Toine's parents,

Are coming over tomorrow, they are going to be here until Friday. Toine and I have been super busy with cleaning so everything is looking nice and pretty tomorrow! There are only a few things left to do, and that is the bathroom, and the guest room. Then vacuum and wet wipe the floors. Have to go over to my friend's place and feed their cats too, because they are on vacation. But they will come home tomorrow evening.

When I checked earlier this week, they said it would be sunshine almost all week. But today they changed it to rain almost all week. Blegh! Luckily there will be sunshine on Monday, and Tuesday...hopefully. Monday we are going to Skansen, and Tuesday we are going on a day cruise with Silja Line yay!

Fishing

Me and Toine went fishing last Wednesday with my parents and my uncle Tommi, and Pekka... Plus Günter. At first it looked like me and Toine wasn't going to get any fish, but after Toine went with my dad instead things went better for him. I had to act nurse and pull a flyfishing hook out from Günters thumb, and put a nice looking bandaid on it. Me and Toine ended up with a fine looking rainbow trout!

Here is Toine, fighting a fish, together with my dad.

Illuminati!

It's a secret, thats all I'm going to say!

Day 12: Friday

Dad woke us up at like 4am at the break of dawn and outside it was the prettiest light I have ever seen! The sky was fiery orange and pink from the sunlight and there was even a small rainbow! I took pretty pictures! I’m anxious to get home now. I miss my sweetie Toine! I slept the rest of the trip home. Now I’m home! Yay! I’m home! But I won’t see my sweetie until in the evening. I’m still at my parents place because I so need to shower, and help them empty the caravan. It leans towards me having dinner here and that Toine will come too. So this is me signing out for now!

Day 11: Thursday

We woke up super early... haha. The boat to the glacier was going to leave at 10, but we were lucky because a buss filled with biologists and other scholars had booked a private tour one hour early, but there was enough room for me, mom and one more guy. The boat trip took 20 minutes and after that there was a hike up the mountain which would take 1h 30 minutes. The other extra guy went off like greased lightning and I swear to god he was up within 40 minutes. I and mom were not so bad though, we came up second and third after him at a time of 1h 5 minutes! I’m a little bit proud of that I have to say. The view was amazing! The glacier arm stretched down to the water and had some cracks in it and it looked like pieces were going to break off any time, but sadly they didn’t. I took a lot of pictures and mom and I started searching for the first guy. We named him the mountain goat hehe. But we couldn’t see him. On the way down from the mountain we had a lot of extra time so we took some photos of the waterfall right there and climbed around a bit extra. Then all of a sudden we saw him again! The mountain goat! So we talked a bit to him while we were waiting for the boat back. He was a nice young guy. He said he was from Switzerland and climb mountains and caves and stuff back home so no wonder he went off like a mountain goat... He showed us some pictures he had taken because he climbed all the way up to the highest point of the mountain and got a different view than we did. And we discussed cameras and lenses and filters and stuff. He suggested I should get a polarizing filter which I intend to look into as soon as I get home. And I told him about the IR-filter my sister has and he thought it sounded cool. He was very nice to talk to and mom told him about the marble caste which is not too far away and he had never heard of it before. He was very grateful and was going to check it out. I was exhausted when we got back but it felt good to have been able to go up there after all. Despite my foot and lack of stamina which is apparently not as bad as I thought. Now my foot hurts like hell though. After this little trip we started our long journey home and it wasn’t very eventful. We met up with my sister in Åsele so she could give her birthday present to my mom. And then more driving. We stopped at a resting place for the night, but my dad only want to sleep for a few hours because apparently it’s not long left before we come home. So I’m going to sleep once again in a caravan with no heat. But this time the weather outside is nice and warm so it should be no problem. Good night!

Day 10: Wednesday

Woke up today when dad decided that today was the last day, it was time to go home. The rain made the river rise too much so there was absolutely no chance left to catch a fish. I got sad and happy at the same time. Since I like Norway so much but also I miss my cutie Toine a lot now. So we spend the morning packing everything together in the caravan so nothing would move during transport. And then we journeyed over the mountains to a new valley called Mo I Rana. The trip took a while and nothing really interesting happened during the car ride. The river Rana had also flooded from all the rain and was full of fallen trees, and roots and branches. We stopped at a camping place with no cell phone reception and no electricity. It was from there, the boat would leave that would take us to the glacier tomorrow yay! I took some pictures, we had dinner, and then I spent the evening with crosswords since there wasn’t anything else to do. Mom thought about going to the marble castle, but since it had been raining, and it was late and not much light. We decided to save it for next year since it would be too dangerous to go there at this time. Now we are going to sleep in the caravan with no heat. But I got my sheets and a blanket so it should be fine. Good night!

