The Lavaja Diaries: Rovaniemi

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Rovaniemi: Santa's Village

Rusty and I got up early the morning after our husky ride to go meet Santa! I made some of my family in Utah stay up so they could watch us online- there is a live feed (if you're ever bored go to santaclauslive.com to watch a bunch of tourists meet Santa haha). We made sure to be there when they opened at 10am, since that was already 2am in Utah! We were the only ones there, so we got to meet with Santa for 10 minutes. We were told by an elf that that was a record because visits usually last 3-4 minutes. During our time with him, we introduced ourselves, talked about Rudolph and Utah, Rusty sang him Jingle Bells, we chatted about volleyball, and Facetimed my sisters Kirsten and Kendall so they could talk to him as well...we were pretty excited no one was in line to meet him so we could just keep chatting...but maybe Santa wasn't as excited?... ;)

Next on our Santa's Village to-do list: The reindeer! I get so excited just seeing them, and they take me right back to my childhood days watching Prancer...Anyways, Rusty and I recently bought a reindeer pelt. After hearing "Awe that's so sad" from each one of my family members, I began to feel guilty/sad for the reindeer. But, my guilt was relieved after talking to a lady who worked with the reindeer. She informed me that they're usually only killed for food (reindeer meat is pretty popular here) and then they take the fur. Phew!

Rusty and I got stamps in our passports, so we can officially say we've been to the Arctic Circle! The lady who stamped them chose the page that has a bear fishing in the river with the sun in the background because she said it could be Finland at 1am since the sun doesn't go down in the summer.

We also paid a visit to the huskies, including four husky puppies (insert heart eye emoji), shared a "Santa Burger", saw the world's largest snowmen, and visited Santa's post office, which is where kids' letters to Santa actually get mailed. They have bins full of letters, and a huge case to organize them by country- there were letters from everywhere. Jamaica, Honduras, Turkmenistan, even places I hadn't even heard of!

Thanks to Rovaniemi- we made a major dent in our winter bucket list. Finland is still managing to pleasantly surprise me. I'm becoming more of a winter person each day and I am so grateful for the once in a lifetime experiences I have had out here so far.

Our trip made it feel like Christmas all over again!

I got so nervous meeting Santa, I forgot where we lived haha...

You can't really see it, but there is a sign pointing straight down that says
"Center of the Earth 6370km". I really felt like we were at the North Pole!

Rusty refused to take a picture with this elf...but I had to because it was so Finnish

Monday, February 23, 2015

Rovaniemi: Husky Ride

Rovaniemi. Home of Santa Claus.

Yes, thee Santa Claus! He lives there year-round. If you would have told me a year ago I would visit a place where it's Christmas all year long, I wouldn't have believed it even existed, but dreams do come true! The city is about three hours north of Oulu and it sits right on the Arctic Circle. Rusty recently had a game there and then had the weekend off, so we got to have a little weekend getaway. Joe Smalzer, an American who plays for the team there, was nice enough to let us stay at his place!

I realized about a month before, Rusty would have the weekend off, so I got to planning and then began waiting anxiously for January 30th! I was super excited for many reasons....reindeer sleigh rides, husky puppies, northern lights, Santa...I mean, they had me at reindeer! Plus, Kirsten and I had been there before, so I was excited Rusty would get to experience it too.

The game went well- we won! After, we we all loaded into the bus (through the back door because apparently, during the game, a car crashed into the side of the bus and hit the front door!) and went to dinner at a restaurant called Wingston, which has delicious American food. Rusty and I drove over to Joe's once we had finished dinner- the coach's brother (who we had never even met) let us borrow his car for the weekend! Nicest guy ever! I'm still amazed at his generosity, and grateful for Rusty's coach, who was so willing to help- he arranged the car for us and a husky ride! A friend of his owns a husky farm, so we were able to get a deal on a 2.5 hour husky sled ride! Ahhhh! Pinch me! A husky ride has been on my bucket list, so I had been anticipating this moment since the day we arrived in Finland back in September.

The next morning we got prepared (bundled up) to go on the husky ride and then went to pick up Jani, Rusty's teammate.

On our way to the husky farm we realized the gas light was on and the car was completely empty- no big deal, right? Wrong! We were driving north, past the Arctic Circle, in the barren land of Northern Finland. We didn't find a gas station for the next 30 minutes. I was getting so nervous, but luckily we ended up finding one before the car stopped running and we were stranded somewhere in the Arctic.

We finally made it to the husky farm! I thought we would all be riding in a sled, but then the guide started explaining how to drive it! Rusty and Jani both drove their own sled! I rode most of the time, but got the chance to try my hand at driving...at least until Rusty didn't trust me and made me switch back haha.

The experience was magical. Seriously. My fingers and toes may have been so cold that I was worried about frostbite- but it was so worth it.

I had never seen such beautiful winter scenery in my life. It was breathtaking. And as if that weren't enough, we were being pulled through it by eight cute huskies. They had so much energy- all they wanted to do was run. When we stopped for a break halfway through they were chomping at the bit to get going again (as you can see in one of the videos below). I immediately loved them! I named them and would yell praises at them, such as, "you guys are so cute", "you're doing so great", through out the ride. I swear I would see them pick up the pace every time I complimented them. We had such a valiant little team and they were just so happy!

We finished off our amazing day with great food and great company- Jani, Rusty and I went back to Wingston to meet up with Josh and Tehane for dinner.

Tomorrow's Agenda: Santa's Village!