Snow and Elk in Sälen

We finished packing the car and set off for Sälen, only an hour late, but on our way at last for a 1 week break in the Swedish winter. The weather was OK as we drove the 400km to Sälen, stopping a few times on the way to feed and change Liam. He seemed to take the trip pretty well in his stride and slept most of the trip. We arrived in Sälen and headed up the hill to Tandådalen, the resort where we would stay, even the roads became snow covered and it was a few degrees below zero. The wooden cottage we had hired was easy to find and it was still just light when we opened the door. It was a really nice place and after clearing some of the day’s snow from the path, moved in all our stuff and lit the log fire… perfect.
We spent most of the week relaxing and having fun in the snow, which was about half a metre deep around the cottage. Liam quickly adapted to the new environment and seemed to enjoy be pulled in a sledge as we walked. I went on my snowboard for a couple of days, which was good fun. Just a shame we weren’t able to go skiing together as Liam is so small. On the Wednesday we all went for a short ride on a dog sledge ride. Liam was mildly impressed with the dogs, but Caroline was thrilled to find out that the pulling dogs were the same breed as the dog she had previously had in Cologne. They looked just like her dog. On Thursday when I was boarding I fell on my hand badly during a fall. Later that evening it became very painful and we decided to drive into Sälen and have it checked. The diagnosis was a suspected fractured bone in my hand, so on went a plaster cast… boring :(
Caroline’s highlight of the week was Fridays visit to an Elk Park. There we got a personal guided tour by the owner, who showed us at close hand the elks and told us all about them and their habits. There were 3 adults and 2 young elks there. They all fed next to us while we were there and afterwards we grilled sausages and discussed the story behind his elk park project. He had a small shop and Caroline couldn’t resist buying some things for Liam with elk motives on.
The week was fun and relaxing and we had time to play with Liam, read and play some scrabble. We drove back on the Sunday, which was much longer drive due to the snow and volume of traffic. Liam was again very patient and that made the drive much easier.