Day 3: Minnesota --> South Dakota

This morning I had anything free breakfast and hit the road yet again. I filled up near the hotel and returned to the oh so lovely I-90. My first stop was about 35 minutes in to see the Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN. It was cool, but only warranted about 2 minutes and a selfie or two.

The Green Giant of Blue Earth, MN of frozen vegetable fame

Selfie at the Green Giant

The next stop was at the Empire Mall in Sioux Falls, SD. I had hoped to find a new pair of jeans at Banana Republic since I had a $20 off coupon that expired today, but they didn't have my size, so instead I got a lighter for my camp stove at Dick's Sporting Goods since I realized I didn't bring one and used the restroom. Not too exciting. I then hit the road again for about an hour and a half before stopping at Cabela's to grab a camping meal to try sometime, and some groceries at Walmart. Also not to exciting.

Shortly after getting back in the freeway I had to stop to gas up. I think my mileage had been poor today due to the intense winds! The speed limit on 90 in South Dakota is 80mph, and that plus the wind has made things interesting, but it's overall been an easy drive. I made it to my campsite without any problems and set up my tent. I hope I set it up right! Soon I will cook something, and then who knows what! Maybe I'll read, maybe I'll see if I have anything to watch on my iPad. Not too much else to do out here. Can't wait to see the night sky without any light pollution!! I hear it's beautiful or here! 

My campsite in The Badlands

UPDATE:

So I was just going to leave my post at that, but I had a lovely night!! I made soup on my camp stove after figuring out how to turn it on in the wind, made a smore for dessert, rode my bike around the campsite, and went to evening program! Evening program was really interesting. It was a talk about the people in the area over the years. Right before it I got to see Jupiter and its four moons on a telescope. You could even see the lines from its storms! So cool! After the program they pointed out some of the stars in the sky. I set an alarm for 1:15AM to hopefully see the Milky Way Galaxy. We will see how badly I want to see it in a few hours! It's really beautiful here and I can't wait to explore tomorrow!

Cooking soup for dinner

Day 2: Illinois --> Wisconsin --> Minnesota

Today was day 2 of my road trip! I had a nice hot breakfast at the hotel and then set out.

My first stop of the day was in Madison, Wisconsin at the University of Wisconsin. I parked near the football stadium and rode my bike around campus and along the lake the campus sits on. The weather was beautiful and it was a nice break. I also got to talk to Christine for a bit, which was nice! 

First gas up in Wisconsin

The football stadium at the University of Wisconsin

A lake in Madison, WI (yes, there are multiple, this is the largest and right on the edge of campus)

University of Wisconsin Medial School and Hospital

After Madison I drove for roughly three more hours to Rochester, Minnesota to see the Mayo Clinic hospitals. It was a really quick stop, but cool to see since there are many lab tests we order that are only preformed there. That lab must be insanely busy! 

Satellite hospital of Mayo Clinic

THE Mayo Clinic

After that stop I drove to my hotel for the night. I think I could have kept going, but it was already booked, so I figured I'd stick with the plan. Tomorrow is my frost camping stop and my first of two new states!  

Day 1: Goodbye Ann Arbor, Michigan --> Indiana --> Illinois

Today was officially my very last day in Ann Arbor as a Michigan resident. After a lovely brunch with the wedding guests including the couple's family and friends this morning, I finished packing up and loaded the car. I also got a library card so I could download some audiobooks, and got some snacks for the trip. Stephanie was a huge help in finishing packing and loading the car, so a ginormous thanks to her!

I got on the road right when I wanted to around 6pm, but had to go back since I forgot to deadbolt the door. I hadnt gotten anywhere since I had just dropped off my donated clothes and filled up the gas, so I headed back, locked the deadbolt, and got on my way for real! The drive was boring, but fine. I stopped at Culver's for dinner and got some chicken and cheese curds. I also decided to stay in Illinois for the night and booked a hotel on Hotel Tonight. After eating I got back on the road and finished up the drive for the night. Now I'm ready for a good sleep!!

Ready to leave Ann Arbor

Thanks for the help Stephanie

Back in Michigan

We have officially made it back to Michigan! The flights were both fine. I did a little sleeping on both, and watched three movies and the end of the Warriors documentary from last years championship that I didn't finish on there way there on the long flight. We made it through immigration without any difficulties or any waiting (thank you Global Entry) and now we are waiting for our bags! Hoping they come soon so we can get going home and then it's time for packing... How fun. 

