MY day 15

Sleep in. Beach. Food. Bed.

What more can one ask for? Okay, there was a LITTLE more going on. Breakfast for instance. ME dutyful mother gets up while everybody is still sleeping to chase pork for bacon and chicken for eggs. Hunt 'em down at 7-eleven, because ME, that sleepy-om-smiling-to-the-waves-listener, did not bather ot drive just one block further, where there is a wonderful supermarket. Doesn't matter, find everything okay. ME carrying home the trophies and check the refrigerator, carefully taking notes of what I use so we can replace that later. Surprisingly or not so surprisingly taking all that yoga things in the area I find only vegetarian or even vegan nutritions. Here I am, with vegan butter in one hand and bacon in the other.... Oh well, ME having Three Little Lions still sleeping in the basement decide for the martial breakfast but make sure to really really scrub evrything that touched the meat really good, when doing the dishes.

After breakfast (which was actually a late lunch) ME and The Three Teenagers grab our towells and walk down to the beach. Find a spot which we won't leave 'til sunset. We watch surfers, read books, play ball, walk on the beach, have icecream, enjoy live. ME not sure, if The Three Teenagers realise that they are in California.

Water is pretty cold, but inviting fresh as well. Swimmig is tricky though because there s tons of seeweed in the water, which you have to pass before you can swimm, not many do. HE and No3 dip in shrieking, ME splashing around, SHE couldn't care less. Tan is her programm.

The Three Teenagers want to stay and watch sunset. Fine with ME. Watching the sun go dwon is watching the time go by and let your mind wander free over the horizon. How ME missed that sensation....

With batteries charged The Three Teenagers and me walk back to our beautiful accomodation, change and drive off to look for a restaurant. Last night this place was jam packed with people inside and outside the restaurants. Today its completely empty. Most places closed. It's sunday night. Everybody left from the weekend I guess, heading back to the city. Just one restaurant is still open and serves wonderful italian food. The Three Teenagers are very hungry, so we eat there. Even though ME didn't exactly fly half around the world to eat out pizza and pasta....

Happy and tired we go "home", sweep rooms, so all four of us get to have the extraordinary experience of sleeping with Pacific View. Again ME in bed BEFORE The Three Teenagers, drawn into the novel I read and falling asleep very very quick.

ME dreaming, so many what-ifs and why-didn't's. Just like a movie which I find a wonderful idea, even though the script writer had a hard time bringing the film to an end. But ME just love the idea.....

Still FOUR TEEN

The Three Teenagers and me are definitely NOT the desert types. We are relived, when we realize, we're getting close to San Diego. Can't wait to have the first glimpse of the Pacific. It takes a while, we are on the road now for almost eight hours with all those stops and have-a-looks and Boarder Patrol stops. Obviously there are not enough Border Patrols to keep the current situation under control. We later learn, that there are about 40 Million people - official figure - in California. Almost half of it - about 16 Million, and that is only guessed - are illegals. ME, I'm not a politician. But when half the population of a country is doing their share of working and running the country but not officially - they cannot legalize their citizenship - and the other half is doing the same but paying all the taxes for it...That is impossible. Only a small percentage of the immigrating people is making trouble. The majority would apply for citizenship if they could, all they want is a better life and a real existence. Tough job, Arnie!

To be honest, right now ME and The Three Teenagers do not really care about legal or illegal immigrants. We are busy finding our accomodation for the next two nights, an offer from friends which ME was happy to take. We drive by the adress various time because its hard to believe what we see: The most beautiful house with the most beautiful view from above at the Pacific Ocean. Very lucky and happy friends live here, right now they are out of town and we can occupy the place. Unbelievable generous!

We drop our luggage and head right to the beach. Shoes off and run to the water. It's freezing cold! The people say they had a very cold summer so far. For us coming from humidity to dry to desert heat its perfect. Just perfect! HE is not sissy, HE jumps right into the water. No3 makes a short attempt too, SHE and ME pass on that one.

We play and sit and walk and watch surfers 'til almost sunset, then we look for food. When you look for something in an area where you've never been before you almost read every sign. Amazingly every other store or location has something to do with yoga or meditation or similar ideas. There is even yoga jewellery, yoga fashion of course, yoga gift shops and yoga places. And sure enough a yoga restaurant. That's it for tonight. We om our way through the menu and figure out with the sweet smiling waitress - ME wondering where this fey smile comes from, I'm still very naive sometimes... - what the food is all about. Basically its healthy food, ME very impressed by the bottom line in the menu. It reads: "We appreciate your patronage and wish you radiant well-being and happiness". Namaste. The Three Teenagers are not sure about this and order food where they partially know the dish, like veggie enchilladas or green tea or avocados. Good food.

Exhausted we return to "our" home and ME - after running out once more to get some stuff for breakfast at "Oh thank heaven for 7-Eleven" - indulge in the luxury of sitting on an outdoor terrasse, listening to the ocean, starring at the horizon occasionally and reading a book. This is heaven. The Three Teenagers are impressed too - with the huge TV screen this household has. ME going to bed BEFORE the kids, maybe the first time in 15 years for another reason than being simply sick. I just want to experience the luxury of laying in a huge bed and look out on the ocean as long as possible.

FOUR TEEN already!

Couldn't sleep. It's not the wiggeling No3 I'm sharing a double bed with in our incredible Tucson estate (thank you, stranger! We never got to meet you but you must be one heck of a generous guy!). Nor is it the heat I try to thwart by waving with kitchen door, opening screened windows (Arizona mosquitos are mean!) and NOT touching the aircondition (last time I obviously turned on the de-humidifyer - know the swamp-feeling? There you go...). It's actually worries. We are pretty close to the Mexican boarder and whatever stupid war over drugs and weapons is going on over there, affects the security on this side of the boarder too. News are not reassuring either (its gotten worse, since we're back). So I have no idea wich road to take to California. San Diego is the destination we're heading to and we have a wonderful opportunity for accomodation there, so we want to stay south.

