From Stavanger to Prekestolen

From Stavanger to Prekestolen
If you have not guessed yet, I have had a “ghost writer.” He prefers to remain anonymous, but as I am sure, you can guess who was so kind to post pictures for everyone to see. I am back, but there may be more ghost writing for your reading enjoyment in the near future!
So after a very busy week (re-cap: I left CPH, Trip leaves for America, Nora goes to Grimstead, and then 5 ladies come to bake bread) we took a weekend trip to Stavanger. Nora got us a room in the Victoria Hotel and reservations for dinner. All we needed to do was pack our bags and hop in the car. It was only 3 hrs away from where we are, just around the most southern tip of Norway.

We loaded the car and set on our way. It was the most beautiful drive I have ever taken. The landscape was amazing and the colors of the flowers and the trees. Really breathtaking! Everything was like it was straight from a postcard. It is so shocking sometimes to think that 10 weeks out of a year I get to live in the most beautiful place. As we were driving we went through tunnel after tunnel. (I told Nora we should count the tunnels on the way home) And passed fjord after fjord, once we passed the Green Fjord. There is a special kind of algae that grows in that area, and it turns the ocean blue-green like in the Caribbean. Gorgeous! The definition of fjord is: A deep, steep-walled, U-shaped valley formed by glaciers, which has been flooded by seawater. Typically, waterfalls in this formation drop from hanging valleys. Fjords are commonly found in New Zealand, Canada, southern Argentina and Norway.

Once we arrived in Stavanger, we checked into our room and dropped our bags and headed for dinner. Words will not be able to describe the dinner we had. OMG! It was the best dinner I have ever had! We were eating at the number 3 chef’s restaurant, it was called Tango. We had to wait a minute for our table so we sat in the bar and had a glass or Red wine.

Once we sat down at our table we began the dining experience. First we were served a small piece of pickled herring with egg cream and onion on a spoon. I tuned my nose up, but thought what the hey, a world renowned chef made this. It was good. I am not sure I would eat it again, but tasty none the less. Then we had a small starter of poached fish with sweet pea foam. It was so good. I wanted to lick the plate. Then we were served a poached peach slush to clean our palate, I am sure. Then we had the most tender, cured piece of veal. I know the nature of the meat is supposed to be tender, but this melted in your mouth. It was served with white asparagus and new, new baby potatoes. They were only the size of a dime. On the side was a toast stuffed with an oyster mushroom. I am not sure what that was, but it tasted a bit like horseradish. Then for desert we had a dark chocolate served on lemon sorbet and accompanied with cherry sorbet. It was finger licking. We started dinner around 8:40pm and we ended dinner at 12:15am. What an experience. Nora said I was grinning ear to ear all night. MMM, I slept great that night.

In the morning we woke up around 9am, had breakfast at the hotel and drove to catch the Ferry. We had to take a ferry to the other side of the ocean in between Stavanger and Taou. It was one of those ferries that carry cars. I have never driven onto a ferry, it was defiantly something different. Then a short drive from there to the base of the hike to Prekestolen (The Pulpit Rock). Once we parked the car, the hike began.

I kept telling myself, after all the working out I have been doing, I can make this hike, No Problem! Well let me tell you, I was not prepared for the effort it was going to take to get to the top. We started off and it was like any normal hike through the woods. A little incline, but not too bad. It was like incline, plateau, incline, plateau, easy right! Summer was talking the whole way; we were discussing how lucky she was to do this and who we would call once we got to the top. Then it got hard!

We had gone 1 km and we were in a bog like area. They had plank bridges we had to cross. In the distance, just beyond the trees we could see a steep incline with a ton of rocks. I got out my video camera and zoomed in, the little flecks of color I saw were people scaling the nearly straight up incline, climbing over all the rocks.

That was next for us. Summer did great, she had a very positive attitude and she tackled the rocks with no fear! I really enjoyed the climbing part of the rhike. The part I did not enjoy was all of the people. It was defiantly an every man for themselves kind of hike. People would elbow past to pass you on the rocks. They would huff behind you if they thought you were going too slowly. Summer did not move very quickly and Nora or I tried to stay behind her to kind of shield her from the flow of traffic. But even we would get frustrated at how slow she would move. It was a test of our patience.

So we tackled the one tall part of the hike, But just as we came over another flat area, there were yet more rocks to climb. Like I said, incline plateau, after we had repeated this similar climb about 3 times, there was a map. We had climbed 2.1 km. Oh Boy, yet another kilometer to go! I was exhausted at this point. And so was Summer!

