The week started off with shooting commercial clips for sexy calls. There were three other girls with me and it was fun and easy work. Even though I’m pretty bad at memorizing lines, I pulled it off 🙂 It was great having Tyler Faith there too and it was my first time meeting Jade, Alexis and Motley who also made the day fun!
On Tuesday I got to be behind the camera and shoot 2nd camera on a Thanksgiving themed scene. So much fun trying it and learned a lot. There were 5 people in the scene so there were a lot of limbs, bodies and action to keep track of 🙂 Haven’t had time to go through the photos from my camera, but here’s Tyler trying on the turkey costume and Kayla prepping the Friendsgiving dinner we all enjoyed after. Thank you Kayla, it was delicious!
On Wednesday my friend Masha arrived in Vegas for a medical convention. I last saw her in Mexico and it was so great to catch up. I picked her up at the airport and we went to grab burgers at In n’ Out before I dropped her off at her hotel.
Finally had the energy and time to hit the gym. Felt really good!
At night I went to hang with Masha. Catched up over some wine and then tried our luck in the casino. Masha cashed out $0.80 so I think it’s safe to say we shouldn’t quit our day jobs hahahaaa…
On Friday me, Angel and Tyler headed out to Nelson Ghost Town to shoot with Mike. Had a blast. Nothing like ‘working’ with your friends 🙂 Some BTS shots from our day…
Yesterday the 3 of us went to a party where we got taped and it looked really cool! Had some drinks and then called it a night. I woke up with the tape patterns all over my body since I had self tanner on. I look like something out of an Avatar movie!
Leaving you with a pic of me and Hunter chilling on the lawn and keeping an eye on the neighbourhood 🙂
Also wishing you a tasty Thanksgiving. You cooking? I’m going to 2 dinners. One on Wednesday with some new acquaintances that invited me. The guy is Swedish and is a relative to one of my sisters friends. Sounds something like ‘my sister’s friends mom’s granddads nephews friend’ hahahaha…. On Thursday I’m going to Angel’s house. On Friday we are shooting with a great photographer and I might show up looking like a bloated turkey 🙂
So much fun stuff happened so didn’t have time to check in here 🙂 A couple of weeks ago the Swedish girl Catherine took me hiking. We went to a trail called the Late Night Trailhead. Easy hike and great views. Got great Vegas tips from her and hopefully we’ll go bowling next 🙂
Put in some work hours before my sister arrived here in Vegas 🙂
Finally it was time for my sister Jaana to arrive! But Angel arrived earlier from a trip so I picked her up first. I have an ex who was so disappointed that I didn’t meet him inside the airport with a welcome sign (he’d been gone for a week) and only pulled up with the car outside. I made more effort this time and texted Angel that her driver was here, WITH a sign, to collect her…
We had time to take her dogs to the park before my sister landed…
My sister arrived in one piece and I’m not sure if she was more excited to meet Hunter or me. She used to have 2 cats. Hunter seemed happy the next morning to have a new person to get attention from 🙂
Showed her around the town the first day and we did some shopping. Had to break for some food at one point. She got me this awesome Fjällräven shirt 🙂
Had a pickleball lesson at night so I put her in one of the massage chairs and showed her where the sauna is so she could chill while I worked on my ball skills…
We drove out to the Valley Of Fire one day and took Angel with us. It’s about an 1h and 20 min drive out there and so worth it! Beautiful rock formations and in parts it’s like walking on a soft sandy beach.
I found this rock and I don’t know anyone sees what I see? If you do it just proves that great (or dirty) minds think alike hahahaa…
One night we hit the strip. There are full preparations going on for the F1 races coming up… Will stay as far away as possible from the area next week as it will be loco!
Catherine the Swedish girl recommended this speakeasy bar called the Ski Lodge. Such a cool bar. All decorated in the theme and great cocktails! Mine was called Noche Buena with Don Julio tequila, gajillo, abuelita hot chocolate, peanut, allspice, cinnamon, milk and topped with marshmallows. Sounded too weird not to try and it was sooo good! And then we made smores at the bar. The bar is inside Cosmopolitan and I totally recommend a visit there! Thanks for the tip Catherine 🙂
Stopped by Bellagio and they are prepping their Xmas decorations. They had this amazing Xmas store and if someone feels like sending me muchosdeniro, I will go back and buy half the store!
