Like mother like daughters.

Linda, Pauline and Dolores at Forest History Center.

Poster from back in the lodging days.

Linda, Pauline and Dolores inside the sleeping lodge.

Log house at Forest History Center.

Jannie with the yoke together with the guide.

Phill and Kasper as sawyers.

Dolores and Jannie working the saw.

Log carrying sleigh.

The Belgian horses who where used for hauling the logs.

Pokegama Lake Dam at the Mississippi River

Pauline and Kasper looking at old photos.

Mike, Linda, Pauline, Kasper, Dolores and Phill.

Linda, Pauline, Kasper and Dolores looking at old photos from Denmark.

We went to Pauline’s daughter Linda and her husband Phill’s home outside of Grand Rapids for a quick lunch on the porch and a short showing of pictures.

Afterwards we went over to Pauline’s to meet up with her, Dolores and Dolores’s husband Mike.

From Pauline’s home we all drove to the Forest History Center, which is a sort of replica of an old logging camp from the 1900. We went through a really exciting guided tour.

After going to the Forest History Center we stopped by a dam on the Mississippi and from there we went back to Pauline’s place, where Linda and Dolores made a lovely dinner for all of us. Meanwhile we went through some pictures with Pauline.

Linda and Phill’s daughter Ann Marie and her husband Paul also joined us for dinner, together with their 3 children. We had Sloppy Joes with salads and a birthday cake for Mike, who was turning 64 on May 3rd.

Around 9 PM we turned the car back around towards Hill City.

Jannie

Vi kørte først hjem til Paulines datter Linda og hendes mand Phill, hvor vi fik serveret frokost ude på verandaen og viste dem billeder hjemmefra.

Derefter kørte vi hen til Pauline, hvor vi skulle mødes med Dolores og hendes mand Mike og selvfølgelig Pauline.

Derfra kørte vi samlet til Forest History Center, et replica af en gammel skovhugger-lejr. Her fik vi en virkelig god og livagtig guidet tur.

Efter besøget på Forest History Center, kørte vi et kort smut forbi en af dæmningerne ved Mississippi-floden og derefter tilbage til Paulines hjem. Her sørgede Linda og Dolores for en lækker middag, mens vi kiggede på billeder sammen med Pauline.

Linda og Phills datter Ann Marie og hendes mand Paul kom med deres tre børn og deltog ved middagen. Vi fik Sloppy Joes med salat og til dessert fik vi fødselsdagskage fordi Mike havde fødselsdag søndag.

Ved 21-tiden vendte vi Chrysleren mod Hill City igen.

Jannie

A Paul Bunyan lumberjack and Jannie.

One of the first Greyhound busses.

An old fire truck from Chisholm.

One of the two passenger cars for the steam locomotive.

An old steam locomotive used for hauling iron ore.

An old truck.

A big mining truck – try to find Jannie!

You can tell by her face that she liked the 4-wheeler!

4-wheeler bandits!

Taylor, Andy, Steve, Jannie and George.

In the morning Kasper tried to upload some of our pictures onto the computer for our website. Unfortunately this took a little longer than expected.

Meanwhile Jannie had started to translate some of the chapters in the book Gunnar wrote, to make it easier for George to understand the content.

Around 1 PM we drove to Grand Rapids where George went to have his weekly game of Cribbage at the YMCA. While he played cards, we headed north to Hibbing and Chisholm where we went to The Minnesota Museum of Mining.

Around 3 PM we went back to get George in Grand Rapids and he took us to The Forest Lake Restaurant by the lake, where we all had Buffalo burgers for dinner.

When we came back to the Farm we took a ride round the fields on Steve’s 4-wheeler.

Later we had a bonfire at the Farm, but it got windy, so we went inside to have a glass of wine at Steve and Andy’s. They also tried to teach us how to play Cribbage.

Jannie

Om formiddagen forsøgte Kasper at lægge lidt billeder ind på computeren, til vores hjemmeside. Desværre var nettet ikke helt så godt så det endte med at tage det meste af formiddagen. Imens var Jannie gået i gang med at oversætte nogle kapitler i Gunnars bog, så George bedre kunne forstå hvad der står i den.

Ved 13-tiden kørte vi George til Grand Rapids så han kunne spille sit ugentlige spil Cribbage på YMCA. Mens han spillede kort, kørte vi nordpå til Hibbing og Chisholm hvor vi var på Minnesota Museum of Mining. Minnesota er storleverandører af jern til hele verden.

Ved 15-tiden kørte vi tilbage til Grand Rapids og hentede George igen og derfra tog vi på den lille restaurant ”Forest Lake” ved søen, hvor vi fik Buffaloburgere til aftensmad.

Da vi kom hjem kørte vi en tur rundt på markerne ved farmen på Steves ATV.

