I spent the weekend cruising a lake a hundred miles north here, a lake with the biggest open areas in Finland - I guess the only lake pretty much where there are places the other shores vanish into the horizon completely.

We drove our small boat all round the lake...just took it there with a trailer, left the car there by a river and boated half a day northbound to my sister's cottage where we slept, and then boated crisscross around the lake the entire next day and then returned to the river and hauled the boat back south to our home town.

It was not without some adventure either...at one point we had false information about the nearest fuel supply and as a result had to ride an extra 2-hour ride over the lake to get enough fuel to get us back, and the fuel depot was well over half a mile from the harbor...luckily a local guy saw us and pitied the kids I suppose, and me hauling the fuel tank towards the station and offered a ride there and back...I would have been exhausted if I'd had to haul the tank all the way for sure, really glad there was some good people there...

Anyway, it was so beautiful over there...the lake system I spent my childhood summers at, sailing my small boat around...but I never made it as far as we did this time, we cruised round the entire system at ~40km per hour speed over two days...terrific stuff, sandy, deserted beaches and government-built shelters / lean-to's and fireplaces here and there where you can roast sausages and sleep if need be...just a few boats there the entire trip, practically all just wilderness. Saw some elk swimming etc, picked berries and such, swam at shores where probably only a few people visit over the entire year. And now is the peak of the summer to boot, weather so warm the kids can go naked all day long basically and the lake water is also warm like in pools basically. Great stuff!

After that the missus however was so exhausted I took the boys to our cottage and we've been here two days now the three of us, swimming and shooting BB's and grilling and doing odd jobs to pass the time...really feels like a summer holiday finally. I could just spend a week here just now with ease and just tinker with re-painting the terrace or whatever, but I guess tomorrow we have to head back to the city.