We’re back. Mitch and I still ask ourselves how this trip we planned for so long could be over already. But, we have so many pictures to look at and stories to remember that we will be busy for some time organizing and digesting all those experiences.
Our initial re-entry was easy. We flew back to the U.S. on Bjorn’s birthday. His request. The flight left Hong Kong at 11am and arrived in San Fransisco at 1pm after a 12 hour flight. Bjorn watched around 5 movies on the flight and enjoyed the extra attention from the flight attendants, who gave him chocolates from the first class cabin.
Bjorn opens candy that Emma and I bought for him in Hong Kong as a surprise on the plane.
It was wonderful to be back and we marveled at the clean air, water and streets. We brushed our teeth with tap water and slurped from the faucet with abandon. Of course, Hong Kong has safe water as well, but in California there was no need to reasearch water quality first.
We eat breakfast before heading to the aquarium on our first full day back in the states.
We spent four days in the Monterey Bay area visiting the Aquarium and staying with friends. They welcomed us with a large bin of legos and home cooked meals. The perfect homecoming.
Oversized statues are popular all over the world but the US seems to excel at marketing and creating tourist attractions out of very little. This is Paul B. the Trees of Mystery in California.
We then began a two week road trip up the coast of California and into Oregon, exploring our country the way we had explored so many others during the past year. We noticed those things that had stayed the same and those things that had changed and many things that we’d never noticed about the United States before.
We always wanted to visit the redwood forest. This was one of our favorite stops.
Our first trip to a grocery store was a bit overwhelming. We wandered the aisles looking for our favorite foods and wondered at the huge variety of foods. Do we really need that many different types of ketchup and mustard? Emma clutched a box of macaroni and cheese and Mitch grabbed another of veggie burgers. We tried to cook a bit of everyone’s favorite foods during the next few weeks. This was a bit challenging as we were camping and the weather this spring was unusually cool and rainy in the west.
When we left in the summer of 2010 the economy seemed to be on the mend, but one year later we experienced sticker shock everywhere we went. Everything seemed a bit more expensive. We especially noticed California’s budget shortfall in the price of a campground space: $35 a night for a bit of bare ground with a picnic table and campfire ring. We remembered fondly our stay at Dolphin Bungalows on Koh Phangnan in Thailand, Shadow of Angkor Wat II in Siem Riep, Cambodia and Ketut Losman Bungalows on Nusa Lembongan, Bali. All of which were the same price or less.
Crater Lake, Oregon. Clouds, fog and snow for the whole day until we arrived at the viewpoint and it cleared for half an hour.
After a particularly lively exchange with a sandwich shop guy Bjorn whispered, “Everyone’s so friendly here. Is it just that there isn’t a language barrier or is everyone here more friendly?” We eventually decided that it was a bit of both. We enjoyed being able to communicate with everyone and being able to understand the conversations going on around us. But Americans are definitely among the most friendly people in the world.
It was another month or so before we finally were back in our house in Boise. We spent some time in Portland with my brother and his family and also at the Oregon coast. We flew to Minnesota for a few weeks and saw the rest of our family before finally reconnecting with our mounds of stuff in the storage shed and moving it all back into our house.
The bad weather chased us inside for 2 nights at the Union Junction Lodge near Crater Lake.
After a year of traveling, we’ve found new things to appreciate about our lives in the US and in our community that we took for granted before. We’ve also begun to look at our country and culture through a different lens. We feel more connected to all the places that we traveled to around the globe. We notice the news that takes place there and enjoy seeing pictures of the places we’ve been.
It is good to be home and to reconnect with friends and family. But, how are we doing three months later and how has the trip changed us? Well, the answer is still unfolding and is the topic of another post. One I hope to get the rest of our family to write a bit about as well.
Until then, we’re back, settled in and very grateful to have had the chance to take a year off together to travel the world.
-Margit
One of our favorite places in the world: Oceanside, Oregon.
long4adventure