High Coast – Leonberger Life

I am originally from Sweden, but I’ve lived in Texas for more than 20 years and in the US for 30 years. Therefore, I forgot June 6, which is the Swedish National Day. It is still June 6 in California and Hawaii but not in Texas and certainly not in Sweden, so I am a day late. I forgot. A blogger who isn’t even Swedish incidentally reminded me. It is also a special National Day because it is the 500-year anniversary of Sweden’s independence from Denmark.

Image showing the Swedish flag. It is yellow and blue. From Wikimedia commons. — Swedish Flag

Christian the Tyrant, or as the Danes call him Christian the Good, was a very bad man who chopped people’s heads off. The Danish version of history is that Christian the Good was a very good man who tried to save the Union. He still chopped off heads though. Luckily, we had this guy Gustav Vasa (or Gustav Wasa) who resisted, and he became king of Sweden on June 6, 1523, which is 500 years ago. He was also really good at skiing.

Portrait of Gustav Vasa of Sweden (from Wikipedia Commons). — Portrait of Gustav Vasa (from Wikipedia Commons).

Therefore, I have decided to post a couple of photos of the only Swedish Leonberger I’ve ever met personally, I haven’t been back to Sweden a lot. Her name is Amie, and she is from my neck of the woods, the high coast in northern Sweden. We met her at the top of a mountain, called the Skule mountain. Therefore, she is also the only Leonberger mountaineer I’ve ever met. To check out my original Amie post click here.

A female Leonberger standing on top of a bench on top of a mountain — Amie at the top of the Skule Mountain.

Amie was very happy and playful despite having climbed a mountain. Below is what Amie and we saw from the mountaintop.

View from mountain top showing bays, fjords, mountains in the High Coast. — View from the Skule Mountain top (skull mountain).

I am also posting a few more photos from Sweden.

My three kids around an ice table in the lobby of the ice hotel in northern Sweden. — My kids at the ice hotel in northern Sweden (Jukkasjärvi).

My wife Claudia and our three kids in a dogsled. — My wife and kids getting ready for a dogsled tour in northern Sweden

Photo of a dogsled with 8 dogs. My wife and kids are on the sled in the back. — The dog sled. My wife and kids in the back.

One thing that is pretty unique about Sweden is the different concept of private property. You can own the fruits of property, a farmer’s field, a mine, but the land belongs to everyone regardless of who owns it. Well almost everywhere, there are a few exceptions such as military reservations and you have stay at least 200 meters away from dwellings. It’s called “Allemansrätten”, or all-peoples-right translated roughly. This means that you can walk, hike, camp, pick berries and mushrooms, etc., anywhere without having to worry about trespassing. You just can’t walk off with the gold from a goldmine or a farmer’s crop. This is very different from how it works in Texas. However, everyone in Sweden love it and we certainly take advantage of it when we visit. In the picture below we were hiking, and we stopped at this small forest lake and someone had hung a tire from a branch.

My son is jumping off a tire hanging from a branch and into a forest lake — My son is jumping off a tire into a forest lake.

The guard at Stockholm Castle and my kids — The guard by Stockholm Castle and my kids

We are visiting Sweden, specifically the High Coast. I am originally from here. This is a beautiful area with fjords, mountains and forests. We took a ski lift up to the top of a mountain called Skule Berget/Mountain. At the top there is a cabin that’s open for tourists. You can also walk up the mountain on a steep long trail. In addition to visiting the cabin and watching the views from the mountain top we climbed down a cliff to visit a cave and after our visit we walked down the trail. It was a day filled with exercise. However, the highlight of the day was that we met a Leonberger, Amie, and her owner at the top of mountain.

Amie a female Leonberger at the Skule mountain top. — Amie at the top of the Skule Mountain.

We shouted, “look a Leonberger”, and Amie started wagging her tail and running towards us. She obviously loved attention. Her owner let us pet her and take a few photos of her. Amie was very playful, she rolled around and wanted to be petted. She was very friendly. She reminded us of our late Leonberger Bronco, but being a female she was a little bit smaller and more feminine looking.