Thursday, July 30, 2009
My preciousss...
I really shouldn't be allowed to own a credit card. I've just gone and ordered this.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Off to Prague
Ok, so I decided against Scotland - too short notice I'm afraid and rain is predicted for both Saturday and Sunday at Fort George. So instead I'm popping down to Prague again on Thursday and staying till the very last, bittersweet end of this summer holiday - Sunday Aug 16. I can't get enough of that city and I always have a blast (even when I get sick, as has happened two of the four previous times there...). For those of you who've never been there - what are you waiting for?
Update: Sunday Aug 2 I'm heading out to Kutna Hora for one night. Never been there, but heard good stuff about it. Wheeeeeeee!
Update: Sunday Aug 2 I'm heading out to Kutna Hora for one night. Never been there, but heard good stuff about it. Wheeeeeeee!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Numbers
This morning (Mondays are after all the regular weigh day...): 122,1 kg. Only 2 kg above where I was when I left for the US. Wheee!
In other news I'm prolly popping over to Scotland this week as there is a huge military event at Fort George, Inverness Aug 1-2 (free to yours truly, natch).
In other news I'm prolly popping over to Scotland this week as there is a huge military event at Fort George, Inverness Aug 1-2 (free to yours truly, natch).
Friday, July 24, 2009
Numbers
Weight Friday morning, the first proper day I'm home: 122,9kg. That means I've only gained 1,8 kg during a full month's stay in the US - land of milk, honey and burgers. I'm relieved, nay proud of not having ballooned on this trip, what with all the yummy food I've stuffed in my face. I've managed to walk a bit and the heat has probably helped too - sweating takes off calories and drinking lots of fluids reduces the sensation of hunger. Wheeeeeeeeee!
Update: I'm an idiot who can't count. I'm up 2,8kg not 1,8. Gah. Actually, still yay me as this is half of what I'd expected/feared.
Update: I'm an idiot who can't count. I'm up 2,8kg not 1,8. Gah. Actually, still yay me as this is half of what I'd expected/feared.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Leaving on a jetplane
It's almost 7am here in California and I'm about to head out to the airport... estimated arrival in Norway 10:35am Thursday...
It's been an incredible month. I've been on the road for almost 8,500 miles and seen almost everything I set out to see and a lot more besides, talked to dozens of people all over the country and I've got tons of pics and memories that will remain with me forever. I don't know when I'll be back... time and money will decide, and I don't know when I'll be able to see my two remaining states - Alaska and Hawaii - but I do know I'll be back in the US as soon as it's practical. I love this country, warts and all, and I always have a great time here.
I still don't know what to do with the rest of my summer holiday. My first work day is not until Monday Aug 17, so I still have a good three weeks (and some money!) left. Scotland? Prague? Someplace else? I'm open to suggestions, good people!
It's been an incredible month. I've been on the road for almost 8,500 miles and seen almost everything I set out to see and a lot more besides, talked to dozens of people all over the country and I've got tons of pics and memories that will remain with me forever. I don't know when I'll be back... time and money will decide, and I don't know when I'll be able to see my two remaining states - Alaska and Hawaii - but I do know I'll be back in the US as soon as it's practical. I love this country, warts and all, and I always have a great time here.
I still don't know what to do with the rest of my summer holiday. My first work day is not until Monday Aug 17, so I still have a good three weeks (and some money!) left. Scotland? Prague? Someplace else? I'm open to suggestions, good people!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Not Vegas
While I loathed Vegas I did see some interesting things on the way to and fro. On the drive up we stopped at tiny Seligman, where Route 66 tourism seems to be the main source of income. We also drove across the Hoover Dam, which is on the Arizona-Nevada state border. A marvel of engineering although the construction took its toll in human lives - more than a hundred people died.
On our way back to San Diego we fell for the billboards and stopped for lunch at Peggy Sue's 50s Diner. We were all very glad we did, the place is brilliant. A store with a wide selection of 50s and 60s memorabilia, a small, traditional diner, plus several other eating areas and a wonderful, quirky park out back with ponds, ducks, fish and plastic dinosaurs. You have to see it to believe it.
The Boulder Dam. It's actually smaller than it looks in the movies (yes, I know the large concrete facade is on the other side; it still looks smaller).
The dam created Lake Mead, which is a national recreation area.
Delightfully tacky interior at Peggy Sue's.
Classy diner.
Can't go wrong with dinosaurs.
This duck looks French.
They're alive!
Ducks, turtles AND fish share the pond.
Ghost fish.
Finally we came back to San Diego where we were greeted with slobbering kisses from Maxi, their adorable 10 year old mutt. I love this dog, she's the sweetest. When I first saw her she was about six months old and she's greyer and calmer now.
All Boulder & Peggy Sue pics here.
