Coast to coast in the US - week 1

Tollef wanted to drive across the US, and we have been planning this trip more or less since the last time we were both here. It's never been one of my dreams, but it is undeniable that the trip will offer a huge variety of nature, culture, sights and experiences. Tollef went ahead to San Francisco to work there for a few days, while I came a few days later, having a couple of days to catch up with jetlag after the trip, before hitting the road. We have a rough plan of the route, with some time to make detours if we feel like it, and exactly four weeks to make it from San Francisco to Newark.

Day 1 - Yosemite, crossing the Sierra Nevada

Finally, our first day on the road, after a couple of quiet days in San Francisco. Still a bit jet-lagged, I got up as early at 7, and had a quick breakfast before we headed out to get the car.

The area around San Francisco and Oakland is extremely dry now, everything brown and dried up except for agricultural areas. Along rivers and dams we could see the markings of the normal waterlevel, so much higher up than the actual waterline. The trip to the mountains seemed to last forever through this dry landscape. Finally we headed up the long, winding road up to Yosemite. It can't quite compete with our Trollstigen in Norway, but whoever has been there will have an idea of the feeling of our ascent. Not far into the forest we sighted a lot of burned areas with black, deadened trees. Forest fires occur regularly, and there is a lot of information about current fires and what to do if you see one. Impressively enough the ash keeps a lot of nutrition for the earth, so the grass grows quite quickly back in these areas after a fire.

After a while we entered more rocky areas. We made a short stop at the visitor centre to eat a late lunch, and then headed to the Dog Lake parking area. From there we walked a rather steep path, first to the Lembert Dome and then on to Dog Lake, about 2700 metres above sea level. Everything was dry, but slightly greener than the burned out areas. On our way to the Dome we met a deer grazing along the track, and she didn't seem to mind us at all. On the walk we also saw some birds and some funny squirrels, quite different from the ones we have in Norway.

The nature was very pretty, but not all that different from certain areas at home. After a few hours we were back at the parking lot, and drove the last 30 minutes to Lee Vining, a small town about 2000 metres above sea level. With a population of 398 it's a rather small town by the Mono Lake, but still has several motels and eating places. We had dinner at a nearby diner called Nicely's, and it was just that, really nice. Good food, American portions.

Tomorrow we are heading up to ghost town Bodie to look around, before we head the long way south through Death Valley and to Las Vegas. Vegas, here we come!

Day 2 – Bodie – Death Valley – Las Vegas

This morning we headed north for Bodie, stopping for some scenic photos of Mono Lake on our way. The road to Bodie was also steep and winding, as the town lies about 2500 metres above sea level.

I am not sure what I expected, but I was a bit disappointed by the ghost town. It didn't feel quite real to me, like actual people had lived there. But there was a lot of interesting houses and a few stories. We walked around taking photos for about an hour, and then started on the long drive to Vegas through Death Valley.

The road south is lined with the Sierra Nevada on one side, and some parts have mountains on both sides of the road, everything surrounded by rock desert. On the road south of Yosemite the Sierras look incredibly high and impassable. Turning off towards Death Valley, we crossed a small mountain range and a smaller desert valley, before entering the real thing. Apart from the temperature, Death Valley is a lot of dry rock, mostly. We stopped for ice cream in Stovepipe Wells (which lies at sea level), and took some photos of the nice sand dunes there. The temperature was about 47 degrees Celsius. Really hot, but actually not too unbearable as long as there was a small breeze in the air and very dry. We continued on through rock desert and salt fields, through the lowest level of 87 metres below sea level. Crossing another mountain range, I will really enjoy a couple of days without any steep and winding roads!

Coming down the mountains towards Las Vegas was a huge contrast to the endless mountains and rock desert. Lights for miles in all direction, and the area of higher buildings and even more lights was easily detected from a distance. We made our way to the Monte Carlo hotel, and had a quick shower before heading out to look at the circus. Not unexpectedly, Las Vegas was an overwhelming amount of lights, noise and people. It is really not that unlike the party boats between Norway and Denmark, a lot of entertainment, alcohol and shopping, just a lot more of it, and a lot of casinos on the top. We skipped the casinos for the first night, and had a nice dinner before we went to see the fountain show at the Bellagio hotel. My expectations were probably a bit too high, it was not fantastic, but really nice watching in the night.

Day 3 – Las Vegas

A day (almost) without driving, and certainly without crossing any mountains! Waking up to a Las Vegas in daytime was definitely a very different world from the night time city. The building noises that started about 8 o'clock certainly didn't help.

After breakfast we walked to the neighbour hotel, New York, New York, to check out the chocolate store. It was nice, but not great, and the M&M World store just across the road was a lot better!

