Mark & The Norwegians

I decided to take a day off from work to enjoy some of the kids' winter break with them. My first option, a 12-hour drive to visit an "official" Norwegian tourist-scenic highway east of Bergen was greeted with some skepticism. Option-2, a short drive to go cross-country skiing was welcomed with great glee--well not really great, more subdued perhaps. In any case, we took a jaunt down E-39 over to 42, then 468 up to Haugen (where Timothy had been skiing before).

Very borderline icy/rainy/snowy, and the beginning of the trail was uphill, but we survived (more or less). Many a Norwegian raced by us in their spandex skiing outfits with their shiny new skis--we decided none of our bodies would be done justice by spandex--and after all someone has to look like novices for everyone else to feel better about themselves. Actually, we were a bit of service to the Norwegian skiing movement by demonstrating what rank amateurs look like. The Norwegians see so few beginners as they are apparently born with sticks on their legs.

After a brief spell of skiing, we came back to our warm van, a nice lunch, and a pretty drive back toward the sea and our cozy house. Later, fortified with some hot cocoa and a fire (in the fireplace)--we looked back fondly on another "mini-adventure" that concluded well. Some, of course, don't quite conclude as well as this one, but those are blogs in their own right--if anyone would dare to try to recreate them.