Om aftenen lavede vi bål på farmen, men det blæste op, så vi gik indenfor og fik et glas vin hos Steve og Andy. De gjorde samtidig et forsøg på at lære os at spille Cribbage.

Jannie

After breakfast at Hill City Café.

The gravesite of Rasmus & Bertha Villebro.

George and Kasper looking at old letters from Denmark.

The front of the barn.

The big silos at the farm.

They have pretty big cars in USA.

Panorama view of The Farm and the end of E County Line Road.

Kasper and Clifford, Josh’s dog.

Jannie and Steve by Hill Lake

Adam, Josh and Steve making bonfire.

The bonfire.

Jannie woke up at 7 AM slightly jet lagged, even though George had encouraged us to just sleep in.

We got up around 8 AM and went to get breakfast in Hill City, at the cafe were Rasmus Villebro would go everyday after Bertha passed away. It was a lovely little cafe, with a beautiful view of the lake.

After breakfast George took us past the church that Rasmus and Bertha used to attend and afterwards he showed us the graveyard where the are both buried.

Tiffany made all of us a lovely meal at Steve and Andy’s that night.

After dinner we went down to the family lake where we had a bonfire and made S’mores.

Jannie

Lettere ramt af jetlag, vågnede Jannie kl. 7, selvom George havde sagt, at vi bare skulle sove længe.

Vi stod op ved 8 tiden og tog med George ned til Hill City hvor han gav morgenmad på den cafe som Rasmus Villebro besøgte hver dag efter Bertha døde. Det var en super hyggelig café med en smuk udsigt ned til søen.

Efter maden kørte George os en tur forbi den kirke Rasmus og Bertha kom i samt den kirkegård de begge ligger begravet på.

Da vi kom tilbage til Georges hjem, fandt han gamle billeder frem, som vi kiggede igennem sammen med Tiffany og Andy.

Tiffany lavede lækker mad til os den aften, som vi spiste sammen med hele familien hos Andy og Steve.

Senere tog vi ned til den sø som familien ejer. Her lavede vi bål og spiste skumfiduser.

Jannie

Lake Superior

Duluth

The towers in Leif Erikson Park

The statue of Leif Erikson

What a welcome!

The Farm in Hill City

George with the record player (before it broke)

Kasper, George and Steve at the porch.

Volleyball at Hill City School

Post-volleyball: Kasper, Lars Lykke-look-a-like (Dave) and Jannie.

After picking up our car in Duluth Airport (and taking it for a few testdrives in the parking lot) we headed towards Duluth to see the town and to take a walk in the Leif Erikson Park, which is located on the bank of Lake Superior.

We had a nice stroll in the park and afterwards we drove towards Hill City and the Villebro-farm.

We had a short break for lunch in a small cafe in Floodwood, and shortly after that we arrived at the Farm, where we were well received by George and his daughter-in-law Andy.

George showed us our room at his place.

After we got settled in, George had found an old LP-record with recordings of birthday and holiday wishes, that was send from the Danish family, to Rasmus and Bertha for Bertha’s 60th birthday.

Unfortunately Georges record player didn’t work so well, so we got to hear the voices in a little to high speed.

We had dinner at Steve and Andy’s place with their three children, Tiffany, Josh and Stacey alongside Stacey’s husband Adam and their three children and Tiffany’s two daughters as well.

After dinner we went to the local High School, to play some volleyball. We played for about an hour and a half together with Tiffany, Josh, Adam, Stacey and Andy and their friends. After the games we went to Harry’s Bar for a couple of beers.

Jannie

Efter vi hentede vores lejebil i Duluth Lufthavn (og lige havde kørt et par prøverunder på parkeringspladsen ved lufthavnen) kørte vi mod Duluth for at se byen og gå en tur i Leif Erikson-parken, som ligger ned til Lake Superior.

Efter en god gåtur i parken, kørte vi endelig mod Hill City og Villebro-farmen.

Efter et kort frokoststop i Floodwood, ankom vi til farmen, hvor vi blev modtaget af George og hans svigerdatter Andy

Vi blev vist indenfor hos George, hvor vi skulle overnatte.

Efter vi havde fundet os til rette, spillede George en LP for os, som Bertha og Rasmus havde fået tilsendt til Berthas 60 års fødselsdag, med lydoptagelser af lykønskninger fra familien, bl.a. fra Sigrid og Bernt samt de små knægte Holger og Gunnar i baggrunden. Desværre virkede Georges pladespiller ikke helt så godt, og vi måtte høre stemmerne i lidt for højt tempo.

Om aftenen spiste vi middag hos Georges søn Steve og svigerdatter Andy og deres tre børn, Tiffany, Josh og Stacey, samt Tiffanys og Staceys børn og Staceys mand Adam.

