*Time for another USA trip post. I can't believe it's coming up to a year since we went. The pressure is on to finish these trip posts before the year anniversary is here :-P
We left Utah on Monday 8th April to spend our last 3 days in Pollock Pines, California with Susanne and Brent Fox. Susanne Harrison (as she was then) served a mission for our church in Adelaide and was one of the beautiful sister missionaries who taught my mum about the church. Susanne and her companion, Sister Heather Allebes developed a very special friendship with my mum.
Ever since I can remember my mum would talk about these lovely women and the impact they had on her life. Mum had previously been taught by some Elders but it wasn't until Susanne and Heather connected with mum that everything just fell into place for her and she felt it was the right time to accept the gospel and join the church. She admired and respected these women so much and as mum said, they became like her own sisters.
Mum had been in touch on and off through the years with these ladies but it wasn't until just before our trip to the US that she reconnected with Susanne. She asked Susanne if we could possibly meet her in San Francisco or Sacramento or even stay with her for a night or 2. I felt a bit awkward initially but Susanne was enthusiastic about the idea and arranged time off work and went out of her way for us. We had originally planned to spend a night in San Francisco with her but Susanne injured her back so we stuck close to home in Pollock Pines. I did not mind at all. She felt terrible that we didn't get to San Francisco but none of us felt like we missed out on anything. In fact, our stay with Susanne was so invigorating and relaxing. It was just what we needed after the whirlwind schedule.
When Susanne met us at the airport we went into Sacramento to this gorgeous old Train museum. Will enjoyed it but I think Simeon & Pete had almost as much fun too. Pete seemed to really enjoy the tour. Will and I bailed on the tour and went upstairs to this great electric train display and spent ages up there watching this model train set and village come to life. After the museum it was really nice driving through the old part of Sacramento. It had a lovely feel to the place. Really clean, lots of nice looking places to eat etc. It's a shame we didn't have more time to just explore more of California. It seems like a fantastic state with lots of diverse environments and communities to explore.
Susanne and Brent own a huge block of land with Pines sweeping the landscape. As we drove into the little town of Pollock Pines it was just gorgeous. Dense forests and houses nestled in amongst nature. It is such a gorgeous place. It was like we took a collective sigh and just relaxed in this amazing environment.
Her house was like an old school log cabin. Brent had built it and it had so much character. The inside was gorgeous with that lovely smell of wood. Of course it was huge, like most of the homes in the USA. We all had lovely rooms to sleep in and a great porta-cot set up for Will.
We loved having time to just hang out and familiarise ourselves with the surroundings on that first day. Pete, Will and I went for a walk on the property and discovered some great machinery that Will enjoyed playing on. He loved the tractors and the big old truck that we saw on the property.
He also had a lot of fun playing with an old deflated basketball with Pete for ages and ages.
Unfortunately Brent was away logging so we didn't get to see him until our last night in Pollock Pines. He drove back home for 4 hours basically so he could say hi and then left again the next day. Hopefully next time we can spend more time with him and maybe even meet their 2 daughters, Heather and Tia.
Tuesday evening Susanne hosted a dinner with a great group of people and we met one of her Aussie friends (Denise) who lives in Pollock Pines with her hubby. She still had a thick Aussie accent - the really occa kind and we loved her to bits. It's amazing how at ease you can feel at a dinner party with someone you only met a day ago, along with a bunch of other complete strangers! Of course Will was winning hearts left right and centre as he does so well.
Susanne made us all feel so comfortable and we really relaxed and enjoyed the time to get to know her. We loved hearing about her impressions of Australia as a young women in the 80's on her mission, especially as she was quite new to our church then herself. It was lovely to hear about her impressions of our mum and what a dynamo she was back then too. Not that we doubted it! I loved looking through her old photo albums. Susanne was and still is a bit of a knockout ;-)
On Wednesday we packed a picnic and Susanne drove us to Lake Tahoe. She had mentioned that she'd like to take us there and I had readily agreed when she described the place prior to our trip. I was not prepared for how epic this place was and the awe inspiring scenery we would encounter. The drive up to the Lake was gorgeous and only took about 1-2 hours tops.
Although the mountains were snow topped and we encountered heaps of snow on the way there it was a brilliantly sunny and warm day. We couldn't have wished for better weather, especially in early Spring!
