Back to real life…

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Back to work, Route 66

Tomorrow it is time to go back to work. Feels totally unreal!! After eight weeks of adventure I think it would be really good to get some true vacation. Just relaxing, stroll around the house, doing nothing at all.

All the impressions from the trip is starting to feel distant so it I guess it was a good idea to blog during the adventure so I have the possibility to return there whenever I want to! 🙂

Route 66 The Andersson Style
Thought that I might put together a small list of what was good/what was not that good as a reminder for ourselves in case we should get the crazy idea to do something similar in the future …or to help you other guys if you plan a trip like ours.

What was not so good

• The car was too old
• The car was crappy
• The car leaked which made ALL our luggage wet
• It was impossible to talk in the car. Well, you could talk but nobody would ever hear you.
• The air condition did not work 😦
• You had to slam the doors to be able to close them. Normally they wouldn’t close until the fourth try.
• The car leaked break oil
• The car only had seven working cylinders
• The weather was way too hot for a Swede
• The total lack of sidewalks in US. You risk your life when walking, and as a Swede, you actually do WANT to WALK!!
• My credit card was copied or skimmed or something after just 2-3 weeks = confiscated by the bank so I could not use it at all. So, be careful when using your cards!!

What was good

• The country, loved travelling in US, beautiful
• The roads are so great, Americans really know their road building stuff
• Cheap gas (for a Swede) 😉
• The oil was really cheap
• The nachos, OMG, so good
• The tires on the car were new
• The landscape was different from state to state, beautiful
• People actually talk to you in the elevator, so very nice
• The cheese cake factory (we have nothing like that in Sweden)
• River rafting in Grand Canyon. If you get the chance, just DO IT!!
• Loved the sandy beaches, both on the west coast and on the east coast
• The ocean, clear and warm water, lovely
• No bedbugs (even though we stayed at over 20? different hotels)
• The seats in the car were very comfortable
• Sooo great shopping (makeup, jeans, shoes etc)
• Chicago, what a great city. Loved downtown, the lake, the weather, the restaurants, the people, the flower and plant decorations around the city, the impressive buildings.

But the most important thing was that we got:

We got to spend valuble family time together and we got so many good memories that will last a lifetime 🙂

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Finally we’re home…

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Home

As we say in Sweden:

Being away is great, but being at home is the BEST!!!

 

Military museum and massage day…

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Chicago, Deep dish pizza, Massage

Today Jörgen and Robin took off early in the morning and went to a military museum, BIG surprice (I am so greatful that I don’t have to go). Jossan and me had a relaxed morning and around 10.30 we went to Hendrickx Belgian Coffee Shop (i think that was the name). There we had coffee and a Croque Monsieur each, mine = glutenfree. Also had a glutenfree white choklate muffin. Kind of dry, but I liked it anyway. As Jossan said: You get to eat such things so seldom so you are grateful every time they have something glutenfree. And that is SO true.

Then we found a SPA Salon and went there to have Swedish massage. Didn’t have a groupon for that so the price was the ordinary one, 93$ each. Always nice to have a massage. The masseuse found two lumps that she wanted me to get examined by a doctor. 😦 I’ll do it!

We had pizza in the evening, queueing for about 45 minutes this time. Robin had their special Deep dish pizza, OMG, so much cheese, must have been at least 10000 calories in there. They had glutenfree pizza there, so I was VERY happy. I had an Aperol spritz to the pizza, tasted perfect.

Late in the evening I went to bed and the rest of the family went to the airport to pick up Feliks. So now we are a family of five for a short time.

American Girl, the doll EVERY American girl, 10 years old and younger, either already owns or has on her wish list. They are everywhere!

American girl, the phenomena
If you haven’t already heard, you will hear about it, see it, experience it when you get to the United States, the American Girl phenomena. Everyone has them or want them. They are all over the place, stuck under the arm of each little girl in America. 🙂 Actually, I am thinking of buying one myself, although I am a LITTLE bit too old! 😉

The Canada and Karin day…

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Chicago, Karin, Raffaello

Today we crossed the border to Canada, just to get Jossan back on the right Visa, the student Visa, since she is going to study next semester at Miami University. She couldn’t enter US on that Visa, it is only legitimate to enter at a maximum of 30 days before the school starts, so she had to enter on her old visitor Visa. And this is why we had to go to Canada, you cannot change Visa inside US, you have to get out of the country and re-enter US. Complicated, but that is the way it is.

