That was America then.

After losing one day -Tuesday the 24.- we are now back in Asia and currently waiting in Taipei, Taiwan on our connecting flight home. What a journey this has been, only good that we are. Of due on work for another two weeks, so maybe we are able to restore the jetlag.

Extended limbo.

Arrived to LAX to catch our flight back home. But.
Yes but there was this typhoon rummaging around in Hong Kong yesterday, right? Yes right! So the flight was cancelled. So what? Another day in LA?
No, we got put on an Eva Air flight to Taipei in Taiwan leaving at 1:30 am. Means one and a half hour longer waiting at this airport. Extended limbo and worst of all, this airport must be top on the list of boring and customer unfriendly airports, as soon as you have gone through security, it is dead and not much to do. If you get stuck in some airport, just hope that it is going to be Hong Kong, Singapore or most other Asian airports.

Limbo life LA

The last day of the holiday is always a state of limbo or a waiting game or "how to kill time before you really have to kill time". In which case I refer to the 15 hours of flight back home to typhoon haunted Hong Kong.
Now I will allow myself a little detour from the limbo thing, that was going to be the topic of this post.
well, this early morning at the hotel suddenly Catrionas cell phone was ringing. Normally we never answer our cell phones while on holiday abroad, as it is dammed expensive. So this morning neither -saying morning is a bit of an understatement, as here in LA it was in the middle of the night- but when we got up there was a text from our beloved helper back home.
She explained that she had to stay at our house overnight as a horrible typhoon was rummaging over Hong Kong, and that while she was at our house the warning had been raised from a T 8 -which can be severely sinister- to a T 10 -which then must be sinisterly sinister, but in the time we've been at home in hongkers, we have never yet experienced- so she had to stay put, and couldn't leave to get back home, and that she'd been eating some rice and some sardines from a can from our cupboard. That poor woman, at least we had that still in there, or she would have been starving.
Detour is over, so is our US trip 2012, and the day today has been in a limbo condition, not really knowing what to do with ourselves. So we went to the museum for contemporary art and found two good places to eat, one for breakfast/ brunch and finally just now before the airport shuttle picks us up, one for dinner.
Bye USA. See you later.

Road trip curiosities.Vol. one. Illustration.

Road trip curiosities. Vol.one

The road trip though some parts of the US, has lead us through many different sceneries and given us good and diverse experiences.
As we are on the last days of the trip and have no road trip left for this time, I guess that many of those good and some weird experiences will start to settle and will give some reason for reflection and maybe a good back laugh, if you know what I mean by that.
One little funny episode on this journey happened in the state of Washington at the beginning of July.
Had just left our friends at lake Oswego and were heading up to Seattle. On our way we would pass mount ST. Helena, and had been suggested to drive up there to have a look. And man, was that beautiful. Not only the 31 something mile drive up to the mountain, but also the mountain it self; huge and solid and some kind of threatening, as it had been back in 84, where it suddenly erupted and brought massive destruction to the area.
Being up there was fantastic and like other tourists in this digital age, we wanted to have out phone taken in front of that mountain. First we tried it the "do it yourself way" with an iPhone, arm stretched out and then trying to hit the two faces and get the best view. everyone is doing this nowadays, but the result is mostly crap, and the only thing you really can see is the two faces posed in an odd way, the way I'll describe as "the Facebook way".
An older lady approached us from a car at the lot with her husband, and friendly and good meaning as she was, she offered to take our picture in front of the mountain. She was handed the iPhone and I tried to instruct her to press the button looking like a camera on the screen of the phone.
As we were standing there posing for the picture and the friendly lady fiddling around with that phone, which seemed, for her, to be some sort of science fiction device from a 1950ies alien from out of space movie. She did try her best to direct us, but kept saying, that she was not quite sure if this was good, she couldn't really see for the reflection, therefore she would just take another one.
We thanked her as she handed back the phone, and she and her husband were on their way to another good viewpoint. At that moment none of us take a look at the pictures, this happens later when we finally arrive at our hotel in Seattle.
So here are one of those nice photo's that nice lady shot of us at Mount St. Helena!

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Greasy & busy!