We both like shiny things, but ended up with matching sweaters 🙂
Angel also treated to us what I now think is the greatest pizza place in Vegas – Settebello. I had a pizza with housemade jalapeno pear marmalade, spicy salami, red basil, mozzarella and parmigiano. Wow, wow, wow! My mouth is watering just writing this. And for dessert we had a Nutella pizza. We pretty much rolled out there!
Jaana smothered Hunter one last time and then we jumped in the car and drove to LA.
Checked in to our hotel and met up Sandy with the kids at The Grove. I used to go there all the time when I lived in LA…
Sandy then took us for dinner at Arden. It’s a pretty new restaurant with a cool vibe and great food. I finished my pizza with truffles before I had time to take a picture of it! The truffle pasta was also delicious! Oh, and the waiter told us that Jennifer Lopez sat at our table a couple weeks ago. Wonder if they will tell Jennifer, that Puma Swede sat at her table if she comes back? Hahhaaa…
They also have a speakeasy called Society Club where a magician performs magic tricks. I didn’t want to f*ck up his tricks by flashing a pic of him so I flashed the bartender instead hahahaa…
In the front there’s a coffee shop that serves Sightglass Coffee. I appreciate when you get proper coffee and not some stale machine coffee 🙂
Ran around town the next day and popped by one of my favorite coffee shops, Adante Coffee. At night we watched the Jake vs Tyson fight at Sandy’s house. Did you guys watch it? I was mostly impressed by Jake’s million dollar shorts!
Yesterday we checked out of the hotel and went to Sandy’s. I had promised her kids a bake off contest. We went shopping for ingredients and then the contest started. The kids had found a recipe on TikTok and made chocolate souffles. 2 ingredients only, eggs and Nutella. They were so good and I’m impressed that they pulled them off! Me and Jaana made what I think is a Swedish dessert called Gino. You mix bananas, blueberries, kiwi, strawberries and raspberries (which we forgot) in an oven safe form. Then put white chocolate on top that melts in the oven. Throw on some mint leaves and voila… Oh, serve it with vanilla ice cream too. So easy and I always eat it in Sweden if the restaurant has it. I think the kids won. Maybe…
The kids also made up this game for us that we played and I won! The game was obviously right up my alley with the ‘poop’ pieces you played with hahhaaa…
After we went for a little hike. I could’ve used a nap but kids have unlimited amount of energy I’ve learned…
After that it was time to say by to my LA family and drop my sister off at LAX. Always a bit sad and feels so empty when you been hanging 24/7 🙁 I decided to hit the road after and drive back to Vegas. I love driving at night when there’s barely any other people on the road.
Left overs…
Been catching up today and went for a quick walk in the Red Rocks. Shooting some kind of commercial tomorrow all day. On Tuesday I get to practice my shooting skills and shooting some friends with a photographer 🙂 Got a shoot on Friday and Saturday and also my friend ‘Masha from Russia’ is popping by Vegas, I met her in Puerto Rico and haven’t seen her in ages. Going to be so much fun!!!! Now Hunter and I are going to watch some TV before bed 🙂
Me & Angel went out to buy some Halloween decorations. When we parked in the parking lot a lady pulls up in her car and says there is a man with a knife running around and we should get back in the car. Then all of a sudden cop cars come and people point to the back of the parking lot where the guy supposedly was. The guy threw the knife away and people were filming. A cop walked by us after a couple of minutes and we asked if they caught the guy and they had. OK, safe to go shopping 🙂
Hit Costco too to buy some candy for the kids and looked at Christmas trees. I’m thinking these 2… My mom & dad are cringing in heaven, because we would never have a fake tree in our house when I was a kid. That’s just not Christmas-sy they said! Sorry….
Me and Kayla had a Live Show online together. I love her cats. I didn’t get the full pic of ths darker one, but he has T-Rex legs. They are short stumps and it’s so cute!
My Halloween costume was Deadpool. Had to go back to Costco because I realized I needed more than candy, but while there, I got more candy hahhaaa….
I sat outside on the lawn at night handing out candy. Hunter was very happy to greet the kids and he was a bigger success than the candy… The neighbor across the street had an amazing set up in his garage and upstair window that projected horror images and sounds.
