Lofoten, final thoughts

The Lofoten island chain is all of those superlative words all mashed together.  It's raw and polished at the same time, and bordering on fiction. The beauty is both large and minute.  It's a place where real work happens, and not necessarily meant for tourism. But this place is not for everyone.  It's an outdoor adventure hound's paradise, with trails, peaks, water, and weather; on the flip side, it's cold, wet, and the beaches are such a tease... This is not a place to lounge.

Panorama from our Midnight Sun adventure

White sand beaches, and clear ocean waters.

Five swans a-swimming.... at 12:30am

Amazing variety of Lupine near our Rorbu

I lost this shouting match

Lofotr Viking Museum
I forgot to write about something unexpectedly awesome, our visit to the Viking museum. You know when you go to a movie with low expectations (say... Pacific Rim, or Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and you come away thinking, holy cow that was fun - that was the Lofotr Viking museum. It started out decidedly lame, with a pre-recorded droning British fellow blabbering on about the plight of the Vikings as you stepped through dark displays of trinkets and faux wax statues.  But then, you walk outside to a full size re-creation of a Viking lodge full of stuff you can smell, touch and wear.  The museum workers were adorned in traditional garb actually doing stuff; like weaving, sewing, cooking and wood carving.  It all seemed quite authentic.  Then you go down to the lake and ride horses, throw axes, watch a creepy dude hammer molten metal, and play old-timey viking games.  

Chain mail is heavy

This helmet is heavy!

Thor

Finally got to mount a marshmellow

Creepy Dude hammering steel.

Bryce's first pony ride

Bryce's first axe throwing

Bryce may have a thing for woodcarving...

Our Final Day

Regrettably, the rain persisted.  However, being under house arrest again was not going to happen, even if we needed to craft ourselves an ark and sail to our destination - the town of A, and Reine at the end of the Lofoten road.  Yes, that's right, the town of A (pronounced oh-a).  Shortest name of any town in the world.  Our intent was to go on a ferry and hike to a secluded beach, but alas, that was not in the cards.  We spent a good chunk of time torturing each other in the car, waiting for breaks in the rain to hop out and take a picture and explore a bit. We visited a homely fish museum, and spent a bit of time taking some gruesome photos of decapitated fish heads that are left to dry outdoors for eventual shipment to Nigeria.  

You are entering the town of... A

When it doesn't make sense to create a full tunnel, make 3/4 of a tunnel.

At the Fish Museum, they had free cookie snacks.  Yummy.

The reason we are hear in Lofoten was from Nicole's love of Pinterest.  One day, there was this amazing picture, and we said, "We're going there! Wherever it is, we're going there!". It turns out, "There" was Reine, and we made it.  Of course, the picture was taken during a lovely clear day with rays of sunshine and sugar plum fairies flying about.  Our day was cloudy, cold, and decidedly dreary.  After one hour of waiting in the car for that magical moment that never came, Zane says, "I don't like Pinterest anymore." 

Our version of the Pinterest photo

Final Thoughts: Would you ever want to come back to the Lofoten Islands?

Zane - Would want to return as an adult with his kids

Autumn - Sure! Because it's pretty and she likes coldness

Bryce - Maybe...

Nicole - Only after she has already seen everything else first.  There are just too many other places to see in this world.  

Steve - Absolutely!  Both summer and winter.  The weather got the better of us this time, and there are so many trails to trod, peaks to climb, and hidden gems to discover.  

Unisex bathroom....

Next stop... Stockholm, Sweden