Een eiland in de oceaan van weblogs

Jaar: 2007 (pagina 5 van 15)

Crazy Mount Rushmore Horse

Just like Emma told you guys earlier; I visited Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore yesterday (Thursday the 13th). But it was not as good as expected.

Well… let met put it like this: Crazy Horse was very impressive, because it was a non government sponsored initiative and they are really believing in building the thing. It’s impressive and huge! It’s gonna be a statue of about 550 feet (170 meters) high! But the whole visitor center was swamped with paintings and art related to the Indian Culture. And without any explanation or some directions, it was not very interesting in my opinion. So I looked at the story how the building of Crazy Horse started and then quickly wandered the museum. And then I left and went up to Mt Rushmore.

And that was even more disappointing. Really. It’s not as big as it looks on the pictures, it’s a pretty small in the mountain. And just to show how less there is to see: I arrived at 3:40pm and I left at 4:05pm. So I spend 25 minutes total. And I took about 10 pictures of the heads (Mount Rushmore itself) and about 5-6-7 pictures of the squirrels running around 😀

For the rest the scenery was different from Cody and Casper again… which was nice, because now it becomes to be less desert-ish and more green / trees. Today the Badlands are on the schedule. After that… it’s a 3 days drive through Nebraska towards Iowa. Really enjoy the driving, got a perfect car (a white Saturn Ion) and they have so much radio stations here – haven’t really played lot of my CD’s yet 🙂

And in a few days maybe meeting Emma! Exciting and really looking forward to that so much! 😀

Talk to you guys later!

Choose your own Adventure: Day 11

Okay hold onto your horses people. HUGE change in plans.
Skar decided to nix the Minneapolis part of his trip, and replace it with Omaha.

“Blah, blah blah…so how does that effect ME?” Jaja I can hear when you talk to your computer. It is the newest technology we have here in America 🙂
Well, there is good news, and there is bad news. Which one do you want to hear?
(Turn to page 666 for the bad news; or page 427 for the good news)

PAGE 666: Bad news it that there will be NO Mall of America for you to hear about. NO pictures of the biggest Mall in America. NO pictures of the indoor rollercoaster that they have there. I hear the tears coming…don’t worry….I have a consolation. *hands the readers tissue.* Just google it. 🙂

PAGE 427: The great news is that now you will hear about the Omaha zoo! YES! This is one of the best zoo’s in America! It even has a section of animals in a habitat that looks like Africa! “Ooooh!” So when you look at Skar’s pictures, it would be like Skar visited TWO continents instead of one! Or maybe even MORE continents! 😀

But you know what? Cities with that size population are sure to have internet hot spots. So we can expect to hear things straight from the horse’s mouth.

Oh yeah, speaking of which; he is doing well. He visited Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore today. Ask him about the squirrels. And tomorrow he is visiting the Badlands.

Peace out.

Quickie from Cody, WY

A quick quick post from the library in Cody, Wyoming. Just left Yellowstone Park. I’m still alive and LOVING it…. OMG OMG OMG… the scenery is amazing, the people are awesome and the weather couldn’t be any better… about 90F / 25-30C degrees. LOVELY!

I shot Emma a more detailed report. She’s pretty busy right now with her work, so she might update Rakso tomorrow… all have patience.

Some facts: writing this in a library, drove more than 1000mi already, YSP is very nice (the Grand Canyon is even more beautiful than all the geysers) and the people are very very nice.

@Herman: I’m in Cody right now, but won’t be here in one week from now. So I won’t be able to see Willy perform 🙁 Maybe some other time.

@Emma: LUKDM!

@rest: cya soon!

Yellow Fewer: Day 7

Skar is traveling through areas flushed hot and then cold with phone service. His cell service provider predicts a 50% chance of pulling trough to a signal in The Vicinity of the Yellow Rocks. Last we heard of him was yesterday just outside Livingston, Idaho. He was in great spirits, and said that he has had visions of natural beauty that we would like to  share.

Quick update from Seattle [D5]

Forwarded: Skar wrote this Sept 7 but experienced some technical difficulties in the uploading.

A special treat for my fans… a quick update from an internet cafe in Seattle. 1111 First Avenue to be precise (again found with help from my baby, Emma).

Yesterday I traveled from Vancouver to Seattle by Greyhound bus. After dropping my stuff in the hotel, I wandered the streets and visited some of the highlights of Seattle… Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square and also visited the Space Needle (after hesitated for a long time). It’s so kewl, referring to the streets as First Avenue, Second Avenue, corner of 1st and Pike street…etc… so KEWL! 🙂

After seeing all the highlights, I sat down and enjoying my barbecued ribs while a Jazz band was performing on stage. Very nice experience.

And now I just checked out of the hotel, gonna wander the streets for a few hours more and then grab a taxi to the airport and get my rental car.

One last note. I really respect you all want to hear more of my personal experiences, but for several reasons that’s not gonna happen:
1) I don’t want to get on internet daily. That wouldn’t feel like holiday, would it?
2) I so much enjoy the way Emma writes and her view on my trip – and the suddle jokes she makes
3) This afternoon I will drive away from Seattle and more into the wild rural mountain areas. So probably less internet cafes there 😉

Byeah!

Continuing In His Words: Day 4

Okay, okay today was REALLY REALLY REALLY, Skar’s first day in the United States of America.

