No work and all play make Jack a dull boy, as we all know. I just spent two weeks in a road trip with the family. Usually my family flies to Spain, Greece or Portugal but not this year. Because I just realized that during the summer time the skiing holiday resorts are almost empty. Rental cottages are far cheaper than during winter season. Still there is the same nature and fresh air. Holiday village is deserted like old Wild West villages. But without tumbleweeds. Suits me!
So, we drove almost 1000 km to North from Helsinki with a few days´ stop in Oulu. Oulu is my first hometown, I was born there, and I used to live there for almost 30 years. I don´t miss the place that much but sure it is full of memories. I went to see Korpiklaani in 45 Special with my old friends. That used to be my most favorite pub while still living in the town. First time I saw the band and yeah, very entertaining. They played humppa with metal style.
Oulu by night.
Of course the weather turned almost immediately worse once the road trip began, but it does not really matter if you got the right attitude. Right? The second day started with snowing. Pretty cool for June. But it was cold everywhere in Finland. The cottage at Levi was well equipped, also the free wi-fi, and we had heaps of books and dvd:s with us. So there was no obligation to freeze outside if one does not want to.
A couple of times I went for a Nordic walk for several kilometers – I had the sticks of my own with me – and I´m pretty proud of myself. That is because I´m bloody lazy who prefer a nice chat on the net to jogging outside. Smoked trout and new potatoes for a dinner and in the evening after sauna, we set the fire to the fireplace. It has been years since I last ate fireplace-grilled sausage.
After driving to National Park of Mount Pallas me and my 12-year-old daughter chose the hardest way to get up. We climbed and climbed and got so exhausted. My tongue almost reached the knees. Poor kid thought her huffing and puffing mom was going to die right on her hands. But no. We made it. Then it was so great to sit up there and watch the amazing view.
One day we joined the trip organized by Levi Tourist Information. It was a visit to Levi Husky Park to see Reijo Jääskeläinen. He had quite an interesting life story with racing and rising husky dogs and visiting many exotic places. He also had a rack full of winning cups and trophies. He introduced us the park and all the animals he had trained for movies, music videos and commercials: Wolves, half wolves and husky dogs and mixtures of them.
Two little dogs were running with us, I think they were the mixture of Japanese Spitz and Finnish Spitz. These two little dogs were the only ones we could touch and cuddle. Also there were two reindeers. All the other animals were fenced. That was a bit of a shame. We did wait for the husky cuddling.
I am normally against half wolves. Sometimes you see them being on sale. I think it is a bit dangerous to get such an animal as a pet. Not all people are capable of handling those. But I guess it is more ok for this husky park owner to have them. He won´t sell them to anyone who would like to buy one. But overall, I prefer wild animals being left alone, it hurts me to see them caged.
Another day we made an excursion to Eastern part of Lapland. First we visited the Tankavaara gold prospector museum. Tankavaara Museum Curator is my old fellow student. We used to study at the same time in the University of Oulu. Culture is such a wide field; some become museum workers, some become internet researchers. The other staff there was also SO friendly. Like I was an old acquintance with everyone. My 11-year-old junior researcher was anxious to find some gold. He had been talking about it for some time. And now he had his chance. And did he find gold?
Yes he did! And he could keep it all. There was a comic exhibition opening coming in the museum and we could see the stuff finishing it. You know, Scrooge McDuck meeting Glittering Goldie O’Gilt at Klondike. I used to read those stories when being a kid.
Inari was the farthest place we visited. Our goal was to go to see Juha & Outi Länsman who keep B&B Northern Lights Inari. Juha has done miracles with the buildings in his backyard.
The musty, fusty, stuffy smell you usually find in older buildings – no sign of it! The rooms were maybe a bit plain but so clean and fresh. And Lake Inari is just about in the back yard. Juha is also such a fine cook. Best in town his wife said. I tasted his delicious mushroom sauce – cannot even imagine what kind of breakfast is served. And the best of all, they have a dog, the almost-beagle, who is just charming!
The best advertising for the B&B could get, the owners laughed.
The most positive thing was that the whole week we did not suffer the mosquitoes. It was either too early or too cold for them.
Unless you did not notice: the Finnish holiday clichés hidden in the text:
– staying in a cottage in the middle of nowhere
– listening to humppa
– snowing in the midsummer
– new potatoes on a plate
– sauna
– grilled sausages
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