Family Fjord
July 18-26, 2018
When Kirb was 8 years old, his grandfather Bampa retired and took all the adults on a Caribbean cruise, then flew out the 6 grandkids to meet up in Florida for a family trip to Disneyworld. Kirb remembers this vacation fondly. Bampa is in his 90s now, and decided he wanted to be able to see his family enjoy the money he was going to leave them instead of them inheriting it when he's gone. Kirb's mom thought about what to do for fun with some of this unexpected loot, and decided she wanted to take her family on a big trip just like her mom and dad did.
Several weeks traveling through Sweden and Norway was the dream vacation of Kirb's brother Scott and his brotherwife Kristine, and they (mostly her) had meticulously started planning it a year in advance. Kirb's parents Lauren and Dennis, Scott and Kristine, and their two kids Nate and Anna would spend a week in Sweden first before we would meet up with them on the west coast of Norway. As we live a short plane ride away from virtually anywhere in Europe, it was easy for us to come and tag along for a full-on Kirb family vacation. The rest of the fam would be ending their trip in Bergen, so we bought round-trip tickets through there, rented a car, and immediately hit the road to the center of the country.
Our travel day consisted of waking up early in Berlin, flying to Oslo for a layover, then catching a short flight to Bergen. Once we had the car, it was a 5-hour drive out to our first destination, some charming-looking cabins called Beitostølen Hytter near Jotunheimen National Park. Even before we made it into Bergen, it became clear that this was going to be a gorgeous country to drive through. We passed by massive waterfalls, stopped for coffee at a cute roadside cabin with a turf-covered roof, and had to constantly stop ourselves from pulling over to take pictures so that our 5 hour drive didn't become significantly longer. Whether we were on the main highway or a rural road, there were several instances where we were blocked by sheep. They didn't care that your car was trying to come through, they'd just lay there. We started calling them "road lumps."
By the time we arrived at Beitostølen Hytter we'd been on the go for 13 hours. To our chagrin, the charming cabins were more like a trailer park, but we were too tired to really care. We had chosen to cover so much ground on the first day because we planned on waking up early the next morning for what promised to be a challenging hike, one that the small children and olds wouldn't care for so we'd have to do it before we met up with them.
Besseggen Ridge is "the most popular day hike in Norway," with an estimated 60,000 people walking it each year. Kirb assumed that this meant the trail wouldn't be overly tough, but Mazz had her reservations. She had read some reviews of the hike online and people seemed to think it was really hard; Kirb pointed out that there were pictures of small kids on a summit on the website, and that there's no way we couldn't handle such a popular hike. You start the trek by taking a ferry from the town of Gjendesheim, which floats along the glacial-fed emerald green Gjende lake to the trailhead. From there, the trail description said you climb up somewhat steeply to a ridge, where you walk between Gjende and dark blue rain-fed mountain lakes. It is considered the most beautiful hike in Jotunheimen National Park, and a bucket-list hike for many people in Norway and around the world.
The boat was packed, which meant getting up the initial hill was basically like walking steeply in a single file line. There weren't any switchbacks – the trail went pretty much straight up the hill. Once you made it to the saddle the views were breathtaking, with the mountains stretching in all directions and the two lakes on either side of the ridge contrasting each other with drastically different shades of blue. Though the initial climb was undoubtedly steep, the hike didn't seem particularly challenging at first.
After we'd been walking a few hours, we saw a couple of guys who were on our boat coming back the other way and wondered why they weren't continuing on. Coming up to the ridge, turning around, and then taking the return ferry to Gjendesheim was an option we'd read about, but if you followed the ridge it would eventually take you back into the town, which seemed like the obvious choice. Soon the level path along the ridge started to descend, and large, loose rocks covered the once easily walkable trail. Mazz hates walking on rocks, and she began to complain and worry about the remainder of the hike, but Kirb insisted that it wouldn't be too bad. Kirb was wrong.
The Norwegians scampered up the "egg" like it was nothing, but having never done anything like this before, Mazz was in no hurry, and let people pass her so she could see the paths and holds they chose to get up the rock faces. Kirb stayed behind her, ready to catch if she slipped, and to offer whatever moral support he could give for putting her in this situation that was both dangerous and extremely stressful for a novice climber.