Day 9: Tuesday

Woke up a little earlier today since we were going to the salt current. I have no clue why but I’m just really tired during the days now. I guess I’m not getting enough sleep. I mean after all I’m up to around 2 am every night it seems, and mom wakes me up around 9 every day, 7 hours is kind of cutting it short for me, and I don’t like naps because it takes too long for me to wake up after a nap. They make me feel like a zombie instead. Before we left I saw a guy on the camping place with the exact same clothes that Toine has, and the same hair and body type as well. I miss my cutie now! But I don’t think I will be home before Sunday. I’m counting on Sunday, or Monday... The road to the salt current was a bit long, but not so bad. There were some beautiful places so I took some pictures through the window of the car while we were driving. It’s a cloudy day sadly so they might be a bit dull. The salt current however was amazing to see. It’s the ocean pouring into a small bay at the coast. And the tidal forces are so strong, and the bay is so narrow, that it creates a really strong and fast current. Today they measured the speed of the water to be 23 knots, almost 12 meters/second. The shape of the bay makes the water circulate around and create large maelstroms, apparently the strongest in the world! The water looked like it was boiling! Really cool. On the way back from there we stopped at a marble mine. Also very cool so see the marble in the mountain that they have been cutting through. I took some pictures and brought some stones. I guess I will try to polish them at home or something hehe. Mom and I also walked a bit further to a small lake, ending in a waterfall and a small river, really pretty. I had to climb down the waterfall a bit, even though it was raining and the rocks where a bit slippery. I took some pretty pictures here as well. Too bad about the rain, but the weather is so unpredictable here. I mean, it might rain for the rest of the vacation so I better take the chance when I get it. It took about an hour to walk there and back again. So now my foot is bad again. The rest of the day I spent in the caravan with crosswords and a movie. I also wrote the postcards today and posted them. Now the rain is falling heavily onto the roof of the caravan... making an awful lots of noise and I’m not sure if I can sleep. Mom and dad say they like the sound and that it's soothing, but I think it’s disturbing. Oh well. It's 1am now and I’m going to read a bit to make myself tired. Good night!

Day 8: Monday

Woke up around 3, and 4, and 6.30 and then finally at 9. It was a very windy night but also very warm. Mom thinks it’s because yesterday was such a warm day that the isolation material in the caravan is still heated, because the radiators are off and still it’s around 25 C inside. I had both windows open all night long which means I now have my original amount of mosquito bites x2. Or something like that...I’m getting immune to them now cause they don’t itch nearly as much as they did in the beginning. I think the allergy pills are helping as well, thank god. Not too bad on my feet still. However all this sightseeing and hiking has made my bad foot go worse again. It’s starting to piss me off now and as soon as I get back home I’m going to make an appointment to the doctor. A new doctor, cause I’m sick of this! Anyway, mom and I had breakfast and then my dad came home, no luck fishing again sadly. All the rain has made the river rise and my dad says the fishing is bad when the river is high. Well he usually knows his stuff so I believed him. He took a nap and went back to try again after a while. My mom and I spent the day with desperate housewives and crosswords, and candy. Around 3pm dad came back and we went sightseeing to a place called "segelfjället" the sail mountain. It was beautiful. A mountain almost completely vertical straight down into an emerald green lake. Mom and I are planning on hiking up to that mountain next year when my foot is better (hopefully). On the way back I saw a grotto with a waterfall coming out of it. And on another mountain I thought I saw a hidden hatch or something. Mom said it’s the Illuminati that made it. Well she usually knows her stuff so I believed her. Mom says whenever there is something mysterious going on, it’s the illuminati. The Illuminati seem to be some really busy bees then. Back home again my mom and I passed the time with some more crosswords and desperate housewives and after dad went to bed we looked at the film "Angels and Demons" and I’ll be damned...there they were again those darn Illuminati. Mom is right, they are everywhere! Oh well. It's 1.50 am. If the weather is bad, dad is gonna drive us to the salt-current tomorrow, awesome! Good night!

