Kolarbyn

Welcome to Kolarbyn! Our little eco-lodge adventure about 2 hours outside of Stockholm. How did we find this hidden treasure you ask? Well we googled "Sweden Ecolodge" and this was the first thing to come up. Tricks of the trade folks. Tricks of the trade.

So this is their coal pit. This region was a huge area for mining and these coal pits were used to create wood based coal for making steel. The coal was much lighter and easier to transport to the mill than whole logs. We didn't see this thing in action but it looked like quite the undertaking.

This is a view of the lake right behind out "hostel." In the distance on the right side you can see the floating, yes floating, sauna. Over the three days that we were there, Alex and I made about 9 fires, from scratch. One for the sauna, one for dinner and one for ambiance (picture to follow). I've never been in a real wood sauna before. It was awesome. It takes a while to heat the rocks up but once you do it is super hot. We sweated our butts off and then we ran outside and jumped in the lake. Perfection.

The woods in this area were gorgeous. The forest floor was like a carpet of moss and lichen. My favorite little daily adventure was to take the 5 minute walk into the woods to go fetch water from the freezing cold fresh water spring. There's a little mythology 'round these parts...you must walk in silence to go get water so as not to disturb the woods gnomes. The first time you drink you have the take three sips with your right hand. Once you arrive back at the main trail you then make a wish and it'll come true!

Alex saving his energy so he could...

get his mountain-man on!!!!!!

Pretty delicious food while we were there. Cleaning up at the stream while being attached by mosquitoes was definitely not the highlight of the trip.

Our room. Yes, green roof and about 6'x10'. This is how the coal-men slept and so this is how we slept.  

And this was my favorite part. Let me just add, traveling around the world with your husband for 9 months is not the true test of a relationship. Starting a fire together...that is a true test of a marriage!

I love this! Two camp cots. Eight candles. One fire. Lovely!