The Ultimate Winter Playdate
Out of curiosity, when I typed the above subject of this story, I decided to look up the definition of the word playdate and couldn’t help but smile when I read the definition: a play session for children arranged by their parents. In the case of the story that I’m about to write, that’s a little bit true but realy, it was totally inspired by my son, Baden, and I’m so happy to be sharing it. Here’s more about The Ultimate Winter Playdate…
On the night of December 11th, I pinched myself when I stepped off the plane at 69.6498° N. It was snowing as we exited the plane via a staircase with a sky of swirling snowflakes. I was in Tromsø, Norway, north of the Arctic Circle, and I couldn’t believe it. I gleefully hired a taxi to take me to downtown Tromsø where I was welcomed at an inn with a glass of gløgg before I nestled into my room. Ah, cozy already and home for the coming days! The following morning I awoke with the same glee that I felt the night before, got on a strong layer of winter gear, stepped out in the dusk-like sky and checked the time. “Baden will arrive in two hours!”, I thought. On the footsteps of an adventure of a lifetime!
Two hours cracked by like that and before I knew it, I was at the inn door awaiting Baden’s arrival. He arrived and the adventure was underway. We got situated in the room for a few minutes and were out the door to enjoy Tromsø! Perhaps a fitting start to the adventure, we first grabbed hot chocolate at a cute spot in town. It felt as if we had immediately stepped into the set of Polar Express! From there, we hopped on a city bus to take us to the foot of the cable car that follows the steep slope of a local mountain that takes people 1,500ft above the Christmas-like town. Once we were up, the air was that much colder, the wind that much stronger and our faces had a frostlike feel to them. I also remember that a smile pretty much froze on my face. Still pinching myself that we were there and sharing the special experience together. You see, Baden had spent the prior handful of months in Europe where he was based with family in the Netherlands while doing some solo traveling. He had just turned 18 a few weeks before our Norway meetup so I really admired his courage in giving solo traveling a shot at 17. It’s not a usual path and it takes some getting used to “being comfortable being uncomfortable” and I felt so proud of him for being able to step into that zone. In the few months before our time together in Norway, he had visited a few parts of Switzerland and found an alpine village that he loved, made his way to Belgium for a war relics fair (and came away with a very cool 48-star USA flag from 1942!) and traveled through Italy by plane, train and bus to reach an historic war battle sight from 216 BC. And, the final trip for him (or so we thought at the time) was that my husband, Chris, and him spent a week together in Spain for his 18th birthday, exploring the coastline. That all changed when Chris got home from Europe and said to me, “Go over and see him before he comes home”. The plan was then put in pretty quick motion to make the trip to Norway to meet him. Prior to Baden going to Europe, he talked about two things he wanted to do: go see the battle site in Italy and see the Northern Lights. The battle site was checked off the list. The Northern Lights was still unchecked. Norway it was!
Hot Chocolate spot in Tromsø’s square.
Back to the feelings I had of being on top of that mountain in Tromsø: cold and happy. Like that sheer coldness that engulfs you. But the happiness felt a million times more present. It was like being wrapped in the coziest blanket. After we debarked from the cable car, we got back on the town bus and weaved our way through a neighborhood that truly warmed all my senses. It had this feel to it that was a blend of charm, home-iness and real love in the air. We got off the bus to take it in. It was not yet 2pm and it was dark outside. Kids were at play for recess at a school in full winter gear playing soccer. Houses all had glowing stars in the windows. The sky had this pearly twinkle of purple to it. And there I was with my son, sharing great conversation in the Arctic Circle. No doubt a surprise of a lifetime.
The purple sky above Tromsø.
After our fun stroll through the neighborhood, we got back on the bus and headed back towards the heart of Tromsø where we popped off the bus and headed into a local pizza joint. We got a corner booth and cozied right in. With a signature Tromsø start in the window and sitting there with my son, I vividly recall saying to myself, “I can’t imagine being any happier.” Moments like that…priceless.