Day 7: Sunday

I woke up semi early today. 9 in the morning. I had breakfast and helped mom clean the caravan a bit. My dad came home and my uncle got a salmon! Yay! 6.5kg, a real beauty, nice and clean, silvery shiny. Since it's moms birthday today and my dad was in a good mood, he decided to finally take us to the canyon we wanted to see. It was a tricky road and we took the wrong turn a few times, but in the end we managed to get it right and had to walk for about 20 minutes, up an old tractor road, quite steep. I’m embarrassed to say that after those 20 minutes I was completely exhausted... but it was well worth it because once we reached the end of the road we got so high up, the trees were no longer in the way for beautiful close-up photos of the snowy mountains, and there was a little waterfall, little but very wild, at that exact place. Just beautiful. And the sun was shining. I got a little burned but oh well. So worth it. Mom and I climbed down to the edge of the waterfall and took some more pictures. We also found a subterrainian water path and I took a picture of the small cave. Mom said that’s where the underground moss people live. Mom usually knows her stuff so I believed her. They must be really small to fit in there, but perhaps they have larger entrances somewhere and that small place was like a window or something. My dad also drove over to a larger waterfall where I took cool pictures. I sacrificed my shoes for that haha. There was a small plateau in the middle of the waterfall which I, agile like a mountain goat, jumped over too. Mom of course followed and I took some pictures of her in front of the waterfall as well. Mine and moms shoes were soaking wet afterwards but it was soooooo worth it. When we got back he had some birthday "fika" for mom, fika is like coffee, buns, cookies, lemonade, all that stuff together. Like a coffee break but 10 times better! I don’t think there is a suitable English word for it. We joined my dad to a new fishing place and I decided to go exploring on my own. There was a small water draft I wanted to reach. But in order to do that I had to get my shoes wet again. Well, they were still wet so what the hell. Dad was not satisfied with the place though so they left kind of early. We had dinner at the restaurant here at the camping. It was quite good food. I had reindeer steak with creamed potatoes and cloudberry sauce. It was yummy but the meat could have been more rare for my taste. It’s the soccer finals today. Netherlands - Spain. We watch it after the dinner since Toine is Dutch. After the match, Spain won 1-0 in the extension, blegh, we had some caramel pudding for dessert. And then I spent half the night watching desperate housewives again with mom. It’s now 2.15 am and I’m going to bed. Good night!

Day 6: Saturday

I woke up this morning after a cold cold night. There have been electricity problems on the camping yesterday and apparently this night as well, cause the heater had been off half the night and I was freezing like hell. I also noticed I now have more mosquito bites than there are stars in the Milky Way... Luckily I have managed to keep my feet relatively bite free. If there is something I’m sensitive about it's mosquito bites on my feet. The ones under my feet I can never scratch to a satisfying level cause of the thick skin. I usually end up having to scratch with a pointy item, and give myself wounds which are even more annoying because they get torn open every time I have to scratch... Last year I had to put anesthesia gel and cortisone cream on my feel daily and make sure to have them wrapped up in bandages at all times to refrain from scratching. This year I’m trying to avoid that by putting mosquito repellant scream on my feet before bedtime. Mom said something about the poison being absorbed into my body, well she usually knows her stuff so I believed her. But I don’t give a damn. I woke up late this day. My mom had already gone to the store so I didn’t get up until lunchtime. As mom started putting breakfast on the table, dad came home from his fishing trip. No luck this morning either. I spent the beginning of the day editing in Photoshop again. And then mom and I decided to go U.E. to a small waterfall nearby. It became a 2 hour walk and now I have even more mosquito bites because I forgot to bring the mosquito repellant... and my foot hurts. But I got some more pretty pictures. My mom complained that I never took pictures of people and our vacation but I like to take pictures of nature and a person in a pink fleece jacket doesn’t blend in well...simple as that, but I'll try and do better. When on our way down the mountain we ended up on a small forest path. And as we walked under a fallen birch, mom said "we are now entering the land of the mountain king". Well she usually knows her stuff, so I believed her. I wondered if I would see the infamous Bjärv this time around but we only heard the growling noises it makes, never really saw it. It must be camera shy or something. When we got home I was too tired to join my dad to the fishing place so I spend the evening watching desperate housewives with mom, until dad got home. No luck this time either. We all had some sandwiches and now it's bed time. It’s half past midnight and I’m going to read a bit before I doze off. Good night!

