Boring places

Mom: Today, we'll go to the Pacific Ocean!
Filip: I don't want to go to the beach, there is nothing to do! I want to stay here and watch TV...

Have my kids seen too much???

Day 21: The Pacific Ocean!

"Yeah, this is America, baby" as Billy would have said... We found the Pacific Ocean, and a beach for ourselves. Could be because the temperature was 60F (15C).... And we could drive the car all the way down to the water! On the way back, we ended up on the totally wrong road, but suddenly found ourselves on the famous Tacoma Bridge, all of you engineers know it as the bridge that fell down in a storm due to self excitation (the engineers didn't know their math).

After a total mileage of 5000 miles, our trip is over. We've travelled from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. We've seen beautiful places, and met lots of interesting (and strange) people. I guess it will take some months to understand what we've done and seen. Tonight, we'll eat Alaskan King Crab legs, as we've seen on Discovery Channel. And tomorrow, we'll fly out of Seattle, in Business Class!

I will continue to write on this blog for a while, so that you in America can see how our Swedish life is.

Day 20: Seattle WA

Not a good day... Cold and windy... And, I think we're ready to go home. Seattle is actually a slight disappointment, not the city we thought it would be. Bad traffic and kind of shabby. And EXPENSIVE parking! Anyway, we went up in the Space Needle, and went on a Duck tour with an amfibie vehicle. The Duck tour was fun, with a crazy guide, and sightseeing on both land and water. We have now seen the famous house boat from "Sleepless in Seattle". In the afternoon, we went back to the hotel, all of us a little tired.

Tomorrow, we'll go to the ocean, which is 2 hours west of Seattle. We have to see the Pacific Ocean, so that it is a true Coast-to-coast tour. We actually started the tour in Norfolk VA, when we dropped off our two cars that should be in Sweden any day now.

Southern manners

I realized today that I'm adjusted to the Southern way of life. We had lunch at Wendy's, and as always I ordered iced tea. But here in the North, they only have unsweetened iced tea... Undrinkable after two years with Southern sweet tea...

Day 19: Drive to Kent (Seattle) WA

Today we reached our 15th and last state, Washington. The drive through Idaho and Washington was very scenic. But now we are tired of mountains... We also found a mountain range that we didn't know existed, Cascade Mountains east of Seattle. Very beautiful.

The best thing today is the apartment I've rented! It has two floors, two bedrooms and a kitchen (and 3 TVs!). Wow! The kids just loved to get a bedroom by themselves on the upper floor. And both free breakfast and free dinner! Like being on vacation... Guess we have travelled a long time now... When I booked the hotels two months ago and found this extended stay hotel, I guessed that we would love it after almost three weeks on hotels, and I was right...

Tomorrow, we'll probably just walk around in downtown Seattle. We've driven 800 miles in two days now (and before that many hours in Yellowstone) and are kind of tired of the car.

Day 18: Drive to Wallace ID

Today, we had a long, but sometimes very scenic, drive to Wallace. We have driven through the Rocky Mountains, along the 2nd Northern Trans-Atlantic Railway. Wallace is a small historic town, with an old silver mine. We will have a quiet evening here.

Tomorrow, we'll reach our final destination: Seattle WA! So far, our total mileage is more than 4000 miles...

Rock lesson

We have stopped at a lake in Gran Teton, and are looking for some nice small rocks to bring home to Sweden.

Oskar: Dad, look at this rock, isn't it great?
Dad: Yes, but sad that the rocks are the most beautiful when they are wet.
Oskar: That's why I only pick wet rocks!

Day 17: Grand Teton NP

Today was the first day with some bad weather. Which made the long trip to Grand Teton NP, south of Yellowstone, kind of too long. Grand Teton is famous for its high mountains, 13-14 000 feet. And today, all the summits were covered in clouds... But we saw some more beautiful scenery and more buffalos on the way, so we had fun despite the rain. And I can tell all you Americans, that the Alpes in Europe are as amazing... Fredrik and I have skied on a mountain in France at 13 000 feet elevation...

Tomorrow, we'll leave Montana and Yellowstone, and go all the way to Wallace ID.

Citation from Oskar

"Dad, why can't I get close to the buffalos? I got close to the prairie dogs."

Yeah, as there is just a slight difference between a buffalo and a prairie dog...

Day 16: Yellowstone NP

Ok, so finally we have come to Yellowstone. According to all sightseeing books, one of the most beautiful places in America. At least it is really special and amazing. We started off by looking at all the geysers. The whole area is full of them. Can't really remember if I've seen geysers before. After that we drove around the park, stopping at several places. Two places will I always remember: The Lower Falls and all the buffalo valley, see the photos. The Lower falls are 300 feet high and placed in a really beautiful canyon. The buffalos were everywhere, we have photos of them standing just by the road. But the photo shows a valley, where a large herd of buffalos could be seen. Really amazing animals! We also saw lots of deer.

