Arlanda

We are at Arlanda now and our flight leaves in about one hour. We will fly to Chicago and stay there for one night and then continue to California by train tomorrow. Will update here as often as possible and will update my photoblog with pictures, so come back and look again here in couple of days!

Vacation!

We have the flight tickets, we have made reservations for hotels and trains, and are almost on our way now....

Countries I've visited

I found a place for making a map of all the countries I have visited. Go here to
create your own map.

A new photoblog

Today I've spent most of the time creating a new photoblog for publishing my pictures. So far there are only photos from one day, but more will come...

Copenhagen - Stockholm

Today we had to take our guests to the airport in Copenhagen because it was time for them to go back home to the U.S. again. We followed them to the security control where we had to say goodbye, which was very sad, even if we know we will see them again, either here in Sweden or in the U.S. We have had such a great time with them and will miss them a lot.

On our way back to the hotel we ran into the rush hour traffic but were lucky and found a short cut into the city and our hotel. We still had one hour left for breakfast, so we ate and then packed our things and checked out. Suddenly the weather was nice again, and we didn't want to leave yet, so we walked on Ströget for a couple of hours before we got into the car and drove north, along Strandvejen, to Helsingör where we did some shopping and then took the ferry over to Helsingborg and Sweden. We drove to my parents house and had some dinner there, and then continued home to Stockholm and came home just before midnight.

Copenhagen

Well, Joan and Anita's visit in Sweden started with cold weather and rain, and of course it also had to end with some gray, boring weather, but this time in Copenhagen instead. Despite this, we had a very nice day in the Danish capital. We started the day with the most wonderful hotel breakfast I have ever eaten, and I can really recommend Hotel Guldsmeden to anyone who are going to Copenhagen.

After breakfast we walked to Ströget, the main shopping street. We walked around there and looked in some shops, but unfornately not too many were open on Sundays:( We came to Nyhavn, one of my favourite places in Copenhagen, and had lunch there. After that we went to the Royal Palace Amalienborg. We left Joan sitting close to the palace while Anita, Janne and I walked to the Little Mermaid to take some photos of her. We then walked back to Nyhavn again and sat down for a while before Joan and Anita took a rickshaw taxi back to the hotel. Janne and I walked back instead and also took a short ride on the subway just to try it out since they have a brand new one there without a driver.

In the evening we went to Hard Rock Café for dinner.

Going to Denmark and Copenhagen

We were up early again and had breakfast at the hostel. Then Holger came to say goodbye to us, and after that we drove south towards Ystad. Then we drove along the southern coast and made a stop in Smygehuk, the southern most point in Sweden.

To get to Copenhagen, we drove over Öresundsbron, the bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen. We arrived to Hotel Guldsmeden just after noon, which of course was too early for check-in, but they gave us access to one room anyway so we had somewhere to hang out until our rooms were ready. The hotel was wonderful, with the nicest four-poster beds I have ever seen.

I met Janne at the train station when he finally arrived, two hours late because of technical problems with the train. We relaxed in our rooms and then went out for dinner at Restaurant Frascati in Grand Hotel.

Todays photos can be found here

Kristianstad

Today we got to eat breakfast at the nice local bakery instead of at the hostel. Holger and Inger picked us up today too and this time we drove north instead, up to Kristianstad. Here we visited Bastiljonen Konungen (the Kings bastion) and the north barracks where Inger used to live as a child. We also visited the church, Heliga Trefaldighets church, and had a nice lunch at Fredholms krog.

Back in Åhus, we visited the church which was very beautiful, and after that it was time for some shopping and ice-cream again!

In the evening we had dinner with Holger and Inger again, this time a wonderful salmon!

Pictures from today >>

Sightseeing in Skåne

We had a nice breakfast at the hostel and after that Holger and Inger picked us up in their car and took us out for a very nice and interesting sightseeing tour around Skåne.

First of all we went to Glimmingehus where we looked around and also had a very good lunch. Next stop was Ales stenar which is situated very beautiful high up on a hill overlooking the ocean.

Before we went back to Åhus we also visited Backåkra, which was the home of Dag Hammarskjöld. It is now a museum and was really interesting to see.

Joan, Anita and I ate some really good ice-cream when we came back to Åhus. After that it was time to get ready for another nice dinner at Holger's and Inger's house.

Here are the photos from today >>

Åhus

Today it was time to leave my parents house and continue south in Sweden, to Åhus. Here we stayed at a hostel for three nights, but spent the days and evenings together with Holger and Inger. Holger is Anita's third cousin and the only relative they got to meet during their visit in Sweden.
This first evening we went to their summerhouse for a very nice dinner and a walk to the ocean which is very close to their house.

Today's pictures >>

Göteborg (Gothenburg)

My mom, Joan, Anita and I went to Göteborg today. The main reason was to visit an adress where Joan's maternal grandparents lived for a couple of years, about 100 years ago. We found the street and the adress, but unfortunately the house was too new and was not there when her grandparents lived there. It was still interesting to see though, and we also had time for some shopping and sightseeing in Göteborg.

Photos from today are here

Boatorp

Today was another day for family history. It was time for Joan and Anita to visit the farm where Joan's paternal grandmother lived until she emigrated to the U.S. The farm Boatorp is now owned by Sören and Barbro but was owned by Joan's ancestors for several generations until Joans great grandfather sold it in 1900 and moved to America.

This was the only one of their ancestors homes that we could actually walk inside, and it meant a lot to Joan and Anita to see the rooms where their ancestors lived and to have coffee in a room that looks the same now as it did back then. We spent a lot of time looking around, drinking coffee and talking. Sören, Barbro and their sons also took us to the Otto hill which is a small forest road that leads from Boatorp to another farm that Sörens grandfather owned many years ago. It is called Otto hill because it was on Otto's farm (Otto was Joan's great grandfather).

Thank you, Sören and Barbro, for a day that Joan and Anita will never forget!

Look at photos here

Mothers day

Today we spent most of the time at home, my dad and Joan were singing swedish songs together and we took a long walk around the farm. Anita and Joan also spent a lot of time out in the barn, together with my dad and his cows.

In the evening we had a little party with Ivan, Aina, Lage and Mona. It was very nice and everyone thought it was interesting to meet Joan and Anita.

Pictures from today>>

Shopping and eating

We began the day with some shopping in Vetlanda. Joan and Anita found some shops they really liked and spent time there with Janne while my mom and I went home to make meatballs for lunch. The weather was so nice so we could sit outside and eat. In the evening we went to Sandsjöbaden and had "planka" which you can see on the pictures on this site.

Öland

We slept a little bit longer today, and after breakfast decided to visit the glassworks in Målerås and Orrefors. First we had coffee at the café in Målerås and after that it was time for Joan and Anita to do some serious glass shopping! They enjoyed both Målerås and Orrefors, and when they were done shopping we still had some time left so we went to Öland.

There we visited Solliden, where the royal family lives during the summer. We walked through the parks and had a late lunch in the café. It was a very nice day, and also the warmest and sunniest day so far during Joan and Anita's visit!

Todays photos are here

From Stockholm to Vetlanda, via Linköping.

Today it was time to leave Stockholm and take our guests south to my parents in Vetlanda. But on our way there we had three important stops to make in the Linköping area. First was Vreta kloster where we met Lars Rolander who gave us a very nice tour in the church and told us the fascinating story about the church and the convent that used to be there. Lars also knew where Joan's maternal grandmother had lived before she left Vreta kloster so he took us there. It is now a playground, but it was still very interesting for Joan and Anita (and for Janne and me) to see it.

Next stop was Ledberg and our wonderful tourguides here were Vivi-Anne and Runar who took us to Kaga church and to Ledberg church, both very beautiful churches. They also invited us for lunch and coffee in their home, which we really appreciated. After that we went to Storhagen to see the place where the home of Joan's maternal grandfather had been. We also visited the school that he most likely attended as a child.

Our third stop was Vårdnäs and Skarnöborg. Another nice person, Lars Lind, showed us where one of Joan's relatives are buried, and also made it possible for us to look inside the church. The most exciting thing was of course when he took us out to the lake where we could see the island and the house where Joan's paternal grandfather used to live before he emigrated to the U.S. Unfortunately we couldn't get out to the island this time, but maybe another time when Joan and Anita come back to Sweden again.

We arrived to my parents late in the evening and had some smörgåsttårta (sandwich cake) with them before we all went to bed, exhausted.
I would like to thank Lars, Vivi-Anne, Runar and Lars who made this a very memorable day for Joan and Anita, but also for Janne and me!!

Look at todays photos here

Back in Stockholm again

Well, it was sunny in Helsinki, but when we came back into Stockholms beautiful archipelago, it was raining and raining again. We had a good breakfast buffet on the boat, then came in the harbour in Stockholm and took the most expensive taxi ever. I would like to warn everyone for a taxi company called Pixie Taxi, because they charge 3 times more than normal! :(
Anita and Joan spent the rest of the day doing laundry, had fun in the grocery store, and they also cooked a very good dinner for Janne and me. We had to work, but it was nice to come home in the evening and eat together with our American friends.

Sorry, no photos from today...

Helsinki

We left a very rainy Stockholm but arrived to sunny Helsinki this morning. Sunny but cold! So we didn't spend as much time outside in the city as we had planned because we were freezing too much. We did see a lot though, the fish market, the Old Market Hall, lots of shops in the city and the beautiful cathedral.
When we came back to the boat we sat outside in the sun for a couple of hours, then it was time for the big smörgåsbord again. Of course we ate way too much today too! Later in the evening Janne, Anita and I spent a couple of hours listening to Mike again.

