Camping in Karlstad

Well, this is a bit out of order because we are behind on our blog entries.... In our last entry, we drove from Stockholm to Karlstad... so what did we do there? A lot!



Fredrica grew up in Karlstad so there were lots of friends to see, but more on that later. We decided to "camp"... so here was our new home. It was two small rooms, a bathroom and small kitchen. We laughed as we debated whether we were doing some 'upscale camping' or living in a trailer!

The nice thing about camping was we were right in the forest. Because of the relatively wet winter, we had blueberries already coming in (usually the pop up throughout the forests in Sweden in the fall). So Isabella got her first experience picking blueberries! Mom had a point of washing the blueberries before we ate them... at least for the ones we picked close to the camp ground because there were LOTS of dogs that 'do their business' near the campground. One day we were sitting in our cabin/trailer and saw some German tourists picking blueberries in the area... boy were they going to town and eating them right up. We couldn't believe how long they picked in that area and how much they ate. We both cringed a bit as to how their stomachs would fare!

Summer was just bursting around us. We loved these little flowers.

Isabella really took to the forest and confidently gallivanted around like it was her second home! It was so fun to see her.

We were also right by a lake which we wanted out to every morning to take in the new day. It was usually a bit windy on the lake but always nice. The water was far too cold (at least for us) to jump in. (OK... perhaps we are not vikings!)



Karlstad is the 5th largest city in Sweden. It was a nice park, Mariebergs Skogen for the kids with lots of animals and things to do.



One of our favorites was the new bunnies that were just born. There were lots of cute animals including some Shetland ponies you can see on the picture site.






While we were there... there was a dog showing competition. This must have drawn in at least 500 people to the campground for the weekend. It also make it so there were just dogs everywhere you looked. Isabella loves dogs so she had a blast.


We loved this sign at the entrance to the area of the dog competition. The translation is "Dogs are forbidden here"









We'll finish with some pictures around the city of Karlstad

Karlstad central square... city hall

The lake winds next to the city... main Church in the background

A boat puttering through town with the main theater in the background

I look this picture because it is to typical of Swedish houses... and it was a few blocks from the center of town!

Outside Karlstad... the last restaurant whichInga-Lisa (Fredrica's mom) managed before opening her own coffee shop

And lastly... while on vacation Apple launched the 3G iPhone... there were lots of ads (and admittedly I spent a lot of time playing with all the new software and game!)

Here are the rest of our pictures from Karlstad...