The Original Pantry. According to the doorman at our hotel, this place is a LA institution in breakfasts. It is extremely busy and at first we were standing in line to wait to get in. Finally inside, the imagination of a real American diner came true. Coffee was served in two mugs as we sat down. There were no menus, only boards on the wall with the few breakfast items they served, but as it came it was extensive and good. Loads of potatoes, pancakes, huge thick ham and eggs and what have you. Greasy, yes. But certainly worth it, so if in LA, don't miss breakfast at the Original Pantry, on 9th street down town. It is even mentioned at the exits at the metro centre on 7th street.

Last sunset in Memphis.

The last night in Memphis, sunset on the rooftop captured with the 360• app. The Mississippi river and part of down town a d the pyramid.
The last two days in Memphis as we got back from the south, was extremely hot, with temperatures above the hundreds (Fahrenheit) which equals 35 ish temperatures centigrade. Good for us that
Emphasis had plenty of bars and coffee places with air condition. But shouldn't we as Hong Kongers be use to that? In fact yes, but this was a dry heat so it hit you like a wall coming at you in the doorways.

Some where in L.A.

Came up from the Metro to this street called Hollywood boulevard too many people and some of them dressed like all kinds of movie characters. There was Batmen and Darth Waders and all.
The only thing I was interested in was to see that fucking sign. So here it is and that is that.

At that very spot!

Where modern American music changed forever, and holding that microphone that a young fellow from Tupelo in Mississippi was using as he recorded "That's alright Mama" in 1954.
My footwork isn't quite as impressive though.

The birth place of modern American music!

No less than that, should one believe in the words from the guide who took us through the famous Sun Studio in Memphis. Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Charlie Perkins, Jerry Lee Levi's, BB King, just to name some of the big names in rock'n roll who all recorded major hits in between these walls.

Jørgen's perfect day out.

White sand and a swim in turquoise water.followed by fresh oysters and ribs served with garlic mash.
One hour after those ribs and oysters it's another story and he feels like throwing up. Forgot to say he washed his dinner down with 2 big margharitas. Too bad he can't help his wif eat the chocolate brownie desert.

New Orleans breakfast.

This is the real thing when you are starving in the morning. Cajun breakfast plate. Hash brown potato, two sausages - one is alligator- eggs sunny side up, a scone and grits. Naturally with coffee and here a Mimosa, which is orange juice and sparkling wine. Mmmm...

Like on another planet.

Had just settled on the white sand, I even had a swim in the Mexican gulf when the lifeguard came driwing along and warned us that they had raised the lighting signal, and we'd better take shelter in our vehicle and wait for the storm to pass.
We took a ride further along the coast and came all the way to Navarra Beach about 8 miles east. The whole way the same sight, white sand and dunes on both sides of the road, and in Navarra beach some impressive buildings.

No we are not in the snow.

This is the beach and it is going for miles and miles and miles like this. In the back ground you can see a thunder storm brewing. It was like this all afternoon where the sky grew darker and darker.

Good morning to you guys.

I guess Hemmingway has been here to. It is a the water and it is Florida and there is a place called Hemmingway's Bar and grill. It is a good spot and though Florida and beaches, it is not to crowded and not too fancy. The Paradise Inn and Beach Club where we are staying is cozy and casual and has a fab location - as you can see- and the cabin where our belongings and shower is (and beds of corse) is only one minute away from this.

Sunset in Florida.

Sorry for that, but in the previous post I claimed that the view was towards west, well that is wrong, it was head east. This one is to the west and the sunset that changed the colour of the sky and everything else.

Pensacola Beach.

From the big wheel there was a good 360 view on the Pensacola peninsula. This is the view to the west, where this thin strip of land will connect to the mainland. And just at the left you can see that, like everywhere in US, they are making a new? Yes, a parking lot.

One season and four states in one day.

