This past summer was filled with action and travel and it has taken me a long time to write all about it. The blog is so big that it had to split it into two parts!!! Part 1 – Hiking mountains in Squamish BC, paddleboarding at the cabin in Wisconsin, spending a whole month in the Arctic and celebrating my birthday in Greenland!  I even got to tour Ottawa for the first time and even spend a day in the The Big Apple! So let’s get straight into it!

First stop: Squamish BC!

I was excited that I was back in Canada after a whole year of being away. Some of the things I missed the most: speaking English, being home, Tim Horton’s and most of all being home. Even though I didn’t visit Yellowknife it still felt familiar. One of the first things I did was go to Tim Hortons and get some chocolate glazed timbits. We visited my cousins and uncles, and aunties for a week and it was so much fun!!! We swam and hiked every day. I even got to celebrate an early birthday at Boston Pizza (which they don’t have it Norway🇳🇴 so it was a treat). Our very last day was Canada Day, the 150th anniversary. We celebrated by hiking the Stawamus Cheif,  the second largest granite monolith in the world!

Next stop: the cabin in Wisconsin

The Spitzer cabin is very special because the Spitzer family owns most of North Bay and they have protected it for wildlife. The forest has lots of animals: deer, bears, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks. My favorite thing to do is catch fireflies and watch the bats come out at night. Almost every evening after dinner we take the canoes out on the lake and watch the baby loons, beavers, and great blue herons. At the cabin, I swim almost every day, go paddle boarding, fishing, and catching frogs. I also love paddling across the lake to  get ice cream at the ice cream store and candy.

The rule at the cabin is that there are no electronics allowed, so instead, we play board games like Settlers of Catan and read. Everyone takes care of the cabin, which means I set the table, help mix cement and help build and fix stuff in the boathouse. It is very fun being able to help at the cabin. It also helps build character and that’s always a good thing. Another rule at the cabin is nobody is allowed to take boats out unless you have swum across the bay. Well, this year I did it! And (FINALLY) was allowed to take the boats out on to the bay and it was a very good feeling.

From the cabin, we went NORTH to the Arctic for a whole month. For more on that see Mark’s Crazy Summer Part 2, where you will hear about polar bears, narwhals, and icebergs!

Next stop – Ottawa

I was very excited to see the capital of Canada because I got to see the Parliment and eat a classic Canadian food, the beaver tail. It was very good with Nutella and banana. In Parliment, I got to see the office of Sir John A. Macdonald the very first prime minister of Canada, and the office of serval other people of parliaments.  In Ottawa, I also tried poutine for the first time and it was pretty good! On my trip, I also visited the natural history museum, and we even saw dinosaurs and a real blue whale skeleton.

 

Next stop:  New York City

When I heard I was going to New York, I was so glad. I was finally going to visit the big apple, the home of the hotdog! It was a good experience and fun trip. We got to ride around on the big red bus tour. We saw the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and we got to walk through Central Park. After being in the Arctic for a month, it was like entering a parallel universe, it was the exact opposite. It was just like the movies, with noise and lights and signs flashing and selling stuff. There were lots of people trying to get you to buy stuff. I liked it, but I was looking forward to getting back to peace and quiet.

Well, after a crazy summer back in North America, it’s back to Norway to start 6th grade!

Stay tuned (and check out Part 2)

THE INTERNATIONAL MOOSE!!!!!!!!!