Sweden & Norway & Denmark, July-September 2019

Chris had flight testing for five weeks in August and September in Karlsborg, Sweden.  Tami, Nathan, and Chris flew to Stockholm two weeks before the testing started, and spent those two weeks in Sweden and Norway.  Tami flew home when flight testing started, and Nathan stayed for two more weeks with Chris in Karlsborg, Sweden.  At the end of those two weeks, Chris and Nathan drove to Gothenberg, Sweden and then took the train to Copenhagen, Denmark for the weekend, and Nathan flew home from there.  Chris returned to Karlsborg for three more weeks of flight testing.  During the two weekends off in those final three weeks, Chris drove over to Norway to visit more places we had missed earlier in the trip.  Chris flew home on 14 September, and 10 days after getting home he flew to Utah for ten more weeks of flight testing at Dugway Proving Grounds, near Salt Lake City.  The map below shows all our travels through Sweden and Norway for seven weeks.

Blue = Chris & Tami & Nathan, 30 Jul - 12 Aug Stockholm to Trondheim to Bergen to Honefuss to Gothenberg to Karlsborg to Stockholm Yellow = Chris & Nathan, 17 Aug, Saturday Around Lake Vattern Scarlet = Chris, 30 Aug - 1 Sep, Lillehammer Weekend Karlsborg to Lillehammer to Rondane National Park to Sognefjellet to Lillehammer to Karlsborg Green = Chris, 5 Sep, Thursday evening Karlsborg to Linkoping Swedish Air Force Museum and return Orange = Chris, 6 Sep - 8 Sep, Preikestolen Weekend Karlsborg to Preikestolen to Erfjord to Olen to Langfoss to Latefossen to Karlsborg

30 - 31 July
We started this adventure by driving a rental car to Dulles Airport; we have found that is the cheapest way for ground travel to Dulles.  Chris flew on British Airways to London and then on Stockholm. Tami and Nathan flew on United to Amsterdam and then on to Stockholm. Their lay-over in Amsterdam was about 6 hours, so they took the train into the city for a short visit.  Chris' layover in London was shorter, and Heathrow to London is a longer train ride, so Chris stayed in the business class lounge at Heathrow.

Flights from Dulles Airport to London-Heathrow to Stockholm

31 July - 1 Aug, Stockholm
We took the train from Stockholm Airport into the city on the evening of 31 July, and walked just a few minutes to our hotel, which was one block from the city train station.  We got up the next day and bought tickets on a hop-on / hop-off bus tour of the city. We saw a lot of the city, and walked around many places downtown.  One of the bus stops was the main museum area in Stockholm, and we all visited the Vasa Museum on 1 August.  We had lunch by the palace downtown, and returned to a different restaurant nearby the palace for dinner.

                     
Stockholm, 1 August 2019

2 Aug - Stockholm to Trysil
We got up and took the train from Stockholm city back to the Stockholm Airport on the morning of 2 August, and picked up our rental car for the vacation portion of this trip.  We drove from Stockholm Airport to a ski resort in Trysil, Norway, arriving in the evening. We bought pizza in the hotel, and ate it overlooking the valley below on the outside deck of our room.   Chris set up his camera for time lapse photos overnight.  He was hoping to catch some northern lights, but this time of the year it never really got very dark, so he did not expect to catch anything other than a partial sunset.

Trysil Timelapse Overnight, 2-3 August 2019

3 - 4 Aug - Trysil to Trondheim
We continued the drive, going from Trysil to Trondheim, Norway. Passing through Roros at mid-day, we arrived at our Trondheim hotel in the afternoon, and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant that evening.  The next morning, we toured the inner city of Trondheim on foot, and later in the day we took a train out to the suburbs to the southwest of the city, on top of a mountain with nice views.

     
Trysil to Trondheim, 3 August 2019

                     
Trondheim, 4 August 2019

5 Aug - Trondheim to Geiranger
We left Trondheim this morning, headed for our hotel in Geiranger, but had not decided which way to take to get there. There were two options; long and longer. We settled on the longer route, which went from Trondheim to the Atlantic Ocean Road to Trollstigen to Geiranger, with three ferries and a two undersea tunnels.  We used a GoPro to shoot video of sections of this drive. It was a long day, but we saw and did A LOT, ending with dinner on the outside patio of our hotel in Geiranger, overlooking Geirangerfjord.

