Farewell Tour - Dalarna

It's been a long time since I've posted, and I still have to write about our spring break!  I've been busy working on curriculum for next year.  Now that we only have two weeks left, I better get to it!

So, as part of our "Farewell Tour" to Sweden, a couple weeks ago we went to what Swedes consider quintessential Sweden - Dalarna Kommun (County).  Dalarna is home to the Dala horse, the red paint on all the houses, and a bunch of lakes.  It's so frickin' charming, it's almost annoying.

For a couple nights we stayed outside of the town of Mora at this charming little old shed that a family converted for overnight guests.  So frickin' cute.

We started in Falun, where went to the Carl Larsson House, where, unfortunately, you cannot take pictures inside, but here are some pictures near the house and in the surrounding neighborhood.  I mean even the mailboxes are charming!

Next up, we went to go find the tower below, wound up walking down the wrong path, but eventually got on the right one, where we all commented that we will miss the "blueberry forests" because as Scott says, "Sweden is one big blueberry patch, cut up by towns and cities."

To get the whole tower in, I used .5 on my phone like all the cool kids do these days.

One of my favorite things about Swedes is they love themselves a picnic, so I was not at all surprised to find a picnic table half way up the tower.  Because, why not?

The view of Lake Siljan.

Ah, the love.

We then ate at the "Broken Dreams" restaurant at the Best Western.  I know, gross, right?  Eating at a Best Western?  Strange.  Nope.  It was full of people on the deck enjoying the sunshine, and the food was pretty dang good.  Another thing I will miss about Sweden.  They have a great breakfast buffet at hotels, and it's just part of the cost.

Our tourist route continued with a visit to the Falu Mine, an old copper mine, where we learned about how hard mining was and how glad we should be that we did not work there during the 19th century.

We did enjoy dressing up in hardhats and shawls (?) to explore the mine.  

We also learned more stuff in the museum and grounds, but why bore you?  

Perhaps the most important lesson we learned is why so many houses are painted red in Sweden.  If houses are not red, they are often yellow.  We thought maybe it was like the baby name law - it has to be on the approved government list!  Nope.  The reason is more practical.  The paint was originally made from the leftover iron ore rocks in the copper mine.  Making paint this way was cheap and long lasting, so everyone could use it.  Today it is tradition.  

I then made Scott and Sam go to the Stabergs Bergmansgård because I love a good garden, but it was still spring, so not much to see, except the tulips and the edge of the farm/woods.  Scott was able to add a bird his list, so he was happy.

We then went to Nils Olsson to see how the Dala horses are made.  

Sam, loving the horse, but not knowing what to do in a telephone booth.  Ha!

We love a good waterfall, so we went to two, Storstupet Waterfall and Helvetesfallet.  In the first you can see how they built a chute for the logs to go down the river.  Pretty cool. 

We then went to this area called Frykås which is supposed to be this cute area with hiking trails and "untouched" homes.  It was annoying, and not cute annoying, just annoying.  Or maybe I was just hungry and did not see the point.  I suppose if you are a Swede and you love yourself some fika, there is café with a great view of the lake.  We found ourselves a little space to eat lunch, and Sam got to her reading.

Better than the overrated Frykås, we found a little nature reserve near a wetland, and got to see some cool birds.  Sam also got to see the end of the Vasaloppet, Sweden's premiere cross country ski event.

Scott's graduate student told us we should go through the town of Siljanäs to see more of the adorable charm of Dalarna county.  While driving through we saw a sign for a nature reserve, and decided to go for it because the wetland one was such a find.  Whoa!  This exceeded our expectations.  This nature reserve had an observation tower, fun trails, and such great views.  

Best of all, it had "hundparkering" - dog area - with a place to clip your dog in and water bowls for them to drink from while you are visiting the nature center. 

 

Speaking of dogs, we found this "hundbad" - dog beach - with a dog play set near the place we were staying in Mora.  Swedes and their dogs.  I think they may be worse than Americans in their love (obsession?) for their dogs.

While in Dalarna we took advantage of the country roads, and Scott taught Sam how to drive a manual.  She was a pro!  Super impressive.  One must know how to drive a stick shift if you want to rent a car in Europe!

We ended our trip with a visit to Färnebofjärdens National Park, which was beautiful.  It reminded us of our state parks in Minnesota, except check out how nice their picnic areas are!  And, once again, we got up high, this time in the fire tower to check out Dalarna County.

And, of course, no trip to Dalarna is complete without a visit to the world's largest Dala horse.  Dalarna overall was pretty dang cute and charming.  It may be, in fact, quintessential Sweden, so what a great way to say "farewell."