Back in Finland

We moved back to Finland at the end of October. Here our tiny apartment next to the Viikki campus of the University of Helsinki.















A week after returning to Finland Markku left to Asia. When he came back at the beginning of December the piles of snow were already high. Otso is looking the scenery through a telescope while waiting for the bus. In the background the building where we live.








Going to the zoo soon after Markku got back home. The sea was already frozen but ice was still so thin that normal ships could break it. Therefore the icebreakers (in the far left) still wait in the harbour.




















The city centre of Helsinki is around 10 km from where we live. This year winter started already at the mid-November and pulling Aaro in a sledge has been easier than pushing him in the stroller.







Our home is next to the experimental farm of the University of Helsinki and thus we have cows, horses and sheep living as our neighbours.













Otso and Aaro climbing a slope from a small pond on our backyard. Bigger boys playing ice-hockey in the background.
















The same pond from a different angle.










Otso digging a snow cave in a natural wind blown snow pile in front of our bedroom window.







Boys playing in front of our living room window.













Aaro posing.












Otso walking in the field that begins from our backyard.











Boys making “snow angels”.

In the future we will update our blog much less frequently (if ever as our adventures are over for now). We started the blog after moving to Malaysia in 2005: www.markkukatja.blogspot.com.

Päivätämme blogiamme jatkossa paljon harvemmin (jos ikinä, koska seikkailumme ovat tällä erää ohi). Aloitimme blogimme muutettuamme Malesiaan vuonna 2005 osoitteessa www.markkukatja.blogspot.com.

Syys-lokakuu 2010 - Lomalla Yhdysvalloissa

We left Panama on mid-September to have a five-week-holiday in Western USA before moving back to Finland. We got plenty of useful tips from many Gamboans for our trip, thanks everybody! On the way to Denver, Colorado, we changed planes in Miami and had time to go for lunch and to a playground in the art deco district of Miami Beach.














We were allowed to have two pieces of luggage each – stroller and car seats are not counted. This was quite a lot (you cannot see the biggest box on which Otso is sitting on). Katja went to get the rental car while Markku and boys waited after the tiring day.














For autumn colours our timing was perfect. Most deciduous plants were yellow during the whole trip as we first went to the North and came back to Denver taking a more southern route.





















Moose in Grand Teton National Park (NP).

One of the very favorite activities of Otso (here) and Aaro was throwing stones into lakes and rivers.

Katja and boys running to avoid sprays from a small geyser close to Old Faithful in Yellowstone NP.








Finnish and other European people might have difficulties in believing that we took this photo in the middle of a NP. Most European NPs do not have major roads.














Yellowstone had huge forest fires in 1988. These fallen contorta pines trunks are from trees killed in those fires.

The night temperature in the Yellowstone backcountry was well below freezing and we were pretty cold with our equipment more suitable for summer camping.

Bisons.

After a long day in the car Otso was the most energetic animal of Glacier NP.

Otso enjoying the scenery.

Mountains of Glacier NP.

Dense stand of contorta pines regenerated straight after a fire.

Somebody got a new home in two pieces (this is something one can never see in Finland).

The dryer side of the Cascades in Washington state.

Katja carrying Aaro to a backcountry campsite in North Cascades NP. This was the first area where we saw really tall trees during our trip. The douglas fir under which we slept was 81 m tall.

We decided to cross the national border to Vancouver to say hello to Markku’s mother’s class mate Leena and her sons and to see if Canada is different from USA.












Leena showed us much of the city. The owners of this house use all space to produce food. Without kids needing a lawn to play this is clever and ecological land use.

Katja and boys having the first glimpse of Vancouver Island from a ferry. They were still unaware of the terrible hassle that waited for us there.

Wet maritime forest in Central Vancouver Island.

Staff in the tourist information office in Port Alberni recommended us to go to see bears trying to catch salmon swimming and jumping to breed up the river. Unfortunately there was too much water for bears but just seeing so much salmon close to the edges of the rapids was like watching a nature documentary.

We took some unpaved roads to cross the island. We had worse luck than probably anybody has had on that road and had in total four flat tires and had to camp in the middle of large clear cuts less than one km from where we saw a black bear on the road side. There was no mobile phone coverage in that area, but the following morning a forest worker passed by and later drove us to the closest village.The closest tow truck that was big enough came from a town three hours away. This adventure increased our travel budged by over a thousand dollars.

Elk in the morning mist close to Olympic NP.

Markku testing how the rangefinder that has been used to measure the heights of the tropical trees works for really tall conifers in Olympic NP.

Boys looking down to a stream from a perfect natural bridge.

Katja and boys eating bread and fruits for lunch in coastal parts of Olympic NP.

Katja was wisely a bit further away from the surf. Few minutes after Markku took this photo Aaro and Markku got wet feet.

Coastal Oregon.

Redwood NP.

Katja with other Eurasian tourists just after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco. She is enjoying being in a city after quite a few NPs and is looking forward to spending the rest of the day without Markku and boys.

Markku and boys went first to the harbour to watch sea lions.

Then Markku and boys went to the California Academy of Sciences which had all kinds of exhibits. In the evening Markku’s sister Suvi and her husband Tuomas joined us to travel all the way back to Denver.

Boys under water in Monterrey aquarium.

Otso climbing on a southern redwood in Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

Yosemite NP.












Suvi and Katja waking up at the same time. It remained a mystery to us why so many people with more time than us camp in crowded campgrounds and basically nobody in the free, quieter and of course more scenic backcountry.

Mule deer.

Breakfast.

Markku on a dead sequoia in Yosemite NP.

Boys on snow first time after a long break. Because of the early snow the road over the mountains was closed in the morning, but luckily was opened later and we did not need to take the much longer way to get to the East from Yosemite Valley.

Tuomas and Otso jumping from a dune in Death Valley NP.

Katja giving Aaro some salty sand to taste in a salt flat in Death Valley.

A coyote tired of begging food from people who have read the NP regulations too carefully.