As I sat there in the woods above the Arctic Circle and listened to the pounding cascades of Finland’s Auttiköngäs waterfall, my mind quickly raced back to the day’s events that had led me to this exact moment. We had started our morning in Santa’s hometown, Rovaniemi, and driven for about an hour down scenic, rural, winding roads. Upon our arrival, we immediately discovered the dramatic landscape laid out before us. What I didn’t realize was that a more intriguing twist awaited us on this expedition into Lapland’s natural playground.
Chasing Waterfalls
It didn’t take long to comprehend that this was nothing like the rivers and the lakes that we’re used to. As soon as we saw it, we were so glad that we had ignored TLC’s advice and had indeed decided to go chase waterfalls. As it turns out, our timing could not have been more perfect, as this natural water feature pounded ferociously in all its magical glory due to the melting snow.
The waterfall itself was magnificent, but there were more surprises that awaited in this mystical land. We walked across the path that traversed over this amazing natural water feature, and into a serene forest full of towering trees. The melody of Chaffinches served as our soundtrack, interrupted only by the occasional toot on my whistle to alert any resident bears of our arrival. We stopped every now and then to take it all in so we didn’t even hear the shuffle of our hiking boots. The silence of the forest was a welcome rarity.
More Than Cool Rocks
A walk along the ridge that extended above the waterway brought even more treasures. We were rewarded with more epic waterfall views from different vantage points, as well as a fun assortment of rocks beneath our feet. I enjoyed crawling around on the ground to closely inspect our geological finds, and my rockhounding sidekick seemed to enjoy it as well. However, he kept trying to direct me back the way we had already walked.
We stumbled upon one particular overlook that gave us an astonishing view of the waterfall and JP suggested we take a break there. We had stopped there earlier and it was a nice spot, so I gladly obliged. I was eager to snap more pictures and crawl around looking at more rocks. After he finally coaxed me off the ground, I sat there peacefully for a moment before things got weird.
All of a sudden, I was told to sit down, close my eyes, and just trust. I was sitting in the middle of nowhere, on the edge of a cliff above the pounding falls, and I probably wouldn’t have done that for just anyone. Since I knew he would need my help to find his way back to civilization, I did as told. I was still a little confused, but I went along with it – after I snapped one more picture of that waterfall because it really was just that picturesque.
No Pastries This Time
Once I was allowed to open my eyes, I saw my sweet JP on one knee, holding a Dunkin’ Donuts ring box. I recognized the box, as he had used it to present me with a donut hole on National Proposal Day a few months earlier. But when he opened it this time, there was no pastry. That’s ok, as I had already devoured so many delicious baked goods on this trip, and they all surpassed anything I’ve ever had at Dunkin’ Donuts.
Then, my best friend asked me to marry him. He took out a beautiful ring and put it on my dirty hand. Nobody had prepped me for this, and there was no pre-trip manicure. Luckily, he’s been around long enough that he knows what he’s working with. He didn’t mind the dirt under my fingernails as he slipped on this new bling. The irony is that my filthy hands were on the ground inspecting stones a few minutes before, and now my hand held one so much more special.
I sat there for a couple of minutes still half expecting him to pull out a pastry and take away my ring, but he didn’t. He finally asked me if I was going to say yes. Apparently, I had taken a little too long to answer his question as I sat there awaiting a lingonberry coffee cake. That’s when I realized this was real.
The Raven
I snapped back into reality and quickly screamed, “Yes, yes, yes!” As soon as I did, an ethereal raven flew into the tree in front of us. Although these birds can be seen there, we had not seen one up until that point. It sat there a moment and looked at us as if to give us its blessing. As I grabbed my camera to attempt to capture this moment, it flew away. I was only able to snap one quick, blurry picture to remember it’s presence, but his visit was meaningful.
I’ve heard folklore that ravens are symbols of intelligence, wisdom, transformation, and change. Raven also happens to be my previous on-air alias from back in my radio days, so we took that as a sign as well. The only thing that could make this experience more magical would be a little troll or gnome coming from the forest to snap a pic of us in front of the waterfall. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
The Highlight of an Epic Trip
Between Iceland, Helsinki, and a train ride above the Arctic Circle to visit the official home of Santa, there were plenty of fascinating moments throughout our trip. In any other instance, it would be hard to choose a favorite. However, nothing came close to that moment by the waterfall. My sweet JP somehow found the perfect spot to make this happen. There was water, a hiking trail, birds, rocks, and the serenity of nature – all of my favorite things.
We celebrated later that evening and toasted warm glögi by the fire back at Santa’s Village. We then amped up our celebration with some ATV off-roading through the Arctic forest the next day. It was the most perfect proposal of all time, and I ‘m so thankful God brought me this sweet man. I can’t wait to share a lifetime of fun adventures with my favorite dude.