Frozen Falls and Animals

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After a good night's sleep we had a light breakfast at the hotel, and then boarded the bus to the Frozen Falls reserve. Quite a long drive, but the reserve was well worth the effort!

We got off the bus and headed out. The path meandered through a never ending pine forest, mostly downhill. Along the way we had fun in the snow, sliding down the path (mostly on our feet) and testing the depth of the snow banks by jumping into them (deep). Eventually we reached a small cluster of wood shelters. There were a couple shelters where you could sit, a storage shed for wood and tools, and even an outhouse. Dror, our guide, had the kids chop some logs (I knew they were good for something) and started a fire.

Then we went on to the falls. Not much further and after crossing a couple narrow bridges we found them. A great big waterfall, frozen solid! There were a few people climbing the fall, in a more hardcore version of what we did in Alaska on the glacier. Well, not to be outdone, we had our own fun! We found the deepest snow we could find and jumped in. I got to about waist deep, then had a tough time climbing out. We made snow angels, had a snow fight, took pictures and finally slid down the slope.

After having our fun there we started heading back. At the shelters our small fire was going well and Dror took out some marshmallows for the kids. The marshmallows roasted, and bathroom breaks all done, we headed back up to the bus. An uphill slog of about a kilometer, but it wasn't too hard and everyone made it to the top.

We all got on the bus and went to the Ranua zoo, the northernmost zoo in the world. But first things first - we had lunch at the zoo. Delicious salmon and cream soup, rice, mashed potatoes, lasagne and, we were told, moose. Then we had some free time to wander around the zoo. We saw many of the famous arctic animals, plus a few more; polar bears and wolves, lynx, arctic fox, reindeer and moose, snowy owls and golden eagles and more.

Ethan made a friend towards the end and had some fun in the snow, and hten we visited a chocolate shop just outside the zoo. We had a look and got some, and then headed back to the hotel.

After supper the adults, well, most of us, went out to Hemmingways irish pub in town and had a beer and good company. We took over the place!

Just got back and headed off to bed.

Have a look at our day:

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