We’re headed North!

After spending the night at the Kemi Snow Castle near Oulu Finland, we were heading North to Lapland, in the hopes of seeing the Northern Lights.

Our first stop on the road was for lunch. Clare can’t stay away from Trip Advisor, she’s very highly rated on there, so did some quick research to determine the best restaurant to stop in. Turns out that restaurant is located in Santa’s Village. His official workshop!

SANTA’S WORKSHOP.

Now I know how Santa get’s to all the places in the world in one night.

Turns out Santa’s Village is located in the arctic circle! Which is the most Northernly of 5 major circles of latitude that make maps of the Earth. We were in it baby!

The 3 of us, Me, Clare, & Kyle.

Over the bridge, passing the tee pee, we found a really great place for lunch!

Dun, dun, DDUNN! I actually don’t know the exact name of the place. Cross the walking bridge in the village and it’s the only place over there.

It goes right over the tracks for the elk sleigh rides.

This Finnish are really good at cooking Salmon.Here was a salmon dish with home aid potato salad.

So delicious!

After all that we may of gotten a couple of deserts.

I mean there are 3 of us and we decided on Finnish cheese with berries and coffee, blueberry pie with cream, and a pear soaked in alcohol and served with ice cream and a glaze sauce.

Okay fine, there were 4 deserts, so shoot us! Couldn’t leave without trying the crepes. Everything was phenomenal.

After lunch we were well and truly stuffed, we got back on the road.

We originally had 2 nights booked all the way up North but I booked the wrong days on airbnb. I booked Thursday till Saturday instead of Friday to Sunday. Worst part is I didn’t even know until we arrived.

Long story short we did not get along with our airbnb host at all, and after one night we decided we would leave and head South again.

So we did.

But first we did try to go for a husky ride.

Except we got our car stuck in all this snow and we missed the group leaving.

SO MUCH SNOW!

Hey puppies.

Husky Wind chime.

Driving back down to Rovanemeini, Clare found us a cabin for the night with a sauna and loft and we stopped into town to sign up for snowmobiling and husky sleighing.

With a couple of hours before the snowmobiling we headed to our place and Clare and I sat in the sauna while Kyle took a nap.

SNOWMOBILING ON A FROZEN RIVER

And we were off..! Booking a 7pm-10pm slot, we had to meet in town and it was just a short walk down to the river where the snow mobile was stored. Within minutes everyone was geared up to go and we set off, I was bringing up the rear on my own and good thing because I was back there goofing off and speeding around. It was so fun!

I’d never imagined that I would just be snow moiling across a frozen river! It was a bit scary but when the temperature reaches -26 degrees C then I think you know you’ll be just fine.

After a long stretch on the lake we came up onto some trails in the woods.

Even crossed a few roads. I ran into a couple in front of me at one point and almost died laughing. They were not amused but I was on the road and there was a car coming so I just tried to get off the road and the people in front of me weren’t moving fast enough.  In fact all the people we were going with were complete duds. No one was looking for speed exhilaration, except the 3 of us.
One of my favorites because of the light from the road.

These lights from the city, combined with the haziness of the snow storm that was passing through, was a complete tease on our quest for the Northern lights.

About halfway in, we stopped at a small hut out in the woods, and had ourselves a fire.

It was Clare’s idea that we all bring the makings for s’mores and so while our guide served piping hot berry juice from a thermos and warmed up sandwiches with smoked cheese and dried meat, we passed around mallows, grahams, and bits of chocolate and started with desert.

Mallows!

After a long stop and everyone was thoroughly warmed up, we headed back into town mostly along the river.

When we got back to our place we played a game of hearts and Kyle and I wrestled because I’m a sore loser, then we headed out to drive to the top of town to see these Northern lights! There was a break in the cloud coverage and the stars were shining through.

However, when we climbed all the way to the top of this bank, it appeared that the clouds were rolling back in and that the Northern lights would not be visible. We’d missed them again.

HUSKIES

The next morning it was another early start to the day. We were bused to the husky farm where 98 dogs live and work every day.

They were ready for us, and excited to get on the road.

Hey pups!

The dogs are looked after and treated very well and any one of them is approachable, even by strangers. They love a few scratches around the ear.

Clare and I decided to take on a sled together, I would mush first and then she would second.

The back left dog, Puja was very excited to run, to the point where he would fight with all of his pals when we were stopped. Jumping up and down he was so aggressive that they ended up changing partner’s with him twice during our 18km circuit.

MUSH! MUSH! We are on the way.

As soon as we started everyone was going to the bathroom so they could set into the rhythm. As the dogs would pull us I would watch them run close to the embankment where they would take gulps of snow without slowing the pace.

For as energetic as our dogs seemed they were super slow! You can ‘t even see the guys in front of us.

FREEZING. There’s even snow on my eyelashes.

Running across another frozen lake.

I thought this picture was pretty cool. When you start going uphill you help the dogs by running and kicking with your feet.

They were just happy to be at work and on the run. When there is no snow in the summer,they attach them to cars and drive slowly to give them a workout.

Love all the scenery changes.

She’ll be coming around the bend when she comes.

That was our motto, Slow and steady wins the race.

Pretty soon we were back and taking photos, although it was freezing cold and I needed to go inside to warm up for a minute.

We had a flight back to Helsinki late that night so after finishing with the husky’s we drove back to Oulu to drop off our car and go back to Helsinki so we could fly out to Rome early the next morning.

Guess what else guys?!?? Finland has a wonderful gin called Napue. Served with the Finnish berries and rosemary it is instantly up there on my list of must haves. Really great stuff. Cheers!

This article appeared first on The Cassey Excursion.