During the 9 days my dad was here, we fit in many Norwegian adventures! In the post, I will include some of the highlights of the trip.
We started out in Trondheim and explored the city and walked along the Trondheim fjord. 
It was a little rainy, but a beautiful walk. We also stopped at the Spoonhuset for dessert waffles!
We spent 4 days in the Arctic Circle, in the town of Alta. We loved being in the Arctic Circle – it was so beautiful. The landscape is much more barren and most plants are very low to the ground. On our first day, we went to the Alta Rock Carvings. I loved seeing the ancient rock carvings, some of which are more than 6000 years old. While much of their meaning is a mystery, they seem to be part of religious ceremonies, and they often took place at special points where it was perceived human lives and godly lives intersected (and therefore humans could communicate with gods) rather than around the area a group of people lived.
It was absolutely pouring rain when we were here. We both had raincoats, but we still walked away pretty drenched. However, this really made it so we had the park almost to ourselves – despite the 4 tour buses in the parking lot! This is a UNESCO heritage site and so many people try to visit.
On our second day in Alta, we went on an amazing river boat ride. This was not a lazy, meandering ride down the river, but a speedy boat ride cutting through rapids, with amazing scenery, including cliffs and dozens of waterfalls. This was probably my favorite part of our trip! We also found out that once a summer, the King of Norway goes on a private fishing tour in the very boat we were in!
There were countless waterfalls – enhanced by the very rainstorm that drenched us the day before! Our boat guide said that there was so much rain from that storm that he was seeing waterfalls he had never seen before.
Throughout the ride, we had beautiful scenery – mountains, rugged and rocky cliffs, and hills with trees.
Can you see the face?
The boat
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Another highlight of the trip was hiking up Mt. Komsa. The mountain itself was very beautiful and had the very arctic – looking landscape, with sparse trees and low to the ground plants. Plus, throughout the hike we had beautiful views of many other mountains and the Alta fjord.
The picture below is on Lille Komsa (Little Komsa) and if you compare this picture to pictures of Mt. Komsa, you’ll see a difference in the scarcity of trees and vegetation.
As we went up the mountain, we saw rocks that were covered in lichen.
How it looked towards the top of Mt. Komsa.
We also went on several great hikes throughout Alta, spent another several days in Trondheim and went to see Muskox. We did much more than I have posted here.
I will make another post about the muskox when I get the pictures processed from Adam. This post is just an overview of some of the highlights from the first part of the trip. We had such a great time! I am so glad that my dad came here and we were able to see so many cool things in Norway!
These places look so cool and it seems like you guys are having a lot of fun, amidst Adam getting lot of work done too – very impressive
Hi Karen. Great pictures, Wish I could be there too. I love the boat, and the face,
Wow Karen! I feel like I’m right there with you almost. Your descriptions make me feel like I’m part of the tour, especially about the ancient rocks. Enjoy the rest of your tour! Can’t wait to see more stuff!