lørdag den 11. juli 2015

North Caroline rocks!


Efter vores brag af en 4’th of July weekend satte vi næsen sydpå. Gennem Indiana, Kentucky og Tennessee indtil vi nåede frem til Charlotte I North Carolina. Vi tog turen I eet hug, og selvom det var en lang dag (vi kørte kl 8:15 og nåede først frem lidt I midnat) så gik det ganske fint. Vi havde lånt en kæmpe bunke DVDer på biblioteket, så der var rimeligt ro på bagsædet. Eneste minus på turen var vores første pitstop på en trist MacDonalds I Indiana, hvor en hurtig kop kaffe, endte med at blive til 20 minutters ufrivillig venten på at de absurd sløveste medarbejdere, jeg I mit liv har mødt, fik taget sig sammen til at hælde kaffe op og havde travlt med ignorere den muffin, Kristian bestilte. Vi havde ikke tid til lange stop, når der skal køres 850miles på en enkelt dag, så det var en ret dårlig start på en tur der ellers gik godt derfra.

After our blast of a 4'th of July weekend, we went south. More precisely through Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee until we hit Charlotte in North Carolina. We took the trip in one stretch, and although it was a long day (we drove at 8:15 and did not arrive until slightly before midnight), it went quite well. We had borrowed a huge pile of DVDs at the library, so the back seats were relatively quiet. The only drawback to the trip was our first pitstop on a pathetic McDonalds In Indiana, where a quick coffee, ended up being 20 minutes of involuntary waiting for the absurdly lazy staff to get their act together to pour a cup of coffee while doing their best to ignore the muffin, Kristian ordered. We did not have time for long stops, when driving 850miles on a single day, so it was an akward way to start to a trip that otherwise went well from there.

Ligesom til jul var målet at besøge Kate og Birgitte, Kristians 2 grand-tanter, der begge bor I udkanten af Charlotte. Denne gang boede vi hos Kate og John, der deler hus med deres datters familie, og med både swimmingpool, hund, kat og andre børn, var der ikke rigtig tid til at kede sig - selv ikke for Teresa.
Luca har siden han blev væltet af en hund, da han var omkring eet år og stavrede usikkert rundt, været noget skeptisk overfor hunde af alle slags, men er gradvist tøet op. Og se nu her! Ja, det er Luca, der krammer en Doberman (en usædvanligt rar og gammel een af slagsen – sjovt nok kunne vi ikke få ham til stille op til kramme billeder med en hyper Rottweiler teenage hvalp et par dage senere ;-


As during the past Christmas, the goal was to visit Kate and Birgitte, Kristian's 2 great aunts, who both live in the outskirts of Charlotte. This time we stayed at Kate and John’s, who share the house with their daughter's family, and with a swimming pool, dog, cat and other children, there wasn’t really any time to feel bored - not even for Teresa. 
Luca is somewhat skeptical around dogs since he was knocked over by one when he was only about 1 year old and had just learned to walk, but he is gradually getting better. And watch this! Yes, it is Luca, hugging a Doberman (an exceptionally nice and old kind of Doberman that is – not so surprisingly we could not get him to pose for hugging pictures with a hyper Rottweiler teenage puppy a few days later ;-)


Tirsdag blev vi inviteret med I Carowinds – en forlystelses park lige på midten af North og South Carolina. Da der er ret stort spænd I præferencerne for forlystelser var vi nødt til at splitte os op. Kristian og Ulrik tog på “tour de alle de vilde forlystelser” med navne som “the intimidator” og “fury”. Yikes. Ulrik er teenager med stort T og at forsøge at hive nogen form for begejstrede udbrud eller store smil ud af ham, hører så absolut til sjældenhederne. Og selv om han havde været rundt I noget af det vildeste sådan en amerikansk forlystelses park kan præstere, så virkede han ikke synderligt imponeret og holdt stædigt fast I, at Vertigo (den der flyvemaskine I Tivoli) er det vildeste han har prøvet . Indtil vi kom til “rip cords”……… En forlystelse der vel bedst kan beskrives som en gigantisk gyngetur bungeejump style. Den kostede ekstra og han skulle spændes godt til I sikkerheds udstyr. Her er han på vej op (Ulrik er den lille prik I øverste venstre hjørne):
Tuesday we were invited to Carowinds - an amusement park right in the middle of North and South Carolina. Since there was considerable different preferences towards the rides we had to split up. Kristian and Ulrik took the "tour de all the wild rides" with names like "the Intimidator" and "fury". Yikes. Ulrik is a teenager with a capital T and trying to pull any kind of enthusiastic outbreak or big smile out of him, is an almost impossible task. Even when going on the wildest rides an American amusement park can come up with, he still insisted that Vertigo in Tivoli in Copenhagen was the craziest one he ever tried (and it IS crazy!). But then we found "rip cord" ......... A ride that is probably best described as a giant swing bungee jump style. It costed extra and he was all bundled up in safety equipment before he was allowed on it. Here he is on the way up (Ulrik is the small dot in the upper left corner):


Kristian var nødt til at gå, han skulle ikke nyde noget af at se ældstearvingen så højt oppe I luften, og jeg fik godt nok også sug I maven. Men ENDELIGT var der noget, der kunne imponere ungen. Ulrik gik rundt med at fjoget smil I I hvert fald 10 minutter og Vertigo har mistet sin førsteplads placering.
Kristian had to leave, as he did not feel like watching his oldest son doing something THAT wild and high in the air, and I honestly also got a good adrenaline rush just from watching. But FINALLY there was something that could impress that kid. Ulrik went around with a goofy smile for at least 10 minutes and Vertigo has lost its first place ranking.