Seeing the queue for buying show tickets, and not finding any shows that was really tempting, we decided to skip the show and spend our time on the Strip and by the pool instead.

After visiting the chocolate stores we dropped by a casino, and I lost my first few dollars at gambling. Then we had a light smoothie lunch, and walked back to the hotel to spend a couple of hours resting by the hotel pool.

For the evening we had decided to visit downtown and the well known Fremont Street Experience, a four block arcade with casinos, entertainment and eating places. Not that unlike the Strip really, just more old fashioned and downsized. We took the car, driving by the Welcome to Vegas-sign that we missed last night, and cruised down the Strip to have a look at the rest of it without walking our feet off. On Fremont Street you can find the quite controversial Heart Attack Grill, strip clubs, casinos, zip-lining just underneath the roof, and of course your share of souvenir shops and street artists. Quite similar to the Strip in some ways, it was a lot nicer, some because of the pedestrian road with no cars and traffic noise, and also a roof that took some of the heat away, which also meant that the indoors were not so heavily air-conditioned. Very nice, when even in night time the temperature lies between 35-40 degrees Celsius.

I tried my luck again in the casino, and this time I won a few dollars before I decided to quit while on a winning streak. Having decided to “waste” a certain amount of money on gambling I made another round as we came back to the Monte Carlo that evening, and won another few. Maybe not rich, but I have at least come out of a casino with more money than I had before going in!

Day 4 Las Vegas – Hoover Dam – R66 – Flagstaff

The first stop of the day was the Hoover dam. Although it is “just a dam”, it is very impressive to look at. From the dam we drove south to Kingman and from there we took off on to Route 66. The places along the route was very varying, from a couple of run down buildings, to all out route 66-themed villages. We stopped in Peach Springs and had a really good lunch, and then in Seligman for photos of some of the old parts of the town.

After the Route 66 joined the highway we also entered the Kaibab National Forest, and there was a lot more vegetation and large forest areas. A very nice contrast to the dry desert-like areas we have passed through so far. We easily found our motel in Flagstaff for the night. I was a bit disappointed though, as the pool appeared to be a very small one (hardly qualified for a pool) and placed in the middle of the parking lot. No relaxing swim before bedtime.

Day 5 Grand Canyon – Desert View – Grand Canyon Village

The main reason for going to Flagstaff was of course to visit the Grand Canyon. We took the scenic route, going up to Cameron and drove along the South Rim, stopping first at the Desert View Tower. The tower was designed in 1932 by Mary Colter, and gives a great view of parts of the canyon. We also got the mandatory postcards, and a puzzle for me.

We made another stop at a scenic viewpoint, and had our lunch, donuts included, before driving to the Grand Canyon Village. Apart from the Rim itself, there is a lot of activity on the plateau. You can bicycle, ride or walk along the rim, and there is of course a selection of gift shops. At the village there is also a Hopi house that sells a lot of native art and craft products that are really nice.

Tollef walked along the Rim from the village to the visitor centre further up, while I drove back to the visitor centre and took the short walk out to the viewpoint there. The view is fantastic, and really hard to catch with a camera, but of course you have to try.

We were back at the motel not too late, which suited us fine. Both a bit tired after eventful days on the road, it is very nice to spend a quiet relaxing evening.

Day 6-7 Flagstaff – Tucson

From Flagstaff we went to Tucson to see a friend of Tollef, and stopped only once for scenic photos on the way, and once for lunch. We really needed a non-sightseeing day without loads of impressions.

On Saturday morning, Tollef and our host went to see the Titan Missile Museum, while I stayed back at the house to get some rest. After lunch we are heading out for an evening visit to the Desert Museum, when hopefully all the desert animals are up and awake.

For the first week we have covered about 2250 km (various stops and in-town driving not counted), assuming about 24 hours of driving time. 

Å sånn går no dagan...

Det siste innlegget om helsen, NAV og Livet var i 2012, da NAV krevde en utredning for å avgjøre veien videre mot enten friskmelding eller uføretrygd. Etter mye om og men kom jeg inn til spesialist og fikk diagnostisert ME.

Det tok 8 måneder fra jeg fikk diagnosen til rådgivende overlege  hos NAV mente at dette ikke var tilstrekkelig, og ville ha en utredning av NAVs egne spesialister. Etter ytterligere 3 måneder var jeg hos en spesialist i indremedisin, som ganske klart konkluderte med ME, men bestilte noen tilleggstester for å utelukke en del andre sykdommer. Ingen av testene påviste noe annet. Tre måneder senere var jeg hos en spesialist i psykiatri som også var enig i ME-diagnosen, men som mente at det kunne være en bipolar diagnose der også. Han skrev en utførlig rapport som understreket at behandling for en bipolar diagnose kunne være fordelaktig, men ikke ha noe å si for min daværende funksjonsevne på ca. 40%.

