First of all I would like to thank the Essex family for letting me stay with them. You guys have been the best and you have given me so much. I can never thank you enough for what you have done for me.


I arrived at Lester B. Pearson Airport, Toronto on the 13th of July. Whoa, if you only knew how long I had been looking forward to that day! They picked me up at the airport and we headed out for the 2-hour drive to their house. Thinking back, I think I have spent more time in their car than anywhere else this summer... But I really don't mind, the entertainment was good. *smile* If you're up to it, you can also read the menu I got on the plane.

We got up early the following morning to get to Kansas City, Missouri before the end of the day. That was a very long drive! I think it took us 16 hours or so and we were pretty exhausted when we finally got there. We stayed with one of their friends and she had this really neat house with lots of room for all of us.

I really liked this place -->      

Well, there's one important thing I really need the world to know: American border guards have a serious attitude problem!! We could hardly get passed the border because this one border guard started harassing us. She was asking one of the people I was with what colour form she had filled out 25 years ago to get a social security card! And she seriously expected her to remember! At the end she just gave up because she didn't really have a reason to hold us there any longer. But we were delayed quite a bit because of that.

They after we went to the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. It was a big museum about President Harry S. Truman. A lot of it was pretty interesting. They had a replica of the president's office in The White House and I read some things about the war. That place had everything you've ever wanted to know about president Truman; the letters he wrote to his wife, the cars he drove, the gifts he received, his gravesite etc.

Where President Truman used to work -->     

In the evening we went to the movie theatre to see 'Eraser'. It wasn't exactly the type of movie I would have chosen myself (too much violence!) but it was pretty good for an action movie. The theatre wasn't very crowded at all and we had no trouble with people sitting in front of us blocking our view because I think we were a total of 10-12 people in a big theatre! So if you're really into action I would definitely recommend that movie.

On the 16th we went to the Kansas City Museum. They had an exhibition telling about the regional history and the development of K.C. and funny kind of 'weather park' where you could try studying how tornados developed and other things. At the time they had a special exhibition on mazes. A lot of them didn't work, though. But we had a good time trying... *lol*

We stayed there for three days and on Wednesday the 17th we left Missouri and drove to Liberal, Kansas and stayed at a motel for the night. On our way we stopped by something called 'The Big Well'. That was... Yes! You've guessed it: A big well! For $1 each we could climb down into the well. It was fun running down the stairs but you tend to forget that you also have to be able to come back up... Oh well, we got some exercise, right?

Kind of scary, I'd say! -->    

Then we saw something called The Mid-American Air Museum which is the fifth largest in the country. Normally, I'm not too interested in planes but this sounded interesting so I went along with it in stead of seeing Dorothy's house (from The Wizard of Oz). And I didn't regret it! It was very impressive and we even got to see two of the planes from the inside. Don't ask me what they were called but I still found it very fascinating to actually be inside one.

They even let us go inside the planes -->    

That night we stayed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I think it was that night or the next where we went to see the movie Independence Day. Wow! That was a great movie. I enjoyed it very much and I'm usually pretty picky about what I watch so... Well, if you ever get the chance to see it: Don't hesitate for a second!

The next place we went to was Flagstaff, Arizona. On our way we saw all the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. I bought a nice chunk of petrified wood that I now have on my desk. Now that's a quality souvenir! The place was so beautiful I can't begin to describe it. I'll show you a picture but it isn't the same as being there.

The Painted Desert -->        

and The Petrified Forest -->     

We also went to see a giant meteor crater and the museum about it. It was pretty huge, all right! I'm sorry that this picture doesn't leave you with much to judge it's dimensions but according to a brochure I have about it it's "The best-preserved meteorite site on Planet Earth", 49.000 years old, 570 feet deep, nearly a mile across and 3 miles in circumference. I couldn't even fit the whole thing in my picture.

I think that's a shed at the bottom -->    

On the 20th we visited The Grand Canyon. It was practically impossible to find a place to park the car because of all the tourists. I bought a 1997 calendar with pictures from there. It was fun to see a place I had previously heard so much about. Before I left, my parents had strongly recommended that I visited The Grand Canyon. And it was indeed... uh... grand!

There isn't much to say, it was... The Grand Canyon -->    

For some reason, seeing The Grand Canyon makes some people want to quote The Simpsons... I am not one of them! When you see the beauty of nature you often run out of words and you simply take a picture hoping that someone else will find the word for you. Unfortunately, I still haven't found anything to describe this. Does anyone have a good suggestion? 'Magnificent'?? I don't know but I liked it.

This was taken with a different camera (notice the colours) -->    

We finally arrived in Telluride, Colorado on the 21st. It's a very pretty city with a lot of funny houses, stores and people. Unfortunately I couldn't find any postcards without snow because Telluride is famous for skiing and I kind of forgot to take any pictures. I kept putting it off and before I noticed we had already left! So you will have to do with this picture.

This is the main street -->    

I very much enjoyed our stay in Telluride. It was a wonderful place and I hope to return sometime in the future. The night after we arrived we had a big barbeque outside the lodge. I've always been kind of a health freak so hotdogs weren't really that exciting for me but I guess I'm just being strange here. Anyone should be able to enjoy all the interesting things they put in them... uh... whoops, back to the story! I hadn't been at a barbeque for a very long time. Mostly for two reasons: The weather is usually too bad and nobody wants to clean the grill.

Barbeque in Telluride -->    

On the 23rd we went to see Mesa Verde. Part of it was closed but I was perfectly happy with what we saw. It was amazing to think about the history of that place. We weren't allowed to go inside any of the buildings but by looking through the windows we got a pretty good idea of what it looked like. I just wonder what it looked like when there were people living in there. Was the place more colourful? Hm..

A view of the Mesa Verde -->    

We went shopping on the 24th. The only thing I bought was a keyring that looked like a Colorado license plate. Yep, I always spend a lot of money! I also found the time to write an e-mail to my parents. They had been complaining about the lack of e-mails but I didn't want to spend my entire vacation writing e-mails and postcards to my parents. In the evening on the 25th we went to a 'town lecture' which is a lecture that everyone can attend. It was about "BMWs and Thermodynamics" if I remember correctly.

Finally it was time for us to be a bit active...! Three of us went on a hike to find a place that had various crystals lying around. It took us about 1 ½ hours to get there and I picked up a couple of really neat rocks that I have lying in my room now. The only sad thing about it was that I carried the rocks in my regular backpack that I use for school so now my calculator gets dirty every time I leave it in that pocket.. *sigh* I kind of liked hiking. I thought it would be too rough for me but I managed to walk all the way up there and all the way down without having to be carried by anyone..!

At night we went to a restaurant and then we saw 'The Nutty Professor' with Eddie Murphy. Potty humour at its worst/best?? I thought it was kind of funny but then again we Danes have a really weird sense of humour so I'm not sure all of you would be able to appreciate it.

On the 28th we started heading home but we ran into the most awful thunderstorm. First we had to pull over because it was raining so hard we couldn't see a thing. When it cleared a bit, we drove to the nearest restaurant and had dinner while we waited for the storm to pass. There was a tornado watch in the area we were in so we weren't too happy about driving in that weather. Silly as I am; I must say I did find the lightening to be very neat. It was just so much bigger than what we get here in Denmark. Sure, was scary but I couldn't help being a bit fascinated anyway...

Well, I left Canada on the 2nd of August. And that was a very sad good-bye! So that's why I'm planning on returning on the 11th of October when I have a week off from school.

So beware you lovable Canadians!!