On Tuesday we made the long, boring drive from Webster Groves to Winger Park Colorado. It was a 13+ hour drive, and I’m thankful that I had Aster here to share the driving. There was a lot of not much to see in Kansas and eastern-Colorado. But we made it. It is beautiful here! The altitude is really impacting Izzy and Aster today, so will be a quiet day.
I woke up early today and walked a bit around the condo to catch the sunrise. It is much colder than St. Louis and much more pleasant.
This will be the farthest west we go on this trip. We have our condo until Sunday and then will begin the long journey back east, stopping for a few days to visit my dad in Columbia, Missouri before heading to Connecticut for the journey home to Sweden.
Sunrise on bridge on Fraser River Trail, just outside our condo. Pond, Winter Park ColoradoFraser River, Winter Park Colorado
It has been nice to not be on the move for a few days. Not that we have been sitting around all day. Yesterday we got up and headed to the St. Louis Zoo as soon as it opened. It was a lot of walking for the three of us, and Izzy was getting really tired by early afternoon. It is fun to see everyone getting Halloween decorations set up.
This morning Izzy and I headed to Grant’s Farm for a few hours. When we got home, I dropped my oldest, Aster, off at the St. Louis Pride festival downtown. Izzy and I also walked down to Deer Creek Park and across to the Deer Creek Shopping Plaza before heading home. It was sunny and warm; not hot for St. Louis, but a bit warmer than us from New England are used to.
St. Louis Zoo,Charles H. Hoessle HerpetariumHippie Skeleton, St. Louis ZooIzzy resting her feet outside of the Herpetarium, St. Louis ZooGrant’s Farm, St. LouisIzzy feeding the animals at Grant’s Farm, St. Louis
We finally made it out of the east coast. It took a few days longer than I had expected, and we gained an unexpected member on our trip. But here we are. Our first real stop.
We checked out of our hotel on Tuesday and were able to get on the road by early afternoon. We made western Pennsylvania by the end of the day and spent the night in a terrible hotel. I’m going to make sure we get nicer places going forward.
Our plans are to stay here for a few day and early next week head to Colorado for a few days in the mountains before returning east. This morning the three of us went to the Missouri Botanical Garden and then to The Hill to get lunch before returning to Bill’s house to rest for a few hours. Tomorrow we hope to get to the zoo. Not sure plans for the weekend yet, though the kids will probably go to the Reconnaissance Festival on Sunday and I’ll paint Bill’s porch trim while they are gone..
Japanese Garden, Missouri Botanical GardenIzzy looking at the fish. Japanese Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
I’m pretty sure that the road trip Izzy and I were sketching out wasn’t the best planned evolution. However, things are changing even before we depart. We had originally planned to spend two months camping out of the minivan. It took a few weeks longer to sell the house than we expected, and Izzy was starting to get eager to start school in Sweden and our trip plan was shortened to a month and we were going to start out by heading to DC and then Florida on Sunday.
Well, it is Monday morning, and we are still in Connecticut. It has been a pretty hectic few days with all the things going on here, but that story is neither for the blog nor is mine to tell. The big change is that our journey gained a new traveler as well. Instead of just the two of us, my firstborn will most likely be joining us for the journey. Instead of heading south, we will face north and make a left turn and head west. Hopefully tomorrow night we will be in Pennsylvania near Cherry Springs State Park. From there we will head to St. Louis and stay with my brother in Webster Groves. Our tentative plans from there will be to head west to Colorado and we haven’t planned past then.
We switched hotels on Saturday. Our original hotel didn’t have rooms available for Saturday night, so we moved up to a Comfort Inn near Lisbon Landing in Griswold. The room is a bit smaller, but the hotel and pool are much newer. There is even a hot tub! And, for Izzy, they also have a waffle maker for breakfast. We’ve been trying to get out and keep active. Yesterday was a trip to Gillette Castle and a ride on the Chester-Hadlyme Ferry. Today will, hopefully, be wrapping things up here and Izzy is going to hang out with her friend after her friend gets home from school this afternoon. We’ll just have to find something to do this morning. But first, I’ll let Izzy sleep in as long as she wants. She was pretty tired by the end of the day yesterday.
Our journey started early on Monday morning with us waking up to see Susanna off to work. Susanna’s mom picked us up at 7 am and drove us (and Hoagie) to the train station in Växjö. Hoagie was staying in Sweden with Susanna and her parents; there was no way I’m taking him on another flight if I can ever help it.