Sigulda and the End of Our Latest European Adventure

This morning we had our last breakfast buffet and our tour guide and driver for the day met us at our hotel to take us on an adventure to Sigulda. The drive out was nice and we got to see some more of Riga as well as the forests. Our first stop was to take a look at the valley where there was a small ski slope for the winter and a ropes course for the summer time. We also saw the bobsled training track nearby which looked like a lot of fun. The first major historical site of the day was Sigulda castle. The grounds were absolutely beautiful and the building itself was gorgeous. There was a second castle called Krimulda castle at the same site that was more of a ruin than the still functional Sigulda castle (now a government building), but still very beautiful. I also got a beautiful painting for my house! Hopefully I get it home okay!

After the castle we went to a different ski area that sets up for a LOT of summer adventures like ropes courses, summer sledding, zip lines, and a downhill tobaggon ride! I did the toboggan and it was super fun! We then saw some awesome natural caves and then visited Turaida Castle. Turaida had a much larger grounds with some museums, a beautiful small church, and some really interesting tales. The castle itself was been restored in red brick and looks really cool! The weather all day was really lovely as well, so the whole day was just really nice. 

After Turaida we went back to Sigulda Castle to pick up my painting in some protective wrapping for the plane. We then stopped for a traditional Latvian lunch, some pasta with meat, and small salad, and a soup, and then drove back to Riga. When we got back we rested a bit and then walked around Riga more. We did a little shopping, and then went to the Radisson Blu Hotel Latvija to see the views from the Sky Bar on the 26th floor. We only planned to look, but decided to stay for a drink and small cheese plate. Only problem was the cheese plate was enormous! It basically was so big we made it our dinner because we were so full afterwards. Cheese for dinner... Grandpa would have loved it haha. The views of the city were amazing by the way!!

Beautiful view of Riga from the Radisson Blu Hotel Latvija

Black Cat House

After the Sky Bar we walked back through town to the hotel. We tried to find a bag, but everything was closed since it was almost 9pm. We are now just chilling in the room, having some ice cream, and packing! Also watching E! since it's actually in English. See you tomorrow USA!

Yummy ice cream (two types of passion fruit and a chocolate)

Malmö and Riga

Since I last wrote a lot has happened! We had our last day at sea, where I won countries of the world trivia with a girl I met on the ship, and mom and dad and I got all but one answer correct on the Disney movie music trivia (we missed the song from Brother Bear). Overall it was a nice and relaxing day. The cruise then sadly came to an end and we disembarked after a little bit of a customs delay. Mom and I went to the airport with dad to get him checked in for his flight back to SFO, and we stored our bag in the lockers at the airport so we didn't have to lug around all of our stuff all day. Sadly I accidentally locked my phone and sunglasses in the locker, and you had to re-pay if you opened the locker, so I was without them. We said goodbye to Dad, and Mom and I headed to Malmö, Sweden for the day.

Getting to Malmö is quite easy on the train from Copenhagen. It's just under 15 minutes and takes you right from the airport to the center of town. We walked around the city a bunch, which was a really lovely city, took a tour by boat around the cities canals, had an amazing lunch of Swedish fish soup and of course Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries! It was all absolutely amazing and delicious. After lunch we walked around for a while longer and just enjoyed the day. We found an awesome park to stroll along in, and then eventually took the train back to the Copenhagen airport to catch our flight. Oh, and not to be forgotten, I bought some Singoalla cookies while in Sweden of course!

Once back at the Copenhagen airport we got our bags and checked in the suitcases and headed through security. I got held up because of my cheese slicer, but they let me through as soon as they saw what it actually was. I will be checking that on the way back! In the airport we shopped around a bit, but only bought some pringles and waters. The flight from Copenhagen to Riga was about as long as flying to LA or San Diego and was quite easy despite the man next to me who was leaning over the armrest into my seat. Super annoying. It was a prop plane, which my mom wasn't too happy about, but it was just fine. When we arrived in Riga Mom's bag was the first off and mine was the third! It was amazing to get our things so quickly, and the man from the hotel was waiting there for us with a sign to bring us to the hotel in the hotel Mercedes-Benz. The hotel is really nice and the staff is amazing. We had a great nights sleep that prepared us for a wonderful first day in Latvia.

