Live from the Arctic Circle...
By billvision on 01/04
re: 'The Beginning of a New Year'.
This is our 'One Year in Sweden' Journal. We have the opportunity to stay in Sweden for one entire year. We will update the journal as our adventure unfolds.
Last night I took the dog out for a walk. It was around 10:30PM. The sun was near the horizon but it was still an hour away from dipping below the hills. The golden color from the low sun looked really nice on the buildings, flowers, and sheep!
Today we went the a Swedish midsummer party in Kuivakangas, a village just south of Juoksengi. The day started off with some games, and a quick pony ride. Jessica got three out of five baskets, and Zoe was not too excited about being on a horse so we cut the ride a little short.
Next came the raising of the May Pole. Zoe really enjoyed being thrown up in the air, again and again and again. After that it was time for a soda and burger while we listened to the band play Swedish Folk songs, and I rested my arms.
After the band packed up and drove off on a lawn mower (Hey I don’t make this stuff up!) the kids played a few summer games around the May Pole and then it was time to go.
After checking out the river and the ‘beach’, I thought I’d ride north to see if I could find anything interesting.
After a few minutes I found a cool looking ‘road’ that I figured would lead down to the river so I decided to walk down to the river’s edge for a little different view of the Torne River.
The water was so high that the road was flooded and I could not reach the river, so I turned left and headed into the trees and bush, climbing over blueberry bushes and some kind of spongy ground cover. Finally I came upon a small secluded pond, climbed up on a rock to take a few photos, then headed back to my bike.
From there I rode north again until a found a dirt road that headed up into the forest. This brought me up to the cross country ski loop and eventually to the top of Littisvaara, the hill where the shooting range and the radio tower are. There was a nice view of the Torne River and I found many young berries growing along the trails. From there it was all down hill to the house.
Took the camera and rode my bike around the village today. This is the first set of photos.
I started by heading down to the river. It’s amazing to see how high the water level is now. The water was very calm and the cloudy sky was just beautiful.
Then I headed up the road a bit to the ‘beach’. I snapped a few photos on the way. Well, I arrived at what is usually a beach, but with the water level so high there was no sign of sand, so I took some photos of the flowers. Maybe next month the beach will be visible again.
Today the river ice began to break up and float down the Torne River here in Norrbotten. It does not look as though it will be as sensational as it has in past years, but this will be my first time experiencing it, so I’m excited none the less.
Every year they place a small boat out on the ice just north of the bridge in Övertorneå. People try to guess when the ice will carry it under the bridge. I guessed the boat will pass under the bridge at 4:16pm on May 6th, which is tomorrow. I might actually be close.
Well Spring finally came to Norrbotten. The river water is rising and the ice is breaking up. Here is the first set of photos from the ice break. These ones were taken about 45 minutes south of Juoksengi at a place called Kukkolaforsen.
Here are some photos taken last fall at Kukkolaforsen, before the snow came.
Kalle just installed a webcam at the Arctic Circle in preparation for Walpurgis Night, a holiday celebrated on April 30 where people light huge bonfires.
The camera faces North toward the center of Juoksengi and will be left up after the celebration. Now everyone can see for themselves how long (and short) the days are way up north!
Today while driving to Luleå, I spotted a guy standing at the edge of an opening on a frozen lake, fishing! Naturally I had to pull over and take a photo.
That is when I noticed that the swans had returned. There were several standing along the edge of the ice and others floating around in the water.
As I stood there two of the swans began to flap their wings and prepare to fly away. I was able to capture them running across the water and taking off. Then they turned toward me and made a beautiful pass. The sun behind me lit up their wings against a fantastic blue sky.
Today Kicki and I entered two ice fishing contests out on the Torne River in Juoksengi. The ‘Juoksenginappet’ and the ‘Polcirkelnappet’.
The day started at 11:00am down at badstranden, ‘the bathing beach’. It was a beautiful morning with a few clouds and just little wind. Two hours later it was time to weigh the fish and award prizes. Kicki and I were 0 for 1 so far, so we just watched and ate grilled korv, ‘sausage’.
After the prizes were handed out everyone took a short walk or drive down to isvägen, ‘the ice road’, literally 800 yards south for the next contest.
By now the clouds had thickened and the wind picked up considerably. If you hadn’t guessed, that means it was COLD!
Well Kicki and I stuck it out for another two hours, along with many others, but again we came up short. Really short. we were 0 for 2 for the day, and really cold. There was another weigh in and prizes were handed out.