Turens absolutte højdepunkt havde dog ikke noget med forlystelser at gøre. Jeg var med Luca inde I en butik og bag kassen stod en ranglet men ikke så høj fyr, med guld orange hår, briller og kæmpe fortænder. Det lyder bekendt, ikke? Selv de andre kunder I butikken lagde mærke til ligheden og det endte med at vi spurgte om han ville ha noget imod at stille op til et billede. Her er de så – Luca og hans voksne lookalike:
The absolute highlight of the trip, however, had nothing to do with wild rides. I went with Luca inside a shop and behind the counter stood a skinny but not very tall guy with golden orange hair, glasses and huge front teeth. Sounds familiar, right? Even the other customers in the store noticed the similarity and we ended up asking if he would mind posing for a picture. Here they are - Luca and his adult lookalike:



Her er lidt flere billeder fra dagen, hvor især Luca fik fjollet rigeligt rundt med sine gran gran fætre, der bestemt ikke var af den stille siddende slags (vi havde ikke lige noget billede fra Carowinds, så I får dem på en klippetop i stedet)

A few more pictures from that day. Luca had a blast goofing around with the other boys, who were certainly not of the sedentary type(we do not have any good pictures of them from Carowinds, but here they are from the top of a rock).




 
Torsdag tog vi ud til noget af det andet, som USA gør sig fremragende I – national parks med naturoplevelser, vi slet ikke kommer I nærheden af på de danske breddegrader. North Carolina er faktisk ikke helt ulig Californien I den forstand at der både er bjerge og hav og alt det midt I mellem på relativt få timers kørsel (som det måske skinner igennem så har vi fået den helt store omgang gruppepres på om vi da ikke skulle flytte derned, når vi var færdige med iskolde og mygge befængte Michigan…..;-) Chimney Rock National park var destinationen. Det tog en solid omgang hårnåle sving at nå derop og der var stegende varmt (ifølge det vejrkort vi så I elevatoren på hotellet samme aften, var North Carolina det varmeste sted at befinde sig I USA I denne uge, og det siger altså ikke så lidt). Her er vi så på Chimney Rock. Arj men tjeck lige den udsigt! Trappen derop var lang og Teresa fik ekstra motion, da hun forbarmede sig over på Jillian på 5 år og bar hende på ryggen ca halvdelen af vejen op. 

Thursday we explored another aspect of what the US does so well - national parks with nature that is far beyond what get to experience in Denmark. North Carolina is not unlike California in the sense that there are both mountain and ocean and everything in the middle in between within relatively few hours of driving (as it might shine through there was some slight group pressure to convince us that we should move down there once we were finished with icecold and mosquito infested Michigan ... .. ;-)
Chimney Rock National Park was the destination. It took a solid amount of hairpin turns to get up there and it was hot! (according to the weather map we saw in the elevator at the hotel that evening, North Carolina has been the warmest place in the United States this past week).
Here we are at Chimney Rock. Wow – check that view! The stairs up there were endless and Teresa got extra exercise when she took pity on 5 year old Jillian 5 and gave her a piggy back ride about half of the way.

Teresa ligner mig på mange måder og een af dem er, at hvis der er en sti eller trapper, der går højere op, så kan vi ikke lade være med at knokle videre til vi absolut ikke kan komme længere. Lidt længere oppe var “the opera box”, og MEGET højere oppe var “the exclamation point”, så der knoklede jeg op og op og op med Ulrik og Teresa. Her er vi så (godt svedige):

Teresa is like me in many ways and one of them is, that should we see a path or a set of stairs going higher, then we cannot help it but HAVE to keep going till we can get no further. A little higher was "the opera box", and MUCH higher was "the exclamation point", so of course we went there (together with Ulrik). Here we are (all sweaty):

 
Vi fik også rundet “Devils Head:
 
We also got to see "Devils Head:

Energi niveauet hos den lokale familie fejler ikke noget og selv med alderspænd fra 5 til 60+ år gik turen mod “Hickory Nuts Fall” uden brok over trætte ben (faktisk var det lige før at vi ikke kunne holde trit med Kate). Og det var turen værd. Især fordi man kunne stille sig ind under vandfaldet – og som I alt andet under kategorien “vand”, er der ingen, der når Teresa til sokkeholderne! Hun spurtede ind under vandfaldet som den første og der blev hun stort set stående, til vi skulle gå igen. 

The energy levels of the local family were not used up on the stairs and even with an age span from 5 to 60+ years we went towards "Hickory Nuts Fall" with no-one complaining about tired legs (actually we had a hard time keeping up with Kate LOL). The hike was worth the trip. Especially because one could stand under the waterfall - and as everything else belonging to the category of "water", we still have not met anyone getting close to matching Teresas enthusiasm! She sprinted under the waterfall and did hardly budge until it was time to leave.


Kære alle jer I North Carolina: vi har sådan hygget os og vi nyder at være sammen med jer. At have jer så relativt tæt på, gør at USA føles mere som hjemme for os. På gensyn inden alt for længe:
 
Dear all of you in North Carolina, we have had SUCH a good time with you. To have you so relatively close, make the United States feel more like home to us. See you before too long:




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