started to play Puerto Rico, another guy had joined to learn the rules. After the game was finished we went out to dinner with him - Sam Fischer. Over an Italian dinner (where Agnes couldn't finish her Chicken Parmigiana - yet another indication to the size of American meals), Sam asked whether we wanted to share his hotel room as he had a spare bed. Now before anyone gets any ideas *shakes finger in a no-no manner* Sam explained to us that he wanted to try and cut his costs, and ours as well. He also would be playing in games from 7pm to after midnight, so would be stumbling in, in the wee hours of the morning. We told Sam that we would think about it, and get back to him in the morning.

Back to the room and off to bed as I haven't slept in I can't think of how many hours.

-top-

The bed in the Crowne Plaza was wonderful. The only bad bit was I couldn't find Agnes as it was a king size bed. Down to the restaurant for what we thought was a complimentary breakfast. The waitress was a bit of a talker and tried to explain to us that that butter was yellow (she must have been colour blind, as I couldn't see any colour in it, bar white) and we found out that breakfast must be paid for. This then became the deciding factor in why we should take Sam up on his offer.
When we had first booked the hotel, we looked through the different hotels and only two hotels had a complimentary breakfast - the Crowne Plaza and the Embassy Hotel. The Embassy though is meant to be suites, and we didn't know anyone else to share the room with. The Crowne was a touch more expensive than some of the other hotels ($150/night), but it said it had breakfast included, so we decided on that.

The first part of the morning was spent re-packing the disaster zone into our bags and relocating to the Marriott Hotel, which thankfully was just around the corner - about a 5 minute walk. We decided to go over the skywalk, otherwise we might have been asked what we were doing dragging four suitcases through the foyer without going to front counter.

We had not yet decided what events we were wanting to do at Gen Con, but instead were going to play it by ear. We mainly wanted to meet people in the d20 industry that I knew and try new games. So 10am saw us overlooking the doors to the Exhibit Hall, waiting with everyone else for the doors to open. The floor below was packed, with more people down the corridors trying to get in. We waited about 5 minutes before going down the escalators and going into the Hall for our first Gen Con. Peter Adkinson opened the day with a big announcement - next year would be the 40th anniversary of the Con and Gary Gygax is to be lined up as a special guest of honour for next year.

I would definitely recommend looking at the album to see a layout of the hall with the exhibitors. We had no clue what it would be like, but it was huge! Aisles about 2 to 3 people wide, and booths on either side. After seeing that it would be a tight fit, we decided on a plan of attack of walking up one aisle from one end to the other, then going down another aisle. Unfortunately big booths like Wizards of the Coast and Fantasy Flight games put a bit of a dent into this plan, but for the most part it did work.

I got a few "scoops" (or at least I thought they were) when talking to the d20 publishers. For example Joe Goodman mentioned that there would be no more Power Gamer Strategy Guides produced due to 4e DnD coming out in the next couple of years. I think this is a shame as it would have been interesting to see the cleric and rogue (especially the rogue) treated the same way as the fighter and wizard. Another scoop was from Monte Cook that there would be no more products for Ptolus, except for the pdfs breaking up the massive book, and the images and maps of Ptolus. While I was talking to Monte and Sue, we purchased Ptolus (how could I pass that up), Monte signed it, and they threw in the module Night of Dissolution in as well. I asked Monte about his fiction writing plans, and while he could go into no specifics due to an NDA, he did say that he will be writing generic fantasy, not sure yet if there will be single books or sets.
About 1pm (only three hours of walking around the hall) we decided to go back to our room to take a break. We had not yet finished in the Exhibit Hall, but had done a fair bit already. At this point we were glad we had moved to the Marriott, as we only had to take the SkyWalk back to the hotel, which was glad as it was raining. Plus the fact that True Dungeon was being held in our hotel. My feet were killing me, and we still had more to do. The only event we had booked was True Dungeon. Our slot was for 2:13, so stopping off at the room was definitely a good idea, as we had a chance to be get a bit of rest before continuing.
True Dungeon has been running for a couple of years now and is definitely something every gamer should go to. A bit of a combination between roleplaying and LARPing (Live Action Role Playing for those non-gamers reading this), True Dungeon started by meeting your group in a tavern. Agnes and I met a group of five guys who knew each other and we spent the next two hours together. I played a cleric, while Agnes played a bard. The five guys I think were new to roleplaying and chose fighter types - a monk, fighter, barbarian, rogue and a paladin. After about 15 to 20 minutes to get some experience with what the characters could do, we started our first encounter. Most of the Dungeon involved puzzles, but there were two monster encounters that had to be defeated. Players were given tokens to use to simulate items a rpg character would have.

We emerged two hours later victorious, with our party intact. We had lost two of our party in the fight with the drider, but one was able to be resurrected, and in the next room we were able to resurrect another (we were the first group that day to figure out the order of letters to revive our companion). Each time there was a fight and Agnes wanted to use her masterwork musical instrument, she had to actually sing. Thankfully she has a good voice and was able to make the experience interesting. After getting our info into the database, we went back to the tavern, and chatted to some other who were about to go through the dungeon.

We went back to the dealer's room to finish up the day and see the rest of the booths that we had not yet seen. The main thing I had wanted to purchase during the con was novels that had not yet made it Australia. A number were available for purchase but one I really wanted was not available. We also went back to the Wizards novel area and informed them of the problem with getting new novels in Australia, and I hope that something is able to be done.

For dinner we went to an American institution - Steak & Shake. We had been informed the day before that this was cheap and easy and it was extremely busy when we got there. Burgers were really the only thing they had on the menu, plus milkshakes of different types. After dinner, we went back into the Circle Mall to do some shopping. Agnes purchased some nice clothes and I just sat and relaxed my aching feet. We then went to bed early. We have not seen Sam.

-top-