SUNNE TO RÄTTVIK
- Hannah McDonald
- Jul 17, 2022
- 6 min read
Sunne (Övre Fryken) • Rättvik
Often when hearing about others’ travels, you get the “highlight reel,” where the unavoidable and never ending logistics are conveniently left out. Yes, we spent an hour or so doing this amazing thing but what about everything that went into that? Hopefully, our blogs shed some light on both the reality and the logistics, which together make for countless adventures and stories. Today is a lot of logistics, with a nice 45 minute highlight (or two).
Sunne Run (highlight turned logistic)
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Waking to slightly dreary weather, I am motivated to run only by the prospect of running around the beautiful lake our hotel sits on. Outside, I bump into Joelle (who got moving much quicker than I) while she is running laps around the hotel. “Um…what are you doing? Why aren’t you running around the lake?” Apparently, there is no trail around the lake, so our best option is circles around the hotel plus a gravel, hilly driveway (turning the highlight of a run into a logistic). I chase Joelle around the hotel, (slowly) up the hill, and am now making my way back down. Suddenly, I feel my ankle twist and my hands crash into the gravel, barely preventing me from literally eating dirt. Joelle, alerted by my loud “ow” and being the good sister she is, spins around to check on me. Fortunately, I am left with just stinging, scraped, and bruised hands, not the broken ankle whose thoughts immediately flashed before me. That was close. I am now left with the logistic of cleaning my hands with alcohol but fortunately not the logistics of finding a doctor for my ankle.
Transportation Logistics (logistics)
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When checking into the hotel last night, the woman working mentioned SAS did not come to an agreement with their pilots, resulting in the strike continuing. Seeing as we are flying SAS to Norway in a few days, this is worrisome, and we begin considering back-up options. We quickly determine the ideal option: Drive to Oslo ourselves because it is only a 4 hour and 45 minute drive, making for the least travel time of any option by a significant margin. After numerous unanswered calls to Avis at Stockholm-Arlanda (no real surprise), someone finally answers on their behalf (because they do not answer). The best solution—after much conversation—is to return the car in Karlstad and take a bus to Oslo. A little more travel time and several hours on the phone this morning but works for us!
Canoeing Övre Fryken (highlight and logistics)
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Since we arrived (albeit not long ago), the beautiful lake–Övre Fryken–has shimmered undisturbed and the kayaks and canoes lie untouched on shore. We need to change that.
The sun is now shining with blue sky, so we rent a canoe—canoe number three—from the front desk. By the shore, I try turning the key for the boat labeled three, but it does not budge. I am having locking gas cap flashbacks. I ask the woman who brings our life vests and paddles for help, and we quickly determine that I tried to unlock kayak number three, not canoe number three. Oops. Once unlocked, Joelle and I manage to pull the (very heavy) canoe down from the platform and (with much effort) push it into the water.
We leisurely paddle across the lake, thoroughly enjoying our time. Surprised, Joelle looks up and states, “wow, that’s a scary looking cloud.” Above us looms a massive, dark cloud that threatens to begin storming. Joelle asks, “should we keep paddling across or go back?” Wanting to reach a destination, we decide to paddle quickly across to the opposite bank, then get closer to the hotel’s shore in case we need to bail. In the next five minutes, the cloud gets bigger and darker. We look at each other and realize our precarious situation. Changing our minds, we begin paddling back to the hotel quickly. Wow, this is a big lake. With the wind against us, we feel like we paddle a long time with minimal progress. The first rain drops hit. Joelle optimistically says, “maybe it will pass,” and on cue it begins raining harder.
Thinking it is probably best to get out, we begin that (long) process. As ungracefully as you can imagine, we incrementally push the canoe up the sand (the hill makes it quite challenging). Finally in front of the platform, we strategize how to lift the canoe back up. After a few attempts, we settle on the fact that it will stay on the grass. Just then, the rain stops and the sky is blue. What timing. At least we got 45 minutes on the water; we cannot find the energy to drag the canoe back out and back to shore for 45 more minutes.
Checkers (another highlight)
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With canoeing shortened and a little time to spare, we find a chess board and convert it to a game of checkers (since we do not know how to play chess). We play while sipping tea, each winning a game. This feels like the first time in awhile that we escape the urgency of our travels to just be, rather than go go go.
Gas and Grocery Shopping (more logistics)
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Ready for the next leg of our Swedish travels, it is time to fill our gas tank for the first time. Given the ordeal this was with our campervan in Iceland, I cannot say I am excited about it. To my relief, it only takes 10 minutes (no locking cap) to get it filled, with me holding my Google Translate camera up to the pump since I cannot understand the Swedish.
We will have a kitchen the next few nights—yay!! That means grocery shopping. We quickly fill our basket with what seems like far too much food. We ask ourselves if we should buy less multiple times, but ultimately decide we can eat what we have. The only item we cannot find is hummus…it has been surprisingly hard to find hummus, one of our lunch staples.
We try the self-checkout machines but ultimately give up and go to a checkout lane with a cashier. After scanning all our items and paying, the cashier needs my ID, which I deduce from a notification on the pin pad rather than what she says to me in Swedish. My Colorado ID is clearly confusing, and she goes back and forth with another cashier. Eventually it clears, and Joelle (who was bagging) asks, “what was that?” “I have no idea…”
Rättvik (today’s final logistics)
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Our drive to Rättvik should take just under three hours, but I decide to take the scenic route. Noticing our navigation has said 66 kilometers to the next step for many kilometers now, I ask Joelle, “Um…is the navigation frozen?” Sure enough, it is stuck and has been for awhile. We are headed straight for Norway. Oops – we are excited for the Norway leg of our trip but not ready for it just yet. Apparently, to stay on the main road, there was a nearly 90º turn I missed, but I cannot seem to recall when we passed that. Fortunately, the dirt road we turn onto to get back on track offers great views of forests, towns, lakes, and rivers. Most the buildings in the area are a rusty red—a color I am liking—because farmers used to put rust in the paint, and the practice stuck.
Following a well over three hour drive, we pull into the town of Rättvik, which is busy with people walking around. We turn off the Google Maps navigation and turn to the directions provided by our Airbnb hosts (apparently Google takes you to the wrong place). I drive the steep hills with windy roads while Joelle tries to point me in the right direction. Having already made several wrong turns and backtracking, I make another turn at an intersection with two options. Meanwhile, Joelle follows our dot moving along on the map: “Nope, not this way.” I turn around, and we go the other way at the two-option intersection with Joelle still following our dot: “How is this also the wrong way?” It is honestly quite confusing (apparently there were three options), but we find the correct way eventually and safety make it to our home for the next several days.
Our host family meets us outside to show us around, and it is beautiful—both the place we are staying and its view. We are perched on the hill over looking the lake, and the sun is getting ready to set behind it (in several hours). So peaceful and so beautiful; we are happy.
After chatting with our hosts and getting some activity recommendations, Joelle makes us a yummy dinner (for those of you wondering, it is pasta and we are surprisingly not sick of it yet), and we treat ourselves to a movie before snuggling in to get some sleep.
We are so excited to spend three nights in this one, beautiful place.
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