Fieldnotes

Feature article in October Earth Magazine - fossilized shockwaves

2011-10-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

For Earth Magazine's October 2011 edition, I wrote a feature story about the discovery of the Santa Fe impact structure in New Mexico. To see the field evidence of this discovery first hand, I followed retired geologist Tim McElvain out into the Precambrian rocks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The crux of his geologic field evidence was finding shatter cones -- rocks that are deformed in a very special way during large meteorite impacts -- and preserved in only a few places on Earth.

Below is an annotated photo I took of a Santa Fe shatter cone outcrop that formed in Precambrian schist. For reference, the field notebook I used for scale is about 4 inches tall. You can see the yellow outlines I made around the most prominent shatter cones -- there are millions at this location -- ranging from meter-sized to millimeter-sized.

Shatter cones are fractal, which means their telltale shape repeats all the way down to the microscopic scale. The cones "point" to the center of the impact structure or crater, which is where the meteorite hit the Earth. A shockwave was created by the massive meteorite impact, and caused deformation (shatter cones) in the these Precambrian schists as it passed through.

So when you see a shatter cone you're basically looking at a fossilized shockwave!

Unfortunately, no one has discovered an impact crater here in Washington State yet. Though it would be nice to have a local one to investigate. More people to get out and take a second look at road cuts, upturned beds, and gravity anomalies around the state. If you think you've found something, shoot me an email and I'd be happy to take a look.

You can check out all the confirmed meteor impact sites worldwide at this website: http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/index.html

Earth Magazine (http://www.earthmagazine.org/) is published by the American Geosciences Institute.

Fort Worden Beach, Port Townsend and Tamanowas Rock, Chimacum, WA

2011-06-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

My trusty field hand and I had a busy week. At Fort Worden State park we practiced proper hand lens technique and enjoyed the Port Townsend Marine Science Center's geologic exhibit.

I've been to the Marine Science Center's Geology Exhibit several times -- I recommend it as an excellent primer for learning about local geology: glaciers, plate tectonics, local fossils, ice-transported rocks (erratics) and beach sand. The gift shop sells an excellent fold-open water-proof guide for beach pebble identification.

Later, we visited Tamanowas Rock. This monolith is a sacred S'Klallam site in Chimacum, now under Jefferson County Land Trust preservation. The honeycomb (geology speak = tafoni) weathering pattern give the cliffs a very interesting texture. A volcanic block and ash flow eruption 30 million years ago created deposits of dacite/adakite composition. The trail is very steep, so be prepared. Dr. Jeff Tepper gave a great lecture on Tamanowas Rock Saturday June 11 http://www.saveland.org/Events/Event_Detail.aspx?processID=81

On the hike out, I saw several gorgeous foxgloves. Spring is here -- and with only a week left -- just in time.

May 12 Geology talk at East Jefferson Rotary Club

2011-04-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

On Thursday May 12, I'll be giving a 30-minute powerpoint presentation on the Geology of Port Hadlock, Chimacum and Irondale to the East Jefferson Rotary Club held at the Tri-Area Community Center.

This part of East Jefferson County is home to excellent beach exposures of glacial deposits, roadcuts showcasing Crescent basalt, limonite bog iron ore deposits, a monolith and more.

The local Crescent basalts have excellent vuggy yellow calcite crystals. (Photo courtesy WashingtonMinerals.com, see link for more Beaver Valley basalt quarry minerals: http://www.washingtonminerals.com/bvq.htm)

Irondale is named for the historic Irondale iron smelter, which produced iron between 1881-1919. The first iron produced at the smelter was pig iron, made from limonite iron ore (bog ore) deposits in Chimacum Valley.

The Chimacum Valley is an active organic farming community, with many exposures of Crescent Basalt visible from Highway 19 (Beaver Valley Road). There are two operating basalt quarries in the Port Ludlow and Shine areas where basalt is mined and crushed, to produce local road aggregate and landscaping rocks.

Local drinking water is supplied by municipal wells that tap into groundwater in the Sparling aquifer, a glacial deposit of coarse-grained Vashon Advance outwash. A talk dedicated to groundwater resources will be held by the local PUD on Wednesday May 25, 2011 at 6 pm, at the Tri-Area Community Center.

