(Not exactly) Sleepless in Seattle

When discussing where to go in the US, at least three locations were agreed upon right at the onset of our two-year planning process.

a) We simply had to pay Leland (Tolo) a visit in his Hartford, Connecticut, home, as we very much wanted to see him and Nancy again. b) Fort Worden outside Port Townsend, Washington, was also a must-see as this was the selected venue for the Tolo family reunion. And since Port Townsend is very close to Seattle, this city of some two million figured high on our sights-worth-seeing list, too. c) An American living in Tyssedal, near Odda, named Warren Hauser, early on offered us to stay in his Ormond Beach, Florida, home free of charge for as long as we wanted. Which fit in very nicely with our aspiration to partake of e.g the natural wonders of Seaworld in Orlando.

THINGS TO DO AND PLACES TO GO

So, in the late autumn of 2008 we had our places-to-go wish list pretty much wrapped up and ready to be dispatched to our Odda-based travel agency. Opting to make use of a travel agent certainly cost us more money than if we had chosen to do all the work of pre-ordering and booking ourselves, but, on the other hand, it also saved us from having to spend fruitless, possibly aggravating time in front of the computer screen.

And so it was that preparing for the vacation of our lives proved to be the exact oppposite of a strenuous, last-minute panic-plagued effort. We secured new passports for the kids early, we registered our identities electronically via the US Embassy web pages in time for the immigration authorities to okay our entry into the country, and we made sure that all our gadgets, clothes, books, make-up accessories etc. were safely stored in our suitcases almost a week before departing June 19 for...

FIRST STOP SEATTLE

Our very first destination in the US was Seattle, a city of quite some renown - chiefly courtesy of Bill Gates, Microsoft and Boeing. Seattle cannot boast a subtropical climate, but I can guarantee that you'll find some very caring, outgoing and friendly folk there.

We had barely had opportunity to unpack our things before it was time to reunite with some 'old' acquaintances: Bryan and Marti Holtrop. We were first introduced to them four years ago when they, together with Marti's father and mother, came to Norheimsund in Norway, the very spot Marti's ancestor Thor O. Tolo left for his great American adventure in the late 1880's.

Seeing them again was just as much a thrill as I had hoped it would be. The family of six, temporarily including Norma, Marti's mother, showed up at our hotel, the Ramada Inn, a few hours into this Saturday afternoon. Being much less affected by jetlag than we had feared we would be, and our spirits being lifted by the surprisingly sunny Seattle weather, socializing this early in our stay was much less taxing than expected.

Our gracious city guides drove us downtown to our premier American experience: the Space Needle. An imposing structure in itself, the 500 feet (roughly 200 meters) tall Space Needle provides a stunning view of the city, its suburbs and, not surprisingly, the surrounding landscape. Even after well over half an hour there, most of us were reluctant to go down again, not wanting any detail of possible interest to elude us.

A FORETASTE OF THINGS TO COME

After replenishing our empty bellies at a nearby fast food outlet, we were slowly beginning to warm up to the prospect of being introduced to dozens of mostly unfamiliar faces. The social focal point of our trip to the US, the Tolo family reunion, was still four days away, but later in the day, Saturday June 20, we got a foretaste of what we were in for at Fort Worden.

Marti and Bryan's Bellevue home is spacious enough to accomodate a large number of guests, and this time space was sorely needed. We soon realized that a few rounds of handshakes was insufficient as new people kept pouring in. And to some of our party, words of English kept spewing out of their mouths at a rate previously unknown to them: this was an occasion that called for a total abandonment of the Norwegian tendency to make use of language sparingly when among strangers.

Smalltalk came easy to us when mixing with such (mostly) extrovert people. Old memories were exchanged with a few we had met before, and new names were being added to our internal memory banks: Robert, Thor, Connie, Henry, Paul and Ann; all Tolos albeit one was actually surnamed Gray and another one Schreiner.

FAMILY ATMOSPHERE

The evening progressed with more food and drink, and with American-style generosity even reflecting in our conversations. Which was truly a characteristic feature throughout our four-week stay. Americans may have a reputation for being shallow, but we noticed none of that. On the contrary, not even when on our own in Ormond Beach, Florida, were we kept at arm's length by people we chanced to meet. It was as if we were bumping into family on some level or other at every turn.

This family atmosphere permeated almost each and avery day as we familiarized ourselves with all the foreign sounds, sights and sensations we managed to extract out of Seattle. So now you know why we can never erase the impressions galore that became ours while on American soil.

To be continued.