From the exterior, the compound, in a nature reserve called Reinheimen, looks almost like a hippie campsite with its low-slung, wood-encased cabins on stilts. But as I was shown into my room, the rustic vision was completely turned on its head — the natural wood or in some instances stone that covers the rear of the structures hides glass walls and raw cement cubes facing front — with views onto the gentle valley, and onto the surrounding peaks and meandering river that cut through the landscape behind.

The perspective created the effect that I was both inside and outside the hotel, part of the natural surroundings, both the voyeur and the inhabitant.

After a dip in the outdoor hot tub, I joined other travelers and guests around a candlelit communal dining room, an intimate warm environment where locally hunted venison was served alongside foraged mountain vegetables that were like strange fairy-tale versions of carrots and beets with curly tendrils and odd shapes. A roaring fire and candles were our only light.

Around the dinner table, we traded stories about what brought us up the mountain and where we came from. The Chinese-American college student recounted his adventures while taking a gap year. The Norwegian honeymooners were in need of a wilderness break from Oslo, the capital. The glossy magazine reading hikers from Britain wanted a sleek hotel after rugged trails. I shared my journey in broad strokes, the American expatriate in Tuscany, my road trip, my love of nature, and I left out the impending change in my marriage and my sense of loss.

When I look back now, my Norwegian road trip seems like one of the most surreal and meaningful of any I have ever taken, even after many years of absorbing trips. The memory turns in my head like a film trailer, so cinematic and surprising that I still almost can’t believe it was real. The pristine beauty, the sense of drama. Perhaps it was the network of beautiful art and architecture that made me feel, daring and courageous by journey’s end. And for that, I am grateful.