Another Day in Sweden

  For this trip, we rented a car so we could spend a day in Narvik without having to worry about train schedules.  It proved a good idea because weather conditions made us head to Narvik a day ahead of what we planned. I had read that this drive is fascinating because the minute you get into Norway, it's a completely different feel from Sweden.  It sure was!  Look at those mountains and the ocean! OK, so I just love the hats I made for Scott and me.  Super duper warm.  Sam is wearing her Altuma hockey hat.  We are all wearing Sweden hats! After going to the Narvik Krigsmuseum (Narvik WWII museum), I was hoping we could go to the top of Narvikfjellet , but like everything in Norway, it was just too expensive, so these photos are from as close to the top as we could get...the base of the ski hill.  Not bad, though, eh? While I know gendered bathrooms are becoming more and more problematic, particularly in the U.S., I could not help but love these s...

  In planning our Artic Circle trip, Abisko National Park was on the top of the list.  We heard it was an amazing place to go if you love the outdoors, and bonus, it's the best place to see the Northern Lights in all of Sweden.  The park is a valley where all the clouds drop their snow as they pass over the mountains, leaving the skies in Abisko crystal clear (well, most of the time...). Here are just a few images of the beautiful park.  It for sure makes us want to see it in the summer time! We stayed in the STF Turiststation hostel.  Not cheap, but a really nice hostel that we shared with all kinds of, well, tourists, from other European countries.  Our room and the common eating area had amazing views of Lake Torneträsk that, as you can see, Scott and Sam could not keep their eyes off of.  Ha! Because it had been a disappointing winter in terms of snow and not being able to cross-country ski, Scott and I decided that this year would be about "...

In planning this trip, one of the many things I wanted to see were reindeer.  Ideally out in nature, but going to the Nutti Sámi Slida had to do.  And, boy, did they love Sam an her reindeer food - moss. The museum owners just brought in some reindeer from their ranging lands to the museum.  They were all a little skittish, and did not want anything to do with us. This guy and I were both a little unsure of each other or as Sam noted we are both giving the side eye.  Of course, it was not just all about the reindeer.  We learned quite a bit about the Sámi people and both their traditional and modern lifestyles. Scott and Sam even gave the Giant Ski a try.  There is a Giant Ski contest each year at the  Birkie , so maybe we'll have to check that out. Like the California missions, the church next to the museum offered a not so subtle reminder of what early missionaries thought of the Sámi people.  The novel, "Stöld" (in Swedish) or "Stolen" (in En...