Day 5: Friday

My foot hurts a lot this morning. Mom woke me up at 9.30, a bit too early if you ask me considering the time I went to bed. I had a lazy day today. My mom did some laundry and I spent the day editing my photos in Photoshop. I’m about half way done with the photos from the traveling days. It’s a lot and since it was cloudy weather when in the mountains some photos are a little dull and not as vibrant as I would want them. My dad came home from his morning fishing trip after lunch time. Their friend had lost a salmon while they were there this morning. Apparently Günter had assembled his fishing line incorrectly, and it snapped clean off while fighting the fish. Dad took a nap and mom and I watched desperate housewives. When dad woke up we drove to the town to buy some bread and other things. One of those being a map of the area so my mom and I can plan some U.E. urban exploration hehe. There is apparently a beautiful canyon nearby, and 2 waterfalls to look at, some caves, and of course the sea is not far from here either. My foot is going to die... We decide to grill some corn and sausages down by the river and watch the boy’s fish for a while. After the food my mom starts freezing so I suggest we go on a little U.E. around the area. And so we do. We eventually reach a little fence with an opening. My mom says when we enter through there, we enter into the land of the Trolls. Well mom usually knows her things so I believed her. We found an old troll treasure, 2 old mopeds, rusted and torn apart. We think they belonged to the traffic troll. A little further in I saw some large animal droppings and I was sure they were from the infamous Bjärv. A creature much like Bigfoot or the Yeti, more animal however. Large like a bear, but quick, agile and smart like a wolverine... a Beaverine. Everyone knows it exists but nobody has ever seen it. We got scared and decided to leave the land of the trolls. When we got back the boys were done fishing. No luck today but they heard of a guy fishing that caught a fly-fishing line in the water and decided to pull it up. There was a salmon still hooked on the other end of it, but it jumped above the water and shook loose. So now we know what happened to the fish that took off with half of Günter’s fishing equipment at least. Mom and I looked at another desperate housewives episode when we got back and now I’m ready for bed. It's 1am and bright as the morning. Good night!

Day 4: Thursday

I wake up with like a zillion mosquito bites all over my legs. They don’t itch much in the beginning since I take a lot of anti histamines but towards the evening when the effect wears off... they are going to be hell. So anyway, my mom woke me up at 10am and I dragged my crippled foot over the camping site to wash off and brush my teeth. Seriously, in the mornings I walk like a drunken duck, it’s not a pretty sight. I spent the rest of the mornings focusing on editing and selecting pictures from the traveling days, which to keep, which to trash, which to crop, which to enhance. My dad now comes back from his fishing trip in the morning and my mom suggest we take a walk so dad can take a nap and reload his energy. I happily accept and bring my camera. I got some more pretty pictures. We also found a small food market nearby which we spent some time inside since it started pouring down outside. The weather here is very unstable and can change from one hour to the other. The forecast is rarely correct. We eat dinner and I volunteer for the dishes. On my way to the facilities I take a peek in the freezer box. There is another salmon in there now, 7kg. Caught by the same guy. But it looks like a little fart next to the huge one from yesterday. Mom and I join the boys on their evening fishing round and I do crosswords and ask my mother for help with some words. She gave me some tips and she usually knows her stuff, so I believed her. None of "our" boys caught anything today but a Danish guy, caught his first one ever. 5kg, not a bad looking fish. The boys got tired and we go back to the camping. At 11pm my mom and I watch a movie called "human trafficking". It’s now 2.30 am and the sun is starting to rise above the mountains. Coloring the sky in a bright gold and blue color. I’m still debating whether or not I should read my book or try to sleep. Mom will wake me up around 9 or 10. But it's fine, it's vacation and I can take a nap any time I want to. Good night!

Ps. the mosquito bites are driving me mad...

Day 3: Wednesday

Woke up at 6am this time and had a lovely breakfast at some wooden benches by the river. It wasn’t as much lovely cause of the food, as it was because of the view. It was marvelous. High up in the mountains with a crystal clear river and a nice alpine birch forest. What’s so special about the alpine birch is it doesn’t grow straight, it grows in very odd patterns, twisted and curved. We journeyed on into Norway and kept going higher up the mountains. It was cloudy in the morning but the sun started peeking out later in the day. I took some pictures through the windshield that I made sure to clean properly before we left in the morning. So tired since I woke up in the middle of the night freezing like a [insert tropical animal here] on the North Pole, and as usual the pills against motion-sickness added to that feeling. We went up the mountains and down the valleys so much my eardrums thought about taking a permanent vacation but finally we were up on the last mountain. The camping place was in the valley below us. And oh what a sight! What a beautiful sight! To stand there high above the tree limit, 10 C in the air and piles of snow on the ground even though it was not below 0, and these beautiful snow covered mountains surrounding the whole horizon that was visible! I took way many pictures but the pictures will never do the area justice. We arrive at the camping place and it’s beautiful. The large river next to it, which is also the river my dad will fish in, is emerald green from glacial water. We parked the caravan at the perfect spot, and drove around to check out the area... I took many pictures again. I asked mom why the water was green, since some glacier water tends to be intense bright blue. My theory was that it must be high in copper content. Mom said it’s probably the trolls up on the mountains that pour color into it. Well mom usually knows her stuff, so I believed her. I had meatballs in brown sauce for dinner and took a nice shower to finally get all the mosquito legs out of my hair... So now I’m clean at least. On my way out of the showers I noticed a guy at the camping site caught a salmon, 14,8kg to be exact. Wow, it almost didn’t fit in the freezer box. It gave my dad, uncle and Günter great hopes and expectations on this place. When I came back to the caravan I found out I get to sleep in the large bed all by myself. From what I understood earlier, I was going to share the large bed with my mother, but that was not the case, which I am glad for. My mom and I watched an old movie called "the emperor of Portugallia" before we went to bed. It’s about 1am now and the sun has still not set. I’m going to read a bit in my book before I go to sleep. Good night!

