Feels great to be back in Vegas! I miss my friends and family in Sweden the instant I leave, but I’ll go back or they’ll come visit soon I hope 🙂
My somewhat healthy eating habits went out the window while in Sweden. My favorite cafe in Sweden is called ‘Lisas Grabb’. Nicklas the owner, bakes everything fresh every morning and all the bakery stuff is so good! The service is also a bit different there. You pick you own plate and drink. No fancy coffee machines here, just good old brewed coffee and you fill your own cup. Or grab a soft drink from the refrigerator. When you are finished, you tell Nicklas what you ate and drank, and he rings you up.
Always the best to see and catch up with friends. Have been friends forever and I love them!
Also had a night with relatives and their significant others. Was just supposed to be a dinner, but ended up at some bar with too much of everything liquid hahhaaa… During the night plans were formed that they all are coming to visit in Vegas. They all agreed that the temperatures here need to cool down or they’d melt LOL…
Sweden provided some sunny days (or hours at least). Took my nephew’s son out to some outdoor pools. I made my sister swim with him because the water was pretty damn freezing. I prefer hot Vegas pools thank you very much 🙂 I took a cat nap in the meanwhile 🙂
Then there is the continuing issue with my shoulders. First off, thank you everyone that emailed me with suggestions on how to rehab them! A friend suggested acupuncture and I went twice. As you might know, I’m not a fan of needles, but it was OK. I believe acupuncture can help a lot of issues, but can’t say I got much relief. Worth a try though… Happy he didn’t puncture my ‘floaties’ while at it hahahaa…
I also saw a chiropractor the day before flying back. Seen him before and he is amazing. He thinks my issues are related to my posture. A bit heavy on the front, and that has caused my shoulders to pull forward. I now have a posture correction harness I try to strap on as often as I can. Very frustrating as I can’t sleep if I don’t take a painkiller before bed. During the day they feel pretty OK, but at night I get a throbbing pain in arms. I think my next step is to go for an MRI, to rule out any tears or whatever else they might find.
A couple of selfies and pics of Stockholm while gift shopping before returning to Vegas…
Guess who was very happy with me returning? Hunter 🙂 He stayed glued to me the first 2 days. He jet lagged with me on the couch too. You can question his choice of space hahhaaa….
Went to see Angel right away to drop off the chocolates I brought her. Ended up sharing them with her. We also went to a Tiki bar with some friends one night. Healthy living can start tomorrow!
Found this chocolate bar in my carry-on bag that I’ve forgotten about. I was going to snack on blueberries, but ended up wolfing down the chocolate bar. I reason that it’s better to not have any sugar in the house when trying to make healthy choices next week. So it was better I ate it, right?
Today I’m going to the Sphere for the first time! Going to see Wizard of Oz there. Super excited about it! Plans for next week is to get a mani/pedi, get back to work properly and try to figure out what to do about my shoulders. Oh, and healthy eating 🙂
After a week in Sweden it was time to pack up for my annual hike with my sister. This is the 6th consecutive year we’ve went. This time we set out for the 160 km long Padjelanta Trail in the northern part of Sweden.
You feel every extra kilo in the backpack on your back! The weather forecast looked rainy so we both bought rain pants. Most of the huts sell food and snacks, but since you don’t know what or how much they’ll have, we brought food for every day.
We flew up to Gällivare early in the morning on a smaller propeller plane.
From there it was a 3h bus ride to Ritsem where you can start the trail from. Saw reindeer on the road and we had a pee break at a cool hotel on way. Had to take a pic of the stuffed bear since I have a slight bear phobia…
We spent the night at Ritsem since we arrived late. Most rooms have bunk beads and since I thought I might roll out of bed we made a barrier out of our slippers 🙂
There are 2 departures with a boat in the morning to shuttle you over to where the trail starts from. In very good spirits and ready to tackle the first 18km of the trail!
There was a small settlement where we started where the Sirkas Sámi have their summer stays. I loved this church ‘kåta’. ‘Kåta’, traditional Sámi housing back in the day.
After about an hour it started raining lightly. Then the wind picked up and it started raining even more. Luckily half-way to our first stop, there was a small shelter. We went inside to make some food, hot chocolate and put on long johns.
A Sámi guy also entered to have some shelter from the rain. He worked on the trails in the area during summer and otherwise hunts reindeer. He also happened to mention that there are bears in the area. I had a slight panic attack until he said that the bear will see us, but we’ll never see them. Puh!
Warm & full, we took on the last part of the trail. The weather switched between rain and no rain. Beautiful surroundings with a lot of waterfalls. Worth mentioning is that the water is so clean here, that you can always fill your water bottle up and have ice cold and fresh water. Yes, my rain poncho on top of my backpack makes me look something from the ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ character!
Our first night we spent at the Kutjaure Mountain cabin. All the cabins have one or two wardens that supervise the cabins. Everyone is asked to help bring in water in buckets, empty waste water buckets after doing dishes, chop up and bring in logs for the fireplace and clean up. The cabins have no running water or electricity. They have gas though so you can heat up water/food and pots, pans, plates, glasses and utensils to eat and cook your food from. Here is dinner with the fireplace going and us having our coffee the next morning before heading out.
2nd day was 19km. A bit of rain and most of the day was cloudy. We met a German lady who had taken a break and offered us some coffee. Most of the people you meet on the trail and in the huts are super friendly! Saw some reindeer too 🙂
2nd night was spent at Låddejåkka cabin. Dinner was a super tasty Bison Chili and a Blueberry Peach Crisp for dessert 🙂
The 3rd day was one of our longer days and it was 25k. We skipped one of the huts and it made the hike longer. The trail was pretty even and easy even though it started with a 4k long uphill climb. A lot of heavy fog when we reached the top, but so quiet and peaceful!
