Baby on board!!

Our life is turned upside down when a little baby arrived in March!! Fantastic, and we love him so much words cannot describe it! But the plan is to continue our traveling, outdoors activities and active life. We just have to make some changes and adjustments and take things at a completely different pace. Stay tuned and see how this works out! I´ll try to share some relevant tips and if anyone has any for me, please let me know!! :-)

The below pics are from Jr´s first visit in my boat on a really nice, sunny day when he was about a month old. Of course the Beard was with us to look after her new little brother.

Spring in Stavanger

Sooooo, long time, no see... Life has again made some big changes and I am back in the city after a couple of years in the mountains. Spring has been cold, but fingers crossed that we get a nice summer then!

Just a few snaps from our summerhouse, where we have had a few days in the sun (in-between the rain...).

The little Sausage is still going strong, and enjoys her favourite look-out point by the window. Every time someone walks by she´ll let everybody know, loud and clear!!!
 

Norway´s oldest tunnel

Today I´ve visited the oldest tunnel in Norway. It is actually 10 minutes by car west of Haukeliseter. I´ve never known this, but a good friend and colleague had been there and showed us the way. It is located on the old road that goes over the Haukelitunnel. This road is only open half the year when there is no snow. Instead of going through the current tunnel, you take the old road from the sixties and park along the road on the top. From there it is only a short hike towards west. The view on the way is also really nice. And it´s an easy hike even for small children.

The tunnel was built in 1886 and is along the old-old road that crosses the mountain. There is another not-so-old road that goes above the tunnel on today´s road and this is the one you drive along to get there.

In the middle, a few parts are broken, but this actually makes a nice viewpoint and lets some light into the tunnel.

The Beard also came along. Her little friend is trying to get her to sit, but she couldn´t care less... :-)

This year, the mountains have been full of lemmings, these little, angry animals related to hamsters. The Beard loves them, both to hunt for them, play around with them and sometimes eat them. It has been reported that some of them have pest, so I hate it when she chews on them. But so far, she´s not been sick...

"What?! Why no more hunting!?!"

Fall is coming to Haukeliseter

Today it has been raining elephants and zebras! But yesterday was a beautiful day with comfy temperatures and no wind. The mountain is starting to get it's fallsuit on, where the colours are going from summergreen to bright orange and yellow. I love this time of year!

I paddled out to a little island in front of Haukeliseter with some colleagues where we let the dogs run around freely for a long time. We were lazy in the sun and the fourlegged were having a blast.

Ally at Hardangervidda

Last week, the Beard and I had another mini trip with the Ally canoe in Ståvatn. We packed tent, some food and sleepingbag and paddled to an island west of Haukeliseter. The wind was from West on our way there, so I struggled a bit to make speed. The Ally canoe is very lightweight, and even with the tent and food, the Beard and other stuff in the front of the canoe, it is still difficult to paddle towards the wind, especially when I'm paddling alone. But we made it to our destination after a while.

I put the tent up in a little bay facing south towards Kvanndalen. This is away from the road passing Haukeliseter (E 134) and you cannot hear or see the cars from this side. Makes me feel like I'm faaaar away, but still we're close to home if something happens. Which was good the day after...

The view I woke up to the day after:

With no wind of waves, I took my time cooking breakfast and enjoying the peace and quiet. Unfortunately, I enjoyed myself a bit too long, and by the time I had packed all the gear and got the Beard and myself in the canoe, the wind had picked up quite a bit. And now it was coming from East, which was our direction back to Haukeliseter...

After I had struggled for quite some time without making any progress, I decided to paddle across the wind and waves and head to the mainland near the road North of me. Then I had to call a colleague to come and pick us up up in the car and take us back to Haukeliseter. I felt a bit stupid (especially with the canoe sticking out of the car), but if I had kept on paddling I guess I had spent all day trying to get back, which was not exactly good for work. Haha...

Canoooooing in Ståvatn by Haukeliseter

This morning, the Beard and I took a short paddle in Ståvatn before work. We, no I, paddled to the biggest island in the lake west of Haukeliseter, where we had a short stop before we returned to Haukeliseter and work. A really nice start to the day! :-)

When we got close to the island, the Beard was ready to get on land, and all of a sudden she jumped and swam the last part. I wasn't prepared and almost lost my camera overboard...

As usual, a little bath in shallow waters.

The Beard was not very interested in going back to the canoe and paddling home...

Summer 2014

This has been the laziest summer I´ve ever had! I´ve spent it lounging on a sunbed with a book at our summerhouse and lounging on a sunbed at a small island in Greece. No sailing (so far) and hardly any hiking. What is going on?!?!?!?

The summer has been extremely warm - which I think is great! But the Beard has been a bit over heated at times. Good thing she can cool down in small lakes when we go hiking - here from a trip towards Vesle Nup. She looooves to mud bath, which I´m not too fond of, as she often has to shower when we get back home...

I´ve had one short trip to my cabin, which of course was great! 

And I carried up new shutters for my windows, so these are ready to be put in place (not by me obviously!!). They are made by the same model as the old ones made by my great grandfather, with the small hearts on them. And only recycled wood is used. I love them!! Can´t wait to see how it will look when they are put on.

The old shutters still in place, the new ones on my back!

I hope the autumn will bring some more activities than the last few months - stay tuned... :-)

Fourlegged office assistants

Today it's raining cats and dogs outside, so my two furry friends are with me in the office. They are often here, but usually they sleep on a blanket under my desk. For some reason, they are both ON my desk today instead...

Just at the entrance, there is another window, but the Sausage is too small to look out. I'll give her cred for trying... :-)