Thursday, July 30, 2009

Noble Creek Trail

A much needed escape to the mountains
Rin and I went up to visit Grandma. We went for a good hike on the Noble creek trail, one that I remember from childhood.
It was quite pretty
Rin loved it. went absolutely nuts racing up and down every hill he could.
mosquitos!
There were still some amazing wildflowers.



Rin cooling off
Not a bad view



Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Spectacular sunset

There was the most amazing sunset the other night. I climbed up onto my roof and watched it.
Couldnt decide which pic to post since the sunset kept changing and all that, so I put the whole progression
Stunning no?




I'm home!

Which most of you know since its been 2 1/2 weeks, but Ive been busy ok!? It is nice to be back with my darlings though Even if they were a little miffed that I left them behind
The best part was that Katherine picked me up from the airport and so I got to see Bella too (even if I was too tired to really interact with her)

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Finland: Turronsuo

On my way back to Helsinki, to pick up Eliska's son and give him the car, I took a side trip to one last park, Turronsuo
It was one giant bog with a nice lookout tower
cool view

Finland: Siikaneva

Another afternoon hike after running errands for Eliska (trying to keep her family informed when no one will tell me anything since I'm not family? ugh!). This time I went to the Siikaneva marshlands. There were amazing plants here
cottongrass

Sundew

lovely bogs
more cottongrass, it is just too photogenic to pass up
and here's what it looks like from a normal distance
It was a peaceful place
Lots of walking on these paths, for km at a time
More plants. don't know what these are though, sorry
Again, storms moving in the whole time, but I managed not to get wet
Fireweed and aspens (or something) rustling in the wind. seriously cool
The sphagnum makes pretty patterns
Dark clouds!

Finland: Tampere

Amusingly (or not, depending on how you look at it), the town Eliska and I were stuck in was the same one Dasa Jarka and I went through to get to Helvitenjarvi. Tampere is a pretty popular place, and rather spectacular with all the stormy lighting
I loved this art display
This was an old textile mill that is converted into a trendy new shopping center
My favorite part of the city was the dust art on this walkway
you may have to blow it up to get a better view, but it was super cool!
This was my favorite