We arrived in Helsinki around 10:30am after a very early flight from Copenhagen. Family friend and Jeff's coworker Mike Odell was at the airport to meet us. He was less happy about the early flight than I was, which is saying something. We loaded up in his station wagon and headed out of Helsinki.

We drove for about 4 hours before arriving at Mike and his wife Kirsti's summer cottage, near Jyväskylä. Most Finnish people have a summer cottage, generally on a lake. We unpacked and relaxed for a bit in the sauna building/guest house where we'd be staying before taking a boat ride.

Mike and Kirsti's summer cottage is on a lake that's about 80 miles long called Lake Päijänne. Finland apparently has a lot of lakes and trees. In fact, other than the Finnish street signs and the "watch for moose" signs, Finland looks shockingly like northern Wisconsin.

Fun fact: In Finland, moose are called elk. They don't have the species that we call elk. Sadly, I saw no moose.