Finally home

After another long drive we finally made it home safe. However the amount of snow in the driveway made it impossible for us to drive into the garage so the first thing we had to do was to dig out a hole in the 3 dm deep snow barrier towards the street. After about 20 minutes we finally had made the hole big enought for our car to squize in and up we drove into the garage. I'll have to widen the hole tomorrow to make it simpler to drive in and out of the driveway.

Anyway this concludes our trip down to Florida, here are some facts:
Total driving distance: 5327 km
Total driving time: 57 hours and 27 min
Average speed: 93 km/h
Average fuel consumption: 7.7 liters/100 km

For you that followed our trip to Washington and New York this summer you may recall that we during that trip drove for 55 hours so in time these trips are pretty similar, the difference this time was in distance, our trip this summer was 4892 km, about 430 km less. The average speed was slightly higher this time and the fuel consumption was exacly the same.

The good thing if we decide to take another long trip with the car is that Isabelle will have a driving permit in February and can help out in driving.

Tomorrow will be a relaxing day we only need to get some groceries and some stuff for New Years Eve which we will celebrate at Mats and Veronica. Until the next time, take it easy.

Welcome back to Missouri

Nashville, TN

Leaving Kimball, TN

1078 km to go

Something for New Year?

$589 worth of fireworks. A dream for anyone that loves to put their
money on fire.

Staying outside Chattanooga for the night

We left Ft Lauderdale this morning just after 8am and we have been
driving all day and have just stopped outside Chattanooga for the
night. We drove for 11h and 52 minutes today and the distance we
covered was 1249 km.

When we left Ft Lauderdale this morning it was +25 and now it's -1,
but we have not seen any snow yet.

We have another 1000 km to go tomorrow and we should be home at around
8 pm.

DRIVE-THROUGH LIQUOR STORE

Something for Systembolaget to think about and maybe copy.

Left Florida

We are now driving up through Georgia, and we are hoping to enter
Tennessee before we find a hotel for the night. We have been driving
701 km so far today and if we can go another 600-700 km it would be
great, that way we will have less to drive tomorrow.

This trip last sunrise from Florida

Final day

Today we relaxed at the beach the entire day, first at the Beachcomb
hotel and then at Ocean Point Resort where we are staying our last
night before going home. Eveyone has gotten some nice brown colors, I
on the other hand are more red than brown right now, hopefully I'll
change to brown in a couple of days.

We will try to get passed Atlanta tomorrow and the further we can
drive tomorrow the shorter we have to drive on Tuesday. According to
Google Maps we have 22 hours in front of us. And hopefully the snow
storm over the Midwest is moving away.

As a conclusion I'll say that Ft Lauderdale/Miami was great with the
beach and ocean. Orlando was ok but I don't think that I'll want to go
back there. So if we go down here next year again we'll go straight
down to this area and spend as much time down here as we can.

A day on the beach...

...and some shopping.

We spent the morning and the beginning of the afternoon on the beach
getting some sun and enjoying the water. The sun is pretty strong and
I can feel that I got burnt today. In the afternoon we went to the
Dolphin Mall which was packed with people. It took us a good 20
minutes to find a parking space. I think that everyone in Miami was
there today. The mall is huge and they had pretty much all the stores
there. After spending some hours and some dollars we drove back and
had a late dinner at TGI Fridays. We also found another hotel just up
the street for tomorrow since we need to check out from this hotel.
The weather forecast for tomoorow is 25 degrees and sunshine so we
will spend the day at the beach and then go to the new hotel in the
afternoon. On Monday we drive back home to the snow and cold weather
again, Kansas City has around 30 cm of snow and it is very cold. On
New Years Eve we will have -15 degrees according to the forecast.

Miami Beach Apartments

Miami, FL

Aligators show

Airboat tour in the Everglades

We took an airboat tour out into the Everglades this afternoon. Not
that exiting but it was fun to see how the Everglades looks like.

