Rick & Jody Rousseau

Rickr53

Rick & Jody Rousseau

Since our retirement in April 2015, after a 38 year career in Lockheed Martin , Jody and I have visited the lower 48 states in 2 motorcycle trips and Hawaii and Alaska on separate cruises.. Our first "motorcycle trip of a lifetime" where we visited every state west of the Mississippi on a 105 day 20,000 mile motorcycle trip from May 24, 2015 to Sept 5 2015 can be viewed at TravelArk along with the build blog of my 51 Chevy Hotrod Pickup Truck. As we continue our travels we will add to our trips with various blogs along the way., Other past trips can be best viewed by clicking the link in the lower right of this page under the heading "Trips". Retirement is awesome!



Europe » Norway » Eastern Norway » Oslo July 8th 2023

This is our last day in Oslo, and the last day of our tour. Fortunately, our final city tour begins at 9:00AM so it gave us time to sleep in, and we were both awake before the alarm went off at 7:30. After heading down to a delicious breakfast, we were ready at the bus at 9:00 to meet our local guide Christina who was great at letting us know all about her native city, Oslo. Oslo is the largest city in Norway at about 700,000 people with a total of 1.1 million people in the greater Oslo area. The city was founded in the 11thcentury, mostly as a trading center, but most of the original buildings were built from wood. After several major fires that burned the entire city to the ground, in the 17th ... read more
Oslo City Tour - Opera House
Vigeland Park
Vigeland Park - Angry Boy

Europe » Norway » Eastern Norway » Oslo July 7th 2023

Today we head out to Oslo as the final destination on our 15 day tour of Scandinavia. They call it a 15 day tour, but on the 15th day, your just flying back home unless you consider a tour of the Oslo Airport the 15thday tour. Today will be a long, scenic day as were several days on this trip. Maja warned us that this was really a tour about the journey as much as the destinations, and today was destined to be a “journey” day. We left out of Bergen after a good breakfast at 8:00AM with our first comfort stop at 9:00 to take care of those who had just a little too much morning coffee. We are stopping at a Dale of Norway factory outlet, a first time trial of the restrooms at ... read more
Dale Of Norway Outlet - Olympic Sweaters
On the Road to Hardanger Plateau
View of Hardanger Plateau

Europe » Norway » Western Norway » Bergen July 6th 2023

Today is our second day in Bergen, and because we are staying in town, our only tour for the day was a city tour with a local guide at 9:30AM. This allowed us a well needed late sleep and we set the alarm for 7:30 for plenty of time to relax and have a good breakfast before our 9:30 tour. Unfortunately, we left the hotel room windows opens and someone dumped a bunch of glass bottles into the dumpster at 7:00 and woke us both up. Oh well, it was a good plan at least to sleep late. Breakfast was great and we puttered around the room until the tour started. We met up with out local tour guide, Liv who was born and raised in Bergen and has lived here all her life. She was ... read more
Bergen City Tour - Classy McDonalds
Bergen City Tour - Harbor
Bergen City Tour - Bryggen Wooden Houses

Europe » Norway » Western Norway » Bergen July 5th 2023

It is with a heavy heart that we begin our last day of wandering the fjords of Norway. Without a doubt, it is the most beautiful place we have ever seen on earth. This morning we left at the typical 8:00 with the first stop at a ferry across the fjord just a few minutes away. Since everyone is now fully trained and aboard the bus about 10 minutes early, we were able to arrive at an earlier ferry just as it was about to leave. We drove right onto the ferry as it closed up the ramp and headed for the opposite shore. This was one of the new electric ferries and it was super smooth and quiet. As we reached the other shore, we continued to view more of the beautiful fjord scenery as ... read more
On The Road To Flam - Jody In The Laerdal Tunnel
Views From The Flam Railway
Views From The Flam Railway - Kjosfossen Waterfall

Europe » Norway » Western Norway » Leikanger July 4th 2023

This morning is what Insight Vacations calls a “relaxed start” which just means we get a much needed sleep in as we don’t leave until 10:00AM. The reality is that the Geiranger to Hellesylt ferry doesn’t leave until 11:00AM, so we couldn’t leave earlier if we wanted to. But we did get down to the ferry early, as this is a public ferry and there are also other tour busses taking the same ride. Today is also the 4thof July, but as Americans are the minority on this trip, none were willing to sing the National Anthem to celebrate. On July 1, it was Canada Day, and one of the Canadians handed out little Canadian Flag pins to everyone to celebrate. No Americans were handing out American Flag pins today. So disappointing! So Maja got the ... read more
View From The Geiranger To Hellesylt Ferry - Seven Sisters
View From The Geiranger To Hellesylt Ferry
Jody On The Road To Jostedal Glacier

