Final Installation Eagle River Wisconsin, July 2009

Tuesday 4th August – the Tyler household awoke to the excitement of Lily turning 7. After presents she gave her Daddy a big hug and said “Last night I wished on a star for the best birthday ever and it has already come true!” :-)



Tod and Trista (and Henry their dog) took us up to Lake Superior for the day (about a 2 hour drive) while the girls got to spend a special day with Nana. Not too far north of Eagle River you go into the state of Michigan – or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to be exact. Our first stop along the way was at Agate Falls. It was a lovely spot and would have been good to go for a swim if the weather was a bit warmer – so far there it hasn't been a very good summer in this area.







When we arrived in the Lake Superior area we went into the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. We went to a lookout at the Lake of the Clouds first. You get a spectacular view!





Next stop was at The Batcave. We were surprised to discover the most secret of all of Batman and Robins hideouts :-) Danielle was feeling a little freaked out about entering a cave but was brave and took a couple of steps in!




We had a picnic lunch and a couple of beers at another spot that looked out over Lake Superior – just perfect :-)


The next place we went to was probably our favourite spot of the day – Manido Falls. The way the water had cut into the rock over the years, the sound of the falls, the taste of the wild gooseberries – just beautiful!







We then walked out on to the shore of Lake Superior. You feel like you are looking out on the ocean – it is so massive! It was a wonderful relaxing afternoon of paddling in the water, sifting through the rocks and pebbles, Nana Napping in the sun and gazing out across the lake.







Thanks so much for taking us on the trip to Lake Superior Trista and Tod – it was fantastic! We will remember our trip to the UP always :-)

We spent our last day walking around the township of Eagle River and relaxing at the Tyler's house. Kim and Matt and Jo all came over on our last evening. They were all sensible and went home at a decent hour. The rest of us (to Tod's cries of 'just one more') were not so sensible and went to bed way too late, lol.







Trista drove us to the airport in Milwaukee on Thursday – 4 hours away – and stayed over night with friends of theirs. We were lucky enough to see other parts of Wisconsin along the way. Before we left we were sad to say goodbye to Jo (who shed a little tear), the flowers and Tod (we think he saved his tears for after our departure, lol). We said goodbye to Trista and Henry at the airport and felt like our trip had come to an end.

We had such a fantastic time with Trista and Tod (and their family and friends). It really could have turned out to be a mess but it was just the opposite. We all got along really well, talked heaps, laughed so much we cried and after being together for a week need a month's sleep to get back to normal. We hope we get back to Eagle River with our kids one day and that the Tyler's make it over to Australia so they can see our country and meet our family and friends. Here's hoping!

We fly out of the US tonight and are REALLY looking forward to seeing our kids (although the long flight is not exactly appealing!). Keep reading the blog for Trista's entry of Australian/American interpretations :-). The local paper is also doing an article on us (I know, lol) so we might be able to post that as well.

We hope you have enjoyed our blog and we will see most of you over the next week or so.

Danielle and Julian xxx

Eagle River Wisconsin, July 2009

Sorry it has been so long since we posted – just haven't had the time! This one is for you Narelle - read slowly because it might be another couple of days before the next, lol.

Trista and the flowers (Lily and Rose) picked us up from the airport in Rhinelander which is about 30 mins from where they lived. It was very exciting to finally meet!!! Trista was shaking like leaf by the time we finally got off the plane – Danielle was too tired to shake! When we got to their house we got settled in and had some lunch on their back deck. Tod came home for lunch and we gave them the few Australian gifts we had bought as a thank you for having us stay with them (so far Tod has been the only one game enough to have a piece of Vegemite toast. Trista has tasted a tiny dot of it but we have told her that doesn't count, lol). That afternoon we had a Nana Nap – we had been up for so long and were exhausted.

Lily 7 (almost!) and Rose 5


Trista and Lily


That night Trista and Tod had a party out on the their deck with friends and family. We had a great time meeting everyone and discussing the differences between our two countries. Danielle decided to walk straight into the CLOSED screen door on her way inside and preceded to bounce back a couple of feet to the shouts of 'Oooohhh's and Arrrrr's' much to her horror. Julian and Trista must have been the only people in attendance who did not witness this (much to their disappointment!) Danielle is supporting a slightly bruised nose. After everyone left Trista, Tod and the pair of us stayed up WAY too late talking (with the odd drink thrown it, lol) – we all paid for it the next day!

Back deck at the Tyler's


On Saturday the weather was pretty average (we had wear long pants and tops for the first time since being in the us). We went into town to check out the shops and have lunch. It is such a lovely town – heaps of character. We had lunch at a restaurant/bar with some live polka music. It was really good – the famous local (Skip Wagner) even played two trumpets at once! There were framed old record covers all over the walls – the décor was so cool. Julian could have sat here all day drinking beer :-)

BBT's


That night we went out to dinner to an Italian restaurant in town (once again live music). It was beautiful (once again the décor was really cool) but we all really struggled after our first big night, lol, and went home for an early night.