On our way back to San Diego we fell for the billboards and stopped for lunch at Peggy Sue's 50s Diner. We were all very glad we did, the place is brilliant. A store with a wide selection of 50s and 60s memorabilia, a small, traditional diner, plus several other eating areas and a wonderful, quirky park out back with ponds, ducks, fish and plastic dinosaurs. You have to see it to believe it.
The Boulder Dam. It's actually smaller than it looks in the movies (yes, I know the large concrete facade is on the other side; it still looks smaller).
The dam created Lake Mead, which is a national recreation area.
Delightfully tacky interior at Peggy Sue's.
Classy diner.
Can't go wrong with dinosaurs.
This duck looks French.
They're alive!
Ducks, turtles AND fish share the pond.
Ghost fish.
Finally we came back to San Diego where we were greeted with slobbering kisses from Maxi, their adorable 10 year old mutt. I love this dog, she's the sweetest. When I first saw her she was about six months old and she's greyer and calmer now.
All Boulder & Peggy Sue pics here.
Las Vegas
The last stop on our epic journey was Las Vegas. Court and Albie like the place and have been there many times, while I have deliberately stayed clear of it on my previous trips out west. It's not the America I know, love and like to study. The architecture and inside decor can be stunning in Vegas, but the only reason why there's more here than a crossroads and a couple of gas stations is human stupidity and the willingness of some to exploit said stupidity. I detest gambling with all my heart and Vegas is the world capital of all that is shallow, tacky and gaudy in society.
I finally decided to make a quick stop there on this trip, just so I could say "been there, done that". Initially I wasn't even planning on staying the night, but external circumstances led to some changes to my schedule, and when Albie and Court joined me and I managed to find dirt cheap (but decent) accomodations I decided to book rooms.
Sunday evening we had buffet dinner at Planet Hollywood - good food and service, but not cheap. We then went for a walk and I snapped a few shots of a couple of buildings. We walked into the Paris casino where the interior is made to look like France - bridges, cafes etc. They've even painted the ceiling with sky and clouds so you feel like you're walking outdoors. Of course, three things told you immediately that you were not in Paris - the streets were clean, the people smelled good and there were no immigrants throwing rocks at police.
Still, a few minutes in there was enough to give me a physical reaction. Creativity and craftsmanship aside, I just can't stop thinking about the very foundations of the city - crime, misery, stupidity and the cheerful, amoral exploitation of people. I realize Vegas is increasingly about traditional entertainment and shopping and that it has art and culture and that organized crime doesn't run things they way they used to. Also, I am not questioning people's moral and legal right to throw money down a hole, nor other people's right to stand beneath and collect it. I just don't want any part in it.
The America I love is the one that builds its wealth on real products, real services, real people, not the fake facade of Vegas. The America I love is the story of hard working immigrants who gave it all to build a better life for themselves and their families, not the folly of get-rich-quick schemes through gambling and amorality. I've seen Vegas, and I detest it even more than I did before. I'm never going back and I'm going to try and forget that the city is even part of this country I love so much.
I have some pics here, if you feel you must.
I finally decided to make a quick stop there on this trip, just so I could say "been there, done that". Initially I wasn't even planning on staying the night, but external circumstances led to some changes to my schedule, and when Albie and Court joined me and I managed to find dirt cheap (but decent) accomodations I decided to book rooms.
Sunday evening we had buffet dinner at Planet Hollywood - good food and service, but not cheap. We then went for a walk and I snapped a few shots of a couple of buildings. We walked into the Paris casino where the interior is made to look like France - bridges, cafes etc. They've even painted the ceiling with sky and clouds so you feel like you're walking outdoors. Of course, three things told you immediately that you were not in Paris - the streets were clean, the people smelled good and there were no immigrants throwing rocks at police.
Still, a few minutes in there was enough to give me a physical reaction. Creativity and craftsmanship aside, I just can't stop thinking about the very foundations of the city - crime, misery, stupidity and the cheerful, amoral exploitation of people. I realize Vegas is increasingly about traditional entertainment and shopping and that it has art and culture and that organized crime doesn't run things they way they used to. Also, I am not questioning people's moral and legal right to throw money down a hole, nor other people's right to stand beneath and collect it. I just don't want any part in it.
The America I love is the one that builds its wealth on real products, real services, real people, not the fake facade of Vegas. The America I love is the story of hard working immigrants who gave it all to build a better life for themselves and their families, not the folly of get-rich-quick schemes through gambling and amorality. I've seen Vegas, and I detest it even more than I did before. I'm never going back and I'm going to try and forget that the city is even part of this country I love so much.
I have some pics here, if you feel you must.