Great news! Today I offer thee sms straight from His fingers:

10:48pm PDT “Now tasting the MM orange juice and also no bad! Enjoying some tv and looking forward to…” ~ Oh so sorry. Seems like this one cut off. I wonder what he is looking forward to? 🙂
9:20am PDT “My mind goes complete…” ~ Oh my, it happened again. Why on earth….maybe the next SMS will be better.
10:18am PDT “Let’s put the name down on the agenda ;-P But just so you know: I’m in the US now. Just passed customs. I’m on my…” ~ Cant wait to hear what he is on? Drugs? A little pony!?!?
10:52 am PDT “After some consideration I’m willing to accept… ~ Aww someone must have appealed to his level headed “nugterness.” I wonder who is winning this argument 😀
11:19 am PDT “And don’t forget about the SA-customs/superpowers! I’m now in Bellingham. You are…” ~ I am sure he was gonna say something nice there. Some people in loosing arguments gives the best compliments.
2:09 pm PDT “Wanna know where I’m at? www.piroshkybakery.com Just bought apple cinnamon roll there and enjoying it in the sun. Will call later.” ~ SKAR WINS! Game, Match. Point! Click that link, and weep. But only if you believe you can restain your jealousy, Paul. This one almost made me hop on a plane to Seattle.

Jaja, we are missing the info about his glorious last meal in Canada (D3) and today’s post 2:09 pm PDT Seattle adventures codeword: music (D4). So don’t allow Skar to leave his next internet cafe without touching on those topics.

Let’s give Emma a break [D3]

To keep the information consistent, I’m gonna write in English too (also a little easier, cuz my mind is now all English-oriented). Or should I say: Canadian?

A certain person asked my reporter Emma for a first hand report. So hereby I will give Emma a break for today. But not before I give her a complement about her first two reports. I think they are awesome! Of course they don’t give a detailed report of my whereabouts and what I’ve done. But I can only talk to her for a couple of minutes and she’s already doing more then I asked for. They show just some highlights and feelings and when I’m back I’ll give everyone a thurhough report of my trip.

I think Emma is doing an outstanding job! And also because I originally wanted to stay clear of the internet for a while. But now I wanted to chat with Emma… so needed to get online and now I could write something too.

Ok, my first impressions in brief:

The flight:
The flight was good. Had to run on Heathrow, because security-check was a pain. OMG… that was horrible and I almost missed my transfer. During my flight to Chicago I got upgraded to a Economy Plus-chair… with more leg-space AND two seats next to each other. So I could even slouch back. The flight from Chicago to Vancouver was less pretty. Originally I had a seat at the window, but luckily a kid wanted to sit at the window and I could swap seats, so I at least had a seat at the aisle. But the flight – probably also because it was my third flight – was too long and not nice. But eventually I arrived at Vancouver Airport (a very nice airport though), the airport was completely abandoned, grabbed my suitcase and went to my hotel with a taxi.

The hotel:
The hotel is nice, clean and has everything needed. Even a coffee-machine (don’t need that, but it does have it). They have about 50 tv-stations… omg… and commercials on them ALL THE TIME! But for the rest, it’s a little further out of the city then I expected. But busses travel here regularly… and they are cheap as hell.

First impressions:
Some tiny first impressions based on the first days in Vancouver. The moment I walked out of my hotel, I noticed all the trafic. OMG… it was awesome! All the big nosed trucks… the American cars… and the honking and the sound of sirens (not as often as I expected though). It’s weird how normal things are special here. A Snickers tasts different, they don’t have paprika-flavoured chips and everything looks so American. I love it!

Vancouver is a great city. It’s big, but doesn’t feel overwhelming or scary. It’s pleasant and I enjoy walking the streets. I do try to fit in a little, by hiding my camera while wandering the streets – but yes… when I see something nice, I take a picture and they mark me as a tourist right away. I don’t think they allow me to upload anything here in this internet cafe (which I btw found by the help of my dear Emma). So you all have to wait for pictures for at least a couple of weeks. I hope I can upload some before that, but can’t promise.

Traveling alone:
It’s weird. Beforehand I expected that I would miss a travel companion, but only when I wanted to take a picture of myself… I needed someone else. For the rest I have Cooper (my MP3-player), my camera and myself. And during the evenings I make short phonecalls to Emma and those I charish a lot!

Things I’ve done:
Ok. Just to sum up the things I’ve done the first two days: traveled half the planet (Amsterdam-London-Chicago-Vancouver), seen all the highlights of Vancouver, visited Stanley Park, GranVille, GasTown, YaleTown and more, took a watertaxi, visited a local market, took a SkyTrain (just like our subway in Amsterdam – part underground, rest above ground), visited a big Mall (called Metropolis, in Metrotown) and visited a movie theater (watched Rush Hour 3). And for the rest of today I’m gonna eat something somewhere and think I’m heading to my hotel early… already completely exhausted and have to pack my stuff – have to leave early tomorrow.

Things I’ve eat:
Ok. Just to sum up some things I’ve eaten these first days: hotdogs, beagle with cream cheese, snickers, chips (with sour cream – blerk!), a donut (plain = boring), some subs (little breads) and some airplane food. Didn’t really ate at a restaurant yet. Don’t felt like it either. Maybe tonight? There is a McDonalds next to my hotel, but I refuse to go to one… we have them in NL too… so let’s try to skip those during the next couple of weeks.

So, that’s it for now. Tomorrow morning I’ll travel to Seattle with the Greyhound – very early… at 8:45 (which is 17:45 NL-time). And Emma will keep on tracking my whereabouts and tell you guys.

Bye people. Bye from 616 Seymore Street in Vancouver 😛