Norway—Rugged Scenery and a Country that Works

When asked about our most favorite of the 55 countries we have visited, we usually respond with “The last one we visited.” That certainly applies to Norway, which will remain near the top our list in the years ahead. We loved nearly everything about it. Especially the scenery! It was diverse, but the beauty never stopped.

We started in Bergen, then by ship among  the fjords to the Russian-Finland
 border and back. The markers show where we stayed on our inland route.

After a day in Bergen (totally mobbed with tourists), we took the venerable Hurtigruten Coastal Express north for seven days and 1200 miles, way past the arctic circle. 

The Nord Norge at Kirkenes, 248 miles above 
arctic circle. It was 66 degrees!

The 130-year-old Hurtigruten line departs daily delivering cargo, large mail
parcels, cars, and passengers to 34 coastal communities, stopping 10 minutes to three hours at each. It can hold up to 400 cruise ship passengers, feeding them well.

In the so-called ‘Troll Fjord

In the Geiranger fjord

On Lofoten Island by bus. The ship met us 
At the next stop. The cod fishermen really
Had a hard existence there even 70 years ago.

Along the way, we sailed through some spectacular scenery among the fjords and docked at quaint villages and larger cities. 

A 10 minute stop way north

A fishing village near Ørnes, just above the
Arctic circle

Leaving Brønnøysund going south, taken while
in the jacuzzi at the stern of the ship.

We could get off for brief guided shore excursions, such as walking tours, or just explore on our own. Then at the far northern city of Kirkenes near the Russian boarder, we turned around and headed south, but this time we saw the scenery we missed while sleeping on the way north.

Our biggest surprise was the number of small fishing villages and the size and modernity of some of the cities north of the arctic circle. They had busses, small stadiums, factories, universities, and vibrant downtowns. They didn’t look like old European cities.

Just a small part of Tromsø, way north. A huge music
festival was underway, where much of downtown was
closed off.

Tromsø floating sauna where a cold plunge into the
clean, cold harbor is standard fare

This was because many of them were destroyed during WWII. Norway, with its ice-free ports and mineral resources, was of strategic importance to the Nazis who occupied it during WWII. What wasn’t bombed by the allies, was destroyed by Hitler’s scorched earth retreat as the Soviet forces advanced from the north in 1944.

Honnisgsvlad, pop. 2500, the northernmost town 

in Norway. Mostly a fishing town, it had a high 

school, hospital, cafes, and more.

Early on the cruise, the beloved king of Norway died. Every Norwegian crew member seemed saddened. Passing ships no longer greeted each other by blasting their horns or noisely announcing their presence when arriving in ports. We attended a midnight concert in a beautiful wooden church in Tromsø. It concluded with a moving God Save the King sung in Norwegian. The vocalist and her three accompanists had tears in their eyes.

A tribute to the King by the reception area

We had lectures twice daily about all things Norwegian: the economy, daily living, work life, history, food, weather, culture—you name it. The big takeaway is that Norway is a country that works. Taxes are high, but the social safety net is deep. The income gap is compressed compared to the US and most other countries. The infrastructure is amazing, with bridges and tunnels everywhere.

A gas liquidation plant near Hammerfest.
At 10,000 population, it isthe northernmost
city in the world. Most of Norway’s gas and 
Hydro power is shipped abroad.

A good part is due to the North Sea oil and gas, discovered Christmas Eve in 1969. Prior to then, it was a traditional maritime and fishing nation. Now, it is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, also rich in hydropower. Unlike other petrol-rich nations which often suffer from corruption, Norway didn’t give massive tax cuts or enrich the oligarchs or royalty. Rather, it invested its wealth into education, infrastructure, health care, and a sovereign wealth fund for when the reserves are depleted. It is now the world’s largest such fund at $2.5 trillion (with a T), owning 1.5% of all listed companies globally! That equates to about $400,000 per per Norwegian citizen. Only 3% of it can be spent annually on government operations.

A charming train station from 1890 in the middle
of Nowhere, but a great jumping off point for hiking.

We left the ship early a day before arriving in Bergen to start the second part of our trip, going inland by bus and train. It felt good to be landlubbers again! The interior was just as beautiful as the coastline. And yes, the trains and busses are as punctual as the Japanese or Swiss ones. Over two days we hiked 16 miles in the Doverefjell-Sundallsfjella national park and spotted some elusive musk oxen. And like almost every other day of our trip, the weather gods threatened us, but ultimately smiled upon us.

On our 9-mile hike to spot musk oxen

And there they are! (From a safe distance.)

On a 7-mile loop on part of of the old King’s Way
from Oslo to Trondheim

We often wondered about what it was like to live here for a year, even with the dark winters and the cold. Nearly all Norwegians speak English. Once we got off the ship and away from the major tourist areas, it was so much easier to visit with every-day Norwegians. Some would reach out to us on the train, from adjacent dinner tables, and while hiking. They seemed friendly and outgoing. But as outgoing as they were, the non-Norwegians we met who speak fluent Norwegian say that it is very difficult getting accepted into friendship circles unless you are born here. Perhaps we could handle the cold and dark, but not the loneliness.