Tamanowas Rock - also called Chimacum Rock or Anderson Rock - is a monolith that stands 400 feet above sea level adjacent to Anderson Lake State Park. This rock is composed of adakite lava, which is a rare sort of andesite lava that is made by subducting and melting of an ocean spreading ridge. http://nwgeology.wordpress.com/the-fieldtrips/tamanowas-rock-chimacum-olympic-peninsula/

You can hear a presentation on the volcanic deposits of Tamanowas Rock by Dr. Jeff Tepper from the University of Puget Sound, Saturday June 11, 2011 from 1-2 pm at the Tri-Area Community Center. The talk is sponsored by the Jefferson Land Trust. http://www.saveland.org/Events/Event_Detail.aspx?processID=81

Ruby Beach, Olympic Peninsula

2011-01-17T17:51:00.000-08:00

Ruby Beach in January is wet. Probably the other months too. It's located on the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula, about 30 minutes south of Forks.

Looking at rocks exposed on the wave cut beach. There were massive surges at the river delta as the tide ebbed and flood waters came down the river: the water level in this photo could rise by a foot in 15 seconds.

Pink flecks of the mineral garnet give the beach sands their famous flashes of color. "Ruby" is a mistaken moniker -- ruby is the gem name for the mineral corundum -- which isn't present at this location.

Fall in Finland: October 2010

2010-10-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

Finland trip: October 2010.

In Helsinki, atop Precambrian shield bedrock in the Dromso neighborhood.

Streets of Helsinki, Barbro, me and the sleepy boy.

Helsinki's Temppeliaukio (Rock church). Constructed out of granite, shiny interior roof is copper. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temppeliaukio_Church

Heading north to Ranea, a herd of reindeer pass the road.

Heading to the pegmatite mine.

You land in timeout if you throw snowballs at the miners in the pit.

Black tourmaline (schorl) from the Ranea pegmatite. Photo by Jeff, see more of his mineral photography here http://www.washingtonminerals.com/.

Southern Iceland - October 2010

2010-10-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

I spent 3 days in southern Iceland in October 2010. Our first stop was the Blue Lagoon spa, southwest of Rejkavik. After that, we drove east along the coast and spent the night in the small coastal town of Vik. We continued on past the volcanic deposits from recent Eyjafjallakull volcanic eruptions (just 6 months earlier) and to Jokulsarlon river delta.

Blue Lagoon geothermal pool spa. In the background you can see the Svartssengi geothermal power station. The spa waters are temperature-controlled industrial waters released from the geothermal plant. Swimming in the waters was a fantastic way to get over jet lag. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Lagoon_(geothermal_spa)

The hut in the village of Vik where we stayed. Layers of basalt flows form the rocky backdrop.

Extensive road damage was left behind from Eyjafjallakull's volcanic eruption 6 months before our visit. This photo shows a stream cutting a channel through the recently deposits volcanic sand and silt. Road crews with backhoes and excavators were still removing volcanic debris from main roads on the day of our visit Oct 20. Some amazing photos of the Eyjafjallakull April 2010 eruptions are featured in this Boston Globe article http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/more_from_eyjafjallajokull.html.

The meltwater bay at Jokulsarlon. If the image looks familiar, it's because this locale - where a glacier sends icebergs downriver out to the Atlantic - has been featured everywhere from a James Bond movie to the Amazing Race reality television show.

Kai at Jokulsarlon.

Beached icebergs on black basalt sands at the Jokulsarlon delta, where the lucky icebergs are released to the wild Atlantic.

Ewes east of Jokulsarlon.

Unicorn Glacier, Mount Rainier National Park

2010-08-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

A photo taken during the approach to Unicorn Glacier in Mount Rainier National Park. It was a cloudy day, so Mount Rainier was not "out."

In the cirque/alpine basin, getting closer to trail's end.

Freezing cold lake where only crazy people swim -- meltwater from Unicorn Glacier.

There were so many trails...but with a 4-year old...at least we got one in. Next stop was the Paradise Visitor's lodge.

Mt. Zion conglomerate

2010-07-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

An encore trip up Mount Zion. Four kids, two adults. The Lyre Formation rock exposures and lush understory makes for interesting trailside viewing on the way up.

Lyre Formation pebble conglomerate along the trail.