Which means also: No Route 66 (would have meant driving north to Flagstaff, staying somewhere overnight and then continue), no parks (kids, you HAVE to do those with your buddies one day!), no adventurous lets-see-where-in-the-desert-we-sleep-t'nite...But ME being a mother of Three Teenagers, having succeeded in getting them safe and sound 'til here so far, I want to have a little bit of the cake. Early morning I'm sure: Route 8 it is, leading pretty close along the mexican boarder all the way to San Diego. Some 500 miles, should be possible in one day without racing. No side sightseeing though.

You know, what comes next: Wake-up-The-Three-Teenagers-shower-brush-teeth-get-packed-can't-find-this-and-that-take-off-sheets-collect-towells-dump-those-at-friends-house-have-breakfast-pack-car (thats new!) and all in slightly two hours only! Wow, I'm impressed. Saying goodbye is not so hard this time, the friends we visited, will fly home to switzerland too in two weeks time. ME getting directions how to get to the Highway and off we go.

Get gas. HE is worried we could end up somewhere in the desert without gas, water (the car is packed with water) and food, let alone no internet. And to be honest: For ME it's the first time, driving that distance in a deserted country. I really don't have the slightest clue what I'm getting us into. So we fill up the tank, funny, that the guy in the gas stations wants money first, but I have no idea how big this tank is, we can get the gas first and THEN pay.

We cross almost the whole 2 million people city of Tucson to get to the Highway 10 direction Phoenix and then turn left to San Diego. Up to Phoenix road is busy, but easy, not too many cars travelling tody. But as soon as we hit Highway 8 to San Diego its like we are the only ones driving west. We stay on a multiple lane Highway but the feeling is this:

Roads seem to go on for ever. We realize we're driving towards mountains. Temperature keeps changing, it was under 80 on HW 8, now the more we drive west the hotter it gets. Looking at the map ME decide that we drive until Yuma. The scenerie is fascinating. Miles of cacti turn into miles of nothing and then miles of lemon trees. Another distracting view: Those freight trains. We try to count the containers, but its impossible, we give up by 70, 80, 90. Those trains have hundreds of containers. How long can a train like that get?

And there are almost always TWO containers on top of each other. The longest train I learn was 500 wagons long.....

There is a stop ahead obviously and driving closer a familiar feeling winds its way up my stomach. Have you ever driven the transit roads between West-Germany and West-Berlin BEFORE the wall came down? You know exactly that you did not do anything wrong but those guys with guns and weapons and uniforms made you absolutely nervous? These wave us through, ME and The Three Teenagers do not look suspiscious I guess! Today we will experience more of those check points, we get used to it.

Yuma looks like a prospering place. Lots of constructions, new roads, new houses, huge shopping centers. We take an exit to - yeah, sure, absolutely not creative, but it had to be the closest, you know...- MC. ME sensing that The Three Teenagers are a little uncomfortable driving this way. They tell eachother stories about stolen cars by using the radio of an iPhone, forgotten kids in Highway Restaurants and so on. And they want to eat seated at a window to be able to watch the car. At least they start to feel some responsibility for our things, thats the good part about it!

We continue through the heat that is here unbearable, but not before filling up the car - you never know.... We go from Sea level and even below that up to over 4000 feet and back down again in some two to three hours driving. The mountains of the Peninsula Range down here look funny, like Pebbles was playing with pebbelstones for ever! Sanddunes, the biggest in whole California (we are still hundreds of miles away from the Pacific Ocean..) dascinate ME beach bum. HE dozes off in the back seat, misses this sign and I'm glad, its too hot and I'm not in the mood. I want to see glittering ocean now, feel seabreeze, smell salty water. Definately too hot to climb up this guy too. Sorry to disappoint you....no sightseeing at all, but everybody is eager to get to San Diego today. Stay tuned......

Lucky 13

Yippie ayeeh! We have a wake up call this morning because The Three Teenagers are up to a very special treat. Inhale a huge breakfast and off we go, including friend and his youngsters. We drive out of Tucson, using the Old Spanish Trail. A favorite biker route an sure one road with a history. It ran from Florida all the way to San Diego once, built some hundred years earlier. There is an historic part an a modern one, both with concrete cover nowadays. Some historic parts through New Mexico are still just small ways for horses or carriages. Here ist road. A windy one and you see mountains ahead. Those mountains raise up to 3000 meters!

We're heading to Colossal Cave Mountain Park, the riding stables to be exact. Friend reserved 5 horses for The Three Teenagers and the two youngsters. Even though its only short before 9 its allready sizzling hot.

It takes some time until evrybody has the right helmet and the matching horse. But then off they go, with two girls watching them. Hope this works out well. SHE is the only one with real riding experience, fell off a horse only once and broke her arm. HE has been on a horse occasionally but never got into exactly LEARNINg how to ride. No3 loves all animals, but ths one is very very big! She's struggeling wether to stay with ME and to give in to her doubts or not loosing her faith and just go. I'm jealous. Do not trust my back though, surgery 8 years ago went perfect but I'm scared to damage it again. Not a good premise for riding a horse, ME much too nervous. Leaves me waiting.

So I explore the little park with turtles, a coffeshop, a museum about the colossal caves and some explanation about plants and animals. Over coffee I talk to the lady who runs the place. They have a hard time, economy crisis hit them too, they need tourists of course. A special and very friendly place, go there if you ever have time in Tucson!

The Three Teenagers and the two youngsters make it back in extremely good mood. A one hour ride in comparable modest warmth (gets hotter by the minute) with the most beautiful scenery - what a way to spent the last day in Arizona!

We drive back, on both sides of the beautiful road lay areas with devastated brandnew houses. Estates were planned and never sold. Georgious houses. Its a shame.

The Three Teenagers want to hit the pool, understandable. So again its ME and the bunch, more quiet time at the pool....stop! Not ths time. Three days together has been a strain on the two sets of kids and sure enough they start to fight like hell in the pool. ME the jugde: I draw an imginary line through the pool. One family on one side, the other on the other side. And beware of crossing! Danger! First its fine, they try to impress either party with the most outrageous things. Then that gets boring and they start to move closer. By not allowing that, I take the black Peter now (does black Peter exist in american language???), so its all of the sudden ME against FIVE. But they are where I wanted them to be: happily united and together again.