Tried a new hairdresser and I guess I’m a brunette now 🙂 It’s just a toner so I’ll be back to blond in a bit. Or maybe not. I’m kind of liking it for a change…
For some reason I’ve been feeling pretty tired and lethargic this week. Hunter likes it because there was a lot of relaxing and napping together 🙂
I also found this heated blanket at Costco and Hunter loves it!
Got the pictures from my and Angel’s shoot with Greg. There are so many great ones. He is such a fantastic photographer and made us look fabulous. A couple of favorites are these BTS pics he took of me when I was creeping on Angel. Will show more when I’ve picked out a few 🙂
Had to get some stuff for the house so dragged Angel along yesterday, She has 4 dogs and they are so funny and looooove attention as much as Hunter. They are just as spoiled too!
Came in contact with a Swedish girl here in Vegas through this blog. Today we went hiking at the Late Night Trailhead. An easy hike and nice scenery. She also gave me great tips on shows, bars and more here in Vegas. Bowling is next on our list 🙂 Pics to come…
At the end of next week my sister is coming to visit and I plan to work a lot before she comes so we can make the most of our time together when she’s here 🙂 We’re also popping by LA.
Leave you with a filtered selfie and a pic of Hunter in his stroller for one of his walks.
I ate way too many spring rolls on the way home and my stomach is complaining. Going to grab Hunter and stretch my belly out on the couch and watch Terriers or something. Hope you had a great weekend and wishing you a fabulous upcoming week!
First up, a couple of pics of me and Alexis Fawx. She might have given me one of the best (and dirtiest) massages ever hahahaaa… If you know, you know 😉
Had to shop a little and luckily Angel Dark needed to go to IKEA too. My question is though: “What’s the greatest thing to come out of Sweden? Puma Swede or IKEA? And why do you think it’s Puma Swede” hahahaaa…
After IKEA we went to the European Market. They have some weird stuff over there. I thought the first package read Pork *ock hahhaaaa… Not sure what Hock is or what kind of meal you make of a uterus???
Another day I hit the mall, but got distracted with all these cute dogs around.
Had to get some new ‘work equipment’ and I couldn’t resist this colorful tongue 🙂 And love the girls makeup and costume.
Worked in between the shopping…
Yesterday I went hiking with Kayla Paige to the Arizona Hot Springs. WOW, amazing! So cool that Vegas is so close to Arizona. Like a 45 min drive.
We kept seeing these notes about nudity at the hot springs. Was kind of expecting (hoping LOL) to find some naked people splashing around, but we didn’t get that lucky…
The water was very hot in the first pool and then got a bit cooler in the next 2 pools.
There was a staircase where you could climb and there was a small waterfall next to it. Obviously we both had to try it out…
We learned that you can keep hiking down and you get to the Colorado River. Have to go and buy a waterpack and water shoes and I hope to take my sister there when she comes in a couple of weeks 🙂 Also found out that you can camp out there so that’s on the to-do-list as well. I really enjoyed this hike!
All the fresh air made me tired so Hunter and I watched the show “Terriers” and I ate ice cream and Hunter got a plate of chicken 🙂
Hunter was also trying to live up to his name and tried to hunt lizards with no real luck. He also kept an eye on this guy who came over to clean up broken glass around the house.
Was a bit lazy with the gym last week, but did another class of pickleball and played a couple of hours after. Slowly getting better! Got a Live Show with Kayla next week, a Skype show with Angel tomorrow, plan to hit the gym and then just wing the rest 🙂 Oh, need to pop by Costco to get sugar for the kids for Halloween. What’s your Halloween plans? Got a costume? I plan to eat half the candy I buy for the kids hahahaaa…
Last week I had a bunch of fun shoots. On Monday I shot with Alexis Fawx. I heard so many great things about her before hand and she didn’t disappoint! I will show more pics when I get them, but here’s a shot of me waiting for the fun to start 🙂
Then on Tuesday, me and Angel Dark went to Nelson’s Ghost Town to shoot. Wow, it’s such a cool spot and only about a 45 min drive from where I live. There’s a family that runs it and owned it for 30 years. The guy that worked the front desk was very funny. He started by showing us a binder with photos of stuff we can’t do and things to look out for. He said he caught 19 of the 20 rattlesnakes there, so look out for the last one. Bees! There was a lot of them and they sting if they get inside your clothing. Guess who got stung??? Yes, me!