Everglades

Aligators in the Everglades. We rented some bikes in the park and went
down the trail for about an hour. Lots of aligators and bird to see.

25 degrees in the air and 24 degrees in the water

There is a very strong wind from the east which creates huge waves 2-3
meter high and you have to be careful when you are in the water
because the waves also create a strong drift current which you can
feel when the wave is retracting out to sea again. But it's fun to
dive under waves and feel their awesome power.

Tomorrow we'll drive down to the Everglades National Park and rent
some bikes and look at the wildlife (aligators, birds, turtles etc.)

Christmas Dinner at the Ocean

Christmas dinner on the porch at the Sea Watch.

Merry Christmas from Florida

There is no white snow but the white beach will have to substitute the
snow this year. Have wonderful day.

Sunset over South Florida

We are approaching Ft Lauderdale, we have about 70 km left and the sun
is going down. We had a pretty good day at Magic Kingdom but I'm not
sure if it is something that I would like to go back to? I would rate
the whole experience average (all three parks included, SeaWorld,
Animal Kingdom & Magic Kingdom) what I don't like is all the waiting
in the lines that you have to do for every attraction. Each park has
very few rides and that means that the lines to each ride is very
long. I would say that the average waiting time has been about an
hour. The parks are big and there is alot of other things to do as
well but for kids in our age it a bit too childish especially Disney
who's target audience is probably more towards 5-10 years of age.

A two day pass to two Disney parks are ~$150 per person, too that you
have to add parking and food so thats another $200 for a family of
four SeaWorld is just as bad a one day pass to the park is $75 per
person, plus food and parking again. Anyway it has been a nice
experience too see these parks and it's one of those things that you
have to do once in your life I suppose.

Ahead of us now is a few days in the sun and on the beach hopefully.
They are talking about some possibilities about thunderstorm and rain
but the so far the forecast looks pretty good. While down here we'll
also take a day and go to Miami and another day to see Everglades and
all the aligators etc. that they have and perhaps a trip out to the
Keys if possible.

Last I would like to wish everyone a Merry Chrismas, when spending
time in the sun you are almost forgetting that is it Christmas
tomorrow, HoHoHo.

Main Street Band

Disney FlumRide

Magic Kingdom Entrance

Finally at Magic Kingdom

After parking the car and taking a mono rail to the park entrance we
are finally inside the park. The guard at the entrance said that it
was fewer people here today than yesterday and that it was a good day
to visit, let's hope that he is correct. Yesterday we stood in line to
the safari ride for almost 1 1/2 hour and the same amount of time for
the ride up the mountain at Animal Kingdom. The ride was awesome but
still waiting for 1 1/2 for one ride is a bit long. Not sure how long
we will stay today but we need to drive down to Ft Lauderdale which
will take a few hours so I think that we will leave in the early
afternoon. Anyway the weather is great today with around 25 degrees
and sunshine so it should be a very nice day.

Cindarella Castle

Welcome to Disney World

New Day - New Oppertunities

The dolphin and killer whale shows yesterday at SeaWorld was the best
in the park, but apart from those two shows the park was a
dissapointment. They did have an awesome roller coaster "Kraken"
however which probably ranks in my top three. After the park we wen't
back to the hotel and relaxed a few minutes before going to Bahama
Breeze for dinner. Today we go to Disney, Animal Kingdom and Magic
Kingdom.

We have just had breakfast at the Sheraton Resort and are presently on
a time share tour o their complex. Time share is when you buy an
apartment at a time share center and you can then use that apprtment
every year or you trade the week for another week at another place
anywhere in the world.

Killer Whale Show

Shamu Killer Whale

Shamu Stadium

Killer whale show

Sea Lions at SeaWorld

View from our hotelroom

We have a nice view over the pool from our hotelroom. Today it will
only be around 16 degrees so it is a bit colder than expected.

We are now at the hotel in Orlando

Finally made it after another realy long drive.
Today's distance was 1072 km with a driving time of 11:25 hours, the
average speed was 94 km/h and the average fuel consumption was 7.4
liters/100 km.

