Johnson International: July 2009

I would like to preface this entry by saying that the following is not exaggerated in the least: Norway is the most visually amazing place I've ever been. It's a green as Ireland and as bleak and windswept as the Alpine glaciers all from standing in the same place. I'd like to share exactly how amazing it was, but really I don't have the vocabulary or even the photography skill necessary to even give a whisper of credibility to this claim. You'll just have to see for yourself.

It began with looking on a map. Stockholm and Oslo didn't seem very far apart on a map, a mere 500km. From there it was about the same distance to the coast. The madness was that the premise of the adventure was from an elementary school geography book. At the end of each chapter was a list of the key words that were in boldface in the text. Of these words, I remember only one.

Fjord

-noun
1. a long, narrow arm of the sea bordered by steep cliffs: usually formed by glacial erosion.
2. (in Scandinavia) a bay.

I've seen many geological features, but the fjord (along with the impact crater, and peat bog) still eluded me. My usual tendencies towards madness of this nature would have been repressed by a closer look at the logistics. The nearest Fjord was over 1000km away, half of those on secondary roads that resembled goat paths more than highways. I had no car. There were only four days before school started again. There were so many reasons NOT to go.

You know that kid in primary school who would always talk you into things that got you into trouble but somehow at the last minute leave you holding the bag. He was probably sitting behind you shooting the class rabbit with a rubber band while you were trying to spell fjord aloud during geography class--landing you with the blame of course. That was, and despite several decades of aging, still is me.

Usually I can count on someone more level-headed says something like, "hey, that's probably a little too (insert adjective)..." Bad ideas and insane plans can be safely averted in this fashion. But when you're pouring this idea over some scotch or with Meredith, or as was the case, both, a lofty idea quickly becomes an ambitious plan.

The following pictures are on the route from Olso to Bergen on the west coast of Norway. The drive took us 14 hours because we had to stop every twenty minutes and take pictures. It was really crazy because within a half day and the landscape does really change that much. Each time the road curved, there was a new climate zone.