Loen

Today was another great day even if it was raining all afternoon. Last night apparently it rained a lot, it kept Raymond up a bit as I guess it was hard rain, but I slept right through it! Though early this morning it got windy and it was rattling the one blind which was really loud and woke me up…but then I fixed it and went back to sleep.

So we got up and it was not raining, but there were a lot of low clouds so we headed into town to see what we could see and there were a lot of low clouds covering the mountains so we wandered around town a bit and they started to clear up! Our plan for the day was to take the Loen Skylift up to the top and then hike around there so when we could see the top we decided to head up! Well by the time we got on it was all foggy again at the bottom, but the clouds were rolling through quickly so we were hoping we would get some views. You could see nothing at first on the way up and then all of a sudden we were above the clouds and you could see the tops of the mountains! It was so cool!! And the views from the top were so much fun!! The clouds would roll in and then out and I loved it!

We started on our hike up to the highest elevation and when we was almost there we went off trail a bit to spy on the other side and the mountains over there were just as gorgeous. We took a break where we could see both sides and it was so much fun watching the fog come and go. Then when we started hiking again it got super foggy and freezing cold wind - you could not see very far and I thought it is a good thing the trail is this nice, wide gravel path cause you could really easily get lost if it wasn’t well marked. Because the fog was so thick it was crazy! We got to the top and still couldn’t see anything and we were only 1/3 of the way into our hike and Raymond said you know we don’t have to keep going. We can go back the way we came. Sometimes I need someone to point out the obvious and this was one of those times! I was like oh yeah, we can do that. So we turned around and I am so glad we did as right after we started back it started raining really hard and with the freezing wind our now wet hands were frozen as it was so cold! We obviously got soaked, or our rain gear got soaked, and we were dripping wet on the way down. When we did get back to the skylift we looked and you could see the water below, but it was still pretty foggy and raining a lot.

The skylift on the way down was also super fun as it starts going and then all of a sudden it looks like a roller coaster and looks like you are just going to fall straight down! It was fun!! Of course it goes slowly down, but man is that cable car steep! It is really almost straight up and down! So that was fun.

Then we headed on and we stopped on the next town to try and find some hangers as I forgot to pack them and they are handy to hang everything in the bathroom to dry (and not get everything else so wet), but we didn’t have any luck there. We did find this soda to try, Villa, which is a popular soda here. It was a light brown color and it looked like an herb soda I like from Germany so I was expecting something like that. Really it is bubblegum and cream soda flavor? So strange! At first I was like what does this taste like? Once I figure out the bubblegum I was like that and something else…it is also super sweet so we only had a few sips and are saving the rest for later. I then looked up other drinks and we might try and find them to try later!

Then it was on to camp which went on another national scenic route! Now I am sure it is so gorgeous when it is sunny and nice, but I still really enjoyed all the spooky fog and kept stopping to get out in the rain and spy. There were so many waterfalls! And so much water! Also after we got to the top of the hill all of a sudden there were a ton of tour buses! Like so so many it was crazy! I guess where we are staying, Geiranger, is a popular cruise stop! Which makes sense for all the buses! We are staying just up the hill from town at a campsite (there is really nowhere else to park here) which is right next to a waterfall! The last two photos are the waterfall at camp - I can see it out the window here! You can’t hear it very much in the van with the windows closed (it is quite cold out so no open windows), but outside it is so loud! I opened the door to go out and asked Raymond something and I could not hear him. Fun times!

Oh! The third photo I finally got a picture of. We kept driving by these apple farms where they grow apples like vines? It is so strange and I have never seen that before! They make the tree grow around a post so it is like a vine which is super interesting.

It rained almost all afternoon, it finally stopped around 7 and started clearing up so hopefully tomorrow is not too bad! It was nice it held off a bit this morning so we could get a bit of a hike in. I really loved all the views today even if I am sure they are unbelievably beautiful when the weather is nice (they had photos at the skylift on a sunny day and man it looked gorgeous! That will be on the go back to list for next time!). Hoping for some clearer skies tomorrow as we finish this scenic route after a morning hike! We shall see!Read more