Trondheim to Geiranger drive, 5 August 2019

                 
Atlantic Ocean Road, 5 August 2019

         
Trollstigen, 5 August 2019

Geirangerfjord 

Eidsdal from ferry

Geiranger from Geirangfjord overlook

6 Aug - Geiranger to Balestrand
We took the car ferry from Geiranger to Hellesylt, which takes about an hour and a half and passes down Geirangerfjord, one of the most beautiful fiords in Norway.  There are several waterfalls flowing into the fiord, including the Seven Sisters.  After arriving in Hellesylt, we drove to Balestrand along a twisty path, picked out to see as much as possible.  This included one of Norway's scenic drives, the Gaularfjellet National Tourist Route.  Chris flew his RC planes twice on this day. The first time was overlooking Innvikfjorder fiord, and the second time was in the Stardalselva River valley.  We passed many waterfalls in the mountains, including Likholefossen here, before reaching the end of Gaularfjellet at a neat overlook with a raised platform here, called Utsikten. The road descended a bunch of switchbacks down to sea level, and continued along the coast to Balestrand.  We shot video of sections of this drive, including the ferry from Geiranger to Helleslyt, and the drive from Utsikten to Balestrand. We made it to our hotel in Balestrand in the early afternoon.  This hotel, Kviknes, was the nicest hotel on our trip, and is one of those grand old hotels that is larger than life, this one famous for its view of the Sognefjorden, which is Norway's longest and deepest fiord. We found out our room was called the Honeymoon Suite, and had a giant porch overlooking the fiord.  Chris set up his camera to take an overnight timelapse of Sognefjorden. We drank wine while relaxing on the porch, and then had a great dinner at the hotel that night.

                 
Geirangerfjord, from the ferry to Hellesylt, 6 August 2019

                           
Hellesylt to Balestrand, 6 August 2019

7 - 8 Aug - Balestrand to Bergen
This day started with a ferry from Dragsvik, just a few miles from Balestrand, to Hella and Sognfalfjora and on to Kaupanger, where we checked for space on the afternoon ferry to Gudvagen.  That ferry runs twice a day.  We found out the boat for the morning ferry had broken, so there was a line of cars for people who had morning reservations that would be first on the afternoon ferry.  We were first in line for the 'no reservations' cars, so we had a OK chance of getting a spot, but the afternoon ferry was still several hours away. We decided to drive on and catch a shorter ferry, and then drive on a mountaintop road into Flam.   We continued on that shorter ferry to Laerdalsyori, and then drove on the 'snow road' over the mountain on the Aurlandsfjellet National Tourist Route to the Stegastein observation point  here.  This is a famous overlook of the Aurlandsfjord which ends at Flam.  Here is a video of our drive along the Sognefjorden and over that mountain. We descended to Aurlandsvangen on some narrow switchbacks while filming that drive with a Gear 360, continued to Flam and then took a very long tunnel past Gudvangen, and then drove for another few hours to reach Bergen.  We had dinner at our hotel on both nights we stayed in Bergen.  We all walked around the city, and also took the funicular to the city overlook on the second afternoon.  Chris and Nathan walked back down to the city, and Tami took the funicular back down.

                         
Balestrand to Bergen, 7 August 2019

Aurlandsfjord from Stegastein Viewpoint, 7 August 2019

                 
Bergen, 8 August 2019

9 Aug - Bergen to Honefuss
We did not have a hotel reservation for this night, but we did have a general destination in mind at somewhere north of Oslo. We left Bergen and headed east and south, along the Hardangerfjord from Norheimsund to Eidfjord.  We left the fiords behind and passed the Voringfossen waterfall on our way over the Hardangervidda plateau on the Hardangervidda National Tourist Route.  Voringfossen is the most visited waterfall in Norway, as it is on the direct route from Oslo to Bergen on Norwegian National Road 7.  Voringfossen is almost 600 ft high, and yet it is only the 83rd highest waterfall in Norway.  Chris flew one of his planes again on top of the Hardangervidda plateau.  We stopped for the night in Honefuss at the Klaekken Hotel just outside of town, and drove into town for dinner.

