musk oxen. gentle vegetarians.

During our recent road trip around some of Norway, we passed through an area where a small population of musk oxen live! MUSK OXEN!

Now, I'm not sure if y'all know it, but I am relatively anxious around large animals. 

In New Zealand, for example, we went horseback riding. And I had to be switched to the really passive, "boring" horse, because my first horse could sense my fear. Then when we rode camels in the outback, I was sore for days because I was squeezing the poor guy/gal so hard with my legs. Then in Thailand a while back, I was so scared on our elephant ride, that I didn't let any part of my body touch the elephant because I didn't want him to sense my fear…like the horse in New Zealand did. You get the pattern. 

Yet, despite this I decided a musk ox safari was a good idea.

And it was AWESOME. And tiring. But mostly AWESOME.

Musk oxen are ginormous. And they have really long hair. And they are vegetarians! Also, there are not so many left in Europe, even though there are heaps in Canada apparently. Our guide has studied these gentle giants for many years (I think), and assured us they were perfectly safe….if we stayed more than 200 meters away from them and didn't surprise them. Fair enough. Who likes surprises!?

Somewhat uncharacteristically though, Norway is having a crazy hot summer. Today it's near 30 (that's mid-eighties for you Americans)! Very understandably then, the musk oxen were trying to find some respite from this heat--remember, they have really long hair that is super insulating. So, it is perhaps unsurprising that we found them finally…on top of a mountain.

Eh. If we wanted to see them, that is where we had to go our guide said. So, we proceeded to hike 2 1/2 hours up the mountain. I was getting quite nervous as we approached, because I could just imagine us spooking one or all of them--giving them no choice but to head bash us off the side of the mountain.

However, our guide stayed true to his word. We stayed quite a distance away from them. I could tell that the musk oxen could see us, but that they just couldn't be bothered with us. It was too hot. They were taking a nap on the cool breezy mountain top.

See the one all alone on the far left in the photo? He is the leader, and I guess he wanted some me-time.

Here's a close up (with my not-so super zoom lens):

Musk oxen are my new heroes. 

a trip through Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, and Sør-Trøndelag.

A lot has been happening people. Above all else I guess-- vacation. They have that here in Norway. And lots of it! This is my first paid vacation, and it is pretty lovely, I must say. Those Norwegians are on to something.

To top it all off my mother is here! Hi Mom!

As part of her trip, we decided to take five days and meander our way south of Trondheim along the Atlantic Road, through to Åndalsnes, with a stop over in Dombås and then back up to Trondheim. A big circle really.

And it was lovely circle indeed. As a friend who recently made a similar trip said, "It's like ugh-not-another-crazy-beautiful-scene-that-we-must-stop-for-and-get-a-photo the entire way." He was right. Crazy gorgeous. The whole way.

The Atlantic road:

When you drive on that bridge it looks like you are driving into an abyss.

From the top of Bremsneshatten:

Oh so pretty!

Along a terrifying dirt road over a mountain range. (Google Maps does not always give the best advice.)

See the big rain storm behind?

The landscape in this part of Norway is stunning. All kinds of geography juxtaposed in a way that is never tiring. Yay!

But, we didn't just look at landscapes the whole time. We also visited two stave churches, hiked to the top of a mountain in search of a cave, and went on a musk ox safari!


For those of you who are interested, a selection of photos from the trip are available here for your viewing pleasure. Your welcome.