memories of another summer trip

flying in, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

A few years ago we went to the coast of Maine, and it was gorgeous. I want to go back and see more of the blue water, brown seaweed, darkgreen forests, and gray and pink granite. I reminded me a lot of Sweden, and it had the same smells and very similar plants.... nice!

This photo is from Mount Desert Island (Acadia National Park), and the seagull on the right just happened to fly in when I took the photo.

EH snapshot: Godahoppsudden Askö Södermanland

Travel report from EH, out kayaking in the Baltic archipelago of Sweden.
" Vi paddlade nära Julafton och rundade Godahoppsudden... (Julafton är en fyr nära Trosa)"

Translation: We kayaked near Christmas and around the Cape of Good Hope... (Christmas is a light house near Trosa and Askö).

Summer in northern Sweden (from EH)

Fröå mine, a coppermine in Åre, Sweden. In the bakery they make
flatbread in a woodfired oven. 'Rallarros' (fire weed) is the flower in
the foreground.

Childhood memories

valentine for Hubby
Originally uploaded by Miss Paula in Stitches

LS blogged about cars and SAAB and I thought about childhood. And then this came in my way, also a part of our childhood.

Just another photo...

the view, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

....from Blue Lake Ranch. Do you understand now why we loved this place so much?

Landscapes in rain

Just a few photos from our trip to the Swedish and Norwegian mountains this summer. These are from a lake in a valley somewhere close to the Norwegian-Swedish border in northern Värmland, but I have forgotten exactly where. Even if it was cloudy and rainy the scenery is gorgeous.

A first taste of Maine

We are back from an amazing week in Maine, about 600 miles northeast of New Jersey, and a different kind of life and land. It was simply wonderful! A lot reminded me of Sweden and a lot did not. We had rented a cottage on Mount Desert Island, and during our time there we visited Acadia National Park, drove up to Cadillac Mountain, took a ferry to Little Cranberry Island, eat LOTS of lobsters and mussels and clams, hiked along the shore, went whale watching, went fishing, went lobstering, ate lobster rolls, saw very old antique cars in a museum, found the best grocery store in the world, got mosquito bitten (plenty), and on an on. I took 500 photos, that now need to be gone through and a few of them will make it onto the blog. Just be patient dear friends and family and you will see Maine here soon. Here is a first taste - the fantastic little cafe at Islesford on Little Cranberry Island. Yummy!

Adria, Winnebago, Polar...

Garrison Kiellor, the host of the famous radio show The Prarie Home Companion, has written an eulogy for the winnebago/RV/caravan/husvagn. With gasoline prices rising fast all over the world few people want to pull a giant box around on the road. An excerpt:

"Nonetheless it's sad to see the motor home fade into the sunset. I used to despise them when I was a canoeist, of course. You paddle up to a campground at the end of a hard day and see a few RVs parked there, the air conditioners rumbling, the flickering blue light of the TVs in the windows, and as you set up your tent as far from them as possible, you feel a moral grandeur purer than you will ever feel again. A holy Christian pilgrim among the piggish heathen."

This reminds me of growing up. Our caravan was always the tiniest of them all, except for some childless hippie-like couples that had the little egg-like ones. We had no TV, no AC, no bathroom, no shower, and with all beds down the remaining floor space was less than 0.7 square meter (=7 square feet). We spent a lot of time outside.

Kiellor goes on talking about how America is not made for non-gasoline life, and wonders what will happen:

"So we will need to amuse ourselves in new ways. I predict that banjo sales will pick up. The screened porch will come back in style. And the art of storytelling will burgeon along with it. Stories are common currency in life but only to people on foot."

Costa Rica - more fun!

AREA has been taking some great photos. Here is a bromeliad, and the meter-long leaves turn red when it flowers. You don't want to run into these plants.Here is a cuatymungy that AREA saw on her hike up to Rincon. LS didn't see it, haha! We were coming out of the trail and into the parking lot, when all of a sudden, we saw it! It was just chilling out, eating some stuff. It wasn't scared of us at all. It walked right past us!
LS wanted to show you all how the roads look like in Costa Rica. No Lines! This is the main highway in the country, the Pan-American Highway that goes from Patagonia to Alaska. The driving is very scary here, especially in San Jose in a little taxi. LS and AREA would never drive here!
Another airborne photo by AREA looking at some beautiful islands.
A graffiti mural on a wall in San Jose. AREA told LS to take the photo.