Last week we had sportlov here in Västernorrland, so the children were on holidays and so was I. Well, not entirely. I was working on Monday, to plan some things and do paperwork that I otherwise hardly would find time for, but after that I had time for myself and I used it to travel! 🙂

I made a little roadtrip throughout this beautiful country, first to Lofsdalen to meet my wonderful friend Michelle and then down to southern Sweden to Boxholm to meet my lovely friend Iza and finally her daughter, who was born last summer.

So on tuesday morning, I began my little roadtrip and headed towards the mountains, where Michelle lives. It is about a 4.5 hour drive from my home and it had snowed the days before, so it was quite adventurous. Some roads weren’t cleaned from the snow, so it was a really uplifting experience seeing how well I managed to drive on snowy roads with only a year of experience with living in Norrland.

During my drive I had really dark and grey weather as well and soon before my arrival it started to snow again. However before the snow started falling, I had some amazing views on the way!

Then on our first day together, it snowed all day. We decided to make a trip to the våffelstuga i Lofsdalen, which is up a mountain and can only be accessed with snowmobiles or some chain track vehicles that looked like they were about to go on a moon expedition. And since we obviously didn’t have a snowmobile, we opted for the moon expedition 😀

Up in the våffelstuga, we of course had some waffles with cloudberry jam and whipped cream and then went out into the snowstorm to take some photos.

In the evening, we had a cozy time at home and I took some (maybe a little bit spooky) multiple exposure photos in the house we were staying at, which is a feature of my camera I have been just waiting to try for a long time. I was not disappointed! The house had such an old atmosphere and the dark day just contributed to me getting really in a spooky mood and wanting to try something a little more dark than my usual style. What do you think?

It totally also reminded me of a movie that I have seen as a teenager on a kid’s channel called „Spuk aus der Gruft“ which was a really strange mix-up of ghost story and romance and has really left an impression on me that still lasts. Weird to think what kind of things stay with us sometimes.

Later that night, we tried out the sauna of the house, which was surprisingly easy to use and wonderfully relaxing. Exactly what I needed on my holiday!

On the next day, the weather forecast predicted a lot of sun, so we decided to drive around a little bit. Michelle showed me some really beautiful places and we even saw a flock reindeer!

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At noon we made a little stop back at home to eat some lunch and decided to get back on the road again in another direction, after the sky cleared up even more! Up until then it had been slightly foggy and cloudy, especially in and around Lofsdalen itself. Those were the views that welcomed us on our afternoon trip:

It was absolutely amazing and back in the village, we decided to take a little walk down to the (of course frozen) lake and enjoy the sunset there.

Back at the cabin, the sky turned all shades of pink and purple and we could see the moon,t hat had become surprisingly big in the last days. I am always surprised about how quick the moon goes from almost nothing to almost full.

It was an amazing day and evening and just right to give me the energy that I needed, to travel down to Boxholm the next day. And with that I don’t want to complain; I really love driving my car, especially when I am alone. I can put on music on the highest volume, sing along and enjoy landscapes and beautiful moments all along the way and I feel so free doing it. I also had company when one of my friends from Germany called me on the phone and we chatted for about an hour about what has been going on in our lives recently, which was really wonderful! 🙂

Also, Michelle made a Vlog where she talks about personal things that have been going on with her life in the last months and also shows some clips of the days we spent together, so if you are curious to see some videos of our shared time and learn more about Michelle + see some amazing video footage I totally recommend this video:

But regardless of the blast that I had driving, spending a whole day in the car is kind of tiring and I was really exhausted (and happy) when I finally arrived. The whole journey was really interesting, becaus the season of the landscape kept slowly changing from the midst of winter to the first signs of spring to undeniably spring-like landscapes, where the grass was already green and the first few flowers coming through again.

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The next day, Iza and I went for a walk and she showed me one of the most magical forests I have ever seen. It was some plus degrees when we were outside and it really smelled like spring. Everything looked so fertile and green and alive and all alongside the way we went were little paths that led deeper into the forest.

For lunch we were invited by Iza’s partner’s grandmother, who prepared a delicious meal for us. Afterwards, we went for a walk outside and took some pictures on top of a lake and inside another beautiful forest, that looked so much like spring!

After that we went home to relax and talk a bit befroe it was already time for me to pack my things again and prepare for my journey home the next day. I managed to take some pictures of Izas beautiful daughter during her dinner time and I am so happy I got to meet her. She is the most cheerful and happy little girl and I had a blast staying over! 🙂

The next day it was time to leave. I left quite early in the morning, so it wouldn’t be too late in the day when I came home and I would have some time here before starting work again the next day.

On my journey home, I spontaneosly met up with Frida, who I have met over Instagram. She takes amazing pictures and lives about a 3 hour drive from me; I hope that we will have more meet-ups in the future! 🙂 It was her idea to take lunch together when she saw that I would travel all the way up through Sweden and pass through the city that she lives in and it was so nice to take lunch together!

So now after this eventful week I am back at home and back at work. Full of energy and motivation for the upcoming time. I hope all of you are well out there with everything that is going on all over Europe and the world and that everyone stays safe and healthy! ❤ 🙂