Todays photos >>

Cruise to Helsinki

We woke up to a very rainy day:( Went home to my apartment (and Joan & Anita since they are staying there) and helped them to do some laundry. We had planned to go into town but the weather was so bad so we didn't want to go anywhere before we had to leave for our cruise to Finland. So it was afternoon when we took the commuter train into the city. We went to Värtahamnen and waited there until it was time to board the ship. Then it was time to eat smörgåsboard which we all enjoyed, but we ate way too much and could hardly walk back to the cabin afterwards. We also had a very nice time in one of the bars, listening to a guy called Mike Haywood who were singing until midnight.

Photos from the cruise are here

VIsiting the King & the Queen

Today was another sightseeing day. We decided to drive out to Drottningholm where the Royal family lives, and look at the palace and the gardens. It was cold, but sunny most of the time, so we had a nice time walking around there. After that, we felt it was time for some coffee, so we took our guests to Café Lyran in Bredäng, which is a very nice place, close to the water.
We also had time for some shopping in Länna and a short visit to give Filippa her birthday gift for her 4th birthday a couple of days ago.

Todays photos can be seen here >>

May 21st

I had to work today, but before I went there I took the bus home to my apartment and then followed Joan and Anita into Old Town so they wouldn't get lost on their way there:) They spent the day walking around Old Town, had lunch with Janne at Café Gråmunken and then all of them met me at Globen after work and the four of us drove to IKEA since that was a place Joan really wanted to go to. They had a lot of fun there! We also had dinner in the IKEA restaurant before we went home to my place to drop them off for the night.

See todays photos here >>

Skansen

Today we went to Skansen with Joan and Anita. Well, first we waited for their luggage which didn't come with the same plane as they did yesterday. When it finally got here they unpacked lot's of gifts for us, and after that we drove into the city. We spent the afternoon at Skansen looking at all the old houses there and at all the animals. We were lucky with the weather, only one short rain shower, but it was chilly even though the sun was shining most of the time.
After Skansen we went to Monteliusvägen where we took some photos of the beautiful view over Stockholm.

See photos from today here >>

Visit from Arizona & Wisconsin

This afternoon they finally arrived, our visitors from the U.S. We met Joan (from Mesa, Arizona) and her daughter Anita (from Frederic, Wisconsin) at the airport and it was great to see Joan again and of course also to meet Anita for the first time. For those of you who don't know, Joan is the sister of my very good friend Russ, and we spent a couple of days with her in Arizona last summer and became very good friends with her too. We began to plan for her trip already then, and now it was time for her and Anita to see the country where there ancestors were born and lived until they emigrated to America.

See photos from today here.

Too busy to blog:(

I am sorry that I never have time to write here... I have been so busy lately, I'm working all day, then spent a lot of time and energy applying for unemployment compensation for the hours that I don't work, and at the moment I'm very busy preparing for our American guests who will arrive in two weeks.

Anyway, as soon as I get a free moment I'll take some time and write here about our very nice weekend in New York where we went for a long weekend.

Rome - what a beautiful city!

We went to Rome on February 19 (Thursday) and arrived home late on February 22 (Sunday). It was our first time in Rome, and in Italy, and we just loved it! It is such a beautiful city with a lot of atmosphere everywhere. And of course a lot of history almost around every corner.

We arrived to our hotel, Madison hotel, late Thursday evening and it was raining a lot then. We had planned to eat dinner in a nice restaurant but because of the heavy rain we only walked across the street to the big train station and bought a sandwich and some Pepsi and ate in our hotel room. We were a little bit afraid that the rain would continue, since that was what the weather forecast predicted, but luckily, Friday was very sunny and warm. About 20 degrees Celcius and we could walk around in t-shirts. It felt wonderful, especially since it's so cold and snowy here in Sweden. It was nice to enjoy some spring weather instead.

We started Friday morning by taking the bus to the Vatican City to meet the Pope. Well, we didn't get to meet him because you have to apply far in advance, which we didn't have a chance to do since we booked the trip only one week before it was time to go. But we saw St. Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica which was very impressing and beautiful. We wanted to avoid standing in long lines since we only had a few days to explore the city so we didn't go into the church because the lines were really long. For the same reason we didn't go into the Vatican Museums either, even if I really wanted to see the Sistine Chapel. But now we have a reason to go back to Rome and see these things! So, after we had admired the church and the huge square, and sent some postcards from the Vatican Post Office, we decided that we should spend as much as possible of the day outside since we didn't know what the weather would be like during the rest of our stay. We walked along the Tiber to Trastevere where we looked around a little. Then we saw the the Ponte Rotto, which collapsed in the late 16th century and the island in the Tiber, Isola Tiberina.

We then crossed the Tiber and walked towards the Palantine, passing by the big Arch of Janus. We did not go into the Palantine, instead we spent more time exploring the Roman Forum which was so beautiful and so interesting to see. After that we walked across the street to the Colosseum and waited in line to buy tickets so we could enter this impressive monument. It was really worth the entrance fee to see it from the inside, and a memorable experience. From here we took the metro to Piazza di Spagna where we looked at the Spanish Steps which were crowded with tourists. We found a very nice little restaurant not far from Piazza di Spagna where we ate lunch, outside of course since it was so warm. Janne ate pizza and I had a huge ice-cream. After our late lunch we walked to the Trevi Fountain which was also crowded with tourists. I had no idea it the fountain would be so big, it was really beautiful!

After seeing all these famous places and monuments, it was time for some shopping, so we went to the Disney Store (of course!) on Via del Corso and we also walked the famous, and expensive, shopping street Via Condotti to get back to the metro at Piazza di Spagna. Time to go back to the hotel and rest for a couple of minutes before we went back to the area around Spagna to find some food. We had read about a restaurant, Al 34, close to the Spanish Steps and decided to go there. We had to wait a while because apparently more people had read about this place! But we finally got a table outside and shared it with another Swedish couple. I ate really good pasta, and for dessert panna cotta. It was so nice to be able to sit outside until late in the evening. After dinner we walked to the subway and went back to the hotel to get some well deserved rest!

See Janne's photos from our Friday in Rome here: >>>

Saturday morning was cloudy and a little bit rainy so we decided to go to a shopping mall south of the city. We walked around there for an hour or so, but didn't find anything interesting so we went back into the city. Spent a couple of minutes at the hotel before we took the bus to Piazza Venezia where we looked at the Vittorio Emanuele II monument before we walked towards Campo de' Fiori which was a cute little square with a market. From there we went to Piazza Navona which I think was my favourite piazza in the city. Lot's of outdoor restaurants, and beautiful fountains. Next stop was the Pantheon which was beautiful and very interesting since it's about 2000 years old. The Piazza della Rotonda in front of Pantheon was also very nice, except for the fact that there was a McDonalds opposite to the Pantheon! It didn't feel like it belonged there in this historic square. After looking at Pantheon we had to try the coffee at Tazza d'Oro coffee shop which is supposed to have the best coffee in Rome. We tried the granita coffee with whipped cream, which was unusual and interesting! After the coffee it was time for more churches. My favourite was Santa Maria sopra Minerva which was extremely beautiful! But Sant' Ignazio di Logola was also very pretty with beautiful paintings in the ceiling.

After looking at these churches it was time for some ice-cream, and of course in the most famous ice cream café in Rome, Giolitti. The ice-cream was very good!! After this we walked around on Via del Corso and looked in all the shops there. When it became dark outside, we took the metro to Colosseum and took some night shots of it. My photos are not developed yet, but I hope they come out good. We then took a bus to Piazza Venezia and then another bus to Piazza Navona where we had planned to eat dinner that evening. We found a very nice restaurant, Dolce Vita, where we ate. It was so nice to be able to sit outside again, even if it did rain a little. It rained even more when it was time to leave, but we still walked all the way to Barberini where we went to Hard Rock Café to buy a shot glass for my collection. We also looked at the Fountain of the Bees which is close to the metro at Barberini. Then it was time to go back to the hotel and get some sleep.

See Janne's photos from our Saturday in Rome here: >>

On Sunday we started the day with coffee in the oldest café in Rome, Café Greco. It tasted really good! We then walked around at Via del Corso for a while, and then walked to Pantheon where we had lunch at Rotonda 6. After that we walked to the Trevi Fountain once again, and after that to Palazzo del Quirinale. We walked almost all the way back to our hotel, but decided to take the metro the last station because we were really tired then. We looked around in Termini one last time and then sat outside and waited for the transfer bus that took us back to the airport. The flight home was nice but it was late before we finally came home and could get some sleep.

See Janne's photos from our Sunday in Rome here: >>

I really want to go back to Italy soon again, I liked Rome so much, and would also like to discover other parts of the country. But I'll definitely go back to Rome, because we only had time to see ver little of everything that the city has to offer.

Rome - here we come!

Yes, we are going to Rome, Italy! This morning in the subway I found an ad in the newspaper, it was a really cheap deal for flight + three nights in a hotel + breakfast. We booked it via Airtours and leave already next Thursday! We will be gone between February 19 - February 22. I can't wait!! We haven't been anywhere since we came home from California in September so it's really time to do some travelling. I'll of course tell you everything about it here!

2004

Happy New Year to everyone!!!

