Boda Borg, carpool karaoke, Oxelosund

Today we drove to a town south of Stockholm about 100 k away known as Oxelosund. Oxelosund is home to Boda Borg a quest centre which our friends the Kleins raved about after their trip to Sweden a few years ago. The trip was fun as we got to see some of the rural areas around Stockholm. The boys got their devices hooked up to the car computer via Bluetooth. I don't know how they can figure this out but they can. We had a good run of carpool karaoke all the way to Oxelosund. James Cordon would have been proud of us. I wanted to get a video but Chris wouldn't let me.The joy but frustration of living with teenagers.

We made it to Boda Borg before ten and signed up for the full day and the lunch. Boda Borg is a quest centre. To complete the task you need a team of 3-5 . You can't do it by one's self .You enter rooms and either have to perform physical tasks as a group, solve puzzles, press light sequences in a specific order before being allowed to proceed to the next room. Basic instructions were provided in English on the doors which after about an hour my children realized would be helpful to read before starting.Rooms have themes like escape from prison, Safari adventure or Ninja warrior. There was a lot of crawling on knees through small spaces. I felt at times that I was in a McDonald's play area. By lunch I was exhausted and Cheryl had a massive headache but the kids were having a blast. After a traditional Swedish lunch of make your own Tacos the kids were back at it. Cheryl and I took a long time over the Tacos in order to savour the food in such a romantic setting. Or maybe it was because we needed a rest. I headed out for another round with the kids while Cheryl had a drug induced nap on the couch. By 2 I was absolutely spent and feeling my entire age. The kids didn't want to go but fortunately Cheryl had an exit strategy. A Cold War military installation just outside of town. My children seem to love anything military. They must get it from their mother who also has a penchant for military museums. Did I ever tell you that her Grandfather was at Vimy ridge. The opportunity to visit a Cold War series of batteries dug into the bedrock in the 60s was just too much to resist. The installation consisted of these three huge guns and radar facilities controlled by central bunkers built into bedrock to a depth of 30 metres. It felt very 60ish something you would expected out an early James Bond movie. We had our very own personal tour from a local high school student whose English was just okay. The tour normally takes an hour but we were so interested that it took us 1.5 hours. In addition to the large guns, they had lots of other military paraphernalia including guns, rockets, drones etc. We were in our glory. After the tour we got back in the car, drove to a grocery store for supplies and did some more carpool karaoke. On the way back to Stockholm everyone tried to console me for my poor showing at Boda Borg by telling me that as a tall adult that the place wasn't designed for me and that I was probably one of the older players at the facility. I also think that our friends the Kleins are a little younger and obviously a little fitter then we are.Read more