Hardanger Fjord

Norway has a problem. Every road and highway could be declared a "scenic byway." Add to that the fact that most of the roads are pretty narrow and you become a bit frustrated at all the stuff you wish you could stop and gawk at but there is no place to park or stop. That being said, we took a delightful drive last week on our one sunny day. We drove through the mountains - literally through a series of tunnels to a wonderful fjord called Hardanger Fjord.

On the way up the mountains we began to notice just how many big waterfalls there were. This one was by a pull out so we took a picture. It isn't spectacular but the overwhelming number of falls - sometimes right next to someone's house - is cumulatively spectacular.

Pretty little towns dot the edge of the fjord and small apple farms fill in the spaces inbetween the towns. The head of this fjord is about 100 miles from the seacoast.

Kirkegaard in one of the little towns.

The road is narrow and winds something like US 1 on the California coast by Big Sur but it is much narrower with several one-lane stretches that are made a little scarier to drive by the impatient Norwegians in their fast Audi's, BMW's and MB's. I am outmatched in my VW Polo.



This picture kind of captures the drive: winding road, little apple farms with neat houses and barns, some farms pearched high on the sheer hillsides and waterfalls everywhere.

The clouds began to roll over the mountains from the south so we knew that we would be finishing the drive in the rain but we wanted to drive just around the next bend to see what was there. We finally got to a ferry stop which became our turn around.

We decided that we ought to take a full day in the fall when the leaves change and/or a full day in the spring when the apple trees are in bloom. Next time we'll go all the way around the fjord up to the narrows and back down the other shore.

So, what else are we up to? I put down my brush to catch a couple of the Elders working on a service project. Shanna and I came back to finish painting a couple of days later.



Here is our district -minus us. We get to help them out when they need us, feed them from time to time and give them rides or better yet let them use the car. We have really enjoyed working with the young Elders and Sisters. We have a much better understanding of what our own kids did on their missions. This is a hard working group and they are very kind to us.