Grand Canyon
We spent several hours Saturday driving along the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Sweet jeebus, that place is huge. For someone with my fear of heights it was a real challenge just to get close enough to the edge to get good pictures, but I believe I succeeded. We were all mightily impressed with the size and grandeur of the place, it's almost impossible not to get some decent images there considering the motif.
The canyon may be big, but it's a small world. In addition to the encounter with the Norwegian flag-waving Navajos earlier in the day I got a shock when, upon presenting my Norwegian credit card to the elderly gentleman at a grocery store at Desert View, I was greeted (in Norwegian) with "I'll be damned, my grandma was Norwegian". Turns out the guy's grandmother was from Kongsberg, appx 90 mins from my hometown and in the same county. He'd been there several years ago on a short trip and spoke a few words of Norwegian. We talked a bit and he told me his granny had always hoisted the Norwegian flag on the 17th of May - Norway's National Day. It's small stuff like this that make a trip more than just a series of touristy events - it becomes proper traveling.
I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking, the complete set of 115 images can be found here. Note that the 6 last nature images in the set are actually from Flagstaff, where we spent two nights. Nice town, good live music at The Altitudes bar & grill (also very nice staff!). For food I can also recommend Taco Loco, just around the corner from the grill.
So damn big.
I think I'm starting to develop a thing for black & white photography...
Yup.
Ish purdy.
Mhm.
Of course, some idiots always have to get in the way and ruin the view...
Bird giving me the wtf-look after I tried to open up a conversation using my bird imitation. I don't blame him, the sound has been described as reminiscent of everything from dolphins to squirrels.
Court clowning.
Same place, in color and in b&w.
Nothing, I repeat nothing phallic here. Move along, nothing to see.
Sunset at the Grand Canyon.
The canyon may be big, but it's a small world. In addition to the encounter with the Norwegian flag-waving Navajos earlier in the day I got a shock when, upon presenting my Norwegian credit card to the elderly gentleman at a grocery store at Desert View, I was greeted (in Norwegian) with "I'll be damned, my grandma was Norwegian". Turns out the guy's grandmother was from Kongsberg, appx 90 mins from my hometown and in the same county. He'd been there several years ago on a short trip and spoke a few words of Norwegian. We talked a bit and he told me his granny had always hoisted the Norwegian flag on the 17th of May - Norway's National Day. It's small stuff like this that make a trip more than just a series of touristy events - it becomes proper traveling.
I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking, the complete set of 115 images can be found here. Note that the 6 last nature images in the set are actually from Flagstaff, where we spent two nights. Nice town, good live music at The Altitudes bar & grill (also very nice staff!). For food I can also recommend Taco Loco, just around the corner from the grill.
So damn big.
I think I'm starting to develop a thing for black & white photography...
Yup.
Ish purdy.
Mhm.
Of course, some idiots always have to get in the way and ruin the view...
Bird giving me the wtf-look after I tried to open up a conversation using my bird imitation. I don't blame him, the sound has been described as reminiscent of everything from dolphins to squirrels.
Court clowning.
Same place, in color and in b&w.
Nothing, I repeat nothing phallic here. Move along, nothing to see.
Sunset at the Grand Canyon.
Norwegen uber alles
On the way to the eastern entrance to Grand Canyon National Park, we drove past several places selling Indian art. Normally I wouldn't be all that interested in such stuff, especially since it seems to be standard fare these days to sell various new agey ideas as a part of the package, instead of appreciating it just as art. However, my curiosity was piqued beyond resistance when we suddenly drove past a shaky structure out in the desert where three flags waved in the breeze - the Arizona state flag, some Indian looking thingy and... the NORWEGIAN flag. Wtf? I hit the brakes and turned around.
Turns out the Navajo guy who ran the shop - basically just a few tables, some wooden poles and some canvas - had gotten several Norwegian customers, and they were usually generous buyers. So when someone had bought stuff for more than $500 last year, he'd taken down a German flag and hoisted the Norwegian one instead. Needless to say, I was in stitches... regular readers will be familiar with my loathing of Krauts.
In addition, the guy was nice. We stood there for a long time, talking, admiring his art and craft and that of his sister, who soon joined us. They showed us polished and unpolished rocks they used in making the jewelry, they showed us artwork made by their nephew, and they even had fossilized dinosaur poo that had been polished to look like very pretty stones. Nice people and nice stuff. I only had $96 on me in cash, or I would have bought more, but I left the place with a handful of bracelets, necklaces and earrings for gifts to people back home. Here's a small selection:
Turns out the Navajo guy who ran the shop - basically just a few tables, some wooden poles and some canvas - had gotten several Norwegian customers, and they were usually generous buyers. So when someone had bought stuff for more than $500 last year, he'd taken down a German flag and hoisted the Norwegian one instead. Needless to say, I was in stitches... regular readers will be familiar with my loathing of Krauts.