Christmas is over

Christmas is over for this time and we are back in Stockholm again. We had a nice holiday and got to spend time with relatives and friends. Ate way too much Christmas food without gaining any weight, which is a miracle!! ;-)

Now I'm working on an essay for school, due on January 12. And am trying to figure out what my future will look like... I finally quit my job at the tax office in Vetlanda. It feels extremely sad because I have so many great friends there, but I try to look at it as a new start and hopefully I'll find my dream job one day soon!

Isn't Mirre cute in this picture taken at Christmas?

Fourth of Advent

We have a snowstorm here today... Had planned to drive south to Vetlanda, but will do that tomorrow instead because of the bad weather.

Friday evening

Yesterday evening I had dinner with Agnes and Steffanie. We met at the Indian restaurant Curry Nam Nam and ate really good Indian food and of course talked a lot! A really nice evening!

Cidade de Deus

This evening we went to Sturebiografen to see a movie. Janne won tickets, otherwise this is probably not the kind of movie we would have choosen to see. The movie was "Cidade de Deus" ("Guds stad" in Swedish) which is about the most dangerous favela in Rio de Janeiro. Lot's of violence and lot's of drugs, but also very interesting since it is based on a true story. And I suppose it shows what life is like there, which is good to see, because as a tourist, maybe you think that Rio is only beaches and beautiful sights, and don't really know about this. I thought the movie was very good, and I'm glad we won the tickets so I got to see it.



Yesterday evening I looked at an apartment in Skarpnäck. I was offered this apartment by Stockholms bostadsförmedling (housing department in Stockholm) but was number 16 in line for it, so I guess the chances to really get it wasn't very big anyway. It was a two-room apartment, twice the size I have now, and with a huge balcony. But - it was too expensive for me, 4500:- (about $ 585) and the area is probably not the nicest, but then what could be worse than Flemingsberg where I live now? Well, I turned it down because of the rent, but will look at another one in the same area on Monday.

The rest of this week I've mostly been studying and studying and studying... we have to write assignments before almost every lecture so that's keeping me busy.

Want to see more of the world!

Yesterday evening, when people from Kilroy talked about Cambodia and Vietnam, was very interesting. It made me really want to go there, and as soon as possible. Sure wish I had some money! They had hundreds of pictures to show and it looks like such interesting and beautiful countries. I would especially like to see Angkor Wat and the Mekong Delta. Maybe one day I will....

Studying

Monday was the first day of my new class in "Nordic Politics" at Södertörn University. The class is in English so there are many exchange students from all over the world which makes it more interesting since everyone has different backgrounds and different views of politics in general and especially of politics here in Scandinavia.
There will be a lot of hard work because we are supposed to write short essays before almost every lecture, but I think it'll be fun because the subject is interesting and I just love studying Political Science.

I was without Internet for about 24 hours Monday - Tuesday. It was horrible!! We had a big power failure here Monday evening. It lasted for 7½ hours and when the electricity finally came back my broadband didn't work. I called my ISP but they didn't want to admit that it was because of them, they kept telling me that it was something wrong with my computer. Well, the second time I called I finally got to talk to a guy who agreed to report the problem, and ten minutes later I had access to the Internet again. It is really annoying when those support people don't think that they did something wrong (in this case they probably had to restart something because of the power failure) and instead persist that it is something wrong with your computer.

This evening we are going to a lecture held by people from Kilroy travels . It is about travelling in Vietnam and Cambodia. I would like to go there one day so it'll be interesting to hear what they have to say, and to see pictures from these countries.

Brazil

This evening we went to a lecture about Brazil. Two people that work for the travel agency Kilroy Travels were talking about when they travelled in Brazil in January. It was very interesting and many nice pictures.

Brazil is definitely on my list of places to go to. I have heard so many good things, especially about Rio de Janeiro, and that's the first place I would like to see. Now after this evening I'm even more inspired to go there.

So many places to go to and so little time and money... :(

First snow

It is snowing a lot here right now.... very depressing:( I am not ready for winter yet.

Wille and Carl-Johan

Yesterday evening Janne had a surprise for me. He took me to Gröndal, to a concert with my two favourite singers: Wille Crafoord...



...and Carl-Johan Vallgren.



It was a really nice evening which we both enjoyed a lot! I bought Carl-Johans new CD which is great! I highly recommend it!

Time to make dinner now. Tacos with guacamole! Yummy! :)

A sunny day

Enjoying the sunshine at Gullmarsplan subway station this afternoon...

New shoes

This afternoon I finally went into town. Haven't been there much since we came home from the U.S. because I've mostly been sitting at home doing nothing... which gets kind of boring after a while!
I had to go to the university today and get some papers showing which courses I have taken there. Have to enclose these if I want to apply for new courses next semester. I met a friend there too and it was nice to talk to her for a while.

Then I went looking for some new winter shoes and found some that I really love!

I couldn't really afford them, they were cheap, but that doesn't help when you don't have an income! But I guess that's what credit cards are for! *smile*

Smala Sussie

Yesterday evening my friend Madeleine and I went to see a movie. It was a new Swedish movie called Smala Sussie and it was really fun.


Today I'm doing laundry....

Tacos

We had tacos tonight... yummy as always! And then blueberry pie with vanilla sauce for dessert... :)

Wille Crafoord

Wednesday evening we went to Mosebacke to listen to Wille Crafoord, my favourite singer. He had a release party there, for his new CD, and it was very nice. There were some famous people there, for example Magnus Uggla. We had a lot of fun! Had a really good dinner there too, a huge club sandwich with turkey.

Weekend in Vetlanda

I haven't blogged much in the past week... sorry about that. Not much have happened here. But I spent a long weekend (Thursday - Sunday) with my parents in Vetlanda and had a nice time with them and with my cats. My mother had her birthday Friday so we had a party which lasted for the entire day...with a very yummy sandwich cake! Then on Saturday we made a trip to Falköping where we spent the afternoon visiting my grandmothers brother Harald. That was really nice. I showed him some pictures from our trip and told him about the relatives we visited in Turlock (they are his relatives also). We all enjoyed it very much. Just wish the weather would have been better, it was raining most of the day.

Today I've cleaned my apartment. I cleaned my windows, vacuumed, dusted all my little things, and finally hung up clean curtains. It was actually quite fun to clean, and it looks good now. But I'm not quite finished so I'll continue tomorrow.

Tomorrow evening we are going to Mosebacke. Wille Crafoord has a releaseparty for his new CD and I've been looking forward to that for a long time.

IKEA again!

Today was kind of a boring day... haven't done much at all. Well, I did some cleaning and tried to throw away a lot of old magazines and papers, but that's about it. And then in the evening we went to IKEA again!! Yes, for the third time in four days or so. But this time to the one very close to where I live. I wanted to get some storage boxes, which they didn't have in Uppsala yesterday.

Uppsala

Today we made a trip to Uppsala. The main reason was that Janne wanted to buy a mirror at IKEA, and it was sold out both in Kungens kurva and in Barkarby, so then we decided to drive to Uppsala and buy it there.

After our visit to IKEA we drove into town and went to the huge cathedral and looked there. Then we spent a lot of time at the churchyard close to the cathedral. I wanted to find Fadimes grave (for those who don't know who Fadime was - she was a young girl who was killed by her father a couple of years ago, a "honour killing", and that upset me a lot) but there were so many graves to it was impossible to find it since we didn't know where to look for it.

We also found a very nice Italian restaurant where he had dinner before we drove back home. It was actually a very nice day (even though the weather could have been better) and it was nice to make a little trip.

A cute test

I turned out to be the Friend Bear - who are you?

	Friend Bear You are everyone's ideal friend because you are sincere and genuinely kind. Sometimes you worry about your friends' problems so much, you forget about your own responsibilities, which can get you into trouble. For you, it's the little things that really count. You also happen to be the main driver of the Cloud Car. No speeding!
Take the Which Care Bear Are You? Quiz!

Sunshine!

Today was a very sunny and nice day. We went into town and planned to go to Gröna Lund (the tivoli) because this is the last weekend they are open this season. We have annual passes, but today for some stupid reason they wouldn't let us use them. They told us we had to pay an additional fee to get in, which made us really upset since the reason why we bought our passes was to be able to get in there for free whenever we want to. So we went into town instead, had coffee at my favourite cafe, Skänken, and then walked to Stadshuset to see all the flowers they have brought there, the flowers that people has given in memory of our foreign minister Anna Lindh. We also wrote our names in a condolence book there.

When we came home we made tacos, yummy as always. And now Janne is sleeping while I try to fix the archive thing here on my blog, which is kind of confusing... Hopefully I'll get it right soon.

Oh, and today my friend Steffanie celebrates her 30th birthday! Happy Birthday Steffanie!

Raining...

I haven't written here in a couple of days. I couldn't really find any words to write down when Anna Lindh was murdered, even though I wanted to write about it. It's just too awful. There was a beautiful memorial service for her today, TV sent it, and it was very touching to hear her friends and colleagues talk about her and what she had meant to them and to Sweden.

I'm also tired. Still haven't got used to the time here in Sweden, especially since I worked until 2 am a couple of nights earlier this week. I seem to be working best at nighttime and sleep best during the day. I can't say that I have done much useful in the past week:( Guess I have to change that during next week! But first there's a nice weekend coming up and I think we might be going to IKEA in Barkaby tomorrow. Maybe also to Gröna Lund since we have an annual pass and this weekend is the last weekend they are open so we might go there to use our pass one last time. Hope the weather will be better than today when it was raining and raining and raining....

