gopro

Summer Adventure Trip: It’s officially a tradition!

Last summer, as I was leaving the magical mountains of Lofoten, my Norwegian sisters and I made another pact: Canada Trip, Summer 2017. Fast forward exactly 1 year later, and there we were– the three swag sisters, united again! Our trip to Canada last month marks the third year in a row that I’ve met up with my Norwegian friends for a summer adventure trip. This means, it’s an official tradition.

Margit flew in from Africa, and had over 24 hours of travel time. She landed in Canada first and had to wait another 5 hours in the Calgary airport for me to arrive from New York. Despite her total exhaustion, (and my total annoyance that my bag was left behind), we were laughing within seconds of seeing each other, and basically didn’t stop laughing all trip. Maria met us in Calgary two days later, due to some airline delays in Amsterdam. Margit and I spent our time in Calgary preparing for our adventures. We bought camping supplies, maps, fuel, and most importantly: bear spray. Our plans moving forward were loose, but we knew we had to make it west to Whistler, and then back to Calgary to catch our flights home.

I hope to sift through my photos and journal entires so that I can share more of our trip with you all. But until then enjoy this video.

India 2017 Video

Now that my crazy semester is over, I can finally dive into my India content. Check out the video I made of our trip around India. My next step will be sifting through more photos. Stay tuned, and enjoy.

Our trip to Å

“Å” is one of the three extra letters in the Norwegian alphabet, but it is also the name of a village that sits on the southern end of the Lofoten archipelago. Maria, Margit and I spent our third day in Lofoten on a road trip down to Å.

Unfortunately (or luckily) I don’t know how to drive a manual car, so I was simply along for the ride. Thanks for being my chauffeur, ladies!

I spent the whole car ride with my camera around my neck, constantly asking them to slow down in order to capture a through-the-window shot of the stunning surroundings.

Crystal clear water

Shot out of the car window

We made numerous pit-stops on our way down to Å, the first being at Ramberg Beach.

They are cute.

Ramberg Beach Selfie!

Swag Sisters

Ramberg Beach

The next stop was in Sund, an area known for their welded bird sculptures. The museum required a ticket to enter, (which we didn’t pay for,) so I don’t know much more about it.

Sund

Another pit-stop, too pretty to drive passed.

The Sund bird museum

Shortly after Sund, we stopped to pick up a french hitch-hiker headed towards Å. He was more skeptical of us than we were of him, and he definitely didn’t catch our humor or sarcasm.

Outside of Reine

An Å cinnamon bun!

Honestly I forget where I took this, but I think it’s near Å?

Although she was missed, we decided it was a good thing Vigdis didn’t join us on our road trip. She would have been annoyed with our constant car-stopping, photo-taking, and selfie-spinning selves. Margit had to run away from a seagull that decided to attack her in Reine, and almost fell off the rocks in Å, (pictured below.) We were tourists, and we weren’t trying to hide it.

Hiking up Skottinden

Our second day in Leknes began like most days, with bread, coffee, and laughs. While Vigdis was hard at work, Margit, Maria, and I walked to Leknessjøen (Leknes Lake) in complete awe of our surroundings. With every turn we were faced with a new landscape just as jaw-dropping as the last. We were reminded of just how small Leknes really is when we ran into the lady Maria and I hitch-hiked with the day before. After tanning (like Norwegians) by the lake, we headed back to prepare dinner.

Vigdis returned from work just in time for dinner. After loading up on food and coffee, we set out on our first hike up Skottinden. As you can see below, Skottinden is a steep mountain with unique shape that stands out from the landscape.

As we began our trip to the summit, I realized my legs weren’t quite as strong as they used to be.

I had trouble keeping up with the Norwegian mountain-goddesses… but I am going to blame it on the constant amazing views.

We carefully maneuvered past a hole of unknown depth, (that took the life of a woman back in 1994,) in order to reach the summit. As if the views during the hike weren’t jaw-dropping enough, the view from the top was spectacular.