However, the kids thought the best thing was the chipmunks (swe: ekorrar typ Piff och Puff) that they hand fed with bread at a rest area... Kids just see things differently, don't they?

Day 15: Drive to West Yellowstone MT

Yippie!!! We have Internet. But only if the sun is shining and we sit in the hotel reception...

Anyway, this day we spent on driving to West Yellowstone. On the way we stopped at Little Bighorn, the place for the famous battle between Indians and US soldiers. The battle where General Custer and his men died. Two famous Indians in this battle was Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. It felt special to be at such a well-known and tragic place.

In late afternoon we reached the mountains. West Yellowstone is about 5000 feet above sea level so the air feels really good!

Wildlife

Just wanted to comment that we've had some wildlife experiences the last two days. Yesterday, in Custer State Park, we were lucky to see a WILD buffalo bull standing just by the road. After that, we had to force the kids out of the car, because they were afraid of more buffalos... Today, at Devil's Tower, we found a field with lots of prairie dogs. Really funny animals, quite used to people, so we managed to get really close. While driving in Wyoming, we also have seen lots of deer beside the road. And cattle and horses, of course... And two snakes at a rest area... But no bears...

Day 14: Drive to Sheridan WY

Ok, this looked like a short day trip on paper (or Mapquest), only 250 miles to Sheridan. But for some reason we ended up doing several detours, and the day became very long...

To our friend Billy: We have been in Sturgis!!! Ok, only for an half-hour, and only to buy some souvenirs, but anyway....

Otherwise, we started the day by going to Deadwood. Yes, that Deadwood, as in the TV-show. Now a historical town, 120 years ago a gold digger town, with real gun fights. Here, we looked at the graves of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane. And saw the saloon where Wild Bill was killed, while playing poker, holding his famous "Dead man's hand". In this town Buffalo Bill died as well, more about him later.

After that, we left South Dakota and entered Wyoming. Just to end up in the next famous Western town, Sundance. Yes, the town that Sundance Kid is named after. Here, he lived and was jailed. We had lunch at a very normal Subway restaurant....

Ok, since it today has been 100F (38C), we thought "why not some hiking???". And somewhere, very close to nowhere, 30 miles off the interstate, we found the 1st US National Monument, the Devil's Tower. Look at the photo and you understand why it has that name... It is the remains of an old volcano, only the magma remains, as a high rock standing all by itself in the countryside. The kids loved climbing all the rocks around it. But after a 1.5 mile hike we where kind of warm...

Finally, after a long day, we arrived in Sheridan. Sheridan is famous for Buffalo Bill, he lived here a lot. So, lots of gunfighters today... Anyway, we will only stay the night here. Tomorrow, we'll go to Yellowstone NP. I'm not sure if we have Internet access at the hotel, so don't worry if we're off the net for three days.

And by the way, I think I've said before that "Today we've been in the middle of nowhere...". Forget that! Wyoming must be one of the most isolated places in the US. Only dry grassland for miles and miles, with some isolated farms. During one part of the freeway, there is NOTHING for 55 miles!

Day 13: Black Hills

Today was a busy but amazing day.

We started off by going to Mt. Rushmore National Monument. Yeah, the presidents on the mountain that is... Kind of fantastic place to be at, I mean, this is a place that we've always read and heard about.

After the presidents, we went on a amazing drive through Custer State Park. The road is built high on the mountain tops, and what mountains! High rock columns, called needles. Sometimes there was a narrow tunnel, in which only one car could drive at a time. We had lunch at a beautiful mountain lake.

Ok, after high mountains, why not some caves... So we found the 2nd longest caves in the world, Jewel Caves. The longest caves are Mammoth Caves KY, that we visited in November. This was the first time that we got a cave tour that started with an elevator ride 200 feet down! The kids did some exercises and became Junior Park Rangers, with a nice badge!

Tired but not done, we ended the day by going to the Crazy Horse Monument. This monument, will when ready, be the absolutely largest statue in the world. It's showing the Native American Chief Crazy Horse, sitting on his horse, pointing at his land, the Black Hills. However, they have worked on it for 60 years, and have lots to do before it's completed!

After this long day, we're tired... Tomorrow, we'll enter Wyoming.

Day 12: Drive to Rapid City SD

In the morning, Filip asked "Why haven't we seen the falls?". Yeah, are there any falls? Of course there are... So we went to see the "original" Sioux Falls, see the photo. After that we went to the middle of nowhere.... 300 miles of prairie... Dry grassland and some scattered cattle. But the travel was easy, no traffic and a speed limit of 75 mph! Before we arrived in Rapid City, we got the coolest nature experience so far during this trip, the Badlands National Park. Similar to the Grand Canyon, but not as deep. Look at the photo! Finally, we arrived in Rapid City, home of Mt. Rushmore. We're now in east South Dakota, close to Deadwood, where they have daily gun fights (for show)... Are we in the wild west or what?