On Sunday we went out on a pontoon boat that their friends Kim and Matt owned. Tod had to work so wasn't able to meet us until later in the day. We cruised around on the lakes for ages drinking cocktails, talking and listening to music. It was beautiful and soooo relaxing. Poor Lily was sick all day with a stomach upset (we believe Julian passed on his New York bug!) and mostly slept on the boat. Julian on the other hand was firing on all cylinders. Poor Kim had lost her iPod and we spent some time where they dock their boat looking in the water and under the dock to no avail. The radio station played lots of good music though – AC/DC being one of the first numbers we listened to. Kim told us she had organised it just for us. Actually, nobody here even knows that they are an Australian band (along with Little River Band – they try to claim all our good bands, lol)

Kim - our hostess/2nd mate/entertainment director/DJ/barmaid plus more :-)


Matt and Julian


Trista and Danielle - penpals from forever! Thanks Mr Dunlop and Mr Bates :-)


Rose and Kim


Lily and Kim


A boat house for the mega rich – you can imagine their actual house!


We stopped at a landing that is on a golf course. Every Sunday in the summer they have live music, cheap drinks and food. We had a great time – just a fantastic day all round! Good old northern hospitality! :-) Good people watching all round, lol.

Us and the flowers at The Deck


The Deck


The view from The Deck


That night we thought we would have an early night after such a big day but before we knew it was once again the early hours of the morning. Tod was trying desperately to catch up on hours of drinking and is solely to blame for the turn of events. The quote of the night (to become the quote of the trip) was 'Just one more'. We laughed so much. Trista wrote down a list of saying's we use in Australia with the US equivalent and even noted down some of Julian and Tod's conversation. She will post some of it here at some stage. Tod couldn't quiet get the Aussie accent down on 'Bloody wanka' so put on a pommie accent – tooooo funny. We were all in stitches. Julian was going to bed a number of times before declaring “OK, just one more”. He finally got there 3.5 hours later, lol.

Monday was Tod's birthday and Julian went out fishing with him and Matt. They had a great day out on the lakes and caught a couple of fish and a couple more beers. Julian sure wishes he was back at work – NOT, lol. We gave Tod some Australian fishing lures for his birthday and he got a good laugh at some of their names – for example, 'The Stiffy – we've been soft for too long' and 'The Bloody Ripper'.

Julian's catch of the day


Trista, her mum Jo, her girls and I went to a flea market and then met up with Mr Bates and his wife for lunch. Mr Bates was the teacher that we had in Australia when our teacher Mr Dunlop went over to Eagle River (teacher exchange program) - the whole reason Trista and I became penpals. It was interesting to share memories from that time – he certainly saw things (as a teacher) differently than I did (as a student) lol. We got caught up on a few different teachers and students – he had his yearbook with him which was fun to look through.

Monday night we had a birthday celebration for Tod and Lily (her birthday is on Tuesday). We had pizza and cake and Jo came over.

Happy birthday Tod and Lily


Tod


Jo


Trista is just how I imagined and hasn't delivered any nasty surprises, lol. I love her but I swear she is trying to kill me (actually, that may be Tod's fault, lol). Tod is also wonderful (so funny!) and their girls are just adorable. They are so well behaved and polite. A joy to be around!

Lily and Rose


Eagle River and the surrounding area is stunning – we have never been anywhere quite so beautiful. You really have to be hear to appreciate how wonderful it is. You sit out on Trista and Tod's back deck and you are surrounded by nature – so peaceful. We can't thank Trista and Tod, their girls and their family and friends enough for everything they have done for us and welcoming into their homes and town with open arms, lots of hugs, laughs and the odd drink or two :-) It has been an unbelievable time up here in the Northwoods of WI!

Tod and Trista's house


Our final installation from Eagle River soon – it's also cocktail time and our last night :-(

Danielle and Julian xxx

New York Photos

Here are a couple of photos from New York. Having a fantastic time in Eagle River. Hope to post a blog soon. It is soooo beautiful up here.

New York City Mansion (one of many!)



Where John Lennon lived and was killed



Baseball - New York Mets

New York City – Weds 29th – Thurs 30th July 2009

On Weds morning we did a tour of the down town area of Manhattan – Grenwich Village, SoHo, the Financial District and lower East side. We got off in the Financial district and had a walk through Battery Park and could see the Statue of Liberty. We walked up to Ground Zero – all it is at the moment is construction. Apparently a lot of the locals are very upset that the construction of new buildings is happening before a permanent memorial is created. We found out where Danielle's brother Anthony lived (lower east side – very close to Grenwich) after we had been on the tour and didn't get a chance to go back and see his actual apartment building. Danielle's favourite part of Manhattan is Grenwich (the setting for Friends).
In the afternoon we did a tour of the uptown area – Upper East and West (all around Central Park) and up into Harlem. There are some amazing mansions in these areas (excluding Harlem!) and we saw where John Lennon lived and was killed :-( Julian's favourite spot in Manhattan is the area's surrounding Central Park. We only saw the very tip of Harlem and that was enough to show what a huge difference in the classes there is over here. Really sad to see.