Cactuses, people wanting pictures right by them and then falling in. There was pictures of people covered in them and it looked painful! I was so excited so I actually forgot to take pictures of the place. But we are going back so I will snap pics then. But here are a few shots of us so you can get an idea if you focus on the background instead of me and Angel hahahaaa…
Such a fun day, minus the bee sting! If you visit Vegas, it’s definitely worth a trip out there!
Then we also shot with Greg. He is an amazing photographer! This is the second time I shot with him and he is always nice and explains he’s camera settings, light positioning etc so I can try to learn 🙂 Haven’t got the pics yet, but from what I saw in his camera, I have to say he makes me look good 🙂 Just a BTS shot and me and of Angel while she was shooting and I was creeping hahhaaaa….
While on my favorite topic, ME (joking a little), here’s some pics I got from another photographer I shot with a couple of weeks ago 🙂
And then me at the gym 🙂 I have to force myself to actually do some strength/cardio workouts and not just play pickleball. But I did that too of course!
I finally picked up my new glasses. I wanted a pair that barely shows as a change and I’m really happy with them!
Hunter is his happy self and I don’t think he has any complaints…
Went to a Halloween party with Angel on Saturday. I loved my costume, ‘plastic surgery post op’. One lady though I actually had all the surgery and was amazed I showed up to party hahhaaaa… I have to take better pics in the outfit. As usual when I get excited I forget. Here’s some from the party though…
Couple of selfies since I have to make the most of it when my face is painted 🙂
Hitting the gym later today and got plans to check out the 2nd biggest thing from Sweden after me, IKEA, tomorrow 😉 Then just have to see what the rest of the week brings on…
Time and energy ran out again. But been having so much fun and barely had time for my naps hahhaaa…
First there was such a hot & fun shoot with Veronica Avluv, Kayla Paige and Rebel Rhyder. Veronica had planned it all in detail and bought us outfits and styled us. Not to go into details, but I can say it’s been a while since I shot something so intense! We were all totally drained after and I’ll summarize the day with WOW!
Had friends in towns so I rushed to the strip after to see the Zombie Burlesque show at Planet Hollywood with them. Very funny and sexy show. Naughty jokes and great performances. I like that it was in a small theater and I highly recommend seeing their show if you are in town!
I also took them out to sunset at the Red Rocks. So peaceful…
I want to do surgery on my upper eyelids because they are a bit saggy. Went to see a plastic surgeon and got a quote. I have to go and rob a bank first hahahaaa… I think I will head to Europe and do them. Got good recommendations over there and it will be like 10x cheaper and be done at a clinic that specializes in eyes only.
Pickleball is just getting more and more addictive. I go to workout, but quit halfway to run and play pickleball instead hahhaaa. I went to the recommended store here for paddles. I like the coloring of this one and of course it had to be one of the more expensive ones. At least I can have a pro paddle even though I’m anything but a pro on the court hahhaaa… Got to say that people are really nice and offer a lot of tips and advice when playing so fingers crossed I’ll get better soon!
This beautiful sky was outside of the gym on Friday after 3 hours of pickleball. I read today that were some aurora borealis visible here in Nevada then.
One of the best things that happened was that I got to go to LA and work and see my bestie Sandy and her family. I drove and stopped for gas on the way and found this closed diner that looked like it was out of a movie…
It has been a while since I saw Sandy and her family. I consider them my family too 🙂 So much fun to catch up. This is her cat Simba. Hunter would look like a kitten next to him and he’s not even fully grown yet!
I had a shoot almost in San Diego the day after I got to LA. My partner for the job was Desiree Dulce. First time working with her and she was the perfect combo of hotness and fun, yummy!
Sandy and I considered going out for dinner, but ended up chatting over a couple of Hungarian Palinka shots, toasted bread, guacamole and chips at home instead hahahaaa…
Beautiful sunrise…
Before I drove back the next day I stopped by a couple of friends who had a baby. I’m not a big baby person, but he was very cute and it helped that he didn’t scream or lose it even once LOL…
I was playing with Hunter the other day and then I saw a small something next to his paw. Picked it up to investigate and it turns out it was one of his teeth 🙁 He barely has any teeth left and I need to take him to a vet to check the few he has left now. The vet in Mexico said it’s probably because he lived in the woods before… i saved his tooth like people with their kids teeth since he’s my baby 🙂
Yesterday I took Angel Dark to Mt Charleston. Neither of us had been and it was very beautiful there. Only like a 40 min drive and you could hike in the woods! Us both being from Europe and missing the woods, we loved it. Will definitely explore more hikes in that area.
