Kayaking the Lotus flower beds

Wednesday
Today was Laura’s last day with us before returning to Kuwait tomorrow. It’s been a lot of hassle for her arranging everything, as she has to have a Covid test before she goes, done within 72 hours of her arrival in Kuwait, but her total elapsed travel time will be 24 hours, so that brings it down to 48 hours. Most test results you can get over here, in our area at any rate, are not back in that time. However, she was able to find a travel clinic that is offering them, and said they would definitely be back in that time. Her flights tomorrow will be Cincinnati to Chicago, 6 or 7 hour layover(!), Chicago to Doha in Qatar then Qatar to Kuwait. Once there she has to do 2 weeks quarantine, with a phone app tracking her.
So after all the hassle, it was nice to have a relaxing time having a picnic and then kayaking at Cowan Lake, where the American Lotus flowers were still blooming. Roger and I had been last month, but Laura was away with friends or her sister at that time, and she had never seen them before. She really enjoyed them, and we saw quite a bit of bird life too. Cormorants, a green heron, red-winged blackbirds and an osprey.
Dinner out in the evening at an appropriately named restaurant for the occasion - the Grand Finale in Glendale. It was actually one of the first restaurants we ate at when we were on expenses when we first came over - many years ago now (!) - and they are still in business! They are particularly known for their desserts, hence their name, and I’ve put an extra in showing Laura with the two desserts we ordered between three of us!