Packing my fleece

It's almost time for vacation! And I don't want to hear anything from any of you who think my whole life in Basel is a vacation... I need a vacation just as much as the next guy. Actually, Kirk is really the one who needs a vacation, considering he hasn't taken any time off since our trip to Italy in April. We'll spend the weekend in Amsterdam because Kirk has a meeting there on Monday, and then we'll fly up to Norway where we'll spend a week getting in touch with Kirk's Nordic heritage. I really don't know much about Norway, other than there's a lot of water and I always love being near water so I'm sure it'll be a good vacation. Growing up as a Lutheran in Wisconsin my only brush with Norwegian culture is eating Lutefisk and Lefse at church. Actually, I never tried the Lutefisk, but you always knew when the church ladies were making it because it stunk up the whole building.

Perhaps one of the most exciting things about going to Norway is that I'll be packing my fleece! Don't get me wrong-- I love the sun, I love beach vacations, and I'm sorry that summer's almost over. But there's something really fun about being able to wear my favorite purple fleece from REI. I bought it just before we got married (that means it's lasted 7 years!) and wore it almost every day on our honeymoon. We didn't have the traditional beach resort honeymoon. Instead we went to Seattle and the San Juan Islands and enjoyed some beautiful, crisp, October fleece-wearing weather. The forecast for the part of Norway we'll be visiting next week calls for highs in the 50s and lows in the 40s (or even the high 30s!), which a chance of rain every day. Now that I think about it, I guess I should pack some gloves as well.