Rovaniemi to Keuruu and a visit to Santa's Office

Day 17: Rovaniemi to Keuruu: First a visit to Santa's house before we head further south to Keuruu. Perhaps a game of volleyball or a sauna at our lakeside camp. (Breakfast and Dinner included)

Hotel: Camping Nyyssanniemi
Breakfast: 7:45 Bags to the bus: 8:30 Bus departs: 8:45

My morning started like this:
I woke up at 8:08 and said, "Nancy, it's ten after eight."
Nancy: "What?"
Me: "It's ten after eight."
Nancy: "What?"
Me: "It's twenty minutes till bags to the bus!"

It's never good when you're day starts like that! And so started the mad dash to get ready in 20 minutes. One nice thing about a campsite is that when you wake up late you have to walk by everyone at breakfast in your PJ's so they all know you woke up late. It really adds to the experience. It figured it would be today too! Today was one of the days I was really looking forward to, we were going to see Santa! But not everyone was talking about us getting up late, since they had Corey to talk about, he apparently had too much to drink the night before, nothing is a secret on Contiki.

Anyway, at 9:00 we got to Santa's Village. I jumped off the bus to get to Santa to get my picture taken and still have time to shop. I was the first to find Santa and had a little chat with him while we set up for my picture. After I got my pictures I wrote up some post cards to send from Santa, and sent a picture to mom at home, I had bought the 5 postcard pictures for 25 euros so I could give them out to the family. After that I took some cheezy photos of me at Santa's and did some shopping until we left at 10:00. I even managed to have enough time to grab a pastry to eat for breakfast. On the bus I played Uno and Crazy 8's with Karl, Leah B, Jacqui, and Marie.

Our next stop was for lunch at 1:00, we were at a mall and for the first time in what felt like forever I didn't have to make my own lunch, someone else made me a cheeseburger. This made me very happy, I think if I had another roll, an apple and a banana for lunch I was going to turn into a fruity roll. After eating I found a pastry shop and got a pink frosted donut, it was good, but not as good as dunkin donuts. Then I still had a few minutes left to look around the mall and in the distance in a store I thought I saw a giraffe. I did! I bought myself a cute little giraffe and named her Clara. The only problem was that half the people on tour didn't think it looked like a giraffe because she didn't have a long neck, they thought Clara was a cow. We finally settled on referring to her as a ciraffe. But Clara and I knew the truth.

On this leg of the journey Karl, Jacqui, Marie and I played Crazy 8's, then Cathy, Marie, Karl, Kieran and I played Uno. As much as we played cards on the bus, it isn't always easy to do, but it makes the time go faster.

We got to the campsite at 6:30 and had half an hour to get ready for our meeting on the Russia part of the trip. The campsite was on a lovely lake, but the cabins were TINY! I don't know how someone actually thought 4 people would fit in it, let alone with luggage. But Lis, Jilly, Leah B and I made the best of it. Our suitcases were only opened when we needed them and at some point Leah took hers outside to get to her stuff.

At our meeting the mosquitoes were everywhere, and after Jilly's blood. Che told us about Dodgy Serge in St. Petersburg and Dodgy Michael in Yartsevo, as well as about Maggy our hyperactive Tour Manager for Russia. He also talked about the Russian Experience Package, and explained that it was an excellent value and that it would make our stay in Russia much better. Some people were a bit skeptical and hadn't budgeted for it. Then he had us fill out our applications for our Belarussian Visas.

After the meeting I ran for some bug spray wipes I had brought with me and then went to dinner. We had mild curry chicken which wasn't to bad, then Dion brought out Champagne and Ice Cream. It was Raspberry Champagne and one of the only times I actually enjoyed Champagne. After dinner I hung out by the fire with everyone talking. I even had the 3rd of my 4 Smirnoff Ices (I had the 2nd on the way to Nordkapp). I had been slow drinking them since I had a cold and wanted to get better. But I was feeling a bit better now so I figured I would have one. I had a nice chat with Dion, Wendy and Kevin tonight, which was nice since Wendy and Dion weren't going to Russia and I wanted to hang out a bit more with the people I wouldn't be seeing. At 12:30 I decided it was time to head to bed, tomorrow we were going to Helsinki and it was a bit of a transitional day since we would be meeting the group that was going to Russia with us.

Giving it all up and taking to the road...

