Road Trippin’ USA

September - November 2023

A 90-day adventure by Levin & Birte Read more

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90days
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25.7kkilometers
17.2kkilometers

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Road Trippin’ USA
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- Aug 31, 2023, 3:00 PM
- ☁️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 13 m
- Germany Lower Saxony Oldenburg (Oldenburg)Bloherfelde 53.13808, 8.15665853°8’17” N 8°9’24” E
Goodbye Oldenburg
August 31, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
Almost done with the preparations.
The biggest milestone of all is finally ticked off the list. Birte finished the preprint of her thesis. On Thursday we drove to Hamburg and handed it to her professor. He was more than happy to get another 297 pages to read 🙃Read more
Traveler Herzlichen Glückwunsch Birdy!!! Das sind ja tolle News 🤩
9/2/23ReplyTranslate
Traveler Danke 😊
9/2/23ReplyTranslate
Traveler Way to go!
9/4/23Reply
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Road Trippin’ USA
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- Sep 2, 2023, 5:00 AM
- ☁️ 11 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- Germany Bremen Neuenland Bremen Airport 53.060754, 8.78364653°3’39” N 8°47’1” E
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Day 1
Bremen
September 2, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
Everything is packed, the apartment is handed over to our subtenants, credit cards are tested, passports are valid. We're good to go.
Traveler Habt ihr schon einen Plan? Wünsche euch ein gutes ankommen in 🇺🇸
9/2/23ReplyTranslate
Traveler Ein grober Plan steht, aber der ändert sich sicher noch 😅 viel Bouldern auf jeden Fall! Und Danke!
9/2/23ReplyTranslate
Traveler 🤣🤣🤣
9/2/23Reply
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- Sep 2, 2023, 8:00 AM
- ☁️ 15 °C
- Altitude: 124 m
- Germany Hesse Frankfurt Frankfurt Main Flughafen Frankfurt Airport 50.047931, 8.56285250°2’53” N 8°33’46” E
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Day 1
Frankfurt
September 2, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
The main part of our flight was Frankfurt to Detroit.
Unfortunately, we couldn't see very much during the entire flight, because the clouds covered pretty much all of West Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, Greenland, and East Canada...so here's a picture of food and people throwing cushions instead.Read more
Traveler 😊
9/3/23Reply
Traveler ✋
9/4/23Reply
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- Sep 2, 2023, 4:00 PM
- ☁️ 28 °C
- Altitude: 273 m
- United States Michigan Washtenaw County Ann Arbor 42.282866, -83.76533842°16’58” N 83°45’55” W
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Day 1
Ann Arbor
September 2, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
We arrived safely with a slight delay of 30 minutes. As usual, it took some time to get through customs, but the interview went smoother than expected.
Tom and Nancy were already waiting for us and only 45 minutes later we were back at Birte's host family from her Fulbright exchange two years ago.
Since we were pretty tired, we just took a short walk around the neighborhood and had a welcome beer with Tom and Nancy.
The next morning I drank my coffee next to the hummingbird feeder and got some shots of this insanely fast bird. The video is in 8x slow motion and you still can't see much of its wings 🤯s 🤯Read more
Traveler Amen brother (or sister)
9/4/23Reply
Traveler Extravagant!
9/4/23Reply
Traveler Whew!! 🤙
9/4/23Reply
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- Sep 3, 2023, 2:00 PM
- ☀️ 29 °C
- Altitude: 183 m
- United States Michigan Wayne County Grosse Pointe Shores Chapaton Drain 42.466504, -82.88159842°27’59” N 82°52’54” W
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Day 2
A day at Lake St. Claire
September 3, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
After a morning bike ride with Tom and Nancy along the Huron River and breakfast at Panera, we drove to St. Claire Shores Park in Detroit.
We prepared the sailboat and enjoyed a fantastic day of sailing with strong winds (15-20 mph) and high temperatures in the 30s (Celsius). We sailed up to 7.5 knots across the border into Canada, watched a freighter from the Marshall Islands up close, and made our way back along the shores of Grosse Pointe, a rather affluent neighborhood of Detroit with some huge mansions and lots of yachts.
Back at the marina we jumped in the pool to cool off, drove back to Ann Arbor and finished the day with some craft beers at Homes Brew Pub (I had the Blueberry Sour 😋) and Impossible Burgers with corn at home.Read more
Traveler Pretty much a perfect day! We’re so happy that you guys made it back to A2!! Wish we could share in your adventures more directly! 😎🏴‍☠️🚴‍♂️🌞
9/4/23Reply
Traveler It would be awesome if the three of you were here as well! 😏
9/4/23Reply
Traveler 🦈
9/4/23Reply
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- Sep 4, 2023, 12:00 PM
- ☀️ 29 °C
- Altitude: 271 m
- United States Michigan Washtenaw County Ann Arbor Michigan Becomes a State Historical Marker 42.280592, -83.74895842°16’50” N 83°44’56” W
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Day 3
Lazy Labor Day
September 4, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