Since there was no rain we had some porridge with dried raspberries, coconut flakes and goji berries for lunch. Some chocolate chip cookies too for some sugar to help with the remaining kilometers 🙂
The 3rd night was spent at Staloluokta cabin. This was the only place along the trail that had a sauna. Us being Finns obviously we got very excited! I can’t describe how good and rewarding it felt after the long day! And to wash off properly too! 2 thumbs up for Staloluokta and their sauna!
Since we both prefer to eat outdoors, we always start our mornings with just black coffee. Then hike and find a good spot for breakfast. It’s a good thing we are so alike – wake up early, fine with starting the day with just coffee and pretty much keep the same speed on the trails.
The 4th day was an 18 km day. Very beautiful scenery and so green everywhere.
Found a nice spot by a waterfall to eat and rest. Right after we packed up we spotted a small group of reindeer. They say that if you spot a white reindeer, it brings you luck!
Most of the days so far had been cloudy and rainy. This afternoon we finally got some sunshine! Had to sit down and just enjoy the warmth. Probably our legs needed a break too 😉 See, the reindeer brought some luck right away 🙂
When we almost were finished, we come to this wide river. No way around, but through. Soaking wet feet, socks and shoes ! And 10 minutes later there was another river crossing just as wide, so we arrived with clean feet at Tuottar cabins 🙂
Here they had about 6 smaller cabins with 3 bunk beds in each. We shared our cabin with a solo hiker from Catalan. The water was down at the river where we just came from and kind of far. The guy was a gentleman and told us to chill and he’d walk down and fill the water buckets so we didn’t have to 🙂 Instead we went to see what the store had to offer. My sister got very happy to find that they had beer. Even though it cost like 3 times more than in the store 🙂 Oh, and there was a rainbow so more luck to us hopefully!
5th day was a 26km day again since we skipped a cabin and walked to the next one. Started with decent weather. A little pit stop by a river…
Right after we had to cross that river. Soaked again… I think from this point on, our shoes and socks never completely dried up for the rest of the trip!
Since my hiking shoes are made of leather they don’t let out the water. After each river crossing I had to stop and empty the water out of them and wring out my socks.
We were pretty exhausted by the end of this day. It rained on and off and the final stretch was downhill and the trail was wet, muddy and slippery. We had made reservations before for all of the cabins. They say you have to arrive before 6pm to be guaranteed to get your room. Otherwise it might be given to someone else without a reservation, since you might not show up. We got a bit stressed at the end of the hike since we didn’t arrive until 6.45pm. Our longest day so far. But we were lucky and got our own room at Såmmarlappa Mountain cabin 🙂
Our 6th day was a 19km stretch. It got more woodsy as we were on lower elevation. That also meant that the trail was even more wet, big pools of water and a lot of mud you tried to step around. Also the weather cooled down. Around 5°C in the morning and you could see some fresh snow on the mountain tops.
We could feel the kilometers in our legs by now and felt good when we finally arrived at the Njunjes Mountain cabin. All the cabins have a fire place, or a heater, in the common room, and in your room so you can dry stuff up. All my crusty socks went up 🙂
Last day was an easy 13km stretch which felt good. You mostly hiked in the woods. We both prefer the higher grounds with open landscape and where you get the views for miles.
Then you have to get on a boat to get a ride to the last mountain station which is Kvikkjokk.
Since there is only one bus which leaves 05.25am daily from Kvikkjokk, we had to spend the night there. Treated ourselves to a delicious 3 course dinner at their restaurant. My starter was smoked elk, fermented reindeer and first time trying reindeer tongue. I wasn’t going to eat that, but the waiter said it’s the best, so gave it a try and it tasted pretty damn good! Dinner was reindeer steak and for dessert we had vanilla ice cream with cloudberries. Cloudberries only grow up here in the north and are called ‘the gold of the forest’. If you ever get a chance to try them, do it! Soooo good!!!
Next morning we took the early bus for about 5h to reach Luleå where we caught a flight back to Stockholm.
What a hike! We both agreed that this was our hardest and most strenuous hike we’ve been on so far. The rainy weather played a huge part since we made fewer stops along the trail. We learned that we need to study the map before-hand if there are a lot of climbs and downhill parts before we decide to just skip a hut. This hike was recommended to be done in 9-10 days and we did it in 7. Even though it was hard at times, it was beautiful and me and my sister always have the best time together. It feels great that we pulled it off and tested our limits. Can’t wait to see what we plan for next year! Thanks for this year’s adventure sis!
More of my time in Sweden coming hopefully on Sunday. Giving jetlag and my sugar cravings a fight now hahahaa…
I consider myself a veteran traveller, and I still, I leave stuff to be handled to the last day or 2. First I had an appointment at DMV to get a Real ID, renew my drivers license and register my car in Vegas. I show up and get a big “NOPE” at the window! This because I didn’t bring all the paperwork needed. Yes, there probably information in the appointment email, but I obviously didn’t bother reading it. Only thing I could do was getting my VIN number checked which was behind the DMV office… Puma vs DMV = 0-1
At least I got my hair fixed! I liked that the dryer looked like I had a halo. Meet your holiness Puma 🙂
Last custom orders got shot too!
And at midnight before my flight I was packed and ready. I was aiming for only one packed bag, but ended up with 2.
Flying to Sweden went smoothly and landed at 8am the next day in Stockholm! I prefer arriving at my destination in the morning so no time is wasted!
