Trip to Järvsö, Sweden

View from the top of the Järvzoo

Järvsö is a tourist town known for it's ski slopes.  The local population is 1,407.   It has a long skiing season, from November to April and is a very popular ski resort for people from the south of Sweden.  Martin's son Luca is visiting from Switzerland and Martin wanted to take him to a special place called Järvsö Bike Park that is one of the best bike parks in Sweden with mountain bike trails for all skill categories including 6 dedicated Downhill trails.  They were planning to spend the day.  Martin took Marion, myself and the 4 kids so that we could drop them off at the bike park and proceed on to the Järvzoo.  The Järvzoo is well-known is Sweden and has a large collection of Nordic animals.  These include the major carnivores of Sweden:  the wolf, arctic fox, bear, lynx and wolverine, as well as moose, roe deer, reindeer and several species of birds.

As you can see from the diagram, it begins at the foot of a mountain and goes uphill in several directions.  It was very cool!  The wooden walkways didn't distract from the beautiful scenery and forrest.  The animals were a plus!

Here are some of my pictures:

 Wolves

Owls

The bear that climbed a tree was my favorite part!

 Calves

 Enno with baby goat

 Santa's Reindeer; this is where they stay in the summer since we are so close to the North Pole

This majestic old reindeer is retired from Santa's herd.  He had 20 points on his antlers!!

We went to a lecture about all the animals and got to touch their skins.  The lynx was as soft as a baby kitten.  

Marion, KK and Enno

 Erik, Marion and Alisha

Erik

Marion and Alisha

At the top of the mountain, there was a rest spot for families to grill food and have lunch, or a snack bar where you could buy something to eat.  We brought sausages and all the fixins' to grill!

 Our sausages on the grill!

Our lunch!

Toalette and Wash Station

Some beautiful scenery:

 A beautiful little stream

 The moss looks like a velvet carpet in the woods

Miscellaneous pics:

 Alisha, Erik and Yari playing a game in the museum

KK and Marion...happy campers

Group Pic - KK, Enno, Marion, Yari, Alisha and Erik

A FUN DAY!

Canoeing on the Ljusnan River and Gulf of Bothnia

One afternoon this week, after all our work was done, the four Workaways took out two of the canoes from Ljusnefors Camping and paddled out from the Ljusnan River to the Gulf of Bothnia.  I didn't take any pictures during our trip because I had my phone stored and didn't want to lose it!  We had (or I had) a scary start....when we were taking the canoes down to the dock, I was walking backwards carrying a canoe and didn't see the board missing and fell right through with my right leg.  It was scraped and the canoe hit me in the face....

but I didn't break my leg and my face is OK!  I told my daughters, at least I can say that I was able to carry a canoe!

There are hundreds of islands in the Gulf and on one near Ljusne is a house.  It is unclear to me who owns it, but my host, Martin, said it is owned by the community to rent out.  We docked at the island and explored!

 We tied up our canoes to go exploring

Marion!

 Front of the house

 Photo from the front porch

Guest House

Back of the house

Outdoor bathrooms

 Boat and swimming dock

In Arkansas, we would think this was a storm shelter, but in Sweden, it is a food cellar.  I have seen many of them.

Liva found a well!

We found some wild strawberries that were so sweet!

Marion and Liva took an impromptu swim!

On our way home. we canoed by the Ljusnefors Campground where some of the cottages are and some RVs park

There are gazillions of beautiful rocks and boulders in this part of Sweden and likewise, there are as many mosquitos...who knew....before I came, I googled Zika Virus in Sweden and there was none.  It's a good thing, because of the number of mosquitos here.