Wisdom

Filip: Dad, do you know that the Mississippi river flows all the way down to the Mexican Gulf?
Dad: That's really good Filip, have you learnt that in school?
Filip: No, from SpongeBob!

Maybe, 100 hours of SpongeBob have resulted in some wisdom after all...

Day 11: Drive to Sioux Falls SD

Corn, Corn, Corn... I've never seen so many corn fields before in my whole life! 300 miles of corn fields... Very boring drive today... For you Swedish readers: The scenery was as driving between Malmö and Vellinge, for 5 hours... We tried to get a more scenic route by taking a detour south into Iowa, but with no result. Anyway, we ended up in Sioux Falls, the largest city in South Dakota, with 100.000 residents. Here, we actually went to a zoo. Just to do something else than seeing corn fields from the car... Filip found a new favorite pet, a squirrel monkey. And the kids had fun feeding goats. Tomorrow, we'll drive further west, see you in Rapid City.

Day 10: Minneapolis and Gammelgården

Today was the last day in Minnesota. We started the day by going to downtown Minneapolis, and walked along the Mississippi river. We saw St. Anthony Falls, the only water falls in the Mississippi.

Then we went back to Swedish country, by going to the town Scandia. Here is the museum Gammelgården (The old farm). It was built in 1860 and looks like it comes right from Småland (a county in Sweden). Today, they had a "Spelmansstämma" (Day with Musicians) and it felt really special to hear all the Swedish traditional music. The photo shows the parade with the "Spelmän". The kids thought everything was very boring and spent most of the time at the playground. I guess it will be another 10 years before they understand where they have been today... Anyway, I found an old man whose grandfather came from Sweden. The man spoke really good Swedish actually.

After Scandia we went to "Nya Duvemåla", a house that is built after the descriptions in Vilhem Moberg's book. Also, we went to the oldest cementary in the region. Many Swedish names on the grave stones...

Tomorrow, we will leave Swedish country and enter "The wild, wild West". Time for South Dakota...

Day 9: Fort Snelling

After a slow morning, with a much needed visit to a coin laundry, we decided to learn some more American history and therefore went to Fort Snelling south of Minneapolis. It was built 1820 as a northwest defense against the British. The fort was used until after the World War II. It is now a "living history" museum, with guides both acting and dressed as 1820. It is a really fun place actually! They showed not only the life of the soldiers but also the life of the women and kids that lived in the fort. The photo shows Filip doing a typical kid's work in 1820. In the end we also saw them fire a real cannon!

In the evening we went to a restaurant, Famous Dave's, that was recommended by the hotel. Kind of funny, we go more than 1000 miles to see "Swedish country", only to end up at a Southern Barbeque restaurant! Luckily, the food was good....

Day 8: Vilhelm Moberg and shopping

After one week on the road we have found good routines. We make sandwiches for lunch and the last two nights we have bought dinner at a local supermarket. Actually, the travelling has been much easier than anticipated. But today, everyone were a bit tired. So Oskar went with me to explore some of the Swedish towns, leaving Fredrik and Filip in the hotel (by the TV).

Some history now: The first Swedish family came to Taylor Falls in 1850. They found the area very promising, good for people with knowledge about how to ship timber on the river (as they do in the northern part of Sweden). The family sent letters to friends in Sweden, asking them to come, and talked to a Swedish-American organisation. So more Swedish families arrived, and finally more than 300.000 Swedes settled in the area.

So first, we went to Lindström, where we found a statue of Karl-Oskar and Kristina, famous from Vilhelm Moberg's novels about a Swedish family that emmigrated to the US. We also found a Swedish bakery, that for some reason sell Swedish donuts... Have never heard of those before... But the bakery also had real Swedish bread (Limpa). Great! After Lindström, we visited a very Swedish church in Center City, and then we went to Taylor Falls. In Taylor Falls we went on a sightseeing tour with a steamboat. That was fun!

Unfortunately, we not only have come to "Swedish Country", we also have got some Swedish weather, both chilly and rainy... So in the afternoon, we decided to leave the Swedish country and go back to America. And can there be a better way of doing that than to visit the largest mall in the world?? So we went to Mall of America, where we spent the rest of the day (all of us....). The best thing according to the kids was the amusement park in the center of the mall. We went on a rollercoster ride in the middle of a mall!

Day 7: The Great River Road

Today we have driven on the "Great River Road", which is a scenic route along the Mississippi River. And suddenly the landscape looked like Skåne (the southern part of Sweden where we live)! We just had to visit both Lund (the name of the town we live in) and Stockholm (Capital of Sweden) on the way... Stockholm (WI) is a really cute little town that was founded by some Swedes in 1860. Lund (WI) is about four houses, look at the photo and you understand... We also came across Laura Ingalls birth home, just outside Lund. The kids have of course never watched "The little house on the prairie", so they have no idea of where they have been. Finally, we ended up in Forest Lake, just north of Minneapolis. Time for some sightseeing in Swedish country...

Day 6: Drive to Sparta WI

Ever heard of Sparta, WI? No, thought so... But that's where we ended up today. Just a stop over on the way to Minnesota. Anyway, we found out that this area is really beautiful, close to the Mississippi River. We drove to La Crosse, right by the river, and tried to get on a river boat. But the schedule was wrong, and we missed it. So instead we found a beach. Yes, a beach. Right by the Mississippi River, look at the photo. After some time there, we spent some time in the hotel bar, talking to locals. They said that Sparta is famous for its bicycle trails. They could also recommend us a great local restaurant, the Foxhole Pub. So that's how you spend a halfday in Sparta WI...

The Oskar citation of today

"Mom, can we go to this playground so that we can get some exercise?"

Said after 6 hours of walking in Chicago...

Day 5: Chicago

Ok, if we were tired of the car yesterday, we today became tired of walking. First of all, today is Filip's 9th birthday. Therefore, we started off by visiting the Shedd Aquarium, one of the best in the world. After that we walked all over downtown Chicago. We visited the Sky deck in the Sears tower and walked to the Navy Pier. An 8 hour sightseeing day, that we now will end by eating a birthday cake from Baskin & Robbins. Here's a photo of the kids in front of the fountain, famous from Fredrik's favorite TV-show "Married with children" (swe: Våra värsta år). However, according to kids, the best thing during the whole day was the SpongeBob movie the showed in the Aquarium. But it WAS great, it was in "4D", that is 3D + special effects like bubbles, water splashes, vibrating chairs and smell effects. Well worth the money!

Day 4: Drive to Chicago IL

A long day in the car, 400 miles and 4 states: Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois. We had to make a small detour into Michigan so that we can count that state too... We also ended up in the middle of nowhere in Ohio. We tried to drive along Lake Erie, and somehow couldn't find the way back to the interstate... But a friendly farmer helped us. We came to Chicago in the evening, and the hotel pool was the perfect place to spend an hour!

Here are two photos from yesterday's visit to the Amish farm. As you see, the best things of the whole trip were the puppies and the cats...

Day 3: Amish Country

Today, we visited the Amish communities south of Akron. Learnt a lot and saw many horses. Amazingly, the landscape and houses looked very Swedish, even with the same red color that we use. And the weather was like the best Swedish summer day, 75F (24C) and sunny. The boys' comment was "Boring!". However, that changed when we came to a farm with animals that we could pet. After petting 4-week old puppies and cats for an hour, both Oskar and Filip agreed that the Amish way of living is pretty good after all...

One reflection about our trip. We realised that this is the first time in our life that we don't have a permanent address. Kind of cool actually. We're just driving around, heading west for Seattle.

Day 2: Drive to Akron OH

After a slow morning, we did some sightseeing in Charleston. The photo shows the boys outside the State Capitol. After a 45 minutes stop on the freeway due to an accident, we drove to Akron OH. We made some sandwiches for a lunch picnic, in a typical Swedish manner. In Ohio, the land looks more and more European. Even with Swedish summer clouds! And no more humidity, the evening was a bit chilly... I guess we have become adjusted to the southern summer after all...

Day 1: Charleston WV

Finally, we left Parkwind Ct in late afternoon. 6 hours later we ended up in Charleston WV. Have no idea what this town looks like, we came here at 10.30pm. A late visit to the pool was great! We are all kind of sad that we have left Cary, but at the same time excited that we finally are going across America.

Tour Aross America 2006

From now on, this blog will be written in English so that our American friends can follow our trip across America.

Röra

Nu är alla våra saker antingen i lådor eller invirade i bubbelplast. Intressant liv vi har just nu... Tur att vi har en TV och Internet, annars skulle vi inte överleva... Bilarna är skeppade, vi körde dem till Virginia i helgen. På torsdag åker vi "Across America", med en 7-sätes Chevy Trailblazer. Lite amerikanska får vi ju iallafall vara...

Flytt!

Just nu har jag flyttfirman här i huset som packar alla våra saker. Det gäller att allt står på rätt plats... Vi får väl se när de är färdiga om de packat något vi behöver på resan...

Sommarvärme

102F nu på eftermiddagen. I skuggan... Det är vad Oskar hade i temp när han var jättesjuk i höstas....

Lindstrom MN

Hmm, och hit ska vi resa... Skakat av ett mord idag...