There was also a cute little library. We talked to some people and there is about 400 people living there and about 200 live there year around. I wish I would’ve taken pictures because it was soo cute with these small colorful and decorated cabins and houses. Next time I will…
Also had time to go and help someone with Halloween decorating, and bought a top that I think might be for kids…
Today I went to watch a pro pickleball tournament and damn they were good! Tomorrow I’m playing with Alexis Fawx for the first time. She seems like a cool chick so I’m excited! On Tuesday going to some cool ghost town to shoot with Angel. I hope to get to play a few hours of pickleball too 🙂 What’s going on in your life?
Started the week with a pickleball class for beginners. So much fun and good to learn some rules and techniques. Did another class later this week and booked a private class for next week. It’s so much fun! Also going to buy my own paddle next week!
I gotten tired of my glasses and found another pair that I liked. Decided to test my eyesight at the same time and it hadn’t changed. The new glasses should be ready in 2 weeks 🙂
Shot a couple of times this week. My shoot with Brittney got postponed ,so just went at it on my own 🙂
Never wasting good makeup so here’s a car selfie too.
Found a new coffee roaster that I like called Black and White. They send you a scale that you keep your coffee bag on. Somehow they get info on when my bag is running low and they send out more beans. You can choose if you want to switch it up or keep the same beans coming.
Went and got tested for work. Picked up Veronica Avluv and we went together. After I took her to Mothership Coffee for her to try it out. Tomorrow I’m shooting with Veronica, Kayla and Rebel. She planned such a cool shoot and bought outfits and we got a bomb ass makeup artist coming too 🙂 Very excited as I think this scene will be pretty wild!
Angel Dark invited me for a BBQ so went to the meat shop first. Didn’t really need to as I found out she had bought enough meat for a football team hahahaa…
Hunter loves lying under a blanket so I’m always building him little hiding spots. Sometimes he just looks at me all judgmental on top of the stairs LOL…
That pretty much covers the past week. Shooting pics for the agency on Tuesday and have a photographer coming over to shoot on Wednesday. On Friday I have the private pickleball lesson and hope to practice some more this week 🙂 May or may not go to a Greek Festival later today. I’m hooked on a TV show called ‘Mr In Between’, an Australian black comedy-crime drama, so might just stay in and continue watching that. Can really recommend this show!
Hope you had a great week and an even better week coming up!
Yesterday I went hiking with a friend and then wrote this post. We attempted this 11.5 mile/18.5 km loop hike in the Red Rocks. The first part was among the rocks and it’s so beautiful. Even found Petroglyphs (incised, pecked, or scratched images). I only know they are called this because there was a sign LOL…
A snack break in the shade of the rocks…
Left too late and thought we could handle the heat, but realized we had to make a shortcut. The shortcut wasn’t much better because it was straight under the sun with no shade. I still enjoyed it, but think I’ll do the whole loop next month when it cools down 🙂
The heat took it out of me and I wasn’t able to accomplish much after that. Now I’m sitting with my morning coffee, writing, and ready to take on this week 🙂 Hunter is in position too…
First some BTS pics from last weekends shoot with Tyler Faith, Kayla Paige, Veronica Avluv and Angel Dark. It was such a fun day because they are all super fun and cool!
My favorite photo being of Angel showing me what’s she eats. Just meat!
I really like the gym. My favorite is hitting the relaxation section after and now I found these massage chairs. They are always taken and I finally found one that was free when I was done with my workout. You can choose which area you want massaged, time, pressure etc. I went straight for the maximum and the chair gets heated too. Took about 5 minutes until everything was itching from the heat and blood flow. Had to turn it down to half the power and then it was a bit more relaxing hahhaaaa….
I seriously love going to Costco! I can’t believe that they already have a whole section with Christmas decorations. And of course since it’s America, it’s got to be BIG! There was a fake 4 meter tall Xmas tree. Or this huge lit up teddy bear. I love all of this and could cover my whole place with stuff like this, but I’m too lazy to then take it down. For those who read my blog for a while you know that I had a Xmas tree in Puerto Rico that was up year around for 2 years because I just couldn’t be bothered taking it down hahahaaa….
