Sunday 26th August ~ All three of us were so tired after the fun of the past week that we spent the day lazing about in our suite watching tv, catching up with the computer, walking Caesar and sleeping ;o)

It was nice to be able to collect our thoughts a bit and do not very much!

Mobility ~ I've had a couple of emails from friends asking how my new mobility products are holding up. For those who don't know, my new wheelchair and trike both arrived just days before we left for USA.

The chair is very comfortable and the seat angle suits me so much better, helping with posture and so on. As far as the chair is concerned there has only been one real hiccup, that was while we were in Chicago. I suddenly felt very lop sided and checked to find one of the front wheels had managed to buckle under. When we got back to the hotel we managed to get a maintenance man to assist us (would you believe the new £3000 / $6000 chair came with no tools)? We managed to get the wheel back to where it should be and it hasn't given us any problems since. When we arrived in Michigan we made jolly sure we bought the vitasl tools in case this happens again.

As far as the new trike is concerned, it too has only had a couple of hiccups. The new battery has twice shown it has plenty of charge and then within minutes gone so flat the trike switches off. Fortunately once we were in the hotel car park anyway, but on the other occasion we got a bit standed some way from the car.

Goldstock ~ The Golden Retriever summer camp is being held next weekend and I've also had a couple of emails asking if we are going as we are in USA. The answer, in short is no. Although we had a good time last year, there were some things that went on there peripherally, that really bothered us. The site isn't ideal for a wheelchair user and there isn't an accessible toilet in the place ... that said, it is sometimes possible to "get by" with a bit of help. The major reason for choosing not to go was the behaviour of some of the folks there last year, leaving their dogs locked in cars while they went off and socialised in bars and restaurants. Why drive your dog across the country to go to a dog event and leave it locked in a hot and stuffy car while you enjoy yourself? Makes no sense to me, particularly knowing that Dogs Die in Hot Cars.

Saturday 25th August ~ We were all up early this morning as noise at the hotel woke us. NOT a good start to the day.

At 10am Tanya and Brooke left us to drive home to Ohio ... we were sad to see them go, but know we'll be meeting up again soon at the Assistance Dogs Europe Conference in Frankfurt in October.

Drie & Darryl, geocaching friends who live nearby our hotel arrived shortly afterwards to collect us and take us geocaching. They had kindly arranged an event to coincide with our visit and we started the day off well with completing an Earthcache together at Lake St Clair. The event was brilliant, we met so many geocachers, swapped coins, travel bugs and cachng stories and so on. Afterwards we went to a Johnny D's Coney Island Diner for dinner (this was a taste of America as we have seen in the movies) and some cache and dash caches afterwards. It was a brilliant day, we all had such fun, even Caesar with all the love and attention he was getting. We met many wonderful people today, who embraced us as part of the geocaching family. Thank you all.

By the time we got back to the hotel we were exhausted and just about had time for a quick drink before settling for an early night.

Friday 24th August ~ Our last morning in Frankenmuth, the days here have flown by and we have all enjoyed staying in this pretty and friendly town. After an early breakfast we did some last minute shopping and set about packing the car up for the trip back to Troy. We decided to do one last geocache in Frankenmuth, which took us to a beautiful little spot along the river and then on the way back we popped back to Birch Run for Karen to do some last minute shopping. We had lunch there and set off.

We stopped off at Indian Springs Metropark at White Lake, just outside Pontiac to do an earthcache, a special type of geocache, which centred around puddingstones. This was really fascinating, and we were sorry we didn't have more time to spend exploring the park.

A puddingstone aka Jasper Metaconglomerate in Wendys' hand.

We eventually arrived back in Troy just after 6pm and it started to rain as we were unloading the car ... that didn't stop Karen getting up to some high jinks though ... the sight of her skateboarding / surfing across the car park on the hotel luggage trolley is something Tanya and Wendy won't forget in a hurry, it was so funny we all fell about laughing.

No sooner had we got inside the thunder and lightening started ... seemed worse than we had experienced in Frankenmuth the past couple of nights and we watched as the car park got covered in water. We put the tv on to see Tornado Warnings for our area! Holy Smoke! Karen & Wendy had never witnessed anything like this before ... the local news was giving reports of tornadoes touching down in the district we had driven from just an hour earlier. Scary stuff, but we were inside and all fine, the biggest job was keeping enough noise in the room that the dogs didn't get afraid.

