The first safari we went on was cross country skiing. That was a lot of fun, everyone except Randall fell at least twice. For those of you that have not been cross country skiing it is a workout. You can either "walk" with the skis or use your arms and the sticks to propel yourself forward. "Walking" was easier for me as I have little upper body strength. It was also easier to control your balance by "walking". We skied for about 2.5 hours with a 30 minute break. During the break we went into a tepee like building where our guide built a fire and served hot strawberry juice. This sounds disgusting but it tasted like a strawberry Jolly Rancher in liquid form. After we had warmed up we headed back to the main building where we took some pictures over looking the town. We did not take the camera with us while skiing because we were afraid of falling on it.
After skiing we ate some lunch and checked into our hotel cabin. We warmed up in the cabin for a couple of hours before our northern lights snowmobile safari. On this safari we drove snowmobiles on one of the main frozen rivers to a remote area in the woods. There was a small cabin with a central fireplace where our guides built a fire and roasted sausages. They also made coffee for those that wanted it. While we were waiting for the sausages they served us more hot strawberry juice. We did not see the northern lights as it was cloudy and the other conditions were not right. We had fun riding/driving the snowmobiles though. Randall and Mr. Tim drove while Mrs. Vicki and I rode. It was very cold and I did not want to get any colder by having the wind in my face. It was also snowing very hard on the way back (when I was going to drive) and Randall had a hard time seeing the lights of the person in front of us! After the safari was over we were dropped off at our hotel where we ate some popcorn and drank hot chocolate before bed.
The next day we were picked up from our hotel for a husky safari. We changed into snow suits and went to a husky farm where we had the opportunity to "drive" a team of 6 huskies. The huskies are not trained to voice commands, instead they have a memorized trail that all of the dogs know. I drove mine and Randall's team the whole time, Mr. Tim and Mrs. Vicki took turns driving their team. There were a few issues with the teams to start with but the guides were able to resolve them by switching dogs out on our team, the lead team and Mr. Tim and Mrs. Vicki's team. It was a lot of fun riding behind the dogs and seeing all of the sites of nature while on the trails. The husky ride was much more peaceful than the snowmobiles because it was quieter. It was also not as cold. After the ride was over we went into a cabin and had more hot strawberry juice and some gingerbread Christmas cookies. One of the guides also told us about the dogs: their breeds, training, feeding and living conditions.
After the husky safari we went to Santa's Village at the arctic circle line. We ate lunch in one of the restaurants there and walked around several shops. We also toured the Christmas museum and elf toy shop. We took pictures under the arctic circle line and bought a few souvenirs before heading back to town for our train.
Click on the picture to see more pictures from the trip.
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| Lapland |