So, we had a milkshake breakfast, since the BE hotel we stayed at last night had kind of a mini, cheap breakfast. I, who booked the room, would get free breakfast and the other three would have to pay 2.99$. And not much was included, at least that is how they described it. No juice, no yoghurt, no fruit. Just coffee, egg, paddies OR bacon (not both) and potatoes. 😦 So, we skipped that and went for Sonic milkshakes. Fresh banana, delicious!!!

My feet on Canadian ground

Took a quick photo of the Canadian flag and headed back to America

The bridge between Winsor, Canada and Detroit, America

Disappointed Canadian border polis
Took the tunnel into Canada. The Canadian border polis was rather disappointed when we explained to him how long our Canadian visit would be. He rolled his eyes at us and said: Well, enjoy your FIVE minutes in Canada!!! 😉 Hahahaha, would have loved to visit Canada for a few days but our time schedule is shrinking drastically. Went into Winsor, took some pictures of the Canadian flag and my feet on the Canadian ground and then we went back to US, but this time we took the beautiful bridge.

Back into US
We spent about half an hour queing on the bridge before we came to the border control. When he realised that Jossan needed to enter on a different Visa, he said: Well, you picked the wrong day of doing this transfer. In the weekends ALL the Canadians go visiting US so the pressure is extra hard at the borders then. And when changing Visa you cannot just go through, you have to “go inside” to get that done. We went inside and it took about an hour. So now Jossan is in the country on the right Visa. Jippiiiiiii!

The rest of the day was just car driving. Grabbed some pizzas/fried chicken on the way and ate them in the car, yummie. Robin took one regular from Ceasars, they have readymade pizzas for 5$ that you just can go in and get, awesome, and me and Monsieur had a glutenfree pizza from Dominos and Jossan had chicken also from Dominos. The Domino bill was 23$, big difference compared to Robins pizza. But I am happy to be able to get a glutenfree pizza, so it is worth the extra bucks. 🙂

Al Capones town
We reached Chicago early in the evening, checked in at Raffaello, downtown Chicago and really close to Magnificent mile. Chicago seems to be a beautiful city, downtown and the lake kind of integrated, just like Honolulu and Barcelona. Love all these combined beachcity cities!

Had a drink from the minibar (whiskey and champagne) and went to the hotels own Italian restaurant. White linen table clothes, just the way Jörgen LOVES it. They put the napkin in your knee AND they even pushed forward a little stool (pall) and then they put Jossans and my bag there. Hahahahaha, kind of cute. The food and the wine was delicious (and expensive).

Monsieur and me went to bed after the dinner but J&R went up to the 18th floor bar for a drink since that seemed to be the place to be on a Saturday evening in Chicago. We saw lots of people heading for the Raffaello Bar (or whatever it is called).

Budweiser, The Arch and The Muny…

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Bead Bug Lady, Budweiser, Grease, Milkshakes, St Louis, The Arch, The Muny

Since we have just been dealing with cars this last few days in St Louis, we had to do/see/visit everything in one day.

The Budweiser brewery in St Louis

Glutenfree beer at Budweiser

The Arch in downtown St Louis

View of St Louis from under The Arch

The Bead Bug Lady store

The Muny – North Americas largest outdoor theater

Budweiser brewary
We went to the Budweiser Brewary, a very exciting tour, I can gladely recommend it to you all. What a place, just great…and very interesting as well. Took the 10$ tour and got to taste four different beers. Mmmmmmm all very good, except for maybe the glutenfree beer, it tasted kond of odd. And we also got to look at all the horses, so big and sooooo beautiful!!

Downtown to The Arch
I have to confess, I hadn’t heard about The Arch before. Now I have heard about it, I have seen it and I have photographed it. BUT…I do not have the T-shirt!! 😉 Impressive land mark designed by a man from our neighbour country, nice.