Even though it seemed like it was bed-time after our lunch, the day was just getting started! We took a short rest and then headed out for the day’s main adventure…Chasing the Northern Lights under the Polar Night’s sky! We met up with our Chasing Lights group and then hit the road…leaving the town’s lights behind and off into the dark, clear skies. Before we knew it, our little bus made a quick turn off the main road and we crept along a lake full of anticipation and hope. We hopped out of the sky to see hues of grey turn into green and then streaks run across the sky. The Northern Lights had come on! Like a light switch flickering, the lights shifted and moved across the sky in a magical glimmer. And there I was with my son taking it all in. The ultimate winter playdate. :)
From that moment forward and over the next three days, our time in Tromsø was full of moments like the glimmer of the Northern Lights. We took a beautiful boat ride for nearly seven hours to whale watch and enjoy the fjord landscape…the whole time the two of us in good conversation. That night we went out for pizza again and enjoyed a walk around town…and were stopped in our tracks once again when the lights came out right in town. We walked along the harbor looking across to Tromsø’s Arctic Cathedral and boy did it ever seem like we were enjoying our own church service. Early the next morning we once again boarded a mini bus where we rode through the rural northern landscape and into Finland! The landscape was all snow, mountains, forest and frost. It was silent and captivating. So beautiful in so many ways. When we reached our final destination - a Finnish adventure park - the trees were all covered in a magical, snowy, polar white frost. It was like we had ventured straight into the North Pole. We parked our bus in this little cluster of small red barns each decorated in little white lights - where we huddled inside to put on layers - and layers - of winter gear and then we hopped on snowmobiles for yet another ultimate winter playdate - a ride across the Finnish tundra to the three country border of Sweden, Norway and Finland. We rode our snowmobiles through an Arctic tundra - a landscape of white under a purple sky, over a frozen lake hugging the side of Finland’s highest mountain, through a forest of little trees - all with white-laced intricate branches - and into an open space which had a bright yellow monument to mark the unique 3-country border. There we got off our snowmobiles while our guide prepared hot chocolate and Baden and I walked into Sweden. Just five months before that, our family had taken a drive into Sweden from Copenhagen at the southernmost part of the country along the Baltic Sea. While stepping across stone’s on the sea’s edge, I took a picture of Baden along the rocky coast and used it as his Senior picture. And, now, there we were in the most Northern part of the country where I got a picture of Baden lying in the snow above the Arctic Circle. As I type this right now, I am completely blown away by this. My son and me…in the most southern and northern parts of Sweden?! And all in one year!? The surprises of life. Am I right?
The ultimate winter playdate was nearly a wrap as our trip was coming to an end the day following our snowmobile exploration. But, we still had one great adventure in us. Early on our last morning together, we woke at 5:30am, walked one more time together through the pre-dawn town of Tromsø and into the harbor for our final winter playdate: a polar plunge. We sat in the town’s sauna together building up a sweat (and nerves and courage) before we stepped into the morning’s black sky and on the icy’s water edge where we counted down to three and plunged into the polar water. In what was pure vivid living, it was an absolutely priceless moment in the memory bank to feel that kind of exhilaration - and pure coldness! - once submerged. And. sharing it with my son. The feelings - the heart pounding, the night sky, Baden’s voice, the blue hue of the water, the return into the sauna and looking, again, over the harbor an towards the Arctic Cathedral. All of it, the blessing of a lifetime, in what was the greatest winter playdate of all my life.
The sauna of Tromsø.
The icy water’s edge of the polar plunge.
An hour later, I accompanied Baden on the town’s bus to the airport where he headed back to Amsterdam. We said our goodbyes which were easy because he’d be headed to Colorado in a few days for Christmas. I’d be doing the reunion at home with him after a few days in Porto for work and my flight to Portugal was the following day. So, after our goodbyes and a bit of time for me of work at the Tromsø library, I boarded the town’s bus to make my way to the neighborhood where Baden and I started our adventure. Walking around the cozy neighborhood with some happy tears rolling down my cheeks, I put on the music from the Polar Express and hummed along with deep gratitude. Christmas had come to town indeed and I received a gift of a lifetime: the ultimate winter playdate with my son.
Northern Light’s over Tromsø’s Arctic Chapel.
Mom and son playdate of a lifetime.
With deep gratitude for my son. I love you, Baden.
Mom \\
