4 countries, 4 currencies, 3.5 languages, and heck of a lot of strawberries

Inari and I just returned from a whirlwind trip across the Atlantic. We first went to Finland to visit friends and family and eat way too many strawberries. I do like strawberries, but at some point it's nice to eat something other than strawberries... We managed to find some adventure, rock climbing, hiking, kayaking, and feeding squirrels near Helsinki. The climbing and hiking weren't anything too special, but I really like being on the ocean and Inari really liked squirreling. If we ever move to Finland I'll definitely have to buy a kayak.
After a couple of weeks in Finland I left for rainy Newcastle, England, for a conference. The conference was good and I got to meet a lot of people, but at the end of the day it was still a conference. I was exhausted from thinking about nothing but science for a week, so I was pretty happy to continue on to Switzerland, where I'd meet up with Inari and friends that we knew from Alaska. There were nine of us in total - eight that could walk and one that was so close to being able to walk. And, eight out of nine had blue eyes. I felt a bit out-numbered.

The rain that I found in England followed me to Switzerland (and later to Minnesota and now Fairbanks...). We still managed to have a good time eating cheese and chocolate. And we did make it out for a hike to a mountain hut in Sustenpass.
Christoff, skeptical Marlo, and Tanja.

My favorite photographic subject, Lena. Although Lena and I don't speak the same language, she was quite sad to see me leave. She wasn't sad to see the other guests leave though, just me... Maybe it had something to do with this:
Finally, I made a short stop in Minnesota (photos not yet processed) on the way back to Fairbanks. It was nice to spend time with my family, but I was also happy to return to Fairbanks after a month on the road.