Ok, not me, but the thought has crossed my mind. I was at dinner the other night with my sister and her husband. Her husband was talking about how dumb a girl he used to work with is. She left his accounting firm to be a Comptroller at another company. After 2 years she wanted a very large bonus (more then most people make in a year by a lot), she got part, but not all of it. She quit her job and went to some country in South America (sorry, I can't remember which, but that's not the point.) My sister also thought she was dumb and they laughed at her wasting all her bonus in South America.

I look at my sisters life - she's a stay at home Mom and her husband makes a lot of money, but he also works a lot of hours. He's up early in the morning to beat the NYC traffic and gets home too late for dinner most nights. Subsequently, he's not the biggest help with their kids. What type of life is that? Travel isn't for everyone, but earning money to buy "things" isn't for everyone either. And when you don't get much time to enjoy your "things" are you really enjoying the life that your money provides?

FYI, I'm not saying that my sister and her husband don't have a nice life and don't enjoy their family. But I wouldn't want their lives (not that I think they would want mine either.)

Naturally, the day after having this conversation I read this blog post, thanks Gary for reaffirming my feeling that this woman wasn't dumb.
You can find Gary at http://everything-everywhere.com he's got AWESOME pictures on his blog.

House Keeping

No, I'm not going to write about hotels, that would require me to actually go to one. Instead I'm going to just make an announcement. Drum roll please...

After listening to a recent episode of This Week In Travel I'm going to start posting a weekly photo. One of the things I love when traveling is taking pictures, I'm not expert, but I have a fair amount of good pictures that I think people will enjoy looking at.
This picture was taken in St. Petersburg, Russia around 9 or 10pm. I took it after leaving a Russian folklore show. Who doesn't love a sunset photo? But I also love the composition of the photo with the strongest sunlight behind the building, then the larger tree to the left of the photo. Most interesting to me, I took this on a moving bus.

I think this is a good time to mention that all of the photos I post on my blog are either mine or occasionally a friend or family members photo that was taken when I was with them. However, all of my pictures of the week will be my photos.

Enjoy!

Hammerfest to Rovaniemi

Day 16: Hammerfest to Rovaniemi: We leave the mountains of Norway to travel south through the lakes and forests of Finland. Cross back over the Arctic Circle to Rovaniemi, the traditional home of Santa Claus. (Breakfast and Dinner)
Hotel: Taveco Ky

Breakfast: 6:30 Bags to the bus: 7:15 Bus departs: 7:30

This mornings hot breakfast was chocolate pancakes, since Dion couldn't find any regular milk, only chocolate, they were tasty. Then we started our drive South to Finland, and saw a sign that the temperature was 11° (52° F), not wonder I was always cold. We had a stop at 9:30 at a supermarket, I tried to finish off my Norwegian Kroners since this was our last stop in Norway, but ended up with 50 Nkr left. Then we had another stop at the border to get back our Tax Free monies, I got 100 Nkr back. We entered Finland at 11:48 and had to set our watches ahead another hour. We made two more stops on the way to camp before arriving around 7:00.

When Che handed out the rooming sheet earlier he had neglected to mark which rooms were male and which were female. I had fallen asleep after signing up and am not exactly sure what transpired after, but shortly after I woke up Che came by asking if I minded sharing with Karl. I said ok, Karl is a sweetheart and totally harmless, it was only one night anyway. So my roommates were Karl and Nancy. Karl volunteered to take the pull out bed. After scoping out the campsite (there were 4 co-ed bathrooms - getting ready in the morning would be interesting) and declining an invite to play soccer (I didn't feel the need to embarrass myself or hurt myself like others had done throughout the trip). Instead I waited on line to use the internet until dinner, but ran out of time and lost my place in line to eat dinner.

We had a nice dinner of roast chicken, which made up for our average dinners the last few nights. I then made a made dash to the internet so I could write home. Because there was only one computer here and pretty much everyone wanted to use it we had to limit our time to about 10 minutes each. At least everyone at home would know I was alive and well.

After that I hung out in the bar for a while chatting with everyone and having a few drinks. It was a nice night since we all got to hang out together, some got to play pool and others danced. Nancy and I decided to head back around 1am, and Karl stayed behind. When Karl came in a little after 2am Nancy and I were still awake. Apparently he had waited a while so we would have time to get ready and go to bed before he came back, but found us "giggling" in bed instead. I set my alarm for 6:45 and went to sleep.

Finding Love...

A couple weeks ago I was talking to my friend who was telling me about her new boyfriend, they met in the airport. I was surprised, I spend a lot of time in airports (ok, more then the average person does) and the best I've done was have a conversation with another woman on a plane.

