Finland is Fantastic!!

Well, I made it back from the Arctic Circle with all ten fingers and toes!! It was a fantastic trip. I went with a friend from work, and we left on Saturday. We flew Finnair from Amsterdam to Helsinki and then on to Ivalo-the Northernmost airport in Europe. For some reason I thought we would fly a puddle jumper with about 5 passengers (3 of them Reindeer) into Ivalo. I was amazed that we were in a plane with 6 seats across and it was 90% full! When we arrived in Ivalo we were met at the airport (with its one gate) by a bus from our resort. We arrived at the resort and loaded our own sled with our luggage and drug it through the snow to our log cabin. We had our own sauna-talk about the height of luxury!! After a good nights sleep we were up and at them before the sun was up (which is about 9:15!). We were off to the husky farm to try our hand at "mushing" after bulking up in our thermal gear we were given a quick lesson in how to mush. There were 142 huskies at the farm and EVERY one of them wanted to be on my team! We final got going and I was a passenger for the first portion of the trip. It was an amazing trip-we went through the Finnish countryside. It was too hot for the dogs (about 3 degrees) so they had to stop every 30 minutes. After lunch in a wooden teepee we were off again. I gathered my wits about me and jumped on the sled with a loud and confident HOOVAH (Finnish for good job) we were off!! It was fantastic! An amazing experience-sadly we only had about 45 minutes until we were home, but what a fantastic trip! After returning back to our log cabin-just in time for "sunset" at about 3:30 it was time for sauna, cribbage, a nap and dinner! Talk about the life-I think the Finns are onto something with the whole sauna thing. I read that in Finland there is one sauna for every three Finnish citizens. The next day we got up and rented cross country skis. After a few false starts, I think I could be a gold medalist in the newest event: sliding backwards down the hill that you really wanted to go up" I finally got a good pace going and was enjoying the fantastic scenery when we turned a corner and up ahead was a herd of Reindeer! They were right in our path, I remember thinking "these are Santa's friends surely they won't charge us!" After a few minutes of mutual admiration (I think) they moved on and we went skiing past. After a few more kilometers I headed back towards the hotel. Sure enough around another bend were 3 Reindeer calves. They were amazing! Very clumsy on land and very graceful in the snow (polar upset of yours truly!). So after some more skiing it was back to the cabin for sauna time, nap time, cribbage and dinner! I could have gotten used to that! All in all a fantastic trip and something I would recommend to anyone! Sadly it was too cloudy for any northern lights.

Next trip is to Germany-Baden Baden for some more resorts!