Author: Mrs A
Location: Sydney, Australia
Wednesday: We finally stepped out of Sydney International Airport into a gloomy grey spring day, drizzle in the air and a chilly southerly breeze blowing. It was around 7.30am, yet our lovely friend Jenny was there to pick us up, breathing sunshine into our morning.
Before long we were back at her apartment and the kettle was on – yes, US folk, an electric kettle. You can’t beat a nice cup of tea after 29 hours of travelling!
The drizzle progressed into torrential rain and throughout the day we did all our washing and drying with a short afternoon nap. We needed to get ourselves rebooted ready for a jovial evening.
Jenny and David had invited mutual friends, Colin and Di over for dinner. We last saw Colin and Di on our travels through Provence a couple of years ago, where we spent a fun weekend in their gorgeous French villa helping to celebrate Colin’s birthday and eating and drinking fine food (for a change, ha ha!).
It was a fun catch up with lots of laughter – keeping us awake til after midnight and staving off the jet lag…or so we hoped.
Friday: Another wet and gloomy day where jet lag provided another early awakening. During the morning a friend called to let us know our friend Eric had been taken into hospital on Tuesday for surgery to remove a tumour. It turned out the hospital is just 20 minutes drive away from where we were staying with Jenny and David. It’s funny how fate intervenes.
We jumped in the car and paid Eric a visit. It was great to see him in such good spirits despite what must have been a painful procedure, and we had a good chat and laugh with him, and are hopeful the surgeons have been successful in removing all the cancer.
We finished off our day with another meal at Jenny and David’s local family owned Italian restaurant – more delicious food concluding with a Limoncello (two each for the boys!), in that great Italian tradition. Cheers!
As much as we have loved our time with Jenny and David, we’re hopeful our house will be ready for us to move back in tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
After many cups of tea and a proper southern breakfast (Mr A at least tried grits with cheese and maple syrup – an odd combination I thought!), we all went our separate ways.
I presented a few slides first, talking about the group and some thoughts I have for future opportunities with treatment and information, then Dr Gelbard and Dr Francis presented their findings from three years of longitudinal research with patients.
There is much more opportunity for more research and studies ahead. We’ve funded a further two years of data collection from the iSGS 1000, but more funding is required to enable clinical trials in the future. We’re hoping to somehow set up a charitable foundation to help fund this, and I have no doubt Alex and David will be keeping an eye out for any more grants they can apply for.
The drive was winding and picturesque, and before long we were pulling into Gatlinburg.
It was an entertaining session of throwing back small shots of various flavours, accompanied by amusing banter from our bar man, but there was nothing ‘wow’ about anything we tasted, so we moved on. Mr A was feeling brave so tried the same with some whisky tasting over the road too. 
That proved enough alcohol for one day, and we stuck to the club sodas for the remainder of the evening!
It followed the very pretty ‘Little River’ for half the walk, before joining another walk which climbed a short way into the lower mountains before looping back to the beginning.
A very respectable 11.5km all up. From there we jumped back in the car and headed across the mountains.
It is also a jumping on/off point for the Appalachian Trail. This trail traverses about 3,500km (2,200 miles) from Maine to Georgia. We thought we might give it a go…or some of it anyhow…and get away from the crowds at the lookout.
There was no choice on this walk, we had to head up right away. Luckily my breathing is not ‘too’ awful just now, so I wheezed my way up. It took seconds to escape the crowds, with the occasional walkers coming back our way.
We walked about 2.5km before turning back, deciding 16km of walking and about 50 flights of climbing was ok for one day!
From here we continued down, finally settling in a motel in a little settlement called Franklyn. A local Mexican restaurant provided a cheap and quick early dinner, and hopefully we’ll have a restful night after all this fresh air and exercise!
Mr A did some careful negotiating, using my breathing as an excuse, managed to get them to agree to refund us the next two nights…we’ll be checking out in the morning and moving to a better rated hotel.
We checked out of our damp and smelly Hemlock Lodge and headed across to our new accomodation at Cliffview Lodge. So much nicer! A large, clean room with a sliding door leading to a wraparound veranda with rocking chairs and swing benches overlooking a beautiful view.
We were unable to get to a couple of the other walks he recommended due to bogginess of the road – we really missed our Landcruiser here. But after this walk headed to Gray’s Arch.
More spectacular scenery awaited us there with just the very beginnings of autumn beginning to show in the foliage. We’re just loving being among these deciduous trees, reminding us of our lives in England, and the scenery and walks otherwise quite reminiscent of the Blue Mountains, just outside Sydney.
Once up, it was a spectacular view as we walked over this bridge, and then climbed under it to begin the walk back down.
To reach the underside of the bridge we had to squeeze through a narrow crack in the rock, but the view was worth it. The geology sure is impressive here!
Our hike down took us through more narrow, low and extremely steep and slippery pathways – we were so grateful Tom had loaned us two hiking poles.
Before long we were back at the car, ready to head back for showers and food.
It turns out the ‘biscuits’ are savoury dough circles baked in the oven, while on the stove top a mixture of sausage meat, flour and milk are cooked up. This is served with hot-pepper sauce and is surprisingly delicious!
After all this endless decadence, we decided we should go for a paddle on the lake (Morse Reservoir) and up to one of two water sources.
Tom’s boat was much longer and sleeker than ours and he was soon but a speck in the distance as Mark and I explored the shoreline. We spotted a bald eagle circling above, a red squirrel scurrying along the branches and cute little chipmunks hunting for snacks.
We eventually caught up with him and continued our exploration up the shallower areas, where Little Cicero Creek enters the lake, home to herons and turtles among other creatures.
Eight kilometres under paddle later, we returned to warm up in the garden jacuzzi, with our second cocktail for the day. This time Carol whipped us up lemon, lime and ginger beer with vodka – A Moscow Mule – delicious and served in ice cold metal mugs which fit perfectly in the drink holders!
A delicious dinner of marinated pork loin, pumpkin risotto and fresh salad, served with some very tasty wines followed, and the evening finished with much laughter over darts and a board game. Awesome fun!
We then made our way into central Chicago via the train, dragging our luggage a few blocks across town to our hotel as the sun began to go down.
As we have found on the whole trip, the Australian dollar is really against us, and we’re paying a lot of money for not that much. Our hotel (The Freehand) is centrally located, but the rooms are tiny, with a queen bed squished up against the wall so Mr A has to clamber over me to go to the bathroom!
Thursday: It was a fairly early start – I’m suffering from insomnia due to some medicine I’m currently taking, so had been awake since 3.30am! We strolled Chicago’s streets, looking for a café that might serve us a cup of tea. Everything was closed!
We wound our way along the Chicago River which passes right through the centre of the city, leading out to Lake Michigan. The city was positively sparkling in the morning sunlight, whispy clouds streaking through the blue sky.
The Navy Pier sits on the shore of the lake, an entertainment and conference facility with a large Ferris wheel at its central point. Again, everything was quiet and closed. It felt quite eerie strolling along the immaculately clean pathways, past perfectly manicured landscaping and flowers with hardly another soul around. The lake looks like an endless sea from here, stretching out as far as the eye can see.
The city is surrounded by parks and gardens, softening the hard angles of the buildings. Chicago is a good looking city architecturally, every building complimenting its surroundings and neighbours perfectly. Looking back from the serenity of the lake it was hard to imagine the hustle and bustle, the honking horns, the sirens and engine sounds echoing through the skyscrapers.
We eventually found our cup of tea, and continued our exploration to the Millennium Park and the art installations there.
We did a little shopping during the afternoon, mostly window shopping once we had done our exchange rate calculations and realised it would be cheaper to source products from Australia.
We had a lovely meal with him, and then Mr A and I stayed on to enjoy the show – Laura Rain and the Cesars. Spotting a lady sat alone on the table behind us, Mark invited her to join us. She turned out to be the very lovely Angel, fiancée of the drummer. The star attraction, Laura Rain popped out to say hello as well.
It was an entertaining show, fantastic blues guitar, incredible singing and of course great drumming! Before we knew it it was 1am and we were stumbling outside to find a taxi back to the hotel. What a fabulous night and finale to our visit to Chicago.
We spent an afternoon catching up with Susan, becoming acquainted with one of their cats, Olly and checking out their hummingbirds on their patio.
Joe soon arrived home from work, and we caught up over some delicious drops of wine from Quintessa, the winery Joe works at. At about $150 a bottle, this was out of our budget, but very tasty.
Dinner was a California speciality, a tri-tipped steak, seared in a pan then baked in the oven. It was spectacular, served with potatoes, fresh salad and tomatoes and basil from their garden. The cheeky neighbourhood cat, Diego, joined in hoping to steal some snacks.
Yountville has characteristics more akin to a French village in burgundy, with stone buildings, tree lined streets and market gardens growing produce to cook in nearby restaurants.
Mark chose the special once we had reached our lunch location, despite not really understanding what he was ordering. When asking about ‘Masa Harina’ we were told ‘it’s a bit like grits’ – which made absolutely no sense at all. Mr A says it was like a savoury tapioca. He gave it five stars!
It seems crazy to be in Napa and not going wine tasting, but someone (Mr A) needed an afternoon nap, so we returned home for just that. I chilled out in the garden with one of Susan and Joe’s cats, Olly, watching out for local birdlife.
Joe soon returned from work, and we all got ready for a night out. 
Walking through Napa town, you could have been mistaken for thinking we were somewhere in northern Italy, with the sun setting over the hills and the gondola paddling up the Napa River. It has a lovely feel, with nice boutiques and a buzzing atmosphere.
But we don’t mind one bit – this visit has all been about visiting Susan and Joe, and the great company and laughter we enjoyed with them has all been worth it. This is one area we’d be keen to come back to again.
Our first glimpses left us again spellbound, as we left behind the tall sequoia trees and climbed into mountainous country. Kings Canyon has been described as a ‘close competitor to Yosemite’ – and being our destination for the next couple of days, we are almost beside ourselves with anticipation of what might be ahead!
We followed the Kings River for a couple of kilometres before we were stopped by a couple of National Parks officials about to detonate some fallen rocks. In interest of our health and making it safely beyond today, we retraced our steps to the car and drove on.
Not much further along the road was Grizzly Falls, plunging deep down into the valley.
Despite the name, there are no Grizzly bears in these parts, only black bears. We have seen many warning signs about them but they are one furry critter we are yet to spot. Our eyes are regularly peeled and camera at the ready.
Back in Sequoia National Park, it was hard to miss out yet more giant trees, helping us feel miniature in their presence.
It is so hard to capture just how huge these trees are and the feeling you get walking here…you’ll just have to come and see for yourself!
Set in beautifully landscaped grounds and housed in a modern stone building, lunch was served outside on a courtyard. The estate grows much of its own produce as well as all the wine served, with a philosophy of sourcing local and in season produce.
Lunch was delicious – every ingredient carefully chosen and perfectly prepared. Incredible wine also accompanied our food…the perfect ingredients for a long lazy afternoon.
However, Mr A and I were heading off, aiming for our next destination inland. Dave, SJ, Tim and Moki accompanied us into Paso Robles to the supermarket, where we farewelled our friends and headed off.
We drove through ever changing scenery to Three Rivers, a little settlement in the foothills of Sequoia National Park.
Back at the house, SJ had put some food out for the birds, and feathered friends flocked to their feast. The house is surrounded by nectar producing flowers, many we recognise from Australia, such as the kangaroo paw. This was a real favourite of the tiny sapphire green birds.
Before long, Tim and Dave had returned from their 80km cycle (!) and were feeling ravenous for lunch, so we piled into a couple of cars and headed 30 minutes towards the coast to the fishing town of Morro Bay.
Morro Bay is known for the huge volcanic rock which sits at the entrance of the bay, and the very active sea otter population, attracted to the fish in the bay as well as the discarded scraps.
After food we wandered along the waterfront looking for sea otters. They were not hard to spot, great little fishers, swimming on their backs to better eat their catch, often chased by herring gulls keen to steal an easy meal.
Wine tasting was next on the agenda, so we headed inland, stopping off at a couple of fabulous lookouts en route.
We drove to Opolo Wineries, where Moki was allowed to join us in the seating area while we tried some local tipples. Tim and I were the only ones keen for a taste, heading into the busy tasting room to try our drops.
We finished off our day with some take-out from a local restaurant in Atascadero and trying a local brew. Another fine day in California!