It was slow going, but after an hour we made it up to the top of the ledge and could breathe a sigh of relief. Surprisingly, the view wasn't really any better at the top than it had been from the saddle. What lay in front of us now was a seemingly endless field of large rocks to traverse, gradually going up and up to the very top. There were four fake-outs before we finally reached the summit. After the third, Mazz asked Kirb is he thought the next ridge was going to be a fake out as well. Kirb responded, "There is no summit. We actually died climbing those rocks and now we're in purgatory, doomed to walk up this rock field forever without ever reaching the top."
The sign at the summit said we had gone 10 km, but it felt like we had walked so much further. Getting up to the top had taken over 5 hours. The final 4 km were downhill through sprawling scree fields, where you had to watch every step carefully to make sure you didn't fall or twist an ankle. Our energy levels were still pretty good at this point, but Mazz's shit knee had started acting up, and she'd forgotten to bring her brace along that she uses when she bikes to work. The decent was pure tedium, taking 3 more hours before we reached the bottom. We ran out of water with about 2 hours to go. When we came along a running stream, Kirb asked another hiker if it was safe to drink. That guy wasn't entirely sure, but he thought if we were thirsty we should probably just drink it. Soon after a father and son came by and started filling up their water bottles. Kirb asked them as well, and they insisted it was a clean as water could be. Kirb downed a liter of it in an instant and refilled the bottle.
Near the bottom, there was a chain affixed to a sheer slab of rock in order to help you get down because it was perpetually wet from water runoff. As we took our sweet ass time, a hiker behind us told Mazz that he had seen her up on the egg and thought that she must be the bravest person he'd ever seen. She wasn't entirely sure how to take this seemingly back-handed compliment. The man said he'd seen two different helicopters rescuing people from the mountain that day and assumed one of them had to be for us.
When trails give estimated durations, normally we finish on the quicker side of the estimate. This trail was supposed to take between 6-8 hours. By the time we made it back to Gjendesheim we'd been on the trail for 8 hours and 15 minutes. Mazz had been afraid to drink much of the stream water, so we refilled our Nalgene and chugged and chugged, and then ate some celebratory ice cream. Our legs didn't work anymore. Kirb felt accomplished, but exhausted. Mazz felt like she had put herself in real danger and wasn’t ready to let go of that feeling.
Somehow, with no planning, we pulled into our cabins at the exact same time as the rest of the family, who had been driving several hours up from Oslo. Sygard Storrvik was the promise of the rustic cabins from the night before properly realized – award-winning, gorgeously designed classic wooden structures with grass roofs situated on a hill overlooking a fjord. We had bought some wine and scotch from the duty-free store in the airport (you can see a mad dash of Norwegians loading up on as much "cheap" booze as they can carry when they get off flights), and we sat outside drinking and catching up after the kids had gone to sleep. When we checked the time we couldn't believe it was past 11 pm, as it wasn’t even twilight yet.
The first morning with the whole family together set the tone for what would be a regular struggle traveling with an 8 year old and 4 year old: trying to get them to eat food, and trying to get them to put down the screens. Anna is a miracle of modern science and somehow doesn't need sustenance to survive. The only food she will seemingly ever eat is cheese, red bell pepper, and cucumber. Nate used to be equally picky when he was younger, but now he'll eat a variety of things, if you can get him to put down the cell phone or Nintendo Switch game he's playing. We realized that getting 2 children and 6 adults cleaned, fed, and ready to go every day was going to be a whole new experience in our international travels.
The family had rented a massive van that could fit all of us, and Scott was begrudgingly responsible for driving it. Our first excursion together was sidetracked when we tried to go to the town of Lom, which was 20 minutes away, and accidentally drove to the town of Lalm, which was also 20 minutes away but in the opposite direction. The draw in Lom is the stave church, a beautifully preserved all-wood building from the late 1100s. The grounds are surrounded by a graveyard, and Anna had a lot of questions about the people buried there. "Do they have clothes on under there? Do they have shoes? Do they have brains?" After she got it more or less figured out, she proceeded to choose which graves had the prettiest flowers and point them all out to Papa.
To get to the next destination, we had to take the van off paved roads and onto a gravel toll road that took us deep into the national park. Soon we were enveloped in mountain views, and Scott had to pull the van over multiple times so everyone could get out and take the same picture with 6 different cameras. The road was small, and we were regularly required to pull onto the shoulder to let traffic go by in the other direction. After half an hour or so we reached Leirvassbu Mountain Lodge, a hiking hub in Jotunheimen that leads to "at least" 40 peaks in the immediate area. Since we had small children, we were only planning on walking for enough time as it seemed feasible to entertain them.
