1000 Hits!

We started tracking the number of hits on our blog on July 4th of this year, and we got our 1000th hit today! These have come from all over the world, as seen on the map in the upper left corner of our page. Some of the most interesting - Iceland, The Azores, somewhere on the Aleutian Islands, and somewhere in the middle of Siberia.

We thank everyone for their interest and support so far, and we will try to continue to bring you all interesting updates, cool information, beautiful pictures, and hopefully a few smiles here and there.

And now, my latest tool. I downloaded a program to make panorama pictures, and it looks pretty cool. Here is the sunrise from our balcony. Click on the image for the full effect.

"Fall" Colors

But not the fall colors you might expect me to post here. We planned to do Preikestolen, one of the most famous hikes in Norway, today. We had done it before with Jinni, but it was overcast then, and today's weather was forecast to be clear, though a little cool and windy.


The hike started fine. Sidney hiked almost halfway up (including the three hard, steep spots, by herself. We decided to put her in the baby-backpack, though, in the interest of time for the remainder of the hike. We had a picnic about that time as well, then started to make the final push to the top. The terrain was relatively flat, but involved going up and down a few rocks.

Now let me tell you a little something about Kimber. For those that don't know her well, she can be a bit stubborn. She also likes to do everything herself. You may notice in some of our blog archives of hikes that she is the one carrying the baby-backpack. That is not because I haven't offered, or even demanded, to carry it. It is because she absolutely insists on carrying it.

Until today.

As she was stepping down into a muddy area, she turned her ankle on a rock and went down in the mud. Sidney was fine because fortunately she fell into mud and didn't hit rocks. Kimber thought she broke her ankle. All this was three and a half kilometers up a rocky and very steep trail.

We got her up and I took over carrying Sidney. I asked, even begged her to let me call for help. After all, there has to be some sort of evacuation plan up there, considering this is one of the most popular and famous hikes in Norway. But Kimber insisted on walking down. She crabbed on her back the steep parts and limped where it was flat(ish). Kimber's defense - I think the only way out without my walking down would have been a helicopter and that just wasn't acceptable.

It took about two and a half hours to get down (thanks for anyone that met and helped us along the way, by the way), and we iced, wrapped and elevated the ankle at the car. We took the ferry across to Stavanger from Tau, then went to the hospital for x-rays.


Thankfully, the ankle is not broken. But it is several shades of purple and nicely swollen. Kimber has some happy pills, and crutches to help her walk (though this is currently discouraged. Needless to say, she won't be carrying the backpack anymore.

We've taken over now, and here are... some slippers.

Corporate culture here is just a little "different." Today a package arrived from Marathon (Kimber's company) that was a gift to celebrate their take-over of operations on the Alvheim FPSO (the ship she goes to on occasion.) The gift was a pair of wool felt slippers. I think something was lost in translation, but the label was probably meant to say "You can feel as warm in your home as you do in your heart with Marathon taking over the operation."


We also attended a dinner party last night to celebrate the opening of the Volund oil field, which is one of the fields that feeds the FPSO. It was quite a celebration, but a little different than anything you might see in the U.S. After mingling with champagne, the banquet hall was opened to seating and a men's chior performed some songs. There were two songs in particular that were written especially for the occasion. The text of one is pictured on the right. You can click on the picture to get it big enough to read.

Next, there were some speeches, one of which was a safety brief by the hotel banquet coordinator on how to evacuate the hall in case of emergency. Then, as we began the first course, there was a video in Norwegian, which I assume was funny, and which was filmed on the FPSO. The evening's "hosts" were then introduced.

The hosts were a pair of brothers that are apparently very famous in Norway and have a show on Norwegian television. They did a few funny bits in between courses, then a couple of things in Norwegian (which, again, were apparently hilarious.) I will say the "Dancing Penguins" bit was fun to watch. They also did an act in English that was apparently lost in translation.

The food was excellent, and the people-watching was entertaining. There are several Scotsmen working for the company that showed up in full dress kilts (I have to get one!) It was also nice to get together and meet some of the people I have only heard about until now, and I enjoyed all their company.



Finally, another sunrise picture with some really cool clouds from a couple of days ago.

Revisiting an old hike

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful, clear (but cold) weather Saturday and do a hike we did when we first came here. We went to Manfossen and Man Farm. Manfossen is the highest free-falling waterfall in Rogeland County. In all the following photo pairs, the photos from this past weekend are on the left and the ones from last spring are on the right.



The falls weren't flowing quite as strong as they do in the spring, when they are fed by snow melt, but they were still very nice. The fall colors also added to the beauty. The trail wasn't very crowded on the way up, with us only coming across a few hikers here and there, but it picked up for the trip down. We encountered lots of groups going camping, including one group of about 10 kids and adults.










The walk up was completely shaded by the mountains, as the sun stays fairly low on the horizon right now. There was frost most of the way, and the valley the farm was in is probably at a state of being permanently frozen now. Again, it looked quite different this time than in the spring, but the beauty was still quite striking.





Another big difference between doing it this time and when we did it before is that Sidney did the whole hike by herself this time. We took the backpack just in case we needed it, but did not use it. We did help her over a couple of difficult and/or muddy spots in the interest of time, but we were quite proud of her achievement. She was pretty tired in the end!


And speaking of tired, how can she possibly sleep like this?

Back to "normal"

My parents and Papa left yesterday morning in a whirlwind of activity. Originally, Kimber was going to take them to the airport and take the car on to work, and Sidney and I would ride the bus to school. This is because our car is small and my parents had a lot of luggage.

Plans changed a bit, as Kimber got last-minute notification she would be going out to Alvheim in the afternoon. We got a taxi for my parents instead, and Sidney and I took Kimber and her luggage to her office before going off to school. Before I even made it to the highway from dropping her off, she called and said she was bumped off the trip and would not be going after all.

My parents and Papa did get out of here okay, but I have not confirmed that they made it home okay. My assumption is that they did, but since they were to arrive at the final destination at 3:30 a.m. our time, I am sure they decided not to call.


They did not leave without taking one last opportunity to spoil Sidney. Both Papa and my parents bought gifts to add to her collection of wooden dress-up dolls. She plays with them all the time, and we try to avoid getting the small pieces impaled in our feet.


On another note, autumn has arrived in full force. We saw frost on the ground here yesterday morning, and the leaves are changing colors. The colors were particularly fantastic on the drive to the candle factory for my parents last weekend here. We have also been fortunate in that the last few days have been very clear. The forecast is for the clear skies to continue, but it will be cooler. Friday is also supposed to be very windy (a strong breeze in Norway means wind over 20 m.p.h.)


We already miss my parents and Papa being here, though the normality we've returned to is still anything but "normal." After all, where in the U.S. would this view of the sunrise be "normal" for us?

The Ferry and Copenhagen

We took my parents and Papa on a wonderful long weekend trip to Copenhagen. We left via ferry from Stavanger to Hirtshals, Denmark, then drove to Copenhagen.

The ferry trip was overnight, and though the seas were a little rough, it wasn't too bad. We did feel like we were rocking still for about 24 hours after, though. Kimber, my mom and Sidney all slept in a small cabin, and my dad, Papa and I had sleeper seats. As many Norwegians take advantage of the fact that alcohol is much cheaper on the ferry (and pretty much any other place than Norway), the sleeper seat room becomes somewhat of a "sleep it off" room, so it is not the quietest place to try to sleep. I am pretty sure there were at least 5 loud snorers in the room.

Once in Denmark, we drove down from Hirtshals to Copenhagen, which is about a 5 1/2 hour drive. The countryside is very pretty, and we were struck by how much it differs from Norway. There are also a lot of wind-power generators along the way. There are also places that have no speed limit, at least not that we knew of, so we were able to drive faster than the 62 m.p.h. Norwegian limit. Our rental car could do at least 100 comfortably.


