Lapland is the northern-most area of Finland. It is sparcely populated by humans, but has over 200,000 reindeer. Driving becomes a hazardous activity with so many reindeer about. In our travels, we normally spotted at least a dozen a day, many just grazing along side the road and several in the road itself. One of our first stops in Finland was at a souvenir shop where we were refunded our taxes paid on items purchased in Norway. The first thing we noticed about the shop was the sign out front announcing “coffee and donut 50 cents.” This was quite a change from Norway where you couldn’t find a cup of coffee alone for under 2 Euro. On the steps of the shop was this collection of carved figures (trolls? elves?). Anyway, we expect that Verna’s mom can hardly wait to put one of these in her front yard. Now, which one???

Near the town of Muonio we stayed at a holiday center on the Muonionjoki river (above left). We were standing in Finland, viewing Sweden on the other side of the river. Several boats were on the river with fisherman. There were also gates for kayakers to race through.

This scene was much like we saw throughout Lapland. Although a bit more desolate in the north, there were lots of woods, rivers and lakes. It was absolutely beautiful country and a great place to ride the motorbikes. The lodging was limited in remote locations (of course, everything is remote in Lapland). But we always managed to find a place to rest our heads at the end of the day.

At the border crossing to Sweden, we found the sign above, right which we found to be an interesting translation into English. Above, left Verna is standing in Finland with her right hand in Sweden. So, Having left Norway in the morning, we were in three different countries in one day.

After traveling to the eastern border of Lapland, we headed south, crossing the Arctic Circle on this fine dirt road below, left. Actually, this was a main highway that was under construction, but the surface was fairly smooth. However, we did find several tertiary highways like the one above right that have never been paved. These too were in very good condition and we could easily drive 60 kph in most parts. The locals, however, sped by much more quickly in their cars. The surface was very hard packed with little dust. However, we expect that if the surface had been wet, it would have been very slick. Thank goodness for good weather.

And here we are, about as near to Russia as we could easily get. We actually drove another kilometer toward the border, but turned around at the Finnish customs office, about .9 km from the border.

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