My friend Linda picked me up at the airport and we spent the whole day together. Met up with my sister later and we went for meatballs, since that’s one meal I miss when not home. This place make them fresh every day. Served with the brown sauce, lingonberries and pickled cucumbers. YUMMY!
They also bake their cinnamon rolls fresh…
Jetlag has been put on hold. Met up with my cousin the next day and we went for a walk. Stockholm is a beautiful city surrounded by water.
Had to make a pitstop to avoid dehydration 🙂 My cousin is not as photogenic as I am, so he has to deal with a smiley over his face!
Walked a bit more and then went for food. I love beef tartar!
I haven’t really been eating any, or at least very little, sugar since I got home from Prague since there was an overkill of it there! I can’t resist to buy ‘lösgodis’ here though. The salty licorice candy is the best!
Had a bunch of girlfriends over for dinner this weekend. So much fun to catch up, so I forgot to take one single picture 🙁
On today’s schedule is to go and buy the last things for our hiking trip. Been looking at the weather forecast and it looks like it’s going to be pretty cold and some rain. Will try to keep my packing in my backpack to a maximum of 10kg. We have to bring more food this time, so I’m guessing I will end up at 11-12kg. Can’t wait to hit the trail!
Got an appointment booked with a Chinese Dr before our hike too. A friend recommended him, and I hope he can relieve some of the pain in my shoulders with acupuncture. Fingers crossed.
I hope everything with you is peachy! I’ll catch you after my hike in about 2 weeks from now unless I get lost up there 😉
I feel that all I did last week was running to different doctors appointments. Unfortunately my shoulders are hurting pretty bad again. Wake up several times at night from pain, but get some relief from getting my cold sleeves from the refrigerator usually at around 4am, sliding them on and I can then get a couple more hours of sleep. Been Googling, ChatGPT’ing and getting advice from people who had rotator cuffs issues on what to do.
First off I was going to a rheumatologist. Never even heard about that. I was specific when booking it that I wanted cortisone shots in the front of my shoulders if they didn’t find any other issues with me. Long story short, I was seen by a student who after a few questions just said, yeah, probably a tear in your rotator cuffs. Asked if I wanted to do bloodwork for auto immune diseases. I said I emailed them my bloodwork from a month ago and maybe she can check if there were answers in there. “Naaah, there probably won’t be” she said and asked again if I wanted to bloodwork. I asked where the Dr is since I wanted to see if I can get cortisone shots. Turns out the Dr was not even there. At this point I just said thanks and left. I wrote them later about my experience, they apologized and I received a full refund.
Managed to find another orthopedic Doctor. The first place I went to before didn’t have any appointments until end of August. After examining me he didn’t want to give me Cortisone since the first shots should’ve taken care of the area where I have pain now. But I got stronger painkillers and muscle relaxers. Which he forgot to send to the pharmacy so I’m still waiting for them. Going to book an MRI for when I’m back from Sweden.
You woud think 2 appointments would be enough. Nope, got a UTI too so popped by an urgent care and popping antibiotics now. Does it sound like I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself? Yup, you’re correct! But came across this great quote – ‘pain is inevitable, suffering is optional’, so I try to keep that in mind and remind myself that it will get better! Makes me also think of people who have way worse conditions, pain, etc, so I’m going to cut my bitching right here!
Can’t just deal with pain. Had to be a bit vain too and get some Botox. Was recommended this great place from a friend and wrinkles are smoothing out as I write here 🙂
When not being at the doctors or being vain, work had to be taken care of 🙂
I’ve gone for walks which always makes the pain better and have done exercises at home. The other day when I got on the walking path around 2pm, I see a man standing in the grass watching his dog run around. Because it’s so hot at that time not many people walk the trail. I pretty soon realized that he is naked. I’m pretty close when he sees me and hastily bends down to pull on his shorts. I walk past and he greets me. I say hello back and continue walking hahahaaa… Not totally kosher I guess, but I didn’t get too nervous since he had a dog and just seemed to be a nudist!
Yesterday Hunter was lying on the sidewalk right outside the house. I hear yelling and I run outside. He is all puffed up and in staring contest with a woman and her dog on a leash. All of a sudden he bluff charges them. I yell at him and he luckily comes to me and lets out a little growl while not breaking eye contact with the intruders on our street. I asked the woman if they were OK? Luckily she was chill and nothing happened. I apologized for my ‘sons’ behavior and I think he was guarding our house as their car was parked right by my drive way. When we were inside I gave him a treat and said he was a good boy protecting our street and house LOL… He was not too upset though and lied down outside on my broken umbrella that fell over. Yeah, it will be trashed later than sooner…
Also went by REI yesterday to look at some hiking gear for my trip to Sweden. My shoulders will somehow have to survive the hiking trip, because I’m too excited about it! I’m thinking of getting this backpack since the one I have is for men, and not a perfect fit.
Other than that, I observed and helped Greg when he was shooting Angel this week. He is so good and creative and he lets me experiment too under his watchful eye 🙂 Got a hair appointment tomorrow, seeing Angel, and then DMV on Tuesday. Got to pack too and as European weather is very moody, better bring something for every possible season! This is how I feel when I think about packing… I ‘d rather nap!
Hope you are in good health and if you got leftovers of it, send it my way 😉 Will write to you from Sweden next week!
