I went to Sweden in January 2002 to visit Barry and Joan, and explore Sweden. I was a little worried that I was making a bad decision to visit in the winter, but I wanted to see what it was like there with snow. Luckily it wasn't too bad. The weather hovered around freezing for most of the trip and there were a couple of days without any snow on the ground.

Barry and Joan were tremendous hosts, allowing me to see what life was like outside of the normal tourist venues. Barry and I even took one of the weekends to drive up into Dalarna, the heartland of Sweden. I also took a side trip to Norway where the scenery was even more spectacular, however I prefered Stockholm to the cities in Norway. It felt comfortable and looked like I thought a city should look. It was a great trip. Now all I have to do is go back in the summer!