A tongue-in-cheek map from a Camino
de Santiago Facebook Page, showing how long it
takes to make friends In various European
countries. (Yellowrepresents some Camino routes.)

We were going to go to Lillihammer and also spend a few days in Oslo. But Kathy cracked a molar in two, and our itinerary didn’t leave us enough time in Oslo or Stockholm for dental care. So, we left early for emergency dental care to St. Albans, UK where our daughter, son-in-law, and six-year-old granddaughter live. It was an excellent decision! Within 48 hours of landing, she had a new laser-printed porcelain crown and fortunately didn’t need a root canal or an implant. Who would have ever thought that Americans would travel to England for dental care! (Fortunately, we had an emergency travel dental repair kit with us, or things could have been much worse.)

But while waiting a full day for our flight, we took in some of Oslo on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The highlights were a huge sculpture park and the Framm Museum, which explored the history of polar exploration and housed a well-preserved early 20th Century arctic exploration ship and many artifacts. It was one more reminder of how we all stand on the shoulders of inventors, pioneers, and courageous explorers.

At the expense of not visiting other countries still on our list of future travels, we definitely want to return to Norway!

“What We Can, While We Can”

“What We Could, While We Could”

Goat cheese ice cream. BEST.Ice.Cream.Ever!

Erling Haaland is everywhere!

Our new favorite candy. Remember Bugles?
These are filled with peanut butter and coated with chocolate

Driving 8500 Miles Around the USA

 

Touring a Gilded-Age mansion in Newport RI

We just completed an eight-week, 8500-mile road trip around the United States. This was our sixth cross-country trip with our 20’ Airstream since 2016. Those don’t include shorter trips in the West. So, what was it like this time? What has changed? What were the highlights? What’s it like being on the road and in campgrounds?

 We weren’t very enthused beforehand and thought it might be our last. We knew all too well how boring or stressful it can be getting through some stretches between Salem and the East Coast. And we always worry about accidents or breakdowns. But, even with a few minor incidents,  it turned out to be a very good trip, and we may do it again. 

Not straight to and from western MA this time. Some familiar,
but many new roads. And with Georgia, South Carolina, and
North Dakota we've been to all 50 states over past 49 years.

Partly what made it so good is that we traveled new routes and experienced new things. This time our goal was Savannah, GA, then north along some of the Atlantic’s barrier islands to Newport RI and the Berkshire Mountains where we co-own a home with one of our daughters. We drove down the beautiful east side of the Sierra Nevada range and then west across the South. Not a good idea in June! We just had to pay our dues and get through some big empty stretches in very hot weather as quickly as possible. How travelers survived without air conditioning as recently as 40 years ago is beyond us.

 What’s Changed over the years?

 

We caught this just in time!

Believe it or not, the roads are better! All the construction underway in the past is completed. Of course, we still had some construction delays here and there. And we still had some very rough roads in AZ, NM, PA, IN, the New Jersey Turnpike, and IL. In fact, the titanium attachment of our bicycle rack snapped off in a very rough patch in New Mexico, necessitating a three-day layover in Fort Worth to get it repaired. And some of those roads jarred our interior doors and cabinets loose. We soon ran out of duct tape!

Getting caffeinated for 
the after lunch drive. The
Red Bulls are for tomorrow

We saw many more charging stations, but they all have head-in parking, which wouldn't work for a trailer.

The traffic, especially truck traffic, is worse. In some stretches of I-40, I-20, I-80 and I-90, semi-trucks outnumbered cars four-to-one. And 25% of them were Amazon, UPS, FedEx or Walmart trucks. It wasn’t fun being wedged in with them at 70-80 mph. (We never went 80!) 

Somewhere between DC and New York City

But I guess we’re used to it by now, and it didn’t bother us like it used to. And truckers are generally more courteous to us than others.

We saw fewer RVs on the road, perhaps because of gas prices and schools in session until mid-June. The public campgrounds have even bigger RVs but very few tents these days. And in the commercial RV parks where we often stayed, we noticed a high percentage of sites occupied by “full-timers,” probably due to the high cost of housing. We also noted how much more expensive campgrounds cost compared to a few years ago or in off-season. They used to be an average of $25 per night; this time $40. A couple were over $100!

 A not so great stay, all to ourselves in Mobile, AL

A great stay at a city park in Sauk City, MN.
The hometown of Sinclair Lewis.

The Highlights?

 We had many, too many to list. The biggest one is simply the process of doing it and our time together. We (especially me) are

The bridge on Cape Hatteras Island

scenery geeks who love watching the landscape transform almost hourly behind the windshield. Sirius Radio and two historical and three novel audio books kept us company, as did the pleasant voice of our GPS system. We would drift off to sleep at night with her frequent “Route recalculation” phrase in our ears.

 

We are also history geeks, so we were in a high school history teacher’s heaven at so many historical places we had only read about: Vicksburg, Selma, Montgomery, Fort Sumpter, Yorktown, and Kitty Hawk, just to name a few.

