Interesting trips...

So the trip yesterday turned out to be just as... interesting as I had both hoped and feared.

peting73s cousin was excited and all up for it, so she rode in our car, talking a mile a minute all the two hours it took to go to moms. *lol* We took a break at a lovely little coffe-shop thing on the way though, so we got a bit of a break there. *lol* They have this lovely place to sit outdoors with a waterfall and stuff, but it was a bit chilly so we had our break inside. :-) It was all really wonderful.

Then we drove on to moms. :-)

And man, was she happy to see us! :-D Mom (as she has taught me) is VERY hospitable... Not even joking. Her door is ALWAYS open. As is mine.

Anyway, so as soon as we got in the door, there were hugs ALL around! :-D Always fun that! Well, as soon as she threw her cats out, since peting73s cousin is so afraid of cats. But it worked out fine, and as soon as the cats were gone, his cousin got inside and all was good. :-)

And, as mom usually does when we visit, she put peting73 to work, to start up the barbecue and then we all worked together to fix up food for all off us. :-) Now, petings mom, aunt and family ain't as used to this open crazy loving hospitality that is a key part of MY big crazy family... So it was a bit of a culture shock there. *lol*

Right, so we had a ton of food, lovingly barbecued by peting73, and then after that there was coffee and desert, of course. :-) Always at moms. And they checked out her house and big garden and just had lovely time all around.

petings cousin can't relax for long though, so she soon wanted to move on. So we went down to village center where I've grown up and took walks around there, and checked out the big american 1950's cars that started to show up...

Thing was, that evening the raggare had a gathering there showing up their old loved and well cared for cars, playing music drinking beer and just having a good time. Raggare in Sweden is a very swedish culture thing, but it is close to hot rod culture in the US. To read more about raggare you can do so HERE! It gets it sorta right.

My brother is a raggare, and has a white Ford Galaxy 1956 with a red interior that is his beloved baby car... And like all raggare he makes sure that his car is filled with people when cruising around with it... only, he piles his family in the car, so no drinking beer in his Galaxy! *lol* peting73s cousin looked really forward to seeing my brothers car and to be allowed to take a ride in it, but since my brother had to work that day... He and his family got delayed and well... It just didn't work out.

So that was a big let down. Plus I don't think peting73s mom and aunt had much fun. Raggare is something you only find in smaller cities/communites/villages, really... where they drive around in their huge cars on occasion and such... In bigger cities that phenomena doesn't really exist. Like in the city I live now, and they live. Of course, car enthusiasts with big american cars exist, but instead of driving around, they just show off their cars on special gatherings where the cars are on display either on the town square or in a special hall way. So it sure was a bit of culture collision there again.

A bit of a disappointing ending to the trip, but on a whole it was a success I think. peting73s cousin seemed to enjoy herself, and ALMOST relax when dogs walked past her in the evening... I say almost, since at least she didn't jump straight up and ran away. Instead she calmly walked and stood behind us, without panicking. So progress there. I think she really really likes mom and tried to take after her. :-) Much brilliance to my epic mom, that by just being herself had such a good influence on peting73s cousin. :-)

All in all a good day, I'd say. :-D