As expected, Anna gave up on walking within about 15 minutes. The addition of a new family mule was very exciting for her and for the other adults, and quickly she was up on Kirb's shoulders as a passenger. The promise of summer snow was particularly enticing for the young ones, and it didn't take long before we found a large patch of it next to an idyllic wildflower grove. While playing in the snow, Kirb insisted on singing the songs from Frozen, Anna's favorite movie, with all the wrong lyrics.
If you didn't already know: Norway is super expensive. We were very grateful that Lauren and Dennis were footing the bill, and since everything was in a different currency that required using math to understand cost, they were fine just shrugging and throwing down the credit card when we loaded up on groceries. In the rural areas we were staying it was easier and much more cost efficient to cook our own breakfasts and dinners and pack sandwich lunches to-go than to try to eat out with 8 people. One night, Dennis wanted some Coronas and bought a 6-pack. Scott asked him if he had any idea how much those cost, and Dennis said he didn't look, or care. It cost $30. For the rest of the trip we stuck to domestic beers like Isbjørn, which cost $30 per 12-pack.
On travel days there was no set itinerary, and with our own car we were free to look for interesting hikes en route to our next destination. We found a hike called Molden that promised some of the best fjord views in the region, and convinced Scott and Dennis to come along for the afternoon. The drive from Sygard Storrvik took us along the west side of Jotunheimen through a stunning stretch of road with waterfalls, lakes, and snowy peaks. Most of the time the whole road was only about one and a half lanes wide, forcing cars and especially campers going both ways to slow down to a crawl to ensure they passed each other without scraping. The steep switchbacks near Fortun were especially narrow, and when large busses or RVs approached it was particularly stressful for the driver, Kirb. This did not stop Scott and Dennis in the backseat from exclaiming, "Jesus!" literally every time the road narrowed or a car had to be passed. At one point, after mumbling out a string of, "Shutthefuckupshutthefuckupshutthefuckupshutthefuckup," towards the back seat, Kirb threatened to throw Dennis out of the car if he commented on the road one more time. Dennis only lasted until the next car before he inadvertently let out an, "Oh my god," leading Kirb to bellow, "DENNIS WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU." Scott was mortified that he had left Kristine to drive their massive van through the same gauntlet, though we would find out later that she managed the drive just fine.
When we reached the trailhead for Molden the sky was grey and threatening rain, with a light dusting of precipitation in the air but temperatures too warm to warrant putting on a jacket. Molden was a nice, mellow follow-up to Besseggen, with a steady but reasonable climb up to a panoramic fjord view in front of a dilapidated wooden cabin. From there the hike got significantly steeper up to the summit, and with Mazz's shit knee still acting up she decided not to push it. The trail here became much more strenuous, leading you up to a rocky peak with fjord views from multiple sides, though the clouds marred some of the brilliance. Unfailingly, the clouds parted and the sun came back out once we were back near the bottom of the trail.
Our Airbnb in Sogndal didn't have an address, only GPS coordinates that the owner had given us. They led us through the town and up into a hilly area, away from businesses and restaurants and into a secluded residential neighborhood overlooking the entire valley. We couldn't believe the view from the house when we pulled up at our destination, or how massive the house was. It was hard to tell if someone lived here, if it was primarily a rental, or if it was just a summer family home. There were lots of rooms, most of which were full of too much empty furniture, and it didn't really seem like the place had been cleaned or properly put together for our stay. The owner was apparently in Denmark, but told us he had some guys looking after the place. The caretakers showed up in a minivan and scrambled into the house to give us a tour. As they didn't speak English very well, the "tour" was just them pointing out that there were two bathrooms next to each other downstairs. "Two bathrooms!" Attempts to figure out what the pile of laundry on one of the bathroom floors was, if it was possible for us to use the washer and dryer (which were full of laundry), or other questions about bedding went largely misunderstood.