We had an uneventful train ride to Copenhagen Kastrup Airport and ate lunch and boarded our flight to Boston Logan. We spent the night in Boston. It would have been too much to try to get to Connecticut that night. Izzy barely ate any food provided on the flight, so was starving by the time we checked into the airport. My food standards are much lower, so I had eaten on the flight. We walked to a nearby restaurant where Izzy ordered a huge plate of macaroni and cheese. She then proceeded to eat half of my calamari in addition to a good portion of her own meal. Then back to the hotel for an early bedtime.
Yesterday morning we boarded an Amtrak train to New London and were met by my friend Mark. He picked us up and took us to his house where the minivan was parked for the past month. Izzy and I checked into our hotel in Norwich and I unpacked our bags while she checked out the pool. We took a trip to the bookstore to get something to read on our upcoming trip. Last night we met up with my oldest for dinner.
On our way from Boston to New London on Amtrak.
We are planning on staying here a few more days. Izzy wants to visit with friends, and I have some things to wrap up here (MD appointment, clean out the storage unit, etc). This weekend we are heading south towards Florida to visit my mom. Our next stop will be Washington DC for a few days.
Tomorrow, Izzy and I fly back to the states. We haven’t figured out the full next steps when we get there, but will be in the Norwich area for a few days before heading down to Florida. We don’t have a firm date to return here, but are looking for mid-October so Izzy can start school.
While Izzy and I are gone, Susanna will be moving into our new apartment in early October. It isn’t furnished, so she will be doing the hard work of setting up a home for Izzy and I to return to while she is working full time. On the plus side, she gets full creative control of decorating the place.
It has been a (sort of) busy few weeks for me. It took a while, but Hoagie is mostly settled in our rental house as well as at Susanna’s parents’ house. Our second shipment arrived from FedEx; I think I’m done shipping stuff for now. I still have a storage unit that has some tools and other personal belongings, as well as furniture for the kids. I’ll deal with that next summer.
I have a lead on a workshop for myself when I return. It is in an older building in Rottne, a 20 minute car or bus ride from our eventual apartment. It is a little smaller than the shop I had in Preston, but it is a good start, and the rent isn’t too much. Not sure what I’ll eventually build, but will have to start by building out a new workshop! In the meanwhile, I did get a saw bench built and finished at the space I’m using in Sävsjöström at Dan’s workshop.
Completed Saw Bench. Not too bad for having to cut all the lumber without a saw bench.
Things are finally settling down. Izzy and I are on the right time-zone. My first shipment of boxes arrived via FedEx and the second one is hopefully moving slowly through Swedish customs. Izzy and I are in a little lull between big events. We did the first big one – getting the house sold and Hoagie over here. We will fly back to the US in a little over a week and do a road trip to visit family. We aren’t sure how long of a trip we will wind up doing; Izzy is getting eager to get into school here and get settled. The very least we will make the trip to Florida and Missouri to visit family. The rest is up for discussion.
We couldn’t have done all this without a lot of help from family, friends and a good Realtor.
Susanna is working all week, so I’m trying to keep Izzy active enough she doesn’t feel the need to have a screen in front of her all the time. We didn’t bring a lot of stuff with us, so have been out shopping for art supplies and games to keep us entertained. When the weather supports, we have been going on walks together (despite Izzy’s protests). Izzy has been trying to get more into cooking and did most of the work for dinner the past two nights. She did, however, drop two eggs in the refrigerator last night which kept me busy for a while cleaning up that mess while she cooked.
Today, we did some more exploring. We drove to Granhults Kyrka, the oldest fully preserved wooden church in Sweden with parts dating back to the 13th century. The church was closed today, but we walked around the property.
Granhults Kyrka, Sweden
We then drove to the Braås Parks nature trail to take a walk and have fika (snack). We found a 2-mile loop through the woods and a bench by lake Örken to stop for our snack. In the middle of the woods we came across the “hermit’s hut” in the middle of the woods. According to the sign the hut was built in the early 19th century.
Hermit’s Hut (Eremithyddan), Braås parks nature preserve
The past few months have been a whirlwind. However, things are starting to settle in place, though it seems like there is always one more step needing to be done.
Susanna left for Sweden in late July to start her work and get things in place for Izzy and I to arrive in August. Izzy and I stayed back to finish selling the house and get everything ready to fly Hoagie over.