Høsten 2014 hadde jeg møte med min saksbehandler om å gå videre med uføresøknaden, men hun mente at så lenge dette med bipolar diagnose var nevnt i den rapporten så ville det ikke være hensiktsmessig. Jeg prøvde også å få svar på en del spørsmål og hjelp til hva jeg burde gjøre videre, men det var vanskelig å få noen klare svar. Jeg har ikke hatt mange møter med denne saksbehandleren, men gjennom flere telefonsamtaler har jeg sjelden følt at jeg har fått hjelp eller gode svar, men mange negative tilbakemeldinger. Etter dette møtet følte jeg nok en gang at jeg ikke kom noen vei, og ba om å få bytte saksbehandler, og en måned senere hadde jeg et nytt møte, mye mer positivt og informativt, og papirene mine ble sendt til rådgivende overlege for vurdering om søknad om 60% uføretrygd.

For vurderingen til rådgivende overlege trengte jeg en siste legeerklæring, og jeg ble svært overrasket da saksbehandler ringte og fortalte meg at fastlegen hadde skrevet "depresjon" som hoveddiagnose og "ME" som bi-diagnose på erklæringen. Jeg ringte legen, og han insisterte på at rekkefølgen på diagnosen ikke hadde noen betydning, stikk motsatt av det saksbehandleren på NAV sa. Det er såklart også en grunn til at det står "Hoveddiagnose" og "Bidiagnose" på skjemaet. Han sendte inn en ny erklæring, men den kom ikke inn før rådgivende overlege kom med sin vurdering.

Vurderingen gikk ut på at man (i motsetning til hva alle spesialisterklæringene oppgir) ikke kunne utelukke bedring, og at jeg burde ha behandling for depresjon i 1-2 år før man kunne gjøre en ny vurdering. Full vitende om papirarbeidet og ventetiden på slik behandling ble jeg ganske fortvilet, men fikk sendt en henvisning til DPS ganske raskt.

Allerede etter to måneder ble jeg kalt inn til en vurderingssamtale, og jeg hadde en lang og fin samtale med en overlege og en psykiater på DPS. De mente at om jeg i det hele tatt hadde noen bipolar diagnose (tilbakevendene depresjon) så var den så lite fremtredende at det ikke var noe å behandle, all den tid det var over 6 år siden sist jeg hadde depressive symptomer utover energimangel. De sendte en henvisning til psykosomatisk avdeling på Rikshospitalet for en "second opinion", men Rikshospitalet avviste henvisningen med svar om at utredningen ved DPS var god nok og at de ikke så det som hensiktsmessig med ytterligere utredning.

Dette var i mars i år, og i mai hadde jeg møte med saksbehandler, der hun erklærte at det ikke var noen grunn til å ikke søke uføretrygd. De medisinske utredningene var fullt opp dekket, og ingen flere hensiktsmessige tiltak å prøve.

Endelig, kan jeg kanskje komme til en midlertidig ende på mølla i NAV og helsevesenet. Uføretrygd er såklart ikke noe jeg helst ønsker meg, men det gir en del fordeler som arbeidsavklaringspenger ikke gir, og det er ingen stor sannsynlighet for at jeg blir frisk med det første, dessverre. Men enda er det 8 måneder med behandlingstid å vente på for å se om det faktisk går gjennom. I mellomtiden kanskje jeg får svar fra trygderetten, på en annen sak?

I 2013 søkte jeg om ung uføretillegg til AAP (tilleggsstønad man kan få på AAP og uførepensjon dersom man har blitt mer enn 50% funksjonsnedsatt før fylte 26). Jeg fikk avslag, og klaget i oktober 2013. Da jeg ringte i januar for å sjekke prosessen, oppdaget de at klagen ikke var blitt fordelt, og tross lovnader over telefon at dette ikke skulle gå utover saksbehandlingstiden for min del, så fikk jeg ikke svar før i juni 2014, med en såkalt "innstilling" som endte med avslag. Jeg sendte et svar med oppretting av flere faktafeil og noe tilleggsdokumentasjon som burde vært med i vurderingen.

I oktober i fjor fikk jeg likevel brev fra NAV med nok et avslag. Jeg hadde sendt dem et grundig skriv med god dokumentasjon, men de mente at jeg hverken har vært alvorlig eller langvarig syk. Jeg skulle såklart ønske de hadde rett i det, men slik er nå en gang ikke virkeligheten.
Jeg snakket med en advokat som mente at det var verdt et forsøk å anke avgjørelsen til trygderetten. I november ble anken sendt, og per i dag sitter jeg fortsatt og venter på avgjørelsen. Behandlingstiden deres på 6 måneder var visst veiledende.