                           
Bergen to Honefuss, 9 August 2019

10 - 11 Aug - Honefuss to Gothenburg
We drove from Honefuss, Norway to Gothenburg, Sweden, arriving in late afternoon to our downtown hotel right across from the main train station.  It was raining, so we stayed in and had dinner at our hotel.  We walked around the city the next day to explore, and had dinner at a jungle-themed restaurant on the second evening.

             
Gothenberg, Sweden, 11 August 2019

12 Aug - Gothenberg to Karlsborg & Stockholm
This was officially the first day of Chris' work trip, as a travel day to arrive in Karlsborg, Sweden.  We drove to Gothenberg airport, picked up Chris' business rental car and continued on to Karlsborg, where Chris and Nathan checked into their hotel.  We all had lunch in town, did some laundry in the hotel washing machine, and then Tami drove on to Stockholm in our personal rental car to catch her flight home.  Chris and Nathan looked for an apartment in town.

13 Aug to 14 Sep - Apartment in Karlsborg for the rest of the trip
Chris caught a ride from a coworker at the hotel, and headed to work to begin the upgrade of the Swedish Shadow system.  Nathan checked out, took our luggage to the apartment we had found the evening before, and moved in.  This apartment was Chris' home for the next five weeks, and it was only three minutes from the flight line. It was clean, had a great price, sat right next to the lake, and the landlord provided bicycles for us as well.

14 Aug - 23 Aug
Chris went to the flight line on the weekdays, and Nathan continued work on the book he was writing.  After work, Chris and Nathan would go out to eat or cook dinner in the apartment.  They explored nearby, visiting Skovde for dinner on 16 August, and going to viewpoint here, high on a hill overlooking Karlsborg and Lake Vattern on 21 August.  On Saturday, 17 August, they drove around Lake Vattern and visited Vadstena Castle here, and the old ruins of Brahehus here, both on the east side of Lake Vattern.  They also went to an IKEA in Jonkoping on that Saturday drive to see what a real Swedish IKEA was like; it is identical to an IKEA in the US. Chris hiked at a few places in the afternoons, including nearby Tivedens National Park, which he visited several times over the next five weeks, and he flew his RC planes and quadcopters at many nearby places. 

Nathan and Chris' trip around Lake Vattern, 17 August 2019

   
Skovde, Sweden, 16 August 2019

                 
Vadstena Castle, 17 August 2019

         
Lake Vattern, Brahehus, Jonkoping, 17 August 2019

                         
Tivedens National Park, 18 & 20 August 2019

 
Karlsborg, 20 August 2019

Karlsborg panorama, 21 August 2019

23 Aug - 24 Aug - Karlsborg to Copenhagen
After work, Chris and Nathan drove back to Gothenburg Airport and returned Chris' first business rental car. Chris could not keep a single rental car for the entire 5 weeks, so he had to break it up into two rentals.  They took the airport shuttle bus downtown to the Gothenburg Central Rail Station, and got the next train to Copenhagen, where they arrived in the evening. Chris' maternal grandmother had been born in Copenhagen, so this was like a trip home.  Tami had found a hotel for them right next to train line from Gothenberg, and reserved them a room with lounge access, which was great for breakfast, snacks, and lots of wine.  They had dinner each night in the hotel lounge and restaurant.  On Saturday, they took the metro into central Copenhagen and visited the city.

                                         
Copenhagen, Denmark, 24 August 2019

25 Aug - Copenhagen to Stockholm to Karlsborg
Nathan got up early, and took a taxi to the airport to get his flight home. Chris left for the airport a few hours later to catch his flight to Stockholm.  He picked up his rental car for the last three weeks, and drove back to Karlsborg.

26 Aug - 13 Sep - Karlsborg
System upgrades and flight testing of those upgrades continued for the next three weeks, finishing on 13 September.  During the weekdays, Chris would explore nearby after work, hiking again at Tivedens National Park, along Lake Vattern, and at other hiking trails within an hour or so of Karlsborg. He also visited the Swedish Air Force Museum in Linkoping on 5 September; it is a neat museum with an excellent collection of aircraft and displays.  He flew his RC aircraft almost every day at different locations, and generally just enjoyed Sweden.  The sunset photos were taken here, near Beateberg on an arm of Lake Viken, next to the path of the Gota Canal.