Had a great trip to Austin! I’ve been there a long time ago for work and didn’t really get to see much of the city. I really enjoyed it even though the city felt like a Finnish sauna at times 🙂
Short flight and checked into Carpenter Hotel. Cute hotel…
One of the good things about the hotel was that it had a great coffee shop downstairs! My day doesn’t take off without having a coffee first! Met this cute dog there too…
I have a couple that I’ve known for a long time that moved there about 4 months ago. Nothing better than knowing locals who already tried out spots and then just guide you around to the best places. We went around on those electric scooters and I love how much water and greenery there is in town…
Being in Texas meant that there were a lot of cowboy boot stores. We stopped at Allens Boots that has been around almost 50 years. Obviously had to get a pair and roll like a local 🙂
I’ll show you the pair I got shortly 🙂 It’s always a plus when the place you visit has an abundance of great coffee places. One of the places is Maaribu Cafe + Gift. Great coffee, cute little gift shop inside and we enjoyed our coffees in their quiet backyard…
You can’t go to Texas without having BBQ. Terry Black’s Barbecue hit the spot! Delicious meats! Ate like an elephant! I just assume they eat more than a horse…
A quick stop at the hotel to grab my bikini and we went to Barton Springs Pool. The water comes from Barton Springs and it’s super refreshing in the heat. Packed with people though…
There was this tree in the park outside and someone said it’s called the Monkey Tree and people do acid under it. Hmm, might have to check if that’s true next time 🙂
Had to try the hotel pool too to cool down after getting back. Wish I could’ve spent more time there because it was very relaxing later on the day when there was not that many people there.
I think I looked pretty damn cool in my bikini matching it with my new boots!
A quick shower and then it was time for the main event of the trip – the Phish concert! Made a pit stop at the Cosmic Bar on the way.
We were right by the concert riding our electric scooters when my hat is blowing off. Don’t think go to grab it with one hand. Get off balance, wobble and crash right in to the pavement! Felt like it went in slow motion and though I must be bleeding all over my face, Was bleeding by my right eye and thought the scar from the eye surgery had ripped open. My friends checked me and no bigger damages than some scratches. Lesson learned, both hands on the handlebar 🙂
No time to waste, so cleaned up in the bathroom, popped some mushrooms and Phish started! They went off and it was magical! People were ecstatic and it was intense at times. So good though!!! My friend has been to over 100 of their concerts. I saw them in Vegas like 6 years ago on psychedelics, and it was awesome then too!
I finally got to get a ride in a Waymo when heading back to the hotel! Very cool! But why waste space on a drivers seat when they’re self driving???
Got a burger and a chocolate milkshake from P. Terry’s right outside the hotel too 🙂 Got a bit hungry 🙂
At 1.30am Hunter’s sitter calls and says Hunter has had a little accident. Immediately thinking he’s been run over by a car. Yup, I can be a bit dramatic at times… Turns out he had jumped on the kitchen counter and got one of the fly traps stuck on his fur. Running around in panic so it got stuck more. Luckily the sitter is very cool and was able to clean him up good and all was good! But went on Amazon and order fur cleaning products to be delivered the next day just in case… A bit intense when coming off the mushrooms, but was finally able to sleep hahhaaa…
A bit bruised up the next morning from my attempt to hug the pavement…
After a coffee at the hotel, the next stop was Merit Coffee. Sooo goood!
Then Brown’s Bar-B-que for lunch. It was a food truck and didn’t disappoint!
Cross the street was this cool looking gift shop so had to check it out. The coolest thing in there was the store cat 🙂
There can never be too much caffeine, so also tried Proud Mary Coffee. Merit was the best coffee spot that I tried if I had to rate them!
A little stop on the way to check out a trail. Realized after 11 minutes it was way too hot to attempt even a lazy stroll…
I had to keep eating and TexMex food is another undoubtedly great option here. Veracruz had an incredible Mezcalita and probably the best chicken quesadillas I ever had!
My friends have a little toddler so we checked out some ducks and turtles in the next door park. It’s fascinating how many parks they have in town!
Something that hit me while visiting was that people are very friendly everywhere. You can walk, scooter and bike, (and some hardcore folks were even running in the middle of the day) everywhere. They really seem to make an effort in decorating and making places nice with cool designs. The Uber driver that took me to the airport said that they even support street art/graffiti if it’s nicely done. I’m pretty sure I will go back to Austin 🙂 I mean, I got my cool ass boots now!
Got home and Hunter had survived his fly trap trauma. Now lying next to me like the good semi-little boy that he is 🙂
Plan to start yoga next week. Can also start lifting weights now after the eye surgery. Not sure my shoulder will be in shape for that though. Seeing Tony next week too so really hope he can fix it because then he goes on a 1 month long vacation 🙁 Other than that I will be shooting, got friends coming into town, Angel is back in town, and 4th of July is coming up… You got plans?
Oh, I got so into the BBQ that I want to get a smoker. Anyone here a big BBQ’er that can give any tips on one?
Wishing you a superb upcoming week and Happy 4th!!!
That was one busy and fun filled trip! Jetlag is in full-force, but at least the eyes are healing up nicely. Oh, and I’m trying to detox from sugar, because there was waaay too much chocolate, bakery stuff, bread and snacks! Too hard!
Anyways, here comes some pics. Sunday walk with Archie who came by to visit. The neighborhood where we stayed was so green and we saw chickens, sheep and horses on our walk in the neighborhood…
First time trying LPG over there. You put on a bodystocking and this machine sucks your skin in and massages you at the same time. Good for the circulation and a bunch of other stuff…
.We were always running around town and there wasn’t always time to go to a restaurant and sit down, so that was solved by eating in the car. The food there is just incredible!
One of the days we had a meeting with a producer that Angel knows. He is working on an interesting thing that we will hopefully be a part of 🙂 The meeting was at Cafe Savoy. It was established in 1893 and has a lot of history. One thing we learned is that when they renovated it in 2001, they found the original ceilings underneath, that had been covered up during WWII to hide it from the Germans. Very beautiful place and definitely worth a visit!
