The morning is spent getting ready for our family gathering this afternoon. After breakfast, we head into town do to some grocery shopping and get all the essentials for a barbeque. Then, back at the farm and after lunch, we take some time to get the food ready and prepared. We are expecting everyone to arrive mid-afternoon.
Shortly after 2 PM, Lars heads into town to meet up with Jorgen and his family. They have spent the weekend up in the mountains celebrating a friend's birthday. We meet up and then Lars shows them the way to the farm. Shortly after we get back, the rest of the family show up, including Lars' parents, his brother Carl and his family, and Tante Berit.
After spending an hour and a half settling in and chatting, we decide to go for a walk. We take a path that leads right by the farm called the Gamle Kongevegen (or the Old King's Way). In recent times the State has improved the trail and put up some information signs. We make our way up the trail and have frequent interruptions to look at various things, including old stone bridges, abandoned mini-hydro facilities and wild raspberries. We spend the most time at the raspberries, eating them as fast as we can pick them. The sunny and warm weather has made them large, juicy and sweet.
We pass under the half arch carved out of the rock so that there would be enough room for the King's carriage to pass underneath. We soon arrive at another farm along the trail and here we pass through the farm yard to make our way to the highest hill in the area - Hamakollen. From up here we have a beautiful view over the surrounding valley with the large river flowing through it.
We hang our here for a while and rest while enjoying the view. Then, after taking a couple of group pictures, we make our way down the other side of the hill to the river below. The trail passes down through the forest and emerges on the river bank. We make our way a short distance along the bank to a swimming spot. It is a good thing that the weather is so warm and sunny, otherwise we would never have been able to jump in the cold rushing water. We cannot drift too far from the shore, otherwise the current would have pulled us far down the river.
After completing our swim, we dress and walk the short distance back to the farm. It is now time to get ready to prepare our barbeque dinner. But first, the men in charge of the barbeque must be issued each with a ration of beer to get going. Only after that do we get the fire going and get ready to start cooking the stacks of food.
We have a huge feast. The long dining room table is filled with food that we help ourselves to buffet style. We have salads, all kinds of meats, breads, vegetables, cheeses and lots more. After filling up our plates, we make our way outside and eat at a number of tables we have set up on the lawn (at the side of the house, so that we are shaded from the intense sun). We all make multiple trips back to fill up our plates and wine and beer glasses.
After dinner, to work off some of the food, we have the traditional Norwegian milk jug throwing contest. We went up to the old storage shed and found a couple of old milk jugs - one large and one smaller. We brought them down to the lawn and, after moving a few cars, the contest began. Jorgen demonstrated a few of the different techniques, with the two primary styles being the under hand throw and the spin and hurl.
We all took our turns with the jugs - the smaller one for the ladies and the larger one for the men. We actually did pretty well and none of the cars were hit by the flying masses of metal. It is actually harder than it looks due to the shape of the jugs and the awkward handles. But it was a lot of fun. After that exercise, we retired to the living room for some dessert.
For dessert we had coffee and a selection of cakes, cloudberries (molte) and ice cream. Yummy, yummy. And then we just sat around and chatted and had a few good laughs (and tears) as we told old stories over a few drinks. It was great to get everyone together up here at the farm where Lars used to visit his Aunt and Uncle when he was growing up. There were lots of stories about Karin's (Lars' mom) "Angels". Angels was used in a very sarcastic manner. I guess we used to be a bit of a terror running around the place. We went to bed well after midnight.