Special Delivery

Last week brought two new additions to the Stevens' household in Ohio. Introducing Keaton James (aka Nephew version 4.0) and Kaylee Hope. By all accounts the little ones are doing well, parents are exhausted, big brothers are proud and grandparents are giddy.

Make a Wish

Snow Daze

This past week brought us the second snowstorm in a two month period. The spotted dog has really enjoyed himself. He sniffs the snow, prances around in it and makes snow angels. From our balcony he challenges anybody who passes by to a snowball-fight. So far he hasn't had any takers, but if he does, he feels certain he'll have the advantage of the high ground. Not to mention his secret aresenal of yellow snowballs.

Levi

The next stop of the trip was Levi in Lapland. To get there we hopped on the train to Rovaniemi, the capital city of Lapland located just south of the Arctic Circle. From there we travelled the remaining 100 miles to Levi by bus. Being that far north in the winter meant very little daylight. In fact the sun rose at 10 a.m. and sat at 2 p.m.

Levi has plenty of winter sport activities and we tried our hand at several. On our first day we went cross country skiing. The tracks were a lot hillier than we are used to so there were plenty of falls and bruises.

Day two included some downhill skiing along with ligonberry and cloudberry pastries, Finnish beer and reindeer for dinner. On the third day we went snowshoeing on the Levituturni (the Levi hill). We took the gondola to the top and trekked and trudged our way to the bottom.



At the top of Levituturni the wind howled and the visibility was low.

About halfway through the trek we stopped at a Lapp hut for coffee, warm berry juice and reindeer sausage with mustard. As we continued our descent we passed a few reindeer and snow covered trees.

We finally made it to the bottom with all hands accounted for and in need of a warm drink.

That evening was New Year's Eve. At dinner, some of us had yet more reindeer. Afterwards Bill and Bernie headed to bed while Eric, Andy and Bridget stayed in town to ring in the New Year. As midnight approached several people gathered on the front piste for the fireworks.

New Year's Day saw some of us moving rather slowly, yet more downhill skiing was enjoyed. On the next day we caught the bus for Rovaniemi and boarded the train again. At the the town of Kemi Bridget and Andy said their goodbyes to Eric, Bill and Bernie, who continued their Finnish adventure while Andy and Bridget returned to Helsinki for their flight back to Seattle and the happiest spotted dog in the world.

Kuopio

The day after Christmas we caught an early morning train and made our way to Kuopio, a city northeast of Helsinki in Finland's Lake District. We stayed at the Hotelli-Kylpyla Rauhalahti, a hotel just outside of town. Unfortunately, the world's largest smoke sauna, located near the hotel, wasn't operating the days we were there. Luckily, the hotel has its own spa, and when in Finland, one must sauna.

The next morning we took the bus downtown to check out the sights. We made our way through the Market Square with views of the town's Christmas tree and City Hall.


It began to snow as we walked to the Old Kuopio Museum . . .


and our route took us by the Kuopio Cathedral.


After touring the Old Kuopio Museum we trekked to Puijo Tower and the ski jumps. To get to the top of the hill where the tower is located we followed the trail through a spruce forest.


From the tower we had wonderful views of Kuopio and the surrounding Lake District.

We had dinner at the revolving restaurant in the tower where we toasted Bernie and Bill on their wedding anniversay. Afterwards, we made our way down the hill by walking by the several ski jumps. We continued walking to the Market Square where we caught the bus back to the hotel where we did, what else, took a sauna of course.

Hello Helsinki

Over the Christmas and New Year holidays the Baker clan's annual trip took them to far away Finland. Bridget and Andy met up with Eric during the layover in Amsterdam. Bill and Bernie were later found at the airport in Finland. For those of you who are wondering, Linus spent his time at "camp" in Seattle.

Our first stop was Helsinki where upon arrival, we had a traditional Finnish Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas Day found us exploring the city streets and sights. One of our first stops was Senate Square and the Lutheran Cathedral.

We then walked to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral with its' golden onion domes. After reading some brief geo-political musings in the Rick Steves guidebook we venture inside where we viewed part of the Christmas Day service.

Next we found our way to the Market Square and the Czarina's Stone monument. Along the street are the Swedish Embassy, the Finnish Supreme Court and Finland's Presidential Palace. According to Rick Steves one can climb to the top of the steps surrounding the monument for a "spectacular 360 degree view."

Continuing our tour of the city we came to the Esplanade, a tree lined park between rows of shops and businesses.

While walking down the Esplanade, Eric came across a poster for a theatre production he expressed interest in attending.

As the afternoon wore on we decided to go ice skating at the ice rink in the square next to the train station. There were minimal wipeouts and zero broken bones suffered.

We ended the day by returning to the Lutheran Cathedral where we were lucky enough to get some tickets for that evening's Cantores Minores concert.