Finland Village with Michael and Sonoko

Last weekend we went to the mountains to check if we could find some autumn colours. We invited our friens Michael and Sonoko to join us. We headed to some Finnish loghouses at the mountains three hours from Tokyo. Our departure was delayed and the highway was dark and rainy, so it was quite late on Friday night when we eventually got there. In time for excellent dinner anyway.

After late breakfast on Saturday we headed for the mountains. Some curse seems to follow us every time we go to the mountains. See for examlle our trip to Hakone or Mt Fuji (twice). Did you guess? Yes, it was rainy and foggy - again!

We saw a glimpse of the autumn colours at the wet forest. Map writers in Japan are similar to the ones in Finland - they often mix path and stream - and we ended up walking up a muddy and rocky stream. We almost gave up after about 45 minutes, but after a short break and some scouting we decided to go for an extra 10 minutes uphill. It was worth it, we enjoyed snacks and warm drinks inside a hut. And hot Pirkka Choco Cappucino did the trick again. THANKS JONNI!

After the break we climbed to a pile of stones to see the view. (Oskari had been there before the break, but had we known what kind of pile of stones it was, we never had allowed him to climb alone...) It was a hard climb and even harder coming down, especially with tired legs or lifting Aura from stone to stone. Somehow we managed to break the curse. Only for 1 minute though, but that was enough to see the wonderful colours round the lake. Then another cloud surronded us and we headed down another rocky and muddy stream.

At the cabin Sonoko and Michael prepared tasty soups and salads for a combined lunch & dinner. Oskari had his own barbeque outside spending about 1 hour and 1 old phonebook to get wet wood burning.

Sunday morning turned out sunny. We again enjoyed slow breakfast, made some chocolate chip cookies, continued barbeque, palyed backammon, and other passtime you normally do at logcabins. We tried to get into a local onsen, but in vain. It was full of Japanese enjoying their weekend in the mountains. We returned to the cabin and made tasty lunch from the leftovers we had.

ROSA