I am going to get caught up!! So bear with me on this one.
On our last day in Stockholm, we packed up, and headed out to spend $40 at the bakery. Seriously. We had to try one of everything. And we're not sorry because everything was so good. Except I do like American cinnamon rolls better than Swedish ones. Easy on the cardamom, Mr. Swede. As we snacked on our treats, we waited for Skansen to open. (Skansn is an open-air museum built to preserve traditional Swedish life.) With our Stockholm cards, we could get into the aquarium/monkey house inside of Skansen too so we figured we'd do that really quick. We ended up spending an hour in there because it was awesome. After walking past a couple typical monkey exhibits, we were trying to walk through the next door, but the girl in front of us wouldn't go in. Finally she went in and when we got inside we understood her hesitation. There were 12 lemurs sitting on the path that we were supposed to walk on. It was SO cool to be that close while they just ran around us.
Demonstrating the tiny nature of the shower. Also, the tile is from a Greek island.
These guys were whistling at us. Seriously, they were making catcalls.
As we walked around the rest of Skansen, we saw some farmhouses, lots of animals, and a few other "historic" type things. It's really big, but we couldn't see everything because we still needed to find food, go back to the hotel for our luggage, and then ride subway/trains up to the airport in time for our flight. When we got back to main Stockholm, we got lunch at a little hot dog stand. This time, Andrew got a french-style hot dog, which has a sleeve-like bun with garlic sauce inside, and I had...something. It was tortilla-ish bread with mashed potatoes, ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce (?), a hot dog, and crispy fried onions. It was tasty but a little weird at the same time and super filling.
The Arlanda Airport is kind of fancy. We found some very comfy chairs and the whole terminal had wooden floors. What??
After a slightly nerve-racking flight on a teensy-tiny plane (only 54 passengers), we were in Stavanger! Stephen and Parker greeted us almost as soon as we got off the plane. It was a short, beautiful drive to their house. That night Andrew and Stephen went and played soccer, and Sarah and I surprised ourselves by staying up talking until they got home.
The next day was one of my favorites of the whole trip. We hiked pulpit rock and I loved it! First we got to ride a ferry-I did not realize that ferries could be big enough to bring all the cars with us.
The hike took as about 1hr 20mins to get to the top. It was easily the most fun hike I've ever been on. It started out really steep and rocky and I wasn't too sure it would be enjoyable, but then there would be a mostly flat part for a little bit. It had a lot of variety which made it easy to keep going. I also loved it because you didn't have to wait till you got to the top to have a good view-it was gorgeous the whole way up. The hike pretty much took the whole day because of driving to and from and playing around at the top for a while, so when we got home we had dinner and ice cream, chatted, and went to bed.
Are you a little bit scared for our lives?
Dancing because going down is a lot less work
On Wednesday we got to go on a fjord cruise! At first, we were constantly snapping pictures because everything was so pretty, but we soon realized that if we took a picture of every pretty view, we would fill up our memory card in about 5 minutes.
Pulpit rock from below
Our seal friend
Where did we get that water, you ask? Oh just from the waterfall behind us of course.
After the cruise, we walked around downtown a little bit and then met Stephen at the oil museum. Oil is kind of a big deal in Stavanger.
It was very stinky in here
On Thursday we all did some packing and then drove to Rosfjord. The whole drive was GORGEOUS, as was our view from the apartment. When we got there, we went to the adjoined swimming pools for a while. My favorite part was that they had these big foam cars-obviously meant for children-that Andrew and I played with. We would get on them, go swim into the tide pool, and then try to swim out of it. I think it was the first physical feat that I was better at than Andrew-that isn't why it was fun, but oh man, it was really fun. I wish I had a picture of that. The less-fun part was seeing all the naked people in the locker room...oh Europeans.
This picture doesn't really belong here...but we sure love JoJo
Friday was zoo day! On the drive to Kristiansand I drank an entire liter of water in the car...bad idea. When we got there we still needed to walk from the parking lot to the zoo, and there was just no way that I was going to make it. I was sweating and about to cry. There was a little building-obviously not meant for us-in the parking lot and Andrew went in and found a bathroom for me. I was so happy-I've never been so in love with Andrew as in that moment. (Just kidding, but I'm proving a point here.)
This was a really cool zoo because 1) It was HUGE 2) it had an alpine sled type ride 3) there was a big obstacle course/playground and 4) the exhibits were huge and when you were walking between them, it felt like you were just on a stroll through the forest. One of our favorite parts, besides the ride, was watching them feed the lions.
So much wool!
After dinner at BK, we started the long drive home. Between all the chatting and the fact that it stays light super late, it didn't feel like it took very long at all. It was a nice, full day of fun.
Andrew and Parker got to spend LOTS of time bonding in the car. They both loved it.
On Saturday, we got to go to Parker's t-ball game. It was fun watching him interacting with his friends and to hear so many different languages going on. After lunch, we went with Stephen and the boys to hike up to a waterfall. It was a fun, quick hike and afterward we threw lots of rocks in the water at the bottom.
Next we went to the candle factory, and then hiked on some ginormous rocks at Gloppedalsura.
"Hey Sarah, this rock is bigger than our house!"
On Sunday we had Norwegian waffles and fruit before church. The translation was a lot better at their church than in Sweden, but it was still really hard to focus. After church Sarah took us and the boys to the three swords monument. It was a lot bigger than I expected. The weather was perfect and we had fun walking around, skipping rocks, and watching the boys enjoy themselves.
Best car buddies ever
Monday marked the end of our wonderful vacation. I finished my book on our flight to Copenhagen, and they didn't have the next book at the airport. So...Andrew had a rough 11 hour flight to San Francisco because I drove him crazy. I got soo bored this time around and was just ready to be home. We had about a 4 hour layover in San Francisco-we stepped outside and enjoyed the sunshine for a minute-and then finally got to Salt Lake around 10 or 11pm. Deborah picked us up and I don't even remember the trip home. I know I stayed awake, but I was still so exhausted. We fell asleep as soon as we got back, and loved surprising Adaline by being home in the morning.
Saying goodbye
Enjoying some reindeer on the way home
We had an AMAZING trip! I feel so lucky for all that we got to do and see. We have the best family ever for helping us work everything out. Especially Deborah and Alan for watching Adaline for two weeks, and Stephen and Sarah for being the most wonderful hosts/tour guides/adventure planners! Thank you. Thank you! THANK YOU!!!!
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