Still Chasing the Northern Lights...

Part Two~Tromso and The Hurtigruten

So, last night we ate the reindeer, this morning...we played with them.  Well, not all of us played with them; the dads and the kids played.  The moms organized suitcases and explored the town.  Organized the suitcases you ask?  Yes, we were living out of suitcases and getting ready to live in very small quarters.  It was important that we had long underwear, gloves, hats and fleeces, all dry and ready to go when needed.  Okay, maybe organizing the suitcases was an excuse for us to "re-group" before the really cold, sleepless portion of our trip began.

As we "re-grouped" the other half of our group had an amazing day getting to know the reindeer of Norway.  Tromso Friluftsenter took the group on a wonderful reindeer sleigh ride near the Norwegian Fjords.  

They learned about the reindeer, how they have webbed feet so that they can swim, and the Sami people of Norway.  After a peaceful ride, they enjoyed a meal in a Sami tent and played near the Fjords.  

Once they were back it was time for the portion of our adventure that I had been the most hesitant about.  The cruise!  We wheeled our suitcases towards the port, all very curious as to what the Hurtigruten had in store for us.  

I personally was convinced that this ship would take me directly to the Northern Lights as thus far they had eluded us.    Boarding was an easy, organized process and we were given our cabins.  As I glanced at the 2 packets that I held in my hand, I noticed that my husband and I were on the 5th floor, while the two younger expats were on the 2nd.  Ohhhh, this was so not going to work.  Anyone who knows my youngest expat knows that he has NO FEAR.  He will climb the tallest of play structures, and then jump off, resulting in a broken arm.  He will run around a wet swimming pool deck, slip and fall and bite THROUGH his tongue...he is fearless and I had fears of him playing the "king of the world" roll made famous by Leonardo Dicaprio and falling into the cold, frozen Fjord, and us being non the wiser.  So, back up to the reception desk, I went...

"Hi, we need two cabins next to each other please."  I stated as I handed her my envelopes.  

"Oh, I'm sorry, we don't have two cabins next to each other."  She responded, completely unaware of just how serious I was.

"No, really...this is NON-NEGOTIABLE." I stated firmly.  Then I went on to explain the antics that my youngest was capable of and that it probably wouldn't be very good when they had to turn the boat around at 2AM, because the child playing "Jack" from the movie Titanic had fallen overboard!

"No problem, here are two rooms next to one another!"  She said as she realized that I was probably right.  By the way, thank you to the staff of the Hurtigruten for being so understanding and accommodating.  

Off we went.  We all got settled in our cabins and meet at our agreed time with our contraband.  Contraband you ask?  Yes, contraband...

For you see, we had discovered that alcohol in Norway was extremely expensive, so we were now pouring the wine that we had purchased in Duty Free into our "travel cups" and sneaking it around the boat and oh yea, into the restaurant.  And we had been told on more than one occasion that we shouldn't be doing this.  Boy, between demanding a room change and demanding or should I say providing our own alcohol we were setting the theme for the trip...It was "non-negotiable".  

The first night on the ship was fun and easy.  As the kids explored the ship, I continually went outside to see if the Northern Lights were visible.  Nothing yet and I must say, I was beginning to get a bit disappointed!  So after an amazing dinner of Arctic Char and wine out of a soda can we decided to turn in for the night.  I was amazingly surprised at how calm the boat was.  No seasickness for me!  But, before I turned in, I had to give it one more shot;  I went outside!  It was cold, cold and windy and as I stared at the overcast sky, and it began to snow, I realize that I would have to continue my search for the Northern Lights...oh and surprise, surprise I did run into the youngest expat in the hallway!

Chasing the Northern Lights...

Part One~Oslo & Tromso, Norway

When we moved to Europe, we made our "Bucket List" and at the very top of mine was the Northern Lights!  The Northern Lights were something I had always wanted to see.  For as long as I could remember I had the goal of getting an amazing photograph of this spectacular phenomenon.  

We slowly checked off trips on this list we had made, and finally last fall we began talking about the one on top...Chasing the Northern Lights.  I had a few friends who had gone on this expedition and raved about it.  It is cold, they said, and not relaxing, but it is the trip of a lifetime, one you have to take while living in Europe.  That was it;  someone said that we have to take it, we have to take it!  So, I started planning and talking to everyone that I could about this amazing trip.  During one such conversation, a friend of mine said "Oh, we'll go with you!" Was she serious?  I thought that I was the only one foolish enough to drag my family to the Arctic Circle in February!  Nope, she was serious and so the excitement of this trip gained momentum.  The kids would have friends to enjoy their trip with, and the adults could commiserate on the fact that we were indeed crazy, frozen and at the end of it...broke!

We counted down the days until our February 14th departure and finally 8 loud, crazy American's and one hesitant Brit boarded the flight to the cold, white North.

We arrived in Oslo and checked into our hotel.  We proceeded to order pizza for the kids and as they played games in the lobby, we had a civilized dinner in the hotel restaurant.   The next morning we woke to an amazing winter wonderland.  The light in Oslo was "low" as there are only 5 hours of daylight at this time of year, and the sun never seems to get very high in the sky.  That did nothing to dampen the spirit of the kids.  Hours were spent playing in the snow...snowball fights, snowmen and a few snow angels were had on this first day of our adventure.

The next day we boarded our flight to Tromso, Norway.  Tromso is considered the "Capital of the Arctic" and is actually located on an island 190 miles inside of the Arctic Circle.  It is a wonderful little city full of old wooden houses and a beautiful port.  This small town would turn out to have some of our favorite activities on our adventure!

In Tromso, we were going dog sledding to view the Northern Lights and we were all very excited!  I had images of quietly riding on a dog sled, nestled under reindeer hides as the Northern Lights danced above me...oh, how wrong I was.  This was hard-core dog sledding.  Dog sledding that involved work.    Dog sledding where you got it...I was driving the dog sled! 

After changing into the arctic suit, because the three layers that we had on underneath our own snow suit weren't enough to keep us warm, we headed out to meet our dogs...

These are some seriously STRONG animals.  They are sweet, and friendly, but they want to run and when they are ready to go, they do not hesitate to do so.  Lyngsfjord Adventure maked this an amazing experience and the two guides that we had were great, the only thing that they couldn't help us with, was the weather.  It was a blizzard...okay, maybe not a blizzard, but for families from California and Florida it sure did seem like one!  Overcast skies and blowing snow prevented us from seeing the Northern Lights but it didn't stop the fun.  The adrenaline rush that you get from driving your own dog sled in blinding snow, while not killing your small passenger...shout out to "princess", was exhilarating.  Never once was I cold, and never once was I wishing it was over.  It was for me one of the highlights of the trip!  At the end of our ride we were able to spend a little time with the dogs that had taken us on our adventure and we were all amazed at the muscle that they had.  Our guide informed us that they eat 6 pounds of meat a day and they sure seemed to love their jobs!

After all of that work, I too had built up an appetite and lucky for me, this was waiting for us when we arrived back to the Sami tent.

This was the amazing reindeer stew we had been waiting for.  I have to admit I was a little hesitant about eating this because of the fact that the next morning we would be doing our reindeer sleigh ride, but I was hungry and it wasn't Rudolph, right?

Stay tuned to continue on this frozen adventure!!