We have a standard routine that we have settled into. Generally most days. go like this. After waking, we get out the mats, bands and kettlebells for our morning exercise. This is followed by breakfast which is then followed by skiing. Depending where our ski will be we may or may not pack a lunch. Late afternoons will probably find us watching a show on the TV. Occasionally we find a good program, but more often then not we are watching a home remodeling show. Most of the shows are in English which is good for us. Supper is followed by a game of cribbage and more TV. Our decisions are few. The weather has been excellent for enjoying winter activities. We may not have planned an extended stay here, but life is good! We have no complaints and our airline says that they are still flying. Come May 3rd we will be heading back across the ocean.
There is a bit of a thaw the end of March and perhaps our skiing is getting close to over. We decide to take a walk-on the ice with our trekking poles.
There’s still plenty of snow out our condo window. Unless we have a major thaw we should still be skiing for awhile.
Sure enough we had a snow storm and the trails were back to being excellent.
On April 2, we were excited to celebrate our 42 years of adventures together.
it was so delicious that we are going to create more celebrations.
We are becoming experts at using google translate.
This signage was commenting on the postal route across the ice.
One day found us doing a longer loop in the forest. We were pleasantly surprised when we came upon a familiar sign.
It was the marker for the Border to Border ski even that we had done early March.
The days are getting noticeable longer and there is a feeling of the changing season.
There is still plenty of snow and the conditions are excellent in the morning.
On April 15, we have a good snow storm and once again the groomers are doing their magic.
We have been in Kemi for a month now and are enjoying our unexpected stay!
We do one of our longer skis this month after the snowstorm.
We are enjoying learning about Strava
Then we get the news. We thought that we were going to be leaving May 3, to head back to the states but we get this email.
Looks like our stay in Kemi will be extended!
We make a call to our landlord and he assures us that we can stay as long as we want. Our visa is good till June 3 so we have time to come up with a new plan.
Meanwhile Don is enjoying the varieties of Finland Beer and I am enjoying Finland chocolate.
The last snowstorm has enabled us to have one of our best long skis of the season. We started out on freshly groomed trail and were pleasantly surprised when we caught up to the groomer. The groomer was going the entire length of our favorite long trail. It was a fantastic closure to a great month of skiing.
Our last long ski with amazing conditions.
By the time the third week of April arrives, we have decided to put our skis away.
We feel fortunate that we skied as much as we did. When we now walk the trails there are still signs of diehard skiers who are making the most of the fading snow.
We are checking some new areas out. This area has promises for some good birding soon.
We discover an observation tower and enjoy several lunches there.
We also start doing as the Finnish people do, Nordic walking. We have brought our trekking poles and put them to good use on the paved trails. We have come to appreciate the paved biking trails that are quite numerous. With our skis put away our main exercise is now walking.
Today we did a 12 mile hike to check out the tourist attraction of an ice breaker,
Due to Covid, this attraction is closed.
We decide that we are going to see about getting bikes. Next time we see our landlord, we ask him about where we might find used bikes. He tells us that he will do some research.