Into the Woods

 

This past weekend we explored a different part of Uppsala.  More specifically hiked on the Upplandsleden, the Superior Hiking Trail of Uppsala, as we like to call it.  Instead of blue slashes, they mark the trail by painting an orange ring around trees. 

Before went went on the trail, we got a little side tracked by the Uppsala Alpina Centre, the Chester Bowl of Uppsala!  They have THREE ski hills.  That is, if there is enough snow.  Scott and Sam were super excited to see this cute little ski area.  There is also a crazy sledding hill.  Yes, yes - so similar to home (see the last post). 

Scott was sad to miss salmon fishing this weekend with Grant and Sam boy, but not too worry he got a big one here.

Back on trail, we could not believe the variety of mosses.  Every five minutes, we'd say, "man, Izzy would be in heaven in this place."  Izzy loves herself some moss.  The entire forest seemed to be carpeted in moss, blueberries, and ligonberries.

Needless to say, we got pretty distracted by the abundance of blueberries.  The leaves were falling off many of the bushes, making it so easy to pick.  Now we know why Swedes love to forage, it is so dang easy here.  I mean, blueberries are EVERYWHERE!  Back home, we have our secret spots and we'd be stoked to fill a quart bag.  On this trip we filled a container plus a Nalgene without really having to try.

While Sam and I were foraging for blueberries, Scott found a bunch of chanterelles.  He was so excited and exclaimed, "can you believe we are getting blueberries and chanterelles at the same time?!"  That guy loves himself some forest foods.

If you have teenage girls you know your duty as a mom is to take picture after picture of them.  Shooting up like this is actually a "no-no," in Instagram land, but what a fun little hiking feature.  You'll note Scott with his lovely photobombing.

It was a fun little adventure to Norra Lunsen.  The hiking and the foraging were awesome, but I think what I liked most about the hike is what Sam said about this picture, "Dad, look at this great photo I took of you and your wife."

  

And, because I just cannot believe it, here are the two gallon bags of wild blueberries that we foraged between the woods behind our apartment and in Norra Lunsen.  I could not help myself, I kept stopping and picking.  It got to the point that Sam said, "Mom, I would expect this of Dad, but not you."  Honestly, if you've ever hiked with Scott you know you will have to stop every 10 minutes to look at something or gather something or listen to something.  You should expect binoculars to be used, bird identification apps to be opened, mushroom knives to be unfolded, and gathering bags at the ready.  So, this was not a compliment coming from Sam, but this time I'll take it.