In mid-August of 2022 I traveled to Norway with my three daughters. With the help of some relatives we made arrangements to visit a couple family farms and stay with my cousin’s daughter mother-in-law. We arrived in Oslo and rented a car then drove to a town in western Norway called Seljord. When we arrived at the old church we meet Gjertrud and Kjell. We had lefsa and coffee. Pictured below is Gjertrud, myself, Cayla,and Kjell at the old church.

Below is a wide angle of the church showing the surrounding area better.

It was late in the afternoon, but because of the northern latitudes we knew it would stay light out well into the evening. So we drove up a mountain to see the old farm that my relative Sven Jorgenson lived on before departing to America in 1853. Below is a few pictures of the old farm.

Below, a picture of Amanda, Gjertrud, and Cayla in front of the house.

Our next stop in Seljord was the valley farm which even older relatives lived at. This farm was located in the valley really close to the town of Seljord.

Our last stop the first day in Norway was at Gjertrud’s family summer house which she was brought up in. It was a wonderful home and we had a wonderful dinner before sleeping upstairs. Below is the dinning room set up for breakfast.

The next day we did a few more things in Seljord with Gjertrud and Kjell then around noon started driving to Flam. It was a great drive with varied scenery through out. Some pictures of the drive below.

Below is the view just before dropping in the fjords by Flam Norway.

We arrived in Flam and then had to pickup my third daughter who traveled to Flam via bus. We checked into a farmhouse Airbnb above the village of Underdal Norway. The next morning we took a speedboat tour of the fjord leaving from downtown Flam. Pictured below is Cayla and myself in gear to go out on the fjord.

Below is a picture in the middle of the fjord. The village is Underdal and if you look at the top left of the picture we stayed up on that hill.

We drove up a steep curving road above Aurland to a very cool fjord overlook pictured below.

In the afternoon we took the Flam train up to a village called Myrdal. The girls got off the train half way down the mountain and walked back to Flam. Pictured below are Cayla, Leisa and myself on our way out of Flam/Underdal enjoying morning sun at the docks in Underdal.

Next we drove to Balestrand Norway. It is located on the large main part of the Sogn Fjord. The area is known for it’s apples and cider. Below is part of an orchard.

Before traveling in Europe I now check the Monumental Trees website/database. I looked at a number of Norway trees close to our travel routes. The Lunde Arboretum was just a few miles from Balestrand. Below are my three daughters standing by a giant sequoia. Because of the large fjord the temperatures around Balestrand are moderate. I would guess a zone 6 in American climate.

A very unusual tree at the arboretum was a Monkey Puzzle Tree. It can survive temps as low as 4 below zero. So maybe zone 6. Picture below.

Our next stop was an area called Fjaerland and a village called Mundal. A very scenic area with a huge glacier in the mountains above the fjord.

Below are a few pictures of the Fjaerland area.

Below is a floating sauna we went to and then jumped into the glacier fed fjord.

After a couple days in Fjaerland we drove south towards Oslo. We stopped in Laerdal a location of my wife’s relatives. Close to Laerdal the Bogund Stave Church pictured below.

The last stop on the trip was Oslo for Amanda and myself as Cayla and Leisa left a day before us. Amanda and I walked in the Vigeland park with all the naked human statues. I wanted to visit as a have a vague memory of the park from when I was there in 1961 or 1962 with my parents and Peterson grandparents.

There is an old picture of me as a child by this baby. I thought the baby looked like my brother Clark back then.