At the peak of Mount Zion: a geologic debate heats up.

Why is geology so much more interesting with a rock hammer in hand?

Tubal Cain mine

2010-07-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

On an absolutely beautiful day in July, with wild rhodedendrons in bloom, I finally made it up to the abandoned Tubal Cain mine.

There are several old adits into bedrock along the hiking trail. Bementite, a manganese silicate, is the ore mineral that was mined. Mindat has more information on this mineral: http://www.mindat.org/min-621.html.

There was old mining equipment around at the primitive campground that is surrounded by lush streams. If you hike up past the camping area, above the tailings pile, you'll find the upper adit. This really is one of the most beautiful hikes to be had.

Third Beach, La Push, Olympic Peninsula

2010-05-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

Found my way to Third Beach, near LaPush, for Mother's day. The wind-whipped water turned beautiful shades of turquoise-green. I found dozens of pebbles of black and red orbicular jasper along the upper portion of the beach. Small patches of the beach were blanketed in black sand -- the sand grains made of tiny pieces of basalt that have eroded from the headlands.

It's slow going mining pebbles out of the conglomerate.

Dosewallips Ho!

2009-05-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day this year, Kai took me camping to Dosewallips.

Dosewallips State Park is a nice, clean state campground on the west side of Hood Canal, somewhat north of Olympia. You don't have to have a reservation - some sites cannot be reserved - but I definitely recommend it.

Dosewallips beach (http://apps.ecy.wa.gov/shorephotos/scripts/bigphoto.asp?id=JEF0052) is a great place to go clamming, but we actually drove home Sunday morning to do that locally instead.

So for dinner, we got to have steamed clams with butter. Yum!

Holy Mammatus Clouds!

2008-10-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

I picked up Kai from preschool in Port Hadlock and on the way home I couldn't believe my eyes! These giant mammatus clouds were plopping down from the sky. I've only seen mammatus clouds once before in Montana - they are rare on the west coast. This type of cloud is usually found trailing after the anvil part of a violent thunderstorm cloud. (Which probably was the case today, I just never heard any thunder or saw any lightning.)

We had a very cold front and rainstorm move through around 4:30 today. It was drizzling and dark when I went in to the school and when I came out these clouds were limping after the passing storm.

I raced home with Kai, grabbed my camera and told him that we were going "cloud chasing." The clouds were literally fading away on the horizon as I snapped these around 5:40 pm. It made my day!

Portland June 19-20

2008-07-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

I travelled to Portland with Eric to attend his sister's wedding. On the way to the church I saw this sign and started laughing. It is so true.

Finland: Leaving Jtown, Helsinki or bust: Fri. Oct 5

2007-10-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

As the winter rains are starting to settle in, Harriet, Kai and packed up to head south for the winter to Faster Barbro's apartment in Helsinki. This is the last leg of our 3-week trip (*sniff*).

I picked up my new Finnish passport yesterday afternoon from the Police Station in Jakobstad. It took 7 days to get (that's without a rush) and cost 46 Euros. Of course, getting passport photos from the photo studio in town cost 13 Euros - and the photo looks just as crappy as $2.00 ones from a photo booth!

This morning we visited Fammo and had dreamcake (drömtårta) and pepparkakor from Sjöberg's bakery in Jakobstad. Good stuff! Fammo gave us each a package to take home. Yummers!

Next time we'll be back is for her 95th birthday party in 2009. And Kai will be 4 years old!

What was really cute was that Kai is completely unaware that Fammo is 93. In this picture, he is eclipsing Fammo after climbing all over her. He tried to jump on her, get her to give him a horsey ride and yanked on her arms pretending he was falling. She survived! Meanwhile, I was a little worried and I asked if he was bothering her but she said no. I guess once you're a great grandmother you've learned how to play with kids and not throw out your back. I, however, am still learning that lesson.

We caught the intercity train leaving Jakobstad at 15.30. Kai and I played in the second story kids playground in one of the wagons. What a great idea to put one of those in. I even went down the slide too.

Faster came and met us at the Helsinki train station and we took a taxi back to her apartment on in the Dromsö neighborhood. Tomorrow I'm off to Åbo (Turku) to relive my youth (I lived there for 4 years while working on my master's degree in geology).