Alle som har vært i NAV vet at det krever mye venting og tålmodighet. Tålmodighet er ikke min sterkeste side, men å vente på NAV har jeg blitt ganske vant til etterhvert. Nå venter jeg bare i spenning på avgjørelse om uføretrygd - og avgjørelse fra trygderetten på ung uførestønad.

Julekaketradisjoner

En viktig del av juletradisjonene for meg er kakene. Da vi var barn lagde vi hvert år hvite kakemenn og pepperkaker, og mamma lagde kransekake, krumkaker, og noen ganger sandkaker. Men best av alt er bestemors julekaker. Sirupsnipper, berlinerkranser, peppernøtter, strull, goro, fattigmann og flere andre sorter. Mange av oppskriftene har hun arvet fra sin bestemor, som var kokke på storgard på Hedmarken. Det føles ekstra bra å videreføre en slik gammel arv. Oppskriftene er dertil, mengdene er nok til å mette en liten hær av gardsfolk. "En kvart porsjon er nok" har bestemor notert i oppskriftboken et sted. At oppskriftene er gamle er helt tydelig. Det er flere ganger "mel til passe deg", og så min favoritt, "anis for 30 øre på apoteket" (ca. to teskjeer er nok til kvart porsjon av denne).

Da jeg etterhvert skulle feire jul i Oslo måtte jeg jo ha julekakene mine! Det første året fikk jeg oppskrifter på sirupsnipper. Neste året berlinerkranser. De årene vi feirer jul i Oslo setter jeg min stolthet i å ha minst syv sorter, om enn ikke av den tradisjonelle typen. Kakemenn blir som oftest en av dem. Sirupsnipper, berlinerkranser og peppernøtter er de faste gjengangerene. De siste par årene har jeg inkludert strull og kransekake som faste innslag. Årets nye er brune pinner, det har jeg aldri laget før. Siden de fleste av de gamle oppskriftene kun inneholder ingredienser, og i beste fall temperatur og steketid, så må jeg prøve meg litt fram på utformingen. Skal smøret smeltes, eller smuldres i melet? Skal eggene piskes? Det ble brune pinner til slutt, men fremgangen nok litt annerledes neste år.

Kakemenn er en av mine absolutte favoritter. Siden i fjor har vi fått en ny tradisjon med baking av kakemenn sammen med venner med barn. Det er morsomt med forskjellige figurer, og maling med konditorfarge etterpå. Tradisjonen tro noterer vi aldri ned hvor mye det blir, lager minst like mye deig neste år, og baker i evigheter. Jeg har minner fra barndommen der pappa stod på kjøkkenet og kjevlet kakemanndeig lenge etter jeg og lillesøster var ferdig med å trykke ut - og spise deig.

Det er ikke alltid det hjelper å ha laget noe før. Noen år vil det på mystisk vis ikke fungere. Sirupsnippene blir tykke, berlinerkransene flate, eller som i år, strullen myk og kransekaken hul. To forsøk på strullen ga en full boks med myke kaker. Og så var det kransekake da. Det er veldig greit å lage flere når man først lager, så jeg tilbyr meg gjerne å lage til svigerfamilien. Som sagt så gjort. Første kaken ble hul inni, helt sprø, og ringene hang fast i formene (som var badet i formfett). I løpet av første "runde" forsøkte jeg å steke med og uten varmluft på 2-3 forskjellige temperaturer, uten store endringer. Ny deig, litt justering. Omsider har jeg fått ut 5 nesten hele (de største ringene er utrolig vanskelig å ikke brekke!) kransekaker. Det tok bare halvannen dag, denne gangen. Vi prøver igjen neste år!

Bath Weekend

Even though I am not sure I would like to live there, I love Bath for it's history and all the old buildings. I love the thought of people going there to relax and enjoy through thousands of years.

The second weekend in November, I caught up with Tollef who was attending a conference in London. I flew in on Thursday afternoon, an met up with him after work at Charing cross. After a quick dinner we went to see memorial at the Tower, surrounded by thousands of poppies remembering the British losses in the First World War. An impressive sight to see.

The next morning we took the train towards our intended destination for the weekend, Bath. The Airbnb lodgings were even more central than I expected, and after dropping our luggage we headed to the city center. We had a little time before our lunch reservation at the Pump Room, so we went to see the Bath Abbey first. I particularly liked the Prayer Trail that took you through prayers at different places in the Abbey.