Europe » Norway » Western Norway July 3rd 2023

Today is our second day in Geiranger, and we always like it better when we spend two nights in the same location. This morning we are in a race. After breakfast, we looked out in the fjord and there were two cruise ships anchored offshore. According to Maja, the cruise ship excursions tend to start after 10:00AM, so she wanted to be on the road by 8:00 to beat the other busses coming to pick up the evil cruise ship passengers. Sure enough, as we were heading out of Geiranger, we could see the busses lining up to take the cruise ship passengers to mostly see the Geiranger Skywalk we went to yesterday, and the Trollstigen or Troll Road which is our destination today. As we left Geiranger behind, there was a fog and some drizzle ... read more
Cruise Ships in the Fjord
Boarding The Ferry
Rapids At Valldal

Europe » Norway » Western Norway July 2nd 2023

Today we left the glory of past Olympics in Lillehammer behind as Arpi guides the intrepid Insight Vacations Bus up the mountain road 4843 ft to the top of Mt Dalsnibba and the Geiranger Skywalk. But first we have to make a stop along the way. We left Lillehammer this morning at about 9:00AM following some unpronounceable river to Lom. Lom is a small town of 2200 residents known for having some phenomenal cinnamon rolls and for the Lom Stave Church. The Lom Stave Church dates back to the 12th century and is constructed entirely of wood and is one of the oldest remaining stave churches in Norway. Its unusual dark appearance is due to the fact that the exterior of stave churches are covered entirely with tar as a waterproofing agent and a preservative. Our ... read more
Lom Stave Church
On The Road To Mt Dalsnibba
Jody at Geiranger Skywalk

Europe » Norway » Eastern Norway » Lillehammer July 1st 2023

Today we bid farewell to Sweden, the land of unisex bathrooms and over-groomed men, as we make our way over the northern route and on into Norway. Today was another traveling day, as Maja warned us about this trip, the journey is often better than the destination. After a delicious breakfast in the grandest hotel in Falun, we made a brief stop at the Falun Copper Mine. The Falun Copper Mine began production as near as they can tell around the 9th or 10th century, reaching its peak in the 17th century at about 3000 tons/year. In 1687, mostly due to inadequate records of the tunnels dug over the centuries, the myriad of tunnels collapsed. Fortunately, the collapse happened on Mid-Summers Eve, one of the few holidays where the mine was not in operation, so no ... read more
Falun Copper Mine
Jody in Mora
Downtown Mora

Europe » Sweden » Dalarna County » Falun June 30th 2023

This morning we left the excitement of Stockholm to head north to the quieter, more rural landscape of northern Sweden. We thoroughly enjoyed Stockholm and could easily spend a few more days wandering about. But this is only a 15 day vacation so it’s time to get on the road. So today we’re heading north, at least a little bit to see the changing landscape of rural Sweden. As we head north, the houses disappear, and we are quickly transported to a land for fields and forests similar to northern New England in the US. The only significant difference is the shape of the houses, and the fact that almost all of them are painted a dark red color with white trim. Evidently, this is a traditional color combination for northern Sweden that began in the ... read more
Uppsala Cathedral
Linnaeus Garden - Carl Linnaeus
Linnaeus Garden

Europe » Sweden » Stockholm County » Stockholm June 29th 2023

Today was a busy day in Stockholm – it’s hard to say too much about this wonderful city. Having toured some of the city and the countryside, I now understand the attraction. We started our morning by meeting our local guide, Marco, the quintessential Stockholm man – young, charming, with a handsome face, perfect body, pink shirt and every hair in place. Our tour began with a visit to Stockholm City Hall, which would not normally be expected to be very impressive, but this city hall was very impressive. Built in the 1920’s with both public and private funds, the City Hall was very architecturally and artistically impressive. The building is massive and built in the National Romantic style The main hall is called the Blue Room, and is brick, not blue. The original design called ... read more
City Hall - Blue Room
City Hall - Gold Room
Old Town City Tour




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