The season was summer and that started as we left New Orleans. To be fair to New Orleans then it was in fact also summer there, just the southern kind of summer with a lot of thunder storms and rain. They didn't last for long but meant that you had to seek shelter. No big problem in a place with that many restaurants and bars, and then again it could be because they were all pretty full.
This morning we had a big decision to make; which way we should chose to go before heading back to Memphis, from where we fly out to LA on Friday. Should we head east, towards Florida and visit Pensacola beach, which was highly recommended by our friends in Memphis, or should we go west and hit Lake Charles, where another friend is located. Decisions, decisions. Ohh dear.
To make it easier, we first headed for one of the famous plantations in the New Orleans area, the Oak Alley plantation, known from numerous films and maybe this is the icon of southern states plantations, the main building that is. Picturesque located at the end of a long oak tree alley. (Sorry but we didn't manage to get a decent photo, but google it, as the photo we would have taken would pretty much look like all the photos you will find googleling it)
Got there and then found that we were a bit to stingy to spend 2 x 18 dollars to visit one of the worlds maybe biggest landmarks for slavery and oppression. So we came to the ticket booth and then not further.
Back in the car we asked Miss.GPS. to get us to Pensacola beach in Florida. She told us that we could arrive approximate 4 hours or so later. So east it was, towards new frontiers and adventures.
So this is where the 4 states becomes significant. We started in Louisiana, passed through the southern part of Mississippi before getting to Alabama and finally arrive in the sunshine state; Florida.
At this minute, writing this, we are seated at Paradise Beach club, just at the beach under some palm trees. It is past 9 pm, there has just been a band playing on a wee stage, and around at the other tables people are still eating and drinking. The weather is dreamy and life is good. Cheers.

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Rain showers.

Not only when on the road, but also being in the streets, rain showers tend to give us some variation during the day. On the road it slows you down for safety reasons, walking the streets, you need to take cover in some bar or shop. Normally it only goes on for some minutes before the sun breakes through again, and you can continue with your schedule, or just stay put and order another drink.
On big advantage with the rain showers; it washes away the sour odour from last nights party.

French quarter in New Orleans by night.

Have you ever been to a rock festival, or at "Bunte Republik Neustadt" in Dresden, Germany. Then who can imagine how it is in the french quarter from after lunch and through the night. Thousands and thousands of people wander thought the streets, consuming litres of alcohol and try to find amusement in the big numbers of bars offering everything from cool New Orleans jazz to blues, hip hop, Irish folk and karaoke. Most of the streets are closed for traffic so it is a ball. Our hotel is just in the centre of all this, but a bit away from the most busy of them all; Bourbon Street. In the morning as I took a wee stroll, the smell was recognisable. Old feet, beer, puke cigarette buts and all, the smell I could remember from back then, as I went to the big rock festivals and always left as one of the last, and had the pleasure of smelling excessive consummation in the soil of the venue. This kind of sour odour that brings.
On my walk this morning it all came back to me through my nose from the streets here. And they had even washed them down. I am sure the same smell will greet me tomorrow morning, when I will go for my morning stroll.

Q is for Queen!

From the Now Orleans centre of contemporary art.

Awake.....phew!!

Aaaaah is the driver sleeping?

Don't worry Mamma, it was just one of Jørgens long blinks!!!🚗🇺🇸

Waaaah what a storm

Great radio stations here

The journeys by road are certainly long here but these journeys are made enjoyable by the great choice of radio stations. We began with Elvis radio then soon discovered Pearl Jam and Classic vinyl rock. For Jørgen the best was lithium !!! Looking forward to the long drive back to Memphis.

Got him before he got me!

Believe it or not, but I am in fact biting an alligator sausage at the Gumbo Shop in St. Peters Street. Alligator meat is on the menu at loads of the loads of restaurants in the French Quarter.

Mississippi river at Natchez.

It started sunny this morning as we left the old house in Vicksburg and headed south on the 61 freeway south through Mississippi. Miss gps was set on the town of Natchez, halfway between Vicksburg and New Orleans, as a resting place and I chose it because it gave access to another view of the river. The clear sunny weather didn't last long. Soon after our departure big. Lack clouds gathered in the horizon ahead of us, and soon the speed was reduced to minimum as the sight on the road ahead just decreased. As we finally reached the town of Natchez, we'd been through some rain storms, but also had some time with decent weather, so the break was relaxing and the view wasn't the worst, even it was a wee bit misty and rainy.