When it was bathing time for the kids before bed, Scott leaned of the upright shower unit and inadvertently moved it. When he then tried to clean his filthy children, the floor became covered with foul-smelling water (not from the children, from the shower he broke). Dennis couldn't figure out how to fix it, and that guy can usually fix anything, so we tried reaching the owner via Airbnb and he was particularly unhelpful. This combined with the general uncleanliness of the house (we'd open a cupboard looking for a pan and it would just be full of loose garbage), led to some "we better be getting a refund here" talk from Lauren, who is also an Airbnb Super Host, and soon the whole thing was a big frustrating mess and we were stuck taking sink showers for two days. It was hard to believe that easily the most scenic Airbnb we'd ever stayed in and probably ever will was turning into a stressful wreck.
Nate was particularly bummed he didn't get to come along with the adults on the hike to Molden, so we made sure the whole family got to go on an outdoor adventure the next day. We found a kid-friendly trek that went along a lake to the Nigardsbreen glacier and packed ourselves some sack lunches. It wasn't so much a trail as it was walking along rocks and boulders along the lakefront, but it was easy enough for everyone to manage and very scenic. Nate was particularly pleased that he could be in front of the pack, and with Kirb and Mazz close behind, he was free to explore at will without being told to come back.
When we reached the actual glacier, Kirb set a terrible example and walked directly past the chain barrier and sign that detailed all the ways the glacier can kill you to snap a photo, leaving the 8-year-old behind him to squirm and wonder if he could do the same (he could not). In trying to get a picture of the glacier all by itself, Kirb waited patiently as a teenager took literally 400 selfies from different angles in front of the chunk of ice. When she finally left, two other people walked up and stood directly in the way. So, Kirb photoshopped the teenager out of the glacier photo. See if you can find the pixels where he cut her out!
While the rest of the family took a boat back to the parking lot, Kirb and Mazz opted to walk back for a little more exercise. Happy with their step count for the day, they stopped in the visitors center for some $10 Norwegian beers while the monkeys played in a rock climbing room designed specifically for kids.
The owner of the Airbnb came by on our final morning and "fixed" the shower (we're not sure what he did but it took no time and made no sound), but not before complaining about how the kids used the sidewalk chalk he provided to draw a waterfall on the massive stone steps out front. We were very much ready to be done with this dude and his amazing yet bafflingly shitty house. In the parking area, there was a haggard old bunny rabbit just hanging out around the cars, and it was happy to let the children feed and pet it while the adults packed up and washed away blue chalk.
Dennis came along for the next hike to Vettifossen, the highest free, unregulated waterfall in Norway. In the literature we found for the hike, it said this was supposed to be an easy, hour-long walk. Somehow, we managed to inadvertently make the hike much more difficult than we had anticipated. We must have followed the wrong road signs and parked in a different area, because our hike was 4 hours and nearly 9 miles long. This didn't turn out to be any sort of problem though, as the walk went leisurely along a well-maintained path through the Utladalen Valley with only a bit of steep ups and downs. The hike took us along a river and past several other large waterfalls before arriving at the massive Vettifossen, turning into a nice full-afternoon hike that didn't leave us feeling exhausted.
After the dumpiness and general disrepair of our last Airbnb, were all happy to be staying in proper professional lodging in the town of Undredal. What we found when we arrived in the tiny waterfront town was better than we could have hoped. Our rooms were located mere feet from a dock directly on the fjord, where we quickly situated some tables and chairs to drink wine on the water. Mom had bought two more 3-liter boxes at a grocery store for the low, low price of $90, so the wine flowed freely that evening. We were so stoked with our accommodation that we started talking about the logistics of staying another night, but this daydream was quickly put to rest when we asked if our rooms were available again the following day and the guy just laughed at us. "No...This is the high season."
Such a quaint little fjord town
We arrived in Undredal too late to experience much of the town itself (they supposedly have some good cheese), and then took off the next morning before anything opened so we could catch a boat in nearby Flåm. We'd planned a leisurely cruise down the Nærøyfjord on fully electric state-of-the-art ferry boats that glide soundlessly through the water. Nærøyfjord is considered one of the most beautiful in the country, and is included on the UNESCO World Heritage list. It's 17 km long but only 250 meters wide at one point, which is quite nærø. We spent the multi-hour ride on the front deck admiring the peaks and grassy hills; the small children had much less patience for such things and got restless after about 5 minutes, continuously dragging Papa inside the cabin to play games and spilling hot chocolate everywhere.
