Norway-Tromso

After being in the Oslo area we flew another 2 hours north to Tromso. Tromso is in the far north of Norway and since it is in the Arctic Circle region I have decided that it is close enough to the North Pole to say I've been in the North Pole.  The first day we arrived we went to see the Arctic Cathedral, a famous landmark in Norway. We also took a cable car up the mountain side. Normally from the top of the cable car you can see magnificent views of Tromso, however on this particular day it was snowing and the wind was whipping around so hard you felt like you were in a blizzard.  Instead of walking around we ended up taking  a few photos and then had some hot chocolate instead.

Inside the Arctic Cathedral

Steve driving the sled

The highlight of our time in this region was dog sledding. From tromso we were bussed another hour and a half into the mountains. We arrived and were given "survival suits" which were essentially adult versions of snowsiuts, boots, gloves and a hat if you needed it. We took another smaller van out to where the dogs were. The minute we got out of the van I could hear all of the dogs barking excitedly. There we six teams of dogs set up for us, and each sled had six dogs. They were all harnessed up and pulling on their sleds just waiting to start running. After a short tutorial on how to run the sleds we were on our way. We went for almost 2 hours which covered about 10 miles. It was a perfect winter day, there were a few flurries but little wind. There was fresh snow from the day before and the combination of the snow and mountains made you feel like you were in the middle of no where.

Steve and I took turns driving the sled and sitting on the sled. When you are the passenger you get to enjoy the scenery more, and you get watch the dogs. I thought the dogs were as fun to watch as the scenery. Each dog looked pretty different from each other and they run differently too. One of our dogs ran with it's butt to the right hand side  the whole time almost like his back legs were faster than his front legs. They say the smartest dogs lead the pack and the back dogs are the strongest. I'm not sure what traits the middle dogs have. The one downfall of sitting in the sled is that the dogs do all their bathroom business as they run, and when you are sitting directly behind them, it's not always very pretty to see or smell.

Now when you are driving the sled you don't get to take in the scenery around you as much because you've got to pay attention to the dogs your speed and balance so the sled doesn't tip over. However, you feel the speed of the sled much more than sitting. It's like sticking your head out of the window of the car. It's exhilarating to feel the dogs pull you so quickly. Dog sledding is much more physically demanding than I thought it would be. Besides balancing, the driver needs to jump off the sled when you go up  hills to help the dogs by pushing the sled up the hill. Luckily for me Steve drove most of the hilly part.

After dog sledding we had a nice lunch of bread and reindeer soup. The soup was delicious, reindeer tastes like beef. Overall a fantastic experience I absolutely want to do this again. I hear they have dog sledding in the northern part of Minnesota. Now the only thing I've got to deal with is that Steve (who most of you know is a avid cross country skier) wants to get a dog when we get back so he can go skijoring. You know where people harness themselves to a dog and the dog pulls them as they ski behind...we'll see how that works out.

Norway Part 1

Hello all,  it's the guest contributor to the blog Steve.  Mary asked me to write our post on Oslo and the Hallingdahl valley given the personal ancestry connection.   Our trip kicked off in Oslo.  The city is a great mix of new clean lines Scandinavian design and old school buildings.  We both really liked Oslo as it really had a different feel from where we are living.  Norwegians really take pride in the cleanliness of their cities (i.e.  no dog poop on the sidewalks) and also about weaving the culture of the country right into the urban landscape.  By this I mean Nordic skiing is everywhere.  We caught the metro out to Homenkolen to see the city setting up for the 2012 world cup ski jumping and cross country ski races the next few days.  The evening before I took the same line a few stops further and found myself cross country skiing in the woods overlooking the city.  This experience really helped to solidify that in my travels Norway still ranks at the top end of my list.

forget deer, watch out for skiers

The new opera house in Oslo

 

After seeing the Opera House, Kings Palace, the ski jump, the houses that still remind me of the old houses in MN and some great cafes on the main street Karl Johan's Gate we caught the train out of Oslo to a small town in the Hallingdal valley called Nesbyn.  It is around this area where my great grandfather comes from.  We were picked up at the station by probably one of the nicest people in the world.  Terje is something like a second grand uncle to my father.  His father and my great grandfather were uncle and nephew.  No matter how close or distant, we were family.  Terje took us to their Hytte (cabin) for the evening and there we met his wife Torun who was also wonderful. We spent the evening in the mountains and the next morning doing some hiking and taking in the valley scenery.   We looked at old photos and talked about his travels to the US and all of the genealogy work my dad and uncle had done.  The next day we traveled to the old Engebakken farm and also the site where my great grandfather grew up.  This was a really amazing experience to see the exact spot where my roots in the US all started.  I learned that my grandfather changed his name to Bakken  and dropped the (Enge) when he came to the U.S. in 1905.  Crazy to think he came with $10 in his pocket!  After a tour of the valley, a lunch of waffles and coffee, and reading a letter that was written from Terje's father to my great grandfather about how he was settling in to the U.S.  we got ready to head back to Oslo to catch our next day flight to Tromso.  Overall a quick but great experience seeing Norway by winter and learning a bit about my roots. Mary will be writing soon about what we did after Oslo and Nesbyn, stay tuned...

Steve and Terje

The view from the cabin

Great grandfather (Enge) Bakken's farm