Summer is coming to an end. School starts on August 8, so there's just a few days left of my summer break. Here's a recap of what happened over the summer, some of it while I was still in the US. I did spend most of my summer back in Denmark though.
Whenever one visits Arizona, for however long, a trip to the Grand Canyon is pretty much obligatory. So of course, I went as well.
Overview of the Grand Canyon, shown in the Visitors' Center.
Starting our hike down the South Kaibab trail, leading down further into the canyon.
The views that you see along the trail and the cliffs found in the Canyon are amazing!
I was surprised to find several squirrels too. This guy came up close enough for you to pet him!
Ooh-Aah Point, the first stop on the hike.
A view of just part of the trail. Can you see it coming around the mountain?
For a long stretch, this is what the trail looked like. It was steep.
Cedar Ridge, the second point on the trail.
Skeleton Point was the third and final stop for us on our hike. The trail continues further down into the canyon, but day-hikers are told not to proceed any further than Skeleton Point. It's simply too hot and there's no water along the hike (down to Skeleton Point is 6 miles round-trip).
What was really neat about Skeleton Point was the fact that a small portion of the Colorado River was visible from up there. Colorado River is the river that goes through the entire Canyon.
I guess the squirrels can enjoy the impressive view too.
After returning back to the trailhead, we saw some deer walking around.
View from the top of the ridge.
The Grand Canyon was quite an amazing trip, but it was also tough. I mentioned that there's no water along the trail, so we had to rely upon what we could bring. It turned out that we had brought insufficient amounts of water, at least for me, since I started to feel a bit dizzy and dehydrated. I fell asleep in the car and had a huge headache when we stopped in Flagstaff to eat. My appetite was gone as well. I was suffering from a sun stroke, which kept me sick for the next day also.
What was also very exciting (and lucky for me in terms of the timing) was the fact that the Oakland Athletics, like I mentioned in my previous blog post, visited Phoenix for three days to play three regular season games against the Arizona Diamondbacks. I had tickets for two of those games.
On Friday, for the first game, I went and met with two of my good friends, Ryan and Delaney, who are both pretty big baseball fans too.
Outside of Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Chase Field almost empty before gametime.
A's players Cliff Pennington and Coco Crisp warming up.
First pitch.
The opening of the retractable roof is a show in itself at Chase Field.
First A's player at bat, Jemile Weeks.
Followed by Coco Crisp.
Josh Reddick.
After the 1st inning, I went over to the section where Ryan and Delaney were sitting.
Toward the end of the game, we all went up to the upper deck where we could get a better view of the post-game fireworks.
I was yelling and cussing because the A's blew a 5-point lead to lose the game 9-8 on a walkoff (last batter of the game for the Diamondbacks) homerun, at which point Ryan and Delaney just laughed at me....
At least there was a pretty good post-game fireworks show.
The following day, Saturday, I went to the second game of the series, but this time I was all alone though.
A's players taking batting practice before the game.
Yes people, there's a pool inside Chase Field! So incase you're bored with watching baseball you can go for a swim instead. Homerun balls that are hit over the fence land in the pool sometimes.
Before the game, the D-backs held a Star Wars Day Parade for any fans that had dressed up in Star Wars costumes. There were quite a few that did.
Star Wars-themed intro.
As if the rest wasn't enough, the D-backs players' lineup photos were Star Wars-themed as well! Here is current D-Backs pitcher Trevor Cahill, a former player for Oakland.
The kids' Hotdog Race. Three kids are dressed in hot dog customes and are running in place while an animated video of the racing hot dogs is shown, with a random winner. Usually the youngest kid's hot dog wins. Only in America people, only in America...
A fan proposed to his girlfriend on Kiss-Cam, in front of the entire stadium.
The mascot race.
It was mostly a fun night as well, but the A's wound up losing yet another game.
Only a few days after the baseball games, it was time to return to Denmark for the summer.
A pretty nice view of the Phoenix skyline from the airport.
A view of Manhattan from the terminal in Newark, New Jersey, which was my only stop on the way home.
Home sweet home.
Just about a week after arriving back in Denmark, my Danish football team, the Aarhus Tigers, had a game against the Kolding Guardians. The rain was coming down hard and we lost pretty badly, but it was fun to put pads on and play football again. I'm #80, wearing long socks.