Finland: Kokkola...Archrival of Jakobstad: Thurs. Oct 4

2007-10-04T07:01:00.000-07:00

Today, we entertained the enemy and visited the city center of the neighboring town Kokkola. The Swedish name for Kokkola is Karleby, and I'm not sure how the Jakobstad and Kokkola became rivals, but I've heard many a joke about "Kokkola bo." (Residents of Kokkola.) Unfortunately, none of the jokes are fit to print.

(Here is a photo of the pedestrian street that runs through the town's shopping district.)

In Kokkola, we visited the Rukka factory outlet and H&M. I didn't even know they had an H&M "up north" here. True to form, it carried precisely the same stuff as the Helsinki store.

My mom was excited since there was a Robert's coffee where she could procure a latte, and Kai and I rode the escalators ad infinitum. Turns out that kids can do that...if they have their parents along.

(Here's Kai sitting on a bench. Notice the Rapakivi granite trim underneath. In the U.S., this building stone is known as "Baltic brown.")

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Kokkola. When I was 5, I spent a week in the hospital there and I remember the nurses were very nice, that in the surgery room there was a picture of a red and white mushroom that a kid had drawn, and that there was an awesome gameroom down the hall where Mike got to play - but I didn't!

Afterwards, we went to visit Fammo. She seemed very cheerful and had been out for a long walk with another lady. Kai and I actually walked past them on our way to Fammo's apartment, but we didn't recognize Fammo and she didn't recognize us! Overcoats, hats and sunglasses will do that. The weather, though crisp and a bit windy, was downright balmy today, peaking around 13 C (about 55 F).

Tonight is our last night in Jakobstad. I picked up my Finnish passport from the police station today and tomorrow we leave by train for Helsinki. It's been a great stay here in Jakobstad - even the trees in town rolled out the red carpet with the best fall foliage that's fit to see.

Finland: Lappajärvi ho! Wed. Oct 3

2007-10-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

Kai's first impact crater!

We made it to the big impact crater! It was a fun day. Between the meteorite museum at Kivitippu hotel and driving around the central uplift island of Kärnä, it was a rock star kind of day. I think my mom and Kai had fun too. Here a few pictures.

View of foggy Lake Lappajärvi from the southern tip of Kärna Island.

At the meteorite museum at Kivitippu, there are some great display boards, dioramas and evena real meteorite that landed near Borgå (Porvoo).

The impact crater diameter extends beyond the

lake's boundaries. The impact crater is 19 km long - Finland's biggest.

A vast layer of melted bedrock, which geologists call suevite, is present in the Lappajärvi area. Locally, this rock is called kärnite and is mined for use as a beautiful building stone.

This photo is of the floor at the Kivitippu Resort. You can see the blocks of unmelted host rock in the grey melted matrix. The grey material got so hot it was glass!

The island of Kärna has beautiful birch forests, in addition to an exciting geologic past.

Finland: Nykarleby adventures: Tuesday Oct. 2

2007-10-03T12:01:00.001-07:00

Today we explored Nykarleby. I got so excited when we parked next to a sign that read "WALLENDAHL."

I had forgotten that Åsa's (my second cousin) dad owns a paint store in Nykarleby. I told my mom that we should go in and see if Rolf was working. He was! It was fun to talk to him - he plays saxophone in Jakobstad and is part of the Jazzoo (http://www.jazzoo.fi/). (My mom and I have one last chance to check out Jazzoo here in Jakobstad before we head down to Helsinki on Friday.)

After the paint shop, we checked out a yarn shop, took some pictures of the Nykarleby church. Then we had coffee and a green frog princess cake and then came home. A great day - all and all. For dinner, Bitti cooked up some delectable elk meatballs with mashed potatoes. Yum! Really, what more can you ask for? :)

Finland: Meatballs! The Öja tradition: Monday Oct. 1

2007-10-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

Öja is a rural area located between Jakobstad and Kokkola. My mom's family ran a farm there. My mom's Aunt Linnea (in the red coat) still lives out at the old farm and has a tradition of hosting a meatball welcome dinner at her house. Her meatballs are delicious!