I've found the answer to finding love in the airport - Jetiquette! The Jetiquette radio show recently did a Valentines Day show about finding romance at the airport and on the plane. I had a lot to learn... Maybe it's the stress of traveling or all the strange things that happen at airports, but I never really thought about the airport or the plane as a sexy place. But with all those airport employees and airline personnel it kinda makes sense.

Some of the tips I picked up:
- Don't wear you PJ's to the airport. Dress up a bit and look nice, something you should do all the time. Hey, you never know when you'll meet the man/woman of your dreams.

-Look at people, as a NYer it's considered rude to look people in the eye, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be looking at people to find a nice looking one.

-When you find that person that looks good, look them in the eye and say Hi.

Things may or may not work out from there, but all that is a good place to start.

All of a sudden I want to go to the airport and see how it works. But if you get there first, good luck!

Getting back on my feet and Air Traffic Control

Last week I had surgery on my mouth and it has had me down a lot longer then I expected. I had some stuff set up and ready to go, but not enough. You can read more about that on my blog about my dental issues - Creatingabeautifulmouth. So I'm really just now getting back on my blogging feet and catching up with the travel news. I have a couple ideas about some posts I would like to write, as well as continuing my travelogue on Scandi and Russia.

One thing I do want to write about briefly was the air traffic controller who let his kid go on the radio, it's been all over the news... One blog I read said they didn't think anyone was in danger, other people are outraged. I think the guy was dumb, he was trying to give his kid a cool experience and maybe in another area with less traffic it would be cute. But it's one of the busiest areas of the country, if not the busiest. I don't think anything truly tragic would have happened, and if Dad and the boss were really paying attention they probably would have averted any problems. But if the kid made a mistake there could have been an almost accident, that would just freak out a bunch of people - the air traffic controllers, ground crews, the pilots, flight crews, anyone who saw it, anyone on the plane... Even if there was one injury, was it worth it? Air Traffic Controllers make mistakes from time to time, do you really want to risk your kid making one too? And did this guy not think anyone would notice? The kid sounds young enough to go running to school the next day and tell all his friends, and then they tell their parents... Obviously the pilots noticed too, and all it takes is one person to complain. But I guess he realizes all this now. But it got me wondering if this is just a problem with this one guy and his boss, or is this a societal problem where Mom's and Dad's are having trouble raising their kids vs being cool....

Hammerfest

Day 15: Hammerfest at Leisure: After a relaxing morning, why not check out the local town. (Breakfast and Dinner included)

Hotel: Hammerfest Turistsenter As
Breakfast: 11:00

I set my alarm for 10:30 so I would be up in time for breakfast, but woke up at 10:00. I thought about taking a shower, and waited so long it stated to rain, and decided not to shower. So I got out of bed at 10:40 and got ready for breakfast and got my stuff ready for a shower, this way I could climb down the hill for breakfast then take a shower while I was still down there and save myself a trip up and down the hill. When I went to dry my hair my hairdryer just stopped half way through. I tried a couple different ways to fix it but nothing worked - ugh!

After my shower I did some laundry and talked to Nancy. We discussed walking into town, but it never happened. Apparently we didn't miss much. Everything in town was closed since it was a Monday and a Holiday, Pentecost Monday. When I finished my laundry I folded it in the cabin while talking to Lis. I told her about my hairdryer and she suggested that I put it back on the US voltage (it was a travel dryer with dual voltage) and then plug it into my converter, it worked. It didn't work as well, but it worked. It rained on and off all afternoon so I took a nap for an hour and a half. This was a nice day of relaxation.

In the afternoon a bunch of people had gone down to the water and arranged to go fishing. Contiki used to offer a fishing trip for this day of the tour, but the guy sold the boat and they had not yet arraigned a new optional, so this had to be arranged separately. When I woke up after my nap I was hungry and concerned that we would be having fish for dinner, which I don't like, so I went and had a hotdog. In the meantime I found out that we were not having fish for dinner (unless you had gone fishing). We also found out that Dion didn't have much of a plan for our dinner - pasta with Sweet and Sour Sauce. Skye and I helped save dinner. We had him get canned tomatoes and crushed them, so we would have spaghetti for dinner.