In addition, the guy was nice. We stood there for a long time, talking, admiring his art and craft and that of his sister, who soon joined us. They showed us polished and unpolished rocks they used in making the jewelry, they showed us artwork made by their nephew, and they even had fossilized dinosaur poo that had been polished to look like very pretty stones. Nice people and nice stuff. I only had $96 on me in cash, or I would have bought more, but I left the place with a handful of bracelets, necklaces and earrings for gifts to people back home. Here's a small selection:
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Painted desert
Friday Albie, Court and I set off for Flagstaff on our epic roadtrip. Saturday we drove up to Grand Canyon, where I took a shitload of pics and also almost shat myself standing on the edge, staring down into the abyss. I am NOT good with heights, I get dizzy just standing on my toes...
On the way up we took a detour to the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and the Wupatki National Monument, a 35-mile loop of stunning beauty. We drove through an otherwordly landscape - first of black soil, hardened lava and strange tree shapes, then the painted desert of the Kaibab National Forest. It was almost empty out there, very few tourists bother to check it out or even know about it I suspect. Their loss and our gain; the silence out in the desert is a beautiful thing in itself.
All pics from Sunset Crater and the desert here.
Lava, black soil and the vegetation that has crawled back in the appx 800 years since the last eruption.
Sunset crater - this time it's only clouds...
Am I strange to find dead trees cool?
Down in the desert we found the ruins of this 900+ year old adobe. Back then the climate must have been wetter, or I don't think humans could have made a living here. The wind has created some crazy stone shapes in this area.
The ruins of the adobe. The structure is cleverly built into the natural forms of the rock.
Court, queen of the desert (snort, snort). He was threatened with divorce when I started quoting T. S. Eliot and Shelley to Albie.
...boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away...
On the way up we took a detour to the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and the Wupatki National Monument, a 35-mile loop of stunning beauty. We drove through an otherwordly landscape - first of black soil, hardened lava and strange tree shapes, then the painted desert of the Kaibab National Forest. It was almost empty out there, very few tourists bother to check it out or even know about it I suspect. Their loss and our gain; the silence out in the desert is a beautiful thing in itself.
All pics from Sunset Crater and the desert here.
Lava, black soil and the vegetation that has crawled back in the appx 800 years since the last eruption.
Sunset crater - this time it's only clouds...
Am I strange to find dead trees cool?
Down in the desert we found the ruins of this 900+ year old adobe. Back then the climate must have been wetter, or I don't think humans could have made a living here. The wind has created some crazy stone shapes in this area.
The ruins of the adobe. The structure is cleverly built into the natural forms of the rock.
Court, queen of the desert (snort, snort). He was threatened with divorce when I started quoting T. S. Eliot and Shelley to Albie.
...boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away...
San Diego - The Lions
Of the more than 200 pics I took at the wildlife park, about a third were of lions. They have a den where there is a big glass wall at one end and then a long bridge with just a deep ditch between you and the animals. The lions often sleep on a rock by the glass, meaning you're about an inch (or however thick that glass is) away from them. Very cool. The signs said there were supposed to be several cubs there, but all we saw were two adult males.
The rest of the lion pics are here.
The quality is so-so when you try to shoot through the thick glass.
"Hmmmm... that fat Norwegian guy looks nice and juicy..."
"I'm so hungry I could eat my tail..."
"Bored..."
"So bored, even the rock becomes interesting..."
"Better catch a nap... after all I am a cat."
The other one went to have a lie down in the grass and do some grooming...
Pondering life.
While we (and dozens of others) stood clicking away, the two began to emit calls - not full blown roars, but throaty growls still powerful enough to send shivers down my spine and make the hairs on my arms stand up. At the back of my tiny brain some primeval instinct must have kicked in, because that sound really reverberated throughout my whole body.
Man may be at the top of the food chain, but when I heard the lions roar and saw them there in the tall grass, it dawned on me that to these guys I was just another item on the menu...
The rest of the lion pics are here.
The quality is so-so when you try to shoot through the thick glass.
"Hmmmm... that fat Norwegian guy looks nice and juicy..."
"I'm so hungry I could eat my tail..."
"Bored..."
"So bored, even the rock becomes interesting..."
"Better catch a nap... after all I am a cat."
The other one went to have a lie down in the grass and do some grooming...
Pondering life.
While we (and dozens of others) stood clicking away, the two began to emit calls - not full blown roars, but throaty growls still powerful enough to send shivers down my spine and make the hairs on my arms stand up. At the back of my tiny brain some primeval instinct must have kicked in, because that sound really reverberated throughout my whole body.
Man may be at the top of the food chain, but when I heard the lions roar and saw them there in the tall grass, it dawned on me that to these guys I was just another item on the menu...
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