It was fun to see everyone from the village out enjoying the bright spring day, even if it did end a little cold and gloomy. In fact, as I write this at 9:00 pm, it is just getting dark and beginning to snow.
Well we finally went to Pullinki to play in the snow.
Pullinki Ski is the closest, (um… only) ski area close to us. It’s less than 10 minutes north of Juoksengi, in Svanstein.
Our friend Victoria and her son Jordan just moved back to Sweden from New York, so before they headed down to Stockholm to live, we all went to Pullinki for the day.
The weather was perfect. The sky was beautiful. The sun was nice and high with few clouds and no wind at all. The kids had a great time too, well… most of the time.
Tornedalsloppet is a 45 kilometer cross country ski race from Svanstein to Övertorneå, held on the last Sunday in March. The track goes through the fields right behind our house in Juoksengi, so we walked down to cheer them on.
Hey! The company I work for, Searchme, Inc. just announced the release of a new Visual Search Engine! It is still in Private Beta, which means you need to request an invitation to access the site, but I am giving away 100 instant Beta Accounts. Just click this link and grab one before they are gone. Instant Access
There were some really nice Northern Lights last night. Despite the -22 degree weather, I decided to stand out in a foot of icy snow to try and capture them with my camera. I managed to get a few good shots, and the Övertorneå Community posted one of them on their home page.
I think this is the first time I was able to photograph the lights from the southern side of the house, so you can get an idea of the size of this light show. It wasn’t the brightest lights we’ve seen here, or the most active, but the shapes were amazing. At one point the streaks of light came together in one central point, making a kind of ring with star like rays shooting out from it.
As noted in the previous post, Kalle, Kicki and I drove to the ‘Coldest Market in the World” yesterday. The Jokkmokk Market.
The market was huge, packed with visitors from all across Lapland, and yes, COLD. I don’t know how the vendors were able to stand around their booths all day. I was absolutely freezing after only a couple hours in the -15 degree weather, but after a little time in a heated museum/restaurant, we were back out on the streets checking out the rest of the vendors… well, for a little longer anyway.
After a quick bite to eat it was time for the drive home, this time there would be no bright sun light. In it’s place was glowing clouds and a light dusting of snow.
Yesterday Kalle, Kicki and I drove to the Jokkmokk Market in, well… Jokkmokk.
Dubbed the “Coldest Market in the World”, the Jokkmokk Market was started in 1602 and now attracts over 20 thousand visitors every year.
The three hour drive from Juoksengi to Jokkmokk was beautiful, mostly due to the snow covered trees and an incredible sunrise.
More about the market itself in the next post.
Where is Jokkmokk, Sweden?
We woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning and thought it would be nice to climb the Aavasaksa Lookout in Finland to enjoy the view, so we drove across the ice road and headed south.
Aavasaksa a small town at the base of a small mountain, about 24km south of Juoksengi. It is just across the Torne River from Övertorneå. On the mountain is a camping area where you can rent cabins in the summer, a market, and a small ski area with one lift (that we could see anyway). At the top of the hill there is a large radio antenna and a nice lookout tower where you can look across the river to Sweden.
Jessica’s brother took us up there on my first trip to Sweden in 2002 and I really enjoyed it, so I thought it would be cool to take Zoe there too. When I went there it was June. The sun saw shining, ground was covered with wild blueberries, and it was warm. Today, things are a little different. The temperature is somewhere around -15c, and the ground is covered with at least 2 feet of snow, but at least the sun was shining.
We drove as far as the road was plowed, then we started our hike. It would be a 500m walk along the snow covered road. Fortunately there were some snowmobile tracks which made the walk a little easier. About 200 meters up the hill Jessica and Zoe decided to play in the glistening snow. I just stood and soaked up the view. The sun was shining through the snow dusted trees and the ice crystals on the ground sparkled like diamonds.
After the quick break we continued our accent, taking turns pulling Zoe on her snow racer. The view just got better and better, and I kept telling Zoe how cool the view from the tower was going to be.
When we got to the stairs that I remembered from my previous trip, I started to worry. They were completely covered with snow, and I was beginning to think the trip was going to be a total waste of time. As we reached the top of the hill, I realized that I was right. There would be no tower climbing today, unless we wanted to walk through the two feet of virgin snow. I was tempted, but I knew Jess and Zoe were not going to do it, and looking at the windows on the Lookout, I don’t think we would have been able to see anything anyway. Oh well.