After dinner I decided that it was time for ice cream dessert, so off Lis, Jilly, Kate and I went to the Statoil. After that it was a big night of Uno with Kate, Andrew, Lis, and Tom. Then Jilly and Leah B came in. While all this was going on a bunch of crazy people on tour did a polar bear plunge. I decided it was too cold to go outside, let alone in the ocean. I couldn't even be bothered bundling up to watch. During the Uno game Tom saw Corey outside and waved, so Corey came over to talk for a bit. Somehow we got onto a conversation about stereotypes people have about people from particular countries. Australians do not all have Kangaroos and Koala Bears (which are really just Koala's). So I said, yea and not every American has a gun (this had come up several times during tour with several people). I followed up with the fact that half of Americans actually own guns. Corey said that most of them don't know how to use them, huh? what? Wasn't sure how this related. It then got heated while we were trying to figure out what he was talking about. Leah B, "but Corey." Then Corey would interrupt, this went on a couple times until I lost it. I'm not really sure what I said, but half the room was laughing, the other half in shock and Corey dropped it. Sorry Corey, I know you meant well but I got frustrated. Not to long after that Corey and Andrew left since we were getting ready for bed (Kate had left a bit earlier, before my outburst), Tom was going to leave too, but we ended up talking about something else for a bit.

Ramfjord to Hammerfest

Day 14: Ramfjord to Hammerfest.: On to our northern-most point, the 'Land of the Midnight Sun', crossing some of the most famous salmon fishing grounds in the world. This evening why not visit Nord Kapp, the Northernmost point of Europe?(Breakfast and Dinner included)

Hotel: Hammerfest Turistsenter As
Bags to the bus: 5:45 Bus departs: 6:00

The longest day in Contiki history started with my alarm at 5:20, the reason I took an evening shower. We did not have breakfast at camp today so we could save time. Instead, Dion packed up breakfasts to eat on the bus this morning. Breakfast was a ham and cheese sandwich, boxed orange juice and a muesli bar. Our first stop was at 9:20, for 45 minutes, at a little restaurant place. Che thought it was closed, but it was open, thankfully, it was quite cold and there was no where else to go here. After this stop Che handed out the rooming list for Russia. He had not mentioned this before, and I ended up without a roommate, which would soon change. Skye didn't want to room with Ted (he snores), and wanted to room with Tania. Well this screwed up the rooming, forcing a couple to split up. Once they figured out what happened Che put Ted and Skye back together and I was to room with Tania. Not everyone was happy with this, but I was fine with it since I got along with everybody.

Just before 12 we stopped in Alta for 45 minutes. There was a museum (rocks, I think) with a little cafe, and restrooms. I had a muffin to pass the time. We almost left Skye, Tania, Danny and Samar behind, they ran after the bus as it started to pull out, close call and it wasn't a good day to miss the bus. Basically after that we drove through Bumblef*ck Norway. I couldn't figure out how people live here. The trees are sporadic (and sparse), and houses randomly placed through the countryside (if you can call it that), and half look like they are about to collapse (both the trees and the houses). Apparently for fun the locals go to the campsite we stayed at the night before for the weekend, we saw some of them at the campsite and they seemed to have a good time. I don't think I could live here, the campsite seemed nice for a weekend, but every weekend?

Che talked to us about Norway on the bus, he explained that the major industries in Norway are fish, and ship building. They are not part of the European Union, in part because they are a new country and want their independence. Of course they end up following the guidelines set by the EU so they can trade with EU Countries, eventually they will probably join. We arrived at our campsite in Hammerfest at 3:00. FYI: Hammerfest is the northern most city in Europe.
Our cabins were at the top of a BIG F&*king hill! Of course the showers, (which I heard were good) the cook tent and bus were at the bottom. So I had to drag my bag up the hill, which wasn't much fun. At the top there was a bathroom with sinks and toilets so you didn't have to go hiking in the middle of the night if you had to go to the bathroom. I was rooming with Lis, Jilly and Leah B. here for two nights, the windows had white curtains with little flowers, very nice. Unless of course you're in Hammerfest in the beginning of June, when the sun doesn't go down! Even stranger was that this was not the only place that had light colored shades on the windows where the sun doesn't (or barely) go down. I'm done with my tirade - the sun never kept me from sleeping anyway, but I know it bothered some other people.

Anyway, we had dinner at 5:30, which was pretty tasty since we got our food supplies at a Statoil (gas station convenience store), it was a Sunday and we were in the middle of nowhere, they couldn't find an open grocery store. During dinner Dad called, apparently the family was getting concerned because they hadn't heard from me. I guess no one told them they don't have the internet in the middle of nowhere. I knew before I went, I was just in denial until now.

