Eastbound on I-90

I am writing this on an inn somewhere near I-90 between Buffalo and Albany, New York. After visiting Washington D.C. We went out to the atlantic coast and stayed a full day (two nights) on a campground near Ocean City in Maryland. We spent the day visiting a water amusement park and the beach itself. Horseshoe falls by night
Leaving Ocean City and Maryland on Thursday we drove through tiny Delaware and settled on a campground rather close to Philidelphia in Pennsylvania. We had a full day there where we went canooing and visited downtown Philidelphia seeing the Liberty Bell and another bunch of assorted “old” stuff and new sky scrapers. That night we decided on a whim to head for Niagara Falls which we hoped we could reach and still make it to New York Monday to drop off our car at JFK. We left Philidelphia Saturday and visited Andy at Swarthmore where we had lunch and got a quick tour of the Swarthmore College Campus, we then headed for Niagara Falls.
The glass floor in CN tower
Surprisingly we managed to get all the way to the falls on that same Saturday, passed the border into Canada (after almost running a stop sign at the border) at around nine in the evening and saw the illuminated Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian side. Now, being in Canada we tought we might as well see if we could make it all the way to Toronto which is about 160 km from the falls. We drove 60 kilometers of the way that evening and slept the night at a rather plain motel near Hamilton, Ontario. We woke up Sunday (yesterday) and drove the rest of the way to Toronto in the light Sunday morning traffic and saw the CN Tower (very high!)and the Skydome (very wide). Immediately after this we left Toronto and headed back to the falls which we saw again in daylight, we then waited almost three hours in traffic before we could cross the border back into the US upon which we set the course for New York City.
Horseshoe falls by day light
Today we are roughly 500 km from the City and we have to return the car by 8 in the evening, this should be no problem. We have booked a room at the Manhatten Broadway Hotel for the first two nights.

I would have liked to post some pictures, but the wireless connection here at the Inn is too slow for that. (EDIT: I am now back home and have uploaded the pictures)

Now “Live” From Washington D.C.

I am currently sitting in front of the toilet building here at our camping site in Washington D.C. We do not have power at our tent site so we decided to “steal” some power from the shaving outlet of the mens room :) Unfortunately, I do not feel like sitting in front of the mens room all night so my various portable equipment will still remain without power (this includes my cell).
Toilet power  :)
Yesterday we drove through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, we walked three of the numerous trails we passed along the narrow “Sky Drive” passing through the park.
Shenandoah National Park
We arrived at our D.C. camping site yesterday and spent today touring the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum and walking past Capitol, the White House and the large obelisk, which probably also has a fancy name.
Obelisk in Washington D.C.

Ping Ping

Heya guys and gals, we suddenly found ourself on a free WiFi here at Kao Camping in Virginia USA, which is the third state we’ve visited today (the two others being Tennessee and North Carolina). We are still alive, although our tent and towels were completely flooded last night in a heavy thunderstorm in the smokies. Well, I’m off, I would like to preserve some battery on this thing. Have fun where ever you are :)

Born To Be Wild?

Mette and Rune arrived late last night and we went to get our car – a 3.3 V6 Huyndai Sonata with automatic gear and GPS, a mighty powerfull car :)

Anyways, pictures might follow if we find somewhere to go online, now we are going shopping in Durham.

The Dorm And The Department

By popular demand, here are some pictures from the department, my dorm room and my walk from the dorm to the cs building. Rune and Mette will arrive tonight, tomorrow I will take them on a tour on campus (if I can find my way round this place) and then we have some various shopping to do before we leave Durham wednesday.
I am pleased to see that my absence does not have a negative productivity influence on the rest of the people on Turing-0.

Hiking and Tubing

Saturday I went with a couple of the Duke computer science people to Hanging Rock State Park in North Carolina. We hiked the few miles from the parking lot to the rocks and took some nice pictures and enjoyed the view.
Hanging Rock State Park
After the hike we went straigth to the tubing place about an hour away where we met up with more people and set out on the tuping “cruise”. This was my first time tubing and I had never heard of the concept before, but it is actually a great and relaxing experience drifting slowly down a wide river with your butt in the water and a floating cooler by your side, I would definitely like to do this again some time.
Tubing
More pictures here. You will notice that the waters of the Dan River are quite brown, the river was quite muddy due to a storm the night before our trip.