Earlier today I mostly thought about World Trade Center and 9/11 and about what I was doing that afternoon two years and one day ago when the news reached us here in Sweden. Well, unfortunately later this afternoon we got a reminder that bad things really do happen in Sweden too. Our foreign minister Anna Lindh was stabbed while shopping at one of our biggest and most wellknown department stores here in Stockholm. TV-channels have sent news updates every hour for the rest of the evening and the latest news is that she is in very serious condition and have been in surgery for the last seven hours. Our prime minister almost cried when he talked on the press conference in TV.
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/09/10/sweden.stabbing/index.html

We have both been suffering really bad from jet-lag during the past days... It's just impossible to be tired when we are supposed to sleep and we have been awake during the nights and sleeping during the days. Still on California time! It's starting to get a little bit annoying now... It's 2 am and I should have been sleeping for hours but feel like I could stay awake for many more hours.
It's cold here in Stockholm... well, actually it's quite warm for being September but it's very cold for us. Have been freezing ever since we came back. It's about 20 degrees Celcius here at daytime, compared to 42 degrees in Phoenix 1½ week ago. Guess what I prefer? Yes - I love warm weather! And I miss having a pool around most of the time... guess we got really spoilt over there.

Oh, and it would be very interesting to know if anyone actually reads this blog in English since I haven't received any comments at all during our trip. Please, write something, it's more fun to write when I know that someone is reading...

Will try to sleep now...

Det har varit lite stressigt senaste dagarna, och vi kunde inte heller koppla upp Jannes dator de två sista dygnen i USA, så därför kommer dagboken lite i efterhand:

Tisdag, 2 sept & Onsdag, 3 sept: Dags att packa allt.... otroligt nog så gick det att stänga våra resväskor även om det inte var helt enkelt. Bonnie bjöd oss på frukost på en trevlig restaurang i närheten av där de bor, och sedan körde hon oss till flygplatsen. Det var tråkigt att säga hej då, speciellt som det nu var dags att lämna USA och åka hem till kalla Sverige.
Flygresan till Frankfurt gick jättebra, den var 1 ½ timma kortare än resan dit och tog alltså bara 10 timmar. Men det kändes som den var ännu kortare och det var skönt! Även resan från Frankfurt till Stockholm gick bra, och när vi kom till Stockholms central tog vi en taxi hem eftersom vi hade för mycket bagage för att kunna åka pendeltåg. Nu ska jag försöka packa upp och gå igenom all post som kommit, och försöka ta reda på vad som gäller med skola osv framöver.

Måndag, 1 sept: Idag var vi uppe tidigt och lämnade San Diego redan kl 6.30 för att åka norrut till Los Angeles där vi lämnade tillbaka vår bil på flygplatsen. Bonnie, min brylling, kom och hämtade oss och tog med oss till sin lägenhet i Long Beach. Vi vilade lite och sedan tog hon med oss på sightseeing runt i Long Beach och även till Huntington Beach och stränderna däremellan. Det var jättefint, och kul att se en annan sida av Los Angeles än den vi har sett tidigare. När Bonnie's sambo Jeremy slutade jobbet vid 14-tiden gick vi ut och åt lunch på en trevlig restaurang och sedan åkte vi till Disneyland där vi vandrade runt i Downtown Disney i några timmar och gjorde några sista-minuten-inköp :)



Söndag, 31 aug: Idag försökte vi se så mycket som möjligt av San Diego. Vi började med att köra upp till La Jolla där vi hoppades på att få se sälar på stranden, men de hade tydligen inte vaknat lika tidigt som vi.
Sedan åkte vi till Seaport Village och tillbringade några timmar där, och åt även en sen frukost. Vi promenerade också igenom gaslampskvarteren fram till Horton Plaza där vi tittade i en massa affärer. Där åt vi också lunch, jag åt en god clam chowder i en brödskål.
Efter det åkte vi till Fashion Valley där det finns ett stort shoppingcenter. Vi handlade lite där och sedan åkte vi in till stan igen, till Old Town, där vi åt middag på en mexikansk restaurang och sedan tittade lite i alla affärer där.



Lördag, 30 aug: Vi var uppe tidigt, och det var härligt att vakna till doften av nybakta blåbärsmuffins som Joan gick upp vid halv fem och bakade till oss! Dem åt vi till frukost och sedan gav vi oss av mot Palm Desert där vi letade oss fram till Russ och Julia's andelslägenhet. Det var kul att äntligen få träffa dom, och få tillbringa resten av eftermiddagen och kvällen med dem. Vi simmade lite i deras pool och sedan åkte vi iväg för att äta middag. Efteråt körde de oss genom Palm Desert och Palm Springs så vi fick se hur det ser ut. Det var jättefint, speciellt med alla palmer. Framåt nio-tiden åkte vi därifrån och kom till vårt hotell i San Diego vid 23-tiden. Jämfört med de hotell vi har vant oss vid under resan (när vi själva sluppit betala) så var det inte så fint, men det var billigt och rent i alla fall.



Fredag, 29 aug: Idag var vi ute med Joan och åt frukost och sedan var vi ute och åkte i ungefär fem timmar för att leta kaktusar att ta kort på. Vi hittade massor av magnifika kaktusar, många var ofattbart höga. Vi var också i Scottsdale och tittade, och såg en massa fina dyra hus. När vi kom hem tillbringade vi en timma i polen. Det var skönt, eftersom det var 42 grader varmt! Lite senare på eftermiddagen åkte vi till Target och till posten för att köpa frimärken, innan vi åkte hem till Gene och Charlie. De tog med oss ut på middag på en trevlig mexikansk restaurant med god mat.

I haven't had much time in the past days to write here... we have been busy all the time. But I'll try now to update you about what's been going on for the past week.

Tuesday, Sept 2 and Wednesday, Sept 3: Time to pack all our things.... And we could actually close our suitcases even if it wasn't easy! Bonnie took us out for breakfast, to a really nice place where they had good French toasts. Then she drove us to the airport and it was time to say goodbye. We had plenty of time before our flight, which was good since it took some time with all the x-rays etc. We really didn't want to go home so it was quite sad to be there at the airport.
The flight was really good though, took only 10 hours to go back to Frankfurt, compared to 11 ½ hour when we came to the U.S. one month ago. I slept most of the time, which was surprising since I never sleep on airplanes! The flight from Frankfurt to Stockholm went well too, and for some reason it felt like the flight home went a lot faster than the flight out to San Francisco. We had too many bags, so we took a taxi from the central station to my place, and now I'm trying to unpack everything and go through my mail. Will probably fall asleep soon, because I'm really tired! The last week was so busy so we never really had enough time to sleep. We are very happy with our vacation though, and it couldn't have been better! We have met so many wonderful people and done so many fun and interesting things!

Monday, Sept 1: We had to get up early to drive up to Los Angeles to return our car. We arrived to the airport at 9.30 and returned our car, which was sad since we really liked it. Then Bonnie came and picked us up and we went home to her and Jeremy's place. They have a very funny bird that talks a lot and entertained us! :) After relaxing for a couple of hours Bonnie took us out for some sightseeing and we went to Huntington Beach, and also looked around in Long Beach where they live. It was really nice to see this side of L.A. compared to downtown and Hollywood.
When Jeremy got off work we all went to a nice restaurant for lunch, and I had some good pasta. After that we drove to Disneyland and spent a couple of hours at Downtown Disney where we did some shopping (Pooh of course) and just enjoyed looking around. On our way home we stopped at Diary Queen and got one huge ice-cream each!



Sunday, Aug 31: Today we tried to see as much as possible of San Diego. First we drove to La Jolla and looked at the beach and hoped to see some sealions but they were not where they usually are. Then we spent a couple of hours walking around in Seaport village where we also had lunch. Then we walked through Gaslamp Quarter to Horton Plaza where we did some more shopping. After that we drove to Fashion Valley to make one last visit to Old Navy. It was a good decision because they had a Labour day sale so we did some good bargains. After all the shopping we were quite hungry so we went to Old Town and Bazaar del Mundo where we had a very nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

Saturday, Aug 30: Today we had to leave Phoenix, which was sad since we liked both the city and Joan. We drove towards Palm Desert and arrived there at 1 pm and found our way to Russ and Julia's condo. We spent the afternoon and evening with them and it was very nice to finally get to meet Russ. They had a nice pool where we swimmed for an hour or so, and then we went to Hometown Buffet for dinner, and after that they drove us through Palm Desert and Palm Springs so we got to see what it looks like. It was really beautiful. After that we had to say good-bye and head for San Diego where we arrived to our hotel, Travelodge, in Hotel Circle at 11 pm.



Friday, Aug 29: Today we went to Eggseptional for breakfast and after that on a sightseeing tour with Joan to find some cactus to take pictures of. We were out for about five hours and saw many cactus and also got to see Scottsdale. When we came home we spent one hour in the pool, which felt nice since it was 107 degrees! Later we went to Target and to the Post office and then home to Gene and Charlie to see their place before they took us out to dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant.

Thursday, Aug 28: We slept longer than usual, and when we finally woke up Joan gave us breakfast before we went out in the car with her as ou tourguide. First of all we drove to Fiesta mall and went to Disney Store. We also looked in downtown Phoenix and then went to Cracker Barell for lunch. After lunch we went to Chandler Mall, a really big shopping mall.
In the evening we had dinner at Red Lobster, together with Gene and Charlie, two of Joan's friends. It was really nice!

