It was late July and I experienced change. Job change. Change as in becoming a full-time job seeker. I had an upcoming trip to visit relatives and the farms in rural western #Norway where my great great grandparents were born and raised. I could ill afford Norway, to be honest. And my first inclination was to cancel. But then I gave myself some pause (about a day or so) and thought, heck no. No one is going to steal my joy. Certainly not me. So on a mid-September morning I boarded a plane at the Medgar Evers Airport in Jackson, Mississippi. Trondheim, Norway, would come some 28 hours later.
It must have been 10 p.m. by the time I arrived in Trondheim. My aunt and uncle from Los Angeles had arrived some 30 minutes earlier and, groggy as we all were, we found our car reservation and started our journey to Rindal, which is located in Møre og Romsdal and perhaps a 90-minute drive from Trondheim. The roads were dark and winding. The air was chill.
We found the property where we would be staying the next five nights–Saga Trollheimen. I made it to my room, unloaded my bags, and slept more peacefully than I had for weeks. The next morning I awoke to this–the promise of autumn.
On our first day, we met with a local historian and distant relative to learn how my great great grandparents, Ole J. and Gjertrud Romundstad, made their way from Rindal, Norway, to Strum, Wisconsin.
My uncle and I meandered our way through Rindal, which is a village of some 2,000 Norwegians. The streets were unlittered, and the skies so blue.
We quickly found Norwegians to be polite, kind to the core, and friendly. And navigating western Norway was a fun adventure. We took a ferry from Kvanne to Christiansund on the coast.
The highlight of the trip was visiting our Romundstad relatives. We were greeted so warmly and served the most amazing food. Amazing.
We ended our trip with a day of exploring in Trondheim. Jeg elsker Norge (I love Norway).
must love biscuits 