Author: Mrs A
Location: Cicero, Indiana, USA
Saturday: The first sight we were greeted with was a row of Bloody Mary cocktails lined up on the kitchen bench, which we sipped on as Tom cooked up his favourite southern breakfast of ‘biscuits and gravy’.
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!
Oh dear…would you take a boat trip with this guy? But we did …boat retrieved we were on our way across the lake. Music pumping, wine flowing, what a life. The night just unravelled from there!
What a blast to see these guys again, Tom’s the brother I never had from another mother.
I have no idea what we were laughing at half the time but this picture says it all.
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.
Our first night was spent at a beautiful Italian seafood restaurant courtesy of another member of Catherine’s sub-glottic stenosis support group and her husband, Lynne and Ron, and what a great vibe down on the wharf. We could get used to this!
Some browsing around the shops later we headed off on a tram across town to a discount shoe outlet, even the conductor wouldn’t take our money! It was quite an experience travelling up and down San Fransisco’s incredibly steep hills.
Lots of shoe bargains later, we walked back to the bay and hit an oyster bar – wow there’s some big fellas here and a very different flavour from what we’re used to in the Southern Hemisphere.
Dinner was an early affair (Catherine is feeling pretty beat with her airway so closed at the moment, and we had clocked up just under 12km (7.5 miles) on foot!). We had booked a Korean restaurant just down the road from our apartment and once again had some awesome food. California really has not disappointed.
This city is being so kind to us. I think she knows we have fallen in love.
The dog walkers were out in force, although this guy seemed to have his own pack very well trained.
A big walk back along the bayside and a lunch in the sun – I had been hanging for a crab chowder in a bread roll – and I got it! Sadly no dairy free version of that creamy number for Mrs A.
Off we marched again and caught the ferry over to Alcatraz for a superbly produced audio tour. Thanks to our Napa friends, Susan and Joe, who encouraged us to book the trip – it is not usually our thing to hang out in the crowds but this was great. I wonder how many of the 1 million visitors a year have sworn off a life of crime after seeing this place?
Now I have to admit we then committed a major faux pas for travellers and went back to the same Korean for dinner. Please forgive us, but we had seen another dish on the menu we both wanted and just couldn’t resist. We were home by 6.30pm (16km (10 miles) of walking under our belts today) and packed up ready for our early getaway tomorrow to Chicago. Wild things no longer.
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.
But that’s not the only thing that left us breathless. Plenty of “wow” noises later we took a little walk along the cliff top and immediately noticed the effect of the thinner air – we were at 7,200 feet (3,200 metres). Catherine has enough trouble at sea level with her dinky constricted airway, so at this altitude noticed the difference. My nose started bleeding, something I always seem to experience at higher altitude, and with a nose my size its quite something!
She gave us some great tips for how to spend our day, and after a chat with her we sped off up into the high country of the Sierra Nevada. What a drive it was…again. Check out these views along the way.
We managed to puff and wheeze our way on a short 7km (4.5 mile) walk. We are now at over 8,600 feet (2,620 metres) but motivated by these incredible views to keep going – I had little excuse other than my cold and lack of strenuous exercise recently.
Catherine here is sampling some naturally carbonated spring water, fresh out of the mountainside – delicious too…!
We could spend weeks just exploring this one area – months more likely. The walking possibilities seem endless. It’s certainly putting the US on our radar for a longer trip.
I breathed a sigh of relief (and I’m sure Catherine did!) when we reached the valley floor without incident, and then she captured these shots as the sun was dipping.
We will leave with these photos to remind us of the beauty of this place – it’s busy, yes (although Kim tells us there are 25% less visitors post the bush fires here last July) – but a short walk from our car and we were pretty much on our own – there’s a lot of space to find some solitude away from the crowds that are hugging the valley floor.
Apparently temperatures have PLUMMETED to below 30 degrees centigrade and Princess Tassie is needing reinforced bedding…
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!
Then we walked down into a grove of sequoia trees. I caught myself holding my breath. The aura and precense these giant trees have is palpable. To see them soaring up to 80 metres above our heads, and to think some of them are over 3,000 years old and still growing, I think they are a reminder from Mother Nature of our place in the world.
I drove us on up into the heart of the park, to the area the famous US naturalist John Muir named when he first came across it in 1875 the “Giant Forest”. Not one to joke around, he had it spot on, as this area has the largest collection of the massive trees in the whole park, including the tree that is the single largest living entity on this earth, the General Sherman tree.
We were just mesmerised. Every time I looked down at my feet then looked up again my eyes took a moment to adjust to the perspective, with stands of these incredible trees just dominating everything. Look at this photo for instance – “Honey I shrunk Mr A”!
We then spotted a creature that looked like a rather portly marmot. Much larger than the ones we saw in France. Clearly he had been on the all you can eat High Sierra buffet!
It was all too quickly time to head off to our lodging for the night, the Montecito Sequoia Lodge, high up in the park at 2,286 metres (7,500 feet). It described itself as “rustic” – and it is – delightfully so.
Americans do this type of expereince really, really well. I vote we send a plane load of Aussie outback operators over here for some valuable learnings.
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!