We went a little bit more, through trees and down the side of a muddy hill. Once we got to a big flat rock, Summer said, “Look, I am not going. I am tired!” She lay down and refused to go any further. We tried everything we had in our bag to get her to move, but she had made her mind up. She was done, she wanted to go home.

We were so close. People walking buy, saw our frustration and tried to encourage her to move, but no deal. So Nora told me to go on ahead. I had my cell, so I would call once I got to the top and encourage her, that it was not much farther.

The last part of the climb was very easy. Only bad part ,it was single file as we sneaked around the rocks. We were right on the edge with no railings. It really was a thrill! Finally I am walking up a huge bolder and I can see people at the top taking pictures, but it is one of those rocks, you kind of have to run up or you won’t make it to the top. I ran a little, huff, puff, ugh I am not used to the altitude, and run some more and then WOW, an amazing sight! Oh it was so beautiful. I did not have my breath from climbing so there was nothing to take away, but it was breathtaking!

I stopped, took pictures, and finished walking all the way to the edge. I took my fleece off and dropped all of my things and sat down. I called my parents and Bill from the top. It was early in the morning for them, but they were all very proud and possibly a little jealous.
I was half way through my conversation with Bill when I dawned on me that sitting right on the edge of this cliff was not safe and that I could DIE if I slipped off. So I scooted back and lay down. I was less likely to fall off if my whole body was touching the flat part of the rock. It was nice lying in the sun. Just then Nora and Summer walked up. Nora was very nervous about being so close to the edge. And because Summer was being a bit stubborn she was afraid she would get to close to the edge. Summer was told to sit and NOT MOVE. She did as she was told. She was very proud to make it to the top!

They called Trip and Christian. They were a part of the whole hike, since that was part of Summer’s motivation. We sat and relaxed and enjoyed the view. But it wasn’t too long when the rain clouds from across the valley made it to our side. I was sure we would be walking down this mountain in the rain. The clouds were so black and so close. The thunder was loud. I am not sure I have ever been so close to thunder.

Now, the walk down! Summer did not know where the end was when we were walking up and she was not sure she wanted to walk all the way back the way we had come. She was a good sport until we go to the part where we were climbing straight down from rock to rock. It really was the most difficult. She told me to go get the car that she was not going any farther. So I took a hold of her hand and did not let go.

I let her find the route down right next to me; in contrast, I had a more difficult path down. It was very hard to climb down rocks and balance while holding onto someone. She was always looking for me to be her stabilizer while I was balancing on top of a rock. I really wore myself out trying to help her, but if I let go, she would not keep moving, she would stop and look at me like heck no! She and I almost fell twice. I held on to her and she did one of those twirl around and land softly, I was just worried about her hitting her head on a rock. (In case you are not aware, Summer is a 12 yr old and we wear the same size clothing, she is a big girl)

We made it to the 1st or last wooden bridge and Summer lay down again. She was not moving. I looked at Nora, and asked if I could go get the car. At least I could move the car 2 hills closer. So I set off, we were not that far from the bottom, but when you don’t know where you are going, it can seem like a never ending hike. I got to the end and climbed into the car. I called my mom, because I wanted her to know how long it had been to get down. Here is a quick list of what she did in the same amount of time it took me to get to the bottom: she got dressed, when to the farmers market, took Winston to the dog park, ate lunch and went to Cost-co.

I moved the car to the bottom, so as soon as they came down the hill, they would see me. It wasn’t 10 minutes before I saw them. They made great progress once I left them. Nora said she picked Summer up and said we are leaving, she had to drag her, but she went.

We drove home in silence. We got a hot dog and drink before boarding the ferry. Once we got to the hotel, we all took a shower and rested a bit. We went to dinner right down the road from the hotel. Summer was not hungry at all. I think she was just exhausted. Nora and I had a wonderful Halibut and a nice creamy desert and walked home. Once we got into the hotel room, Summer put on her pj’s climbed into bed and was out like a light. Nora and I watched 2 movies and went to bed. I do not think that I moved once I fell asleep.

The car ride home was long and torturous. I knew Nora was just as tired as I was, but I had the hardest time keeping my eyes open. I said we would count the tunnels on the way home, and that is the only thing that kept me awake. Every time my eyes would shut, we would go through another tunnel and I would notice it was dark so I would open my eyes and say then next number. For the record there were 32 tunnels on the way home! We got back to the island by 4pm. Nora’s friends meet us at the dock and Trip meet us with the boat. We got to the island and relaxed. Nora, Trip and Summer had a party to go to, so I sat in the hot tub for the evening. I read most of a book while I relaxed. What a great way to end a great weekend!

Now I need a vacation from my vacation, some time to take it easy. Good thing we do not have anything planned for the next 2 weeks!