If I sum up the totals for these two day we get a total driving
distance of 2171 km with a total driving time of 21:49, the average
speed we had for the drive was 100 km/h and the average fuels
consumpion was 7.5.

We have just had some pizza for supper and are now relaxing infront of
the TV. Tomorrow we'll hit the attractions here in Orlando. We have
not yet decided if we are going to Sea World or Disney tomorrow. A
decision for tomorrow I guess. One thing is for sure and that is that
I'm not going up at 6 am tomorrow morning.

Finally passing the Florida border

Another 3 hours to the hotel but at least we are in the "Sunshine State"

Refueling at Albany, GA

501 km left

Welcome to Georgia

Just passed the border between Mississippi and Georgia in the town of
Columbus. This is the town where Fort Benning is. Located. We have
another seven hours to drive before we reach Orlando. With stops etc.
we should be there around 8pm tonight.

Day 1 Summary

We have now arrived in Tupelo, MS and we are exacly halfway. It has
been a long day, but everything has gone great so far.

Today's summary are:
Driving Distance - 1098 km
Driving Time - 10:23 min
Average speed - 106 km/h
Average fuel consumption - 7.5 l/100 km

Memphis, TN

We are now in Memphis, after 8,5 hours of driving and 940 km it's time
for dinner at the Olive Garden (40 minute waiting time however). It
will be nice to relax from driving a while. After dinner we'll
continue towards Birmingham, not sure if we will make it all the way
there tonight but I want to drive for another couple of hours before
finding a hotel. If we make it to Birmingham we should be about half
way. Updates will follow so stay tuned.

Outside London

We are now just outside London as you can see from the picture. The
clouds are gone and the temperature is rising, right now we have 8
degrees. Another 300 km to Memphis.

Passing Springdale, AR

After traveling straight south for 3,5 hours we are now passing
Springdale, Arkansas. We have just stopped for lunch and now it's
Sandras turn to drive for a while. We are aiming to get to Memphis, TN
tonight. According to the GPS that is another 500 km and expected
arrival time is right now, 17:06. The weather is cloudy but there is
no snow and the temperature is around 0 degrees. We deliberately
choose to drive straight south instead of east via St. Louis as the
GPS suggested since they have a snow storm there. It will be a little
bit longer drive but I prefer driving in good weather instead of a
snow storm.

Brrrr………

It was very cold this morning. We had -16 degrees Celsius so it was bitterly cold. We had a meeting this morning in a conference room that has big windows and unfortunately I was sitting next to the window and I was freezing the whole time.

We don’t have that much snow but there is about 10 cm on the ground. It will warm up tomorrow and be around 0 degrees so it will be a little better.

I can’t wait to go to Florida next week; they have 28 degrees in Ft Lauderdale right now so it will be awesome. We are not sure how will drive down there yet but the plan we have at the moment is to drive via Nashville and continue down to Chattanooga the first day. That is a 10 hour drive.

Then we’ll continue the following day and proceed to Orlando, another 10 hours. We will be staying at Caribe Royale www.cariberoyale.com

for a couple of days. It’s a very nice hotel with a great pool in between the buildings. I stayed there in May when attending the NCIMS conference. When in Orlando we’ll go to Disney one day

and Sea World another day

then we’ll continue down to Ft Lauderdale and stay at a hotel right on the beach Beachcomber Resort Hotel & Villas www.beachcomberresort.com/

We don’t have anything special planned right now, but I would like to go to the Everglades (the huge swamp and look at alligators, crocodiles etc. and also drive down to Florida Keys for a day.

The have a coral reef park that would be great to visit and do some snorkeling, perhaps do a dive or something, we’ll see I guess. And if time permits and the weather of course we’d like to go out on a fishing boat for day and do some deep sea fishing, see if we can find a big sail fish or sword fish. And we’ll of course spend time on the beach relaxing and having some nice drinks. I really need this break now, it has been a long fall and we need to get away for a while.

