I got back on land from tokt earlier than expected and was able to change my flight to that evening to begin my vacation. Idar and Pancho met me at the airport in Svolvær with the van and I was stunned at how great it has become. The electrical was all in place and the couch/bed turned out great! We drove to Henningsvær, about 30 minutes from Svolvær, and parked the van along the side of the road for the night. (Youtube video below blog)
Our little cabin on wheels.
The next day we walked into the village center and had a coffee at Klatrekaffeen (The Climbing Cafe) and bought a guide book for Lofoten bouldering. We ran into Adam (my coworker) who was set for two whole weeks of climbing in Lofoten and he had some good tips for us.
The bouldering spot we decided to try was not far from Henningsvær, so we packed up some campfood and made dinner on the grass next to the boulders. Bouldering outside was much more difficult than inside a bouldering gym simply because of the fear of injuring myself without the massive mattress that they have at indoor gyms. We bought a crash pad for bouldering, but need to buy one more. Idar also taught me how to ride a skateboard! That was pretty fun, even though I fell once on our way to get dinner in Henningsvær.
Tough position just for the picture.
The easiest route on the boulders.
The next day Idar took me on a hike to Vågakallen. He said it wouldn't be that difficult, but it was still challenging for me. It was quite warm with the sun and very windy at the top. I should have brought a jacket. We made it most of the way, but stopped when it got much more difficult mainly because we didn't want Pancho to stress too much. People were impressed we bought the dog as far as we did.
Idar waited with Pancho and sent me up to the next section of the hike/climb...then I chickened out and went down.
On Wednesday, it was fairly cloudy and cold and we had driven to Uttakleiv to sleep near a beach there. Idar took a dip in the ocean to wash his hair, but I stayed in the van and made coffee while a bus load of tourists watched the crazy Norwegian swim. From there we bought a few gifts at Glasshuset and were tourists ourselves at Nusfjord before we finally settled in for the night at Reine.
Our ferry to Bodø was at 7AM on Thursday, so we parked 5 minutes away from the ferry terminal to sleep. We got to Bodø around 10:30AM and decided to hike Svartisen glacier. The water there was a bit warmer than in Lofoten, so we swam in the fjord while we waited for yet another ferry back to our van after the hike. The glacier seemed to have receded a lot just since 2016 when I was there last time.
We were very happy with travelling with the van, and it made our travels very flexible by not having to search for a campground to set up a tent. The battery was always charged to 100% because of the constant daylight and Pancho seemed to get used to it very quickly. We are looking forward to more trips with the van this fall!
Work is going fine. My boss has given me some lab activities to keep me interested in my work, so I'm testing antibodies. The positive control turned out as expected, but it is such a pretty staining that I have to share the picture. This is an embryo of a starlet sea anemone ( Nematostella sp.) approximately 30 hours old. The green is actin (a protein in cell walls), the blue is nuclei, and the red/pink is clusters of DNA. There are some pretty examples of cell division in this embryo! Also, as of a couple weeks ago I'm officially a published scientist! ....well, the paper has been accepted for publication, so it will likely not be in the journal before next year. The journal is called ICES Journal of Marine Science. Furthermore, this weekend the mountains got a nice thick layer of snow, so I took Pancho up for his first time in a proper bit of snow (not counting the icy leftovers that were on Jutenheimen this summer). He's now 6 months old and weighs bout 34
[There's something wrong with the synchrony of the acoustics] My job aboard Brennholm is to work on the acoustic part of my thesis. So I am practicing some sonar and echo sounder scrutinozing. I am also relating the mackerel movement to the currents, but this will be hard since mackerel are so hard to see at all on any of the acoustic equipment since they lack a swim bladder. It is nice to just have a 7:30 to 10 work day though and I have my supervisor right next to me for help. Everyone on the cruise has gained weight, and despite doing some exercise almost everyday I am no exception. We are feed too well on the boats and you don't move around too much. (I was even convinced to try salted and dried whale meat from the Faroes. I stayed far away from the blubber!!) At least I have been able to run 13.5 km the past couple of days with the calm seas. There aren't many options for exercise on this ship compared to G.O. Sars. [The "gym" in the bow of th
Many Norwegian traditions are distinctly regional. Even recipes are variable by region to go along with dialects that can be different by town separated by just 50 kilometers. This tradition, that both Marius and I were new to trying, was from a town just about an hour and a half east of Bergen called Voss....smalahove, or half of a sheep's head that is cooked in a broth for several hours. Smalahove comes from two Norwegian words: smale = sheep, and hove = head. It is served before Christmas with potatoes, mashed rutabaga, and red cabbage. Many of my friends were telling me that the cheek is supposed to be the best part, and others were saying that they wouldn't dare eat it. So I can now say that I have done something that many other Norwegians haven't dared try. I actually really enjoyed it! It had a texture like corned beef and had a very nice flavor. Marius went as far as to try the tongue, and thought that eating the eye was a normal thing, so tried that as well...bu
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