Day 2: Tuesday

Our journey goes on. About 7 in the morning *sigh*. We ate breakfast at my sisters place, dropped her off down town cause she was meeting a friend and then we continued north. The landscape up here is really beautiful and I took a few pictures on the way. We saw reindeers and a moose calf that I took pictures of... sadly I had the wrong setting on the camera since I had to shoot from the window of the car in full speed, haha increased ISO sensitivity and faster shutter from now on and the rest of the photos turned out much better. I take a nap in the car cause of the anti motion-sickness pills again. I read a book... and then we reach about the bumpiest road I’ve ever experienced, not so easy to read anymore hehe. Later we reached Arjeplog where we stopped for dinner. It was then 6pm. We went to a pizza place and I had reindeer pizza and figured out at least 10 different ways to improve their recipe, but it was still good. We leave Arjeplog after stocking up on candy and drinks and head North West up to the mountains. We reached the Arctic Circle at about 10.30 in the evening. I took some pictures of the sign and then we continued towards the Norwegian border. Which we reached around midnight. The sun was still shining although it was very cloudy. My dad, my uncle and Günter went to bed but I and my mom went exploring. The border stone was signed by the king of Sweden and the king of Norway according to mom. I believe her and on closer inspection as I took the picture I could also see that was the case. We found a small tractor road and walk along it a bit and eventually reach a large field and a small waterfall. My mom says the field is used to round up the reindeers and catch them in order to tag them. I believe her. We walked to the waterfall and I took some pictures. Then we basically got chased down by a cloud of mosquitoes and none of us thought of using the mosquito cream before we left. I have about 20 on my hands alone and I swear 40 more on my head. After this we went to bed. It never got dark, the sun went behind the mountains and then started rising back up again. Good night!

Day 1: Monday

I'm tired. I fell asleep around 4am and my dad came to pick me up at 7am. The fact that the anti motion-sickness pills makes me tired, doesn’t really help. And the fact that my parents didn’t finish packing yet didn’t help either. So we head straight to my parents house. Mom in the car as well since she just finished her nightshift. I help with making some sandwiches for the road. Tasty ones, 3 different kinds. Seafood, roast beef, and egg. We don’t hit the road until 11am. By then I am so tired I fall asleep in the car and sleep until about 2.30pm. Now I feel rested and fine. We travel alongside the "high coast" a beautiful landscape apparently protected by UNESCO says mom. She knows her stuff so I believe her. It’s really beautiful. We drive over a bridge called the "high coast bridge". Mom says it’s the most famous bridge in Sweden and I believe her. I have to agree it’s a very beautiful bridge. Dad was nice enough to make a stop on the other side of the bridge so I could take some pictures. Around 8pm we arrive at my sister’s place. It’s called Mellansel and has about 800 citizens... at first I couldn’t understand why she would chose to live in such a no-man’s land. But after seeing the city, I decided this is where I will retire when I’m old and/or burned out. She had a pretty little kitten named Njalla and 3 super cute chinchillas named Lemmy, Princess Peach, and Chili-dill. I spent the night on the floor of her one room apartment. My mother slept on the couch, and my father slept outside in the caravan. Oh and I forgot to mention my uncle Pekka joined as well with a friend to the family, his name is Günter. They also slept outside in Pekka's caravan. It's midnight now, good night!

Norway!

Leaving for Norway now! See you all later!

For you Toine ;)

Going away!

Tomorrow I'm taking my things and I'm leaving! for Norway that is hehe. Goin away on caravan vacation with my parents. My dad is going fishing and me and mother...well we are just going to relax, read old lady magazines, do crosswords and watch tv series. And of course I will take plenty of pictures of the beautiful nature!