Life in Finland

1000 km Biking trip through SE Finland

Getting ready to bike from Taipalsaari to Lappenranta

The world has become a crazy place these days with borders shut down so with a 2 month vacation between Finnish Language classes I was decided it was a good opertunity to explore Finland. My friend Ilkka has been doing bike trips for well over a decade and he persuaded me that it was a great idea to just go out and do it.

I was hesitant as I had never done an over night biking trip let alone a week or two but it sounded interesting. After a few days of looking over maps I decided that I wanted to check out the SE corner of Finland to explore the Karelia region as it has a long history within both Finland and Russia and was an area I had been interested in for years.

When I came up with the trip I came up with 3 rules.
1. I could only Speak in Finnish
2. I could only eat Finnish Food
3. I would make sure to eat the specific foods from Specific towns

Starting the trip in Nurmes

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How a tattoo changed my life

How a tattoo changed my life

As I write this post I’ve found myself married and living in Northern Finland and it all stems from a tattoo I got a few years back. This is a story so weird that I thought I would take the time to write about how little things like this can change someones life forever.

Just another night with the Northern Lights

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Yllästunturi National Park: Arctic Life in Northern Finland

Finland……there’s so much that I could say about the stark contrast between Washington State and Rovaniemi, Finland, they might as well be different planets. Living so far north on the boarder of the Arctic circle we would head south to take a vacation in Alaska. At the Winter Solstice we had only 1 hour of sun as it barely dips over the horizon and living in Finnish Lapland we live in the coldest place in Europe and it’s built a tough and reserved culture. This last weekend both Jenni and I were invited to stay up at our friends Ilkka and Tuija Kauppinen cabin near Yllästunturi one of a handful of ski resorts two hours away from our home. We left home around noon with the temperatures dipping to -32 as we drove through endless open forest covered with all the snow that had fallen since mid December as it doesn’t rain during the winter in Lapland. Making up to there Cabin late in the afternoon. With little time before it got dark Ilkka and I Snowshoed up a small section above his place. By now the temps were around -30 and as we climbed the peak I was very cautious not to sweat. It was soon going to get dark and it would be real hard to survive in the woods overnight. After climbing a few hundred feet we made it to our high point. The slopes above were exposed to the winds all season and still covered in rocks.

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