Harmony - Live, Love, Laugh

Well, I had a pretty uneventful flight from Calgary to Helsinki, got to see what Lady Gaga was all about from one of the in flight videos, and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The show theme was 'Monsters Ball' and it was very well choreographed. Okay, I'm a little weird!

Upon arriving in Helsinki I had to catch a bus down to the main train station where Kärolin met me, and from there we caught a cab to the ferry terminal. It was quite rainy and stormy as we left the main train station for the ferry, and it never crossed my mind how rough this ferry ride might actually be. Well..........let me tell you.....it was ROUGH! In my estimation the seas were roughly 4 meters, and the bow of that ship was pitching at least that through every wave we encountered. In fact, we were sitting up better than half the height of the boat and the spray from the waves was blasting past our windows! It is actually making me nactious writing about it! Kärolin and I weren't the only ones experiencing the sea sickness though. There were numerous other passengers heaving, and ralfing into their plastic bags as well. Fortunately after my visit with ralf I felt somewhat better and was able to withstand the remainder of the 3 hour journey with a little bit of dignity :)

I will write more as my trip progresses. Kärolin and I have a few things planned so I will share more as we experience them.

Lufhansa Business Class with the new seat styling that extends almost like a bed! I WISH!!!

Frankfurt Main. Definitely Lufthansa country!

A lonely Air Canada jet amongst the White and Blue

Interestingly a familiar sight in Helsinki. (Shell gas station) with the identical store front theme to those in Canada

An atypical view of Tallinn's Old Town taken from my bus tour.

Marina with the ferry terminal in the background

The ferry that runs between Tallinn Estonia and Helsinki Finland. Hard to believe the seas would toss a ship of this size around as much as it did on our ferry ride from Helsinki! The seas were VERY rough that night, I'm guessing 4m swells.

Estonia's famed 'Song Festival Grounds'.

Notice the mist surrounding the ferry. It's constantly barraged by the waves of the Baltic Sea! Quite a ride let me tell you. I was introduced to ralf on that ship.

Tallinn's TV Tower. The tower was abandoned for a number of years but is now being restored, and the Sky view restaurant plus a history exhibit for the tower will reopen sometime in the near future, 2012.

Chef Kärolin and her salmon creation :)

Roasted beet root and garlic, green beans, and lemon baked salmon on a bed of mesclun(mixed) greens. It was delicious!!!!

Rosin being Rosin.

Karolin opening her Christmas present. She actually knew all along but was nice enough to act surprised! :)

Kärolin and Roger (sister Katlin and Rainer's first) at just over 1 month

Sporting my new scarf that Kärolin knitted for me for Christmas :)

Well, I finally made it up to Whitehorse to see my buddy Kyle! Kyle is an engineer for AirNorth the local fixed wing company that flys in and out of Whitehorse to Calgary, Vancouver, and Edmonton. Kyle and I went to school together back in 2003 at Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek, BC. So it has been a long overdue visit, basically 8 years! He has a wonderful girlfriend Casey, and one child, a dog named Wednesday. They live on a beautiful 2 acre parcel just north of the city in a very wilderness setting, the pictures to follow will explain more. Kyle grew up in Whitehorse, and Casey from Haines Junction, also in the Yukon, so I couldn't have hired a better couple to show me around and learn about this magical place! Fortunately the weather did come around on the latter part of my trip and we were able to get out and play in the outdoors and see the surrounding scenery.

Another bonus of the trip was to see my old friend Scott Keesey and his family who had moved to Whitehorse 7 years ago. That also was a far too long, overdue visit! They too have a wonderful house in Whitehorse, and much of their time is spent doing outdoor activities with their family, plus all the other incidentals that come along with raising a young family. Sorry, no pic's of the Keesey clan this time around, but I can assure you they have two very cute young kids, Liam 6, and Sabine 3. There is a set of photos from this summer from Kelowna on my blog if you need a photo refresher :) However we did manage to have two very nice visits, and Scotty and I braved the masses at their local ski swap Saturday morning, but unfortunately no play time together like we had hoped.

Anyway, a wonderful trip with some great memories shared, and I left with a small bug inbedded in me that seems to keep people coming back to the Yukon, so I shall return!

Kyle and Casey's place from the air.

The main house on the property. Kyle rents this house out and him and Casey have a cozy flat built into the back 3rd of the shop.

Natural spring, feeding 3 ponds that Kyle raises Arctic Char in.

First pond coming from the spring.

Old trapper style cabin on the property near the second pond. Kyle keeps fish supplies in there.

Second pond where the majority of half the Char stock reside.

Arctic Char swimming below.

Third pond where the second half of the population resides. The little house in the back is also Kyle's and it generates revenue for Kyle and Casey as well.

Wednesday! Wednesday is a smart little dog. She played strange with me the first day after Kyle and Casey had already left for work. We got it sorted out in relatively short order and became best of buds :) She has an unusually short tail for a Border Collie and there is tale to follow that may not be for everyones ears. So if you feel you have a weak stomach and would prefer to continue chasing butterflies in endless fields of flowers, STOP READING HERE! :)
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..................So anyway. Kyle has a Honda CT-70cc motorbike that he uses occasionally to run Wednesday, and this particular motorbike has been missing it`s chain gaurd for quite some time. Now this normally would not be an issue as Kyle would normally be the only one riding this particular bike, however, there arose an occasion where Wednesday required a lift and had to double with Kyle on the motorcycle. Well, needless to say a certain portion of Wednedsay`s anatomy, the portion that attaches to the rearend, got into a little tangle up with one, ungaurded chain. Well, the chain came out on top in this particular bout. Fortunately though for Wednesday, papa Kyle with his savy bushman skills, was able to amputate the dangling portion of the tail with his trusty Swiss Army knife, the portion that the chain wasn`t able to complete. Needless to say one soul slept out in the dog house that night (Wednesday slept in the house with Casey, with a bandaged up tail) but the story had a wonderful outcome in the end that only made their family grow closer together, and provided me with this entertaining story for my blog!! :) (Thanks K,C,&W)

Schwatka Lake above the fish ladder. This lake was formed when the Yukon River was damned and is the local 'water' runway for the floatplane operators in the area. Kyle`s plane is the right most plane on the shore line.

I climbed a spruce tree to get this shot of the city of Whitehorse with the Yukon River meandering through.

Miles Canyon

This canyon was the most dangerous portion of the river at the time. (circa. 1899)

Suspension bridge over Miles Canyon looking north back to Whitehorse.

S.S. Klondike, the last sternwheel boat to run the Yukon River.

Canadian National Historic Site.

Schwatka Lake and my lack of a view of the surrounding mountains on day one.

Dr. Kyle conjuring up a well designed bracket to hold the video camera for our flight on Friday.

Entering the mountains to the west heading toward the St Elias Range

Rose Lake, our landing strip. This lake is located about 35miles SW of Whitehorse.

Another nice shot of Rose Lake

The gang!

Kyle, Casey, and Wednesday right at home in their playground.

Alpine plant

Kyle on his way up to an interesting vein of rock in the granite.

Casey making her way up the creek. It was quite slippery with all the fresh snow so it made for challenging hiking!

Casey with our landing strip down below.

Kimmer suckin`wind :)

It was an amazing contrast of micro climates in and out of the canyon we hiked into.

We chose to scramble out of the canyon rather than go back down the icy chasm. One definitely has to remember the remoteness of these places that you can get into with plane, and be well prepared for the worst. Also, extra caution should always be in the back of you mind when embarking on these adventures.