Hike up to Prekestolen…

Prekestolen is one of the places my husband and I had on our list of places to see in Norway - so when his parents came over from Canada for our wedding – what better place to take them but there?

It is rather a long drive from Tønsberg to Rogaland so I consider us lucky to have family half way to break up the trip. We wanted to take a day trip and started around 8 am in the morning. It took us about 4 hours to drive one way.

This is at Lysefjorden waiting for the boat to take us across to route 13 which takes us up to the foot of the mountain where Prekestolen is.

Finally arriving at the parking lot – we could begin our long hike up the mountain side. In total the hike took  about 2,5 – 3 hours. Yeh it was quite a hard hike parts of the trail and I am very impressed with my parents in law going the whole way!

This is at 1/3 of the way going up. Good thing we didn’t know it – or we might just have turned back!!!

Yay !!! We are half way and can see Lysefjorden again. Well I don’t know if shouting yay was the best thing to do here – this was the point where I got my first blister…

 Doing greath there mom! Walking along side the mountain with a really steep drop is scary! Best hold on to the railing at this point .. oh by the way – by now I was walkin bare foot as I had blisters on both my feet.. Note: Always wear comfy old shoes doing this ! ! !

This is my hubby’s way of cheering me on ….

 …and it worked… :-) I continued now with parents in law in front of us ! Good job !

We can almost see the end of the hike now – just around the corner and – VICTORY!!

  And what a sight meeting us around that corner ! ! ! ! !

It was breath taking … no other words can describe it..

We spent about 10-15 min on the top admiring the spectacular view…

..before we started on our trip back home again !

This is definitly a trip we will remember for the rest of our life – for as mom and dad said – We’ve did it once, and wont do it again !  hehe (well – maybe sometime in the future when we have forgotten how straining the hike up was…)

Birthday boat trip with mother and father in law May 31’th..

The day after our wedding it was my birthday. And what a wonderful day it was! The sun was shining from a clear blue sky and what other could we do than to take mom and dad in law on a boat trip around the coast where I grew up.

Even my little nephew wanted to join the gang on the wild seas!! He kept all of us up to date on all the other boats on the water so we didn’t have to worry about hittin any of them… ship o’ hoy!! Even going through the narrowest parts of the rout (so narrow that you only had a few inches on each side of the boat to clear off…. ) he was on top of everything!

After a 2 1/2 hour sail we headded back to shore. Everyone very satisfied with the trip, the company, the guide and the weather. Even I learned something new this day…. Imagine that!!??!!

A big thank you to Brage who willingly took all of us with him on his boat :-))

Our most amazing day getting married!!

May 30'th A day to remember forever. Celebrating our love with family and friends. This has been the best day ever for both of us so far. The thought of spending the rest of our lives together gives us more joy than anyone can imagine! We find ourselves waking up every day with a big smile on our faces. Our love keeps growing for every minute and we feel so blessed to have found each other. We can't wait to see what the future has in store for us! :))

A lovely place to take the wedding pictures..

Last weekend we had a drive around to see if we could find a nice place to take some wedding pictures. At Myren Gård just outside the City of Kristiansand I think we found the spot. It has a sea of beautiful flowers with all the colours of the rainbow... And also a couple of interesting places to get some funny pics too!!













I just love this tree!!! I have never seen one with roots sticking out as far up as this one does! Looks like the tree had to grow a few extra stems just to keep it self up straight! A fun tree!!!

Celebrating 17'th of May...

Our National day...May 17'th! We do like to go all the way out, even at the smallest communeties! We just enjoy having fun! Now I (and I am admitting it) being my forgetful self, forgot my camera. But my Popeye being the wonderful and thoughtful person he is, had his and we managed to get a couple of snap shots. We should have been in the city where the celebration is majour - but will do that next year. It always tops off the day with a big BANG!!!!You have heard it said, Norwegians are borned with skiis on their feet. Wear them even in the spring/summertime!!! Go figure....
Hipp hipp hurraaaaaaaa.....!!! Aww my nephew is having a great time singing along in the parade!
Ok...who is sucking up to their mother in law?????

Lovely roadtrip on May 1'st !

We had our first "one day road trip" on Friday May 1'st and it was a lot of fun!!! We just love springtime, our favorite time of the year. And this spring we have been very lucky with great weather. This is how I like the snow....flowing down a river! Me thinks Popeye agrees with me?? ;-) Our first stop was at 'Brufoss' where all the Fishing Fanatics spend their time trying to catch the biggest fish... Good thing Popeye didn't slip and fall down the river and end up in one of their nets.... No grilled Damo please!!
Don't be fooled, here we are just holding on to each other for dear life so we didn't fall into the river!!
Strike a pose PLEASE:))))))


Flowerboy at your service! Lying on a bed of 'Wood Anemone' A wonderful sight, don't you agree? :)

Waiting for someone to share his story about the catch of the year with!!

On the way up to 'Setra' at 'Vindfjelltunet' Popeye spotted a stream....."ooooh need to take a swim in it!!!!" was his reaction. Note....snow still on the side here!!
Aaah yes.. almost out in the water now.... just a few more steps....
"Yay!! Getting my butt and my toes wet in the freezing! water"... More to follow further down (course we had to come the same way down again...)
This is an old Norwegian building on a 'Seter' (Transhumanse; the seasonal movement of people with their livestock over relatively short distances, typically to higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with the people necessary to tend them.) This was very common in Norway before the 19'th century.
All the buildings on the 'Seter' was built in a typical norwegian style as you see in the picture below. They are all 'Log cabins'

Having a rest after the walk up to the 'Seter' It was pretty warm that day so we took the time to catch some sunrays ....well Popeye did.... on the bench...leaving me no room..... had to sit in the wet grass..... !! lol

Ah didn't I tell you! We had to come back the same way... So another dip in the stream...this time almost all the way in... Me thinks his butt got very very coooooooold!!! (and maybe something else too.... :s hihi )
You'll never have better spring water than the water you find in the stream coming down from the mountains. Fresh cold clean water...tasted soooooo good!!!!
Oh !! Met Mr. Toad on the road too....
This is a typical Norwegian trailerhome in a trailerpark. Not bad!!
And this would be our trailer-home.....need some style you know ;-)
Being a man - Popeye had to find the largest fish-hook ever!!! Bet he wont catch anything with it tho... First he need some bigger muscles to throw the friggin thing... !!!

Ah yessss... the 'Water Nymph'

The last stop we had was 'Lågen' one of the big rivers in Vestfold. There are a lot of Salmon in this river and it is amazing to see how much water runs through here. Wondering how the Salmon are able to swim up stream...they must be incredible strong!!!
Popeye are waiting for the Salmon to jump into his lap... I guess he gave up the idea of using that big hook he found....

A nice pathway out on the river. Looks really safe don't you think? I don't know why, but we actually went out there with the water roaring under us.. Quite breath taking...and nerve wrecking..in a' hard to move your feet' kinda way....!!!
Oh even got a little rainbow in the last picture!
This sure was a fantastic and wonderful day out. Taking in all the great nature we are surrounded by. We are lucky to live in an area like this. I just love it here and I think Popeye feels the same way! :))