We walked in Old Town after. The weather ranged from cold, hot, to a full on storm… The architecture there is beautiful and so many cool buildings. Threw in some sculpture-humping while exploring, because why just take a photo of it?
I think somewhere here we had our 2 days of shooting. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pics on set. We were told they will share some pics later and I really hope so! We never shot anything like this! It was very funny and everyone was great on set. Can’t wait to show you!
We had our trip to Olomouc to see the surgeon before the surgery. Beautiful town. We had some time to walk around and went inside this big church. I usually try to visit a church in new places and light candles for family and friends who have passed away…
Before the surgery I did another full day in town and it was nice with the sun out this time 🙂 Very walkable city and I hit a couple of coffee spots on list. Coffee and Riot, good coffee and tasty sandwich. Then Dabov Specialty Coffee. They have won a lot of roasting awards and had a big selection of various coffees. The owner was also very passionate and knowledgable about coffee and I tried a super good pour over.
This tower is the Zizkov Television tower. Almost visible all over town. I now noticed they had these little baby sculptures climbing it. Similar to the one me & Angel were ‘posing’ with earlier…
The kids hit the playground one day and of course there was a full bar and cafe there too. Reminds me of Mexico where there’s always food where there’s people. And what amazed me was that every table also had an ashtray. Very 70’s to be able to smoke pretty much anywhere. Even next to the playground LOL… And the food they offered is not the usual fast food crap or ready made sandwiches in plastic. We had some fresh cheese and ”škvarková pomazánka’. It’s a spread made of ground pork cracklings mixed with lard and finely chopped onion. Sooooo good!
So the kids play and parents can have a drink and some food. Some parents where playing volleyball and took beer breaks in the between to hydrate hahahaa… Also saw this man and had to ask for a picture of his pretty awesome t-shirt!
I’m not big on household chores so it obviously had to be documented when I did some cleaning. Want to make sure I get invited back 😉 Hard work so had to switch to shorts too…
I then had my surgery and after 3 days after my eyes were well enough to venture out again. La Bohemia was another great coffee place.
Hit a park and of course there was another fabulous restaurant called Jurecek there, so more food it was!
Went out for lunch at an amazing Brazilian steakhouse that was in a cellar in old town. The pistachio crusted ice-cream with chocolate sauce for dessert was just WOW! You can probably guess that I never went hungry while here…
Had to walk some of the food off after and we hit a gallery that was showcasing work by Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol and one of Czechs most famous photographers named Jan Saudek. His images were amazing and that some of them were from back around 1920’s is mind blowing. Read that he used to paint on his photos to create some of the effects. He is still alive and is 90 years old. If you are into art/photography, definitely check him out!
Also had a day of shopping with Angel and her mom in town. What I though was going to be like a 4 hour day, was a full 12 hour day! Mommy took shopping to another level hahahaa… Of course there were breaks for caffeine, sugar and a sandwich to keep up with her!
Oh, I spotted these 2 books for kids in Czech named ‘KUK’, You have to google what that means in Swedish hahhaaa… Sorry for my simple humor!
Some leftovers. The top ones are from the beautiful train station in Prague. Last pictures of Angel buying more Milka chocolates so we could keep our sugar levels peaking!
It was then time for me to check out, I had an invoice for my ‘room service’ provided by Angels nephew LOL. Angel asked the Uber driver to unload my bags at the airport since I’m not supposed to lift heavy. Well, this Uber driver took it to another level and escorted me all the way to the check in counter!
I decided at the airport to not buy any sweets for my flights. Time to start detoxing from sugar. Well, that lasted for an hour before I ordered candy on the plane. The flight attendant asked which one I wanted and I answered – BOTH!
Guess who was hapy to see me and me him? He of course had to be spoiled with a treat as soon as I put my bags down!
Can’t thank Angel and her family enough for the great time over there! Showing me the sights, helping me with my surgery and recovery, feeding me and just being the best!
I’m alive and eyes are almost recovered! Which is pretty amazing considering how I looked after. Looked like I went cage fighting with a tiger, or 5 of them!
After arriving here in Prague, shooting for 2 days, me and Angel took he train to Olomouc to go see the surgeon. He wanted to see me before the surgery to see what he was getting into.
His name is Adam and he is an oculoplastic surgeon. He actually works mostly on functional surgeries on patients that needs reconstructive surgery on their eyes after say cancer, accidents etc. But also cosmetic surgeries as mine. I had face-timed with him from Vegas and instantly liked him. Knowledgable and professional!
So, last week me and Angel rented a car and as the first rate friend she is, she drove me to Olomouc for the surgery. About 2,5h from Prague.
Got checked in and Angel translated all the paperwork for me which was in Czech. The anesthesiologist came in and explained how the sedation was going to work. Basically I would be almost out, but be able to communicate with them during the surgery. So not fully asleep.
The surgeon came in too and I wanted to point out how much excess skin there was and tell him not to be afraid to cut that stuff off. He asked if I still wanted to be able to close my eyes? LOL, end of discussion…
That was about it, before they took me away and in to the surgery room. I already had a drip in my arm and they added the sedation to it. All I can say is WOW! All I remember is that the visuals I had was like a great acid trip hahhaaaa…. I don’t remember anything until I wake up in my room and Angel was there. Pretty groggy, hard to open my eyes, but felt good and no pain 🙂
We packed up and back to Prague we went 🙂
Been sleeping with a pregnancy pillow to stay upright. The surgeon said that they had to sedate me extra during surgery cause I was getting restless and that I would probably feel it and be tired. Slept like a bruised up Sleeping Beauty who been punched out by Rocky Balboa!
