En lång dikt

Hittade precis mina anteckningar från 2008, och tycker att det ser ut som en dikt. Den kan ju till exempel heta:
"Ode till Amerika-resan" (eller nå't s'ånt)!?:

SAN FRANSISCO (”The City”)
Some things that we observed that are mentioned in tourist guides:

- Embarcadero

- the Transamerica Pyramid

- Alcatraz

- City Lights Bookstore

- Fisherman’s Wharf

- Pier 39 (incl. Sea lions)

- Columbus Ave.

- Coit Tower

- Chinatown / Financial District



MONTEREY

Some things that we observed that are mentioned in tourist guides:

- Sensory Garden

- Cannery Row

- Fisherman’s Wharf (incl. Sea lions)

USA trip; 9-21 juli 2008-08-03

Wednesday, 9

Wake up at 04.05. Flight (KLM 1184) from Flesland at 06.10... It was 1 hour late out from Schiphol due to a flat tire. A beautiful morning and I lost my camera.

Landed at SFO around 14.15 local time. AVIS rental car: Chevy Classic, Malibu.

Best Western Coyote Point Inn (San Mateo)

The pizza in San Mateo was good, however, I was too jetlagged to appreciate it.

Thursday, 10

Morning stroll in the area

BART train from SFO to San Fransisco

Nice walk from Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf

Had a nice lunch

Sea lions at Pier 39, but not very many (as in 1993)

Lots of haze, we just barely saw Alcatraz

Hotel shuttle back from SFO

Saw humming bird outside the hotel room window

Dinner and a good red wine at a nice restaurant in San Mateo, jazz trio (took a cab!)

Friday, 11

Route 92 west to Hwy 1 at Half Moon Bay

Sea access by the golf course provided us with the first observation of Xanthoria pollinariodes Lindblom & D.M. Wright, on a planted Lonicera by the fence!

More stops on the journey south, no more sightings of X. pollinarioides

Late lunch in Santa Cruz at a micro brewery, very homey

Had booking at Best Western at Ocean Street (internet from Coyote Point) – big room!

Explored the town

Dinner at Hindquarters restaurant with huge portions of meat and cole slaw and really good wine a short stroll from the hotel!

Saturday 12

Hwy 1 to Monterey

First stop Moss Landing (a well known spot for bird watchers) with X. pollinarioides (the only observation that day)

Monterey: good parking by Fisherman’s Wharf and a slightly touristic, but good lunch

Sea lions, Cannery Row, and the free bus back

Old town

Drove out to Best Western Monarhc Inn in Pacific Grove and got a nice and quiet room

Walk down to Asilomar and to the beach, a bit longer than we expected, but exciting (black tail deer, Moneterey pine, X. parietina at the cemetery, etc)

Dinner at Indian restaurant in Oliver St., very nice

Sunday, 13

Met the bryologists at Asilomar for the day excursion to Nisene Marks State Park (secondary redwood forest)

Short stop in Moss Landing on the return, but we didn’t see the sea otter

Registration for IAL6, Asilomar Conference center

We got a nice big room (1007) in house Manzanita, North Woods

Right after dinner was the welcome reception with lots of nice things to eat (and drink!)…

Monday, 14

Introduction to IAL6 (the Programme is found here, so I won’t og into details)

Poster was up one day (only): Lindblom & Søchting: Xanthomendoza borealis – a bipolar lichen species

Tuesday, 15

H and I skipped the morning session and drove into Pacific Grove/ Asilomar to fill gas (met a biologist in a Volvo), shop and drink coffee (espresso and cappuccino!)

Best session: Systematics and Phylogeny

Wednesday, 16

Best lecture: Lutzoni

Evening: British Lichen Society reception

IAL banquet was nice, but ended before 22

Post-party with the Oslo people and Iceland and some bottles of good Californian wine…

Thursday, 17

Printzen and Lindblom session at 16.00-17.30: Between Individuals and Species: Population Genetics of Lichens

But before that I had a quiet moment in our room. The humming bird appeared outside our window.

Night: IAL business meeting. I surrendered at 22.00 and rounded off the day with a couple of glasses of good Californian wine with Ekman and Blom and, finally, Printzen

Friday, 18

Haugan, Blom, and I drove into Pacific Grove/ Asilomar to have coffee and buy smoke

The Save Mart was big and nice

Stopped by Asilomar State Beach to look at a X. candelaria s lat

Best lecture: TGA Green

Closing reception between 20.00 and 22.00

Nice walk with Haugan back to our lodgings and exciting observations of the ’Night Police’ of Asilomar…

Saturday, 19

Leave the room and pack the car

Two sessions before lunch

Drove north and stopped at Moss Landing

Found a Comfort Inn in Santa Cruz without much ado, nice and relatively quiet

Saw an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) (?)

Met Timdal and Haugan at a restaurant at night, a ’project’ I never thought would work out, however, I must learn to trust Blom as a project leader!

Observed blue heron on our way back to the hotel

Sunday, 20

Hwy 1 and 92 north in haze and light rain, same route back to SFO

Everything went smoothly and the flight back to Europe was on time

Monday, 21

Rain in Amsterdam

Tired

The flight to Bergen Flesland was delayed ½ hour

Met Sætersdal on his way back from conference in Tennessee!

Splendid weather in Bergen – good to be home

Had a pizza and managed to stay up until 22.30!
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