The rest of the day goes by quiet, some more grocerie shopping, more movies, diner at home. We pack tonight, because we want to leave early morning. No idea where to, not exactly at least. There is only an idea....

Desert 12

What a night. Wonderful! The Three Teenagers and ME slept like rocks in the desert. Nice and long. The Three Teenagers inhale a huge breakfast and off we go to the pool, which is situated right in the middle of this housing estate. As a matter of fact its The Three Teenagers, ME and two YOUNGSTERS, completing the numerological rhythmic team (age girl 15, boy 13, girl 11, boy 9 and girl 7). ME always wanted a dozen kids, now I get a glimpse of what it would have been like, hadn't I stopped...

They organize themselves, the younger ones get supervised by the older ones and they play happily in the pool so ME gets some time to read my book, follow up on our travel diary, and figure out, how much we already spent on this trip. Money it is. Until now we are doing pretty good thanks to zero expenses for accomodations. Deep down inside ME, I know it will not stay this way (sigh).

An hour later everybody is pretty much exhausted and roasted, and we decide on a very typical american way of sightseeing: Exploring Tucson in an airconditioned van. Turns out we stay right close to a very historical site, the old Fort Lowell. Nothing to impress The Three Teenagers and two youngsters though. I know why: They lack the Bonanza-sensation! Or High Chaparall! Clearly those TV series formed my idea of America when I was a kid. What's their inspiration today? HE has a vision: Oakland. That MUST be heaven because that's where his favorite music group comes from. SHE can't wait to go shopping. Shopping in the morning, shopping for lunch and night-shopping. Favorite labels you hardly get in Europe are the goal, those models they use probably one of the reasons. No3 is into baseball these days. Guess her favorite team?

That one was easy, wasn't it! Back home No3 plays with the Challengers and ever since Zurich just got switzerlands first international sized baseball field there is hope that we will be able to watch some pretty good games here.

Okay, so we cruise Tucson. And take a turn into The University of Arizona Campus. Empty of course, all those 40.000 (!) students on holiday. What a campus! There is nothing you cannot study in this college. As we drive those endless streets of this own city in itself we read things like Stage School, there are more than 20 colleges in this one campus and an endless number of topics. Sports is a big thing here too, they just completed the renovation of the playing fields. Football stadium for the students is a 45.000-seater! And the Baseball Stadium, thousands of fans can watch the games (Zurich set up 400 places...yet).

We park the car and walk, our friend knows a lot about the buildings and the area. The Three Teenagers try to avoid the sign "museum", lucky them, its already closed. ME would have loved to go there. Next time.

Highlight of the day so far: A falcon, sitting in a tree (right in the middle, those iPhones don't have a zoom!).

Enough tree watching and history oh-and-ah-ing. The Three Teenagers and the two youngsters are hungry - again. Reday made dishes from the super market it is, but BEFORE we HAVE to stop at a MALL. Just to walk through, just to get a glimpse of what shopping would be like. Just a little bit window shopping, please mom! Okay okay. Those who don't want, go home, the others shop. Just a little bit, at Sears for a starter, the warm up. Sure we can take a look at shoes. Just look, touch maybe. But not buy. Frozen Yogurt is main course to cool minds down. Abercrombie for dessert....

Made it! Only two shorts, one top, one CD. That one went well...

Another diner night home with movies, that's so american! Sweet dreams everybody, get ready for THE desert tomorrow....

Day ELEVEN: First Time

Travelling the United States for the past 29 years again and again I have quite a history of states and cities I've been to. But ME never made it to Arizona yet. Waking up this morning in the very comfortable Red Lion beds in Denver after only some 5 h of sleep is a cruel thing, but The Three Teenagers and ME really have something to look forward to. Wakingupbrushteethhaveacoffeeandsomewatergrabthingsandleavehotel - this time in only some 45 minutes because The Three Teenagers and ME do not have our luggage sure enough. It was checked through to Tucson already. The shuttlebus-drive back to the airport at 6 o'clock in the morning gives us a very short idea of what Colorado might be. We see mountains in the distance, the first since we left switzerland eleven days ago. Everything looks nice and tidy and clean. Approaching the airport reveals a very special designed roof

looks like snow tents (or Munich, Olympia Stadium...) - which is what its supposed to be probably. In the shuttle bus with us is a Native American Couple, on their way to a convention. ME starts talking to him, his Name is Danny Beaton and he's a film maker and a flute player. He sells me a dvd with a movie about a song. Danny is a Mohawk, not very talkative, more the quiet Hippie-type. Nice to meet you.

So here we go again, Denver Airport. Check in, find some bagels and some more coffee, find the gate and off we go. More spaceous plane from frontier, this time no delay, we make it to Tucson in time.

The night before I checked with Alamo, our rental car provider, if they hold my car until we get there. They promised. We'll see. Surprisingly our luggage arrives with us! Yeah! A dear friend and his kids pick us up from the airport, helps us find the rental car, which is where it was supposed to be: Waiting for us.

Me and the kids move into that van that will be our transportation system until we fly back home. No3 is not sure yet wether she should be happy about not having to fly until then anymore or being unhappy about having to sit in a car from now on. Knowing The Three Teenagers I wanted a car that has three rows of seats. One for each Teenager. I HATE kids fighting in the car about seat positions. The grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side, grow up! I could have taken a smart by the way, it makes no difference.....

Short trip from airport to house and we have incredible luck: We are allowed to use an entire HOUSE next door to our friends house, the owner is out of town. Real nice neighbourhood. Tucson is s expected very hot but dry. Doesn't hit you as much as the humidity in Chicago suburbs (The CITY is never that hot, always windy, I like!) or Texas. But still, high in the 90ies. The Three Teenagers get their treat anyway: pool time!

