January 31 - Kakslauttanen Resort, a Reindeer Sled Ride and Northern Lights

Our only excursion today is in the evening and since it is so cold we pretty much stayed in our cozy cabin except for walks to the lodge for a very late breakfast and then dinner.  Of course, we had to take photos of the snow scape on our walks.  It is very beautiful here.

We stayed at the lodge after dinner to await our pickup for our reindeer sled ride tonight.  (The reindeer statue at night).

Not long after dinner they told us that the Northern Lights were out so we all headed outside into the freezing cold to see the lights.  They are so amazing but pretty pale still.  We both were able to get a few photos using our iPhones.  However, after a bit it was so cold that Mary’s iPhone froze up and refused to turn on.  Fortunately it became operational after it thawed out.

Our reindeer sled ride involved a trudge up to the changing room, where we put on snow suits and got some really warm, furry hats.  The temperature was hovering -27°F.  Who in their right minds goes out at that temperature.  Apparently we weren’t in our right minds as we headed out to our sled.  (Our reindeer’s name is a long and convoluted Finnish name but his nickname is Harry…so we will go with that.)

The trail was unlit and the moon wasn’t shining so the ride was lit by starlight…mystical and moody and freeeeezing.  They put a reindeer hide and a blanket under us and two over us.  So, it didn’t seem too terribly cold on the way out. 

About midway through the hour ride we stopped at a large teepee where they had a blazing fire going and hot juice.  We had a talk around the fire with the guide answering questions about reindeer and Finland.  The fire and juice didn’t help…by the time we were back in the sled and covered up we were both freezing.  And we never quite warmed up through the remainder of the ride.  It was interesting and would have been lovely if the temperature were 20 or so degrees warmer.

Again, the phones were of no use so we didn’t get any photos of our reindeer and the night was so dark nothing much would have turned out anyway.

Once back at our cabin we quickly warmed up and just as we were headed to bed the Northern Lights alert buzzer went off.  And the lights were stronger then they had ever been…but not by much.

By then Mary had figured out how to get long exposures on her camera (and she had left it set up on the tripod) so she was able to get a few reasonable photos.  We got to bed rather late.