I got eyedrops with antibiotic that I have to take 4 times a day. Was hard to open the eyes the next morning, but with the drops and some ice packs I managed!
They have amazing food here in Czech and Angels sister is also an amazing cook, so at least I wasn’t starving 🙂
The cotton puffs next to my nose are to support the fat the moved around under my eyes, That goes for the tape too. The ones next to eyes were to collect fluids after the surgery.
2nd day felt pretty much like the first one. It looks painful, but I didn’t experience any pain at all during this whole time and I didn’t take any painkillers.
3rd day. Even ventured outside for bit.
Since I’m smart, and had surgery with a touch of laziness, I hired Angels sisters kid as an assistant. He is the best! He made me coffees, brought water and made this amazing snack platter for me and Angel! He is obviously charging me and he writes everything he does down on a paper and how much it costs. Luckily he is reasonably priced hahahaa…
4th day. I think this one banana is the healthiest thing I’ve eaten during my whole time here hahhaaaa… We hit the mall and I found IKEA and kanel gifflar. Life is good! They might be the 2nd best thing coming from Sweden. You do know what the number one export from Sweden is right?!?
By the time we hit the toy store for the kids I had to recoup for a bit…
Lots of icing…
By the 5th day I felt pretty normal. Just ignore the mess in the background, my morning hair and appreciate my style of fashion!
We were a gang that went to an amazing Argentinian steakhouse in Old Town this past weekend. Also Angels mom took us to town shopping yesterday. We were out for 12h in total and now need an extra suitcase to get all my stuff home LOL…
Now we are sitting on the train back to Olomouc to remove my stitches. Wohooo, very excited about that cause they itch now. I like how they roll here and serve you bubbly on the train 🙂 Cheers from us!
We done so much here and I’ll try to get all the rest down in a post this weekend. Going to take a nap on the train now before we arrive in Olomouc. Wishing you the best for the rest of the week!
Ahoj from Prague. Apparently that’s how you say ‘hi’ in Czech. Angel could also be making sh*t up, but let’s just go with it for now 🙂
I thought I was flying to Prague on Friday, but discovered on Tuesday that I’m actually flying on Thursday. It became a bit stressful to reschedule stuff and get it all done a day before. But I managed 🙂
Shot all the stuff that needed to be shot…
I had an hair appointment for Thursday, but managed to squeeze it in on Wednesday instead. Very happy with this new blonder update 🙂
I set a limit that I can only bring 1 suitcase, so there was some last minute rearranging to fit it all…
I think Hunter knows when I’m leaving and of course we had extra cuddles and he walked me out to the Uber. Maybe he just wanted to make sure I really leave and he has the the time of his life when I’m gone…
Airport selfie before boarding…
I consider myself a pretty experienced traveller. But somehow I managed to land at Gatwick Airport in London and had to transfer to London Heathrow Airport for my connection. Nothing that an hour Uber ride couldn’t solve…
Finally landed in Prague jumped in another Uber to go to Angel’s sisters house where we are staying. All of the sudden we are pulled over by a cop and after a speeding ticket and a smoke break by the freeway, I finally arrived 🙂
Eating and catching up before crashing in bed around midnight. Slept like a baby until 9am. No time for jet lagging, just a quick coffee before heading in to the center of Prague. The city is so beautiful. Lot of parks and beautiful buildings…
Watched a bit of the Sweden – USA hockey game in a park too. I don’t really care about the results now since Finland is out 🙁
I already had marked out some coffee places that looked great and they didn’t disappoint. Tried The Miners Coffee and Dos Mundos.
And I do want to try smash burgers here next time for obvious reasons hahahaaa…
Angel & her sisters dad is in the hospital, so we popped by there too and ate ice cream with him 🙂
Then continued to some other park cause you can always see more 🙂
Angels sister is an amazing cook and dinner was some Czech smokey cheese with jam, meat a bar of chocolate 🙂
Not sure what happened to my jet-lag, but we managed to stay up until 3am and can’t say we managed anything important But we became vey knowledgeable about Inflatable Penile Prothesis’s LMAO. Don’t ask me how we got in to a conversation about these…
Anyways. Been on a dog walk this morning, Angel is napping and I’m here typing away… Tomorrow and on Tuesday we are working in Prague. I think it will be interesting shoots and BTS pics 🙂
I will continue enjoying my time here and I’ll try to write here next Saturday since my eye surgery is on Sunday, and don’t think I’ll manage to see the keyboard after that 🙂
It finally got me last week! The whatever flu that everyone seemed to be getting or have had. Didn’t feel too sick, but lost all energy for a couple of days. Rested, took baths, read, watched TV and napped with Hunter…
Then it was time to fly to Phoenix to shoot for a couple of days. The flight was so early I needed coffee as soon as I got to the airport!
I’ve heard about these self driving taxis and there were a bunch of them at the airport. So cool! Anyone ever gotten a ride in one?
Got to the location and 1st day was all about me, me, and more meeee!
When we were done shooting we were chilling in the pool with a great sunset as a backdrop and I crowned myself as the lost queen of Sweden…
When I travel and don’t know if there will be coffee, I bring these pouches of instant coffee. I get them from a specialty roaster so they taste a little bit better than the instant coffee from the grocery store…
Then Kayla came and I had to share the spotlight 🙂 We get a tad too excited at times when we work together, but we managed to pull it off before I was sent home 🙂
I also assisted Greg on a boudoir shoot here in Vegas. So much fun and I always learn a bunch from him. Since he is so nice he also came by one day to teach me some new tricks in Lightroom and how to use Evoto for editing photos.