Storm is a comin'

Not the best weather we've had this summer. 6 hours to New Orleans.

Road Movie.

After a long, long drive. Through southern rain storms with a 10 meter vision and huge traffic jams caused by out burned SUV's, we have finally arrived in New Orleans. Now it is just to settle in and let the city ha e it's impact.

B&B in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Early in the morning on Friday the 13th. Hopefully this is not going to be one of those bad Fridays. Are in Vicksburg in the state of Mississippi in an authentic old Southern villa, build by some congressman back in the 1860. Now we have to go for the breakfast with all the other guests, so more later.

Missisippi road movie.

As we left the Memphis area and dound the way sputh, the talking miss gps announced " drive 205 miles on south 61, then turn right". And that was it, straight ahead forever and ever, not even some hills or anything to break the monotonous ride. Only when some huge rain showers came down on us, there was something else to do, slow down and concentrate.

2nd leg of US road trip starts.

Memphis, TN to Vicksburg, MS.

Beale Street.

Beale Street. Blues, bars, beer, barbecue rips, bikes, BB Kings and more blues. In Memphis it seems that everything has a connection to the blues the king off corse. The down town erea is very easily explored and like so many other places in the us, you need a car to find the real thing as it is so incredible spread out. Thanks to our local friend Elaine, we got the chance to get out in some of the other neighbourhoods too see and experience how it really is living in Memphis. Without this, I would have been pretty diss appointed about the city, but with it, it was a really good experience.

Sincerely Elvis.

Graceland, Memphis. 12.07.2012. Yes we did it. We went to Graceland, the house of the king, Mr. Elvis Presley.

Back in time I saw the Jim Jarmous film "Mystery Train" about the two young Japanese visiting, and just had to walk duck walk through the house, as there was so many visitors.
Well, there was a lot of visitors and we also had to sort of walk duck walk through the house. It was cheasy and a bit camp as the house was left as it was in the late 70ties, with late 70ties decor, and who lived at that time knows how that could be.

But it was an experience and ow we have been there and done that, so now we can look ahead towards the next chapter in this US trip 2012. Going further south to Louisiana and New Orleans and back through Missisippi, Florida and Alabama.

6 years later.

Miss Elaine left Dresden in 2006, I left in 2007, now it is 2012 and I haven't seen Miss Elaine in 6 years. Now she lives in Memphis and I had the chance to come on a visit this summer. So here we are at the flying saucer beer bar on 2nd street in Memphis. And what a good time we've had.

Mississippi river.

Early in the morning from the rooftop of our Memphis home, the famous Mississippi river. I had to wonder if I was awake or still at sleep, but no, I was actually here in Tennessee.

Home of the blues.

Beale Street in down town Memphis. Home of the blues. From all bars and blues remedy souvenir shops there is a combo of blues music. Yet on a Tuesday afternoon no live gigs inside, but on a wee stage in a park someone had set up their instruments and were trying their best to get the couple of curious folks around, in the mood. And Elvis is everywhere.

Early Morning Club Sandwich!

Just across the street in front of the building where we are staying, "Alannah's Breakfast Kafé" offers all day american breakfast. Imbues I am good on protein for the day after this Early Morning Klub sandwich on sourdough.

Memphis, Tennessee.

Graceland here we come! Monday was spent in the air mostly as we transported our self from the far northwest to the mid south, to Memphis. From here we just have a wague idea what will happen next in this road-movie -without movie- but for now I is about blues music, good barbecue and food and our good friend Elaine, who is the maine reason for coming here, that we get Elvis on top is just the desert.
The photo is taken from the rooftop on the 17th floor
at the building we are staying at, cool huh?

Night vision

In a 50 year old space needle, 605 feet above the ground at night. Well what is this about? Look it up at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/space_Needle

Wireless in Seattle!

Reunified with two friends in Seattle. They came in by boat from Victoria in British Columbia. We joined them at their hotel and then we went out into the city. We came to Hong Kong at the same time in 2007, but they left 3 years ago. Since then we hadn't seen each other so it was a great feeling to be able to meet up with them here in Seattle. After a long day we finished by heading up to the viewing platform of the Space Needle, one of the landmarks in Seattle. This photo is send by e-mail and is provided by the Space Needle. That could explain the the chroma key background.

