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Entries made in July, 2010

Special Day

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

Here we are, in Red Square, in Moscow. We can hardly believe it! The first thing we notice is not the giant statue of Lenin or the colorful oniony domes of St. Basil's Cathedral, however, but some of the tallest, skinniest woman we've ever seen, ...

Driving With Evgeniy

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

We're in the back seat of Evgeniy's car; he is giving us a ride to Moscow's Red Square, a straight shot, ten kilometers from his apartment. His wife, or as Evgeniy prefers, "pussycat", Svetlana, is in the passenger's seat. She is wisely wearing a...

Crazy Russians

Friday, July 30th, 2010

Traffic into Moscow is a non-event this afternoon. So is finding the home of our Russian contact, Evgeniy. What a relief! We've just pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex; Tara is sitting next to me, turning off the GPS and the la...

Wild West: Moscow Bound, Part Three

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

We're on the M10, the only major thoroughfare between St. Petersburg and Moscow. Night is slowly descending. We've decided to cover another hundred kilometers or so before stopping to find our first Russian free-camp. We want to make our drive t...

Breaking the Law: Moscow Bound, Part Two

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Back at the car, a crushing front of heat pours from either side when we open its doors. Cringing a bit, we roll down the driver and passenger windows, crank open the moon roof, and crack the rear windows as far as they will allow. None of it is ...

Palaces and Kremlins: Moscow Bound, Part One

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

It is another sunny, smoggy day in Russia. We pack up and leave Aleksandr's apartment in the morning as he's heading out for work. We shake hands and thank him for having us, and he wishes us all the best on our journey before walking towards the...

Morbid Curiosity

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Just a few days ago while staying with our friend Mia in Finland, she mentioned that someone she knew had seen a gruesome collection of dead babies in jars while on a trip to St. Petersburg. This seemed outlandish to us, but as Tara was flipping t...

Photos from St. Petersburg

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Tara and I are both grappling with a bit of Russian culture shock at the moment. Figuring out the most healthy manner in which to approach the shockingly overt misogyny and racism we've encountered here is proving to be a little difficult. It has...

Heat Wave

Monday, July 26th, 2010

St. Petersburg is currently setting all-time records for heat. We're not enthusiastic about going out this morning, but we need to get our visas registered. Though we have three business days to complete this required task, we've decided we're no...

Into Saint Petersburg

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

Tyler: We've just crossed the Russian border, and are now driving towards St Petersburg. As we cruise through the familiar scenery of birch and pine forests, I flip on the radio. A crackly voice comes in through the speakers as cars speed by us...

Russian Border Crossing

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

I had butterflies in my stomach as we left our free-camp this morning. As Tyler drove, I made doubly sure that we had every thing in order. Passports, drivers licenses (international and US), car registration and insurance, all accounted for! ...

Long Time Coming

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

This afternoon, we cleaned and packed the car while Matias and Mia and prepared the family for a wedding. Once everyone was in their Sunday best, we bid them farewell. Yet again, we've made some great new friends, and once more, we are leaving them...

Hanging Out With the Hannus Family

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Our host Matias has a habit of signing up completely unprepared for long distance races. He isn't in them to win, just to prove to himself that he can do it! A year or two ago, it was a lengthy cross-country skiing event where he triumphantly too...

Working in Jakobstad

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

We spent most of the day distractedly working on journals and programming projects. It's a bit difficult to focus when you have a hilarious, heart-breakingly adorable child speaking cute, unintelligible (to us, anyway) Swedish at you, and vying fo...

To Matias and Mia's

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Two weeks ago, our our wallet was stolen in Estonia. In thinking about the experience now, I can't help but shake my head about the events which preceded it. Just a day prior, I had griped about how our adventure had become too easy! The crushin...

Wallet Update

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Not much happened today, since we spent most of it sitting at Hesburger planning for Russia and working. We did get some exciting news though. Our driver's licenses, debit cards, and credit card are well on there way to meet us in Finland. Accor...

Christmas in July

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Santa's Village in Roveniemi, Finland was our big attraction for the day. Apparently, it rests right on the line where the Arctic circle begins. At first we were pretty disappointed, it was mostly shops selling cheap souvenirs and jewelery. ...

Time Lapse

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

Last night, we taped our camera to the top of the car and set it up to take a time lapse series of the midnight sun. Around 4AM, I drifted just far enough into consciousness to remember our project. Excited, I promptly crawled out of the tent to ...

Norwegian Countryside

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

We woke up this chilly morning to the interminable call of seagulls and other goofy birds circling around the bay. While packing up camp, Tyler and I took turns photographing some of them. Here are the results: Having reached the easte...