On August 24th, Izzy and I said goodbye to our house in Preston for the final time. It was a rush getting things cleaned out for the cleaning, but we got it done. In the end we were just taking things out of drawers and tossing it in the dumpster. We had to get out and catch a flight to Sweden with the Dog. The previous week had been stressful, to say the least. But things came together. On the Thursday before we flew the paperwork for Hoagie arrived from the USDA (it actually arrived twice). The closing was delayed until the day after we left, so I had to sign the paperwork early, but it meant we didn’t need to find a place to sleep for the weekend.
I had never flown overseas with a dog in cargo before. I don’t plan on doing it again. Izzy and I arrived at Boston Logan airport a little under 3 hours early. Having a third set of hands was a huge help! But we checked in (with Hoagie on a leash) and about an hour before the flight they called us back to the check-in counter to take Hoagie to clear TSA and get put in his crate. Then we cleared security and had a few minutes to wait before boarding. We flew a direct flight into Copenhagen, so there was no flight transfer. However, Hoagie did not like being stuck in the crate for that long, and was anxious to get out when we arrived. We had to pick him up at the oversize luggage claim. His crate was just sitting there, no one around, when we showed up. Unfortunately he had to stay in the crate until we cleared customs. Susanna’s dad, Dan, picked us up and drove us to Sweden (stopping at McDonald’s for a starving Izzy).
The back yard of the apartment we are renting outside of Lenhovda, Sweden.Hoagie at the lake by Susanna’s parent’s house, Sävsjöström Sweden.
We arrived in Sweden with a few suitcases (and a dog), so have needed to start from scratch. Luckily the place we are renting is furnished and is a perfect landing spot for our move. We purchased two used cars, but hopefully in the long run we will only need one (once we move into the city). It is strange. Without a credit history in Sweden we can’t borrow money for things. Susanna even needed to get on her dad’s phone plan to get a phone here.
We have been planning on living in the city of Växjö for Izzy’s school. Last week we looked at a potential apartment to rent in the city . It was a small, 2 bedroom apartment in the Väster district. It is a short walk from where we hope Izzy will go to school. We agreed that it was a good place to start with, and Susanna signed the contract by the end of the week. Next week we are meeting with Izzy’s school here. We won’t be starting right away. Izzy and I are returning to the states in two weeks and are planning on doing a road trip to visit family and see the country.
I’ve been trying to get out for walks each day with Hoagie (and Izzy when possible). There are lots of farm fields here to explore and a good number of trails within a short drive. I am sort of stuck in limbo. I can only be here 90 out of every 180 days until I get a residence permit to live here, and I don’t know how long that will take. It is hard to start anything here without knowing when I can fully move over. However I did meet up for a drink with a group from the “Expats of Småland” Facebook group.
Hoagie checking out the boardwalk on the trail at Singelstorps fly, east of Lenhovda Sweden.Morning hike at Notteryd Loop Trail, Växjö Sweden.
Ben graduated from the Navy Corpsman A-School yesterday; Izzy and I flew down to see his graduation. I made reservations downtown by the River Walk, so we have spent our free time exploring the area. This morning Izzy and I drove to the Japanese Tea Gardens a few miles north of where we are staying. We were there early, with the only other guests being another group taking pictures.
It is sunny and hot in Texas in July. Ben said he can’t wait to take some leave and fly back to New England with us tomorrow. I can totally understand his feelings. Luckily the paths along the River Walk have lots of shade and usually have a good breeze. But still, the heat take a lot out of you.
It has been nice to get a break from the anxiety of trying to sell the house. It has been stressful with all the house viewings that didn’t turn into an offer, but hopefully that part of things will be over when I get home tomorrow.
Izzy posing in front of some of the art on the San Antonio River WalkEntrance to the Japanese Tea Garden. The entrance was renamed to the “Chinese Tea Garden” during the Second World War to prevent destruction of the garden by anti-Japanese sentiment at the time. Walk to the remains of the cement kiln, Japanese Tea Garden, San AntonioPagoda, Japanese Tea Garden, San Antonio
Last night, Izzy and I drove up to Norwich to watch the fireworks. We had to wait until a line of thunderstorms passed. The ground was wet, but the rain made for a beautiful sunset as we walked through the downtown. It was a needed break from the stress of selling the house and getting ready to move overseas.
