non-sequential Sweden foray

this is E's update to family on the side-trip to Sweden...

We drove from Copenhagen to the Boxholm area on May 28 and spent the late afternoon looking for Engdahl sites. The lasting impression was of beautiful wooded countryside but a hard life. In a flash I could understand the appeal of immigration, even to the primitive United States. The terrain, trees and single-track gravel roads reminded me of Oregon logging roads. The soil was incredibly rocky; even the best land in the region shows the struggle to move the boulders aside to make room for grazing land. My sense was that C.O.’s people did not have the best land, though perhaps I’m still reeling from the recognition that my ancestors did not spring from cozy condominiums in central Stockholm.