As we were eating lunch we were all imagining how unreal it would be to spend a summer here on the lake. Fishing, water sports, hiking. Sounds like a perfect family holiday. I said to Pete it would be fun to do with a bunch of friends too. I really enjoyed day-dreaming about this with my belly happy and the sun shining down on us.
Susanne had forewarned us that even in the middle of summer, Lake Tahoe was icy cold. She wasn't wrong. Yikes. My feet were numb within seconds!
I can't remember if we did much in the evening when we returned to Susanne's but we were leaving the next day so we had packing and sorting to do. It was nice not having to get up early and rush off the next day. I don't think we left Susanne's until lunchtime. I know Peter, Sim and I crammed in a trip to Walmart sometime either the night before or that morning. I stocked up on make-up and other odds and ends and Pete bought a bunch of DVD's. We joked about buying the hand-gun that was so casually for sale on the shelf! Walmart is an interesting place. Like a really poor man's K-mart but great for grocery and personal items. Our suitcases were bursting at the seams which limited what we bought but we did pretty well overall!
Susanne drove us to Sacramento Airport and it was bittersweet saying goodbye. We had been so tired and a touch homesick when we arrived at her place but left feeling rejuvenated and actually wishing we'd had more time with her in her gorgeous part of the world.
We left Utah on Monday 8th April to spend our last 3 days in Pollock Pines, California with Susanne and Brent Fox. Susanne Harrison (as she was then) served a mission for our church in Adelaide and was one of the beautiful sister missionaries who taught my mum about the church. Susanne and her companion, Sister Heather Allebes developed a very special friendship with my mum.
Ever since I can remember my mum would talk about these lovely women and the impact they had on her life. Mum had previously been taught by some Elders but it wasn't until Susanne and Heather connected with mum that everything just fell into place for her and she felt it was the right time to accept the gospel and join the church. She admired and respected these women so much and as mum said, they became like her own sisters.
Mum had been in touch on and off through the years with these ladies but it wasn't until just before our trip to the US that she reconnected with Susanne. She asked Susanne if we could possibly meet her in San Francisco or Sacramento or even stay with her for a night or 2. I felt a bit awkward initially but Susanne was enthusiastic about the idea and arranged time off work and went out of her way for us. We had originally planned to spend a night in San Francisco with her but Susanne injured her back so we stuck close to home in Pollock Pines. I did not mind at all. She felt terrible that we didn't get to San Francisco but none of us felt like we missed out on anything. In fact, our stay with Susanne was so invigorating and relaxing. It was just what we needed after the whirlwind schedule.
When Susanne met us at the airport we went into Sacramento to this gorgeous old Train museum. Will enjoyed it but I think Simeon & Pete had almost as much fun too. Pete seemed to really enjoy the tour. Will and I bailed on the tour and went upstairs to this great electric train display and spent ages up there watching this model train set and village come to life. After the museum it was really nice driving through the old part of Sacramento. It had a lovely feel to the place. Really clean, lots of nice looking places to eat etc. It's a shame we didn't have more time to just explore more of California. It seems like a fantastic state with lots of diverse environments and communities to explore.
Susanne and Brent own a huge block of land with Pines sweeping the landscape. As we drove into the little town of Pollock Pines it was just gorgeous. Dense forests and houses nestled in amongst nature. It is such a gorgeous place. It was like we took a collective sigh and just relaxed in this amazing environment.
Her house was like an old school log cabin. Brent had built it and it had so much character. The inside was gorgeous with that lovely smell of wood. Of course it was huge, like most of the homes in the USA. We all had lovely rooms to sleep in and a great porta-cot set up for Will.
We loved having time to just hang out and familiarise ourselves with the surroundings on that first day. Pete, Will and I went for a walk on the property and discovered some great machinery that Will enjoyed playing on. He loved the tractors and the big old truck that we saw on the property.
Will looks so sleepy in these photos. He was such a trooper!
Unfortunately Brent was away logging so we didn't get to see him until our last night in Pollock Pines. He drove back home for 4 hours basically so he could say hi and then left again the next day. Hopefully next time we can spend more time with him and maybe even meet their 2 daughters, Heather and Tia.