 The lunch at the Pump Room was everything expected. Live, classical music, elegant atmosphere and nice food. I also had a taste of the famous waters, which turned out to be as promised - not very tasty! As the weather was brightening, we decided to do the Roman Baths the next day, when the forecast said it would wain. Instead we went back to our lodgings for a short rest, before we headed out again for a bit of shopping. I found the perfect birthday gift for my mother, and we had dinner at the Salamander. In the evening we went to the Thermae Spa, and enjoyed two hours of the famous spa waters. Lounging in the rooftop pool watching the fireworks was really great!

On Saturday we started out at the Roman Baths Museum, which turned out to be a lot larger than it looks. I loved it, even though I would have appreciated more information about the use and history of more recent years, not only the Roman history. Afterwards, we wandered about the city, checked out the Guildhall Market, and of course visited Shakeaway for a taste of my favourite milkshake. In the evening we went to the nearby brew pub and had a short tour about their brewery. It was ok, not very impressive, but it's rather small and new. For dinner we had their sausage plate, and we both filled up with loads of different tasting sausages.

 On Sunday morning I made some last minute shopping - some long needed clothes - and took a walk across the famous Pulteney Bridge, before we took the bus towards Heathrow. For the first time we used a lounge, and the two hour wait for our boarding was a really relaxing experience.

Roads of California

I've never had a strong wish to go to the US. It is too much exposed through TV and media to be really exciting, I suppose.

Anyways, with another winter coming on in Norway and Tollef starting to work for Fastly in San Francisco, we decided to put the yearly "get somewhere warm and sunny for Karianne"-trip in the area. California has a lot of interesting sights as well as a comfortable climate, and the planning went accordingly.

On our way out we flew via Copenhagen and had a quite nice and mostly uneventful trip. The time zone adjustment went surprisingly well for my part, maybe because it is quite easy to get up early in the morning and go to bed early.

Already on the first day we headed to Alcatraz, it being our only weekend to spend in SF. I was a bit disappointed, it wasn't THAT exciting compared to all the fuss about it, but the audio-guided tour was quite interesting and it is still a must-see. We had a bit of rain, but mostly before and after the tour itself, so we also got some nice views from the island. After the trip we walked over to Fisherman's Wharf and the nearby shopping-area, and had a real American Diner Lunch.

On the second day, the time zone-change hit me hard, and I spent most of the day just relaxing in the apartment that Fastly had gotten for us, slightly disappointed that the rain kept Lindy in the Park from happening. In the evening we headed out to meet some friends of Tollef, and had a really nice time of it. Also, we accidentally met a colleague of Tollef from the time working for Canonical, really weird, in a nice way!

On Monday was Tollef's first day at work, and I joined him there before I headed out on my own to do some sightseeing and shopping. I walked past the pyramid and through Chinatown, saw the tram and checked out the bigger shopping areas. I got a new suitcase for hand luggage that I needed for my planned trip to Palm Springs, and a few nice pieces from Victoria's secret and Aerie store, both of the stores being a lot less expensive than I expected.

I had rented a car beforehand, and Tuesday morning I picked it up at the airport and headed south toward Palm Springs. It took most of the day to get there, but it was kind of nice to get an experience of the motorways as well, even though it was not that exciting. Some of the views along the roads were quite nice though, and it was fun to see what I later identified as orange fields. The roads were OK, not as good as I'd expected. Also I used some time to figure out how to fuel, as none of my cards worked at the gas station. When I finally arrived in Palm Springs it was pitch dark and no street lights, really weird.

There had been some misunderstanding about the rental car and GPS, so first thing Wednesday morning I headed to the airport in Palm Springs to sort things out. From there it was only a short way to the riding stables, so I decided to drop by and have a look, which ended by me getting on a two hour ride in the desert. It was a rather slow ride with only walking, but nice to see the desert and nearby oasis from horseback. I talked to the owner afterwards, and got a really good impression of how they keep the horses, making sure they are all well cared for and get enough rest both on a weekly basis and a longer break during the summer.

After a couple of relaxing days in Palm Springs, Tollef flew down from SF and met me. On Friday morning we first visited the Living Desert Zoo (quite OK, apart from the wolves and big birds in way too small spaces), then he took the Aerial Tramway while I did some shopping. I am not really a shopping person, but it was high time for some new clothes, and I managed to use a good handful of dollars before we left for LA and Hollywood. LA was surprisingly easy to navigate, very nice, and we walked the Boulevard in the evening, identifying a few of my favourite stars. The Beatles were well hidden, and we had to look them up the next morning, as we went to take photos of the Hollywood sign as well.

After lunch and a walk on Santa Monica Beach, we headed north for a couple of hours, planning on doing the Pacific highway the next day.

