Jumping in the Fjords

Our last day in Norway was spent driving back near the airport. We were going to drive until we were about 3 hours from the airport and hope we found a good campspot. Along the way we ran into some very furry yaks, lots of cows that were very intrigued by us, a little local market, a long wiggly bridge, and fjords. I had been dying to jump into a fjord since we'd gotten there. Joshua found a little sign pointing to swimming a mile away, so we followed the random windy road and it led to a fjord with a little platform to jump off of. Perfect spot. There were a bunch of kids out on the ledge jumping in. Joshua, surprisingly, went up and hopped right in. Then the kids started counting to 3 in Norwegian so I had not choice, on 3 I jumped in too. The brackish water (part salt water part freshwater) was quite refreshing. We jumped in a few more times and dried ourselves in bit of sun. I was so smiley after that, it seemed a great little cap to the end of our trip.

That night after some driving back and forth we found a great tucked away campsite. It had a river nearby with a bridge over some rocks someone had built. We explored the area a bit, had dinner and wine, read books, and enjoyed our last bit of vacation.

Next morning we headed into the airport and flew home, via over Greenland which was stunning!

As soon as we landed back in Seattle we hopped a cab home, Joshua immediately! ordered tacos and we passed out. Great trip, great to get to spend such a large chunk of time with each other.

Greenland!

Sognfjellet Hut

The next day it rained in and out. We were driving the Sognfjellet road back because we loved it and made some pit stops along the way, hopped in and out of the car.

We were up for camping but came upon the most beautiful tourist hut. Joshua asked for a room and they had one! The building is an old building that they added onto. The addition is stunning and creates such beautiful shadows.

We took long warm showers, ate 3 course buffet dinner and breakfast all included in that little room.

The hut was nestled next to a lake and some mountains. We  wandered around in the cold for a bit and clambered up some of the hills to take in the light as the sun was setting. Back in the hut we drank coffee and wine all night while reclining on the couches and sheepskins. We played games, read books, walked around in thick comfy socks. We felt pretty fancy.

Alesund City Break

After our magical Saebo night we headed into the only city we were going to be staying in, Alesund. A lot of it was burned in a fire a long time ago and the main part of the city was rebuilt in a very quaint Art Noveau style.

We went on a fancy dinner where Joshua had seafood and I had a duck risotto that I thought was just made in duck fat. Nope, whole leg on bone of duck. If you know me you know I can't handle that. The waiter set it down and luckily Joshua immediately snatched it pulled off a few piece of meat then took the rest and the bone onto his plate, such a gentleman. We also had cocktails at a bar near the water that night and took it slow.

The next day we headed up to the top of a park that overlooks the city. The colorful buildings and organic way the city intersects with the water is beautiful. Besides that we did a little shopping for our families and got ourselves a very very fluffy sheepskin rug :) The rest of the evening we made ourselves some pizza for dinner and watched Harry Potter. It was nice to not have to blow up our sleeping mats.

Cabins & Kite flying

The cabin day was one of our most magical days in Norway. After an exhausting previous day we drove the road back, getting more strawberries, at a leisurely pace. We stopped at alpine lakes to read a bit, made some tea, took naps next to waterfalls laying on warm rocks, and really made it a priority to just feel present. We are good at adventure, we are good at backpacking something exhausting and then doing it again the next day. We are not as good at stopping along a road for a little walk. This day we embraced that slow, meandering pace instead. We took multiple ferries that day and drove through cute fjord coast towns stacked up hills.

We had such fantastic weather that when it started to drizzle we were able to rejoice in it a bit and enjoy the deeper saturation of color the landscape around us took on. Finally driving into Saebo in the early evening we decided maybe tent camping wasn't in the cards, and then we happened upon a spot that had mini cabins with roofs covered in grass and flowers. An old man greeted us and pretty much only spoke Norwegian, after a lot of hand signals, we had secured a cabin with a stove, fridge, porch, and a bed for only $40! We were absolutely giddy.

Went to the local grocery store and got lamb, veggies, and wine, made a slow dinner in our cabin with the windows open and sounds of the stream nearby coming in. After dinner the rain stopped, gave us a little rainbow and we went to the little pier nearby, I brought a kite that I randomly decide to pack. Sadly the kite was missing a brace, alas I inserted a stick and it flew anyway. Just one of those evenings that goes slow and feels a little magical.

We read books that night and Joshua popped out at 3am to snap the photos below which are from 3am, it really was pretty much never dark.

Woke up the next day and made a breakfast of crepes with yogurt and fruit with bacon and eggs. It was such a simple stop but it came at just the right time and filled us with just the right things. It was hard to get into the car and leave.

Fjord views

The Geiranger-Trollstigen Road also had a really great view down into the Geiranger Fjord. We could see the 7 sisters waterfall and of course the platform to view it on was also stunning. The waterfall was incorporated into the platform and gushed over a glass plate spilling back into the fjord.

There were also tons of strawberry fields bursting as we drove so we stopped, more than once, to get a basket of them. They were killer!

Since we didn't get to boat in the fjords Joshua wanted to do a fjord hike. After we made our way down the windy twisty road we had a beer and pastry in a town along the water and then drove to a trailhead. I said I was up for said hike, turns out I was not. It was hot and straight up, Norwegians have something against switchbacks. We finally made it out of the trees and I look up to see another mountain we have to climb and it's all rocks. While I enjoyed the rock hopping on Kykja at this particular moment I was not up for it. Apparently I said all I wanted to do was go swimming with such pain in my voice that days later Joshua was bringing up how it broke his heart. I rallied a bit though and up the mountain we went. As hiking is, once we started I was fine. We made it over the top and the whole area opened up to layers of fjords, and clouds, and islands. It was a really beautiful view and very worth the effort. Also we were up there alone again which is always magical.

The bonus was since I was such a trooper ;) we had burgers that night along the water and then we got soft is (soft serve ice cream) dipped in mini meringues. I would like to note mini meringues is the world's best ice cream topping ever.

That night, after sadly driving 20 miles in the incorrect direction, we found a campsite covered in creepy troll statues to set up camp and shower. After this day we decided to take our trip a bit slower :)