Wednesday, Aug 27: We woke up already at 6 am since we had a long drive ahead of us again. We left the hotel at 7 (but would have liked to stay longer) and drove towards Grand Canyon. First we passed by Hoover Dam which was interesting to see and take some pictures of. We passed by many other beautiful places on our way to Grand Canyon, before we finally reached this fantastic place. We really loved Grand Canyon and stopped at so many places there to take photos and just admire the view.

Next, we started driving towards Phoenix and our destination Mesa. We arrived at Joan's house at 9 pm and went straight to the pool where we swimmed for a while before we had dinner.



Tuesday, Aug 26: Vi began the day with breakfast in one of the restaurants in the hotel. Then we went out on "The Strip" and tried to see as many hotels and casinos as possible in one day. We went to Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Paris, Caesars, Treasure Island, The Venetian, Hard Rock Casino and some other ones that I don't' remember now. In the evening we had dinner at Rainforest Cafe, at MGM Grand and I had a really good crab sandwich. After dinner we spent a couple more hours in the casino in our hotel before we went to bed late at night again.

Monday, Aug 25: The day started with George's pancakes, and then he took me and Janne to Modesto, where we picked up our rental car. We got a Pontiac Grand Am, just the one we wanted to have. We immidiately began our trip towards Las Vegas, which took about nine hours with some short stops. For example we stopped in Primm and looked in some outlet-stores.

We arrived to Las Vegas about 7 pm and checked in to our hotel, New York New York which was very nice and very big. We got a room at the 16th floor with a nice view. The casino looked like many different parts of New York and was really beautiful and the nicest of the hotels and casinos that we visited.

Later in the evening we went to Caesars where we had dinner at Planet Hollywood. After that we looked around in all the different stores they had there and walked back to our hotel. On the way back we went in to Bellagio which is also a very nice and luxurious hotel. When we came back to our hotel we gambled a little and went to sleep around 4 in the morning!

De senaste dagarna har det inte funnits så mycket tid till att skriva här, så nu ska jag försöka sammanfatta vad som hänt måndag - torsdag.

MÅNDAG: Dagen började med att George gjorde sina goda pannkakor till mig, Janne och Bonnie. Därefter körde han oss till Modesto, där vi hämtade upp vår hyrbil, en fin Pontiac, precis den bil vi ville ha. Vi började genast att köra mot Las Vegas, en resa som tog cirka nio timmar med några stopp, bland annat i Mojave och Primm där vi tittade i några outlet-affärer. Vid sju-tiden på kvällen var vi framme i Las Vegas och checkade in på vårt hotell, New York New York som var alldeles otroligt fint. Vi fick ett rum på 16:e våningen med fin utsikt. Själva casinot var inrett som olika stadsdelar i New York och väldigt mysigt, helt klart det finaste av de hotell och casinon som vi besökte. Ett stort rum fick vi också, som ni kan se på bilden nedan:



När vi hade installerat oss på rummet tog vi en taxi till Caesars eftersom vi planerat att äta middag där på Planet Hollywood, vilket vi också gjorde. Det var länge sen jag var där, på Planet Hollywood alltså, så det var kul att äntligen få äta min favoriträtt (L.A. Lasagna) igen! Efter middagen tittade vi i alla affärer som fanns på hotellet och sedan promenerade vi tillbaka till vårt hotell, och på vägen dit var vi bland annat inne på Bellagio som är ett av de lyxigare hotellen. När vi kom tillbaka till vårt hotell roade vi oss med lite spel, jag gick med plus, fast inte speciellt mycket. Vi somnade någon gång vid fyratiden på morgonen....

TISDAG: Vi började dagen med frukost i en av hotellets många restauranger. Sedan gav vi oss ut på "The Strip" för att försöka hinna med så många hotell och casinon som möjligt. Vi var bland annat vid Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Paris, Caesars, Treasure Island, The Venetian (som var obeskrivligt vackert, hade det inte varit så dyrt skulle vi bott där), och Hard Rock casino samt några till som jag förmodligen glömt nu. Vi hade en väldigt kul dag! På kvällen åt vi middag på Rainforest Cafe inne på MGM Grand och det var fantastiskt gott. Sedan tillbringade vi ytterligare några timmar på casinot på vårt hotell innan vi stupade i säng vid 2-tiden på natten.

ONSDAG: Idag var vi uppe redan vid 6 eftersom vi hade mycket som skulle hinnas med. Vi lämnade hotellet vid sju och körde mot Grand Canyon. Först passerade vi Hoover Dam som var intressant att se, även om vi inte stannade där så länge utan mest tog lite foton. Sedan passerade vi otroligt många vackra platser på vår väg mot Grand Canyon, den ena vyn var mer fantastisk än den andra. Framåt eftermiddagen kom vi då äntligen till Grand Canyon, som inte kan beskrivas i ord utan måste ses!

.

Vi körde utmed Grand Canyon och stannade på en massa platser och tog mängder av kort. Tyvärr var det ganska mulet, och inte direkt något perfekt fotoväder, men det var ändå fantastiskt att vara på plats och uppleva detta naturens underverk. När vi hade tittat klart körde vi mot Phoenix, eller rättare sagt Mesa, och kom fram till Joan vid 21.00 på kvällen. Då gick vi genast till poolen som finns i området där hon bor och badade en stund, innan vi åt middag. Sedan sov vi väldigt gott efter att ha spenderat 14 timmar i bilen den dagen!

TORSDAG: Vi sov längre än vanligt idag och när vi vaknat och ätit frukost gav vi oss iväg ut med Joan som guide. Först åkte vi till Fiesta Mall där jag hittade några Puh-beanisar som jag vet att någon därhemma kommer bli väldigt glad för ;-) Sedan tittade vi i centrum i Phoenix och därefter åt vi lunch på Cracker Barell, något som jag hade längtat efter i flera år! Sedan åkte vi vidare till nästa köpcentrum, Chandler Mall, som var otroligt stort. Vi vilade hemma en stund, skrev lite vykort, och sedan åkte vi till Red Lobster och åt middag tillsammans med två goda vänner till Joan. Det var både gott och trevligt!

I morse var vi (jag, Janne, George, Linda och Bonnie) återigen ute och åt frukost, den här gången på en restaurang som heter Cindy's. Därefter åkte vi till Target och handlade lite och sedan åkte vi hem och tillbringade hela eftermiddagen i poolen. Janice och hennes barn kom också hit, och vi hade några kul timmar i vattnet och solen.

Imorgon fyller Janice år, så i kväll åkte vi till en restaurang som heter Nutcrackers för att fira henne där. Och nu försöker vi packa eftersom det tyvärr är dags att åka härifrån imorgon bitti. Vi hämtar vår hyrbil i Modesto klockan 10 på morgonen och sedan tar det mellan 8 och 9 timmar att köra till Las Vegas.

This morning we (Janne, Linda, George, Bonnie and I) went out for breakfast again, to Cindy's, and I had some really good pancakes there. After that we went to Target and did some shopping. In the afternoon we all played in the pool, together with Janice, Abbey and Soren. We had a really nice time in the sun.

It's Janice's birthday tomorrow so this evening we went to Nutcrackers in Oakdale to celebrate her. We had a very nice dinner there.

Now we are trying to pack, since it's time to leave tomorrow:( We are going to pick up our rental car at 10.00 in Modesto and then drive to Las Vegas. It will be a long drive, so I might be too tired to write anything here tomorrow.

I morse kom Kevin och Bonnie hit, och hela familjen samt Janice åkte ner till stan och åt god frukost på La Creme. Därefter åkte Janne, Linda, Bonnie och jag till Hallmark och till Michaels Craft Store och tittade lite.
Eftermiddagen tillbringades som vanligt vid polen, i strålande solsken. Alldeles underbart... :)

Ikväll åkte jag och Janne, samt Bonnie, hem till Janice och hennes familj där vi åt lax till middag. Vi hade en jättetrevlig kväll hos dom.

Imorgon är det tyvärr sista dagen här, så vi måste packa och göra oss redo för avresan till Las Vegas på måndag morgon. Det ska visserligen bli jättekul, men det blir trist att åka härifrån:(

This morning Kevin and Bonnie came home, and we went to La Creme for breakfast together with Janice. It was very nice! After that we went to Hallmark and did some shopping, and then it was time for the pool again.

This evening we went home to Janice and her family for dinner. We went there together with Bonnie, because George, Linda and Kevin weren't home. We got some very good salmon and had a really nice time!

Igår kväll var vi ute och åt middag igen, den här gången på en kinesisk restaurang, jättegott! Och vi fick så mycket mat att det hade räckt till tre gånger så många!

I morse körde George oss till polisstationen. Och det berodde inte på att han var trött på oss och ville sätta oss i fängelse (även om vi fick en rundtur där) utan på att vi skulle ut på en "ride-along" med varsin polis. George jobbar deltid hos polisen som "background investigator" och hans svärson Finn jobbar också där, så de hade fixat att vi skulle få följa med ut och se hur det går till. Det var intressant och spännande, även om det inte hände något speciellt under de två timmar vi var ute och åkte med. Några falsklarm, ogiltiga checkar och liknande.




I eftermiddag har vi legat vid poolen igen. Den är uppvärmd och håller konstant en temparatur på 32 grader, alldeles lagom!
Ikväll stannade vi hemma och åt middag, kyckling och sedan några donuts från Krispy Kreme till efterrätt. Vi såg också ytterligare en film på DVD, den här gången "My big fat greek wedding" som var jättekul!

