Fjords!

After we left Trondheim, the most telling part of our journey began. We would never have imagined that we would have been so tested! We decided that since it was so light out we would drive all night, down through the fjords, and end up in Oslo around 3am where we would get a hotel and sleep for a few hours before begining our tour of Oslo. Great idea right? Well, it was until we encountered this:

For those of you who can't read Norwegian (we were there right along with you) this sign says "stop when blinking red, tunnel is closed". We could have potentially gleaned that, but it was late and we were tired. We stopped outside the tunnel, but after watching a car come out of the tunnel, we decided it was safe to procede.

Unfortunately, after going through 2-3 tunnels with these red blinking lights we think we found out why they were turned on. The freeway was closed. Detour! The sign told us. However, once again, we couldn't read Norwegian so we were off on our own little adventure through the country and fjords of Norway. It was beautiful as you will see in the following pictures.

At 1:30 am when we realized we were about to dead-end at a ferry, which was non-operational until 5:45am, we were a little bit bummed. We had the option of driving 3 hours back to Trondheim or camping the night in the car and catching the ferry in 3 1/2 hours. We decided to cut our losses and spent the night in the car. That also meant that for over 24 hours there was little hygiene. The worst part was the no teeth brushing. Not from smelling others breath, but from feeling so unclean myself. I shudder at the thought!

Amanda, don't push me! j/k I lost my balance. It was a thin board and around 1:00 am. I think that's a good enough excuse don't you?

Our rental van on the ferry. It is the white van at the front of the line!

Denise and Paul looking across the fjord while crossing it on the ferry. They don't look all that bad considering they spent the night in the van.

The wake that the ferry created.

dun Dun DUN! This is one of the scarriest pictures of me that I have ever taken. It shows the lack of sleep and the need for a refreshing shower too. Its really a good thing I came out so dark in it or it might have destroyed your eyes or my camera or both!

The ferry approaching the dock. I had never taken a ferry before. It was a cool 1st time experience that I got to do 2-3 more times on this trip!

The fjords are inlets from the ocean. The way to differentiate if you are looking at a lake or a fjord is to look for the tide line. As you can see in this picture above the tide is low.

Breathtaking fjords...scary scary unwashed girls. Well, I can't speak for Amanda and Jessica. But I can for myself. I remember thinking...please let this photo have us in the distance so no one can see our griminess! Good camera skills Denise!

The water was such a neat color of blue and green. It was very glassy too. You could feel the cool temperature of the water just by looking at the color.

This is a wooden bridge. Most of the historical structures in Norway and Sweden are non-existant because they were made out of wood and it has eroded over time (especially in that climate). However, you can't blame them. They were utilizing the resources they had. Lots and lots and lots of wood!

You may not be able to see it so well in this picture...but in the background that sign reads "fartsmaling" hehe!

Pete's & Denise's family (R-L, back then front): Denise, Jessica, Pete, Paul, Rachel, Nicole, Peter.

Thanks for taking the time to visit! I hope you enjoyed it, but it is now time to move on!

Next stop: Oslo!