Frank Lloyd Wright - Two More for the Collection

Before the year ended, we toured the Zimmerman House and the Kalil House in Manchester, NH.

The Zimmerman House

Not much to look at from the front...

Kalil House

Last Days in Norway

During the last week of our travels around the fjord-land, we wanted to be close to Olso but also close to the airport for an easy departure day. That brought us to Frogner, on the outskirts of the city, and to our third small farm. This one featured a lovely cabin next to the main house, with the coziest, open-space living room we'd ever... worked in. We couldn't get enough of the fireplace and burned a small forest during our 3-night stay. Couldn't have been a nicer way to cap off the trip, and we never did go back into Oslo from there. 

Rofshus Farm, Rauland

After a long drive from Odda, past a gushing road-side waterfall and over a mountain pass covered with snow, we found ourselves on another small farm in the middle of nowhere.  

Falkenuten Hike

Odda

Our next stop was a town called Odda. We liked Odda -- we went on two beautiful hikes there, but we didn't LOVE Odda. Weirdly, we heard a distant, thumping bass every night (nightclub? house-party? rave?), our accommodations, which were cute and quaint at first, seemed to grow tinier over 4 days, the bed seemed to have a fjord-sized trough down the middle, and we spent $55 one night on two cheese and veg quesadillas, one beer, and a Diet Coke. But the two hikes were undeniably beautiful and that made even the bed-trough worth the stop. 

new Norwegian slippers

Hike to Ringedalsvatnet Lake

Buerbreen Glacier hike

Hafslo Gjestehus

Once we left our birdhouse and the tranquil, gorgeous stay at Juvet, we started our slow journey via a different route south back to Oslo. First stop was a random point along the way, and a one-night stay at a lovely, nearly deserted hotel overlooking our favorite geographic feature, a fjord. 

Aksla Viewpoint, Ålesund, Norway

My original plan for Norway included a one night stay in Ålesund on the way to Juvet; I think I was going to fly their from Oslo. Since the trip changed to include a drive tp Juvet from Oslo, a stop in Ålesund wasn't necessary but still wanted, if only to go to the Aksla Viewpoint to get a view of the pretty coastal town jutting out into the sea, which we did as a day-trip from Juvet. A huge benefit of traveling in Norway in the fall is that most of the tourists have gone home. The Aksla Viewpoint is a big tourist destination, but since we were there in early October, we were able to drive right up to the viewing area, park a few feet away, have the viewing platform more or less to ourselves, and have a lovely piece of cake and coffee in the uncrowded cafe next to it -- a place which surely would have been loaded with the tour-bus-crowds in the height of summer.