Sunday was our big driving day. The breakfast at the motel we stayed at appeared to consist of coffee, muffins and sweet orange drink (not juice), luckily we had leftovers from the dinner the night before. Going north on the pacific highway we saw the Morro Rock, Moonstone Beach, sea lions, a waterfall in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Bixby bridge, and finished with a dinner in Monterey. The highway was no really that spectacular if you are used to driving Norwegian coastal roads, but it was a very nice drive. I would have loved to stop and see more of the national parks and Hearst castle, and Monterey in daylight, but it wasn't time to see everything. Maybe next time.

On Monday it was actually fairly sunny, so I rented a bike from a place nearby, and biked through Golden Gate park, where I saw the really nice Japanese Tea Garden, the playing fields for the dogs, and at last the beach on the other side. In the evening we met some other friends of Tollef for tapas, they were really nice and almost, but only almost, convinced me that SF might be a nice place to live.

On Tuesday I had a nice and quiet day, mostly packing up and getting ready to leave. On Wednesday we checked out and left for the office, where I left my luggage and headed out for some last minute sightseeing. First I headed up to the Golden Gate Bridge, and took some photos of Alcatraz from "the other side". Then I took the bus back, and walked across Fort Mason to the Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf, getting some gifts for my family. In the evening we took a taxi to a hotel near the airport, and finally arriving there, it appeared we was re-booked into another hotel a bit further off. The hotel was noisy and the rooms was cold, so I was quite tired by the time we went to the airport to check in, and discovered that my booking did not exist. Too early in the morning it was all I could do not to cry. Luckily it solved in time for take-off, and we got both to New York and further on to Oslo without any incidents. Tollef's luggage didn't, it was sent to Sweden and used another day getting home. At least we didn't have to drag it on the airport bus home...

You can see the photos here: 

San Francisco

Palm Springs and LA

Pacific Highway

2013 - A résumé

I don't often do this, but I think the last year need a summary. I can hardly remember myself, what I did!

• January: Health was not very good. A lot of work organising a dog show in February. Resigned my job, and got a new one!
• February: Obedience course w/Odin. Organised a dog show. Work trip to Poznan to train my successors.
• March: Riding holiday in Morocco. Easter in Molde with my family.
• April: Started new job parallell to finishing the old one. Mostly work.
• May: Rally obediance course w/Odin. Weekend trip to Hemsedal.
• June: Birthdays. Short drop-in on Arcon. Weekend in Larvik.
• July: Preparing dog show in August. A week in Ringebufjellet and Molde.
• August: Road trip to UK for summer holiday. Organised dog show (successfully).
• September: Work trip to Alicante. Weekend trip to Trondheim. Good competition w/Odin.
• October: Tollef away a lot, so mostly work, dogs and rest. Weekend obedience course w/Odin.
• November: Another good competition w/Odin. Weekend trip to Molde for Christmas baking.
• December: Baking. Trip to La Manga for New Years.

Looks like I got to travel a bit after all. Kovu is also still here, but gets mostly long walks, and join the occational group trainings. He got a chip for chemical castration in October due to some hormone problems. And is still himself, mostly.

This year, there's already a lot to look forward to. In February we're going to San Francisco for two weeks. If that doesn't earn a separate blog post I'll be disappointed!
There's a few dog courses I'm looking forward to do with Odin, and I do hope to get us to elite level competitions this year. I also may take Kovu to some rally obedience competitions.
In May my sister is expecting her first child, and being first of his generation in our family he will certainly get his part of the attention.
In July I will larp again, first time in a very long time. It's been a combination of health issues and timing preventing me from larping but I really expect to make this one. I already have some plans for my costume, just waiting for more information from the organisers.
There is of course a few travels I'd like to make, preferrably including a riding holiday, if time and health permits.

Happy new year! I hope all of you have had some nice memories created in 2013, and exciting events to look forward to in 2014!

UK Roadtrip

The alternatives for our summer holiday this year was either a) road trip to Switzerland through Germany and joining Debconf (Linux conference) at some point or b) road trip to the UK and joining the LinuxBeerWanderung there. The Debconf organising was slightly unorganised, and the LBW being more dog-friendly, we took the dogs, car and spent two weeks driving to and in the UK.

Friday, August 9th

We started out by going to Larvik Friday the 10th of August, spending a few hours walking in the famous Beech tree forest with an irc-friend and his dog before we headed down to the ferry. Arriving in Hirtshals in the evening, we went straight to the nearby camping park where we had booked a room for the night.

Saturday

We spent long 14 hours in the car on Saturday, going from Hirtshals, through Denmark, Germany (with an hour queue north of Kiel), Netherlands and Belgium, before we decided to find somewhere to stay for the night. Surfing booking.com and calling up hotels that allowed dogs, we called Holiday Inn, and was answered that they only had executive rooms left, for the price of €160, but dogs were allowed there. The receptionist answering the phone claimed that the booking.com saying rooms were available was wrong. We booked there anyway, and checked in 20 minutes later, with no comments from the receptionist.