This weekend me & a friend made a roadtrip to St George in Utah. Amazing scenery when you drive…
Got hungry and found a seafood joint called Rusty Crab Daddy. Sooo good and garlic-y 🙂
Saw a table order some desert and asked what it was. Apparently they’re called ‘Beignets’. Deep-fried pastry served hot with lots of powdered sugar. It might be one of my favorite desserts now! Holy moly they are tasty!!!!!
Rented an Airbnb on the outskirts of town and loved walking out to the trees and farm animals as neighbors!
And what do you think I had for breakfast? Tripplets of Beignets filled with different things!
And more coffee because there can never be too much caffeine…
Then drove to Pine Valley to hike a little and check the area out. One day I hope to go camping there, Quiet and tranquil.
I had some cool pose in mind, but I don’t think I nailed it hahahaa…
At a gas station there was these cute chicks for sale. Considered if Hunter would like a buddy, but I think he might use it as a toy, so no chicks for us… Other than human ones!
Heard about this pie place and since it was just across the street and I’m always down for a snack/treat, off we went. I had a raspberry/rhubarb slice and it made love to my taste buds! They had a map there where people visiting marked where they’re are from. Someone from Oulu, Finland had visited. That’s where my family is from. Very cool!
For dinner we hit their popular BBQ spot Pica Rica. A lot of stuff was already sold old, but got some tasty chicken tinga and pulled pork.
There was this funky bar called Spiritual around the corner. Finished the night off with a couple of cocktails 🙂
Awesome day all together and happy I didn’t step on this big toad when entering the house…
Packed up today and visited Snow Canyon State Park on the way to town. Great views of the red rocks and cool sand dunes…
Wanted more BBQ so went back to Pica Rica and had delicious ribs for brunch…
Only a 2h drive from Vegas and I will probably visit again 🙂 Going to look into renting an RV as I would love to camp out there…
Going to order some food and watch some TV with Hunter tonight 🙂 Next week got a couple of shoots planned and a massage so far. Got a ‘property evaluation’ too when they come and check that I haven’t torn the house down. Just saw that it’s Cinco de Mayo tomorrow. Maybe Hunter wants to celebrate since he’s Mexican after all. Will give him extra treats!
OK, here is the post about our hike. Writing this and going through the photos again brings back so many fun memories from along the trail. This time we trekked the most northern part of the King’s Trail or Kungsleden as it’s called in Swedish.
We flew up to Kiruna at 8.25 am and it was a short flight.
From the airport we took a taxi to the Abisko Tourist Station where the trail starts. You can obviously hike it the other way around too, but we chose to start in Abisko. We had planned to eat lunch at the Tourist Station, but it was so packed and crowded with people finishing up the weeklong Fjällräven Classic. We bought a couple of sandwiches in the shop and took off…
You start by passing the Canyons which had this super clear turquoise water.
All along the trail there are meditation spots, and this one had a stone with a quote by Dag Hammarskjöld.
The sun came out and we took a short snack break. Our favorite – knäckebröd (crisp bread) with smoked reindeer spread and some salami.
Seeing the mountain cabin after a days hike is always rewarding. Even though it usually looks pretty close, it’s almost always at least an hours hike away.
This cabin had a store and even though they sold a lot of other stuff, they had a whole refrigerator dedicated to beer hahahaaa…
This mountain cabin is called Abiskojaure and us being Finns, we obviously appreciated them having a sauna! Usually the first hour is a mixed hour with men and women, then women, and lastly men. Almost everyone is naked and you chat about your day on the trail and where people are from. A lot of foreigners… They had a sandy beach and it’s perfect to cool off in between! Not a bad backdrop either…
After the sauna and dinner we pretty much crashed in bed. Great first day. First day’s stage Abisko – Abiskojaure, 15km.
Usually my sister and I are the first ones up. We usually awoke between 05.30 and 06.00. We prefer to just have a cup of coffee and then head out.
We usually hiked about 1,5 – 2 hours and then picked a spot to have breakfast at. I usually ate a porridge. You just need to boil water, pour it in the bag, let it sit for 8 min and then enjoy 🙂 It was pretty windy and sometimes a bit of a drizzle so this big boulder offered some shelter.
It was a long stretch in the valley next to this lake. The wind increased so I had to use my scarf as cover.
On this stage there is an option to take a boat on the final stretch. It cuts your hiking 4km shorter. When we reached the boat dock, it started raining pretty hard and about 6 people sat in the boat house waiting to take the boat. We decided that we’re here to hike, so that’s what we’ll do! We did question our decision a couple of times when it poured down and the wind was almost blowing us off the trail.
Here the rain and wind quieted down and we could snap a couple of beach pics hahhaaa…
Finally reached Alesjaure mountain cabin pretty soaked. But all the rooms usually have a furnace so we lit it and warmed up. Also great for drying your clothes.
This place also had a sauna by the lake- yeayyyyy! They had stairs going down to the stream below so you could go take a dip. Here we met a Japanese woman who never took a sauna before. Us Finn’s obviously gave her the run down and I took her skinny dipping in the stream too 🙂
The 2nd day’s stage was between Abiskojaure – Alesjaure, 21km. Pretty beat and hoped for better weather for the next day!