Simon and Jonas are my second cousins ("små kusiner"). Simon is sporting the long beard and Jonas is in the red and white shirt. Tetti, Jonas' girlfriend, is in the brown shirt. Kai insisted on renaming her "lady." This was primarily because my mom referred to her once as lady Tetti

Finland: Cute stuff, Sundays, and Lappajärvi: Sun. Sept. 30

2007-10-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Kai, at his best, is an adorable little monkey. Last night he was so incredibly cuddly, wandering around in his pj's giving hugs and kisses left and right. We had a busy Sunday, but filled with great things like Bitti's scrumptious Toska kaka ("Tosca Cake"), playing in the pouring rain, and aimless wanderings around the neighborhood in the stroller.

There's a really beautiful type of hedge that's common in town here. Now that it's fall the leaves of these hedges are bright red, orange and yellow. In fact, so many of the houses around here have hedges I started to think about how it looks a lot like a little English village. I've only seen one house in town with an "American-style" fence - you know, the 6-foot high ones that wrap around the whole yard.

I forgot how everything is closed on Sundays. Which made me a bit nostalgic for my days in grad school here. Sundays were for sleeping in, going to church, meeting friends for coffee and just taking it easy. That type of Sunday just doesn't seem to exist back home for me. But not because I'm married with a kid, more because I just don't think that type of day exists at all in the U.S. anymore. Well, maybe still in the Amish towns.

Today is now Monday so we have one more week left in Finland. I'd really like to squeeze in a trip to Lake Lappajärvi. As part of the geology sightseeing I dig so much.

I went to a conference held at the Kivitippu Resort on the shores of Lake Lappajärvi in 2001. It was a fitting place for a conference about meteor impact sites, since that waters of Lake Lappajärvi fill an impact crater that was created. Sadly, I don't have any photos of the lake and central uplift island, so I'd like to take some this week. And, I read that the Kivitippu Resort http://www.kivitippu.fi/en/activities/index.html has an pool that I can take Kai to, and an outdoor wooded trail and a meteor museum as well. w00t!

The central island of Lappajärvi is home to several suevite quarries. Suevite is the melt rock that forms when a huge impact occurs on earth. In fact, the impact at Lappajärvi was so violent, diamonds can be found in this impact melt. Read more at http://www.somerikko.net/old/geo/imp/lappa_e.htm

Finland: Visiting the cemetery: Saturday, Sept. 29

2007-09-29T23:30:00.001-07:00

It's tradition in Finland to visit the graves of loved ones several times a year to plant new flowers, shrubs and place candles. This time of year, the traditional flower to plant is heather (Calluna vulgaris) .

Yesterday I went with Fammo Svea, Faster Barbro and Kai to plant heather and pay respects to relatives passed.

Here is a photograph of my grandfather Faffa Heimer's resting place at the Pedersöre cemetery in Jakobstad. That's Faster Barbro and Fammo Svea in the photo. You can see the pinkish-purple heather in the foreground.

This next photo is of my great-grandmother Jenny Irene Wiklund's resting place at the Esse cemetery. She died when my Fammo Svea was just 2 years old.

Finland: Mining the lingonberries: Sat. Sept. 22

2007-09-27T03:06:00.000-07:00

Lingonberries - Finland's red gold

Picking lingonberries in the autumn is about as Finnish as you can get. These tart little berries are akin to cranberries, which also grow in the forests of Finland. In Swedish, lingonberries are called "lingon" and cranberries are called "tranbär."

On the northeast side of Agnisholmen, my parents have the cabin they began building in 1977. It was designed by my Faffa Heimer.

As my parents have never permanently returned to Finland, the final sauna oven has yet to be added. But my brothers Mike and Kenny and I spent every other summer here while growing up. You can see Kai hanging out among the lingonberries.

Here is Uncle Ben in his Samurai hat. He wears it to invoke fighting prowess for when he must do battle with "huggormar", which are Finland's poisonous wood snakes.

A Finnish specimen of the "huggorm." (We didn't actually see one this trip, luckily!)

Finland: Fammo Svea! Friday Sept. 21

2007-09-26T23:16:00.001-07:00

This is my grandmother Svea. She is 93 years old and lives in her own apartment in Jakobstad. Kai met her for the first time last week. Now they're old friends, he even gives her hugs and kisses too!