After a busy Sunday, we took Monday easy. It was Labor Day, so many shops and museums were closed. We used the day to organize some things and went downtown to get ice cream.
Back home we relaxed on the deck and finally got some pictures of the red cardinal that often visits the garden.
When Tom and Nancy came home from a bike ride, they put a few gin bottles on the table that they had bought on the way, so we ended the day with a little gin tasting! 🥤🧊Read more
Traveler Nice!
9/10/23Reply
Traveler Armada?
9/10/23Reply
Traveler Gotta be exact!
9/10/23Reply
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- Sep 5, 2023, 10:00 AM
- ☀️ 26 °C
- Altitude: 222 m
- United States Michigan Ypsilanti Michigan Central Freighthouse Historical Marker 42.245979, -83.60868342°14’46” N 83°36’31” W
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Day 4
Ypsilanti
September 5, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
Ypsilanti is a small town near Ann Arbor. It is also a university town, and many people who cannot afford to live in Ann Arbor move there. It has a historic district, Depot Town, with colorful old wooden houses and stone buildings.
Unfortunately, the Automotive Heritage Museum was still closed. But we could have a look through the window. There were a lot of really old Cadillacs, Fords and Oldsmobiles.
We had coffee and a cinnamon roll at Hyperion Coffee, a meeting place for all the hip students.
Downtown Ypsilanti is a bit more run down, but at least you can get all your unicorn supplies here.Read more
Traveler Hell yeah Birte!!! 🏍️🤘🏾
9/9/23Reply
Traveler The big dick 🤙😉
9/11/23Reply
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Road Trippin’ USA
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- Sep 5, 2023, 6:00 PM
- ⛅ 30 °C
- Altitude: 269 m
- United States Michigan Dexter 42.344772, -83.90644142°20’41” N 83°54’23” W
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Day 4
An evening at Jessi & Elliot's
September 5, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Tuesday night Adam, Birte, and I were invited over to Jessi and Elliot's house. They live a little ways outside of Ann Arbor in Dexter in a beautiful house with a huge backyard (with chickens!), a greenhouse, and a garage that must be a climber's dream!
They just built the greenhouse this year, and it is really nice out there, so we spent most of the evening in it, talking about bouldering areas, past vacations, and our upcoming trip.
The garage is insane! This is a place to get strong 🤯💪 ... if we ever grow up and get a place of our own, we will need this too 😬
It was an amazing night. Thanks for all the guide books, Jessi and Elliot! And thanks for the ride home (and more guide books), Adam!Read more
Traveler Was such a great visit and we can’t wait to do it again or climb together!
9/10/23Reply
Traveler You’ll near a mortgage just to finance all the climbing equipment
9/14/23Reply
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- Sep 6, 2023, 12:00 PM
- ☁️ 23 °C
- Altitude: 271 m
- United States Michigan Lodi Township Orchard Grove Village Mobile Home Park Second Sister Lake 42.283128, -83.80874942°16’59” N 83°48’31” W
Day 5
UofM & Planet Rock
September 6, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
On Wednesday, Birte was invited to give a short talk to her former research group at the University of Michigan. It was very nice to see her old colleagues and professors again.
To pass the time until the talk, we went downtown to the university's art museum. They have an impressive collection, considering it is "only" a university museum! They had several expressionists on display, even some German ones like Max Beckmann and Otto Dix!
Later in the day we rode the bikes to Planet Rock, the local climbing and bouldering gym, and had a nice session with the crew. Lots of athletic climbs and crimps in this gym. We like it 💪.Read more
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- Sep 7, 2023, 12:00 PM
- ☁️ 22 °C
- Altitude: 179 m
- United States Michigan Wayne County Detroit Old City Hall Historical Marker 42.331557, -83.0466442°19’54” N 83°2’48” W
Day 6
Detroit
September 7, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
In 2021, there was no time to go to Detroit because our time together in the US was so limited. This year, however, we made sure that Detroit was on the list. It is a very interesting city. It used to be home to 2 million people, but now there are only 650,000. It was a thriving metropolis in the first half of the 20th century, but has been in steady decline ever since. Currently, about 80,000 houses are empty, and these are not only small residential houses, but also huge commercial and factory buildings. The city is quite photogenic, but sometimes a bit spooky...
We first walked around the downtown area and had a look inside the Guardian Building, which is beautifully tiled and decorated, a milestone of American skyscraper architecture of the late 20s.
After two hours of walking, we had a coffee break and took the Qline (tram) to the northwest of the city. We visited the Museum of Contemporary Art. It featured several African American artists and had a special exhibit of art by incarcerated people.
A few stops away is the Fisher Building, another example of how wealthy the city once was.
We want to see Eastern Market this weekend, so this won't be our last visit to Detroit!Read more
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