A Union ironclad ship, the Cairo in Vicksburg, 
 Sunk by Confederates, but raised in 1963

The new Obama and Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Centers were top in this category. More about them below. 

6-week old Langston's first outing

As always, seeing friends and family is a highlight. This time was extra special because we got to see Nati and Jasmine Zavala’s their newborn, Langston, in DC. (Nati was our mentee since he was 7.) We also dropped by to visit Feruza, in Mt. Kisco, NY who is 8 months pregnant, and couldn't join us in Becket like she always does. As usual, we thoroughly enjoyed spending time in the Berkshires with my brother Neal, daughter Skyler, her partner Spencer, and their friends. Good food, good Tanglewood Festival, and good times floating or paddleboarding on Little Robin Lake.

The Becket home with an 
aluminum ADU

 

Visiting a sculpture garden at Edith Wharton's
estate on the 4th of July

Listening to Leonard Bernstein by the Boston
Symphony at the Tanglewood Festival

The Obama Presidential Center (“Library”)

 The Obama Presidential Center! What can we say, other than that it surpassed our expectations and left us feeling happy, but also wistful for an era of hope with presidential decency and dignity gone by. The architecture was stunning and much better in person than in photos. Chicago is a city of in-your-face big architecture, so in that sense the statement it makes fits right in. The inside was even better with stunning artwork and 6 of the 8 stories filled with the history of the Obama era.  (Two stories are their personal and work spaces).

The lettering at the top is an excerpt
from the speech Obama made at the
60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday
in Selma, AL

Like the five other presidential centers we have visited, it put the former president into a good light. But unlike the other centers, it was more about the future and political change than it was about the past. Also, unlike the others, it was highly interactive, relying on dynamic graphics and footage. The prevailing mood of the visitors (mostly from Chicago) was joyful. Of all the places we have been, we never had to wait 30 minutes to get into the museum store to buy swag, or to be photographed in front of a sculpture. 

Just some of the amazing art inside

Having fun being co-presidents

We stumbled upon tickets by luck. It’s sold out until January; but the library, commons, sky view, park, community garden, gymnasium and playground are free and already well-used. It seemed like half of South Chicago was there for a fun Sunday afternoon. I made a public post about our visit with a few photos on Facebook. Most (95%) comments and reactions were positive, but I still can't believe the vitriol, racist, and hateful comments and memes from people I don't know.

 

The Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Center 

Amazing views, lots of wildlife, and no crowds

After our visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin in the beautiful dells of Wisconsin west of Madison, we pressed on through the end of the heat dome in North Dakota to the new Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Center and the surrounding national park named after him. The TR National Park gave us the beauty of Canyon Lands and the animals of Yellowstone, but without all the crowds and selfie sticks.

The TR Presidential Center was stunning, and quite a contrast from the Obama Center. We loved how it blended into the landscape and took advantage of it at the same time. 

Visitors can enjoy the view on top of the sod roof,
large enough to park two 747s

Because TR has been dead for over 100 years, this center offered perspective and objectivity on TR’s life and presidency. It focused much more on his pre-and post-presidential life. It was even more interactive than the Obama Center. Seeing an AI photo of yourself as TR in different stages of his life or asking him questions and getting AI generated answers from him at his oval office were novel and fun. 

The entry lobby. They used pressed
stone, to replicate the geological
formations at the TR National Park.

Whereas the mood in the Obama center was joyful and political, the mood here was downright fun and inspirational. It encouraged visitors to be their best selves and make the world better. It is definitely worth the visit! Interesting connection between the two centers: TR was a prolific writer, and the mockup of the Obama oval office contained many of his books.

 

Home Sweet Home!

North America, east to west, north to south is huge, varied, and beautiful.  We come back with more appreciation for this great land, the First Nation tribes that initially lived in it, the pioneers who settled it, and the people who inhabit it today.  No matter where we were, people were friendly, regardless of what their bumper stickers said.

 

We’ve been home for two weeks now, and it feels great!  Our life at home is such a contrast to the life we lived in a world of five-lane urban freeways, lonely two-lane roads, truck stops, semis, endless horizons and traffic jams, small towns, large cities, campgrounds, and dump stations. We didn’t realize it at the time, but in our air-conditioned cocoon with a good sound system buffeted by rough roads or crosswinds, we were almost always in a state of decision making and concerned about mechanical issues, safety, road conditions, tire pressure, wind, hills, route changes, the weather, and where we’ll sleep next. But that’s the allure, and that’s what made it an adventure we’ll always treasure.  As the saying goes, it’s the journey that counts. But with some of the destinations we experienced, we got the best of both worlds.

 

Sunset over the Columbia on our last night at
the Umatilla marina.

You can read about our previous cross-country trips on these Blogspot links:

From 2016; 

From 2019 (across Canada) and also a summary ;

From 2021(Route 66)  and also

From 2023 6 observations

 From our eclipse trip in 2024

 

West Junius NY, 241 miles from Beckett, MA

“What We Can, While We Can”

“What We Could, While We Could”

The whiteboard in our trailer. We had to 
refer to this often as the days
blended together.