Hungry after swimming, we hit a similar place like in Houston: An all you can eat chinese restaurant, located at Grant Rd. Perfect, low price, tasty dishes, friendly people. Then we go grocerie shopping, our house is empty of course. We get all we need at Trader Joe's, a place, I've not known before. ME delighted! They have a huge variety of fresh fruits and healthy stuff. Nice.

More pooltime for The Three Teenagers, Me and friends. We also rent movies (because Danny-the-Mohawk's movie about an indian prayer really does NOT hit the fan, will watch that later, when I'm alone...) and have a cosy evening home. Good nights sleep lies ahead, once again we share beds, the house has two bedrooms. Its incredibly hot in the house, old aircondition is not running properly and the house misses insolation. Plus ME, being not very familiar with that technology, obviously pushed the wrong buttons. Time to learn.... The Three Teenagers and ME are very curious about what Arizona is like, we cannot wait to get out into that land and explore the scenery. Hot sleep....

TEN four! TEN four! In the air tonight....

Due to internet problems last night day TEN is delayed. And so was our flight... But lets keep it in chronological order.

Day TEN starts out as rehearsed before: The whole wake-up-get-packed-cleaning-have-breakfast-shower-pack-rest-procedure in less than THREE hours! Well done, Teenagers! Its another hot day in Texas, our travel day to our next destination: Tucson, Arizona. My friend drives us to the airport, weather is changing a bit, clouds in the sky over Houston, which we never visited once. You can only put SO MUCH into one trip, this time friendship and homebound things are more important than sightseeing cities.

Heartbraking goodbye with the dogs and later on with my friend at the airport, it was a very special time we spent together. And its not easy to host a mother with Three Teenagers just like that.

To explain what happens now, I have to make a little excursion. When ME booked this entire trip, convenience was top subject. Me and The Three Teenagers travelled before and there was always something going wrong, sometimes because of not enough information, sometimes by accident, sometimes out of simple stupidity. So this trip was meticuosly plannend with nice departure times late afternoon, enough lay over times for connection flights, not too late arrival times.

ME approching happily the front desk of Frontier, our next carrier, a small one as I assume by the low number of desks here at Houston Airport, whose name George Bush Intercontinental Airport - to be honest - does not sund too reassuring. But then...Frontdesk clerk of frontier looks at my bookings and says "As a matter of fact your connecting flight from Denver to Tucson was cancelled, we booked you on the next flight". Which is fine. I learned, that small airlines do that to save fuel, when they have not enough bookings on one flight. Economical, right? Okay. Then the frontdes clerk from frontier says "And we took you off your original flight from Houston to Denver". Without asking ME. And they sold my places on the earlier flight. They are gone. Now, if everything goes okay, there's nothing to be worried about. But outside water and hell are coming down. The arrival/departure boards of all airlines are already going nuts with all those delays and pile up. When this tornado/thunderstorm has passed George Bush Airport, there is one hell of a line of waiting airplanes. No way we will make that last flight out of Denver to Tucson.

Its tuesday afternoon, one look at my watch tells me, that Zurich offices are closed. I call my travel agent anyhow and leave a complaint, they must have gotten the notification about that later flight and never told me. Or asked me if its okay.

Then I call customer relationship (CR, wonderful) of frontier. Very slowly I explain my situation and that I want right now a promise to get a hotel room for free n Denver. The startled guy on the phone needs some backs-and-forts, but then he gives his okay, just in case.

Now ME and The Three Teenagers have almost four hours to kill on George Bush Intercontinental Airport. If you ever plan on a lay over, do it here, there is plenty of things to do. Like a long train ride from one terminal to the other, lots of shops, restaurants, attractions.

The Three Teenagers have to follow me into a book store and have to pick out one english book. Their selection is typical. No3 chooses one, where Zach Efron is on the cover, bestseller which was turned into that movie. SHE picks "Patty Jane's House of Curl" by Lorna Landvik and ME can't wait 'til SHE finished it so I can read it. ME very busy though reading the latest John Irving Novel, the longest he'd ever wrote, they say. And the most erotically too... The tattoo on the cover draw ME to it, browsing through a book store in Chicago O'Hare Airport. No, ME haven't got a tattoo...not yet.

HE picked "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4" by Sue Townsend. Only because its similar to one of his favorite books. Packed with our new items we search for food. Panda Express turns out to be one of the Three Teenagers favorite throughout the trip, nice asian dishes.

We are back in time at our gate for the official departure time but sure enough that flight is late. No way we will make the connection. The frontier plane though is nice, pretty with those animal pictures on the tailwing and lots of soce inside, really, there is much more space than in the swiss planes.

To make a long story short: We get to Tucson alright, one hour late for our connecting flight. ME have to explain the whole story again at frontier CR-desk, but after only 30 minutes ME and The Three Teenagers have a hotel. When you ask No3 which was the best bed on our trip No3 points out the ones at Red Lion, the hotel we were shuttled to from Denver airport. The reason is simple: Apart from that the bed which really was great was, that each one of us got to sleep alone, ME and The Three Teenagers had two rooms and each one their own bed. Luxury!

On the way to the hotel ME and Three Three Teenagers got into a conversation with the shuttlebus driver. And because ME being light hearted because its nice when you don't have to cuddle up at the airport for seven hours with The Three Teenagers, I told the guy, that now only a pizza could top the whole day. Sure enough driver calls hotel and preorders pizza for us which ME and The Three Teenagers can take to our rooms. What a service!

ME taking advantage of the cooler air in Denver and spent some time alone outside . TEN Days so far, nobody got hurt, evrythings fine. ME being pretty happy right now.....

Day 9: HOUSTON, we have a problem.....

That was supposed to be one of the Highlights for No3, today, going to Space Center. The Three Teenagers were supposed to make a list before leaving switzerland and write down the top 2 activities of each city we go to, what they really would love to see and/or do. Space Center was on the list, no doubt about that. So we go. Much better: Friend comes along AND her twens, what a once in a lifetime happening. SHE even gets to ride the 90 minute drive with the twen boy in his car. We drive by his appartement on the way to drop off dog No5, cute little thing cannot come to Space with us.

