USA

Our 2007 trip to the US was part of a great round-the-world ticket we bought from Flight Center in Sydney Australia that took us from Sydney to Johannesburg, Johannesburg to Paris, then overland from Paris to London, and a flight from London to New York, then overland from New York to Vancouver, Canada, and then Vancouver to Honolulu, Hawaii and finally Honolulu to Sydney. What a great year that was!

We hadn't been to the US for three years and so in the NY/NJ area we concentrated on catching up with friends and family. When looking around for a way to get to Vancouver, Chicago was an obvious layover point and since Gerry's brother had just moved to the Chicago suburbs, it became a no-brainer. We spent a great five days with Allen and Barbara, Chuck and Jennifer, Rachel and Kate. And then as the icing on the cake, most of the Chicago cousins got together for a Sunday brunch. Gerry's maternal grandparents settled in Chicago when they immigrated from Tsarist Ukraine just before World War I and so there is still a strong family contingent in the city.