USA
 

Robyn and I flew into Boston, where we visited Chris, Dave and Michelle. Going from Egypt to Chris's gay neighborhood on gay pride day was quite a culture shock! As were more banal tasks such as choosing aspirin in your average American pharmacy with 42 choices of pain reliever. After a rainy few days of hiking in the White Mountains and a sunny weekend in Provincetown, we visited Pete, Anna and Nola in Connecticut.

Next was two weeks with the family in Madison and Door County where we spent our days kayaking, biking and hiking—what a beautiful part of the States! At night we spent lots of time catching up over great meals. One of the highlights of our time together was getting to know our two awesome nephews.

We flew to San Francisco and rented a car which we drove over the next month to Vancouver. We only spent a couple nights in a bed — we hiked in Tahoe National Forest, Desolation Wilderness, near Mt Shasta, on St. Helens, in the upper Cascades and British Columbia.

In San Francisco we stayed with Catherine and John and caught up with people we hadn't seen in a few years. In Davis we visited with John and Heather and saw their new home and checked out John's chiropractic business. At Lake Tahoe we visited Theo and Natalie for Natalie's birthday weekend. At the foot of Mt. Shasta, we stayed with Alan and Sarah in their 100 year old house in a small and charming town. We hiked with Brian and Sara on St. Helens and stayed with Nikki in Vancouver.

Seattle marked the end of our coast to coast tour of REI's (Boston, Madison, Portland, Seattle). That place is addictive and dangerous! We have enough "gear" now to last us a lifetime!

It was fun to finally spend some time in Canada. Vancouver is a beautiful city and Nikki has a great house a block from the beach. The city reminds me of Sydney. Great food, wine and setting. We stayed in Whistler and hiked to the beautiful Joffre Lakes an hour north of Whistler.

Eating with Pete, Anna and Nola at the an outdoor seafood BBQ in Connecticut called 'The Place'. Every place they took us to was called something like 'The Place', 'The Kitchen' or 'The House'!
 
Sea fishing on Peter's boat. As with every other time I've fished in my life, we caught no fish — confirming my belief that fishing is a legend similar to the 'landing on the moon' series filmed in the Arizona desert in the late 60s!
 
Spectacularly beautiful Island Lake in Tahoe Forest.
 
 

 

BBQing on Cape Cod with Chris, Dave and Michelle. Dave is wearring his famous headband, normally reserved for Karaoke performances.
 
Pulling my nephews along a trail in Door County, WI. Those kids look light but are tough to pull up a hill!
 
Wine tasting with the family in Door County, WI.
 
Camping with John next to Island Lake in Tahoe Forest.
 
Hiking in Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe.
 
Click here to view pictures from the 2nd half of our trip.

page created on August 10, 2005