11 - 17 May 2010

Our travels have taken us far and wide since our update from Cuba - we have been having a brilliant time and hope to capture some of our time in this blog.

On leaving Cuba we headed back to the USA via Canada, however we had the delight of being stranded in Toronto for the night because of hurricane weather in Chicago. It was very interesting going through Canadian and US immigration and customs twice in a twelve hour period at the same airport and trying to explain why we were doing this! Luckily we went to the Travellers' Aid desk which is run by warm and friendly volunteers (who were just brilliant - we were ably and efficiently assisted by a woman like our dear friend Kathleen Edwards) and they were able to get us a very affordable room at the Sheraton at the airport as United Airlines do not accommodate you if you can't fly because of weather conditions - to make it even better, the room was fabulous and we got to sleep instead of sitting at airports all night.We were up at 4.30am the next morning to get a flight to Denver and then onto Sacramento - we made it in good time despite snow at Denver!At Sacramento we caught a shuttle bus to Davis and then hired a car to travel to Winters, the town where our wonderful friends Jade and Dali live, and were so kind to share their home with us whilst Lynda was visiting University of California Davis.Jade is a Professor of Drama and Theatre at UC Davis. Rachel did the driving and after two days started to relax a little behind the steering wheel and got a handle on the 4 stop signed crossroads, where there are no rules, except first there gets to go through!! This was a great place to learn to drive on the other side of the road as the travel was gentle and very polite.

The town of Davis hosts the campus of UC Davis in the centre of farmland, California style.California produces 50% of the agricultural produce for the USA, and California is the tenth largest economy in the world.UC Davis is one of the largest public universities in the USA.

We had an amazing time in Winters/Davis as Jade invited us to many of her social and work functions - starting with drinks at Bistro 33 for Professor Bella Merlin's birthday - we shared dinner, drinks, chats and laughter with actors, directors, set designers, lighting directors and scriptwriters who worked in LA (Hollywood), New York, San Francisco, London, Russia and other exotic and famous places.The next night we had a fabulous BBQ in Jade's wonderful garden oasis with Toni, a Physics PhD student, who has left a corporate career behind to join the fields of academia and teaching.We chatted and laughed over a few bottles of Napa Valley sparkling and red wine (Syrah).On Friday we drove out to Napa through the magical mountain range outside Winters - stunning scenery!Then that evening we joined Jade, Bella and Sarah to go to a dinner that was being put on by UC Davis scholarship students as a thank you to their teachers.These students received their scholarship by being in the top 5% of the high school students in California - they were so young and so grown up….are we getting older??Jade, Lynda and I got quite distressed over dinner as the students had decorated the tables with two small bowls at either end, each of which held a goldfish without any oxygen or food. When we asked about what was happening with the fish at the end of the dinner, no one seemed to know or care whether they were going to be looked after.After much questioning, Jade managed to talk with someone who assured her that the fish would be taken home and looked after…..but who really knows, and it was concerning that we seemed to be the only people concerned about the fish. Saturday was a gentle day - a trip to the movies to see "Vincere" - the film about Benito Mussolini's mistress, Ida - stunning film, but heart breaking.On Sunday, we explored the Farmer's Market at Winters which was fab - got our hands on organic greens, organic lamb, and lovely Mexican food (tamale) and stunning iced chai!!Sunday evening was very special as we were invited to a performance of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra at the grand Mondavi Performing Arts Centre. Bella was narrating the story that accompanied the Beethoven piece that was being performed. A stunning young woman opera singer sang as well.It was so beautiful and moving.As we were guests of Bella, we attended the reception prior to the performance which was quite grand and may be a taste of things to come with Lynda's new job!!!We drank and sang late into the night which was lots of fun, but had the great delight of getting up at 4am the next morning for our flight to Calgary via San Francisco!!! That will be the next installment - bye for now…………….but before we sign off we want to thank Jade and Dali for our unforgettable visit in California - you are legends!!