Travel report #4

US - Wisconsin, Chicago, California and Las Vegas

Friday October 27

Staying with Karen and Tom now. This morning we got up early to be with Karen and her class. They were all going to a Pumpkin farm, Mommsen's produce patch. We drove our own car (got the offer to be on a school bus with 60+ 6 years olds, but...:-) to the farm up in Rice Lake. We followed the kids on their program through a Maze, a hunted forest, looking at animals and having lunch. The last stop was at the pumpkin catapult and canon. The catapult threw a huge pumpkin high up (ca 30m) and way down the field (ca 50m) and it was smashed all over the field there. Then the canon! It was an air operated canon shooting small pumpkins straight forward. It was amazing, the pumpkin took off with an increadible speed. All we heard was a boom, then we saw the pumpkin for about a second before it dissapeared behind the hill. He shot a second time, then we went up on the hill (behind a gitter fence) to see. This time we heard the boom, then an air sound of it passing by, we turned and could see the pumpkin beeing smashed into a tree in the forest at the end of the field. It flew 3-400 meters in a couple secons!!

In the evening it was a family gathering. Nate and Tina came from St.Paul, Jim and Patty from Menomonie and Janelle from Minneapolis, and we all met at Pizza Hut in Eau Claire. We had a good pizza meal before going over to Nelson's to chat and look at photoes. Really good fun to see photoes from early 90s when they all were over in Norway visiting. We also saw some good photoes from the 60s when Karen and Jim was in Norway with their parents.
(from left: Arnar, Hjørdis, Knut, Marit, Per, Patty, Jim, Ragnhild, Oddvar, front: Siv, Julie, Janelle, Justin, Ingrid)

(from left: Julie, Janelle, Ingrid, Bjarte, front: Justin)

(from left: Nate, Tina, Janelle, Kimberly, Jeremie, Kirstin, Scott, IA and B)

(from left: Jim, Patty, Karen and Tom)

Saturday October 28

This morning we went over to Karl and V Nygaard for breakfast. We had a really good breakfast (with vafler :-) and a long chat about family and other stuff. Karl has a really facinating "accent" with a mix of english and norwegian words when he was talking to us :-)


In the afternoon we had it all planned for us by Kjerstin and Kimberly with their boys. We started with a tour at a brewing company (Leinenkugel) with free beer at the end, then back to Karen and Tom for supper (hot steak sandwich, really good), then to a scary track thing, but the line was too long so we went straight to the bars down in Eau Claire. A lot of people were dressed up, almost like a carneval. We saw about 20 versions of Britney Spears (the male version beeing the best:-). A really good night!

Sunday October 29

To church with Karen and Tom, got to see the section of the church that has been dedicated to Ivar Walker. Then we had a big family lunch (actually a early Thanksgiving dinner!) with all of the Nelson's (except Nate and Tina). Turkey and lots of side dishes - really good food! We then said goodbye to our family (sad to leave, but tons of good memories!) and headed for Chicago.

Monday October 30

Spent this day in Chigaco, tried to see as much as possible in one day. Went to the Cultural Center, on top of the Sears Tower and walked through the streets and Grant Park.
(Sears Towers in the background!)

Tuesday October 31

Travel day; flying early in the morning from Chicago via Minneapolis to Los Angeles. Arrived in LA at noon and picked up a new car. Headed straight out of the city towards San Francisco on Hwy 1. Really nice scenary along this Hwy! Stopped at a motel in Santa Maria.

Wednesday November 1

Continued north on Hwy 1. Amazing scenary with the Pacific and beaches on one side, and all different mountains and fields on the other. Stopped to see the Julia Pfeiffer falls and at the bottom of the hills were the Hearst Castle was (did not want to pay a fortune to get up there...). Arrived in Santa Cruz in the evening, making it our base for next days exploring of SF.

Thrusday November 2

Drove into SF on Hwy 1, still amazing. SF is a fantastic city, streets going up and down and very steep! We walked through most of central SF, all the way from Dolores Park to Telegraph hill and back. Lovely view of the city, Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge.
Sister Ingrid's birthday - she got an email from SF Public Library from us :-)

Friday November 3

Time to leave Santa Cruz, the home city of Niel Young. Took the same route to SF and drove over Golden Gate Bridge. Another amazing day (blue sky) with amazing scenary and views.

Continued to Sacramento (captial of California) and visited the Capitol there.
Then onto South Lake Tahoe, high up in the mountains (we went through a 7382 ft pass). All dark when we arrived, so we did not see much.

Saturday November 4

Woke up to see a lovely lake on high altitude. This is very different from the California we had hear of. Drove to Emerald Bay, a place where a Sweedish woman had build a Castle with Scandinavian architecture because the bay remainded her of Norwegian fjords!! A really amazing place. We hiked down to the castle and had a lovely time there. Again a sunny day. The road up there was amazing as well!

Continued towards Nevada on mountain roads (Hwy 89 and 395), an amazing road.
We stopped in Bodie, a ghost city. "Goodbye God, we're going to Bodie" is a well known phrase and tells most of this place. It is miles away from any civilization!! Facinating!

Before we stopped for the night, we managed to be stopped by the police. Doing 81 when the speed limit was 70. We got off with a warning and slowed down after that... The town we stopped in, Tonopah, is very similar to Roeros!

Sunday November 5

Nevada is known for desert highways and we got to see plenty of it. Enless streches straight ahead with desert all over. Facinating. We drove the Extraterrential Hwy but did not see any UFO's. Stopped at the "famous" mailbox for lunch, but still no luck. The closes we got was the "alian" cafe in Rachel.

Before arriving in Las Vegas we drove through Valley of Fire, an amazing place. Red rock mountains with all sorts of formations all over the place. Unfortunately the sun set before we got to see it all, but it was really good!

Driving into Las Vegas was an experience. Neon light flashing all over the place, and almost no end to the casinos and "wonderlands" down "the Strip".