Faraway Friday

As we mentioned last week, we are debuting some new Friday features here at Red House West.  We’ll still have a Good Score post one Friday per month; please send in your thrifted treasures so that we and our readers can oooh and aaah over them!

So, onto our new feature, Faraway Friday:  Katie and I are both itinerant daydreamers. When we’re not consulting each other about Craigslist yay or nays, we’re fantasizing together about a trip we want to take to [insert exotic location], so we thought we would periodically share a few of our far flung fantasy destinations with you here on the blog.

Maybe because it’s finally summer here in Alaska, I’m fantasizing about a big hiking trip.  I’ve always been curious about the Kungsleden trail in Northern Sweden.

The “King of Trails” is 270 miles long, but you can do shorter sections of it (let me take this moment to say that 270 miles is a loooong way to me, but Katie has done the entire Pacific Crest Trail so for her it would be a quick jaunt!).

Right about now you might be saying to yourself, Geez Mera, this looks a lot like Alaska, and you’d be right. Apparently I’m a one-trick pony when it comes to landscapes I love.

From Katie:

Hiking another long-distance trail is something I often dream about, but there isn’t one that has caught my imagination like the PCT. That is, until I saw THIS.  I can’t believe I only just learned about the International Appalachian Trail!  It extends from the AT’s northern terminus in Maine up into the rocky wilds of New Brunswick and Quebec.

The only time I’ve been to this part of the continent was when Mera and I were in college in Massachusetts.  Over spring break, we got in her car (christened ‘Chewy’ for the Wookie noises it made when you turned the wheel sharply), put bare feet up on the dash and listened to a mix her sister had made that included – incongruently yet perfectly – both Nina Simone and Cibo Matto.  The long drive took much of our school break, but I also remember a walk-turned-bushwhack through the heather, lashing rain, multiple ferry rides and being the sole patrons of a youth hostel on the ocean’s edge.  Brief though the visit was, it’s a place that caught my imagination–a place I vow to someday explore.  Taking months to hike through it would be a dream come true.

Where are you dreaming of going? Please tell us in the comments! Have a terrific weekend and come back on Monday for a post about Mera’s adult lounge!

8 responses on “Faraway Friday

  1. Pippin Schupbach

    My husband and I plan to camp and hike our way though the highlands of Scotland for two weeks. A little nervous as some days plan to be very long hikes but can’t wait to be in a country where the sunsets at 11pm! Going to have to add the Kungsleden to my list. I need to send a photo of a real gem I picked up in my alley that is going to be a big project. It’s truly a diamond in the rough.

    1. k80bennett

      My interest is very piqued by your alley score – please do send a photo! And your Scotland trip sounds so wonderful!

  2. tummyrumblr

    I’ve been fantasizing about doing the PCT, Katie! We’ll have to talk about it over wine in Walla Walla next month. 😉 Another dream is to do a riverboat cruise along the Rhine with my bicycle. At each stop you spend the day on your bike and pedaling past castles and through vineyards!

    1. k80bennett

      I’d love to talk with you about the PCT – and hear more about the Rhine trip. That sounds amazing! It will be great to see you!

  3. Katy Gilmore

    What a good idea this feature – the very title “Faraway Friday” is so inviting. But the “King of Trails” is not inviting to me at all! Another friend is really keen to do that also, but she doesn’t already live and hike in Alaska (24 hour days are novel to her and she only knows a little about mosquitoes). Another friend and her husband once walked west-east across England through the Lake District to Robin Hood Bay – that’s more my fantasy cup of tea. I love this new feature though, love it that your idea of getaways involves lots and lots of walking. And I’m totally impressed with Katie’s conquest of the PCT – now that must have been beautiful.

  4. panda flannel

    That Swedish trail looks so beautiful. There’s nothing like high alpine meadows. I hiked the Fergana valley in Kyrgyzstan in 2009 and it was unbelievable. Would love to go back but it was probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Happy trails!

  5. Carol Crump Bryner

    This is such an interesting addition to Red House West. I always love hearing about these adventures, although i myself am not quite so adventurous. I like the sound of Katy’s walk across England, especially if it involved numerous cups of tea. But what I’d really like is to time travel back to the mid 1600’s to see what the land and the coastline of New England looked like when my first ancestors came to this country.

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