norway

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.

Maria and I at the summit

We somehow managed to find enough room up there to dance, skip, and practice our headstands before heading back down the mountain.

 

Lofoten Norway: Day One

leknes2

Lofoten is a stunning archipelago off of the northern coast of Norway. Maria, Margit and I made the trip to Leknes (an island near the southern tip of Lofoten) to visit our crazy cool Northern-Norwegian friend, Vigdis.

Boarding the plane!

Maria and I landed at the Leknes airport in the late morning. I use the word “airport” loosely because the runway is about the size of an american suburban driveway and the luggage belt is the size of a grocery store checkout counter.

Margit and Vigdis were due to arrive later that night so Maria and I had some time to kill. After hitching a ride into the center of town, we decided to explore. 6 minutes later, we deemed the town: explored. leknes3

While pondering what to do, we spotted a store that had a “Tourist Info” sign in the window. There was a guy (about our age) who was immediately eager to help us. We asked him for suggestions on what to do with the 5 hours we had left on our own. His response was basically: “Oh, you want to do something? You should probably go to the next town, Gravdal.”

Fast forward a few hours and we discover that the hospital is Gravdal’s greatest attraction. We decided to head back to Leknes and wait for our funny friends to arrive. Cups and cones of softis, (soft-serve ice cream, but 100% yummier), made the time fly by!

Washington DC on Bikes

I have been to DC over a hundred times in my life, but this particular trip was different from all the others. Perhaps it was because I had Margit asking things like: “What’s the name of your village?”. And while we were standing in the National Archives (loud enough for everyone to hear) she asks: “Constitution? What’s that?”. Or maybe it was because we borrowed the hotel bikes and helmets to bike around the city… and rang my bell at pedestrians when we passed them. Or maybe it’s because I couldn’t walk peacefully without being punched in the shoulder by Øyvind or Margit whenever they saw a yellow car… (which must be a lot less common in Norway)! Or maybe it was the help of Anna-Maria, our Magic 8 Ball. Or maybe it’s the combination of all of that, plus the 3G love that made it such a great trip.

Hotel Fun

On our first day in DC we hit all the monuments and memorials… even the unknown ones like the George Mason Memorial. Because we were on bikes, we covered a lot of ground and had enough time to have a yummy lunch at District Taco. After lunch we went into the Archives (which is where Margit embarrassed me by asking what The Constitution is in front of hundreds of tourists there to see The Constitution).

After circling The Capitol Building, we found a nice ant-infested area of the park to lay down and share some laughs.

The next day we went to the Zoo to see our monkey friends. Margit and I managed to lose Øyvind by the bears. He eventually found us, and we biked over to Dupont Circle to grab some lunch before hitting the museums.

After reaching our maximum brain-power for the day, we left the museums and made our way back to the hotel for another koselig evening together. I made fun of them for eating burgers with forks and knives, we destroyed a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, and we started to watch a movie before falling sound asleep.

Another great trip with great people!