Now what do one expect from Spacecenter? Lots of space, right? Rocketts and stuff. NASA things. A tour. Maybe an astronaut here or there. But Houston, we have a problem. Just as with visiting Sears/Willis Tower in Chicago: You cannot just have the main sensation. They want you to undergo the whole torture of whatever stupid rides and merry-go-rounds, cheap fakes, expensive food, TWO souvenir shops and - would you believe? - a bouncing something, castle or was it a tower with plastic balls to "swim" in? I do not remember. What I do remember is the exhibition Starship Gallery, some Space History. That's neatly done, with lesser crowd you could actually take your time and read all those explanations. Too much information for The Three Teenagers, they do what all Teenagers do worldwide: Take pics and facebook 'em.

We are lucky too: There are two different tours on an open bus through the whole compound. Two: One goes to visit the old Houston-we-have-a-problem-location, mission control, the other one visits astronaut trainings center. Its bad weather outside all of the sudden, so due to rain those tram tours stop. At the end of the day they pick them up again, which leaves only time for ONE tour. We choose mission control. Which is like a jump back into the Fiftes (been there, right? Not ME, but in Trinity, see below...). Whoever watched Apollo 13 the movie, remembers the scenery, and the original here looks exactly like that. Nobody's working here anymore though. They want to shut the whole place down by the way. The only real work thats done in Houston right now is supervising the ISS programm. Everything else is somewhere else.

Tour ends with stop to walk around Saturn 5 Rocket. It used to lay outside,

now they built a house around it to keep it safe from more corrosion. That's impressing, not only for No3. As a matter of fact shes the one who got the deepest impression of Nasa and how they treat security. Standing in line and waiting for the Tram Tour to depart, The Three Teenagers start a fight. Which is embarassing enough as it is. Plus ME: Here I fly half around the world just to listen to The Three Teenagers fighting about some stupid she-said-this stuff? ME reacting rebuking. Sharply. No3 reacts as usual: mortally offended. And takes off. Which is a small problem, when you had to pass security and all kind of things to stand here at NASA's Johnson Space Center and wait for a damn tram. She runs back inside, my friend goes "oh oh!" and takes after her.

Luckily she can persuade the secret service or whatever they look like, that No3 is not an agent from Saltkrokan and is not planning to take mission control.

With a sobbing No3, HE and SHE grumpy and ME on breathe-in-breathe-out-inhale-exhale-modus we finally make the tram tour alright.

We leave of course with souvenirs - everybody apologized at the end, does that help? - and decide on food NOW. My friend knows a Mr. Gatti's nearby, she used to live in the area, when her kids were small. Mr. Gatti's is perfect for us: You pay one figure and have all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, salad. Wonderful. How they make money? They run an arcade next door. Parents sit and eat for a long time because its so cheap and kids run off and spent money on those simple games and machines.

On our way back to good old Trinity we agree: This (Space Center) is definitely a tourits attraction for those who enjoy amusement parks. It's not for those who really seek information about NASA and how it works, you learn more on special programms, or even in kids education programms which Space Center runs occasionally.

Last night in Trinity, last night in class A camper, last night door to door with Mary (how do you kill a huge spider like that? Thats cruelty to animals!

EIGHT days a week.....

Today is a day I definitely feel like home. Sure, dear friend of ME, because of you too. But I also get to make LAUNDRY! Was my idea to travel light and do washing when we can. Okay. Plus our motor home class A looks like hitten by the tornado from Chicago. ME not in the MOOD for arguing, waste of time here.

More kid arrives from from my friend and The Three Teenagers (once they wake up) have instantly upgrading of connection on to generation level 2.0, now with two handsome twens. We have breakfast and again I'm delighted to accept the offer to go shop for groceries. We get to drive the convertible and its cool enough to take the roof down. This time its Groveton downtown we're heading at, and there is a big grocerie store (that homepage is awsome! When did they do that: When "Wall Street" was filmed???). Time to enjoy the scenerie while driving there, too. Lake Livingston is very pretty, lots of beautiful houses around the shorelines. My friend and her husband run a business, thats into waterside construction. Anything you want of a boathouse they build. Incredible, what some people put in there from huge tv screens to whole kitchens, bars, living rooms. So we talk a little bit about the challenges today to jump literally into cold water and build a happy family life AND a well working business. She did well.

We go home with - yes, I admit, I'm spoiled - some junk food (hershey kisses made it right to the top of the most-favorite list from my kids and yes: They DO eat swiss chocolate and know the difference, hence...) and enjoy another quiet evening with The Three Teenagers, five dogs now (one kid brought one more), two twens and my friends and ME. Its movies, its food, its so typical american and still my friend always kept her sweedish roots (its all about attitude, behaviour - hard to explain).

No3 is very excited about tomorrow because we have a very special trip planned. Now we will see how that will turn out....

SEVEN/24

You should rest on day 7 and thats exactly what The Three Teenagers and ME do. My friend has plenty of dogs, four to be exact, each one with a story. The latest little lady she found under her car, a tiny forlorn thing with no eyesight. The happiest now, just don't move furniture around, she'll hurt herself!

Lazy day or not - I cannot resist the tempting offer of my friend after a hearty mexican breakfast to take me actually downtown Trinity to get some stuff from the store. We go right to the pounding heart of the texan city, it looks like a scenerie from a fifties movie, no doubt! Amazing!

The store has everything you want including the scar soothing stuff I need for the knee of No3 (did you read that last part very quick? Fun, right?). No3 had stitches right after we moved into our new appartement back home, THREE stitches and it was madness. Hurt herself just kneeling down, whole knee split wide open. Because of wrong behaviour with it (poking on the wound does makes scars bigger, you know) No3 should take care of that with special cremes. And Trinity Drugstore "Lifecheck" (just in case, you ever need directions) actually has that, recommends Vitamin -Oil. Helps only when you put it ON though.

Back we go and enjoy pond of friend. Who herself never set foot into the water because of spiders (friends of Mary's maybe) and possible snakes. Animals of that kind though rather take off when they hear noises, so swimming in that pond should be save. Water comes from a dwell close by, so its surprisingly cold at some parts and hot at others. Lots of fun!

