I always enjoy finding unusual signs when we visit a new country. I especially liked the above sign at the National Gallery in Helsinki. Luckily the WC wasn’t full so we didn’t have to use the “one in the ground.” Also, luckily the WC during the husky ride was more than a hole in the ground. There was a compost toilet, which came in handy, but not much fun stripping out of our ski overalls to use.
On our last full day in the Artic, we didn’t have any big adventures planned. We set off to see if we could find any reindeer in the woods behind the igloo village since we’d seen some from the bus. Our search was successful, but the photos aren’t the best since I didn’t have a telephoto lens. Veronica tried creeping closer, but didn’t have much luck before they ran off.
After our 30-minute ride, the girls were happy to finally have a chance to pet one of the tamer reindeer. Then we went into a teepee for hot berry juice and pancakes cooked over an open fire. The girls were thrilled to do the cooking and I was thrilled to warm up my frozen feet. That afternoon we took a bus into town, went to an indoor pool and went out for lunch. Although I stopped eating beef for environmental reasons in 1999, I ate sauteed reindeer with mashed potatoes, and then on our last day had pizza with smoked reindeer, which I preferred. While Veronica was appalled, Ashlynn was very pragmatic about it, although wouldn’t try any.
Since we were sitting low in the sled, the view straight ahead wasn’t too pretty; most of my photos were filled with the bum of our reindeer. You can see above that ours often tried to pass the sled ahead of us; apparently he forgot that was impossible since he was tied to the sled ahead. If you look closely, you’ll see our Sami guide riding along the skids of the front sled. While the sky wasn’t as spectacular as the day before, the sunrise was still colorful and the woods we rode through were beautiful. Our guide told us that the reindeer aren’t domesticated like cows, but are basically wild. There are over 200,000 reindeer in Finnish Lapland and they’re the major source of meat in the region.
We didn’t see any shiny red noses amongst the reindeer at the farm we visited 30 minutes from our hotel. The farmer is a Sami, the indigenous people of Lapland. His village has just 17 human inhabitants as well as several hundred reindeer who roam freely the majority of the year. After bundling up in thermal jumpsuits, he took us on a reindeer sled ride. Unlike the husky ride, this was a passive activity since all the sleds were tied together. Unfortunately, the sleds only held two people, so Veronica went with another woman.
When we returned from our husky adventure, it was time to move into the log cabin that we’d be staying in for the next 3 nights. It was quite funny using sleds to move our luggage from the main lodge to the cabin, which seemed gigantic compared to the igloo and was also toasty warm.
Veronica loved the top bunk, while Ashlynn slept with me in the big bed. It was great having a large table so we could play games, although we also played on the bed to be near the fireplace. In fine Finnish style, we had our own sauna, but sadly only used it as a drying rack for wet clothes.
* There’s a reason why the cardinal rule is: Whatever happens, don’t let go. Apparently, I didn’t brake quite enough coming into a turn and it looked like we were going to flip. I attempted to adjust my weight to straighten us out and the next thing I knew, I was laying in the snow and the sled with my sweet daughters was flying away from me.
When this far north, the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon until mid-January. So instead of seeing the sun, we saw an extended sunrise followed immediately by sunset. It was possibly the prettiest sky I’ve ever seen. As often happens, the photos just don’t do it justice. Before lunch, the sky was deep blue up high and pink below. After lunch, it was mostly cloudy and just the tips of the trees were pink. Truly beautiful! On our return trip to the husky farm, we were able to fly along because we didn’t have a slow team in front of us. Although we weren’t able to stop to get photos, it was very awesome riding off into the sunset at 1:30pm.
At the halfway point on our husky adventure, we stopped at a log cabin in the middle of the woods to warm up and have lunch. Our leaders lit three fires in the long house and cooked salmon soup and berry juice, which was just perfect for our 1.5 hour break to warm up and recover from all that hard work. As we only had 10 dog teams out that day, we didn’t get to use the teepee. During the height of tourist season (before Christmas when families come to visit Santa--in case you weren’t aware, he lives in Lapland), they can have up to 18 teams of 6 dogs out everyday. Can’t imagine how fast we would have been if we’d had a 6th dog.
I must confess that I was excited, but scared about driving a husky sled. It was 0° F, but we were well bundled up.
Luckily I didn’t have to steer the sled. These Alaskan Huskies are truly running machines. Our team was very fast, but not bright enough to slow down as they come upon a slower team, so my entire job was to stomp on the brake in the middle of the skids at the back of the sled. The funny thing is that the dogs would turn back and bark at me as I stopped them from ramming another sled. It was truly exhilarating yet exhausting as we flew over the packed snow for 2 hours on a 12-mile track. No idea how those Iditarod racers do it. To read more, check out a recent Washington Post article about dog sledding.
After all the clouds of last night, I was thrilled to wake up in the igloo and see the stars shining above. When the girls woke up, we laid in bed in the dark for another 30 minutes to try picking out the constellations. Mars was shining especially bright. It was a great way to start the day.
I told the girls that there had been a mix-up and we wouldn’t be able to spend our first night in a cabin. In actuality, I surprised them with a night in a glass igloo. It was quite fun to be nice and warm in this cozy little glass house with a view outside. We got settled in, then changed into our snow clothes and went sledding on the hill beside our igloo. After dinner, we returned to our igloo and played a bunch of games. Unfortunately, it was cloudy all night, so we couldn’t see any stars.
After flying 945 miles to Helsinki, we flew another 615 miles north to Europe’s most northern airport. It was the first flight I’d ever been on that showed take-off and landing on the TV’s, which was very cool to watch. From the Ivalo Airport, we travelled 30 minutes south to the Kakslauttanen Igloo Village for 4 nights of an Artic adventure. We started with a tour of the snow igloos. While we enjoyed seeing them, it never dawned on me to sleep on a slab of ice. Only a portion of the snow village had actually been completed by the time we arrived since it rained for much of December (global warming perhaps?), but it was cool watching them working on the snow restaurant and chapel.
I once again had the desire to travel somewhere over a school break while Jimmy was away and had to decide where to go. I was very torn, but soon it came down to hanging out on a beach sipping Pina Coladas or going in search of the Northern Lights. Somehow it didn’t seem right to go snorkeling without Jimmy, but freezing in the Artic seemed fitting. So, we left on January 2nd for Finland, spending our first two nights in the capital city of Helsinki. We did the usual city things--visited the art museum, the zoo (the bears were hibernating!), the national museum and the cathedrals. The girls especially enjoyed ice skating at the outdoor rink in the center of town, although Ashlynn wasn’t used to the slick Zambonied ice and needed Veronica’s support.