We spent the evening relaxing eating pizza and reflecting on the wonderful few days we'd had upstate.

A news image of the Fenton Tornado, Michigan, Friday 24th August 2007

Thursday 23rd August ~ This was to be the last full day together for us all, as Carol was heading off on further travels towards the end of the day.

We had a prompt start after breakfast and headed down to River Place to take a ride on the riverboat, that was fun and showed us parts of Frankenmuth we hadn't previously seen. We took plenty of photos there and then headed back to the shops for some last minute buys before heading off to Bronners. We did the geocache outside, and then headed into the Christmas store. By this stage both Tanya and Carol had developed more than a passing interest in geocaching!

We lost track of time while Christmas shopping and left sometime after 6pm. Carol set off to visit friends further upstate and Tanya, Karen and Wendy set off to get a meal and spent the evening relaxing in our hotel room, we were all, including the dogs Brooke & Caesar, exhausted!

Late evening jacuzzis are so relaxing!

The Yellow Hummer Girls on Tour!

The Bavarian Belle Riverboat

Beautiful Frankenmuth

All shopped out!
It's Christmas! Bronners' style!

I wonder if Caesar realised he's never seen Mary & Joseph in August before?

Wednesday 22cnd August ~ In the morning we met with Karens' friend Dee and her family. We all had lunch at the Bavarian Inn and took a walk around some more shops in Frankenmuth. Early afternoon, we parted, having spent several fun hours together and Tanya, Carol, Karen & Wendy headed for the Outlet Mall at Birch Run. Karen & Wendy were in paradise, having never seen such a huge shopping mall before. We made sure we visited the Nike store, The North Face store, the Columbia Store, the Big Dogs store and the Reebok & Adidas stores. So much to choose from, so little room in our cases, we were overwhelemed at how much cheaper all these brand goods are in USA compared to the UK and Europe.

Of course, while we were in the area we had to find the micro geocache placed at a nearby restaurant ;o) Well, it would have been rude not to, wouldn't it?

In the evening we all went to the laser show at River Place but it was overcast and a thunder and lightening storm was closeby. Consequently, the lasers couldn't be seen that well, so we nipped off before the end and went to see the lights at 25 Christmas Lane, aka Bronners' Christmas Wonderland. How surreal was that? Driving down a lane with more Christmas lights that we had ever seen in one place before in the thrid week of August!!!!!!!! It was, nevertheless, magical! There was over 1/2 a mile of Christams lights to enjoy!

After such a hectic day, we were glad of the jacuzzi in our room to relax!

Tuesday 21st August ~ Our first full day in Frankenmuth, we enjoyed walking down the main street, browsing and stopping in all the small shops. We had lunch and more shopping. Wendy & Karen were feeling tired so took a nap in the afternoon while Carol & Tanya kept right on shopping!

In the evening we met up with a geocaching contact called Gary, who joined us for dinner and to learn a little more about assistance dogs. We had a super evening, swapping geocaching stories as well as the all important assistance dog info. We had a wonderful evening and we were allso pleased to have met you Gary.

Carol nipped off to watch the lasder show again before joining the rest of us goirls in the swimming pool and jacuzzi area in our hotel. A very relaxing way to end the day!

Carol spotted this fantastic Golden nightshirt for Wendy...

...and Tanya found her this wonderful Golden shirt! Shopping by proxy!

Monday 20th August ~ Today we said goodbye to some of our fellow Board Members, and Tanya & Carol, Wendy & Karen (and dogs) travelled upstate Michigan to the town of Frankenmuth. A Baviarian town in the heart of Michigan!

We had a rainy drive up, stopping only in the town of Clio to do a couple of geocaches and have some KFC! Oooh, you get so much more in a protion of KFC here than you do at home! In fact all the protions of food here are so big, we have barely finished a single meal in the past fortnight!

Pleasingly, by the time we arrived in Frankenmuth it has stopped raining and we were able to unload the cars in the dry and get settled into our suites.

We visited the Bavarian Inn Roof Garten for our evening meal ... very unusual, everything Bavarian right here in Michigan!

Afterwards we headed off to the laser show at River Plaza which was enjoyable but rather chilly!

At the end of the day we enjoyed a jacuzzi in our suite before settling down for the night.