This morning we let ourselves sleep in a bit (at least longer than Dad liked to wake us all up on the ship) and had a lovely breakfast at the included breakfast buffet downstairs. It has many meats and cheeses, and smoked fish, and fruit, and breads, etc. Delicious! We then got ready for the day and headed out to explore. We walked along the river a bit and saw the building made to look like a glass sailboat to symbolized that the people's dreams cannot be destroyed (stems from a story about a wooden sailboat that was the owners dream boat being burned). We saw the House of Blackheads, which is a famous building in Riga, St. Peters Basilica, and the Riga Cathedral. We then met up with a walking tour that took us mostly out of old town to see things like the central market, the train station, some art nouveau buildings, a soviet building made for Stalin's 80th birthday, the spot Riga was founded, some beautiful green spaces, and the freedom monument (with a great story about how they avoided its demolition during the Soviet occupation, saying it stood for the mother Russia and the three baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania instead of Latvia's freedom). The tour was great, and we saw a lot of the city that we would have otherwise missed. After the tour we walked back through old town and had a rest at our hotel.

Once at the hotel we booked a tour for tomorrow, and then headed out to the beach town of Jurmala, which is about 30 minutes outside of Riga by train. We got off the train and walked through the main shopping street for a bit, and then walked for a while along the beach, which was peaceful and beautiful. The forest basically comes right up to the beach and it is super pretty! We eventually decided we needed to get to the restaurant our hotel had made for us and went in search of a cab to the other end of the beach. This proved to be difficult. We walked for a while without any luck, but eventually spotted a cab picking someone up. We asked for his help and he called another cab for us, which was really nice. The man whose home we were in front of was definitely suspicious, and watched us pretty closely since it definitely looked as though we were loitering there, but our cab eventually came and off it was to dinner!

Dinner at 36.Line Grill was amazing! The location is right on the beach overlooking the Baltic Sea, and to the other side you have nothing but beautiful forest. It's just stunning. We ordered two appetizers to share, a mushroom fricassé and a caramelized goat cheese and eggplant dish. Both were amazing, but the caramelized goat cheese especially! For our main courses mom got miso black cod and I had a pearl barley risotto with mushrooms. Also amazingly delicious! Lastly for dessert I had Thai mango with passionfruit and berries, and mom had pavlova with berries and milk ice cream. The sun was also starting to get lower by the end of dinner, so everything was really just perfect. After we finished the restaurant called a cab for us and we headed back to the train station and back to Riga. We had a nice walk back to the hotel and now we are getting ready to sleep! Its been an amazing trip, and I can't believe tomorrow is the last day! 

The President's Residence

The glass sailboat building, home of the Swedbank

House of Blackheads

Central Market

Inside the Central Market

"Stalin's Birthday Cake", now the Latvian Academy of Sciences

Freedom Monument

One of the lovely green spaces with a canal at the site of the old fortress wall

Walking to the beach in Jurmala

Eggplant and caramelized goat cheese

Mushroom fricassé

Pearl barley risotto

Miso black cod

The beach near 36.Line Grill

36.Line Grill

On the train arriving back in Riga

In old city Riga at dusk

Riga Cathedral

Geiranger

Today we were moored in the village of Geiranger in the Geirangerfjord! It is an incredible place with some of the most impressive and steepest mountains I have ever seen. They rise right up out of the fjord and tower well over 1000 meters. Mom and dad woke up at 4AM and my dad tried to anger me greatly by opening all the curtains and letting all the light in. They watched the sail in, which they said was beautiful, but I choose to get some more sleep since we were up late last night. I eventually got up around 8AM and had breakfast in the Chops Grille as usual before heading off the ship.

Once off the ship we looked around the souvenir shop (really the only big shop in town) and then started walking up the hill to the Norsk Fjordsenter (the center for the two Fjords that are UNESCO sites, one of which is Geirangerfjord). We thought about stopping to rent a little electric car, but I didn't have my drivers lisence with me, so we walked to the Fjordsenter instead. The center was interesting and we learned about life in the fjords years back. We looked around for a bit and then walked down the stairs that follow the waterfall in the town. Speaking of waterfalls, I have never seen so many as there are in the fjord! Its amazing! When we got down the hill mom and dad grabbed some food at a local bakery and I ran back to the ship for some free food since I wasn't sure they had anything I liked (turns out they did, but my pork sandwich was yummy on the ship and was free).