The bridge from the island that Odense is on to the island Copenhagen is on was quite impressive. I think it is somewhere around 12 miles long, including a huge suspension bridge. There is also a nice lighthouse just before the suspension bridge, as seen here.


Copenhagen is a very cool city. There are fantastic shopping areas, lots of restaurants, and a nice mix of old and new buildings. There is lots to do, but as our time was somewhat limited, we just hit the major stuff.


Our hotel was located near the central train station and Tivoli (the famous old Danish amusement park), so we were in a good place to get to things. While we didn't go inside the amusement park, the outside was dressed up for Halloween, and looked pretty cool. We also saw it all lit up at night, which also looked neat.


Copenhagen also just hosted the selection committee for the Olympics, so the city was still somewhat dressed up for that event. Some of you may remember that President Obama attended to lobby on behalf of Chicago. Kimber was in Copenhagen for business during his meeting and pointed out how much his visit interfered with things like the train schedules, about half of which were canceled for security reasons. Congratulations, by the way, on that Nobel Peace Prize. This picture is City Hall at night.



We were quite taken aback by the number of bicycles in Copenhagen. There are bikes everywhere! There is bike parking all over, and it is all full, and there are still a ton of people riding around. There are also some really cool bikes, including these designed for carrying babies and kids. They have a kid area on the front and two wheels, then look like a regular bike on back. They are quite popular, and can be converted to carry large amounts of cargo after the kids outgrow them. We looked at one in a shop, and it was a little over $3000.


We also took a boat tour of the harbor, which I would highly recommend. Copenhagen is a water city, as is reflected in its name (the -hagen, or -havn in Danish, means "harbor"). There are canals, bridges, fountains, boats and all sorts of other water-related things to see. Here you see one of the older parts of town that tried to monopolize on the "city-on-the-water" idea.


One cannot come to Copenhagen and not see her most famous resident - "The Little Mermaid" statue. It is to honor the character in their native son, Hans Christian Andersen's famous story. Yes, it is a pretty statue. It is, however, somewhat of a letdown. In a city with beautiful architecture and history, wonderful restaurants, shopping and things to do, the most famous attraction is a brass statue that looks to be about four feet tall sitting on a rock at an out-of-the-way location in the harbor. Just goes to show what a little marketing can do!







Danish fashion, while still somewhat "different", still seemed to outdo Norway. These were some particularly ugly pants we saw in the shopping area. They were bright red corduroy embroidered with little bird dogs. Kimber did find a nice dress on sale, and we will return to do some shopping at a later date. There were also a lot of really cool and colorful housewares. Maybe we'll buy some new dishes when we come back!



Papa seemed to have a really good time, and I think he even gained a pound or two from all the food. Here you see him admiring the shopping area downtown. The other picture is of him doing a little hunting. Just kidding - he didn't have his shotgun with him.


Copenhagen was a lot of fun, and we wished we would have had more time there. After all, any place with a store named this has to be cool. We will come back with empty suitcases to fill there next time.

We decided to take a ferry across the channel instead of driving all the way around through Odense, and it cut about an hour and a half off our trip. It was also a nice break from the car. We stayed in Aalborg, and made the very early trip up to Hirtshals the next morning.



The ferry back to Stavanger was an all-day trip, leaving at 8:30 a.m. and arriving back in Stavanger at 8 p.m. It was a little crowded, as people were not sleeping in cabins and such, but it wasn't too bad. The weather was actually very nice, and we were able to spend some time out on the deck. Here are Papa, my mom and Sidney, all enjoying the sun. Sidney was also able to make several friends n the ferry (big surprise,huh?) and spend a lot of time in the little play area on board. She also played a few games of "Go Fish" with Grandpa.


We made it back okay and got a bit of rest last night. Today we went to church and the candle factory, as well as a few other local tourist spots. Here are my folks, Papa and Sidney at the Three Swords monument.