Beautiful day, ends with beautiful time. And because its extremely cold, unusually cold here with temperatures only in the mid 90ies...we get to spent a lot of time outside. Normaly its much hotter and almost imbearable to even stand outside. But here the kids swim, ride John Deere and a quad and play badminton. For the nighttime we get company from friends daughter, more connection upgrading to level 2.0 for The Three Teenagers. Life's beautiful when you have FRIENDS, thank you!

SIX pack

Progress! Wake up The Three Teenagers, make 'em shower, dress, pack their suitcases, unair air matress, nothing to refold, collect the towels and sheets we were allowed to use, fold those neatly in front of the washer, no running of the vacuum cleaner required, find all adapters, leave the poor dogs alone, get some breakfast and all UNDER THREE hours!

Yes, its travelling day. ME and The Three Teenagers leave Chicago. We get a most comfortable lift to the aiport after a heartbraking goodbye from now OUR friend. More heartbraking goodbye at the airport, we check in United, The Three Teenagers and me. And then we wait. And wait. Very Chicago-eske there is a delay due to weather. More Tornado (it was actually a tornado warning the night before, I got corrected, not a hurricane. Sorry, ME not used to THAT kind of natures wonders!). Waiting for take off wouldn't be so bad if we would be still at the gate. But here we sit in an airplane, surprisingly spacy for an airbus this time, but still. Still and still. The engine is turned off and we can watch from the midget windows how the weather is coming towards us. No3 is asking for the umptiest time, if a lightning can affect the plane. Even though I have learned about the Faraday Cage, I'm suddenly not so sure anymore. This looks awsome! ME and the Three Teenagers survived, the plane got not hit. With two hours delay we take off for Houston.

Of course its late now, my school time friend picks us up. The Three Teenagers scream for Joy: She drives a pick up! How much more texan can this get! It's pitch dark outside so ME and The Three Teenagers don't see where we are going. Direction is north-west. Trinity/Groveton Area, Lake Livingston to be precise. The Three Teenagers fall asleep on the way, ME and friend already get carried away in once-upon-a-times and do-you-remembers.

90 Minutes later we get to see our new beds for the following three nights: In a luxury Class A huge motor home (now how is that for a lady camper!!!)!

But the first thing we are introduced to after meeting husband and the dogs crowd (4) is Mary. Mary got caught just short before we arrived. Her live was saved just for information, so we get to see, what NOT to touch...Respect.

ME and The Three Teenagers sleep well in our motor home anyway. Very quite, completely in natur, just the sound of some crickets in the hot texan air. Howdy!

FIVE we take

More Chicago on the programm today, another trip downtown. This time its the do-we-really-have-to-yes-you-do thing: Art Institute of Chicago.

Note: Never tell kids where you plan to go when it comes to cultural things!

ME visited the Art Institute once before because of a special

The Search for Alexander

May 16-Sept.7, 1981

and back then I thought the Institute itself is a very well exposed collection of what the american people think of what a general art collection should be like. It increased, they added a complete new building and added more contemporary work from american artists. The Three

Teenagers are grumpy. So I set a time, meeting point 30 minutes later, take off, explore the institute and tell me, what you liked. They can discover the building on their own pace, The Three Teenagers are used to visit museums, so no damage can be done. Sure enough I spot SHE and HE in the middle of the atrium, sitting on stairs, trying to connect with facebook. No3 is the only one getting excited, showing ME what she likes and dragging me from room to room, finally deciding on "Tight-Rope Walker" from Jean Louis Forain as her favoritie painting. One out of Three, not bad!

We leave the formidable place with a paper cut of Chicago Skyline, pencils and Andy Warhol prints of Marylin Monroe. HE has a question: Why is that huge black, just BLACK picture art??? Mission accomplished, ME actually DISCUSSING ART (it was spotted in the Selections from the Donna and Howard Stone collection) with The Three Teenagers. What more can one ask for!

The Art Institute is situated very nicely close to the beautiful Lake Michigan, across the road from Millenium Park. Frank Gehry built a concert roof, and some britain artist (Anish Kapoor) designed the famous BEAN, which seduces everybody to make faces and fun. Huge waterfountain art inspires The Three Teenagers to actually have FUN

on this "torture"-trip. Good Sushi Bar across the road serves fantastic food, everybody's happy including my friend, she never made it to the Art Institute before. One more, who plans more trips to discover this beautiful place!

We drive back to our suburb, taking the Goldcoast-Road Sheridan up north. One impressing villa to the other, a lot of them built by famous architects such as Mies van der Rohe or Frank Lloyd Wright. What it must be like to live here! The University Campus is right at the lake too. Who knows what the future has in hold for us....

Bye bye for now, Chicago, my kind of town!

At night its family time, more friends to see, more food to eat. The day ends with a special event: Hurricane warning. Suddenly the sirenes go off in the suburb and we all grab our beloved things (stuffed animals, alive dogs etc.), ME the passports and travelpapers, and we head to the basement for shelter. Online we follow the storm over northern Illinois, making its way down to where we are. After some 45 minutes the alarm is stopped, the hurricane slowed down, never hit us. That is live in the United States too. Scary.

ME and The Three Teenagers get a good night sleep anyway, that was pretty much for one day!

Chicago FOUR ever

Have you ever tried to wake up Three Teenagers, make 'em shower, dress and pack their suitcases, unair the air matresses, refold the folding bed, collect the towles and sheets we were allowed to use, fold those neatly in front of the washer, run vacuum cleaner, don't forget the adapters for those PHONES and all your devices (iPods, cameras, we could use if The Three Teenagers would have packed the batterie...nintendos etc.), leave the poor cats alone, get some breakfast, clean the kitchen and be ready in under FOUR hours? Well, it is actually possible.

We say goodbye to our first hosts, SHE has made lifetime teenage friends, HE learned a lot about the american way of life which I better never find out and No3 feels sorry for the cats who never get to spent whole nights outside, chase mice or do else cat-things. They either don't want to (they look quite heavy...) or just don't have the character.