After lunch we met back up on the pier and got on our bus for the excursion we booked to the Herdal Farm. Turned out the farm hadn't started their summer farm operations yet, so we went to the Nordal Farm, their winter farm. The farm is all about milk goats, and the make Norwegian Brunost (brown cheese similar to geitost that is made from whey and is sweet and caramelized), as well as goats milk caramels. They also sell their milk to the local farm co-ops where it is made into other cheeses, one of which we bought. We got to taste all their products, as well as a few others, which was wonderful. We also saw some of their goats, two of which were less that 2 months old, and they were adorable! The views on the bus ride were also amazing, so we got a lot of great pictures!! I'll be sure to post when I get better internet. We stopped for pictures at Eagle Pass, and then went up to the Queen's Chair on the end of the fjord since we had extra time before the tour was supposed to end.

We got back from the tour with only 15 minutes until all-aboard, so I ran into the shop to get a backpack I had seen earlier and then met my parents to get back onboard. Only a short time after onboard time there was world flag trivia in the club on the ship. Of course I insisted we go, and I got every single answer correct and won the trivia game!! We got Royal Caribbean shopping bags for winning. Finally my random knowledge of flags came in handy. Tomorrow at sea there is Disney music trivia and Countries of the World trivia, so I think I will do decently well then too! Yay for awesome categories. After trivia we went to the concierge club to watch the sail out of the fjord and have some pre-dinner drinks, then had dinner at the main dining room, and now we are relaxing! We may go the the Beatles themed show in a half hour or so. The ports were all awesome, and Norway is a beautiful country. Next time we are on land we will be back in Denmark!

Ålesund

Today our boat was docked in the city of Ålesund. It is a quite beautiful city located amongst the fjords and the junction of the Atlantic and North Sea. There are quite a few islands in the Ålesund area, and that is exactly how we spent our morning. We woke up and had a quick breakfast before meeting our tour in the theater. We then got off the boat and hopped on the bus for our tour of the outer islands. The islands are super cute and really beautiful. We saw an old church that was 900 years old called the Giske Church after a wealthily family on the island. The church uis made of marble, but has been covered in plaster to protect the marble from the elements since it is near the sea. You would never know of its structural materials if you werent told, though they did leave two small exposed pieces so you can see the marble a tiny bit. After the church we headed to a lighthouse that looked over the islands and the seas. The views from the top were amazing and it was really lovely to see. We then headed to the top of the mountain in the main part of Ålesund were we again had some spectacular view points! Overall it is such a beautiful place surrounded by water and mountains.

After our tour we had lunch at the Windjammer (buffet on board) and then headed back out to walk around town. We explored a bit and did some shopping, even finding a sailing shop that we liked some things at, but didn't buy anything from. I got a few more kitchen gadgets because I cant help myself, and I found something I've been wanting to get for a while, but since it ships from France the shipping has ben too expensive online, so that was a win! We walked around for a few hours, but the town isn't too large and we saw most things we wanted to by 4pm (also everything closes at 4pm so theres nothing else to do!).

We headed back to the ship and took a rest, which was really nice. I ended up taking a nice bath to "marinate by muscles" as mom's masseuse said she should do, and then we got ready for dinner. We had dinner at Giovanni's, which is a specialty Italian restaurant onboard. It was really yummy, but we definitely ate too much! After dinner we caught the end of the show for the night and now we are enjoying the views from our stateroom since pretty much all our sailing to Geiranger is within the fjords and it is simply beautiful and very impressive! We may go to a onboard game show in a bit, but otherwise its just about bed time!

Bergen

Yesterday was our port day in Bergen. We didn't plan any shore excursions since we figured we would do the city on our own. We had breakfast at the suites breakfast place in Chops. After breakfast we headed off the ship!

When we got off the ship we had to take a shuttle from the ship out of the container shipping area, which was only a few minutes max. Probably two minutes. Once off we decided to take the City Sightseeing Bergen Hop On Hop Off tour. We rode around the entire loop once and saw all the sights and heard the commentary, and then rode around half way again to get off at the funicular. The funicular goes to the top of Mount Floyien, which has views of just about all of Bergen. It was quite beautiful! Once we were done seeing the lovely views we headed back down the funicular and started walking around town. 

