Roadtrip North

So with some very last minute organisation, Evelyn and I hired a car and headed off on our adventure. Driving with Ev was more than slightly terrifying; what with being on the wrong side of the road and her propensity for taking corners at a million k's an hour and getting distracted by the view and veering into the next lane.

Funnily enough, Ev didn't share my concerns.

Avoc indulging in some dangerous car planking.

I managed to relax a bit by the time we got to Sodankylä, a little town we stopped in quickly and wandered around for a while. The ladies in the tourist information centre welcomed us with coldness and hostility, I think maybe we ruined their tourist-free day. We headed off again pretty soon, it was miserable and raining and we had a lot more driving to do.


Our next stop was Urho Kekkonen National Park, which was very beautiful. I'm so glad I bought gumboots before we left, I had fun sloshing through mud and puddles on our hike without my usual soggy sock situation. The forest was insanely silent, I'm sure there were birds and animals out there but they didn't make a single sound. Usually that would be creepy, but it was just very peaceful. We stayed at Hostel Ahopää which was out in the middle of nowhere. A good thing about this part of the world is the minimal road network and very good signage, even with my terrible sense of direction it's basically impossible to get lost. Also, every place we went it was so easy to see the Finnish trustworthiness and honesty. I can't think of any other place where hostels would bother to leave hairdriers in the sauna or laptops sitting around for guests to use.

The view from our hostel window, a nice little stream.

Post-sauna warm snugness.

The first time we saw reindeer on the road as we were driving we freaked out with excitement, Ev wanted to stop the car in the middle of the road and take pictures but unfortunately (luckily) there was someone behind us. As it became more normal and frequent, we worked out a good system where I would help steer the car while Evelyn put her head out the window to take photos as we crawled along, trying not to scare them away. Teamwork!

Much cuter than cows on the road!

I'd include pictures of our drive up the Kaunispää fells, but the fog was so intense it was like being on another planet. A really really foggy one. By far the best place we stayed was Guesthouse Husky outside of Ivalo. Outi and her family have a pack of 150 huskies, with traditional looking husky dogs for sledding and a slightly different breed of 'ferrari' dogs for racing. The guesthouse was beautiful, we had so much space and fanciness. All the dogs were so different, I can totally understand how their owners view them as people and know all their names and personalities. I definitely want to go back there when it's snowing and get my sled on.

Pupsicle

Blondi

The dogs are in the process of growing their winter coats, so some of them look crayzay!

I really didn't want to leave the huskies, or the most comfortable beds ever, but it was time to go to Inari. We went to SIIDA, the museum of the traditional Sámi people of Lapland. It had an amazing outdoor component of Sámi dwellings, which made me need so badly to live in a cosy little log cottage and survive by being super resourceful.

Taking in the views of Lake Inari

Everything is so much more spectacular than my camera can convey!

A bear trap - similar to a mouse trap except for bears. Ouch.

In the evening Evelyn convinced me to hike up Otsamo Hill, I was pretty worried that we'd run out of light before we made it back down but she was right in the end, it was totally worth it. Once we reached the top we both had the same thought that it was like being on Pride Rock except instead of African savannah we could see Finland. There may or may not have also been a super cheesy Titanic 'I'm king of the world' re-enactment.

For any other His Dark Materials nerds out there, Seraphina Pekkala is from Lake Inari.

I left my coat down on a trail marker, hoping a bear wouldn't steal it.

We also went on a cruise of Inari Lake (the lake in the above pictures) out to Ukko Island, which is a sacred Sámi site of the thunder god. As we climbed to the top our eyes (and feet) were assaulted by the corpses of sooo many disembowled lemmings, the owls must have a 24/7 feast there. I found one last little guy alive and suggested some kind of witness protection program, but he scurried off to hide. I hope he's okay.

View from the top of the island

The sole survivor

This post is already far too long, so in the next couple of days I'll fill you in on the departure of Evelator, the arrival of Dad, and our imminent trip to Oslo!