So just when I thought the day was a complete loss, I heard the joyful laughter of a young child coming from behind me. Looking over my shoulder I saw Jessica and Zoe happily zipping down the hill on the Snow Racer!
Hey! Wait for me…
Jessica spotted a moose standing along the side of the road today while we were driving to Haparanda to do some shopping. We zipped passed it but decided to turn around to get another look so I pulled over at the next parking spot and turned around.
From the other direction we noticed there were actually three of them. Two were standing just past the trees. Jess snapped a few photos through the windshield before they started running into the forest. The closest one to the road looked drunk. It’s tounge was hanging out of its mouth and one ear was kinda droopy. It was pretty funny looking.
Oops! Jessica’s grandfather drove into a ditch today while driving to the house during a snow storm.
It is pretty hard to tell where the road is when everything is white and the wind is blowing snow in every direction.
This is a series of stills taken at noon on January 6th 2008. It was the first time this year that we could see the sun came above the horizon here in Juoksengi, Sweden.
Today the sun popped above the horizon for the first time in over a month. The first sunrise of 2008! It was only visible for about a minute, then it was gone.
Well today is January 1st 2008. Jessica and I are wiped out from last night’s New Years Celebration on the river, where we stayed until past 1am, despite the -20 degree weather, so today was more or less a lazy day, except for when Zoe and I played ‘Monster’ more times than I wish to remember. Jessica finally got a chance to sleep in, which was nice, even though she had a hangover.
I’m really looking forward to the coming months. This is my first full winter in Sweden, and it will be nice to see the transition from winter to spring. The days are already getting longer, which means more time to play outside, in the snow. Now we just need snow! 
It was -22c this morning at the house, and the sun was still just under the horizon. There were just a few clouds, or maybe it was fog, and all the trees were covered in frost, so like a fool I went outside to take some pictures…
I walked down to the river first, hoping to get a nice shot of the sun as it came up from behind the mountain but it jest kept moving to the right, never really getting high enough to see. It did manage to light up the tips of the trees though. The frosty white trees along the river were beautiful.
Then I walked south toward the Circle until I saw an open field that screamed ”walk out here for a nice shot”, so I trudged through a foot of snow into the middle of the field, and waited… This is where I took my favorite shot ”Arctic Sunrise”.
Once it was obvious that the sun was not going to come above the horizon, and the -20 temperature started to permeate my clothes, I decided to take a self portrait continue on my journey.
I walked down to the Arctic Circle, spotted a law abiding reindeer, and then headed back home. Along the way I spotted another reindeer looking for food, and a bird enjoying the sunrise.
The sun finally passed behind the tip of the mountain near Övertorneå and began to shine on the tips of the trees. More birds were out enjoying the day, like this bird in the trees.
It was a beautiful winter morning indeed. It is days like this that make the short winter days tolerable.
Today we drove about 10 minutes south to Kuivakangas and walked down to a place where we were going to cross the river. We have done it in the summer time, but this time the water was too high to cross.
Too bad because just on the other side of the island there is a nice sandy beach to sit and enjoy the view.
Well, I guess we just have to wait.
Today Jessica’s Grandfather Elof brought us a HUGE bucket of fresh picked wild blueberries. These are the real blueberries too, the ones that really are blue inside, not like the organic ones we buy at Whole Foods that are really expensive and clear inside. And the taste… Mmmm!
The past two days have been the worst two days of my life, but I need to put that behind me and move on. We have been packing for a month, but severely underestimated the amount of time and storage we needed to get everything out of our old house. It has been two solid days of non stop action, with a lot of help from family and friends, but this is it, we are on our way to the Arctic Circle for one year.
We are all a little nervous about leaving California, but at the same time very excited. I will be working remotely for Searchme.com, Zoe and I will have a chance to learn Swedish, and hopefully Jessica will get some rest. I know Jessica’s parents are excited to be able to be with their first grandchild for such a long time. (I wonder how long that will last)
This time next year we will be returning the the US, most likely to Northern Colorado where we will be able to continue experiencing snowy winters and warm summers, though obviously not as extreme as what we will experience in Sweden.
Today we left for Sweden, for a one year long adventure. We will be living in Juoksengi with Jessica’s parents, Kalle & Kicki. We made the decision less than one month ago when the opportunity came up to work remotely. I could not pass up the chance to see the full seasonal cycle form the Arctic Circle. We also believe this will be a great experience for Zoe. This journal, the sixth in a series, will contain all the highlights of our adventure.