Skåbu

This past weekend we went to a cabin about five hours north of Oslo in a small town called Skåbu. At 600 people, it is the largest mountain town in Norway. The cabin, owned by the Borg Brewery where Lene's father works, was very luxurious. Four bedrooms (each with an electric heater), a newly remodeled interior, two fireplaces and even a sauna attached to the building left me thinking that "cabin" might be too modest a word.

We drove up on a Thursday since Lene was off work early and the plan was to meet up with another three people who were driving up on friday. We loaded up the car with groceries, warm clothes and cross-country skis in preparation for the trip. I ended up driving the rental car on our way there since Lene doesn't have a drivers licence. Living in Oslo, a small city with good public transportation, she's never needed one. There is also the expense; it costs several thousand dollars to get a driver's licence in Norway because of all the various fees, including drivers education and a driving test that lasts hours. Fortunately, a U.S. driver's licence is valid in just about every country in the world so I was able to drive the car for us.

I could just leave it there, pretend the drive was no problem and move on with the story, hoping to forget about it, but it was terrible. We took the subway to get to the car rental place and from there needed to go back to Lene's apartment to pick up all of our bags. Taking the subway to the rental place was fine; the problem came when we realized neither of us had brought the gps that Lene borrowed from her dad. Worse, there was heavy construction going on in the area, an area already filled with confusing roundabouts and clogged with rush hour traffic. Lene, not having a licence and not really knowing her way around the outskirts of Oslo, had to call a friend for directions. She would read signs, relay where we were to her friend and then tell me where to go. It was a mess. We almost postponed leaving until the next morning, but in the end we decided to load up the car and go for it.

Arriving sometime around 11pm under a nearly full moon we were well rewarded for leaving that night. It was cold in Skåbu, somewhere between 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit, and it had snowed fairly recently covering everything in a layer of crystallized snow. The cold night sky outlined ghostly trees sparkling in the moonlight and we could see a wide valley stretching out below us which then flowed up into distant mountains. Despite the beauty, the cold quickly chased us inside where we quickly started a fire and curled up next to it on the sofa. Fortunately, the electric heaters helped speed things up, and before long the cabin was nice and cozy.

The next morning we were woken by the sun streaming in through our north facing windows. What we'd glimpsed under moonlight was now revealed in full by the shining sun. The sky, nearly cloudless and unbelievably blue, yawned over the snow covered landscape while a low lying range of mountains stretched across the horizon. After a quick breakfast we piled on layers to face the cold. There wasn't enough snow on the ground to make use of our skis but we ran around in the field behind the cabin like we were kids again. The sun stayed low on the horizon the whole day. This far North and this close in the year to the winter solstice, the sun never gets too far above the horizon, nor does it set and rise directly in the West or East. The sun comes up in the North-East, hangs low in the sky for a few hours, and then dips back down in the North-West. I think the low lying sun and the altitude both contributed to the intense blue of the sky.

Three of Lene's friends arrived that afternoon and over the next few days we had a great time hiking around, playing cards and enjoying some great food and wine. Lene's friends are exceptionally friendly and welcoming and of course their English is excellent. Though it was cold, with the right clothes it was easy to spend the day outside walking around. We even did a little shopping in one of the local stores which had hand-made wool gloves, socks and hats as well as some other touristy items. Though the town only has 600 full time residents, there are cabins scattered all throughout the mountains just waiting for people to come up on the weekends and get a taste of the outdoors without leaving their creature comforts too far behind. Our only regret was the lack of snow since we had all brought skis out to use (I had borrowed a pair from Lene's friend). My last experience with cross-country skiing wasn't the most positive (during my brief stint racing in Colorado) but it still would have been fun to experience the Norwegian countryside in such a traditional way. Maybe I'll have a chance to do it some other time.

I hope all the Americans reading this had a wonderful Thanksgiving,

Take care everyone!