The Bavarian Inn, Frankenmuth

Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th August ~ Both days were taken up with IAADP Board Meetings for Wendy and we made sure we had some value R&R in the evenings, enjoying another meal at Baileys' Bar & Grill and on Sunday at The Olive Garden Restaurant in Rochester Hills.

On Sunday evening we had some fun with Ed & Toni & Jill, fellow Board Members trying to take photos of four boisterous Goldens! Keebler and the boys, Latrell, Uriah and Caesar were having so much fun chasing and play fighting eachother that it was a pretty tall order getting them to sit still for some portraits.

Keebler, Toni, Ed & Latrell Eames enjoy a special moment

Who said what? R to L, Latrell, Uriah, Keebler & Caesar
Latrell & Keebler (Ed & Toni Eames' Guide Dogs) relaxing together

Friday August 17th ~ First day of the IAADP Board Meeting which took up pretty much all of the day. In the early evening, Carol, Karen, Jill (with Uriah her hearing dog) and Wendy headed to Birmingham township just up the road to watch the Woodward Dream Cruise. It has been the "talk of the town" and on the tv news so we were keen to investigate what it was all about. It was fantastic watching allthe old classic cars cruisning up and down the street ... they were all beautiful, a testament to the many many hours spent by their owners restoring them to their former glory, or "pimping" them for todays' fun! We felt we had stepped back in time for a moment!

A taste of the Dream Cruise ... wonderful!

Afterwards we rejoined the rest of the Board and headed to Red Hot & Blue Southern Style BBQ Pit. What a great place ... oodles of food at very reasonable prices by USA standards, dirt cheap by British standards! Karen enjoyed a rack of ribs and chicken combo with sweet potato & coleslaw, while Wendy had southern style chicken, hush puppies, and coleslaw. All with biscuits (which aren't real biscuits as us Brits know them, more like rock cakes without the currants)! We finished off with a slice of Florida Lime Pie (W) and a mammoth slice (4 layers) of delicious chocolate fudge cake (K). The portions were so large we ended up sharing with the rest of the table!

All the drinks were served in individual pitchers, here's Tanya enjoying hers!

Thursday 16th August ~ After a lazy start, Carol, Tanya, Karen & Wendy (with respective dogs) headed to Boulan Park in Troy to give the dogs a run and also for Wendy & Karen to show Tanya some geocaching. It was lovely sitting in the shade under a tree watching the dogs enjoy themselves. We set off and found, without too much difficulty two geocaches in the woodland area of the park, this made a real change as usually when abroad we're restricted to micro caches in town and city centres.

We went to Subway in the local Walmart store for lunch as in the afternoon Karen, Tanya & Carol headed off to the airport to collect other members of the IAADP board. Wendy and Caesar stayed back at the hotel to catch up on some paperwork and so on.

It was wonderful to see everyone again and in the evening we headed to the local Baileys' Bar & Grill for supper.

Yellow Hummer Girls on Tour!

Take a tour of Karen, Wendy & Caesars' suite:

Wednesday 15th August ~ Today we (Karen, Wendy & Caesar) went with Carol (& Heart) & Tanya (& Brooke) to Detroit Zoo, which should have been hassle free ... however, we had access issues, and a couple of members of the zoo staff singled Carol out for special questionning as her assistance dog, Heart is a Yorkshire Terrier and smaller than what might normally be expected for an assistance dog. What followed was unacceptable, questinning by no fewer than four zoo staff and being followed throughout the park by one over zealous staff member.

We spent quite some time at the end of our visit trying to explain to the customer care team that this was not good practice nor acceptable. Detroit Zoo is not somewhere I shall be hurrying back to, and the whole experience was a world away from that which we experienced in San Diego zoo last year.

On the plus side, we did see some interesting and new (for Karen & Wendy) animals.

L to R: Brooke, Tanya, Wendy, Caesar, Carol & Heart

Tuesday 14th August ~ We were up early this morning putting the finishing touches to our packing and right on cue at 10.50am our paratransit arrived to take us to the airport. We flew with Northwest Airlines from Chicago to Detroit, not altogether the easiest flight I have taken. Having requested pre boarding (and this request was accepted) I actually boarded the plane last with just 10 minutes to take off, some 10 minutes after the last allowed boarding for security reasons. NWA had overlooked the fact that I needed a lift on board, seems that booking months ahead and making a request at check in and the gate still doesn't gaurantee anything!

