December 28, 2014

dogsledding.

This winter is turning out to be…well…winter!

And it happened just in time for my Dad's visit! Whew. Trondheim without snow is a little anticlimactic. So yes, snow!

Trondheim fjord

With this lucky turn, Vincent and I decided to take my dad on a trip to Røros, an old Norwegian mining town. Rumor has it that it can be cold in the winter, festive for the holiday season, and you can go dogsledding!

It turns out, all these things are true!

We had a lovely time walking around the town center (which is very small) and got some lovely photographs on top of the slag heaps (the leftovers of the copper mining that used to go on in the town).

The next day we were picked up and taken out to Alaskan Husky Tours where we were greeted by more than 40 very excited puppies and dogs. As we prepared our sleds, the dogs were shaking with excitement. Apparently, they looooove running. With about a three minutes' tutorial we were off!

The scenery was lovely as we went along a trail through the surrounding forests. That is, when we had the chance to look up. I for one spent a lot of time watching where the dogs pulling my sled were going and also looking down as I tried to figure out how to balance on one foot while I pushed the "please-slow-down-the-sled-thingamabob."

This trip was an adventure! Even though my dad almost fell off a "cliff," he still didn't let his sled go (which was one of the like three rules we were given)! And then one of the kennel hands was thrown off his sled during a break--the dogs and the sled took off in an instant. Then the main guy had to take my sled and go chase them down (I think he reached them only back at the camp!). So I spent some of the trip riding in someone else's sled…which was scenic, but rather cold.

This is something worth doing! Maybe even more than once!!

You can see some of the photos from our trip here.


December 15, 2014

The best Christmas Beer of 2014 - Part I

Juleøl, or Christmas beer, is an important part of the Norwegian holiday season. The selection is vast, and the beer is varied, so it is a daunting task to know which brand to turn to. This is where science comes in. Lene and I decided to conduct a study in order to identify the best Christmas Beers of 2014.


Your welcome.