Yesterday evening we went out for dinner again, this time to a Chinese restaurant downtown. We got so much food that we will probably have leftovers for lunch for the rest of the time we are here! :)
This morning George took us down to the police station here in Turlock because Janne and I were going on a ride-along with two police officers. We got to go with them in their police cars for about two hour and see how they worked. It was really interesting, even though nothing exciting happened. Some false alarms and fraud.

In the afternoon we spent time at the pool again, and now I finally have a nice sun tan. I'm really gonna miss this pool when we leave! Tonight we stayed home for dinner for a change, and ate some really good chicken, and for dessert we had Krispy Kreme donuts! We also watched another DVD - My big fat greek wedding - which was really fun!

Även idag började vi dagen med att shoppa lite. Janne köpte jeans på Mervyns och därefter handlade vi lite på Wal-Mart innan George bjöd oss på lunch (sandwich till oss och varm korv till honom). Sedan tillbringade vi cirka fyra timmar vid och i polen innan det var dags att göra sig iordning för att åka hem till Janice, Finn, Abbey och Soren för att äta god middag!

Ikväll tittade vi på ytterligare en DVD, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" som var riktigt kul:) Och nu är det sovdags!!!

Today we also began the day with some shopping. Janne bought Levis jeans at Mervyns, and after that we went to Wal-Mart and did some shopping there. George also took us out to lunch (sandwiches and hot dogs) before we went home to our pool again. We spent about four hours swimming and sun-bathing before it was time to go to Janice, Finn, Soren and Abbey for dinner.

When we came home we watched "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" which was really funny! :) Time to sleep now!!

Igår kväll efter middagen såg vi den första Harry Potter filmen på DVD. Jag tyckte den var jättebra, och blev lite överraskad eftersom jag hela tiden varit övertygad om att det inte var min typ av film. Så idag åkte George och köpte uppföljaren på DVD, så ikväll har vi sett den, och den var också väldigt bra och spännande. Antar att jag blir tvungen att läsa böckerna också nu... :)

I morse var vi och åt frukost med George, åt jättegoda French Toasts med en massa lönnsirap. Sedan släppte han av mig och Janne vid ett köpcentrum så vi tillbringade några timmar där, innan vi åkte tillbaka hem och la oss vid polen. Där har vi tillbringat resten av eftermiddagen.



Ikväll åt vi middag på en italiensk restaurang, ravioli med kronärtskocka och gorgonzola. Förmodligen den godaste pasta jag någonsin ätit!

Yesterday evening after dinner we saw the first Harry Potter movie on DVD, and I thought it was very good. It feels kind of stupid to write that, because for a long time I was sure I wouldn't like it... Well, now I liked it so much so today George bought the second movie on DVD too, so we saw that one this evening and it was also very good.

This morning we went shopping, to Target, Bath & Bodyworks, Borders, Safeway and some other storse. And the rest of the day was spent by the pool... it's about 40 degrees here now so we can't complain about the weather.

This evening we went to a very nice italian restaurant for dinner. I had ravioli with artichoke and gorgonzola and it was probably the best pasta I have ever eaten!

Jag har inte haft så mycket tid till att skriva här de senaste dagarna så nu ska jag försöka uppdatera er om vad som hänt sedan i fredags morse. Då började vi dagen med att hämta frukost på McDonalds, tvärs över gatan från Hilton, och sen låg jag vid polen och solade och badade någon timma innan det var dags att packa våra saker och checka ut från hotellet. Och så var det dags att åka bil igen.... inget man direkt ser fram emot i värmen (förmodligen minst 35 grader varmt ute) speciellt som Janne och jag fick köra Tonys bil där luftkonditioneringen just hade gått sönder.

Vi körde till en restaurang som heter La Bou och där åt vi lunch. Jag åt clam chowder medan de andra åt smörgåsar. Därefter körde vi hem till Derik och Andrea och tittade på deras nya hus. Allt var lite hysteriskt där, dagen före bröllopet, så Janne och jag lånade Tonys bil igen och körde till köpcentrumet i närheten och shoppade lite på Old Navy. Jag köpte en tröja som jag sedan hade på generalrepetionen inför bröllopet. Så när vi kom tillbaka till huset var det dags att byta om, och sedan var det en halvtimmas bilresa till kyrkan. Tony, Kim, Janne och jag höll mer eller mindre på att dö i hettan och kunde varken prata eller röra oss förrän vi var framme.

Vi såg repetitionen i kyrkan och sedan bytte vi bil och åkte med Linda och Lois igen, så resan till sportbaren där middagen var, blev betydligt svalare och behagligare. Till middag åt jag pasta, och sedan var det lite tal och det blivande brudparet delade ut presenter till sina marskalkar och tärnor (åtta av var sort) innan det var dags att köra till Sacramento och checka in på Sheraton.

Utan överdrift så är Sheraton det finaste hotell jag någonsin bott på och jag kunde stannat i det rummet i många veckor. Framför allt var det underbart att få bo på dyrt lyxhotell utan att behöva betala för det, desto mer kunde vi njuta :)



På lördagsmorgonen var vi som vanligt uppe tidigt och promenerade mot tågstationen för att hämta ut våra tågbiljetter till tågresan på söndagen. På väg till stationen gick vi in på Dennys och åt en jättegod frukost. Efter att vi hämtat ut biljetterna gick vi till Old Sacramento och tittade där. Det var till och med finare nu än vad jag minns från förra gången jag var där, för fem år sen. Sedan gick vi till köpcentrumet som ligger precis bredvid, och handlade lite till Mia på Disney Store:)

Vi köpte lite kaffe på Starbucks och sedan var vi tvungna att gå tillbaka till hotellet och göra oss iordning inför bröllopet. Klockan 15 gick vi ut och väntade på Tony's systers man George som kom och hämtade upp oss och körde oss till kyrkan (First Presbyterian Church) i Roseville. En av marskalkarna visade oss till vår plats och äntligen var det då dags för det stora ögonblicket. Bröllopet var väldigt vackert, och innehöll förutom de traditionella bitarna även en ljuständningsceremoni för Josh, Bill och Andreas mamma som dog när hon var liten. Det var ett kort bröllop, allt var över på 20 minuter ungefär.



Tre limousiner hämtade upp brudparet och deras tärnor och marskalkar, samt närmaste familjen. Vi åkte tillbaka till Sheraton med George och tillbringade den närmaste timman med att äta ost, kex och annat tilltugg som serverades utanför rummet där middagen sedan skulle äga rum. Efter någon timma anlände Derik och Andrea och resten av sällskapet efter att de blivit fotograferade i en park i närheten.

Alla satt ned i matsalen och Derik och Andrea inledde med bröllopsvals. Därefter var det dags för middag, sallad till förrätt och sedan den maträtt man i förväg hade beställt. För min del blev det kyckling. Därefter tal av "best man", "maid of honor", brudens far och brudgummens far. Tårtan skars upp och åts upp och sedan var det dans till midnatt.

På söndagsmorgonen var vi lite trötta, men orkade ändå ta oss ner till brunchen som också ingick i själva bröllopsfirandet. Sedan var det tyvärr dags att säga adjö till alla, vilket ju aldrig är kul. När det var avklarat gick Janne och jag ut på stan och började med att titta på stadshuset (Sacramento är ju huvudstad i Kalifornien) och parken runt omkring med en mängd olika monument, bland annat från Vietnam.Och massor av ekorrar överallt! :) Sedan gick vi ner till shoppingcentret och köpte lite saker med Puh innan vi åt lunch som inhandlades på Subway. Tog en taxi till stationen och var där i god tid innan tåget till Turlock skulle avgå.

Tågresan gick bra, och vi kom till Turlock 18.07 och blev mötta av George. Hemma hos honom och Linda väntade en festmåltid på oss och vi fick sällskap av deras dotter Janice, hennes man Finn och deras döttrar Abbey och Soren som det alltid är lika kul att träffa.

Idag, måndag, har vi tillbringat hela dagen vid och i polen. Underbart! Ikväll har vi varit ute och ätit på vår favoritrestaurang här i Turlock, Javi's, där det serverades mexikanskt.

I haven't had much time for writing here during the past days, so now I'll try to update you about what has happened Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Friday morning we began with breakfast from McDonalds, right across the street from Hilton. Then I spent some time in the pool before it was time to pack our things and check out. Then it was time to do some driving again....
This time Janne and I drove Tony's car, while Linda, Lois, Kim, Ashley and Cass were in Lois car. And we had no aircondition.... :( Anyway, we drove to a place called La Bou where we had some lunch, I had clam chowder and the rest of the group had sandwiches. Then we drove home to Derik and Andrea and saw their new house. Janne and I borrowed Tony's car again and went to Old Navy to do some shopping and when we came back to the house it was time to get dressed for the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. Before that we gave the wedding gift to Derik and Andrea.



Driving to the rehearsal was terrible, Tony, Kim, Janne and I were in the car without aircondition and we could not move or talk on the 30 minute drive to the church. We just concentrated on surviving. Finally we came to the church and saw the rehearsal, and then went in Lois car (much cooler) to the dinner which was at Mark's and Monica's Sports bar. I had pasta, which was very good. We stayed there for some hours and then it was time to drive into Sacramento and to check in at the Sheraton.

We could hardly believe that we were going to stay in such a nice hotel and the room was really wonderful. I have never stayed in a better place. I could easily live there for weeks. We slept really good but woke up early Saturday morning, just like usual.

We started the day by walking to the Amtrak station to pick up our train tickets for the next day. On our way there we had breakfast at Denny's, which was in the chinese part of the city. From Amtrak we walked to Old Sacramento where we spent the next hour walking around looking at the different things, like the old houses, the river, little cute shops etc. Next stop was Downtown Plaza, a shopping mall just next to Old Sacramento. We went to Disney Store, GAP and some other stores before it was time for coffee at Starbucks.