Except for the return trip, it will be a long time before I decide to go the long way around again...

Sunday

On the Sunday morning we made the short trip to Calais, and was put on an earlier ferry, and arrived before schedule in Cambridge. We settled in at the Stationroomz hostel before going off to a large green to give the dogs a run. There were free walking cows that made the walk a bit interesting, but the dogs got to run and play for a bit. Odin rolled himself in cow droppings, and when Tollef turned to look at him, Kovu ran off towards another dog, and Tollef got his hand badly burned from the long leash trying to stop him. We went back to wash off Odin and Tollef, feed the dogs, and then headed back to the green and the nearby pub where we had agreed to meet friends. We had a very nice evening in the pub garden with friends, dogs and dinner.

Monday

We arrived at Denton in Oxford short time before lunch, and was greeted by my previous employers. Nothing had changed, and everything was just as lovely as ever, and very green from the warm summer and som recent rain. We walked the dogs to a field where they got to run, and had a nice lunch at the house. Afterwards we drove into the city centre for some shopping and the important fudge and milkshake. In the evening, we met friends in Banbury and ordered curry, before we stayed the night at one of the best inns during the trip, Fairlawns.

Tuesday

Tuesday was our first day roaming the Welsh countryside. We had lunch in St. Fagans and then went to the open air museum. The museum was really great, the only regret was that we were a bit late so we did not have time to really enjoy the village and some of the exhibitions there. They had buildings, gardens and exhibitons from various times, a castle, woolmill, cider workshop and a lot of good information. It was also very accessible and the dogs enjoyed coming with us.

After the museum we drove up to Aberdare and Dare Valley camping park, which also was really great. The tent area was nice, flat and clean, there were riding stables nearby, and the park was just at the edge of the national park. We could probably have enjoyed staying there for several days, if we did not have other plans.

Wednesday

On Wednesday we started out driving to Penderyn and visiting Wales' only whisky distillery and had a tour there. The tour was short, but interesting. We continued on to the Brecon Beacon Waterfalls visitor centre, which is supposed to be a good starting point for walking to any of the many waterfalls in the national park. We had lunch at the ancient inn across the road before we went off. According to the guy in the reception there was a nice 5 km walk (there and back again) where we could see 5 of the nearest waterfalls. We headed off in rainy weather, during nice green forests, along a quite large river. We found the first (very nice) and second (somewhat boring) waterfalls, and then we had already walked 3,6 km of the supposedly 5 km walk. The path was quite uneven and I was tired, so we decided to turn around. Still, it was a very nice walk, and the dogs enjoyed it, if not so much having to be cleaned for all the mud afterwards!

From the waterfall centre we drove down to the southern coast of Wales, and camped near Pendine Sands, one of the longest beaches in Wales.

Thursday

In the morning we took the dogs to the beach and let them run, particularly Kovu enjoyed running around on the beach, in the water and in the sand. We continued driving up to St. Davids, visited the cathedral and saw the castle ruins. St. Davids is Britains smallest city, and sits on a quite hilly spot on the western coast of Wales. There was a lot of old, small shops and steep roads. After lunch, we headed up to Castell Henlleys, an iron age fort, which appeared to be a very pleasant experience. We could bring the dogs, and walked through a nice nature park, before coming to the top of the hill. There were several round houses with exhibitions and showing of practical crafts, storytelling, woodworks, weaving, how to build a house, and much more. I could have used a lot more time there, even if we got to see a bit of everything!

We continued on our way up north, and when we started to get hungry for lunch, there were no pubs or eating places along the road. After a bit we found a lonely hotel with quite expensive, plain food. While we had dinner it started to rain outside, and before we were leaving it really poured down. We considered whether to camp for the night or find a B&B, but ended up finding a quite nice camp site. The rain even eased for a bit when we put up our tent, so we weren't quite soaked before going to bed, but the wind and rain picked up again, and it was a restless, noisy night.

Friday

Friday was spent mostly in Conwy. We parked on the wrong side of the city, and walked to the castle. Conwy castle is very old and quite nice, but the visit was not really worth the money. There could have been so much more information about the history and layout of the castle. Also, the guide could have made some more effort, or at least left his plastic sword and fabric chain mail at home. To anyone coming after us, just do the town wall walk instead!

After the castle we had ice cream and I visited the smallest house in Britain. A nice little place, where actually a whole family lived at some point!