Quick visit to Paradise
In the late afternoon Jörgen gave me a ride to Bead Bug Lady. She had 30% off everything in the store today, so it was the right day to come. So much beautiful thing there, could have bought everything but fortunatly Jörgen was in the car waiting for me so I just had to rush through the store really quick (acc. to me, not acc. to Jörgen). 🙂

Grease at The Muny
In the evening we went to The Muny, North Americas largest outdoor theater as we actually got tickets to Grease, on the premiere day. Me and Jossan loved it, Robin liked it and Jörgen had rather gone to a military museum, OMG, what kind of priorities does this man have!!!??! 😉

Cars, cars, cars – Repair and rental day…

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Car Repair, St Louis

Wednesday was a car day. We dropped Jossan and Robin off at Six Flags (yep, second time at Six Flags this time, they bought season passes). The rest of the day was all about getting the car repaired and hire a rental car. The decision now is to leave the car in St Louis and continue towards Canada in our rental car, an orange Toyota. Great car by the way, you can listen to music, talk to each other, sit in a nice temperature with no luggage all around you seat. Just GREAT!! And I love the color, the car is sooo easy to find, even in big parking lots.

The Orange

I stayed in a small shopping center when Monsieur went to pick up the “kids” and to talk to the repair man. Just strolled around in several stores, lovely. Didn’t buy much, just a “car neck pillow”, a “sleeping pad” and a choklate cake, all in Bed, Bath and Beyond. 🙂 But I tried on nearly 20 dresses, but no, NO, didn’t find the perfect one. Strange, when I am home I just need to go to Joy and I come home with 3-4 dresses/tops (and if I could afford it I could buy half the store, so many nice hings there).

Super done done
Ate at a great Italian restaurant, Gianinos restaurant, in the evening, the guy at Avis told us about that local place. We had pizza, steaks, salad,beer, white and red wine and it was all very good. The expression “Super done done” was invented that night, in a discussion with our nice waitress! She asked Robin if he was done with his pizza (he had lots of left overs since that nights special was buy a 12″ pizza, get a 16″). Yes, he answer! Do you want it in doggy bag? No! Ah, you’re done done. Exactly,and I have eaten to much already! Aha, so like “super done done”? Yep, totally!! 🙂

The Escape…

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Cambria Suites, Oklahoma, Route 66, The Escape

At The Escape in Oklahoma

Today we went to The Escape, a place where you get locked up in a room and then you have one hour to escape from there. It was really great! So much fun, and we were so close to solving it all…but we didn’t. I would suggest for all to go there, great family/work colleague fun. And the guy that welcomed us there was really kind and helpful. They had been open for 7 weeks now, so the business was rather new.

When we got back home, JJ&M went to Sonic to get some Fresh Banana Milkshakes. And guess what!? They were out of bananas. So all of a sudden we ended up with four medium sized Strawberry Milkshakes, they were really good as well. But toooooo large! Would have been enough with a small or maybe a mini.

I spent two hours of the afternoon sun bathing. At first I was not allowed to get into the pool since the pool man was fixing a broken ladder. I asked if I just could go sun bathing and that was OK. After 20 minutes of doing that, I just HAD to go into the pool, so I sneaked in there, imagening I was invisable. Worked surpricingly fine! 😉

Oklahoma nästa…

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Dallas, Oklahoma, Texas, The Magnolia Hotel

Idag var det slut på vilan, upp och hoppa tidigt som attan= 05.00. Idag lämnar vi Dallas och far vidare mot Oklahoma. Dagen började aningen svettigt för Jörgen. Vi packade allt och gick ned till lobbyn. Här har det varit valet parking så Jörgen bad en kille hämta vår bil. Killen kom tillbaka, förtvivlad, och berättade att nyckeln inte funkade. Jörgen följde med honom till bilen. Det gick en stund. Sedan kom Jörgen tillbaka, förtvivlad. Han bad Robin att följa med och ta med sig en ficklampa (en iPhone) för att handbromsen gick inte att få loss. En stund senare kom de alla tillbaka….med bilen! Robin hade hoppat in och startat den och så var det bra med det. Nyckelproblemet var bara att den första killen hade tagit fel nyckel, den runda istället för den fyrkantiga. Handbromsproblemet var något som bara fanns i Jörgens huvud, den låg inte alls i. Ja, så det var bara att ta rätt nyckel och starta bilen och köra, hahahahahaha. Jörgen var helt genomsvettig efter den lilla eskapaden. TOTAL PANIK!! Helt i onödan! 🙂

