Since nothing new showed up in the paper today for us to go look at to either rent or buy, our host cousins, Odd and Turid, decided, rain and all, we should take a road trip. The Tall Ships Race had landed in the town of Måløy, several hours south of here, and it was decided we should go see the ships in port. Just as I woke up and before I understood the plan for the day, we were out the door in a caravan of cars full of cousins heading south. I lost track of how many ferries we were on or how many tunnels we went through, but I know we went through the world’s deepest tunnel (nearly a thousand feet under the water through the bottom of the fjord). There was a sign before entering the tunnel that said they would send us a bill for 79 kroner ($16) in the mail for the privilege of going through it (it just opened up three months ago.) I guess they send you the road and tunnel tolls the same way they dish out traffic tickets via the road side cameras.
In Norway, the final destination is NEVER as important as the trip itself, as the landscape that unfolds around each corner is worth every penny we spent coming here. I had several great “drive by shootings” as I call them – where I hold the camera out the car window going 50 miles per hour past some incredible landscape, and shoot. Today was a bit more challenging because I was in the backseat and my window doesn’t roll down so I had to hold my camera out of the front seat passenger window and couldn’t even see what I was aiming at. But it rarely mattered as any old “point and shoot” in this part of the world generates a photo worth framing (the above photo is proof of that but maybe we were only going about 40 mph.) There never seems to be time to stop and properly frame a shot, as most ferries are timed so that you can catch them all perfectly if you go the speed limit between them (and there’s nowhere to pull over anyway).
We left around 11:00 this morning (yes I slept in as I was up til 2:30 last night trying to get the blog posted… the internet here isn’t working anymore on my computer…) and it’s now 10:00 at night and we just got home. We stopped to see the tall ships for only about 90 minutes – if that gives you some clue as to how much we were in the car today. We went all the way to the next “state” so it would be a similar day trip going from say, Seattle to Salem, Oregon and back again… except that there are no freeways and you’re on a road that if you drift off just a snitch to the right, you’d go crashing down to your death at the bottom of the fjord. Some of the roads are only wide enough for one car so I’m glad I wasn’t driving as there are often no guard rails, either.
Kaleb cried today because he is out of books to read. We were hoping our boxes would be here by now (I shipped four boxes of books and I know it won’t be enough) but they won’t show up until the 14th (we hope). He’s read every book we brought at least three times this week but I had a few surprise books tucked away in some suitcases, so that pacified him for now. I doubt he saw much of the scenery as he was perfectly entertained reading books. He did ask me to tell him before we entered a tunnel so he could hold his breath, but when the tunnels here go through several mountains and can be over five miles long, that childhood entertainment becomes downright impossible.
The ships were beautiful and the town was jammed packed with people. Even hearty northwesterners might have been deterred by the hard rain we had all day -- but not Norwegians. They have a famous saying that, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes,” so they were out in droves. Kory felt the trip was worth it because he got to eat one of his favorite Norwegian foods – whale! He found a street vendor making whale stew and he dove right in. Norway is so proud of the fact that they kill those majestic creatures that one of their politicians designed a T-shirt with a drawing of a whale on it that says, “Intelligent people need intelligent food.” Kory bought ten of them a few years ago and gave them to the Makah Indians to wear when they go out on a whale hunt (he had a co-worker friend that’s from that tribe.) I haven’t noticed that eating whale meat has made him any smarter, however.
In Norway, the final destination is NEVER as important as the trip itself, as the landscape that unfolds around each corner is worth every penny we spent coming here. I had several great “drive by shootings” as I call them – where I hold the camera out the car window going 50 miles per hour past some incredible landscape, and shoot. Today was a bit more challenging because I was in the backseat and my window doesn’t roll down so I had to hold my camera out of the front seat passenger window and couldn’t even see what I was aiming at. But it rarely mattered as any old “point and shoot” in this part of the world generates a photo worth framing (the above photo is proof of that but maybe we were only going about 40 mph.) There never seems to be time to stop and properly frame a shot, as most ferries are timed so that you can catch them all perfectly if you go the speed limit between them (and there’s nowhere to pull over anyway).
We left around 11:00 this morning (yes I slept in as I was up til 2:30 last night trying to get the blog posted… the internet here isn’t working anymore on my computer…) and it’s now 10:00 at night and we just got home. We stopped to see the tall ships for only about 90 minutes – if that gives you some clue as to how much we were in the car today. We went all the way to the next “state” so it would be a similar day trip going from say, Seattle to Salem, Oregon and back again… except that there are no freeways and you’re on a road that if you drift off just a snitch to the right, you’d go crashing down to your death at the bottom of the fjord. Some of the roads are only wide enough for one car so I’m glad I wasn’t driving as there are often no guard rails, either.
Kaleb cried today because he is out of books to read. We were hoping our boxes would be here by now (I shipped four boxes of books and I know it won’t be enough) but they won’t show up until the 14th (we hope). He’s read every book we brought at least three times this week but I had a few surprise books tucked away in some suitcases, so that pacified him for now. I doubt he saw much of the scenery as he was perfectly entertained reading books. He did ask me to tell him before we entered a tunnel so he could hold his breath, but when the tunnels here go through several mountains and can be over five miles long, that childhood entertainment becomes downright impossible.
The ships were beautiful and the town was jammed packed with people. Even hearty northwesterners might have been deterred by the hard rain we had all day -- but not Norwegians. They have a famous saying that, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes,” so they were out in droves. Kory felt the trip was worth it because he got to eat one of his favorite Norwegian foods – whale! He found a street vendor making whale stew and he dove right in. Norway is so proud of the fact that they kill those majestic creatures that one of their politicians designed a T-shirt with a drawing of a whale on it that says, “Intelligent people need intelligent food.” Kory bought ten of them a few years ago and gave them to the Makah Indians to wear when they go out on a whale hunt (he had a co-worker friend that’s from that tribe.) I haven’t noticed that eating whale meat has made him any smarter, however.
2 comments:
Oh I know it's so wrong but SO I wanted to try whale when I was there!! But I didn't get any.
Poor Kaleb, I feel for him. I guess he will just HAVE to start reading in Norwegian. I bet he can figure it out in about 2 shakes of a lambs tale.
I also went on a very long car ride and only stayed at the destination for under 2 hours. The restaurant wasn't even serving Rommegrot that day!! Tell Kory that's MY favorite Norwegian food.
Kaleb wanted me to tell you he thinks whale meat has very little flavor. And his favorite food is Mørepolse (some kind of dried sausage). I love Rømmegrøt too! But I think the bread and white cheese are the best!
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