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My friend and I took a boat over to Djurgarden in Stockholm to check out the really neat Vasa Viking Ship museum. They pulled this wooden ship up from the ocean floor in Stockholm 333 years after it sank. It’s amazing how much of it they were able to salvage. Apparently it sank due to poor design.

Bob was speaking like the Princess Bride officiant. The other tourists hanging out had no idea what the hell was going on. It was hilarious:)

Next stop on the trip was Stockholm which is a city built on different islands. This shot was taken from City Hall.

This area of Copenhagen is called Nyhavn and is full of restaurants with people eating and drinking out on the sidewalks under blankets.

A detail view of the stonework on the Temperate House at Kew Gardens in London

Springtime in Copenhagen:)

Caught this guy soaring through the air while we were on a boat in Helsinki.

And just a nice pretty sunset shot from the lovely city of Stockholm.

Tiny old alleyway in Gamla Stan in Stockholm

We used up the last bit of light after dinner.

The banquet for the Nobel Prizes is held at Stockholm City Hall. What a cool place to get married right?

And Stockholm City Hall was such a cool place I insisted that Die and Rad Guy let me photograph them for 5 minutes. I wish I could have had more time:)

Awwww:)

Amalienborg in Copenhagen. Winter home of the Danish Royal Family.

I really wanted to visit Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. It’s the 2nd oldest amusement park in the world. It’s beautiful lit up at night.

The last two here are my favorites. This is the Guildford Castle. I just love how perfectly spring like it is:)

Kew Palace, London

For most of April I had the incredible opportunity to travel throughout Scandinavia (and England a little bit too) with some of my best friends. We were invited to participate in a roller derby tournament taking place in Guildford, England. And due to it being incredibly expensive to send 14 skaters + bench staff across that big ocean we had to figure out a way to pay for it. Luckily the fantastic skaters at Stockholm Roller Derby helped us find a space to host a roller derby bootcamp in Sweden and we invited skaters all across Scandinavia and Europe to join us there. We would not have been able to go on this trip as a team if it weren’t for the kindness of those skaters in signing on for our bootcamp and I just wanted to publicly express my gratitude to them for helping to make it reality for us.

While I was over there I managed to briefly revisit London which I’ve had a long standing love affair with and it was fun to get outside the city and see the smaller suburb of Guildford too. A few of my friends and I decided we’d check out Copenhagen on our way up to Stockholm and I finished with a much too brief stay in Turku and Helsinki, Finland. I’m a big nerd for making lists and a couple of years ago I created a bucket list of the top 20 places I’d love to travel too before I die. Norway/Sweden/Finland are on it. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to fit in Norway this time but I hope one day I can return and visit more of the remote nature-filled areas of Scandinavia.

Traveling is a luxury I can’t always fit in because of money or time but I do find that it has an incredible way of rejuvenating my love for the life that I live here at home in Denver. It helps me remember to count my blessings and be happy in the here and now. I love that I feel excited about getting back to work when I return. It’s the best cure I’ve found for burnout in life so I know I’ll always make it a priority to fit in a little bit of travel. Yolo right?

As usual I photographed hundreds of shots during the trip but these are just some of highlights. Enjoy:)

We went on tons of boat tours while on this trip. Those are my fave!

Ruined Arch at Kew Gardens

We stopped by the Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen. It is quite the majestic building and the crown jewels of Denmark are in the basement.

This was a fun public art space in Copenhagen where you could change the colors to spell out messages. RMRG!

I know it’s cliche, but I just love photographing at pretty gardens. And England is full of them!

We also visited an outdoor museum called Skansen. They took old buildings from all over Sweden and rebuilt them in one area. It was really cool to be able to see so much Swedish architecture all in one place.

Before the tournament began we had a day in Guildford to wander around and explore. They have a neat old castle there which is where these were photographed.

After the tournament in England, I traveled to Copenhagen with a few of my teammates in tow.

I had to get a photo of this ridiculously fancy ceiling at Rosenborg Castle. It made me nervous to stand in there (imagine all of that heavy plaster coming off!)

This was my favorite part of the garden at Guildford Castle. I love having shelves built in the walls full of pretty dainty flowers. I hope I can replicate this for my own gardens someday.

Even on vacation I got to photograph a wedding:) My teammate Rad Die walks down the aisle with my other teammate Bob Loblaw (say it out loud) for her impromptu wedding at City Hall.

Copenhagen is the most expensive place I’ve ever been. (Think a small cup of coffee being about $8!) Our favorite (and cheapest!) dinner was held at our apartment at the Ascot Hotel. It’s not the prettiest photo, but we loved all of the delicious fresh bread, cheese, and veggies!

Loved the look of this place just outside of Amalienborg

For the team dinner after Die’s wedding we all went to this awesome restaurant and bar called Orangeriet. I want the inside of my house to look like the inside of this place someday.

Check out my travels to London on a previous trip HERE!