My final destination...Minnesota, USA
So, I left San Francisco 2 weeks ago now, can't believe it was that long ago.
I had a night in LA before I flew to Chicago. When I was in Thailand, working at 'Whispering Seeds', the childrens home, I met Felicity, who lives in Wisconsin (the state next to Ilinois, where Chicago is) and so I contacted her and I arranged to meet up with her whilst I was there. She kindly invited me to her house in Brookfield, near Milwaukee. Unfortunately, I slightly lessened the time we could hang out by missing a couple of buses...the first one, just because by the time my flight got in i'd annoyingly missed it by 2 minutes and they were only once an hour, the second one ever more annoyingly because I was actually sat in the bus station and saw the tail end of the bus depart because their clock was wrong and I hadn't heard the announcement..oops...anyway, after that I went and sat in the bus stop to make sure I did not miss a third one!
Made it to Brookfield and Felicity and myself then got lost in Milwaukee, but luckily a nice couple felt sorry for the stupid English girl (Felicity kept quiet, not wanting to admit she was pretty much a local) and they helped us find the car (which we had lost).
Another friend of Felicitys was also staying with her so we went out for breakfast at 'The Pancake House' where we indulged in a good American breakfast of pancakes...
My stay in Wisconsin was pretty fleeting, but I hope to be able to go again and see a bit more of the state. Here's Felicity, myself and her friend Leah.
I then flew from Chicago to Minneapolis where I was met by Kelsi (my pregnant American friend who I met when she came to study for a semester in Lincoln in 2004). I have now been staying with Kelsi, her husband Josh, and their 2 year old Logan for 2 weeks. It has gone so quickly! Kelsi runs a daycare from her home and so I have been helping out with that...pushing swings, assisting with swimming time and cleaning up poop! I don't know how Kelsi manages it being 9 months pregnant, I'm exhausted almost every day after the kids leave!
Kelsi and Logan
My first weekend in Minnesota we went to Brainerd, to stay with Kelsi's grandparents, got treated to one of Grandpa's special malts (American word for milkshake) and chilled out in their lovely home on the edge of a lake. (Minnesota is nicknamed 'The Land of 10,000 lakes, and is actually not much of a tourist destination...all the Americans I told I was coming to Minnesota along my travels did look at me rather weirdly, insinuating that no-one goes there without a reason.)
I have also experienced an American 'County Fair', complete with trying my very first 'cheese curds' (stringy cheese, deep fried), they tasted pretty good, although not so good for my new health kick I have also started since being here. I decided I would try and get fit, and as Kelsi is usually (she's taken a bit of time off due to the baby inside her) an avid runner, I've taken up running and have been running 2 miles a day, don't know if I'll be able to keep it up when I get home, but I'll try!
Am enjoying chilling out and it feels like ages since I actually went traveling now, and when I think of things I did in Thailand, it's so strange that I haven't even been home yet since I did that!
Anyway, tomorrow is the day of the baby...it's getting cut out at 10am. I'm here until next Tuesday and then I fly to Heathrow!
Kelsi and Logan 'shucking' some corn...
Is this supposed to be blank??
No, don't know what happened, have just loaded it again, you should be able to see it now...and I am just about to upload my final post...
That's better! Hurry up and get urself back here! Missed u at grapers this year! X