In our grand tour of Finland, we clocked over 600km by air and nearly 2,000 behind the wheel. (This does not count our time behind a dog sled, snowmobile, reindeer sleigh or horse sled, or any other forms of transportation we enjoyed.)Some of the conditions were as expected for February in Finland – snow flying fast and fierce, the odd whiteout as a big truck passed, drifts that began to creep in from the shoulders – nothing these Canadians can’t handle. (And hat tip to the Finns for largely being courteous responsible drivers, we cursed much less at them then we have at our own countrymen in the past.)

We found ourselves delayed often, but surprisingly, the weather and roads weren’t the biggest factor.

As with every activity we did, the photo opportunities were just far too plentiful. And with the limited amount of daylight at our disposal, there was a point where we just had to cut it off.

“We’re going to be late. No more stops unless it’s REALLY spectacular.”

“Like, two Santas fighting spectacular.”

“No, two reindeers fist fighting with Santa refereeing.”

“No, two reindeers fighting with light sabres and elves…”

And so on.

(We stopped a few minutes later anyway.) And over and over again every day during our stay.