After coffee we walked back to our hotel and started to get dressed for the wedding. At 15.00 we went outside and were picked up by George (Tony's sisters husband) who took us to First Presbyterian Church in Roseville, where the wedding took place. One of the grooms showed us to our seat and then it was finally time for the big moment. It was a really beautiful wedding, and very short compared to the weddings I have been to before. It only took about 20 minutes and then Derik and Andrea were a married couple.

We went back to Sheraton with George, and first of all there were hors d'heuvres outside the room where the dinner was going to take place. Lot's of cheese, crackers, stuffed mushrooms, crabcakes and other food. We also signed the guestbook and got our picture taken for it. After an hour or so, Derik and Andrea and the rest of the wedding party arrived (they had been taking pictures in the rose garden in the Capitol park) and it was time to sit down.
First Derik and Andrea danced their first dance together and after that dinner started. It was very good, first a salad, and then chicken, and after that wedding cake of course. After the dinner we danced until midnight, and we really had a lot of fun! Being at an American wedding was a very nice experience.



Sunday morning we were a little bit tired, but we got up in time for brunch (also part of the wedding) and said good-bye to everyone. That was the sad part of the weekend:( Then we went out on town and walked to the Capitol building and looked around in the park there. We saw the rose garden, the Vietnam monument and some other monuments. And lot's of squirrels! Later we walked to Downtown Plaza again and bought some Pooh stuff at Hallmark:). Lunch at Subway, before we took a taxi to the Amtrak station.

The train ride went fine even if it was a little bit cold onboard. We came to Turlock at 18.07 and George met us at the "station" (It's not really a station, just a quick stop for the train) and took us home. There we were treated to a really nice dinner and joined by Linda and also Janice, Finn, Abbey och Soren.

Today, Monday, we have spent the entire day outside at the pool. After a busy weekend, it's been nice to just relax and do nothing. This evening we went to Javi's mexican restaurant for a very nice dinner.

I morse fick vi gå upp tidigt, men det var ju inte något problem eftersom vi har vaknat klockan sex på morgnarna ända sen vi kom hit.... Ungefär vid halv nio kom Linda och Tony och hämtade oss och så åkte vi, i två bilar, mot Sacramento. Vårt första stopp var Coddingtown mall i Santa Rosa där vi köpte något frukostliknande på Cinnabon (en stor stor bulle med äppelfyllning). Sedan körde vi vidare mot Sacramento och stannade vid Sheraton för att lämna av lite saker till bröllopet, placeringskort och sånt.

Linda, Lois, Janne och jag åkte sedan vidare till Folsom (medan Tony åkte till flygplatsen för att hämta Kim, hans flickvän, och Ashley) där vi åt lunch på Applebee's och sedan checkade vi in på vårt hotell, Hilton Garden Inn. Ett jättefint hotell, med det största hotellrum jag någonsin bott i. Hotellet ligger precis mitt emot Folsom Factory Outlets så i eftermiddag har vi gått där och tittat i affärer. Sedan umgicks vi lite med Kim och hans flickvän, innan vi gick till Chili's och åt middag. Det blev en sen middag eftersom alla fortfarande var mätta efter lunchen, så vi kom precis tillbaka till hotellrummet.

Det är så varmt och skönt här, så imorgon blir det nog ett dopp i polen efter frukosten!

Today we had to get up early, which was no problem since we have been waking up at 6 am every morning since we got here... Linda and Tony came and picked us up at 8.30 and we started driving south. Our first stop was in Santa Rosa where we got some "breakfast" at Cinnabon. Then we kept driving until we came to Sacramento and the Sheraton hotel where we stopped to drop off some things for the wedding. The hotel looks very nice, I look forward to stay there for two nights!

Linda, Janne, Lois and I continued to Folsom while Tony went to the airport to pick up Kim. We had lunch at Applebee's and after that we checked in to Hilton Garden Inn which is a really nice hotel just across the street from a lot of outlet shops. So of course we spent the rest of the afternoon looking in those shops. I found a nice white shirt, which is something I've been looking for.

Now we just came back from dinner, at Chili's and it feels like it's time to sleep....

Gårdagen var ganska lik övriga dagar här i Gualala. Med andra ord, avkopplande och massor av solsken! :) Vi promenerade ner till stan på morgonen och köpte lite TY beanie babies och lite tranbärsjuice och sedan tillbringade vi några timmar på altanen. Till lunch blev det överbliven tårta sedan födelsedagsfirandet.

På eftermiddagen åkte vi hem till Linda och Tony för att titta på trädgården som de anlagt sedan vi var här förra sommaren. Den var jättefin! Det kommer till och med bli möjligt att spela golf där när allt är klart. När vi kom hem igen lagade Lois laxkotletter till oss, som vi åt tillsammans med spagetti-squash. Jättegott!!



Idag tog vi också en liten promenad ner till stan. Vi satt på en bänk och tittade ut över havet och floden och bara njöt.

Ikväll var vi på Oceansong, en restaurang som ligger precis nere vid havet, och åt middag. Jag åt lax (igen!) med avocado, jättegott!! Ni kan se själva här på bilden....


Nu är det dags att börja packa. Klockan 8 imorgon bitti åker vi mot Folsom tillsammans med Lois, Linda och Tony.

Yesterday was pretty much the same as the other days we have spent in Gualala. In other words, very relaxing and lots of sunshine! :) We walked downtown in the morning and bought some TY beanie babies and some cranberry juice. Then we spent a couple of hours on the deck, with some leftover cake for lunch, before we watched Days of our lives on TV.





In the afternoon we drove up to Linda and Tony's house where we got a tour around their new garden (see picture above), which they have made since last time we were here. It looked really nice! When we came home we had salmon (very delicious) for dinner, and I always love salmon the way Lois cooks it.

Today we also took a walk downtown and sat on a bench close to the ocean and looked at the beautiful view there.


And in the evening we went to Oceansong for dinner. I had salmon (again!) which tasted very good.


Now it's time to start packing because we leave for Folsom at 8 am tomorrow, together with Lois, Linda and Tony.

Igår blev det ytterligare en lat dag i solen. Vi satt på altanen och läste, åt lite gott och tittade på alla fina kolibrier som flyger omkring här. På eftermiddagen gick vi en långpromenad till campingplatsen som ligger nere vid floden.





På kvällen kom Linda och Tony hit och åt middag och vi firade Lindas födelsedag som egentligen var i lördags. Den firades med tårta med citronfyllning och några presenter. Sen somnade vi gott som vanligt....

Yesterday was another lazy day in the sun. We sat on the deck, read some books and watched the hummingbirds flying around. We also went on a walk down to the campground, close to Gualala River. It was a very nice walk, except for the mosquitos!

In the evening Tony and Linda came here for dinner and we celebrated Linda's birthday (which was Saturday) with a really yummy cake with lemon filling. See picture below....

Idag har det inte hant sa mycket. Vi har mest bara suttit i solen och latat oss, och last. Underbart att antligen ha tid att sitta ner och lasa en bra bok utan att ha daligt samvete for att man inte pluggar istallet. Har just last ut "Utan eko" av Anne Holt, sa imorgon ska jag paborja nagon annan av de bocker jag hade med mig.

Vi har fortfarande inte lyckats anpassa oss helt och hallet till tidsskillnaden, sa vi somnar tidigt och vaknar rysligt tidigt pa morgonen. Med andra ord ar det snart sovdags har fast klockan bara ar strax efter 21.00. Natti natti! :)

Not much happened today. We have spent most of the day outside on the deck, in the sun. We haven't seen one single cloud since we came here, which feels good, since we both love the sunshine. I almost finished reading one of the books I brought here, so tomorrow I look forward to begin reading another one. It's so wonderful to finally have some time to just sit down and read a good book! It feels like years since the last time I could do that without feeling guilty because of school or something else.

Our bodies are still a little bit confused from the time difference, so we will probably go to bed soon. We have been falling asleep early in the evenings and wake up terribly early in the morning. Hopefully that will change soon.

Här kommer ytterligare en rapport från soliga Kalifornien där vi har det alldeles underbart. Vi njuter av solen och av att kunna koppla av och egentligen inte behöva göra något alls.
Igår tog vi en promenad ner till byn och tittade i lite affärer och köpte en god cheesecake på Trinks som är en ny coffeeshop här och som ägs av en god vän till Linda. Resten av dagen satt vi på altanen och solade, och sedan gjorde Lois hamburgare till middag. Resten av kvällen visade vi Lois en massa foton som vi hade tagit med i datorn.

Idag har vi också varit ute på en liten promenad och tittade i några nya affärer som öppnat sedan sist vi var här. Vi var också på "Farmers Market" och skulle köpa tomater till Lois, men det var tyvärr ganska utsålt när vi kom dit. Sedan har vi suttit i solen och ätit lunch och läst lite.... Det händer inte så mycket, men det är bara skönt, speciellt som vi vet att det kommer hända desto mer nästa helg när det är dags för Deriks och Andreas bröllop, och ännu stressigare blir det sista veckan när vi har hyrbil, så vi passar på att ladda upp inför det.

Vill ni se foton, gå till Jannes fotoblog. Och skriv gärna en kommentar här nedan, det är alltid lika kul att läsa.

