Fall, Norway

After an early morning at Frogner Park and a nice stroll down Karl Johans gate, Courts and I were anxious to get up to the Sand family farm :)

For years now, I have dreamt of visiting the family farm - a dream that started after seeing a photo of our family's beautiful home and hearing stories of Borghield from Dad and Grandpa.

So, without further ado....here it is!!

It was such an incredible opportunity to see where we come from and meet some of our kind, sweet relatives. We owe so much to Ole Edvard and Inger Sand who let us stay in their home and who were willing to show us around Fall.

Fall, Norway is a 2 hour drive straight north from Oslo. The town and many of the farms (including ours) are situated along the Randsfjorden - Norway's 4th largest lake. It's ~50 miles long! The land around the lake is unique to the area as it includes 3 old volcanoes, rolling hills and tons of farms which create a beautiful patchwork pattern set against the blue of the lake.

I can understand why generation after generation families continue to reside in their big, old farmhouses on the lake. It's truly a special place.

This is the oldest room in the house and the one where people have gathered for hundreds of years.

While my great-grandma Borghield (Sand) Hofflander grew up in Minnesota, she spent a lot of time in Fall with the rest of the Sand clan. She tried to visit every other year; especially after becoming a young widow.

Below is a family portrait of Borghield (middle row, on the left) with her parents, Gudbrand & Alexandra, and seven siblings. I think my dad totally looks like he could jump right into this photo as another sibling -- he looks the most like Rolf to me (Rolf is sitting in the front row, second from the right).

About 100ft up the hill from the main house is a smaller cottage where it is customary for the older generation to move up to once their children begin to have children. Elsa, whom Borghield spent a lot of time with during her stays in Fall, now lives in the cottage. Even though Elsa doesn't speak any English it was easy to see how much she enjoyed meeting some of Borghield's family. Elsa was so sweet - she just couldn't stop smiling as she waved to us goodbye.


Ole Sand (left) and his significant other (middle) currently live in the house and take care of the land. They were so nice to show us around their home. They do a really nice job of keeping the place in good condition.

Elsa's daughter (right) told us her fondest memory of Borghield was when she brought for her a set of new paper dolls as a surprise gift. Courts and I loved hearing little anecdotes like these from people who knew and loved our great-grandma. And it seems like just about everyone in town knows the whole Sand clan or is somehow related to them haha Every other farm we drove by it seemed like Inger pointed out as being linked to the Sand's in some way. It was incredible!

This picture is taken in front of the "new" part of the home built in 1838.

Back at Ole Edvard and Inger's house (the main house is in the background; the cottage they live in is up the hill about 50 yards) we decided to checkout the lake and the barn where their grandkids keep chickens and sheep.

Inger's grandkids "sell" her their chicken's eggs (apparently part of being a grandparent no matter where you're from is buying overpriced things from your grandchildren haha) to cook with.

Our first day in Fall, we had hard boiled eggs on our sandwiches and the next morning scrambled eggs with breakfast. I never knew there could be such a difference in egg quality! These eggs were delicious and so brightly colored! I'm telling you, eating eggs only a few hours after they have been collected is SO worth the effort.

Courts decided that she wanted to check out the sheep's barn -- big mistake. As soon as they saw her going inside their house they ran in after her, stared her down and stampeded her out!


They then proceeded to stand guard at the door until we got all the way back up to the cottage. I was crying from laughing so hard...I will never forget Courts squealing as she ran into and out of the barn :)

The hospitality Ole Edvard and Inger showed us was so above and beyond - they really made it a memorable experience. Inger even made a huge spread of traditional Norwegian fare for dinner the day we arrived. It included: meatballs, moose, lingonberries, boiled potatoes, cauliflower, gravy, crispbread and ice cream with raspberries and krumkake for dessert. Yummmmm.

All in all, our trip up to Fall was so special and so rewarding. It was such a blessing to be able to experience this with my sister and so much earlier in life than I had ever imagined.

It would be my hope that everyone in our family has the opportunity at some point to make the trek to Norway. If any of you ever have the chance to "trace your roots" at all, jump on it! You won't regret a single penny spent.

So goodbye to Fall and the Sand family for now....hopefully the next Hofflander's (I'm really encouraging mom and dad to go now -- I know they would fall in love with it as much as we did) aren't too far behind us...