Road Trip '09 » English

Pictures from Gran Canyon

Stefan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:22:13 +0000

A bit late, but here’s a photostream from our visit to Gran Canyon. Enjoy!

Celebrating Fourth of July Western Style!

Simen — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:42:25 +0000

After listening to locals and some serious googling on where and how to properly celebrate the Independence Day of the US, our choice fell on the deserted town of Grants, New Mexico. Despite local warnings of the small town, it certainly presented a much anticipated piece of America, as it hosted the Wild West Days Rodeo. The show definitely kept us entertained with attractions ranging from Cowgirl Barrel Racing to the good ol´ Bull Riding. Struck by the charming western spirit, we even considered joining the advertised Dance at the Cow Palace later that night. Realizing the probable attendants would surpass our age by a couple of generations, we buckled up once more in our fierce Expedition and hit the dusty road, taking us to Flagstaff, Arizona.

In short, the celebration of the The Glorious Fourth continued in Flagstaff as it should with Italian dinner, live Latin American music, some pool and clubbing. God bless America!

Quick update from Albuquerque

Eivind — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:14:31 +0000

Just a little heads up, before we start the July 4th celebrations: We’ve now gotten ourselves through Texas and up into New Mexico, where we’re currently staying in Albuquerque. It’s a city the size of Oslo, and Stefan, Cameron and Erlend are testing out the nightlife. Those of us who stayed behind, went to the 24 hour open Walmart to secure the water supply for the next days.

We’re not quite sure what we’ll do tomorrow, there’s some Rodeo in Grants, but we’ve been told the town is nothing to speak of. There’s also a village called San Ysidro (pop. 238) that will host a rodeo competition. Both are about one hour drive away, so who knows what we’ll do.

Rocking New Orleans

Erlend — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:04:21 +0000

We came to New Orleans in the middle of the day after booking our hotel room the same morning, arriving at a nice hotel in the French Quarter where we left the car in care of valet parking. A pretty reasonable price gave us 3 great rooms with a queen sized bed per person.

Some of us then took a walk to the aquarium, while the rest cooled down in the pool.

We later went out to have a great and for some a very interesting meal, as Simen and Eivind each ordered a plate of softshell crab as main course, while the rest of us ordered a delightful fish dish.

Later on that night we decided to go out and see what New Orleans rumored nightlife was all about. To our great satisfaction the streets and bars were filled with people having a great time — seems like every day is a party day in Bourbon Street. There were lots of bars and nightclubs, and as Simen so correctly put it; “it’s great to be tossed into bars instead of out”.

It’s difficult to describe the energy contained in this one street, but it certainly felt like half of New Orleans had gathered for a night out. The live music was not limited to indoor entertainment though, as a dozen of hip african americans rocked the streets with their funky brass instruments. Some of us was invited to dance to the funky music by an old (but hip), shabby-looking man, making us look even whiter.

New Orleans definitely made a colorful impression despite our short stay, and we recommend everyone to experience it!

Texas

Stefan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:00:32 +0000

We’ve now entered the state of Texas! We’ve driven four hours from New Orleans, but we’re still only about halfway to Austin — our intended destination for today.

The weather is cloudy, but the temperature is 97 degrees Fahrenheit (about 36 degrees Celcius).

New Orleans!

Stefan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:54:27 +0000

We’ve now made it all the way down to New Orleans after three days on the road since Atlantic Beach (although we did stop to do some rafting in the Nantahala River…). Tonight we’re staying at the Holiday Inn in New Orleans, where we enjoy valet parking, have access to both a pool and a hotel bar — but first and foremost look forward to experiencing ‘the most unique city in America’.

Btw: Louisiana is the 11th state we’ve visited – with New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi being the first ten.

Smokey Bear

Martin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:54:29 +0000

Norwegian Olympic Rafting Team

A short stop at a bbq shack in the middle of the smokey mountains triggered a chain of events culminating in us navigating a level 3 rapid unsupervised. The original plan had been to head as far west as possible when Simen’s stomach started to rumble and we settled down for cheeseburgers at a not strictly licensed food vendor. As we were settling into our meals we were approached by a native who was keen on sending us down the river the next day. Apparently we had stumbled upon a rafting mecca of sorts.

If we had felt a bit uneasy about being approached by our rather insistant new friend things didn’t get better when we check into our “Hitchcock” style motel after nearly getting mauled by a black bear en route (true story). Soon our fascination with the fireflies became more prevalent than our worry about axe murderers and we got a decent night’s sleep.

Despite our lack of guide and any form of instruction we handled the rapids like the true professionals the Road Trip ‘09 crew are. The river will never see such awesomness again.

One Lonely Victim..

Semper Fi

Report from the Viking invasion of Atlantic Beach

Stefan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:44:54 +0000

Enjoying the good life!

We’re now back on the road again after four amazing days in Atlantic Beach, NC — where we visited Brittany, Ena and Rose. Together we lived the good life with delicious food, cold beer at the beach and a visit to a deserted island. The mood was easy, the alcohol was flowing freely and when we visited the beach again at 3 AM the group took a more liberal approach to swimwear.

Six slightly overconfident Norwegian guys challenged a varied (including an 8 year old and two girls) American gang to a game of football. We took the lead 1-0 but the final score is not that relevant.

Things picked up again when we set out to experience American nightlife the last night at the Atlantic Beach Club. Our first meeting with American style dancing proved to be a bit of a shock for us Europeans used to actually having to move our bodies while dancing. While we were preoccupied by the strip pole two oversized amazon warriors took to the floor with their standard uniform of bikinis and loud mouths.

A big thanks to our eager and accommodating taxi driver Randy who was not overly concerned about rules and regulations for passenger transport.

Our final gratitude goes to the three lovely girls who took so good care of six loud Norwegians and their varying whims. You are welcome to join us in Norway any time!

Class of '09

Arrival at HI New York

Eivind — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:46:00 +0000

We’ve safely arrived at Hostelling International New York, and checked in to a 12 bed dorm. Stay tuned for more interesting updates, we’re quite tired now.

Thumbs up for British Airways!

The first entry from the US of A

Martin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:17:30 +0000

Yes! The eagle has landed! Well…not quite. Let’s rephrase that: One of the eagles has landed, and is now sitting in an internet cafe at JFK int. airport waiting for the others to arrive. Also trying to beat down a hell’of a jet-lag with espresso-shots.
Stay tuned for updates.