We then drove south off the blustery and cloudy Cape to increasingly mild and sunny weather, first off the coastline, then the barren uplands, then a beautiful valley and large creek, then into Alta, where we re-fueled and re-provisioned. Then we headed inland on route 93, forsaking our old friends E6, and E10 and E69, up a long beautiful canyon and creeks, then into an upland lakes country, and the finally onto the vast northern Scandinavian plain. The hills are rolling, the trees are almost entirely scrubby aspen, and there are lakes everywhere. We had dinner overlooking one of ythese and then headed on, into Finland, about 6PM. We camped at a nice Finnish rest area, in the midst of serious snowmobile country: signs and trails everywhere. We had read that the reindeer head to the coastal areas in the summer, but we saw three big ones by the side of the road just into Finland, near Hetta, south of which we are camped. And then more.
Watched the sun, alas, set, although at midnight it was still full above the horizon. A hill-line in the distance spoiled our view.
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| Among the hazards of driving up north |
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| Reindeer husbandry in Finland (what about wifery? Vicki asks) |
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| It's our road, he seems to be saying |
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| Rack |
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| We eventually nudged them to one side; they're not exactly terrified of people
or vehicles
|
Vicki adds:
Hetta, Finland-- July 20, 2009
We just left Norway an hour ago, headed south to Paris. We loved Norway and could have spent another 3 weeks easily. We decided to go north to the Lofoten Islands which have to be one of the most gorgeous places in the world—see Mark's blog for pictures and details. Then when we found out my cousin wasn't going to be in Brussels for us to visit, we decided—what the hay—let's go to the North Cape. A place we had never heard of before 2 weeks ago, but it is the furthest northern point in Europe and a very popular destination for Europeans. (Be sure to look on an atlas and see how amazingly far north this is!) It was a mere 600 miles round trip out of the way, but then we knew we would never get this close again. It also allowed us to stop at another Unesco World Heritage Site—the rock carvings in Alta. Both were really cool, and tonight we are wild camping again and staying up till midnight to see the midnight sun. At the Cape last night, we could only see the midnight sun reflection due to the constant cloud bank over the Arctic Ocean. But given that it was the Arctic Ocean that is to be expected.
For those of you interested in the practical, we have wild camped the last 10 nights, staying for free at roadside pullouts and parks. Usually there are several other campers and even tenters, but not always. This is a huge wilderness area and very sparsely populated mostly by the Sami (Lapplander) people. Staying for free has been especially important as it costs about $150 for every fill up—or $ .30 a mile for diesel. We haven't had much in admission prices but that has been balanced out by the cost of the ferry boats. The Arctic Menu featured here of reindeer stew, cod, salmon also hasn't been that attractive—we haven't eaten out at all basically since the smorgasbord on the ship to Helsinki. Dinner for two would be at least $100 for a very basic meal. At the ESSO station they are having a special—two hot dogs and a small coke for only 49 kroners--$7.50.
I did have lunch at Burger King a few days ago—double cheeseburger, med. fry and small coke for $10. I asked the counter girl what she made-- $20 an hour. To start a person would make no less than $15. So that puts the prices into perspective. Basically a minimum wage worker in the US would have to work about 50 minutes to pay for that meal in the US and have no health benefits and probably no paid vacation or sick leave. In Scandinavia they would only have to work 40 minutes and get free health care and a month's paid vacation plus sick leave. That is why they have such an overall high standard of living and very little crime or poverty. Of course, they probably don't have the percentage of really high incomes that the US does because taxes are so high to pay for all the benefits. So basically the “socialism” that many in the US are so afraid of just means that the rich have a little less so that there isn't any poverty and all who work have the dignity of a living wage. Awful isn't it? I will get off my soapbox now.
It is 2200 miles from the North Cape to Paris where we pick up Rebecca on July 29 so we have to hustle.
Hetta, Finland-- July 20, 2009
We just left Norway an hour ago, headed south to Paris. We loved Norway and could have spent another 3 weeks easily. We decided to go north to the Lofoten Islands which have to be one of the most gorgeous places in the world—see Mark's blog for pictures and details. Then when we found out my cousin wasn't going to be in Brussels for us to visit, we decided—what the hay—let's go to the North Cape. A place we had never heard of before 2 weeks ago, but it is the furthest northern point in Europe and a very popular destination for Europeans. (Be sure to look on an atlas and see how amazingly far north this is!) It was a mere 600 miles round trip out of the way, but then we knew we would never get this close again. It also allowed us to stop at another Unesco World Heritage Site—the rock carvings in Alta. Both were really cool, and tonight we are wild camping again and staying up till midnight to see the midnight sun. At the Cape last night, we could only see the midnight sun reflection due to the constant cloud bank over the Arctic Ocean. But given that it was the Arctic Ocean that is to be expected.
For those of you interested in the practical, we have wild camped the last 10 nights, staying for free at roadside pullouts and parks. Usually there are several other campers and even tenters, but not always. This is a huge wilderness area and very sparsely populated mostly by the Sami (Lapplander) people. Staying for free has been especially important as it costs about $150 for every fill up—or $ .30 a mile for diesel. We haven't had much in admission prices but that has been balanced out by the cost of the ferry boats. The Arctic Menu featured here of reindeer stew, cod, salmon also hasn't been that attractive—we haven't eaten out at all basically since the smorgasbord on the ship to Helsinki. Dinner for two would be at least $100 for a very basic meal. At the ESSO station they are having a special—two hot dogs and a small coke for only 49 kroners--$7.50.
I did have lunch at Burger King a few days ago—double cheeseburger, med. fry and small coke for $10. I asked the counter girl what she made-- $20 an hour. To start a person would make no less than $15. So that puts the prices into perspective. Basically a minimum wage worker in the US would have to work about 50 minutes to pay for that meal in the US and have no health benefits and probably no paid vacation or sick leave. In Scandinavia they would only have to work 40 minutes and get free health care and a month's paid vacation plus sick leave. That is why they have such an overall high standard of living and very little crime or poverty. Of course, they probably don't have the percentage of really high incomes that the US does because taxes are so high to pay for all the benefits. So basically the “socialism” that many in the US are so afraid of just means that the rich have a little less so that there isn't any poverty and all who work have the dignity of a living wage. Awful isn't it? I will get off my soapbox now.
It is 2200 miles from the North Cape to Paris where we pick up Rebecca on July 29 so we have to hustle.
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