   
Tivedens National Park, 27 August 2019 

     
Undenas, 27 August 2019

         
Beateberg, 29 August 2019

30 Aug Friday to 1 Sep Sunday : "Lillehammer Weekend"
This was the first of Chris' two traveling weekends.  After work on Friday, Chris drove northwest to Lillehammer, Norway, arriving after dark on Friday evening. He flew his RC wing once on the way to Lillehammer. He visited the ski jump on the east side of town, where the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympics took place.  He had planned to hike to the top of a mountain further east of town the next day, so he drove up the mountain to the trailhead on Friday evening and camped in his car to get an early start on Saturday.  He woke up on Saturday morning to find rain and fog, and that he was parked at the start of a mountain bike race.  Hundreds of people were arriving and parking around him, so a quiet day of hiking in the sun was not going to happen there.  He drove off the mountain, continuing north towards Rondane National Park.  As he ventured north and drove counter-clockwise around Rondane National Park, the sun came out, and he flew is RC wing several more times.  He had a picnic lunch on this lake east of Rondane, and continued north to this viewpoint of the Rondane mountains, called Sohlbergplassen.  He flew his wing a couple more times, and then crossed back west in between Rondane and Dovre National Parks.  He headed south and explored up into the mountains here, trying to reach the Vesleufossen waterfall, but the weather was deteriorating to snow and very low temperatures at high altitudes, so he cut his hike short and continue further south to Otta.  While getting a fuel for his car and a snack in Otta, he decided to change his plans for Sunday.  Instead of more exploring around Lillehammer, he headed west and south, to get back to the fiords of Norway.  He went west to Lom, where there is a huge stave-church, and then southwest along the Sognefjellet National Tourist Route, one of the drives we had missed earlier in the trip because we could not fit it in.  He made it up and over the mountains, and down the steep, narrow switchbacks in the dark (don't ever do this), to camp in his car near Gaupne on the Lustrafjorden, the north arm of the Sognefjorden.  The town at the end of the fiord, Skjolden, sits at sea level, but is 127 miles from the open ocean.  As it was dark he didn't see much outside of the headlights of his car that evening, but Chris spent Sunday in the daylight driving this trip in the opposite direction, headed back from Gaupne to Lom to Otta to Lillehammer, and finally back to Karlsborg. Sunday was a beautiful day, with lots of exploring, driving, and RC flying.  Chris flew his wing and Q180 quadcopter many times along the fiord and in the mountains.  Chris made it back to Lillehammer in the afternoon, and hiked to the top of the Olympic ski jumps with his GoPro on a headmount.  He flew his RC wing one last time at the base of the ski jumps just before sunset, before making the long drive back to Karlsborg to resume Shadow testing on Monday morning.                             

Lillehammer Weekend, 30 August - 1 September 2019/p>

   
Lillehammer, Olympic Ski Jumps, 30 August 2019

               
LIllehammer to Rondane National Park, 31 August 2019

Sohlbergplassen Viewpoint, 31 August 2019

                   
Rondane National Park, 31 August 2019

   
Rondane to Lom, 31 August 2019

             
Lom Stave Church, River Bøvra, Fossbergom, 31 August 2019

                       
Gaupne to Skjolden, Lustrafjorden, 1 September 2019

Skjolden, Lustrafjorden, 1 September 2019, 127 miles from the open ocean

Nedre Oscarshaug Viewpoint, 1 September 2019

                           
Skjolden to Lom, 1 September 2019 

               
Lom & Lillehammer, 1 September 2019

2 - 6 Sep, Monday - Friday :
On 2 September after work, Chris hiked at Igelbacken on a 3 mile trail along lake coastline and through woods, with nice views of Lake Vattern.  On 5 September after work, he drove to Linkoping and visited the Swedish Air Force Museum, flying his NanoTalon & Q180 quadcopter along the way, west of Linkoping.

