A Pile of Kyles

I had ten days off work at the beginning of March, so I decided to zoom over to Finland hoping to catch some vibrant northern lights and just compare the area to my favorite (so far) place = NORWAY. I haven't been to Sweden yet, but I can say I love the parts of Scandinavia that I've been in. Everything just works and people are nice and happy. :) I flew into Helsinki, then took a 6 hour train north to Oulu. I continue to underestimate how large these countries are...Finland is very LONG. From there, I rented a car and drove in a big circle, hitting Kuusamo, Ruka, Saariselka, Rovaniemi, and Kemi. I did see some faint northern lights, but they looked more like a grayish/greenish smear in the sky, so I'm not sure I can officially cross that off my list.  I enjoyed driving through the wintery landscapes, cross country skiing, and taking a chairlift up in order to sled down. It was kinda wild, fast, and very cold (I forgot to bring snow pants)! I enjoyed hiking up to a lookout ...