470 miles, 4 nights stay, 1 elk, and countless ice cream cones with Swedish flags have brought us to Saxnas, Sweden, where like Alaska, the sun never sets! This is the place of my art residency.

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It is so beautiful here, I can’t wait to tell you more about this piece of paradise. But let’s recount the amazing drive up here as well!

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Josh and Jonah eating from the art studio with a view!

We started in Uppsala, a cultural epicenter in Sweden. The owner at hotel Friysulund said there was a 50 year reunion of ZZ Top in Uppsala, which is why our hotel was packed to the gills, hilarious. There was a lot of good people watching!

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Our ‘African heatwave’ continues and it was 89 the day we arrived in Uppsala. With no AC in the hotel we decided to hit up an epic water park. Fyrishov also had a bowling alley and soccer field in it!

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Jonah puked in the outside pool, he opened his mouth to wide laughing going down the slide and experienced the woes of too much chlorine… sooo we went to the inside pool. And he was great at going down big slides with dad!

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Uppsala also is one of the oldest inhabited places in Sweden with beautiful architecture so we visited Gamla Uppsala, old Uppsala, for a look at the beautiful 12th century church and architecture.

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Jonah and in front of the old parsonage.

The church itself was so well taken care of and serene on the countryside setting.

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There were tales of Norse gods having had traversed the royal mounds and hills beyond Gamla, so we walked them. Thor references abound.
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This is what I picture when I think of Sweden. Beautiful wooden buildings with brick red paint, wildflowers and green galore, and farmland serenity… I can see why so many of my Minnesota ancestors came from Sweden, so similar in terrain.

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Jonah was digging the terrain too.

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He looked so peaceful playing in the flowers, truly in his element.

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After Uppsala in Rattvik we walked the longest wooden pier in Scandinavia!

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There was was a gold egg at the end of the pier, it was a sauna you could rent, but you could see it from kilometers away!

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We stayed in an adorable cottage that overlooked the lake in Rattvik, it had all things old Sweden!

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This city felt like a town in northern Minnesota with beautiful lakes, beaches, and Swedish charm.

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Our last stop was Brunflo, 4 more hours to our final destination! At Brunflo we once again stayed in an adorable cottage by the lake!

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We stopped with 2 hours left in Stromsund, where there was a dirt monster park!

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Finally, 5 days later, we are here! Tonight Sweden was in the Women’s Workd Cup against Chile, they won caluantky! Jonah and I wore matching jerseys we found at the grocery store.

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We are cizy here and im several illustrations into the book! I can’t wait to share my art with you!A6361BD5 36D4 4914 8A57 33AA3BC147E9 300x225 - A 500 mile drive for art!

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