We’re on the road again
Halv sju kom vi iväg, istället för klockan sex, som planen var. “Frukost” åt vi i bilen och JA, vi kände oss som Familjen Karlsson (som jämt har för vana att äta frukost och mata varandra i bilen på semestern, höhöhö). Robin hade en wrap kvar från igår, och vi andra åt lite kex, ost och ananas. Då hinner vi komma en bit utan att det skriker i våra magar.

Cambria suites in Oklahoma

Vi kom till Oklahoma runt klockan tio och fick då för första gången under vår resa INTE checka in direkt. Receptionisten som tog emot oss hade nog vaknat på fel sida, hon hade väääldigt svårt att dra på smilbanden. Hon verkade tycka att vi var mest till besvär. Det har gått förvånansvärt bra tidigare, vi har kanske haft tur. Nu ska vi bo på Cambria Suites.

Vår önskelista när det gäller ställen att bo på är följande:

• Fritt WiFi
• Gärna en suite så att vi slipper kliva på varandras resväskor
• Pool
• Fitness Center
• Parkering i direkt anslutning till hotellet (inte valet parking)
• Rum med två queen size-sängar (det är ju så himla smidigt här i USA, så himla lätt att bo fyra personer i ett och samma rum. Försök få till det i Sverige, visst det går men här har ALLA hotell/motell det)!
• Kaffemaskin på rummet (det har alla)
• Kylskåp på rummet (det har nästan alla)
• Safety box på rummet (fanns bara i LA, resten av resan har vi fått låsa in allt i våra väsko

Westernshopping
Vi fick stoppa in all vår packning på en vagn bakom receptionsdisken, och sedan drog vi iväg och handlade. Vi gick på ännu en westernshop, Robin letar efter en hatt. Tyvärr fanns det ingen perfekt hatt där men JAG hittade en vit klänning, jättefin! Lite westernstuk på den såklart men man kan ha den när som helst. Lovely!! Och det var rea tydligen, den kostade 50 dollar och sedan tillkommer som alltid skatt. Men med skatt och allt så betalade jag 48 dollar. Jiiiihaaaaa!

Ännu mera shopping
Lite senare på dagen åkte vi till ett shopping mall och där köpte jag ett par små fina örhängen, med tunna silver o guldringar (Jossan hittade dem) och där, på Macy’s, kan vi snacka om rabatt! De kostade 50 dollar och så var det halva priset, alltså 25 dollar. Sedan fixade expediten ytterligare rabatt så det hela slutade på cirka 20 dollar. Wooohoooo!! Köpte ett fint halsband också, svart och guld, på Forever 21 (för 9,50 dollar), och där köpte Jossan sin nya, svarta hatt i ull (för 9,5 dollar). Men även där blev det ännu billigare eftersom det var fredag och varje fredag är det studentrabatt på Forever 21, hahahahaha, vad vi fyndar!!

Time to go horseback riding…

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Amarillo, Hoffbrau Steaks, Holiday Inn Amarillo Medical Center West, Horseback riding, Old West Stables, Palo Duro Canyon

Is is kind of a family tradition to go horseback riding when visiting US. Last time was in The Rocky Mountains in Jackson Hole and this time we went to Old West Stables in Palo Duro Canyon. Yep, we’re back at the canyon again. 🙂

Frukostvåfflor i form av Texas

Jörgens boots, numera inridna

Jag och Domino i Palo Duro Canyon

We came to the park and had to enter a park fee of $20 and when we did, we had a chat with the man at the entrance. We came to discuss the road downhill, of which I nearly died by fear travelling yesterday. I sincerly hate mountain roads. 😦 And when going down yesterday, we had to pass a big kind of RV that stood by the side of the road, in a somewhat strange angle and with the front in a big stone. Today the man told us that that vehicle lost its brakes going downhill yesterday. OMG, it actually happens. And that driver must have had a gardian angle travelling with him. Today they had to get two really big cranes in there to be able to get the RV out. Didn’t make me feel any safer, listening to that horrible story before, once more, going downhill in a too old car whos brake oil lamp yesterday indicated brake failure (orange light lid)!! Jörgen filled it up with brake oil saying things like:
– I think we should fill oil into this hole….or, I am not sure! Not that comforting, I would say!!! :-((( But it all went well. We came down and up yesterday as well as today.

