Way, way up north

Home!

Only one hour on the road left until we are home!

A few days ago we left you with a cliffhanger regarding one thing that remained for us to do during this vacation. Today was the day we did this and the result is shown in picture in this post. What we did was to take a picture of the cutest road sign in all of Sweden. The message gets kind of lost in translation but what it says 'Us 2' as in 'us two'. Ain't that cute?!

Today, being the last real vacation day, was started with a brunch. After that the day was spent reading/resting and then in the afternoon we discovered it was very warm and that could only lead to 1 thing - bathing in the sea! The water temperature was actually pretty ok so it was a fairly pleasant experience. After that we did some more reading/resting and then it was time for dinner. All in all a really good day! Tomorrow we head back to 'work for the man' again until the next vacation...

Today wasn't only spent on over-eating, some reading was also done. The book being read right now is the one seen on pic. It's a really really interesting and fascinating book that everyone should read!

The day on the beach and taking a dip in the sea was cancelled since both the air and sea temperature was way too cold. To handle the setback we resorted to eating. We managed to fit in both three full meals, candy and some chips. Not bad for a days work we reckon!

Here is one of the frogs we are doing our outmost not to step on.

Hölick @ dusk.

So here we are, at our final destination of this vacation (apart from getting back home that is). We will now spend 3 nights at Hölick Havsresort (Hölick sea resort) and do pretty much nothing more then relax. After moving to a new place every day for almost 3 weeks it feels damn good to have a "permanent home" for as long as 3 nights! Don't get fooled by the word 'resort' in the place we are staying at. As campers we are not enjoying any more luxury compared to other places other then that the location close to the sea is really nice. One thing they have plenty of here are frogs. Mostly really tiny ones you almost can't see but also some a bit bigger which are easier to spot. Not stepping on them is easier said then done but we have created a 'vision zero' that no frog should be harmed or killed by us. That's the kind of animal lovers we are! Currently the weather forecast shows that tomorrow is gonna be a sunny and warm day and if that turns out to be true we will spend the day on the beach. Well, to be honest one of us can't lie still on a beach for more then a few minutes until restlessness starts to set in but we will at least give it a try.

Today was a yet another day of driving, like we never have driven bE4. The superclever reference in the last word there is of course to the road we've been driving on which is named E4. Driving on it is as boring as driving can be but it's efficient so you can cover many kilometers fairly quick. There is however the passage through one city on the way that delayed us with about an hour. It's the city of Sundsvall where the E4 goes through the city center with what felt like a thousand red lights. They are building a bridge and additional roads to move the passage out of the city center. That is however not planned to be ready until autumn of 2015. Construction going on for this affect today's traffic creating a slow crawl through the city. Ok, that's enough with complaining so lets move on to more positive topics. On the way to our final destination we drive on the 'Högakustenbron' (High Coast Bridge) and close to the bridge there is a restaurant that its virtually impossible not to stop and eat at. Today was of course no exception so we stopped there for a 3-course meal (late lunch) which made us much much fuller then planned. Barely being able to breathe from eating that much we drove the remaining 3hrs to our final stop on this vacation - Hölick.

Speaking of carbs, nearby Ikea was Candy World which is pretty much what it sounds like - a giant store filled with candy, candy and more candy. We loaded up with 1,68kg of candy to keep our blood sugar on a constant high level for the rest of the trip.

Today began with a trip from Pajala to Haparanda. It's actually not the shortest way home but they have the most northern Ikea in Sweden and who want to miss such an attraction?! Actually one of us did want to miss it but could be convinced by the promise of coffee and cinnamon bun for 5kr. Before entering Ikea we loaded up with carbs at Big Smajl which is a fast food restaurant chain only found up north. The food tasted like at most fast food places and it filled its purpose to prepare us for the loooong walk that a visit to Ikea means.

Many, many years old and still working properly! They knew how to do things in the good old days...

A pretty but chilly evening in Pajala.

Chillin @ Pajala camping.

Hello Sweden - Hej Sverige och ‘kanoners makaroner’ to you all! Yes indeedelido, today we made it all the way into Sweden. To achieve that we had to drive out of Norway into Finland and then pass the border into Sweden, Pajala to be precise. All in all that took us about 6hrs.

All the driving took us to Karasjok which is close to the Finnish border. Even though it felt as we came a long way today it still is a loooong way home...