What a great post!. .Thanks for taking the trouble to write it. You obviouly had a fantastic time.
When you've got some spare time, could you expand on a couple of points:
(1) R22 SFH costs in California? Any significant additional costs to be allowed for, apart from travel/accommodation obviously?
(2) What exactly do you have to do to get an FAA PPL if you've got a CAA PPL. (ie a full stand-alone PPL which would still be valid even if your CAA licence lapsed.)