We first walked to the Hanseatic market buildings and shopped around at some of the home goods stores and souvenir shops. I bought a potato peeler that I really liked! Exciting, I know. I'm sure you are all very jealous. After the Hanseatic market we went to the famous fish market. There you can buy some seafood and then they cook it for you! I had salmon with potatoes, mom had halibut, and dad had mussels. It was really yummy. Dad ordered bread without knowing it cost 10kr, so I had to run around trying to find an ATM so I could pay for it. Our waiter was from SF and said not to worry, but mom and I felt bad and we wanted to pay. I finally found an ATM in 7-11, and bought a Lion bar to get change. Not too sad about that none. I payed the waiter for the bread and then we headed out. 

After lunch we went to the St. Jørgens Hospital, which is a leprosy museum. It was really interesting to see. We saw the small small ward rooms, the kitchens, the barn, and the church. Very cool. After the museum we shopped a bit at a large mall, and then headed back to the ship. It was raining the whole day, which wasn't ideal, but we had a great time anyways. 

After getting back on the ship we went to trivia, which was based on world cities and countries, and then had drinks in the concierge lounge. We then had dinner, watched the newest Star Wars in the Tropical Theater, and then watched the Love and Marriage game show, which is always a blast. Today we are in Ålesund, so stay tuned to hear about that! 

Welcome to Norway

As most of you know I am currently on an amazing Norwegian Fjord cruise with my parents. It has lived up to and surpassed expectations so far and we are all having an amazing time. My dad flew to Copenhagen via Washington D.C., and my mom and I flew through Amsterdam. Amazingly, all flight had no problems and we got to Copenhagen on time! My dad waited two hours in the airport for us to arrive since it was raining, and after we got our bags we hopped in a cab to the cruise terminal. We didn't explore Copenhagen this time around due to the rain, but hopefully when we get back the weather will be more favorable. 

Our room on the cruise ship is lovely. It is quite large since we are in a suite, and we also get a handful of perks being a suite guest like access to the concierge suite with some food and drinks, reserved seating for all the shows, and a pillow menu where you can select which kinds of pillows you want! We also have a large balcony which is nice, though it is a bit cold outside. Definitely different than cruising in the Caribbean! Our waiters at dinner are wonderful, as is our room attendant. Basically everything is wonderful. We spent a day at sea yesterday where we did some trivia, got massages, explored the ship, played Bingo, and ate of course. It was pretty relaxing and an overall fun day.

Today was our first day in port. We docked at 8AM in Stavanger, Norway, which is a beautiful town on a fjord. It is the 4th largest city in Norway, though there aren't nearly as many people in the Norwegian cities as US cities since the entire population of Norway is only about 5.5 million. Maybe 200k in the city here. I got up early and ate breakfast on my own and then went to meet up with my excursion in the theater. We got our bus numbers and then headed out to hike Preikestolen (the Pulpit Rock). The bus ride was nice, with some great scenery and a quick ferry ride across a fjord. We arrived at the base of the hike around 10AM and got hiking. The hike to Preikestolen was 3.3km each way (over 5.5 miles round trip), with some beautiful scenery, some really steep portions, and overall amazing-ness. It was tough in parts, but not too bad of a hike. It was longer than the Waynapicchu hike, but with a similar change in elevation. It didn't take too much longer though since it wasn't as steep so I could go faster. The view from the top of Preikestolen was amazing. The Lysefjord is absolutely pristine and incredible. I met a girl who works on the ship that I hiked with and a Brazilian girl who we hung out with at the top. We ate some lunch and enjoyed the views for a bit and then hiked down. My heart rate was significantly less on the way down, but my knees definitely felt it a little! Our weather turned out great, which I was really happy with. When we got down we enjoyed the view of a lake for a while and then took the bus back, on which I promptly accidentally fell asleep.

The bus ride back to Stavanger went quickly since I was zonked. When we got off I explored the town a bit and it was adorable. Most things were closed since it is Constitution Day here, Norway's national holiday similar the the 4th of July. Everyone was dressed in traditional clothing and there were parades and it was awesome to see! I got to watch some of a parade with local sports teams, marching bands, etc before heading back to the ship. Once back onboard I got ready for dinner and then ate alone tonight since Mom and Dad went to the onboard steakhouse Chops. I had a great dinner anyways and the waiters all sang an Italian love song for the whole dining room, which was fun. Now I am waiting for the to get back from dinner and then we will go to the show! Can't wait for Bergen tomorrow!

Packing

I'm attempting to pack all of my belongings these days. All I ended up doing is creating a lot of mess!! Hopefully I can get everything done in a reasonable amount of time so I can enjoy my last days in Michigan! I sold my desk and bookshelf, so at least I have a little extra space to pack in!