We looked around for my school and, after asking for directions from both the tourist info center and the local library, we found it -- see below left.  The school building was still there, although it had been added an annex.  We took some photos, then continued our drive to Leppiniemi about 10 km (6 miles) down the road -- below right

My middle school building.	Arriving in Leppiniemi.

This building, now partially occupied, contained the local general store where my mother did most of our food shopping.  The store was in the right half of the building, the left half had a barber shop and shoe repair shop.	This is all that is remaining of the temporary housing in which we lived.  The housing was temporary as the people in them were hired for the construction of Pyhakoski power plant.  My father was an electrician involved with the interior wiring of the plant.

New (since 1953) sign.	The Pyhakoski power plant upstream side. Hasn't changed any since I last saw it in 1953.

A view of the swimming beach where I spent countless summertime hours -- although the sports bleachers and swimming lanes are no longer there. Another new landmark or monument -- new since I left, that is.

A memorial to the construction crews.	Brings back memories -- timber flume.
From below, the power plant also looked pretty much the same as in 1953	One of the more interesting spots in Pyhakoski was the timber flume.  This the chute where the logs exited the flume when the lumberjacks were working.  When the flume was not active, this was a favorite fishing spot for me.

We left Leppiniemi and Pyhakoski early afternoon taking a different road part of the way back to Oulu.  We arrived in Oulu mid-afternoon and decided to take a ride to Haukipudas, 20 km North of Oulu.  I took the photo at right to show how Finland highway departments mark the city limits.  There is a similar sign exiting a city or town limits.

		The main attraction of interest in Haukipudas is this church.  I got a kick out of the collection guy (left).

	Interior of the church in Haukipudas.
	Left:  A (non-church) scene in Haukipudas. It was early evening when we returned to Oulu.

Snacking	Soul Woman??	The port of Olu.

Another view of the port.	Art work in the port	Lynda likes Chubby

One of the main reasons we traveled up North was to observe the phenomena of the midnight sun.  Just a little North from Oulu, the sun is up continually for about a week towards the end of June.  In Oulu the sun dips below the horizon for about an hour on June 21st, the longest day of the year.  The photo at left was taken at 11:16 PM on June 20th from our hotel window. The sun at 23:16 (11:16 p.m.)

Next we go to Rovaniemi and the arctic circle to celebrate the midnight sun
-- or so we thought.