2009 Chrismas Tree

KC Chiefs Fans

Warming up for the game

The final game we will go to this season.

The final result

One made with white wine and one made with red wine.

Glögg recipie

How to make your own glögg.

-1 bottle if red or white wine
-12 cl Vodka
-2 cinnamon sticks
-20 whole cloves
-1 small piece fresh ginger
-1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
-peel from 1/2 orange (more if you like a stronger orange flavor)
-2 dl sugar

Start by breaking the cinnamon sticks into smaller pieces and put them
in a small jar with a lid. Add the rest of the spices in the jar and
pour in the vodka. Close the lid and shake the jar, let stand
overnight so that all the flavor from the spices are released.

Strain away the spices the next day and mix the flavored vodka with
wine and sugar in a wine bottle, put a cork in the bottle and shake
until the sugar has dissolved.

Heat up the glögg in a saucepan, take care not to heat it too much
because the alcohol will then disappear. Pour into small cups and add
some raisins.

Drink and Enjoy. Be careful no to burn yourself since the glögg may be
very hot.

Merry Christmas

Mizzou wins over Jayhawks...

...with a field goal with only 4 seconds left of the game. End result
41-39.

Kansas University Marching Band

Our neigbours parents Mizzo bus

Today is the "Border Showdown" it's an annual fotball game between
University of Missouri (Tigers) and University of Kansas (Jayhawks).
The game is played at Arrowhead stadium since that is halfway between
the two universities and since Kansas City is a town divided between
the two states. It should be almost sold out today since this game
involve allot of people in this area.

I picket up three tickets for today's game, Sandra is still not
feeling well and stay home but me and the kids will go to the game
which starts at 2:30 this afternoon. We are expecting temperatures
around 20 degrees today (we had 21 degrees yesterday) and we will be
sitting on the sunny side so it should be a very nice afternoon. As
usual I'll post some pictures and videos of the game, so stay tuned in.

Final score 27-24 for the Chiefs

24-24 and only 4:48 left of the game

17-17 13:36 to go of the game

Arrowhead Stadium

7-0 after a 97 yard kick off return

WOW what a start after only 16 seconds!!!!

Off to the game

Kansas City Chiefs against Pittsburg Steelers

Yes we did get some snow

Darken Sunset

Home Sweet Home

Finally made it home tonight.

It took 6 Hours and 16 Minutes to drive home, not included the stops.
The distance from Minneapolis to us is 683 km. We had an average speed
of 109 km/h and the consumption was 8.2 lters per 100 km. So all in
all it has taken us about 14 hours including stops and almost 1400 km
in order to go shopping for a weekend and get some stuff at Ikea. It
was much closer when we lived in Stockholm to go to Ikea, hehehe.
Anyhow we had a great weekend and it was definitely worth going up
there.

Going Home

Entering Iowa

We are now leaving Minnesota and entering into Iowa. We still have
about 520 km to go so it will take a few more hours before we are
home. It was very nice to get away for a weekend, we haven't been away
since June when we went to the east coast. The landscape around us is
pretty flat, very similar to Skåne.

At Ikea we bought some vases, glases, pillows, candles, caviar, milk
chocolat, coffee etc. The lady in the Swedish food store in Ikea was
from Sweden, her name was Pia and she said that they were 8 people
from Sweden working at Ikea there. She also said that during the
wekends about every third customer to the food store is Swedish or has
Swedish inheritate.

Ikea Retaurant

We are now sitting in the restaurant and having a cup of coffe and a
delicius princess cake, yummy. We have walked around the upper level
and will be going downstairs now.

Pretty Impressive

Well we have now finished walking around in the mall, and we did not
manage to see all things that we wanted. I think that you could spend
a week up here and still have things to see. It has been an experience
I can tell you that. Also this kind of place is only possible here in
the US, perhaps in Japan as well but I can't see it working anywere in
Europe. Tomorrow we will stop by Ikea which is just next door from the
mall and then drive south again. It's school and work on Monday for
all of us.