Here comes another report from sunny Gualala! We really enjoy being here, and to be able to relax and just do nothing at all. Yesterday we took a walk downtown, looked in some of the shops ,and bought a really good cheesecake at Trinks, a new bakery here. The rest of the day we sat in the sun on the deck, and later watched Days of our lives on TV.

Today we took another walk downtown, went to Farmers market, even though they didn't have as much as we were expecting, and we looked in some more shops. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the sun, and now we are waiting for dinner - tacos!

Don't forget to look at Jannes photoblog for pictures from our stay here. And I'm always happy to read comments here below!

Nu äntligen har jag lite tid att skriva om vår resa. I tisdags morse lämnade vi Flemingsberg tidigt på morgonen efter bara några timmars sömn. Vi tog tåget till Arlanda och åt lite frukost där innan det var dags att gå ombord på Lufthansas flight till Frankfurt. Väl framme i Frankfurt var det nog fem säkerhetskontroller innan vi ansågs ofarliga och fick gå ombord på planet. Kroppsvisitering, genomgång av kristallskålarna i handbagaget, många frågor om varför vi skulle åka till USA, bombscanning av Jannes dator. För första gången var vi också tvungna att visa upp returbiljetterna, för att få gå ombord på planet.

Flighten till San Francisco var 11 timmar och 18 minuter, och innan vi kom upp i luften fick vi lite sightseeing på flygplatsen eftersom piloten verkade lite osäker på varifrån han skulle starta och körde runt hela flygplatsen i cirka 30 minuter:) Såg mycket intressant från luften, Island, Grönland, Kanada och en hel del av Klippiga bergen.

När vi kom fram till San Francisco var det återigen dags för en mängd frågor om vad vi skulle göra, vart vi skulle, vem vi skulle bo hos, vad vi jobbar med osv. Inte som förr när den enda frågan som ställdes var "Business or pleasure?". Min brylling Kevin mötte oss och vi åkte hem till lägenheten i Twin Peaks där han bor tillsammans med sin flickvän Erin. Där på balkongen möttes vi av en otrolig utsikt över nästan hela San Francisco, downtown, Bay Bridge, City Hall och en massa andra byggnader. Här finns utsikten på bild. Vi var väldigt trötta, men orkade i alla fall äta lite pepperonipizza innan det var dags att sova.

I onsdags började vi dagen med en riktig långpromenad, vi gick från lägenheten ner till Ashbury Haights och vidare till Golden Gate Park där vi irrade runt i några timmar (det var inte helt lätt att hitta) och bland annat såg en massa vackra blommor vid "Conservatory of flowers". Själva byggnaden var dock stängd för reparation. Sedan gick vi vidare, längs Fulton Street, till Alamo Square där vi fotograferade de berömda husen som kallas "Painted Ladies". Därifrån gick vi till City Hall, och hoppade på en spårvagn som tog oss till Powell Street. På Starbucks blev det en Caramel Frappucino, kallt och gott i värmen, och sedan en bussfärd ner till Fishermans Wharf. Vi strosade omkring där och tittade på all fisk som såldes i stånden längs med gatorna. På Pier 39 åt vi lunch, på en restaurang som heter Dante's, jag åt en mycket god Clam Chowder.

Tyvärr gick tiden allt för snabbt, och efter lunchen (som i och för sig var en sen lunch, vid tretiden på eftermiddagen) var det dags att börja shoppa, så vi åkte spårvagn ner till Market Street och fyndade på Old Navy, och sedan var vi på Disney Store, där de tyvärr inte hade lika stort sortiment av Nalle Puh som de brukar ha. När vi kom til GAP var vi så trötta att vi gav upp shoppingen och istället tog en taxi hem till Kevin och Erin.

På kvällen åkte vi ut till havet och åt middag på Cliffhouse, en otroligt vackert belägen restaurang med utsikt över havet och västra delen av Golden Gate Park.

Igår, torsdag, så åkte vi med Kevin till Starbucks och köpte frukost innan vi påbörjade resan norrut mot Santa Rosa. Där blev vi hämtade av min syssling Linda och hennes man Tony, och började med en lunch på Applebee's. Sedan blev det lite shopping i Santa Rosa Plaza innan den två timmar långa resan hem till Gualala. Utsikten utmed Highway 1 var lika underbar som alltid, och vädret helt perfekt. När vi kom hem till Lois, där vi ska bo nu i en vecka, hade hon middagen klar. Sedan somnade vi nästan genast, jetlagen sitter fortfarande i.

I finally have some time to write about the first days of our trip. Tuesday morning we left Flemingsberg very early and took the train to Arlanda airport. Our first flight was to Frankfurt, Germany, where we had to go through at least five different security controls before they finally decided it wouldn't be too dangerous to let us onboard the flight to San Francisco. The flight was 11 hours and 18 minutes which was loooong but okay. When we finally arrived to San Francisco airport, the immigration officer also asked us a lot of questions about why we were coming to the states, what we were gonna do, what we did for a living, who we would visit etc etc. Much more complicated than before, when all they asked was "Business or pleasure?".

My third cousin Kevin met us at the airport and took us home to his apartment, where he lives with his girlfriend Erin. They have the most wonderful view over the city, from Twin Peaks where their apartment is. After eating some pepperonipizza we fell asleep and it was really good to lay down after all the hours we had been awake. ¨

Wednesday morning we began the day with a long walk. We walked from the apartment down to Ashbury Haights, and from there to Golden Gate Park where we looked around in the east end. The park was so much bigger than we had expected. We saw some really beautiful flowers outside the "Conservatory of flowers", but the conservatory itself was closed for renovations. After that we walked to Alamo Square and took some photos of the famous "Painted Ladies", and then we walked down to the City Hall, where we took a streetcar to Powell Street and got some Caramel Frappucino at Starbucks. Then we took the bus to Fishermans Wharf and looked around there and at Pier 39 where we also had lunch, clam chowder, at Dante's. In the afternoon we did some shopping at Old Navy and Disneystore before we took a taxi back to Kevin's and Erin's apartment. In the evening we went to Cliffhouse, a very nice restaurant overlooking to ocean and the beach.

Yesterday we went to Starbucks together with Kevin, and got some breakfast and after that we started driving up north, to Santa Rosa where my second cousin Linda met us together with her husband Tony. We had lunch at Applebee's and did some shopping in Santa Rosa Plaza. The two hour long drive to Gualala was beautiful as always, and the weather was perfect too.When we came home to Lois, where we are going to stay for one week now, she had dinner ready for us, and after that we fell asleep very early because of the jetlag and time difference.

Vår resrutt:

5 augusti: kl 09.50 - Från Arlanda till Frankfurt med flight nummer LH 3025
5 augusti: kl 13.45 - Från Frankfurt till San Francisco med flight nummer UA 901
5 augusti: anländer till San Francisco kl 16.25 amerikansk tid (01.25 svensk tid)

5-7 augusti: San Francisco
7-14 augusti: Gualala
14 augusti: Folsom
15-17 augusti: Sacramento
17-25 augusti: Turlock/Denair
25-27 augusti: Hotell New York, New York, i Las Vegas
27-30 augusti: Phoenix
30 augusti - 1 september: San Diego
1-2 september: Los Angeles

Our itinerary:

August 5: 9.50 am - From Arlanda to Frankfurt with flight number LH 3025
August 5: 1.45 pm - From Frankfurt to San Francisco with flight number UA 901
August 5: arrive in San Francisco at 4.25 pm

August 5-7 : San Francisco
August 7-14: Gualala
August 14: Folsom
August 15-17: Sacramento
August 17-25: Turlock/Denair
August 25-27: Hotel New York, New York in Las Vegas
August 27-30: Phoenix, Arizona
August 30 - September 1: San Diego
September 1-2: Los Angeles

Nu är det inte många dagar kvar tills vi åker... och massor av saker att fixa innan dess. Idag har vi varit i stan och tillbringat flera timmar i kartbutiken mitt emot Centralen där vi köpte kartor över Las Vegas, Arizona och Phoenix samt en guidebok om Las Vegas så nu har vi lite att läsa. Ska också ta och kolla att min videokamera fungerar eftersom det var evigheter sedan jag använde den senast. Måste ju kunna föreviga Grand Canyon och allt annat vackert vi kommer se. Sen måste jag börja förbereda packningen lite eftersom jag åker hem till Vetlanda på tisdag och stannar veckan ut. Jag vet hur lång tid det brukar ta att packa så det är dumt att chansa på att hinna med allt dagen innan vi åker, speciellt som jag även tänkte åka in till stan då och titta på Annika Sörenstam som ska spela golf i Kungsträdgården.

Not many days now until we leave... and lot's of things to fix and take care of. Today we bought some maps of Las Vegas, Arizona and Phoenix so we will be able to find our way to our destinations. Now I'm gonna check my video camera to make sure it works, since it's been quite a long time since I used it. I also need to start packing a little because on Tuesday I'm going to Vetlanda and won't be back home until Sunday afternoon, so then there won't be much time to prepare for our long trip.

Hej och välkommen till min nya blogg! Här tänkte jag berätta om vår resa till USA i augusti och hålla er uppdaterade om vad som händer utmed vår resrutt i Kalifornien, Nevada och Arizona. Vi åker till San Francisco den 5:e augusti och kommer hem till Sverige igen den 3:e september.

Hi and welcome to my new blog! This is where I'll be telling you about our trip to USA in August, and keep you updated about what's happening along our way in California, Nevada and Arizona. We leave for San Francisco on August 5th and will be back in Sweden again on September 3rd.