Green Bay Wisconsin: Pop. 102,313 plus one kiwi chick

Well, I made it safe and sound from France to Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA, home of the Green Bay Packers, Cheeseheads and of course half my family! Apparently the US is in the middle of a heatwave, so its been a good continuation of the baking heat from Europe, although there's a lot more aircon...

I'm here for a little over a week, staying with my Aunt Amy and Uncle Rick, visiting family and chilling out (not literally of course) before heading back to winter in NZ for two weeks. Its been great to relax, go to joga to stretch out the cycling muscles (I'm the most inflexible person in the class), heading to the pool and even the gym!

Over the weekend we migrated north to Amy and Rick's log cabin in the woods, situated on a small lake about an hour north of Green Bay. Plenty of activities to do, including exploring the lake and stream by kayak, swimming, cycling through the woods and a four hour ATV/quad bike mission with my cousin Brandon through the woods. Lots of wildlife to be seen, both real and plastic (deer, bears, fish, loones etc). This was all topped off by a roaring campfire (maybe just a little too close to the cabin) that included dining on "smores", an American classic. Brian and Brenda, Greg and Gretchen, and Mark and Jessica also joined us, and it was hillarious listening to the Johnson family tales of the antics that those Johnson Boys got up to in their youth.... very amusing.

Mark and Jessica invited me to go on a cycling tour of Green Bay to check out the neighbourhood that my mom/mum and family grew up in: from the Cass Street house, St Mary's, and the parks, to the various beer drinking locations and other hangouts of the Johnson Boys. A great way to see the town, even if it got up to 100 degrees F!

I also caught up with Lola and Dave Daniels, who took me on a tour of the Packer Stadium: Lambeau Field... an icon of Green Bay.

As you do, I've been teaching the cussy-bro's a few kiwi phrases to complement their burgening kiwi accents (although it sounds a lot more like clipped english accents to me): "sweet as" (sweet as what?); "criky"; "howzit"; etc. I've also tried to broaden their cultural horizons with such antipodian classics as "The Castle" and "Bro Town", just in case they head down under.

I begin the final leg of my journey tommorrow.... am about to start making Door County Cherry Pie for dessert tonite... (ummmm cherries). Then its back to the airport for another round of pleading about my bike getting through without extra charges.... as long as I'm not reduced to tears it should be okay : )