         
Igelbacken hiking trail, Lake Vattern, 2 September 2019

   
Sunset from just outside Chris' apartment in Karlsborg, 3 September 2019

Aerial Video, west of Linkoping, 5 September 2019

                                                                         
Swedish Air Force Museum & sunset, Linkoping, 5 September 2019

6 Sep Friday to 8 Sep Sunday : "Preikestolen Weekend"
This was Chris' second traveling weekend.  After work on Friday, Chris drove west to the southern end of Norway, with more exploring of fiords and hiking at Preikestolen as the goal.  He stopped a couple times in Sweden to fly his RC wing.  He took the car ferry across the Oslofjord from Moss to Horten, and continued on through southern Norway, finally getting too tired to continue in the dark, and camped in his car at a rest area at Oyfossen here.  Chris did not know it Friday night in the dark, but he had picked a very pretty place to stop.  When he woke up on Saturday morning, he found he was parked next to a series of small waterfalls and islands in the middle of a beautiful valley.  He flew his wing right there, getting one of the nicest aerial videos from the whole trip.  He continued west, still headed for Preikestolen, stopping in a few more locations to fly and take photos. He flew his wing again overlooking the Otra River valley, and then his wing and NanoTalon, overlooking the Rosskreppfjorden dam and lake high in the mountains.  The video below shows this section of the drive on Saturday morning.

Preikestolen Weekend, 6 - 8 September 2019

Oyfossen to Preikestolen, 7 September 2019

               
Preikestolen Trail, "Pulpit Rock", 7 September 2019

He took the car ferry from Lauvvik to Oanes, just a few miles from the trailhead to Preikestolen.  The trail was great, but very busy; it is the most hiked trail in Norway.  There is a 2000 foot straight drop to the fiord below from the end of the trail at "Pulpit Rock".  There are incredible views from along the trail to Stavanger, about 20 miles to the west.  The hike to Preikestolen was about 6 miles (Chris forgot to turn on the recording below at the beginning of the hike so it missed the first 0.3 miles), with 1500 feet of elevation gain.

Hike to Preikestolen, 7 September 2019

After the Preikestolen hike on Saturday, Chris continued his drive north along the Ryfylke National Tourist Route, stopping to fly his RC wing a few more times before catching the car ferry from Hjelmeland to Nesvik on Saturday evening. He recorded 360 degree video of this part of the drive on his Gear 360 on Saturday afternoon, and then Gopro video of this section of the drive on Saturday evening.  He eventually camped in his car here, near Erfjord.

         
Preikestolen to Erfjord, 7 September 2019

Sunday was spent with lots more fiord exploring, RC flying, and photography.  He flew his RC wing in the rain above Sandiedfjorden, near Olen overlooking oil derricks in a sheltered fiord, and overlooking Stordalsvatnet Lake.  Chris drove on following this route, not knowing what was coming next except for continuous incredible scenery.  He reached Langfossen, a 2000 foot waterfall in the Akrafjorden.  Langfossen is listed as one of the 10 most beautiful waterfalls in the world.  After watching other people flying their DJI drones to get aerial video of the waterfall, Chris flew his Q180 quadcopter up along the waterfall.  He drove on, reaching the furthest north of this drive at Latefossen, another beautiful waterfall. This video shows the drive.  At this point, he had to begin the drive back to Karlsborg, so he headed southeast towards Horda, and then east towards Oslo.  He stopped in an isolated valley in the Roldalfjellet, to fly his Q180 quad and NanoTalon, and then a few minutes later, to slope soar his RC wing in the wind high above Horda in the valley below.  He stopped one last time, along the Ulevavatnet high alpine lake, to fly his RC wing and Q180 quad again, before driving just south of Oslo through the Oslofjord Tunnel, and back to Karlsborg.

                           
Erfjord - Olen - Langfoss - Latefossen, 8 September 2019

9 - 13 Sep, Monday - Friday :
Shadow flight testing continued for one more week.  Chris hiked to the Silverfallet waterfall in Skovde on 11 September, and flew his Q180 quad and wing nearby.  On 12 September, he hiked around the big lake at Tivedens National Park, and recorded that hike on his phone, with the route shown below.  It is a nice hike with great views on the entire loop.  On his way back to his apartment from Tivedens that afternoon, he flew his Q180 quad one last time, where he had flown it once before very early in the trip.  Flight testing finished on Friday, 13 September.

       
Silverfallet, Skovde, 11 September 2019

               
Tivedens National Park, 12 September 2019

Hike around the lake at Tivedens National Park, 12 September 2019

On Saturday, 14 September, Chris drove from Karlsborg to Stockholm, and then flew from Stockholm to London to Baltimore.  Nathan picked him up at the airport for the ride home.  Chris was home for 10 days before he had to fly out again, this time to Utah for more flight testing.  That flight testing ended up lasting all the way into December.  Chris was home for three weeks total from 29 July to 8 December 2019.

Flights from Stockholm to London-Heathrow to Baltimore