3rd day Alesjaure – Tjäktja – Sälka, 26km, We decided to do 2 stretches on our 3rd day and skip a night stay at Tjäktja. But first, quality coffee from Verve with a candle light 🙂
Beautiful morning to start our 3rd day…
It was a loooong day. We took breaks, snacked and drank coffee and hot chocolate. Finally saw some reindeers too 🙂
We passed the highest spot on Kungsleden – Tjäktjapasset, 1150 meter above sea level. It was a long stretch of stones and rocks and then a climb to get up there. We took a break at a small hut up on the top (if you look closely you can see a tiny hut in the ‘dip’ between the mountains) before hiking down to this valley that was so much prettier and greener…
I’m not going to lie, we were pretty exhausted and very happy when we finally spotted the Sälka mountain cabin!
To our surprise they had a sauna here too so we just threw in our backpacks and hit the sauna. Felt amazing after the long day.
Normally we book a room with 2 bunk beds. It was busy here so we had a bunk bed in a room with 6 bunk beds. Pretty tight, but everyone is respectful of the space, so it wasn’t a problem…
Per usual we enjoyed our coffee in the empty kitchen/common room by ourselves…
Luckily our 4th day was a shorter hike. From Sälka to Singi, 12km.
Beautiful morning and we found a great spot by the water to enjoy our breakfast at.
Even found some Cloudberries. I think I wrote about them before too. They only grow up in the north and are called ‘skogens guld’, the gold of the forest. They are so tasty and the jam made of these is expensive. Later we also found a spot with a lot of blueberries 🙂
Made it to Singi. No sauna here, but a lot of nice people that we met along the trail, so we spent the evening chatting while eating dinner and snacking,
The 5th day was also an easier day from Singi to Kebnekaise, 15km. Started our day with spotting some reindeers. Otherwise it was a pretty cold and foggy day.
We finally came down to a valley and the weather cleared up some. We found a spot and took a snack break. Pretty much had to throw our stuff back in the backpacks because 5 min after the picture was taken it rained. The weather changes fast up there…
The last stretched was mixed with some rain, wind and finally when reaching the Kebnekaise mountain cabin the sun decided to make an appearance.
Kebnekaise mountain cabin is a big place. Understandably since a lot of people come here to climb Kebnekaise. We booked dinner at the restaurant and had some wine and beer. It was a nice treat after eating freeze-dried food for five days 🙂 The risotto was delicious and I think I ate about half of a loaf of bread too hahahaa…
Checked the forecast for the next day. Some days you can’t go to the top of Kebnekaise since the weather is not permitting it. But luckily on that Tuesday when we planned to go up it looked good!
So finally on our 6th day it was time to do Kebnekaise, Sweden’s highest mountain. We were ready to head out at 6am. Wanted to have plenty of time. A few others headed out too. Beautiful morning! We opted for the southern peak via the western trail. If you do the northern peak, you needed to do it with a guide.
We had to start taking clothes off and soon as the climb started. It’s “only” 8 km to the top, but it’s almost all uphill you climb on loose rocks and boulders which makes it feel a lot longer.
Up, up and up. A lot of short breaks and pauses. After this mountain there was a steep descent down to ‘Kaffedalen’.
The weather rapidly changed and a thick fog came in. From ‘Kaffedalen’ it started to climb again. This is actually from where you start climbing Kebnekaise. The first mountain and climb is just a taste of what’s to come 🙂 We were so focused on climbing and making it up so we forgot to take pics going up here until we reached the old ‘topp stugan’ or the old safety/summit cabin. You can see how dense the fog was. We decided to pop our Champagne here 🙂
A Finnish lady entered the cabin so we got to chat some Finnish. She said it was another 20-30 min to the top, then another 50m with snow where you needed spikes for your shoes to be able to go. It was foggy up there too and no view she said. We decided this was high enough and started our descend. This was what we saw when we started our return.
But as we got further down it cleared up a bit. This here is ‘Kaffedalen’ and you’re officially down from Kebnekaise. From there you go uphill and it was pretty slow going at this point hahahaa…
But we were in good spirits and took one last break with apple crumble pie and hot chocolate to have energy for the last stretch.
It took us 5h to climb up and 7h to come down and back. It was a hard day and we’re happy we did it! We hit the sauna and showers after and then had dinner before crashing in bed. A tip might be to start the trail the other way around than we did, and be more rested before climbing Kebnekaise.
7th and last day. Hiking to Nikkaluokta, 19km. There was also an option to take a boat on this stretch too that would shorten your hike by 6km. We wanted to enjoy our last day outdoors so we hiked.
Guess how happy we wore when we found out that there was a cafe where the boat picked up and dropped off hikers? We went inside and I had a waffle with whipped cream and cloudberry jam. SOOOOO GOOOOD! The place is called Enoks and they also have reindeer and elk burgers which looked super tasty too.
The last part of the trail was super easy walking. It felt like fall was coming up in the north. It was beautiful and we finally arrived to Nikkaluokta.
From there we took the bus back to Kiruna airport and then a short flight back to Stockholm. I guess I was pretty tired hahahaaa…
A total of 128 km hikes with Kebnekaise included. My backpack weighted 10kg when we started. Most of it was food. The stores at the mountain cabins sell food, but I’m picky and want to eat good, so I brought all my food with me. I will remember this adventure with my sister forever. Thanks for the company and memories sis!
OK, that was that about the hike. And now to Vegas 🙂 I have been here for a week and one day today. Love it here so far. Hopefully I can get a post up during the week about the past week here. Hunter is very happy too 🙂 Met some friendly neighbors and signing up at a gym next week. Tomorrow I’m having coffee with a friend I knew in LA long time ago, but she also lives in Vegas now. Oh, and my birthday is on Friday too wohooo! Oh, I’ve been a week without smoking too 🙂
How was your week? Or/and got something fun happening this upcoming week?
