Weekend Getaway to a Cabin in Sälen, Sweden

Really mad at myself…haven’t taken a picture of the car….but we rented a Volvo wagon with a Thule roof pod on Thursday and picked the kids up at school. Whether you ski for 2 days or 2 weeks you still need a lot of crap! I really tried to pack light too!

You know I haven’t driven in over 5 months now….and it felt very strange to be in the car as well. At least for the first 30 min….but Greg would not let me drive. And I could not handle driving in the city. I would probably hit a person. Walkers have the right of way, and if the light is red a walker does not walk, but if there is no light at all….a walker may not even look for a car, so the car has to be incredibly careful of all pedestrians. I like being the walker! So our 6 hour drive started at 3:30pm.

We were driving through an incredible little snow storm, right around the Gavle area, you could barely see and it was piling up so fast. Large plows were out working but sometimes it was so deep  it was hitting the undercarriage of the car.

Above is the cabin. Actually the cabin foremost on the left is a smaller cabin and not the one we used. It was hard to get a good picture due to the large tree and shed in front of it, but we enjoyed the cabin set back. And is much larger than you can tell here.

So right to bed….up the next morning to make the hour long ride to Norway and Trysil.

They apparently don’t subscribe to ski lodges in Europe that allow you change into your boots and then store your ski bag….we saw more people walking miles to the mountain in their boots or changing at their car. Now when it is -20 celcius, I do not want to change outside the car and then hop on a lift……come on now!

We did head back out skiing for another hour or so before heading in again for warmth and lunch. Norway’s currency is the Norwegian Kroner, or NOK. And it is more expensive than Sweden and the SEK, Swedish Kroner. So we made sandwiches the second day, had a hard time finding a spot that allowed us to eat them, but we got by.

$24 pizza(140NOK….pommes on the other had, aka, french fries, though unhealthy, were yummy and affordable!)

At this point it is almost 2pm….and the girls and I decide that the conditions don’t warrant another run in with frost bite.  I may very well need a ski sharpening, but for the most part, it was skiing on ice. So after we feel that the staff at this eating establishment has given us enough dirty looks, we get on the helmets and ski horizontally over to the next lodge and enjoy another cup of cocoa and it was cheap….10NOK…$2!!! So guiltfree hot cocoa and some girl time!

We ended up making grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner and went to bed early. Next day we tried to switch our tickets with another mountain, Tandådalen, which is also a SkiStar company but wouldn’t allow us to ski there(without paying naturally). The pitch looked steep and we could see a bump run. We figured it would be a new experience and save us time, being only 20 minutes from the cabin. But no luck, on the road again back to Trysil and hopefully it has softened up a bit!

We definitely dressed better for the weather today so none of us were as cold as Friday. The crowds weren’t really very big either, at least in the lift lines. The restaurants though were nuts, and can’t imagine how this place handles what would be a busy week of holiday vacations! Especially considering they don’t have any brown bagging lodges.

We had to practically mow people down to get this seat and then wait for over 30 minutes to get 2 bowls of soup! The band didn’t come on till we just about to leave….we were sitting in a very loud spot!

It was pretty late after lunch and we were able to use the rope tow, thank goodness, it was closing in 5 minutes!!! Headed back to the car and too bothered to walk our ski bags all the way back to the rental area we all changed our boots outside the car.

On the way home we decided to eat now rather than go back out….we ended up the most wonderful Italian place, Appetito. Appetito is the 5 course meal side of the restaurant, we enjoyed the Cin Cin side which had a smaller menu and not as formal.

Off to enjoy the last evening in the cabin.

So on our way back home I really thought I would see some celebrations, carnivals or festivals surrounding the traditional date of January 13 and taking the tree down Hilyarmas. There was an event happening in Stockholm so I was hopeful to see another celebration but disappointed in the end. We tried to get into the Dala Horse Shop in the village of Nusnäs, which we pass on the way back. But they are not open on Sundays.

Stopping for a pitstop on the way home we remarked on the trees…there was a crystal like white on every branch of anything, called rime….trees, bushes, grass in the ground that was sticking up through the layer of snow. It was quite a sight.