Live from Uptown expresso bar, Seattle.

Coffee, sun and wi fi. Some of the modern travellers necessities. Right now we are live blogging from one of the many Seattle coffee houses, that are not Starbucks. This one is really quit, everyone is sitting around with their personal digital device, a bit like an old fashioned internet cafe. Soon we are meeting other friends who has come over from Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. We haven't seen them for 3 years, I think, so it is going to be special.

Blues stage

Portland friends

J and bacon beer

J and Mount St. Helen's

4th July Parade

Blues Festival

July 4th and 5th 2012

July 4th 2012
Fantastic first July 4th experience for us Mortensens here in Portland with our friends.
Coffee, marzipan croissants and great sandwiches in a local bakery followed by a small July 4th parade through the streets.
Afternoon at the Blues Festival - a fund raiser for a food bank. Blue skies again and a lovely temperature....factor 50 on. Our first live music experience this summer.

Burgers for dinner at Blast Burger. Then local ice cream from the Creamery .
Greg and Denise took us out around the lake for a couple of hours. Lots of people in holiday mood, in boats or sitting on decks . The air was filled with the smell of grilling sausages and the sound of a sudden crack or loud gun shot sound when people on either side of the lake let off fireworks. At one point a small plane swooped down and flew close above our heads and across the lake.
The temperature dropped quite a lot and it was rather chilly sitting on the water waiting for the official firework display to begin. We had a glass of prosecco while we waited . Eventually our patience paid off and we were treated to a front row view.


July 5th
Wine Tasting at Erath , Vida and Argylle.
Discovered the beauty of Pinot Noir at Erath. This is the wine Oregon is famous for. We did not realise that Pinot was such a light red . We may be converted!!!
We bought 2 bottles of the tasters selection 2009 at Erath.

Across the road and up a long, steep winding driveway to Vida, the winery with a beautiful view.
We tasted Grisling for the first time- a blend of Reisling and Pinot Gris. It tasted exactly like aspirin water to me. That is water which has soluble aspirin in it. We bought a bottle anyway to drink with our lunch which was a picnic in the picturesque winery grounds.

At Vida we quite literally had a shocking experience . The floor was plastic and the surrounding fence was metal. Every time we touched each other we got an electric shock.
Last stop for sparkling wines . Something wrong with my tastebuds because every single one tasted like aspirin water and so we didn't buy anything there.







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Summer in Seattle.

Awesome Seattle. It is always good to have some locals to show you around in unknown territory. Fortunately for us we have some friends living in Seattle and on this splendid summer Saturday we were taking around in this awesome city. A day fully packed with impressions and good atmosphere, we explored a lot. Best of all may e, was the trip to this fabulous spot from where the view on the city was the best, and we would never have found this on our own.

Breakfast blogging

Disposable breakfast. Hotel breakfast a'la US. Everything is served on and in disposable service. What a waste. The few employees roaming around the crowded breakfast room throws away sack after sack of plates, cups, forks, spoons and knives. Maybe I am wrong, but I cannot see how this can be economical and sustainable. This is the second of the hotels we've stayed in so far where the breakfast is handled this way, and both times it has been known and big hotel
chains, who should have the urge to do better.

At coffee.

Catriona and Rachel connect again with coffee on 1st. avenue in Seattle Bell-Town. Doing some tourist walks through the city and really enjoying it as summer has come to town with us as we came from the south.

Seattle coffee-town.

Starbucks started here, but now there is lots of other nice coffee shops around the town. This is a live message from the Cherrie Street coffee. Enjoying a nice noon break coffee with our local Seattle friend Rachel. It is a nice sunny day in this wonderfully city in the far north west of US.

Arrived in Seattle

After some lovely days with friends in Portland, we have now arrived in Seattle. The next 3 days this will home, if one can say so. We are going to meet some friends here, and we will have a look at the beer and coffee culture, and hopefully we can hear some music as well.