I haven't had much internet access the past few days. After finally seeing the midnight sun- we went on a road trip through Norway! (Which I guess means the bulk of this part of the trip is not a Swedish adventure.)
On Day 8, we left Kiruna heading to Mo-I Rana, Norway. However, we decided that we wanted to take the scenic route along the Lofoton Islands- enough of a scenic route that we wouldn't make it to Mo-i Rana until the next day. The Lofoton Islands are beautiful. In The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy, Slartibartfast claims that he won an award for having designed the coasts of Norway. I probably would have given him and award too.
We drove along fjords, mountains, and narrow roads. Several hours, 13 bridges, and 20 and 4 halves tunnels (half tunnel pictured below) we finally made it to Å, the town with the worlds shortest name (pronounced oh-uh...like uh-oh with the syllables flipped). Finally arriving around 1 am, we found a place to sleep for the night to resume our adventure the next day.
We woke up early and jumped on a ferry to travel back to the mainland (4 hour ferry is faster than taking the scenic route back) and reached Bodø just in time for church. After church, we headed off to Mo-I Rana. However, we didn't actually get all the way to the city. We stopped just outside at a nice little campsite at the base of a mountain.
The next morning began with a short hike up the mountain and a tour of a cave. It was definitely one of the more interesting caves I have ever been in. There was an underground waterfall for starters. Over seen several cave lakes and streams, but not a full fledge waterfall (pictures are on my camera- I'll post them when I get home. Additionally, the floor of the cave was nearly entirely covered in what felt like beach sand. And the most interesting part was the granite boulder...in a cave in a mountain which contains no granite. There is a lot of speculation, but no one is quite sure how a large granite boulder found it's way nearly half a kilometer into this cave.
After our cave tour, the epic road trip finally turned back toward Sweden. The afternoon was all driving, but the last day of the trip was a little more exciting. We stopped near Mora to view the Dala Horse factory. The Dala Horse is a common decoration among Swedish houses. They are hand carved and painted with bright colors and flowers.
Our last stop was Mockfjard. We have ancestors from this little town, so we stopped in and looked around before finally heading home and falling asleep in our lovely beds.
On Day 8, we left Kiruna heading to Mo-I Rana, Norway. However, we decided that we wanted to take the scenic route along the Lofoton Islands- enough of a scenic route that we wouldn't make it to Mo-i Rana until the next day. The Lofoton Islands are beautiful. In The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy, Slartibartfast claims that he won an award for having designed the coasts of Norway. I probably would have given him and award too.
We drove along fjords, mountains, and narrow roads. Several hours, 13 bridges, and 20 and 4 halves tunnels (half tunnel pictured below) we finally made it to Å, the town with the worlds shortest name (pronounced oh-uh...like uh-oh with the syllables flipped). Finally arriving around 1 am, we found a place to sleep for the night to resume our adventure the next day.
We woke up early and jumped on a ferry to travel back to the mainland (4 hour ferry is faster than taking the scenic route back) and reached Bodø just in time for church. After church, we headed off to Mo-I Rana. However, we didn't actually get all the way to the city. We stopped just outside at a nice little campsite at the base of a mountain.
The next morning began with a short hike up the mountain and a tour of a cave. It was definitely one of the more interesting caves I have ever been in. There was an underground waterfall for starters. Over seen several cave lakes and streams, but not a full fledge waterfall (pictures are on my camera- I'll post them when I get home. Additionally, the floor of the cave was nearly entirely covered in what felt like beach sand. And the most interesting part was the granite boulder...in a cave in a mountain which contains no granite. There is a lot of speculation, but no one is quite sure how a large granite boulder found it's way nearly half a kilometer into this cave.
After our cave tour, the epic road trip finally turned back toward Sweden. The afternoon was all driving, but the last day of the trip was a little more exciting. We stopped near Mora to view the Dala Horse factory. The Dala Horse is a common decoration among Swedish houses. They are hand carved and painted with bright colors and flowers.
Our last stop was Mockfjard. We have ancestors from this little town, so we stopped in and looked around before finally heading home and falling asleep in our lovely beds.
Waterfall as we came into Norway
Norway has a lot of troll statues...not sure why
Norwegian beach
This is a half-tunnel; we drove through 4 of these
half-tunnel from the outside
One of the less stable looking bridges we crossed
Sign with the shortest city name ever
Finally got a little sunlight the next day
Crossing back out of the arctic circle. More trolls
Cool monument marking the arctic circle
Dala Horses
Joshua on a giant dala horse
Talitha on a smaller mechanized dala horse
What a beautiful trip! Thank you for sharing your time with my son and his family in Sweden & Norway on your blog.
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