Tuesday evening Susanne hosted a dinner with a great group of people and we met one of her Aussie friends (Denise) who lives in Pollock Pines with her hubby. She still had a thick Aussie accent - the really occa kind and we loved her to bits. It's amazing how at ease you can feel at a dinner party with someone you only met a day ago, along with a bunch of other complete strangers! Of course Will was winning hearts left right and centre as he does so well.
Susanne made us all feel so comfortable and we really relaxed and enjoyed the time to get to know her. We loved hearing about her impressions of Australia as a young women in the 80's on her mission, especially as she was quite new to our church then herself. It was lovely to hear about her impressions of our mum and what a dynamo she was back then too. Not that we doubted it! I loved looking through her old photo albums. Susanne was and still is a bit of a knockout ;-)
On Wednesday we packed a picnic and Susanne drove us to Lake Tahoe. She had mentioned that she'd like to take us there and I had readily agreed when she described the place prior to our trip. I was not prepared for how epic this place was and the awe inspiring scenery we would encounter. The drive up to the Lake was gorgeous and only took about 1-2 hours tops.
This shot was taken as the Lake first came into view
Although the mountains were snow topped and we encountered heaps of snow on the way there it was a brilliantly sunny and warm day. We couldn't have wished for better weather, especially in early Spring!
Boy my pregnant belly is looking obvious...actually I just look fat here!
This was the only photo we had altogether. Thank goodness for fellow tourists around to take this photo.
Isn't it just magical!!! Our trusty point and shoot camera still made the place look amazing.
We all loved climbing down a big hill to check out this waterfall
Pete and Sim were more adventurous and actually went off the beaten track.
We drove to a different area right on the lake and had lunch on one of the many jetties. Being out in the brilliant sunshine with the reflection of the lake, it was surprisingly toasty. As we discovered later that evening we all managed to get a bit sunburnt! I felt terrible for Will as I'm usually paranoid about protecting his delicate fair skin. He was ok though, just faintly red on the back of his neck and ears with sun-kissed cheeks.
As we were eating lunch we were all imagining how unreal it would be to spend a summer here on the lake. Fishing, water sports, hiking. Sounds like a perfect family holiday. I said to Pete it would be fun to do with a bunch of friends too. I really enjoyed day-dreaming about this with my belly happy and the sun shining down on us.
After lunch we began making our way to the other side of the lake (Actually in the state of Nevada) but ended up stopping for a second lunch. Mainly Pete's idea! Our picnic of wraps, sandwiches and fruit weren't really his idea of a yummy lunch. On the way to the Lake we passed a little burger joint that Susanne had heard was really good. Pete was determined to see whether they were the best burgers (that was the claim on the sign). They were yummy, but not the best I've had. Especially when you consider the burgers in Tassie at 'Burger Got Soul', or even 'Grilled'. Everything in the US seems to come with a side of grease which I just didn't handle well at all. The fries were very interesting - we tried pesto fries. Sounded interesting in theory. In reality we tried 1 or 2 and then dumped the remainder...bit of a shame really. We loved our chocolate shakes though. That's something they do well in the USA.
This part of the lake was had a playground and was covered in sand and then pebbles and rocks towards the waters edge. Not so easy on the feet.
We all still enjoyed dipping our feet in the clear icy water and squealching our toes in the pebbly goodness
We were all so happy being at the Lake. We didn't want to leave and stayed until the last possibly moment. Will was so tired by the end of the day though and he wasn't the only one!!
I can't remember if we did much in the evening when we returned to Susanne's but we were leaving the next day so we had packing and sorting to do. It was nice not having to get up early and rush off the next day. I don't think we left Susanne's until lunchtime. I know Peter, Sim and I crammed in a trip to Walmart sometime either the night before or that morning. I stocked up on make-up and other odds and ends and Pete bought a bunch of DVD's. We joked about buying the hand-gun that was so casually for sale on the shelf! Walmart is an interesting place. Like a really poor man's K-mart but great for grocery and personal items. Our suitcases were bursting at the seams which limited what we bought but we did pretty well overall!Susanne drove us to Sacramento Airport and it was bittersweet saying goodbye. We had been so tired and a touch homesick when we arrived at her place but left feeling rejuvenated and actually wishing we'd had more time with her in her gorgeous part of the world.
