Day 12,

we started the day, 

   with breakfast,

  then up and out early,

  onto the lake,

  for a walk around the edges of it,

  we passed one of the igloos that look out over the lake,

  and continued our way around the lake,

  as it got brighter,

   but I still had to use the cameras flash,

   we came across this abandoned hut,

   I am guessing it was used to keep hay for winter feed,

 talk about desolate, it was in the middle of nowhere,

  we circled around and found the reindeer farm where we would be going later,

  we started walking back to the resort,

 the pictures do not do the scenery justice,

  it was so picturesque,

  later we walked back to the reindeer farm, well I got on OK with the dogs, bur reindeer are a different kettle of fish, we were told not to touch or pet them as they still are wild animals and can not be 100% predicted, keep the rein loose, but not too loose and never tighten it,

 I had a new friend,

  the reindeer behind us,

 soon we were all set,

and started past the farm,

and make our way into the forest,

the reindeer seemed to be enjoying the ride too,

as every time we stopped it looked around at the scenery,

for us it was enjoyable too,

especially,

as I could keep taking pictures,

of the snow laden trees,

we left the forest,

 and headed out onto the lake,

where things got decidedly chilly,

 without the cover of the trees the temperature really dropped due to the wind chill, 

back into the forest on our way to the farm,

another stop and a look around,

our ride was over,

another hay barn I am guessing,

the teams were led away,

I carried on taking pictures,

a nearly black reindeer,

and a almost white one,

mind the antlers,

they are taking a rest,

before the next group of tourists arrives,

 all set and now ready to go,

we really enjoyed the ride and Diana was so happy to be given some moss that the reindeer like,

 to be feed as a treat,

 there were about 20 of them in the carrel,

all waiting for a treat,

what a wonderful day,

and it was not over yet,

we were taken into a barn and given information, 

about the costumes and customs of the local population that goes back so many years,

with examples of clothes,

and costumes,

we then went into a typical house,

that has been kept as it was from the 1940s,

with the original cooker and hot plate,

everyone had a good look around,

we said goodbye to the farm and the reindeer,

and made a move to a hut,

where inside a we were given a small meal,

it was quite cosy with the fire going,

and the hot vegetable soup was so tasty,

for some reason we were both very hungry,

we made our way back,

watching some of the dog teams across the lake,

behind the main building Diana found a rubber ring,

and a course in the snow,

so jumping on the ring,

she hurtled down the slope,

I am not sure if she was screaming or laughing,

but whatever it was,

she enjoyed it so much she had another go,

this time with the gopro, 

which accompanied us on our next walk,

we decided to walk to the left rather than the right as we had done before,

then from across the lake,

the dog teams arrived on their way back,

we settled down for our evening meal,

   then I was out looking for the aurora borealis,

 we had been told that at last there was a break in the cloud, all of the camps keep in touch with each other to advise on weather conditions,

  so a mad scramble to head out to the lake and set up the tripod,

 it was bitterly cold, but a break in the clouds made it all worthwhile,

and here are a couple of the pictures I took, the lights at the bottom of the picture are a town across the far-side of the lake, for the technical f3.5, 8 second exposure at 1600asa

for this picture I moved the camera away from the town and used the silhouette of the trees at the bottom of the picture to give it some scale, for the technical f3.5, 12 second exposure at 1600asa the only problem was that in no time, just a few minuets the cloud cover returned and it started to snow, so that was that!

 then back to the cabin to warm up, play a few hands of cribbage and then we were off to bed.