Coastal Drive to Norway

Friday, July 16th, 2010

In an effort to duplicate Swedish Pancakes from one of my favorite breakfast places in Champaign, I made crepes this morning, served with Lingonberries. My results were much smaller than the restaurant's due to the size of our saucepan. They were...

Saami Museum

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

We stayed at our hotel late into the morning, sleeping restfully in the novel darkness afforded by closed curtains. When we finally roused ourselves around 10AM, our overpriced, stingy hotel redeemed itself somewhat by providing a multi-buffet fea...

Sick in Lapland

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

It must have been the questionably old chicken I had on my sandwich. Or I suppose it could have been the sweet, tangy addition of lingonberry sauce (like cranberry sauce). Either way, not long after we left the Amethyst mine, I began to feel sick...

Amethyst Mining

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

We're falling into a nice routine with Finland. It goes something like this: swim in the morning, tear down camp, drive through beautiful pine forests, swim before lakeside lunch, enjoy said lunch, drive some more, set up camp, swim before dinner,...

Roadside Oddities

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Here we are, just drivin' through Finland, when we come to an abrupt halt because we've officially reached reindeer territory. There are loads of them, just milling about on the highway. Here they are, calmly oblivious to the incessant honking di...

Up at the Cabin

Monday, July 12th, 2010

The sun is intense in Finland this time of year. The flaming orb never leaves the sky, even at night. At our current latitude, sunset sort of occurs around 12AM, but it never actually gets dark. Then, around 3AM, the murky pink skies brighten ag...

Lake Hopping

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Today, we are making ourselves at home in Finland. We've ditched the itineraries we found online, and are simply winging it as we head north towards the Arctic Circle. Feeling as free as we did on our bicycles, we poke along, likely to the annoya...

Sandcastles and Lakes

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Today, we left Helsinki and headed into the Finnish countryside. It was a relief to leave the expensive city behind, watching metallic cityscapes transition into woods and forest. For our route, Tyler found several driving itineraries from a Scan...

Picnic by the Lake

Friday, July 9th, 2010

We'd planned on spending some time exploring downtown Helsinki today. Mostly, we wanted to sift through the flea markets Tara had discovered during her research last night. We had no intention of buying anything, it just sounded like fun. So, th...

Back in Business

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

…continued from Where is the Wallet!? By now, the worst is over. Thanks to all of our parents, what could have been a massive ordeal has become just a small bump in the road. We pack up our things, feeling relieved, and head out to the car. Th...

Where is the Wallet!?

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Why, do you think someone is going to leap in through our window while we sleep? That was Tyler's response to my concern about opening our street-level hostel window last night. I eyed the two-foot-deep window sill dubiously, and, with the sligh...

Into Estonia

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Tyler: As I checked us out of our campsite this morning, I sheepishly handed a note to the woman working in the office. Before packing our tent, I had torn a piece of paper from one of our notebooks, consulted google translate, and carefully scr...

Exaggerated for Effect

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

This morning, we left our quiet beach-side haven and hit the road north towards Cape Kolka. We'd read that violent storms of "biblical proportions" in 2007 had uprooted numerous giant trees and sent them scattering like matchsticks along the beach...

Pāvilosta

Monday, July 5th, 2010

I can think of few better places to spend a holiday than Pāvilosta, Latvia. It is quiet. There are only about eight blocks of houses in town, and most of them dead-end right into the sea. While Tyler spends the day programming, I leave to buy gr...

Working in Latvia

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

Most of today we spent working and writing. Once we got caught up (woo hoo!), we went for a walk on the beach. Right as we were leaving, my parents called. It was so nice talking to you guys! As I said on the phone, I have a feeling you wou...

Baltic Amber Road

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

I wake up at 7:00 AM to stifling sun, blaring techno, and a very grumpy Tyler. Hoo boy, is he cranky after a night of no sleep. We get to work packing immediately. Thankfully there is little but the tent to take down. As we remove the rain-f...

Up All Night

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

Normally, I can sleep through just about anything. For some reason, last night was a miserable exception to this rule. With Tara enviably dead to the world next to me, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep for most of the night. It didn't help th...

Hill of Crosses

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

When we arrived at Tomas and Jurgita's two days ago, one of the first things we inquired about was if there were any distinctly Lithuanian sites we shouldn't miss during our stay. After much hmmmm-ing deliberation (nobody thinks their own country ...

Another Adventure

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

This morning, Jurgita didn't go to work. Tomorrow, her husband Tomas will finish the last day at his forestry job. Why? Next week, they will pedal out of their driveway, heading south from their home in Lithuania towards Turkey, a trip two years...

Heaven on Earth

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

After a day of working, our hosts Jurgita and Tomas pack their car with food, bottled water and picnic supplies. Then, we all ride together, fourteen kilometers down the road to Tomas' parents' weekend cabin. As we step out of the car, we enter a...