Aurlandsdalen

After the man at the tourist information office recommended that, given the rainy weather, we not take the Aurlandsdalen hike, Betsy gamely asked, "You mean because it's wet dangerous or wet annoying?" When he said annoying, we bought bus tickets. And the rainbow we saw en route was just part of the compensation for defying his advice. Countless waterfalls, restored farmsteads, plump raspberries practically the whole way begging to be picked, and tiny hamlets nestled into the hill above a 2000 foot drop made this a memorable hike. It was 14 miles, almost all downhill, as we followed a tumbling river from Osterbo to Vassbygdi. And it was, to borrow Ithaca's pun, gorgeous.