Solstice and Father's Day

This past weekend included the Summer Solstice and Father's Day, and we celebrated in appropriate style. But first, I thought I would share a little of the smoked mackerel with you. This was the first batch. I liked them so much I decided to go ahead and smoke the rest of them later that afternoon. I shared some with Nicole, our apartment receptionist, and she wondered how we could possibly smoke fish in a seventh floor apartment. I explained the process of using wet mesquite wood chips close to the burner and placing the fish on the opposite side of the grill, and I think she understood. Either way, she liked the fish, as did I.


I also wanted to share a picture of Mommy and the Mummy. Sidney has had questions recently about mummies, so Kimber decided to wrap her in toilet paper so she could be a mummy. She was very cute. Additionally, it was interesting listening to her say, "Mummies live in a pyramid and they are really just dead people and they don't scare you." She actually was cued to the pyramid thing by me talking about the pier. I just can't imagine what goes on in that little head!









Now, on to Father's Day (sort of). Kimber gave me a surprise trip for Father's Day, but we celebrated on Saturday instead of Sunday, because of when she could get the reservations. It was a trip on a ferry out to and island just north of Stavanger where a family has planted an amazing garden. You may ask why an island with a garden is so fantastic, but you must remember how far north we live. This garden is filled with palms, olive trees, and several other things that "shouldn't grow here." Because of well-planned windbreak planting and the warm Gulf Stream, this garden thrives. Granted, many of the more tender plants are taken into town (by ferry) for the winter (the Japanese koi are also taken in, as there are mink that enjoy a nice meal of hibernating koi too much to leave them.) Here are several pictures to let you see just how beautiful and colorful the garden actually is:

In addition to a guided tour of the garden, the trip included a five course meal served in the on-site restaurant. The ingredients were local with many of the herbs being grown in the garden. The pasta, bread and butter were all made fresh in the kitchen, and the food was all fantastic. Kimber, who is not really a fan of fish soup, had to force herself to stop eating the cream-based fish stew that contained, cod, salmon, shrimp and halibut. Needless to say, we didn't need dinner Saturday night. Oh, and one more picture of Sidney for the grandparents -

We celebrated the "actual" Father's Day, which also happened to be the Summer Solstice, by going on a hike. We left relatively early and took the ferry across to Tau, then drove a little farther to a farm area called Nes. We set off from there on what the guidebook called "a good marked service road" over "undulating terrain" with a height variation of 550 meters over the 15 kilometers. Needless to say, it was a bit more difficult that that.

The trail was actually an old sheep-driving trail built in the early 1900's by Swedish "ruffians" to make getting sheep from one pasture to another and to market easier. If this was easier, I would have hated to see the old way. We did, however, meet some "fellow hikers" along the trail very early on. (This picture was from the lower and better par of the trail.) There is a rivalry between Norwegians and Swedes, and I think this trail may have been laid by a bunch of Swedes trying to exact some sort of revenge. As it happened, Kimber took a fall and got a badge of honor from this hike.
The hike did provide some beautiful scenery, as it ran along a river and lake the entire way. There were three waterfalls as well.



Interestingly, there were signs at several locations describing a little of the history of that particular site. Unfortunately, many of them told of stories of people that fell into the water while boating and drowned or went over the falls and drowned. I think there were at least ten deaths recorded on these signs. We also saw several people swimming in the water, which made me wonder if they actually read the signs before taking a dip. It also made me wonder how they could swim in water that was probably very cold. It was around 60 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday, and I wore shorts and a t-shirt, but I had no burning desire to hop in one of those lakes, especially after seeing show still on some of the surrounding mountains.


There were a couple of other neat things along the way. One was this stone bridge that spanned the divide between the upper and lower Viglesdalvatnet (Vigles Dale Lake). The other was this little pool that contained tadpoles (we also saw a couple of frogs.) For those that have known Kimber for a long time, you may remember she used to really like frogs. She still thinks they are pretty cool, but doesn't collect "fog stuff" anymore. She was thrilled to see the tadpoles, though.

The hike turnaround was at a group of hikers' cabins ant the end of the lake. In Norway, you can join the Hiking Association, which allows you access to these cabins. They are all over the place along popular hiking trails, and they are really quite nice. Most do not have electricity or indoor plumbing, but they have propane stoves and wood burning stoves or fireplaces, decent beds with pillows and duvets (you need to bring your own covers and sheets) and pretty much everything else you need besides food. They are occupied on a first-come, first-serve basis, and you are responsible for leaving it at least as clean as you found it. It really isn't a bad deal if you are into the outdoors and want to do some overnight hiking and camping. Certainly better than a tend and sleeping bag!

Kimber has her helicopter survival training this week, so our next post will probably contain info about that. The training facility is actually within sight of our apartment, so it will be nice for her to be able to leave a little later and just walk over each morning.