We change suburb, drive from south to northern part of Chicago. We pass the estate where ME spent her first ten weeks as a mothers helper. Kids love the story, that ME gained ten pounds in ten weeks, just because ME had to try EVERYTHING ME didn't know. Such as marshmallows, cheese curls, frozen margueritas, mashed potatoes plus potato chips, PB's (Peanutter Butter and Jelly Sandwiches for those who do not know!) - the list is endless. The place in actually Barrington (there was even a movie made in 1980, about a supposedly very conservative neighbourhood, "Ordinary People" it was called, made by Robert Redford) looks the same, some more trees maybe, a different garden design yes, but the house and every other house hasn't changed. Happy memories alltogether....(the job in household duties even appeared in the local newspaper, back in 1984...).

Sorry, ME got Carrie'd away. So The Three Teenagers nod and smile politely while friend and ME shed some sentimental thoughts and tears. Just wait, 'til you guys are old enough... Driving further north, more places, more to rememeber. New house, new situation, new dogs, new neighbourhood, old friendship and old ties. Long night's talking, ME and The Three Teenagers get to sleep on another air matress and - pure luxury this time - a real american king size huge bed (see above, couldn't make that pic move down here fcs...). ME and The Three Teenagers agree on taking turns. Hard to say which bed/matress is more comfy or not for european spoiled backs. ME and The Three Teenagers will be experts by the end of this trip.

Day THREE

Day three is supposed to be that day during any travel, when you finally adjust and feel that you arrived. The Three Teenagers do that with sleeping in incredibly late. Whenever they do so they wake up having grown a few inches. If you freeze them at night that might slow down the growing process - is that, why airconditions are so incredibly COLD all over the United States? It uses up so much energy, everybody is complaining. Somebody should sum up how much energy could be saved, if everybody turns up the thermometer only 5F! Its probably a six figure sum that could be saved every single airconditioned day in America.

But some stuff has changed. Finally they do recycle! There are different garbage cans outside the house for different Things: Glas, Plastic and paper go in one for recycling, garden garbage in another one and then there is the original one. That at least is going into the right direction. And was pleased to see lots of Hybrid Cars already on the road. Seems to be in fashion to drive one, thats good news.

For The Three Teenagers I have good news as well: No sightseeing today, we attend the local pool. Now that is a very special adventure, because we actually WALK there. Four blocks. That is completely crazy for this suburb. Those kids used to DRIVE to High School one and a half blocks down the street....

Nice little pool, that Lufkin Park Pool. I ask for special rules, the guy at the entrance says no, no special rules. Well, here we go, The Three Teenagers are definately used to OTHER rules, as it turns out. No food or drinking even some yards away from the pool. Only at - and here ME learns a new word - designated concession area. No, I don't have to buy a concession for eating and drinking, we just have to go in a fenced part of the pool area to take a sip out of our water bottle. Aha.

There is a water slide. You have to slide in the water, get out only to the left, no swimming to the right. And certainly not jumping, screaming, running etc. Swimming, that's okay. We manage one hour, than it's much too boring and we WALK home. The Three Teenagers are crabby, because they have too much energy left, that plan failed.

Rest of the day is visiting a new baby and eating lots of djunk food. Sorry, it wasn't supposed to be junk, it was introduced as one of the most fashionable places where you can eat, so much choice, fancy order system, very nice. It's just a different more complicated way of making burgers and fries, obviously very fresh, but still much too fat, much too much, much too fat dripping. The Three Teenagers love it of course.

We go home, stuffed and happy. Last night at this friends house. You know the saying: Company and fish stink after three days....

TWOsome in Chicago part two

After a very american breakfast (will they EVER be int

roduced to real good coffee taste? This one is su

pposed to be very good, strong starbucks competitor, b

ut hey, it doesn't really deserve the name COFFEE...) with lots of cereal and some fruit we ta

ke off from this real nice subu

rb heading downtown. I

remeber very good when those years ago the skyline of Chicago came in sight. A beautiful

sight - how will The Three Teenagers react? We

ll, they've seen other impressive

things in their lives, a skyline doesn't hit the fan in t

he 21 century....

But driving through the city does. You know this street

where you drive underneath t

he train viadukt? Was scenerie for various movies and The Three Teenagers are thrilled

to recognize it (where The Blues Brothers get bombed at in front of a hotel?). We leave the car in a parking garage

and walk. And walk. And walk. Magnificent Mile, actually Michigan Av. Park. Finally o

ur sightseeing point N01: Navy Pier. Used to be en enlarged wharf type thing with some

food stands. Now turned into a tourist attraction amusement

park type thing. I remember Chcago Fest, music for almost two weeks non stop along tha

t long navy pier, I even got to see Frank Sinatra there (yes, it HAS been that long ago...). W

e have lunch there (mexican) and take a Chicago Water Taxi to sightseeing point No2: Sears Tower, mind me, changed into

Willis Tower now. On the way we pass a filmset fo

r "Transformers 3" (watch the trailer from Chicago, we were there!).

Going up Sears/Willi's used to be walking into the hallway, enter an elevator and go up t

o the plattform. It now has its own entrance, cost a fortune and leads you through a history tour, then the elevator a

nd up to a souvenir shop with windows to look down on Chicago. Still the most

wonderful view on the Lake Michican I can ever imagine. The architects added a new gadet: drive out glas cubes

.

You actually stand 103 stories (ap 400 meters) up above the streets. Comes bad weather, thoses cubes can move inside the building for stabilisation safety. A tickling feeling to stand in there and look down! The Three Teenagers love it and take lots of pictures.

We go home to our suburban shelter and I wonder, what the kids will remember from Chicago....

TWOsome in Chicago part one

It's good to be back (for those, who do not know: spent various weeks as a mothers-helper in Chicago right after school, which is some more years ago, kept coming back to the same pile of laundry year after year after year...). When WE walked out of the O'Hare Airport yesterday, the familiar overwhelming heat hit us right away. It's humid in Chicago, bright sunlight's greeting us. Warm welcome, from friend as well who pick's us up and drives us home to his suburban place and family.