I am planning to get one of those Advent Calendars above though! Can’t buy it yet because I’d eat it within a week!
Also found Swedish meatballs. Don’t like store bought ‘balls’ because homemade ones are just so much better. But I did buy chanterelles and made this delicious sauce of cream, onion, parsley and chanterelles. Yummy!
Tried a new hairdresser. I think I will try another one for next time. Not much of a difference…
Got some birthday presents and flowers sent to me 🙂 Someone obviously knows how much I love Hunter and got him this stroller 🙂 Planning on putting it together today and test-strolling 🙂
Shot the usual stuff…
Finished reading Count of Monte Cristo and The Plea: A Novel (Eddie Flynn Book 2). Both very good books and would recommend them.
Hunter? Well, he’s living life with no complaints. He does look a bit chunky in the last pic, but let’s say it’s the angle…
Other than that, visited the farmers market, took a walk.
Today I’m joining a beginners class in pickleball, wohoooo! I’m also shooting with Brittany Andrews on Friday which I’m very excited about. Other than that I will just have to see what the week brings along 🙂 How about you?
OK, I’ve been working on this post for days, but stuff just kept coming up. Time flies when you’re having fun 🙂 2 weeks and a couple days in Vegas now and loving it! Met friends from back in the day, found the perfect gym and great coffee places, turned a year older, did a photography meetup, and visited the Red Rocks…
Usually when I move the priorities are to find a gym and great coffee… I tried out a gym called Smash Fitness for a week and it was great. Pointing out my crotch sweat after a workout hahhaaa…
In the end I signed up at LifeTime Fitness. It’s a 3 story gym and they have an indoor and outdoor pool, pickleball, squash, basketball courts, sauna and a multitude of classes. There is a whole relaxation area with massage chairs and the air-leg-things that you can use for free. Oh, they also have a beauty salon, co-working space and a food bar.
As for coffee my favorite places so far is Vesta for working, Mothership at the Summerlin Mall and Yaw. At Yaw I look forward to trying a 4 espresso shot coffee drink and saving up money to buy their “Gesha Clouds” roast – 100gr, $32…
Even though I want to keep running around exploring my new hood, some work needs to be accomplished 🙂
Everyone knows that it’s good to have some balance in your life, so after work comes fiesta 🙂 My birthday was on Friday the 13th. On Thursday I got together with Kayla Paige and Veronica Avluv at Durango Casino & Resort. Later Angel Dark and others joined us. So fun, I’ve known them all since when I lived in LA. They are all cool, fun, and with a great sense of humor. I don’t get along with people who have no humor… Or that don’t understand mine which sometimes is a bit weird hahahaa…
It all started well behaved, but some of us couldn’t keep it together for too long hahhaaaa….
On my actual birthday I didn’t do too much. Chilled with Hunter, ordered French Toast for breakfast, went to the gym and then just watched a bunch of episodes of ‘The Bear’. Hunters favorite spot is close and under my butt!
Hunter actually prefers movies with hot chicks!
On Sunday a friend took me to Red Rocks. WOW! It’s so cool there and it’s a bit outer space-y. There are a lot of different trails out there so will definitely explore the area more!
Every 1st Friday of the month, they have an event in Downtown Vegas with food trucks, street vendors and art stuff. There was a photography meetup happening there at the same time, so I signed up. Met some fun people and the event was pretty cool too…
Here’s you dose of Hunter. The funniest thing is he discovered that in the house across the street, there lives another orange cat. They’ve been eyeballing each other from across the street almost daily. Today, they approached closer to each other. They even sat under the same car, but they haven’t like bumped noses or whatever it is cats do. I hope Ocean (the neighbor cats’ name) and Hunter are going to be buddies 🙂
And here’s a mixed bag of everything else. By the way, I love having a bathtub again!
For my Swedish readers, here are links to a couple of Podcasts and a car interview I did while I was in Sweden 🙂
That’s it for now. I have so much more fun stuff coming up. Also I did such a fun shoot on Sunday and it was so hot that I’m still recovering from it hahahaa… Tell you about it on my next post 🙂
OK, go out there and be fabulous because why would you do anything else?
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?
