Lucas's Birthday Weekend July 30-31, 2011

We had a 2 day whirlwind vacation planned starting early on Saturday.  We first went to Eidsvoll Manor where we were given a private tour of the home where the Norwegian constitution was signed.  We learned some interesting facts about the process and the Danish Crown Prince who was at the manor waiting patiently to be elected their king.  Sadly once the elected the Swedish put at end end to his reign very quickly. It was more than 90 years before Norway would have its own king again.

From there we went North to Lillehammer and visited to former Olympic site. We toured the museum which had a good exhibit on all the modern Olympic games ever held and then watch a video about the Lillehammer games.  The pride that the Norwegian have in their games was quite evident.  Afterwards we left Lillehammer and drove up towards Lom.  On the way we stopped at a nice road side picnic area where we had lunch.

In Lom we toured the stave church and listened in on a tour. The church was a popular stopping point for the middle ages pilgrimage to Trondheim.  Lom seemed like a nice town but we quickly left to continue our trip towards the Lustrafjord.  The road quickly be came much steeper and we climbed to the highest mountain pass in Norway where everything was snowy and very rustic.  We stopped for photos a few times on the way.  Upon reaching the top of the pass we started the very steep drive down the Mountain.  At time the road had a grade of 10% and we had to break often to make it down the hill.  The brakes were smoking a bit we we arrived at the bottom. 

Next we proceeded around the northern tip of the Lustrafjord stopping the Dale Church along the way to our camp site.  We found the cabin without any trouble and were excited to see that it was only a few feet from the water.  We went into town to get a pizza for dinner and then enjoyed it outside our cabin while reading our books and watching the sunset.


On Sunday we woke up early and drove to Jostedalen / the Nigardsbreen glacier. We got there in time to make the first glacier hike. However Lucas felt we were cutting it close so we hiked quickly to the glacier from the parking lot instead of waiting for the boat that takes you half way.  It was a mistake as the trail was very rough and the boat moved quickly.  However, we made it on time and had an enjoyable hike on the glacier.  The highlight was going through an ice tunnel.

We made it back to our car and started the 7 hour drive home.  Most of the drive was filled with beautiful scenery and it included a ride across the fjord on a ferry.  Traffic wasn't too bad but there were long stretches of gravel which slowed us down quite a bit.  Right before we got to Oslo, we ended up driving by Utøya island where the terrible shootings of the previous week ocured.  In the end it was a wonderful trip and our only regret was that we didn't have longer to enjoy the fjord.


On a side note, this is our 100th post!