For the last 15 or so mins of this tour it started to pour. We had those plastic poncho's on sitting on top of an open bus – the poncho's were not much help, lol. We brought an umbrella before heading out again that night!

On Wednesday evening we had dinner in the restaurant next to our hotel. You could feel the trains running underneath you through the subway. The rain started up again and we had a good laugh at everyone outside running for cover and umbrella's turning inside out. After dinner went to see Mama Mia on Broadway. It was great – we even got up at the end and had a little dance (Julian thinks Danielle was getting a little too excited, lol).

There were so many other things we wanted to do and see but just didn't have the time. Julian has been a bit sick during our stay in NY (some sort of virus/flu) so it was really tough doing what we did do (he probably should have been in bed for a couple of days!). We didn't get to go on the ferry past the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn tour or the night tour (not enough time). You really need to spend two full days doing the tours and then another week or more going back to what you really want to see and do.

On Thursday we packed up and moved out to a beautiful little hotel near the airport (cough, cough). The 12km cab ride only took us over 1 hour!!! We stayed here on our last night as we had an EARLY flight on Friday morning – lucky we decided to this or we may never have made our flight. On Thursday we went to see the New York Mets (baseball) play the Colorado Rockies. The Mets won easily. We had beer (you had to show ID to purchase this – I guess Julian could pass as being under 21?!) and a hot dog and enjoyed the entertainment and the few runs that were made. No where near as exciting as an AFL football game but still a good experience. We tried a soft pretzel. We have seen sooooo many people eating these in every place we have been so we (Danielle) figured it would be a good idea to try one. Danielle managed to swallow one bite and Julian couldn't even swallow it – the worst thing ever. You would be better drinking a glass of sea water!!! It was a shock as almost everything else you get is coated in sugar and is so sweet. We have no idea how people eat these – and they think vegemite is bad!

Thursday evening we had a couple of drinks at the hotel bar and then went for a walk to to see what was around. After discovering there wasn't anything we went back to the hotel bar to have a meal – sat down in the same seats and there is Danielle's handbag with our passports etc still sitting there where she left it – oops. Could have been a major disaster. She is still trying to work how she can blame Julian for this, lol.

Back into our hotel room (with the water stained ceiling and iron mark in the carpet). All of our hotel's so far have been wonderful (Craig's being the best!) so we couldn't really complain. It was a cheap one night only stay.

After a few hours sleep we were up and ready at 4:15am for our courtesy bus ride (that means FREE) to the airport. Well, the bus driver overslept (or something) and didn't turn up. There were piles of people waiting to get on the bus (even though we were the 2nd group out there). They finally had the bell hop drive the bus – they got almost everyone on. Of course we were amongst the those left remaining!!! Everyone was so polite that they rushed the bus like they were on fire. So we caught a cab (NOT free) and ended being about 20 mins behind schedule. What a pain – we only just made it on to the plane!!!! No food, coffee (for Julian), bathroom stop or even water (because you can't take a bottle of water through the security check). Checking in baggage was an absolute nightmare. So we finally make it on the plane and they say that our onboard luggage has to be checked because all the storage is full. We are sitting on the plane now and hoping that all of bags successfully make it from this plane onto our connecting flight . We have had a dream run up until this point as far as flights etc go. Just to cap it all off it seems that the lady behind Julian is using the sick bag, hehehe (that laugh is from Danielle – NOT Julian).

Danielle really enjoyed NYC (but could never live there). Julian enjoyed parts of it but is OVER it. He hated the smell (they have to dump rubbish on the street corners throughout the day as there are no back alley ways) and people trying to sell you stuff everywhere you turned (shoving it in your face). People seemed so rude after everywhere else. It didn't help that he wasn't feeling well!

So now we are on our way to Eagle River via Minneapolis and Rhinelander (where Trista will pick us up). We can't wait to kick back and relax in the North Woods of Wisconsin after the rat race of New York. It's been great but enough big cities for us small town folk!

We are now in Eagle River and are going out to dinner soon so sorry, no photos this time! People were concerned about us staying with people we have never met. We have been here for a little over a day and we have made a huge mistake. Not sure how we can deal with it.

Kidding!!!! However If we have too many more nights like last night none of us will survive - we are all too old to stay up talking into the early hours of the morning!

Danielle and Julian xxx