Friday, July 29, 2016

We love Norway. We love Lysebotn, Norway, to be more specific. We’ve gone to Lysebotn 3 years in a row now, and this year we thought we’d be staying a lot longer than we did. Lysebotn is breathtakingly beautiful, especially when the weather

cooperates! We decided to leave Lysebotn earlier than planned for a couple of reasons, but the main reason being weather, followed by we could! We are mobile! We were experiencing a lot of low fog and rain, which were not so conducive to BASE jumping or speed flying. So, on Wednesday morning we packed up camp and said goodbye to our friends. Before I move on to the next part of our journey, we want to give a big shout out and thank you to Olav and Werner, and everyone who works at Kjerag Lysebotn Camping and Olav’s Pub for your hospitality! Yes, we love BASE jumping, and we love beautiful places, but we love coming back to people who welcome us like family.  We love you guys!

Wednesday morning we jumped on the road and I messaged my friend Breanna. She is staying with some friends in Sweden and we knew we wanted to see her and make some dorky memories. Breanna is elegant, gorgeous, and quiet – until you get to know her. She has the best “resting bitch face” while she is working, and many people don’t know how to read her when they first see and/or meet her. Her quiet focus on her work (packing/rigging parachutes) can make her look or seem like a snotty pretty girl. She is the perfect example why you shouldn’t make up your mind about someone before you actually have a conversation with them (unless they’re hurting a puppy or something!). You might possibly miss out on a new best friend!

We stayed at a rest stop (#vanlife) on Wednesday night and finished the drive to Karlsborg, Sweden, on Thursday. We met Breanna at a little cafe by the water. After a coffee and a snack we walked around the cute little town. After we strolled around the lakes, we went to our friend Liala’s house. Skydiving has given us so many friends and connections around the world. I met Laila when I was packing parachutes with Breanna for a Swedish military contract in Perris, California.  We were al

so both bridesmaids for Breanna and Eva’s wedding! Laila told me then that if we found ourselves in Sweden, we need to stop by! Maybe she wasn’t serious, but we took her up on it! Hehe! When we arrived at her house she was taking out a freshly baked apple cake – äppelpaj – and setting up a table for us. Her and her husband Mikael were amazing hosts! After eating a snack and drinking some coffee, they brought us to a beach a few kilometer’s away. While on our walk there, we searched for popular Kantareller mushrooms. Swedish people find these mushrooms, and when they find “a good spot”, they won’t tell anyone where to find them! After the beach, we walked a different way home where wild blueberries and raspberries were everywhere!

When we got back to Laila’s and Mikael’s place, they wanted to take us on a mini-tour of the less touristy spots of Karlsborg. Karlsborg was set up as Sweden’s “back up” capitol. It’s surrounded by water and there’s only one way into the city. From the top of a hill, we could see all of Karlsborg, the fort/church, and all the bright blue lakes.

They brought us to see one of Karlsborg’s lockes in one of the many riverways leading to Stockholm. Our fabulous hosts then brought us home where Laila made us homemade pizzas with the kantareller mushrooms foraged earlier. Pizza, wine, Swedish whiskey, great conversations and stories wrapped up this awesome day.

We left Karlsborg, Breanna, Liala, and Mikael this morning (Friday) after another great meal. Our next stop will be to sleep tonight somewhere random, then to see our friend Kiwi Dave tomorrow north of Stuttgart in Germany! We are currently driving southbound through Sweden and are crossing into Denmark through the rad bridge/tunnel pictured below!