The weather turned after the boat landed in Gudvangen, with heavy rains pounding the cars for the drive back to Bergen. Once we'd checked into the Airbnb, returned the rental cars to the Airport, and bussed back to the city, Scott and Kristine were in no mood to explore the restaurant scene and the children were happy to wrestle each other on the floor until bedtime. The rest of us took this opportunity to visit a non kid-friendly establishment to eat some upscale new Nordic food. We found Bare Vestland highly recommended on several online lists for their classic Norwegian dishes served with a modern flair. The tapas-style small plate restaurant was great for multiple people looking to try lots of different things for a reasonable price. Of the 8 dishes we ordered, the favorites were Plukkfisk, a savory mashed potato dish whipped with fish, pickled leeks, and bacon, slow cooked ox cheeks with barley and black currant, and a beer and oxtail stew that was incredibly rich and satisfying.
Going to the aquarium was a family-friendly activity that all the Kirbs could get behind, so we spent our first morning in Bergen watching otters and seals play, checking out crocodiles and piranhas, and dancing with the penguins. When it was time for lunch, we stopped looking at the fish in the tanks and went to eat some instead at the outdoor fish market.
Bergen is a cute and charming city. It was easy to get around on foot, and each morning as we took off to explore there was a small brass ensemble busking in the main shopping area. Along the harbor, the area known as the Bryggen has wooden buildings that date back to the early 1700s, where you can meander through the lopsided alleys lined with cute shops. We happily spent the afternoon wandering through the neighborhoods, daydreaming about buying all of the Scandinavian furniture and kitchenware for our apartment or future home.
The whole family came along for one final taste of Norwegian cuisine to Pingvinen, a bar and restaurant specializing in down-home dishes from the area. There wasn't much use trying to get the kiddos to eat anything; they weren't even willing to put down their screens to eat any of the ludicrously buttered popcorn we ordered specifically with them in mind. We happily ate it all in front of them, and there was probably a stick of melted butter left still covering the kernels at the bottom when we'd finished. Kirb and Mazz shared a broccoli and greens salad with smoked whale meat alongside wild reindeer served in lefse like a burrito, covered in lingonberry cream. The whale was smoky and chewy, like jerky but not as tough. The reindeer was rich and gamey, which was cut nicely by the acidity of the berries. Though we only ate at a few restaurants, we decided we were very much into traditional Norwegian fare.
On our third day in Bergen the weather had finally cleared and the sky was a bright blue, perfect for a trek up Fløyen mountain, one of seven that surround the city. A lot of other people had the same idea though, and there was a huge line for the Fløibanen, the tram that takes people up to the top. Once we'd made our way through the line and up the mountain, the payoff view was spectacular, offering a full panorama of the city and its surrounding waterways.
Fløyen had several trails, but they didn't seem entirely feasible with the full group. After making our way along the shortest option, we stumbled upon an obstacle course and three-story wooden playhouse for the kids, and they were very excited to monkey around on it. Nate fastidiously made his way from one end of the rope course to the other; Anna excitedly rode the zipline that slingshot her tiny body into the air when it reached its end. After playtime, we found some goats chilling out and soaking up the views. Mazz taught Anna that you should always say hello to a goat and make sure that it sees you before you start petting it so that it doesn't get startled. A four-year-old saying, "Hello goat," before proceeding to pet it is very cute. And just like that, family time was over and we had to say our goodbyes and head to the airport.
We had some preconceived notions about Norway, and as could be expected, some of them turned out to be true and others not so much. Yes, Norway is quite expensive, but it's fairly easy to mitigate a lot of those costs (you don't need to drink alcohol, even if you want to). You could feed yourself without killing your bank account, and with a little research we found some very tasty things to eat. Getting around wasn't nearly as expensive as Switzerland, though gas for the car did cost over $7 a gallon. The countryside, fjords, and mountains are all exceptionally beautiful, and hanging out in them didn't cost anything. The people were nice and everyone spoke English. There is no limit to the new and exciting things you can do outdoors, and we reveled in the fact that every day we found ourselves in such beautiful and different kinds of nature.
It was wonderful to be able to see the country with the whole family, and we were thrilled that everyone from small children to grandparents had such a great time. We'd love to return to Norway, and if we do, we will definitely rent a car again but bring all of our camping gear with us. Everywhere we went in the national park we saw people who had set up camp in some breathtaking spot just off the road. There are a seemingly infinite number of possible adventures in Norway, and we want more of it. We'll just be sure to do a little more research on the hikes next time so we don't accidentally kill ourselves bouldering up a mountain.