Norway (Two/To)

Aren't they the cutest?!  I was thrilled to see one of the breeds of horse that always fascinated me in a pasture in Norway.  These manes on these guys!  Too cool for school.

My/our method for travel got more and more laissez faire as time went on.  We got to the point that we figured if we were in the right place the right things would fall into our laps.  And usually that did indeed happen!  In putting together the itinerary for Norway--besides the obvious of my ancestor's hometown and the viking stuff in Oslo--the priority was to see the most of the pretty country we could.  So on the map I calculated the furthest we could go in a full day drive back to the airport and that's where we headed.  I had no other reason for going than to see what there was to see.  Even that we didn't really know.  When we got there we asked the locals at the guest house and they said this drive was famous.  So even though we'd never heard of it and didn't know what to expect that's what we did.  As often happens, with low expectations and high hopes and an attitude of exploration we had a wonderful time.  It is in fact one of the most beautiful drives in the world (according to the tourist magazine and to us.  We also accidentally happened upon a remarkable drive in the Lake District in England that contends with this one in my opinion.).  The road wends between miniature islands and hops from rock to rock, as if the road were laid gently on top by some giant toddler playing a balance game.

We were all happy to get out of the car and explore over the moss and cliffs.  Davy gave me a few mini heart attacks clambering over the rocks and down to the water.  He said it was really cold.  Ha!

Anna really showed her best colors here.  I'm not exaggerating when I say Eliza sang her heart out the entire time.  Frozen soundtrack on repeat.

I found a yummy foodie place in the town of Alesund that was almost affordable (food in Scandinavia is uber expensive) and after a fortifying meal we hiked the mountain.  And by that I mean we climbed the stairs.  That's about the most adventurous we get.  That view was worth it--however we got there.

Just a funny mini-anecdote.  My back had been acting up and hurting quite a bit for weeks and I just didn't get to a chiropractor or do my stretches like I ought.  We were at a playground to do some kid centered decompressing for a while and I raced Davy down a slide.  My feet hit the ground hard and jarred my back.  For a dreadful second I was sure I was going to be in so much trouble but then I stood up and all the pain was relieved.  I was finally able to walk upright and without flinching.  So the moral of the story is play with your kids--you won't regret it.

All those long car rides--Eliza was our music.  (Until we really couldn't handle "Let it Go" anymore and turned up the audible story as loud as could go!)

This view from our guest house was so pretty at sunset.  And by sun set I mean the most glorious long lingering sun set that never actually set.  It was crazy to look at the clock at after midnight and see that outside still looked like 7:00 am.

Final stop back in Oslo before catching our flight to the next country:  The Scream.  I'd been silly and thought that Edvard Munch's famous piece was in the Munch Museum so we made a mad dash right before closing before we left Oslo to try and see it.  Nope, it's in the national museum.  So we made a mad dash on our last evening in Oslo (the city bookended our trip).  Collin is remarkably heroically accommodating about my mad dashes.  

Norway (One/En)

These pictures are taking up a lot of room on my hard drive and it's time to move them out of obscurity and into the light.  Plus I'm needing the memories of golden times past.

Eliza may tell you that we went to Norway to find Anna and Elsa.  And that may be partially true!  However, there is more to the pull we felt.

Norway has been a magical land in my mind since I was a child and my dad would tell stories of his grandpa--the only one he knew--who left Norway as a teenager for America.  Iver Stenen was a larger-than-life man to me, the hero who always came out on top of sticky situations with a admirable mix of resourcefulness, reserve and humor.  Though he left his homeland and thrived in the new world, I was interested to see what sort of a country created such a man.

As I was researching where to go and how long to plan in each place I read repeatedly not to underestimate the driving distances.  I was confident, being a western American, that the distances would not put us off.  However, the country is huge.  Again, I'm a western American so I don't use the word 'huge' lightly.  We drove a solid nine, ten hours at our furthest extent back to the airport and we barely got a third of the way up the country, never mind east or west.  The views were breathtaking around every bend, so the driving was certainly not tedious.  We stocked up on plenty of audio books and snacks and we enjoyed the road tripping immensely (I say in retrospect.  Ah, the beauty of hindsight rosiness.)

Don't these look like trolls about to come to life?  Ha!

The main reason to go to Norway was the countryside, particularly the county where my great-grandpa Iver was born and raised.  Gudbransdalen was a lovely area.  Perhaps not Oslo and not yet to the part of the country where one's jaw is dropping around at each new vista.  Still, it's tucked in a cosy valley with green all around.  We found the church where Iver was baptized (although his name then was Iver Olsen, also known as Ole of Veiklunget Farm.  He changed it as he immigrated to the United States.).  The graveyard was old and good for a long wander round.  We found some familiar names.  (I think I'm missing some pictures here because I'm positive I took pictures of some of the headstones for future reference but now can't find them.  It was chaotic trying to back up all those trips and moving.  Bummer I lost some stuff.)

Anyway, we had a good stretch at the churchyard and then across the street at a public common area.  The kids acted out one of their favorite Iver Stenen stories.  The one where he was so naughty at school he was about to get a whipping from the teacher but he ran out the door of the school room, strapped on his skiis, and skied down the hill and jumped the king's highway road to get away from punishment.  They acted it out a dozen times, laughing more each time.  Then they wrestled in the grass.  That gave me goosebumps because, though I'm sure Iver and his siblings were much too busy with hard farm labor to play too much, I couldn't help but think maybe they had wrestled some fine spring day, too.

We were there as the snow was melting and the swollen, raging rivers were astonishing.  We could tell the banks were far over sprung--so many mature trees were suddenly in the middle of the deep rivers.  The power of that water!  There were numerous waterfalls from the ice pack on the top of the mountains--the water just roared over the cliffs anyway it could find.

Our accommodations were great!  I got better at choosing good ones.  I didn't know that we'd have access to the fjord in the guest house row boats.  That was a bonus!  It stayed so light so late that we were go go go for most of our time.  The kids did finally crash but we were none of us keeping track of the time on a clock.  It was wonderfully refreshing.

I may have a dozen (plus) pictures of meadows and mountains and sheep but the scenery was more beautiful than I have power to capture in a picture.  It's interesting to me how I feel in different places affects how I meter the light of the image.  Some place I'm for all the light and airy and some places I so much prefer the deepest tones.  What I lack in consistency I make up for in creative experimentation.  Ha!  Norway for me was an oil painting, with deep rich tones and layers of creamy brush strokes.

We mostly went in circles with the kids steering.  When it was finally time to get back to shore we were all happy to have Collin take the oars.  He's our family hero.