We had a one hour ride that started at 10.30 and although it was a good temperature when we started the ride, it was sooo disgustingly hot at the end. But it was worth it. I rode Domino and he was “the perfect horse”, I think. Easy to ride, attended to my moves, listened to me and also alert. Soooo nice. What a perfect couple we made!!!! 🙂

Drove home (we adapt reallly fast and call the present location “home”, just after being there a few hours) with the roof top down, and I thought I would die of heat stroke (or whatever it is called). SO, I did what I had to do to survive. I did a Philip Wallin! And doing a Philip Wallin (my brothers oldest son) is that you just hop out of your pants and sit in the car in your underware. Saved my life today!! 🙂

The Andersson Family at Palo Duro Canyon

Laundry time
Did some loundry in the afternoon. All the horse smelling clothes and some t-shirts and underware. They had great working loundry machines at the hotel and the detergent was included in the price. Blogged and surfed when waiting for the machines to get ready. The dryers were both broken so after hanging it all up, the whole hotel room was filled with wet clothes, hahahaha, what a beautiful sight.

Hoffbrau Steaks, the best meal so far
In the evening J & J & me walked to the Hoffbrau Steaks, a steakhouse about 1,5 km from our hotel (Holiday Inn Amarillo West Medical Center). Robin stayed at the hotel, sleeping. This restaurant was just GREAT. They had a specific glutenfree menu (which they couldn’t find, but no worries, the owner came out and told me everything about what and what not to eat). I had a salad with a dream dressing (spicey ranch), filét, some grilled shrimps, baked potatos, extra butter on the side, two glasses of red wine and to finish it all up, an american “nearly not angles pee” coffee. OMG, it was the best meal I have had since arriving to U.S.

Impressiv Texas show outside Amarillo…

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Amarillo, Palo Duro Canyon, Route 66, Texas, Texas show

Today it is Amarillo day. A calm day with some shopping. Bought me a pair of Converse, Jossan as well (it is a must if you are a Swede visiting US, no exceptions)! 🙂 A visit to Viktorias Secret resulted in some more beautiful things for the underware drawer at home. Also found a bead shop, YEEEEES!! Unfortunatly I was in a hurry to an “eat-meet”, so I had to grab something in panic on my way to the meeting. Beads, beads, beads. I love them. BUT it was not the perfect bead store, hope to find that later on the trip.

Well, that was my shopping. And guess what! Jörgen shopped today. Yes, it’s true. He found a western store and ended up buying the whole cowboy equipment. Boots, cowboy hat (a JR kind of white Stetson), jeans, shirt and belt signed with a J. Hahahahaha, now he fits right in to Texas. And he will get good use of it already tomorrow cause then we will go riding in the canyon.

En stor utomhusteater mitt ute i Palo Duro Canyon

Några av skådespelarna i Texas-showen

Semesternöjen

Great Texas show
In the evening we went to a really great Texas-show out in the Palo Duro Canyon. The show started at 20.30, then it was still super high temperature (I dresses in pants, BIG mistake).

The show was fantastic but unfortunatly you were not allowed to take pictures, so I cannot show you how great it was. The story was about the history of Texas and the people of Texas at around 1870-1880. The show has been performed during 49 seasons and you get to see 60 actors/dancers, one band, horses, cowboys, a donkey, a train, prairy wagons, cool lighting and spectacular fireworks at the end. The Americans are really great at putting together super shows. Fantastic!! And they are really good at uniting their people, it is really cool to see the way they love their flag and their country. I think this makes them very special.

When there is a lot at stake, they will all stand united, no doubt about that, and they will do anything to save their country and all they beleive in. Impressive! We don’ have that in Sweden.