Unexpected Beauty

A day above the arctic circle

Earlier in July, I took a trip with my family to Norway and Iceland. While I’m back at home in my studio, I’m sharing snippets from our travels. Hope you enjoy!

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By Land and By Sea; July 10, 2026

I’ve had a magnet on my fridge for years that says “Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.”

You do your best to plan travel, but some days the set itinerary just goes right out the window! There’s the record scratch moment- the announcement of a cancelled flight, or the moment the baggage carousel stops and you realize your suitcase is not on it. Both of these happened within minutes midway through or Norway exploration.

The beauty in this is a forced surrender, an immediate honing in of the moment. What is necessary to move forward? What makes the most sense to do as a next step?

The flight from Bergen to Bodø, Norway

We rented a car, figured out an alternative route, and got moving. All the photos below are scenes we would have missed had we not been forced to take the road less traveled.

By Land

Our first stop was a shopping center in the small town of Bodø for essentials. I didn’t find layers for the cool, rainy forecast (my wool and cashmere were packed cozily in my suitcase back in Bergen) but the clock was ticking, so we hastily grabbed the bare minimum and hit the road in order to make it to the last ferry to Lofoten later that evening.

"Bagasjeservice", Bodø, and a quick selfie to document the frenzy!

taking a picture of Skyler taking a picture of the view ;)

By Sea

We made it to the remote ferry crossing just in time! We drove on at 6:28pm, and the ferry departed at 6:30. We were the only tourists on the boat; in fact, some of the only passengers at all. We passed through thick fog and the waters were pretty choppy at times, adding to the surreal-ness of everything. It was pure magic!

The Norwegians say that there’s no bad weather, just bad gear. This woman and her dog were the perfect representation of that- they both spent the entire ride outside relaxing on the deck in the sideways rain. (I could not love this more!)

We were relieved to find a restaurant open when we pulled into the port of a tiny town I don’t remember the name of. After some comfort food, we hit the road again- 3 more hours to go!

Since the sun never sets in July, we arrived at a gorgeous destination in full daylight at midnight! Stay tuned, I’ll show you Lofoten’s beauty in an upcoming post.

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Thanks for following along. I’m glad you’re here!
xoxo,

Jill