I probably inherited my love of coffee from Fammo. She worked at her family's cafe in Kållby for years, before she married my Faffa Heimer. Faffa passed away in 1988. He worked as a "byggmästare" which is something like a building architect. Faffa was a lot of fun, I remember him twiddling his thumbs while he watched TV in his rocking chair. He also used to color in the loops of letters in the newspaper and then it was my job to hunt for them and circle them. Good times!

Finland: The Villa at Agnisholmen: Fri-Sun, Sept. 21-23

2007-09-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Ben & Bitti's villa. A villa is a cottage used for weekend relaxation, usually located near water.

Ben & Bitti's villa is located on Agnisholmen, which literally translates to Agnes Island. You can find it on the map located just above the word "Kåtolandet." (Note that water is yellow and land is grey on this map.)

There are so many lakes and islands in the Finnish archepelago that there is quite a lot of waterfront property for such a small country. Most villas are equipped with a sauna - and to cool off afterwards you run and jump in the water.

The island is in the vincinity of Öja and Kokkola, an area renouned for its ginormous population of ticks. These ticks carry a disease called TBE, which Kai and I got vaccinated for before we left the states.

Finland: Jakobstad or bust! Sept. 19 and onwards

2007-09-25T03:40:00.000-07:00

We're in Jakobstad now - the town of 20,000 where my parents grew up. We're staying with my aunt Bitti and uncle Ben. (Click the following link to read about Jakobstad/Pietasaari - http://www.jakobstad.fi/index_en.html.)

We took care of some necessities which included visiting the municipal department of health to rent a baby car seat for Kai, and shopping at the local grocery store. My aunt Bitti is driving the cart and Kai is along for the ride.

Here is one of the thousands of glacial erratics (boulders) scattered throughout the city. My mom is standing in front of it, while Kai is checking out mushrooms in the lawn.

Finland: Välkommen till Finland: Part 1: Helsinki Sept 17-19

2007-09-25T02:13:00.000-07:00

Whew - we made it!

My mom Harriet, Kai and I survived the 10 hour flight from Seattle --> Copenhagen and the subsequent 1.5 hour flight from Copenhagen --> Helsinki.

Exactly how do you keep a 2-year old quiet on a night flight for 10 hours strapped into an uncomfortable seat? Little plastic animals...

Then we met my Aunt Barbro in Helsinki (that's Helsingfors for all you Swedish-speakers out there) and went to her apartment in the Dromsö neighborhood.

Here is Kai munching on hotdogs (korv) in my Aunt Barbro's kitchen.

We stayed 2 nights in Helsingfos, most of our energy battling the jet lag. Or rather, Kai was losing the jet lag battle so that meant everyone was else suffered too.

But we did manage to visit with my second cousins "syslingar" - Åsa, Malena and my former roomate Linda. Luckily, Åsa and Linda have kidlets now too so there was no need to hush Kai excessively.

Åsa, Me, Linda and Malena at Åsa and Mårten's apartment in the Eina area of Helsinki.

Kai kept stealing away most of Casper's toys with the proclamation of "MINE." What can I say - we teach good family values, ones that include greed, taking advantage of those smaller than you...our motto is "if it feels good do it (?!)."

Here's me with Casper - he's a cheerful one.

Mårten, Casper's dad, had a neat creation. He had commissioned the creation of a Wallendahl family crest from a licensed crest-maker. The new crest is registered with the international organization that oversees crests. Pretty cool!

Later, we went to downtown Helsinki and went to H&M (my favorite clothing store ever!). And also to Stockman, which is a department store akin to Saks Fifth Avenue or Nordstrom.

Åsa, Mårten and Casper wait in the rain for the 3T trolley car to take us to the city center.

Small children and one parent ride public buses and trolley cars for free. How cool is that? Otherwise, a ride on the bus or trolley costs about 2.2 Euros (circa 2.75 USD).

Kai naturally wanted to sit in Casper's baby wagon since Casper was riding around in the Snugli.

Åsa even watched Kai so I could poke around H&M - tusen tack!

Kai chillin' inside Stockmans while Harriet checked out some stuff.

The next day, September 19, we left for Jakobstad by train. But before that, Aunt Barbro took us out for lunch at the World Trade Center in Helsinki.

Okay, more entries later. Kai only naps so long in the afternoon...