When you travel with kids it's not easy to find friends who actually put up with so many MINORS. But because of the kids outnumbering the party three by one we get to sl

eep in the basement. In the activity room. Activity rooms are very american. There is usually at le

ast one huge TV-Screen with comfi sofas in front, a bar and if enough space a pool table as well. This one is big, pool table and all. One sofa unfolds, two get to sleep on air martresses.

Very important: Communication. I'm not in the mood to loose a child or two in the crowded places we are about to visit the next three weeks so were heading for the next possible shop to buy some phones. Telefonie is so different here, much cheaper, as long as you call nationwide, and easy to get access to. For $30 a piece the kids get phones including 300 minutes of communication time - each! One is actually a virgin phone, pretty cool! In the same supermarket kids get to choose cereal for breakfast. Hard stuff, because there is so much more CHOICE! A whole isle just cereal!

Aftre the trip and shopping and successfully seting up the phones we are quite exhausted and sleep well, Chicago-day lays ahead...

FLYday

Day One: What a wonderful idea, this check-in the night before. Saves you trouble the day you travel, makes it easy to move - and lets you sleep in late because your mind thinks it's already vacation time! Which is, but we got to go THERE first. SHE is waking me exactly 30 minutes before we wanted to take the bus to go to the airport - thank god I put some extra time into this timetable as well! The meticiously planned 2-h-clean-up in the morning is done in 15 minutes. We will see, what ends up dying by itself in the fridge or elsewhere in the kitchen while we're gone (no, not the kitty, that one is in her luxury hotel. And no, not the turtles, they spent holiday with their breeder, family ties, you know...).

Okay, get dressed, brush yur teeth, take your hopefully complete handluggage. With the passports and all other travel documents. Which ME stored carefully in a pouch, a pink one, so it cannot get lost. I put it somewhere where I cannot forget it while doing the 2-h-last-minutes-things in the morning. Only that I had to skip a few steps, so where's the pouch? Breathe in, breathe out, count to 15. Got it. Let's go.

Out of the house, run to the bus, turn around four times because the kids forget something. Always check the door MYself, if its locked or not, sort of a control syndrom. You adapt those when you're alone with kids for a long time.

Get to the airport in time, make it through pass control okay, waving happily to all those who stand in line for checking in their luggage, waving with a grin to those who pass the long waiting line before immigration because we fly only Economy, but they do Buisness or even First Class. I know some of them, they are from home. Is everybody from Goldcoast going to the states? Hurrah! We are in the middle of a TRENDY trip!

Not trendy is the cabin of the Airbus we're flying. When was the last time, Airbus measured their passengers? We got the middle four-seater-row, but only No3 can stretch out her legs. One out of four. One out of four can only use the entertainment system, because the other three ones are broken and refuse to revive throughout the whole flight. So we take turns eight hours long in watching movies or playing games. There is no guarantied right of entertainment during the flight, I'm afraid, no need to talk to the air hostess, she doesn't know how to work that system anyway. Food is good though, the trendy - there we go again! - caterer Hiltl is cooking this month. No3 cannot stand the smell of any food throughout the whole flight, poor thing. Have to remember that on our trip, she needs to eat long before flight and enough so she won't starve 'till we get to destination.

Talking about destination: The way how Chicago comes in sight when you fly in is breathtaking. No matter if day or night, rain or fog, its majestic, its magic, its solid, its Chicago. My kind of town. It's been almost 30 years that I saw this for the first time. Never lost it's magic on ME. Reason for the trip is to share that with The Three Teenagers before they stop wanting to travel with ME.

Last time they made me wait at immigration for two hours with the kids, this time it only takes 45 minutes to walk through, they take fingerprints from ME and from SHE ("everybody older than 14, M'am"). If this is daily business, that Esta thing really helps. Our luggage is here too, lucky us.

Chicago, here we come! No: Here we ARE!

The Day BEFORE

Day Zero: Packing. As we travel first from one possible private housing to the next before ending up in hotels we can pack light, washers and dryers should be around the first two weeks. And - heaven, yes! - the US$ is sooo low (remind me of that later), we can actually consider going SHOPPING! For back-to-school-stuff or so. So we take one empty suitcase and stuff it with a full one. The fullest as ist turns out. SHE takes the whole bathroom with her (remember, SHE is 15), pretending she can't live without that thing, that straightens her hair. No check on HIS bag. Thats embarassing for a 13year-old. It looks quite empty. Boys don't need anything, they can go with one T-Shirt for three weeks. And No3? Doing fine (better check those, ME didn't....).

Its saturday and we will take advantage of the Swiss Check-in the night before. That'll make things on the actual travel day much easier. So we do: take the car, drive to the airport, check in the suitcases, go home. Set the alarm early for last minute things (cleaning up a little, emptying dishwasher, garbage, plants - the whole programm, no problem, plan two hours and you'll have enough time for a coffe too...). Sleep, America, we're coming!

TIPP: Keep travel documents in one separate pouch that you never let go of. Spares searching time!

PREParation

Okay, I did it. Blame it on me. Completely and totally. I booked a trip for The Three Teenagers and ME. Where to? Travelling the United States. Not all of them. Some will do.

Introducing The Three Teenagers: SHE is 15, didn't wanted to go on antother vacation with ME-as-MUM. But America? What a chance! HE is 13. Need I to say more? And then there is NO3, half past 11 and counting as teen in terms of behaviour.

As a matter of facts: We made it back all right. That could be it. But I want you to share the fun with me. All twentysomething days long..........

First of all: ME did the planning, choose the destinations, locations, travel tools. Because it should be a look-where-mom-was-when-she-was-young(er)-and-lift-the-connections-up-to-grade-2 thing. Wanna know, if it worked out?

By the way: THEY did the logistic work. The flight, the rental car booking - with one detour quite right... THEY: http://www.knecht-reisen.ch/

TIPP: Check the dates on tickets and invoice not once, not twice, but at least three times! Way before you start the trip. And for the US: Online ESTA is easy and impeccable, piece of cake to do that (do it a week in advance, that'll give you time).