The bus for Nordkapp left promptly at 7pm, with a new driver. Andy had already used all his driving hours for the day so Contiki (with our money from the optional) hired a driver for this trip. This meant that Andy got to party it up tonight! His first job, bathroom nazi! Everyone was celebrating with some drinks on the way up, which meant they had to go to the bathroom. Andy tried to keep them out since the bathroom only holds so much. We did make a stop on the way so people could use the bathroom, I tried to get a picture of some reindeer at this stop, but the guys kept scaring them away. After that I got dragged into a conversation about the military with Corey, where he said something insulting about Marines, but insisted he was joking. I thought it was in poor taste, but kept my mouth shut.

We got to Nordkapp at 10:30 and I made a mad dash to the gift shop, it took me a while but I figured out that I wanted a key chain, t-shirt for dad, certificate (that I'd been to Nordkapp), a book and a couple postcards to send home with a Nordkapp stamp. After I finished my shopping I went out to get a picture with the Globe. My book says that the globe is "situated at the very extreme point of the North Cape plateau, it symbolizes our common planet. This is the meeting point for the peoples of the World." It doesn't say that it's cold and windy here, which is why I didn't take too many pictures before running in to do my postcards.

After writing my postcards I was talking with Skye and Tom and somehow the conversation came to the rooming situation and it was agreed that Tom and Skye would share a room in Russia, if Ted agreed. Conveniently, Ted walked by shortly after and agreed to the switch, he would now be rooming with Corey. At midnight we all went out to see the midnight sun, but luck was not on our side. We were among the 92% of people who do not see the sun at midnight, but the sun had been out a little earlier, and that would have to suffice since I don't see myself heading back any time soon. Everyone took lots of pictures and then I made a run for the "Children of the World" monument so I could get pictures before we left at 12:30. Of course there were some other tourists there taking pictures and getting in the way of mine. Didn't they know my bus was leaving in a few minutes?

On the bus ride back Che played his guitar a bit while we all tried to sing along, which isn't so easy when people only remember the first verse of a song and had been drinking. It was actually pretty fun, and showed a bit more of Che's personality. Marie tried to get him to play Bon Jovi, she's a big fan and was asking for Bon Jovi songs all night. While driving we saw Reindeer everywhere and every time I tried to get a picture I failed. Finally I just watched them, and it was sooo much better then getting a picture. I saw a couple of babies following their mothers, and the kids sized ones seemed to be playing with each other. It was nice to see nature doing it's thing, relatively undisturbed. And for a moment, in a beautiful place with the sun out at 1am and reindeer playing with each other, I felt like I was a better person for having been to this place.

Finally we made a stop halfway back and there was a reindeer, all by himself, watching the bus pull in. I jumped off to take a picture, I was the first one there, and got a nice picture of Dion feeding him. Then everyone started to feed him, he eventually decided that I should feed him (I thought he wanted to eat me), his nostrils flared as he looked at me and started to run to me, I ran away. That's how I like to remember the story, but Chris has it all on tape, and apparently he was just walking toward me when I ran away. I like my version better. Everyone tried to feed him and take pictures and pet him, I watched from the bus. When the bus pulled out he followed us, he was running for quite a few minutes after the bus, it was so sweet, poor little guy. He was alone so I wonder if he got separated from his family.

After that the bus calmed down a bit as people started to get tired. Leah B, Nancy and James talked to Corey about his alarm. Apparently he has trouble getting up in the morning and needs time to adjust to getting up, or something like that. Basically, his alarm went off really early and well before he got up, waking everyone else in his room up.

At some point Skye had to use the bathroom, but couldn't get it open, several people tried, but couldn't either. Eventually Andy had to get the key to open the bathroom. It was kinda funny watching people try to open the door, when it was obviously locked. The bus got back around 3:30 in the morning, and I got to bed at 3:45am, making it an over 22 hour day. But we would be able to sleep late tomorrow.

Mo I Rana to Ramfjord

Day 13: Mo I Rana to Ramfjord: Today, we cross the Arctic Circle to Narvik, a bustling port completely rebuilt after World War II. Our campsite tonight is situated by the water. (Breakfast and Dinner included)

Hotel: Ramfjord Camping

Breakfast: 6:30 Bags to the bus: 7:15 Bus departs: 7:30

Today's shower was simply lovely without hot water, NOT! Around 8:30 we had a stop at the Arctic Circle (66° 33N), it was cold and rainy, but I got my picture taken with arctic circle markers. When we got back on the bus Che explained to us about the Arctic Circle and how because of the way the earth rotates the Arctic Circle moves a bit every year. At 10:00 we made a stop for groceries, and were again told to stock up, I bought a pre-made sandwich that I would eat on our ferry. I don't know where we were or what we were crossing, but we had a 30 minute ferry ride that we could eat lunch on, much better then on the bus. They had some hot food on the boat, but not enough to feed us all in 30 minutes so it was a good thing we had bought lunch.

