shut up: Sweden

Chelsey eating a very depressing dinner, during a very depressing delay, in a very depressing Oakland airport. We had the pleasure of spending the night on this floor. Big thanks to Norwegian Air for hooking up the free noodles though!

70+ hours later, we finally arrived in Stockholm and the party commenced.

At the request of one of our hosts Austin "Baby King" Davis, I smuggled in several "American" trucker hats. They were an instant hit with the Swedes.

Most all of the bars, restaurants, and cafes in Stockholm offer complimentary blankets for outside seating to make sure no one catches a chill while enjoying their coffee or beer. Loren takes advantage of such a blanket at Babylon.

This is our buddy Gustav's wine transportation machine. She needed a push start, but we got her rollin', no problem.

Happy hour and BBQ up on Tua and Gustav's rooftop patio. If you want to drink the best wine while enjoying a fantastic view of Stockholm, these are the two to call up. This spot is D1.

I can't remember what we got into this particular night, but chances are it was fun as shit. Adam tucks himself in under the kitchen table.

Looking down the street from Sofi and Austin's place.

Fika time.

Fika is the Swedish coffee break.

This is a good blurry eyed representation of most mornings in Stockholm. Trying to put it back together with coffee, pastries, and cheesy chanterelle toast. The people who worked at this cafe would always tell us how terrible we looked in a very polite manner as we stumbled in and ordered our coffee and food. They were awesome.

Pastrami time. Sitting outside of Katarina Olkafe enjoying sandwiches and beers. This is Austin's restaurant/bar and he and his partners are absolutely killing it. So stoked for these guys.

Walking the streets on a nice evening in Sodermalm.

Drinking softies in the park looking out towards old town Stockholm

Midsommar is Sweden's biggest holiday. We had the pleasure of celebrating with some very gracious Swedes on the island Runmaro in the Swedish Archipelago. Basically we ate and drank a bunch and it was the best time. Loren and Austin seen here sporting their countryside best.

Theo, Mats, and Sixten splitting wood. Three of our four hosts during our stay on Runmaro. Not pictured is Cici, the woman of the household. These folks are the best. While they had never met us before, the Strom family welcomed us as their own and treated us to an amazing few days in the archipelago.

Besides eating heaps of delicious fish, we also cooked a lamb. This is Quinton, the lamb master preparing the beast while Austin supervises.

The boys hauling rocks for the fire pit.

Quinton and Theo bringing the lamb down to the fire.

Working out the spit situation.

Theo, fire master

Lamb supervision committee.

Cooking a lamb over an open fire takes a really long time, so we wandered into the woods and up onto the top of this hill.

Louise, Austin, and Sofi

Chelsey, Loren and their rain boots.

Quinton relaxes in a bed of moss, trying to come to terms with the fact that he has left the cooking lamb alone, unsupervised.

Some beautiful, mossy Swedish forest.

This spot was so nice, that we were forced to sit and chill in the moss for a while.

An evening ride out on the boat to set out fishing nets and cruise around the Baltic. Adam enjoying the view and wishing the softie in his hand was a little bit warmer.

Mats and Theo throw one back in honor of Midsommar.

Full of food and warm beer. 3am jam session around the fire.

A 4am walk up to the top of the hill again in hopes of seeing the Midsommar sun peak through the clouds. It did manage to finally show itself for a couple minutes.

Looking out across the archipelago in the early morning hours.

The next day, pulling in the nets we had layed out the day before. We ended bringing in some 30 plus fish and Austin and Sixten saved a duck.

Swedish country freedom

Cici, showing me how to properly remove fish from the nets.

Austin pours himself a warm one

Mats and Cici have quite the fleet of countryside transportation devices.

The sun finally shows itself after our successful fish haul.

Austin and I on the way out to a sauna in the Archipelago

This guy

The sauna.

The island.

Mats and Cici at the helm.

The ride back to the house was insanely beautiful. Another 10+ day in Sweden

View from the dock

Sofi works for a a Swedish fashion magazine called Stil, and is on top of all the latest fashion crazes in Stockholm. Here she demonstrates the latest trend, accessorizing with vacuum cleaner hoses.

Snacks and bubbly down by the waterfront.

Another beautiful two hour long sunset on the way to get drinks in old town.

Walking the main strip in Sodermalm.

We had a few days left in our vacation, so we decided to put ourselves right smack in the middle of the sweetbox and booked ourselves some ferry tickets to Gotland, a large island off the southeastern coast of Sweden.

We camped and wandered around old medieval villages and it was fantastic.

Our second day in Gotland we rented a car from a woman sitting under an umbrella next to a convenience store. She took none of our information or money and just handed us the keys to a car. She just politely asked that we return it and pay her then. We drove around and ended up camping at this awesome spot called Langhammars.