Anyway, after the humiliation of being lifted in front of the other passengers we were on our way. Only to discover that somewhere en route they had managed to scratch my new wheelchair :o( Certainly that was the straw that broke the camels back for me and I made a complaint. I was delighted that the CRO accepted what had happened was unacceptable and promptly offered me a voucher for future travel.

Once we recovered our luggage we met up with Carol & Tanya, fellow IAADP Board members, and they arranged transport to our hotel in Troy, Michigan. We're in exactly the same suite as last year which suits us well.

We spent the evening catching up and went for dinner at a local Big Boy restaurant.

Monday 13th August ~ We awoke just after 8am and made a phone call to see if we could get onto a tour leaving at 10am. We got a booking and at 10am set off on The Untouchables Gangster tour. The company get 4/10 from us in terms of accessability and staff helpfullness ... one chap had to sit on my folded up wheelchair throughout the two hour tour! No help getting on or off the non accessible bus either! This was by far the worst access experience we have had in Chicago. Other than that, it was an interesting tour of all the gangster sites, and a good tour of some of the areas of the city which we hadn't seen before.

After a quick rest back at the hotel we set off for some serious shopping at The North Face store where most of the clothes were considerably cheaper than they are at home.

On our walk downtown we stopped off to visit Holy Name Cathedral. Although dating from the late nineteenth century, this cathedral had some wonderful modern architecture and for us will be remembered for two things; the wheelchair accessible altar & confessional inside and the bullet hole in the outside from a gangster spat in the 1920s.

We spent the rest of the day resting and packing as tonight is our last night in Chicago. We have both enjoyed it tremendously and wouldn;t hesitate in coming back.

Sunday 12th August ~ We had a bit of a lie in today as we slept til almost 9am! Our bodies must be getting used to the time difference.

After breakfast we set off for the Sears Tower, the one time tallest building in the world, now I think it is third tallest. It's 1450 feet high and 110 storeys. It was quite a clear view from the top and we were able to pick out all the places where we have been on this visit including our hotel! The views were fantastic. Conveniently, there is a virtual geocache at the top so we were able to log that while up there!

Listen; when I tug your ear, you poke your tongue out, ok?

Even Caesar enjoyed the views!

The sweetest most charming Golden anyone could ever wish to meet.

On the way back to our hotel we stopped for a late lunch at The Rainforest Cafe ... what an experience! It really was like entering a forest and lots to see. Part way through our lunch there was a simulated thunderstorm, I was a bit concerned as Caesar doesn;t like thunder at the best of times, but seemingly, it wasn't all that true to life as he didnt bat an eyelid! Mind you, the same thing happened when I played a thunderstorm cd to try and desensitise him ... he just looked at me as if to say, "I'm only scared of the real thing silly"

Posers!

After that we made our way back to the hotel for a rest and a nap. In the evening we were out again, this time to the Observatory at The Hancock Tower! This tower is 100 stroeys high. It was fantastic to see Chicago all lit up at night, we were really struck by the straightness of the roads.

We had an enjoyable walk back afterwards along The Magnificent Mile shopping district, and even after 11pm it was still very warm and muggy.

We found out what happened in the building across the street yesterday, the rubbish chute had caught fire causing considerable damage inside the building ... we saw it all on the evening news!

Saturday 11th August ~ As seems to be the case at the moment, we were awake and up early because of our jet lag (around 6am). We had breakfast in our room and headed out at 9am. It took us some time to apply sun block to ourselves and to Caesar ... he kept trying to lick his off! (Specially formulated for dogs, so hopefully not damaging if licked)!

There was just one thing on the agenda today, geocaching! The Geocachers of Northern Illinois (GONIL) had arranged a meet up for us and we were delighted so many folks turned up. We met at the site of a geocache in Millenium Park and exchanged stories, travel bugs and coins etc., then set off for some serious geocaching.

Our geocaching tour took us through Millenium Park and Grant Park, down to the Museum Campus finishing with a webcam at the Planetarium. We walked just about 6 miles in scorching heat with frequent stops for cold water, ices and refreshments. As we progressed we were treated to even better views of the city behind us.

Karen & Caesar at the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park

Finally about 3pm, Karen, Caesar and I took a taxi back to our hotel so that we could all cool down and take a nap. We'd had a superb time and made many marvellous new friends ... certainly a day to remember for a long long time.