4th of July! In Rebild, Denmark, the world's largest annual celebration of the American Independence Day outside the US is held, drawing a crowd of 3-5000 people usually. The event was started by Danish-Americans that had returned to Denmark, and has grown in popularity ever since. This year was the 100-year Anniversary.
The Danish Queen usually attends the celebration, and this year was no exception. The Royal family is sitting underneath the tent.
Unlike a 4th of July celebration in the U.S., this one didn't have fireworks or food. There were speeches and music. Among the most prominent speakers were the Danish Prime Minister Helle-Thorning Schmidt, seen above.
The Danish Queen gave a speech as well.
Along the main path heading down into the small valley the 50 American state flags were lined up.
Arizona's was up near the top. It's right above my head to the right for those of you that doesn't know.
Also during the summer, my parents and I went on a short three-day vacation to Hamburg, Germany. Hamburg is a pretty nice city, the wealthiest in Germany and the second largest harbor in all of Europe.
The tower on the building is part of a cathedral that still stands in ruins after being bombed during World War II.
This "castle" is actually someone's home!
One of quite a few channels in Hamburg.
Hamburg's City Hall.
Me and my mom outside the city hall.
My mom and my dad.
The main bridge across the Elbe River in Hamburg's harbor area.
Hamburg's modernized waterfront. The large building on the right is a new opera house, but it may never be finished because the project has exceeded the budget and is running low on funds.
Hamburg's skyline.
In Hamburg's waterfront, architects are building some amazing new buildings. Here's one.
Hamburg is perhaps known mostly for it's huge harbor.
We went on a harbor tour. Viewing the city from the Elbe River was pretty nice too.
A large statue of Otto von Bismarck, a Prussian leader that was essential to the unifying of Germany in the late 1800's, becoming the first German Chancellor.
The Dancing Towers are two towers that are slanted. From some angles, the buildings does look perfectly straight though!
One of the main parks in Hamburg.
Young and old. The Hamburg TV-tower not far from the Hamburger Dom, a Russian-Orthodox cathedral.
On our way back to Denmark we visited Dannevirke, a fortification built by Danish vikings in 700-800 AD in the currently German region of Schleswig that used to belong to Denmark (it's south of the border). Part of it still stands.
On display here is a real, genuine viking sword, found by archaeologists.
A map that shows the positioning of the fortifications.
Part of it was a stone wall, which you see right here.
Most of the fortification was an earth wall though, as this picture probably gives you a good idea of.
Over the course of my summer I spent quite some time working on the Extended Essay, one of the main parts of IB, a 3-4,000 word research essay. I wrote about Danish resistance movements during World War II. It was interesting but also a lot of work since I had to find 20 sources, most of which were books. I also studied some Spanish. Last year I was in Spanish I but the IB exams are designed for students who have had at least three years of Spanish, which is why I'm taking Spanish III next year. Skipping Spanish II, I had to study Spanish over the summer.
This Saturday I returned to America. It was quite a long day of traveling.
My first departure was from Hamburg, Germany. This was a few weeks after our vacation though.
The first of two stops was Dublin, Ireland. This was my first time in Ireland, I must say Irish accents are pretty special! It was somewhat difficult to understand a few of the people in the airport. But I'm glad they didn't speak the Irish that is printed on here in green!
The other stop was in Chicago's O'Hare airport. This airport is way too crowded. The Chicago area was hit by some pretty heavy rainstorms and wind, so a bunch of flights were delayed or cancelled entirely. My flight to Phoenix was delayed for two hours because the incoming plane from Phoenix had to land at a nearby Air Force Base and wait for clearance to proceed to Chicago. We finally got out of Chicago and landed in Phoenix at 10 pm. Waiting in the airport was pretty cold and so was the flight itself so I was actually shivering when we got to Phoenix! Glad it's 105F/40C+ degrees here.
I have experienced some pretty bad jet lag though. My first night was cut short because I woke up at 6 am and couldn't go back to sleep, which is pretty bad considering I had been awake for almost 30 hours straight! I only slept for maybe an hour or two the entire time. As a result of this, I was very tired and fell asleep yesterday, Sunday, at 6-7 pm, only to wake up at 4 am.
Today, Monday, I plan on re-joining the football team for it's practices. School starts on Wednesday. Hopefully I'll be able to adjust my sleeping patterns before then!
Until next time, take care.
Thomas.
Ingen kommentarer:
Send en kommentar