Efter middagen blev vi inviteret med til onsdags-volleyball på den lokale High school. Der spillede vi i godt halvanden time med Tiffany, Josh, Adam, Stacey og Andy og deres venner. Efter kampene tog vi på Harry’s Bar i byen og fik nogle øl med de andre.

Jannie

First sight of Lake Superior

View over Duluth

The Bombardier CRJ 200 after landing in Duluth

Jannie is almost disappearing in the big car.

Our rental car – A Chrysler 200C

Wednesday, we left our little inn in Chicago with the shuttle bus at 7 AM local time. Fortunately we had a good sleep. After arriving at the O’Hare Airport once again, we had our first meal on American ground: Eggs and bacon for breakfast. After a little gate change we boarded a small Bombardier CRJ 200 from United Airlines and headed for Duluth.

It was pretty easy to find the car rental as the airport in Duluth wasn’t very big. It was literally just besides the luggage band. Here we only had one car to choose of as their other car (a Dodge Charger) had to have a oil change. Fortunately the other option was pretty awesome too! A Chrysler 200C with automatic transmission, rear view camera and much more. We spend some time on the parking lot getting used to the transmission and the big (in our optics) size of the car before heading for Lake Superior.

Kasper

I onsdags tog vi shuttle-bussen fra vores lille inn i Chicago klokken 7.00 lokal tid. Heldigvis havde vi en god nats søvn, selv med tidsforskellen. Efter vi ankom til O’Hare Airport igen, fik vi vores første måltid i USA: æg og bacon til morgenmad. Vores gate blev ændret inden afgang, men vi havde heldigvis meldt os til sms-service. Herefter gik vi ombord på en Bombardier CRJ 200 fra United Airlines og fløj mod Duluth.

Det var ret nemt at finde biludlejningen i lufthavnen i Duluth, da den ikke er særlig stor. Den lå lige ved siden af bagagebåndet. Her havde vi kun mulighed for at leje én bil, da den anden (en Dodge Charger) skulle have skiftet olie først. Heldigvis var alternativet slet ikke så dårligt. Vi fik en Chrysler 200C med automatgear, bakkamera og meget mere. Vi brugte lidt tid på parkeringspladsen til at vænne os til automatgearet og bilens store størrelse før vi vendte snuden mod Lake Superior.

Kasper

Waiting in Heathrow

Ready for taxiing in Heathrow

Jannie is happy to be on board

Over the Atlantic Sea

Flakes of ice in Canada

First sight of Chicago

Over Chicago

After an actual travel time of 17 hours we finally arrived at our little inn in Chicago, where we will stay for the night. In the morning we will be flying onwards to Duluth, where we will rent our car.

The trip went well as we started out flying with British Airways from Copenhagen to London, Heathrow. From Heathrow we travelled with American Airlines in an older Boeing 767-300. After nine hours with only a little turbulence we had touchdown at O’Hare in Chicago.

Above you can see some pictures from the flight.

Kasper

Efter en aktuel rejsetid på 17 timer er vi endelig kommet frem til vores inn i Chicago, hvor vi skal overnatte. I morgen tidlig flyver vi til Duluth, hvor vi lejer bilen for resten af turen.

Flyveturen gik godt. Vi startede med at flyve  fra København til Heathrow i London. Herfra skiftede vi til en ældre Boeing 767-300 fra American Airlines. Efter ni timer med kun en smule turbulens landede vi i O’Hare i Chicago.

Øverst kan i se lidt billeder fra flyveturen.

Kasper

Gunnar & Hanne helped wirering the family tree together.

Svindinge Friskole & Kirke (School & Church)

Jannie & Gunnar posing in front of Bøgelund

In the Easter Holiday, Jannie & I went to Fyn, to visit my side of the family. Amongst others, we visited my grandparents Gunnar & Hanne, who helped us getting “The Villebro Story” right, so we can sort it out for those interested. Above is a couple of photos from the visit where we also made a family tree and visited some key locations in the history of the Villebro family.

Kasper

I påsken var Jannie og jeg på Fyn, hvor vi besøgte min side af familien. Blandt andre besøgte vi mine bedsteforældre, Gunnar og Hanne, som hjalp os med at få historien om Villebro-familien helt på plads. Herover ses et par billeder fra vores besøg.

Kasper

Only five days for takeoff – we’re preparing the site. But keep an eye out for new updates. Until then:

• Find out who we are here.
• Take a look on our route. Find the map here.
• Have an overview of the Danish side of the Villebro Family. Find the map here.

The site and updates will be both in English and Danish.

Kasper

Kun fem dage til takeoff – vi er ved at gøre siden klar. Hold øje med nye opdateringer. Indtil da:

• Find ud af hvem vi er her.
• Tag et kig på vores rute. Find kortet i her.
• Få overblik over den danske del af Villebro-familien. Find kortet her.

Siden og indlæggene vil både være på engelsk og dansk.

Kasper