In the evening, just as we were leaving the htoel we thought we could smell cooking, we got outside to discover upwards of 40 fire and rescue tenders, sirens, flashing lights, a helicopter overhead and a TV news van round the corner. The roads were cordoned off as it seemed there was some sort of fire in the block opposite our hotel. We picked our way through and went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. We had a super time there, cocktails and all! We had hoped to go to go out afterwards but decided it has been a tiring day and made our way back to the hotel again to relax.

The cocktails were called "Hurricanes" consisting of a blend of orange, mango and pineapple juice infused with Bacardi Superior Rum, Bacardi Select Rum, Disaronno Amaretto and Finest Call Grenadine garnished with orange and Maraschino cherry ... delicious!!!!!!

A rather sunblushed Wendy with Hurricane!

Friday 10th August ~ This morning we tried breakfast in our hotel, very nice but SO much of it! After that we headed off to the Magnificent Mile shopping district, Niketown, Maceys and one or two others.

We found three geocaches along the way although that wasn't the specific purpose of our trip downtown. We bought some wonderful salads for lunch at the Food Life store and headed back to our hotel to eat them, we rested a while and then enoyed a dip in the hotel pool and jacuzzi. That left us exhausted so we needed an afternoon nap!

At least in our hotel room there is excellent air con so Caesar is able to relax comfortably (as well as us of course)!

We had a lazy evening and did a bit of grocery shopping last thing, the heat is very tiring for all of us, it seems hotter in the evenings than at most times of the day.

Thursdsay 9th August ~ We were up early, not able to sleep and hungry! We headed out of the hotel and walked to Navy Pier where we had breakfast at McDonalds! We really enjoyed wandering around all the attractions, doing a bit of shopping and even found a micro geocache. About lunch time we took a boat for an architectural tour of Chicago, it took us out onto Lake Michigan where there are fantastic views of the city skyline and then up the Chicago River (via a lock). We saw all the highest and most interesting buildings from the boat and also enjoyed a really good commentary about the history of building in Chicago.
After the 90 minute boat trip we headed off for Olive Park, a shady park named after Milton Olive who won the Congressional Medal of Honor (posthumously) for bravery in Vietnam. Karen took Caesar for a dip in the ornamental fountain while Wendy nipped off to find another microcache! From there we headed back to the hotel, picked up something to eat on the way and had a nap, we were all pretty tired.

Just after 6 we headed off to the Cadillac Palace Theatre a few blocks away where we really enjoyed seeing the show "The Color Purple".

Wednesday 8th August ~ We arrived safely in Chicago after a very enjoyable flight in First Class! Our ground shuttle met us and we were soon in our hotel in Downtown Chicago. Superb room with a small park adjacent to exercise Caesar.

The only shock of the day was that Chicago is 6 hours behind London, and not five as we originally thought!

Our first stop was a Petco store about 6 blocks away to buy some food for Caesar, then a nearby grocery store to buy some snacks, very conveniently our room has a microwave and fridge so we are all set up! Special thanks to Petco for giving Caesar a welcome to America goodie bag!

A quick stop by the Chicago Tribune Building near our hotel to complete our first geocache in the city and then we retired for something to eat and an early night. It had been a very long day, but everything went according to plan and we're all very happy with the way our trip has begun.

Packing, packing, packing, one made rush as usual!

Tomorrow we arrive in Chicago, Illinois and I think both Karen and I will be glad of the rest!
The few days prior to our leaving have been very hectic indeed! At last the long awaited arrival of Wendys' new wheelchair and trike ... although neither went as smoothly as one might have hoped, especially when spending such a good deal of money! At least they are both working fine, even if the promised spares didn't arrive in time!

On Sunday, we were lucky enough to have tickets to see Manchester United play Chelsea at the new Wembley Stadium in the Community Shield match, 1-1 at full time and then United went on to win 4-1 after penalties ... wey hey, what a match! The Stadium really is fantastic, we got our first sight of it when we attended the Concert for Diana last month, but to see it ready for a football match was quite different. We had a great view from our seats and what a pleasure it was to see room for so many wheelchair users to enjoy the match.

Caesar sailed through his final check up at the vets prior to travelling, and showed great interest as the bags were being packed! If only he realised there's no food in his bag! That will be our first stop after transferring from the airport to the hotel ... the nearest pet store to buy his food. Thankfully, it isn't too far away from our hotel, they have his usual food in stick and it is not one that has been involved in the recent pet food poison scandal in the USA.