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…
Category: Travels
Coast Redwood Trip
In March of 2021 I took a hiking trip to the California Coast Redwoods with two of my daughters. I had driven through the Redwoods a couple times many years ago but had never hiked into the core forest. It certainly was a wonderful experience going deeper into the Redwoods. The big story of this…
The Big One That Got Away
I had posted about big trees in the Kenyon area and talked about a big Bur Oak which had died. I found the pictures and it was a very large tree. The first picture is a close-up of my oldest daughter, my Mother and my Dad’s cousin standing in front of the trunk. Based on…
Tree Hunting
I have posted before about websites which have information about outstanding trees. Of course someone needs to find these trees, measure them and make them public. I decided to go on a short tree hunt. Just around the local area targeting Parks, Cemeteries and Golf Courses. My first stop was at the Kenyon Minnesota Cemetery….
Baby Bettlereiche Update
Late this fall the four of us who traveled to Switzerland together posed for a picture by the now rapidly growing baby Bettlereiche. It had a fine growing season and is now around three feet tall. I am concerned about some very cold mid-October temperatures that went down below 20 degrees. Baby Bettlereiche was still…
Murren to Gimmelwald
Murren and Gimmelwald are two small villages located high above the Lauterbrunnen valley in Switzerland. The downhill hike from Murren to Gimmelwald is many times mentioned as one of the best walks/hikes in the world. I have done this walk 3 times. In 1998 with my brother Clark. Then in 2015 with my wife Laura,…
Tall Tower
On a recent trip to Europe we spent 3 days in the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland. This valley was an inspiration that J.R.R. Tolkien took for Rivendell. What about the two towers in Lord of the Rings? Could the Ulm Minster steeple have been an inspiration for Tolkien? I can’t find any evidence of this,…
Bettlereiche
Can you pronounce “Bettlereiche”? I can’t. Bettlereiche is the name of a tree I visited in Thun, Switzerland. When planning a May 2019 trip to Germany, France, and Switzerland I explored the Monumental Trees website for a big tree to visit. I found one in Thun Switzerland which we stayed one night in. So on…
Tree Hunters Part 1
Big trees are an inspiration to anyone that get’s close to one. Now of course if you have stood next to a Giant Sequoia in California you realize what I’m talking about. But even getting up close to a old large Bur Oak or White Pine can give you a similar experience. Did you know…
GothicTrees 