carlsontrip

Thought I had published that last one earlier but apparantly I just saved it. Anyways...I'll get you caught up. My Kindle has had a hard time with all the different wifi areas and the battery must be going because it keeps shutting down on me. So, eventhough I just got back in the states, I'll let you know of our last two adventurous days. Our second day in Switzerland we drove to a great valley between a couple of huge peaks and parked our car. This is where the adventure begins. It was a cute little mountain town which we took a tram up to the next cuter and smaller mountain town. From here we walked an easy trail for 1 hour 10 minutes to another mountain town. The hike was pretty easy and we wanted ... read more

Today was a day to rejuvenate. We got up later and went to the grocery store to stock up our camper with food. While in town we found a parking garage that said "frei ". We figured it was free parking so we parked and got groceries. When we came out we couldn't get the gate up and the cars were stacking up behind us. We figured it must not be "free" so I ran back to a pay for parking machine (you can't pay at the gate). Cost was 1.50 francs but all I had was 20's and a credit card. I tried to put a credit card on but it didn't work and Ken and all the cars behind him were waiting for me. The man behind me finally put a coin in for ... read more

We walked on the trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola with beautiful scenery. Then took a train to the fifth village Montorosso which has the best beach. We staked out our claim of the beach for the day and had a blast! The water was very salty so we were very bouyant. We swam, sun bathed, rented a stand up paddle board, and rented a two person kayak. We were wiped out after being in the sun all day but took train to Corniglia (village #3) and climbed the 300+ steps to the village. We got some energy with more gelato and walked back down to catch our train to Riomaggiore. Got cleaned up and dressed up a bit and went out for pasta and swordfish. Pizza, pasta, wine and gelato, were the four foods we needed ... read more

Sorry the blog had a short lapse. Wifi was slim in Italy and even when we found some on the street it was slow. We have finally agreed on a name for our GPS. We call her Sadie and she is very good to us. We are driving a Mercedes so "Sadie" for short. Alright, Ken and I like the name and Kjerstin and Alicia like "Neville". Annika hasn't decided yet. "Ooh look at that huge castle on that mountain. Aah there's a church spire near that castle. What beautiful scenery. Look there's more mountainside vinyards." (Repeat) We bought gas for our car and paid 1.33 euros per liter. Warning...I'm going to do the math. If you want to figure it out on your own do not keep reading. Ok....that would be almost $7 per gallon. ... read more

Whoa! Just read my last blog entry and I sure make a bunch of spelling mistakes. Sorry about that, I'm not used to typing with my thumbs on the kindle. Will try harder. We drove from our hostel in Munich to Dachau Germany. We stopped at a small natural food grocery store and got a great breakfast/lunch and snacks to take along in the car. We went to the concentration camp in Dachau which was a good experience but sombering. So many terrible things!! Next, we drove to our place we are staying at near Salzburg. It is a very German like house where we are renting a small apartment. It is perfect for us. We drove to Salzburg and parked near a German beirgarten. We had to go in and look around since it was ... read more

We did a bunch of driving/riding in a car in Sweden and I was surprised at how they keep people from speeding, or wearing seat belt, or running a red light ect. Every so many kilometers there is a camera set up that takes pictures of the car, license plate and the driver. If you are doing something you shouldn't be doing, the camera will catch you and the police will send you a ticket. Not the owner of the car but the driver because when you get your license they take your picture and now you are in the system. Some people try to cover their faces from the camera or hold the seat belt over their shoulder when they know the camera is coming up. And they do know when the camera is coming ... read more

We had a great day just hanging out and packing to get ready to leave tomorrow. We made pizzas together for supper and played a game like "Sorry" but they called it "Fia" and used a glass board with marbles. We had strawberries, ice cream, and Swedish cookies and chocolate (like the kind you find at IKEA). The kids went swimming in the rain and the fotboll (soccer) game was on. We will be flying to Berlin tomorrow for a 5 hour layover before flying to Munich arriving close to 11:00 pm local time. The next 10 days will be fast and furious and I'm not sure how often we will get wifi. May have to sit in a cafe for awhile to check mail and send pictures and the blog:) The plan is tomorrow night ... read more

Hey again from Sweden. Today is Midsummer Fest which is a big celebration celebrating summer. The celebration didnt start until 4 so we drove to the coast in the morning to an island called Tjorn. The houses were so close together that I felt like I was in their living room when I was just walking down the street. We walked around on the rocks, looked for shells and Kjerstin even held a jelly fish. She said it felt like nothing was there because it didn't move at all. We had ice cream and coffee and did a little shopping. On our way back, we stopped along the side of the road and picked wildflowers to make the midsummer crowns for the girls. We were not sure how to make them but Maria was an expert ... read more

It has been a busy two days. Yesterday Sture took us on a short historical tour around Lilla Edet. He showed us the cemetary and grave stones of Ken's great grandma and grandpa and the house where his grandfather grew up. We took many pictures of that house because we have a painting of it in our living room. That afternoon we went to the city park for Ken's Swedish family reunion. There were so many people to see and meet from this Swedish lineage. The kids played soccer in the park and the grown ups sat around and talked. We had a wonderful meal and afterwards had coffee and cake similar to the one Alicia had for her birthday. Many days we are served coffee for breakfast, lunch, and after dinner and there is almost ... read more

Hi all. We heard about the storms in Prescott and hope everyone is well. Today we hiked for about 90 minutes past lakes, and waterfalls and through the forest to a very beautiful and big mansion overlooking the Góta River. I liled all the outbuildings transformed into simple sleeping places for guests but there were also very fancy rooms to stay in at the house itself. You can drive there but it was more fun to hike! We had a wonderful lunch and a guide told us the history of the mansion. President Bush senior has been to this place and Clinton was booked to visit in september 2001 but had to cancel. The girls took a short boat ride at the lake when we got done hiking and Ken swam again in a very cold ... read more