A Trip to the Cabin


Today we left Lahti and drove about 1.5 hours to Siru & Niko's cabin. They bought the property 44 years ago - Niko said they bought it for the "sauna cabin" and then learned there was a "summer home" that went with the "sauna cabin."



Before we got to the cabin, we stopped at a favorite spot to have salmon soup - it was delicious!







Once we got to Kotka, we had a short 20 minute boat ride out to the island where the cabin is located. 







The first building you see is the sauna cabin. 



We then walked up to the summer house which is more than 120 years old. 








The first order of business was to build a fire in the traditional wood-burning sauna stove. It takes about an hour for the sauna to heat up and be ready for use. 







While we were waiting, Siru took us on a hike to the other side of the island. The island was covered with beautiful green moss and different kinds of lichen. 





We saw lots of wild blueberries and ligonberries. 







In the other side of the island there are lots of flat rocks. Siru had brought binoculars so we could view an island that is on the Russian side of the border off in the distance. Then is was time to walk back and get ready for sauna.

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