I slept for a good portion of our trip today, but did wake up at one point and got to see a beautiful waterfall. And at 3:00 I saw my first moose. At 3:45 we stopped in Narvik the "bustling port," you guessed it, not a thing to do. Nothing was open, we were lucky to find a hotel that would let us use the bathroom. After that we took goofy pictures with statues, sometimes you have to make your own fun. But Narvik was an important port to the Germans in WW II, it also appeared in an episode of Lost.

We got to camp at 7:30 and I roomed with Leah D and Kirsteen. Our camp was on another river and lake. I was lucky I had one of the decent cabins, though most of the couples had a REALLY nice cabins.

Before dinner I took a little walk around, got some tokens for the shower (5NKr for 3 minutes) and then hung out with Chris, Jacqui, Kate, Andrew, Lis and Leah B. After dinner I was going to take another night time shower, but somehow ended up playing Uno instead. Probably worked out better since I heard they ran out of hot water in the bathroom - two cold showers in a row would not do. When we quit Uno at midnight I took a shot at it and there was hot water in the bathroom, score! I ended up going to bed with a wet head since there were no plugs in the bathroom and both my roomies were in bed sleeping.

Mo I Rana - Iceberg Right Ahead!

Day 12: Mo I Rana Sightseeing: A chance to visit the Svartisen glacier (Norway's second largest), subject to weather conditions. This afternoon free time to relax by the lake and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. (Breakfast and Dinner included)

Hotel: Rossvoll Senter

Breakfast: 8:30 Bus departs: 9:15

This morning we were off to Svartisen Glacier, it seemed we might have gotten a bit lost on the way to the boat, but we got there, which is all that counts. The boat ride took about 20 minutes and then we had to hike on what was pretty much a mountain, almost all plain old rock. The hike wasn't so bad, though it was raining most of the time and a bit slippery. We found a waterfall early on in the hike, which was really nice. After about 45 minutes we got to the sign that says you shouldn't go any further since it's not safe. A couple people went closer to the glacier, but I didn't. I was already worried about getting back down, so I wasn't going any further.

After I got there and took a few pictures it was time to head back. I was a little nervous about climbing down. There were quite a few big steps up that I had to now go down, preferably without falling and hurting myself. I slowly made my way down. Towards the end, where it was just walking I managed to twist my ankle and fall down, but I was fine. I found this whole hiking thing too stressful, trying not to fall is hard work, I'm never going hiking again!

Inject - that was my original opening paragraphs; however, I remember this much differently. The hike up was a workout, but not difficult. But I was very worried about hiking back down, I have a fear of hiking down, it's slippery and I tend to have visions of falling and breaking a leg. Hiking back down I was on the verge of tears at one point because I was so afraid and having trouble navigating the rocky landscape. I would follow the trail of other people but would end up in a spot with a valley that was too steep to climb down and back up and would have to back track to another spot. On top of all that drama in my head I was so slow I was afraid I would be the last one back and the boat would leave without me.

Back to the original post:

We were back at the campsite a little after 1pm for lunch and a rest. I had lunch, washed some clothes and then and went for a walk, it was me, Nancy, Skye and Jacqui. One of the women in the grocery store gave us some general directions to a waterfall. Along the way we found a horse, he wasn't hard to find since you could smell the farm he was on from a mile away. He was a nice horse, he came up to the edge of his roped in area to get petted. We kept walking after that and found a power plant and we thought we could hear a waterfall, but couldn't really find it. We poked around a bit and there it was, it was HUGE and we could climb the rocks near it (since I enjoyed climbing rocks so much). Jacqui and I were a bit nervous at first, but we both made it so we could get some pictures. Then we climbed up through the woodsy area and made our way back to camp. When we got back people were starting to stir again so Nancy, Lis, Jacqui and I played Uno.

We had an early dinner tonight, 6:30. After dinner I went (as did many people) to the grocery store for ice cream, we deserved a treat after all the hiking we did that day, not that we needed an excuse for ice cream, this was a vacation. After that we watched some track and field competition on TV (something you can understand when it's not in English) and made it an early night.