From Conwy we drove to York, and tried to find an open camping park that answered the phone and also had available tent pitches. After some tries we ended up at some farm camping by the marina that also had free walking chicks. Exciting! In the evening we took both dogs to the pub where we met another friend of Tollef. Apart from when the dogs discovered the cat on the roof, it was a nice evening.

Saturday

We packed up on Saturday and headed to Newcastle to visit my cousin. Underway we called some camping parks but all were full, so we ended up booking an inn for the night. At my cousin's place we first inspected his new apartement, which was really nice, and then went to a nearby pub and had lunch. The guys went off afterwards to walk the dogs in a park, and I went to the city center to do some shopping. A few hours later we met up and were all happy with the day. We found a nearby Indian restaurant where we had dinner, before we said goodbye.

The inn we booked was nearby the airport, and quite busy with partying people on a Saturday night. We were in the quiet corner of the building, according to the landlady, so the surprise was quite big then police woke us in the middle of the night. Someone at the inn had noticed the door of our car being open, and called them. Nothing was gone, so we probably had forgotten the door in the hurry to check in and get to bed...

Sunday

Finally, we arrived in Castleton to stay there for the next four nights. All my doubts about the cottage that we had booked were gone when we found the owned in the next door cottage, got the key, and entered. Beech croft cottage was really beautiful, apparently recently refurbished, and quite large.

After getting settled and grabbing some lunch, we ended up spontaneously joining the LBW people for an afternoon walk. It was longer than we were told beforehand, so we turned back after a while, but at least started to let the dogs become used to the other dog that was there.

The landscape around was beautiful, and the village was really busy with all the people that came there to walk in the area. It did quieten after the weekend, but was still a lot more busy than I expected.

Monday

The experience of sleeping in a lovely bed with nice, clean linen, knowing that I would stay in the same bed for the next few nights, was just lovely. On Monday morning we started doing some shopping for the organised dinner in the evening. Then we joined our first long walk, about 10 km long, to a nearby top. We walked through fields and hills that were crowded with sheep, so the dogs had to stay on leads, but were mostly ok with passing the sheep peacefully.

In the afternoon (after a long, nice showed in the very nice bathroom in the cottage) there was an organised dinner where everybody brought some food. Tollef made pancakes, and we brought some Norwegian sweets and drink. We got to taste a lot of nice and special food from many places.

After dinner there were movies, and I saw Monthy Python and the Holy Grail while beating some others in Carcassonne with some new, special rules (I did not like them much, though).

Tuesday

On Tuesday my feet were really sore from the day before. Odin, Kovu and I hung out at the village hall with the other lazy people while Tollef joined another long walk. Before lunch, one of the other participants joined me and we took the dogs for a walk to Peveril Castle, a 15 minute walk away. It was quite expensive, even if nice. There was some information on the history and layout of the castle, and it was fun to imagine how it would have been.

After lunch (Milkshake from a local bar, not impressed) the dogs and I hung around the Village Hall, awaiting Tollef's return. About seven in the evening he arrived, and we had a quick dinner and a short evening at the Hall before falling into bed.

Wednesday

The last full day in England. Both ready to start for home, but sad to leave too. Tollef and I took a walk on our own around the back of the castle and across some of the fields we walked on Monday. At one point we met a bunch of full-grown but very curious calves that wanted to say hi to Kovu. I knew Odin would trigger on them, so we stayed a bit behind while Tollef took the opportunity to work som contact and calm with Kovu. One of the calves was as close as one meter away, Kovu went down in a play-bow, the calf jumped back a few metres but came back shortly. We stayed there for a while before we chased them off and walked back to the village.

Back in the village hall I just played computer games, while Tollef attended the beer tasting. In the evening we had our last dinner on a pizza place that was recommended, and appeared to be very nice.

Thursday

On Thursday morning we packed the car, and headed off just at the same time as the days hike left the village hall. We headed down towards and through London, doing not too bad from what we expected might be a long queue on the M25. We made a last stop to do some shopping for dog-stuff, and were just in time for the Dunkirk ferry. The ferry was a bit late in crossing, and we arrived at the hotel quite late in the evening. The dogs, having spent most of the day in the car, got a nice run on the nearby beach before we went to bed.

Friday

Tollef took the dogs down to the beach again and let them run, before we had breakfast and headed north. The day was mostly like the trip out, long and boring, with a few pit stops. We found a very idyllic camping site in the evening, where we had booked beforehand. The staff had left for the night, with a note on the door for us to find the key and linens in cabin number 5.

Saturday

We had a not very exciting breakfast before driving the last two hours to the ferry. There was some roadworks and queues, and I was a bit nervous even though we had left in good time. Of course there were no problems, we made the ferry, and then arrived at home not too late after the last couple of hours drive from Larvik. Happy to be home, but looking forward to our next trip to the UK!