Norway August 20 - 30, 2010
Booking for this trip is closed.
News from the Troll!
(July 31, 2010)
Booking for the trip to Norway in August is now closed. The preparations are almost completed and the lucky trip partisipants are ready to embark on the journey with Lady and the troll.
(May 2, 2010)
The trip to Norway in August is still on and there are a few open seats. The troll has heard some rumblings that there are several people that have not yet made up their mind about going on this trip. Wait no more! Now is the time to step forward and sign up for the trip. Check out our price and itinerary... you'll find that at $2995 this trip represents the best value you can find in escorted travel to Norway. It's going to be a lot of fun. Oh, and for all you couch potatoes, hiking is optional.
(February 14, 2010)
Legend says Norwegians are born with skis on their feet. Since Sunday, February 14th is Mother’s Day in Norway, we checked with the Trollmor (troll mom). Nora says Magne was three years old when he started skiing with her but it didn’t take long and the little Troll-boy was speeding off on his own ski adventures.
January started the ski race season and the Troll and his ski team are racing every Thursday out at Buck Hill, the same ski center USA Olympian Lindsey Vonn got her start.
Lady and the Troll are big fans of the Olympics – even if we wave different flags! A big cheer always goes up for our USA athletes but it’s without a doubt it’s the Norwegians who are in their element at these events. Norwegians have won 280 Olympic medals – more than any other nation – with cross-country skiing and speed skating as the top sports.
Norway, skiing and the winter Olympics have always had a strong connection. It’s well known that the sport of skiing developed in Norway and spread throughout parts of the world. The ski-legend Sondre Norheim from Morgedal, is credited as the founder of modern skiing. The entire region of Telemark was known for holding on to the old ski traditions, and it was Sondre Norheim who in 1866 set out with two friends on a three day ski trip to Oslo to take part in a ski jump competition. What happened there was nothing short of spectacular. Sondre amazed and stunned the crowd with his technique and incredible skiing. He won the competition of course, but also rekindled Norway’s passion for skiing.
And it is from the fireplace hearth of this Norwegian ski legend a flame has been brought to light three winter Olympic games: Oslo games in 1952, Squaw Valley in 1960 and of course, the Lillehammer Winter Olympic games in 1994.
Click here to read more about this fascinating ski legend; Sondre Norheim. http://www.sondrenorheim.com/index.html
(Note: The Lady encourages all our North Dakota folks to check out the surprising North Dakota connection!)
Here in United States, there is the legendary ski pioneer who the people of the Lost Sierra Mountains of California called ‘Snowshoe Thompson’. They had never seen Norwegian skis before and so called them snowshoes. From 1856 to 1876 he made legendary 90 mile treks over snowdrifts up to 50 feet high and through blizzards with up to 80 mile per hour winds, to deliver mail to those living in isolation. He was the sole link between California and the Atlantic states during the long winter months.
Snowshoe Thompson’s legendary mail route to the remote mining camps, his skill and amazing abilities are celebrated yet today. Click here to read more about him. http://www.snowshoethompson.org/
(January 13, 2010)
In December last year, Tiffanie Davis, managing editor of the Seattle newspaper Norwegian American Weekly conducted a phone interview with me and Cindy. The resulting article appeared in the Friday January 8 edition of the paper. Please follow this link to a copy of the newspaper clip. (Adobe Acrobat Reader is required): Click here for newspaper clip of the interview.
(January 1, 2010)
Trip to Norway - August 2010!
By now, we have received registration and payments from several travelers. Thank you! Good news is that the trip is not yet full. Should you have friends or relatives that would like to join the trip, please tell them to send us a registration form and payment. The registration form is available on this web site. The last registration form said that early bird registration price ended on December 31st. We have decided to extend the deadline until February 28, 2010. Please follow this link to the registration form. Registration Form (pdf)
We are currently running an ad about the trip in Norwegian American Weekly. This weekly newspaper (printed in Seattle) will also feature the trip in an interview they did with me and Cindy. This interview will be in one of their January 2010 issues. In addition, the trip has sponsoring links on the Phloatinactivities.org website and we are planning an ad in the Sons of Norway magazine (The Viking).
Thanks and have a great New Years Holiday.