Look Out Erie, Here We Come!

With the West coast tour nearly complete, we drove back to Hollywood (via the OC) for 1 last night.

We finally found the Hollywood Sign

We stayed in a nice place right on Hollywood Boulevard, which was very convenient. It was a fairly quiet night considering the long day of flights ahead of us the next day. Plus a lot of places were taped off for the Grammy's.

Next stop Erie

The flight to Erie was via Philadelphia which was our first real taste of the cold ambiance. A short two hour layover and we were off to the white glaze of Erie. We were greeted by Rod Morrison, another UGL employee who is over here with his family for a similar secondment. As luck would have it Kristy's bags did not arrive. This is apparently a common treat in Erie as the planes are quite small and do not accommodate the extra large luggage most people bring with them when coming to a cold place.

The first night was spent at a local hotel which was by far the best that we had experienced yet. Rod gave us a guided tour of the town the following day which included a visit to some local pubs with "Randy" and "Dirk" (common American names) as well as a trip to the close by ski feilds. The runs although not long, are reasonable quality and operate unitl 10pm every night.

Fisherman fishing on the frozen Lake Erie

The car next door is snowed in

The first day in Erie was spectacular with sunlight all day and fresh snow over town. The day finished with a introduction to our home for the next 6 months. She's a beauty. No renovating required.

The frozen lake

Kristy on the toboggan (about to hit the tree)

Our hot rod of choice is a Pontiac GP, Hot Red. Not bad for a rental. Currently it is snowing and will continue over night (expecting about 15 inches over the next day or so) which should make the initial driving on the snow/ice even more challenging. Kristy even managed to lock us out of the house the second night we were here. We had dinner at Rod and Cheryl's house until the property manager came home to open the house with the spare key. She went to try her key to see if she had the right one, when she said 'how about i try the key in the door first?' - Kristy left the key in the front door for hours! Below are some shots of our new home (for 6 months).

Our House

The loungeroom

The kitchen

Our bedroom verandah is snowed in

Our room