Our next post will be on my folks last couple of days, as well as the fall colors in the area (unless something comes up between now and then!)

Back from Tromso, Headed for Denmark

May parents arrived back from Tromso this morning. All went relatively well, other than Papa forgetting his hearing aid and parka. A quick trip to Fretex (the Norwegian Salvation Army thrift store), and the second problem was solved. Too bad about the hearing aid.

Fretex, by the way, is a great place in Norway. As Norwegians generally keep things in pretty good condition, nice things can be found at reasonable prices. I have purchased a couple of hand-knitted Persian carpets, some appliances (since ours don't work on 230V), and books (in English!) We have also been able to keep up with our normal donations of things Sidney has outgrown.

We head to Denmark tonight on the overnight ferry. We are scheduled for an 8 a.m. arrival in Hirtshals, and we are driving down to Copenhagen. We will spend one night there, then Friday afternoon we will drive back toward the north, as our ferry departs Saturday morning for a return to Stavanger. We will be back here at 8 p.m. Saturday night.

We will take plenty of pictures and have a blog posting up by Sunday.

Snow in Sirdal!

I took my parents and Sidney up to the cabin in Sirdal this weekend. The drive up was very nice and the weather was cool but sunny. When we arrived, we saw the higher mountains had snow, which was a pleasant surprise. We had a nice dinner of roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for dessert, and settled in by the fireplace for the evening.




We awoke Saturday morning to a couple of inches of snow on the ground. The view was quite lovely, and Sidney and my dad went out and built a snowman on the deck. The snow gave way to rain, and we set out on a drive to Lysebotn so my parents could experience the Sirdal mountains.

We stopped at the museum in Sirdal to see the exhibits and the panorama films, which are very nice. The films are done on three screens and are similar to an IMAX, without the difficult filming process. Some parts are done from a person filming by hand, some by a vehicle mounted camera, and some by helicopter. The helicopter parts are particularly good, as it almost makes you feel like you are flying down over the fjords.


We left the museum and started up the mountains toward Lysebotn. We made it about 1/3 of the way up and started losing traction, as the snow was much deeper and the roads much slicker at altitude. We decided to turn back at this point, as the memories of having to turn around seemed much more appealing that the potential memory of sliding off the side of the mountain.


We drove south instead, stopping for a little picnic along the way, and then on to Tonstad. There were fantastic waterfalls due to all the rain. The weather also cleared long enough to give some nice views of the lake with the sun shining on it. We stopped and saw the oxen we had seen on our first trip to the cabin in July, and they looked pitiful, but still kind of cute.








We got back to the cabin and had dinner, listened to the rain, and spent the evening reading by the fireplace. This morning, we cleaned up and headed back, stopping at the candle factory and the wool outlet. The rain continued and the wind increased, causing some of the waterfalls along the way to blow backwards.










My parents head to Tromso tomorrow morning early and are staying there until Wednesday. We depart Wednesday night on the ferry for Denmark. Papa has had a good time relaxing as well, and has been able to do a little reading (though I am not sure how he understands the Norwegian!)




Some people have asked for some updated pictures of the apartment now that all our furniture and everything is "in place." Here you go!

A Quick Note...

Just a quick note to say the parents and Papa arrived safely and without major incident. They are recovering from jet lag and will be doing a little exploring of Stavanger today. We'll see how the bus thing goes.

Kimber is off to Denmark this morning for a conference. She'll be back tomorrow evening, by which time Sidney, my parents, Papa and I will be at the cabin. We are taking the ferry up, so it should be an interesting journey.

It was quite cool here this morning - 39 degrees Fahrenheit! Highs are forecast to be around 48-50 over the next several days. Fall is definitely here!

Looks like a nice sunrise over the fjord this morning, but rain, as always this time of year, is expected. Wind will also be quite strong, especially Saturday (11 meters/second.)