Røros and beyond

 We may not be posting as regularly this week, as the cabin here in Bruksvallarna doesn't have wifi, and so we have to go sit in the hotel lounge in order to post, and to work with photos.  But we'll do what we can!

Thursday we got in a bit of skiing, but it was quite windy up where we were the first day, so we just skied back and forth in the road leading to the ski area, practicing with these unwieldy skis.  They work OK for the flat, and for downhill, but don’t climb worth a darn….which is counter-productive.  In the afternoon, we went to the indoor section of Martnan at Martnashallen.  250 vendors, selling just about anything you can think of.  We went into the attached gym for some lunch, and got a surprise concert from a group of accordions.  We couldn’t find the name of the group, but they had a teeny tiny player with them.

Friday we woke up to a day of rain….at 28 degrees F (-2C).  Everything was coated in about 3mm of ice…the car, the roads, the ski trails, the fields….everything.  Very pretty in its way, but we elected to stay home for the day.

NOT a lake, it's a field!

Saturday, we got up early enough to get great parking in front of the museum, which had some very nice exhibits about the mining history of the town, with lovely working models showing how the technology developed over time.  It was too dark down there to get photos.  Sheila enjoyed the costume exhibit, especially the combination of silver items.  The sign with them said that the spindle was so a woman could bring her knitting or other handwork with her while she was walking from place to place, while the man only carried his snuffbox.  Women were expected to ALWAYS be busy with something, but the men had some leisure time.

After the museum, we walked around the streets some more, just taking in the atmosphere... and buying some reindeer sausage from this gentleman in his traditional Saami clothing.

Sheila also made it in to town for the final dance of the week, where she met Bruce from Chicago, who she’d not previously met, and Anders from Dalarna in Sweden, who she HAD previously met in Colorado. Music by Brekkens Spelemannslag.

Sunday (today) was a travel day.  We got up earlyish on a sunny day.  Then Lars commented that he could see a rainbow out the window, aimed right at the neighbor's barn.  Five minutes later, it was completely cloudy.  Then it snowed like crazy for about 5 minutes, and then quit.   Not knowing what to expect for our drive, we finished packing, took out the trash and unplugged the coffeemaker, and hit the road back to Sweden.

Our GPS had a bit of trouble finding the hotel we’re renting a cabin from, but we arrived at last.  Lucky for us, the previous guests had left early, so it was all ready for us to move into.  We should be quite comfortable here!

 

We drove around a bit, to get an idea of the layout.  Bruksvallarna is a major cross-country location, and you have to watch out for skiers and snowmobiles crossing the road.  There were people skiing, or carrying skis, everywhere you looked.  Skis leaning against the grocery store, even.  We’re looking forward to getting out tomorrow, maybe renting new skis for Sheila and Lars taking over the ones she’s been using.  We also checked out nearby Ramundberget, more aimed at downhill.  Ski areas here have lots of short runs, all strung out for miles along the road.  A very different look from Colorado ski areas!  And the mountains look quite different: