a new day

Today begins a new chapter in my life. I have no job, and a one-way ticket overseas. The emotional simmer of excitement, sadness, and just plain scared is tempered by the fact that all my (ex) coworkers are happy for me. That a fair number are also consumed by green-eyed jealousy helps. I'll miss you guys. Thank you for the many great lessons you have taught me.

icelandic critters, wild and otherwise

I was looking through some photos of last year's trip to Iceland, and figured I'd post some animal photos.

I love driving in Iceland. There's barely any traffic. You can go for kilometers without seeing another car, but that doesn't mean you don't have to keep your eye out for other kinds of traffic.

Being in a car isn't a guarantee against the infamous summer arctic tern attacks. They'll come after you either way. After escaping unpecked the summer before, I finally received a jab on the head this trip. The novelty of being graced from above from one of Iceland's most aggressive summertime residents quickly wore off, because it actually hurts. Also, it was attacking me from behind, so I couldn't see it coming. I beat a hasty retreat from the short hike I was attempting. Arctic tern 1, Cheese Skipper 0.

While camping at Möðrudalur, I started hiking towards Herðubreið for an evening stroll, and suddenly realized I had an unexpected companion trotting alongside me. At some point we reached a stream that had some steep banks, where I stopped to look around, and the dog stopped next to me. I looked at her and asked "How do we get across?" As if she had been waiting for me to ask, she promptly scampered over to part of the bank where it was easier to cross, and waited for me. Good dog! Although she sort of ditched me a bit later.

And here's a few other residents who crossed my path. Or I crossed theirs.

Jökulsárlón

approaching Greenland

I took this with my iPod last year. I'm just posting it as a blog-via-email test.

pics from Greenland

I went to Greenland because I was basically as close as I was going to get for the foreseeable future, and at one of the very few departure points that fly there. It was a relatively expensive short side trip, but after thinking it over for a couple of weeks at home, I decided what the heck. Three days in any one country is never enough (except maybe those micro countries in Europe, I'll need to investigate that later) but I'm glad I got a little taste of the teeny patch of ground I saw. In Tasiilaq I stayed at the campground run by the Red House tourist agency, and was chatting with a guide who was spending a couple of days preparing gear for the summer season. As he put it, the town was the end of civilization before the beginning of another world that is the ice sheet that lies just a few kilometers inland. I didn't make it that far, but there was plenty of ice and icebergs for the viewing just by the coast. Plus, exciting transportation within - I sped from Kulusuk to Tasiilaq through an iceberg strewn bay on a little boat piloted by one of the locals, and popped for a ten-minute helicopter ride back a couple of days later for the return to Iceland. Tasiilaq has no runway, so boat or chopper are the only ways in and out.

The flight back to Reykjavík was almost entirely empty. It was literally a tour group of Japanese seniors and me. Window seats for all. I asked the flight attendant if that was normal, and she said it wasn't. And while I'm posting a picture of one of their planes, let me say that I adore AirIceland. They depart on time, they arrive early, they serve tasty snack meals, they serve you coffee on a tray where you can help yourself to as much creamer and sugar as you want, and there are even little chocolate nibbles, and they twice got me on earlier flights on short notice; one time I had to pay a minor fee of 11 euro, which I expected, but the first time I was moved up at no extra charge and with zero hassle.

dinner and a show

By chance, I arrived at Vogar's Vogafjós Cowshed Cafe just in time to snag one of two tables by the milking room window and caught the tail end of the evening's milking. Plus a vegetable crepe and a salad. My camping diet has been a lot of carbs, starch, and cookies, so I ordered the item that had the most vegetables. I didn't even plan on visiting the cafe. I was just walking up the road after a day hike to Hverfjall and Dimmuborgir near Lake Mývatn, when I realized where I was. Moo.


The idea that started this entire trip was to be above the Arctic Circle for midsummer. Most of Iceland lies just below the circle, except for the little island of Grímsey, which straddles 66 degrees north. So the goal - be on Grímsey, camping above the Arctic Circle on June 21. And - mission accomplished. I'm sorry to say that I have no picture of the midnight sun on the longest day, since it was entirely overcast. At midnight I was sitting and shivering on a cliff on the west side of the island, watching a grey horizon in the company of thousands of puffins. Even though the midsummer sun was a fizzle, I did have fun watching the puffins for hours. I especially enjoy watching them take off from the cliffs. They have enormous orange webbed feet which they may daintily point directly behind, so they sort of look like a chubby ballerina in a swan dive, but usually they are stuck out to the sides, two big orange rudders steering them through the sky as they flapflapflapflap over the ocean. Unaccountably, I actually managed to snap a picture of this.


Midnight sun makes everyone stay up late. Despite the eyeshades, I wake multiple times during the night and see the bright sky through my tent and have no idea what time it is. Birds are singing and tweeting, snipes are buzzing through the air, puffins are fishing, sheep and horses are munching the new grass, road workers are repaving the Ring Road at 2200, campers start cooking dinner at 2300, and the eight year old granddaughter of one hostel owner was yammering away on the telephone with her mom at midnight. It'll be weird when I get home and see night again.

Here are couple of pictures from Ásbyrgi Canyon, where I was yesterday and this morning, one from above and one from within. I wish I had one more day just to hang out there. The scenery is spectacular, and it's practically deserted. The enormous campground, which may be bigger than Reykjavík's, was almost entirely empty. I guess high season here doesn't really kick in until July and August. Maybe the winter weather is keeping people away. Have I mentioned that it's really cold? Fine by me; I'd rather take cold weather and fewer tourists. Besides, this is what credit cards and the 66° North outlet store in Akureyri are for.



Speaking of Reykjavík, I'm back here for the night. Tomorrow I will go to Greenland for three nights, and then return to Iceland for a couple of days before going home.

fisk

Sauðárkrókur. I don't know why these racks weren't over-run by a million cats. Maybe they were all full.



And it's colorful and sunny in Siglufjörður.


I'm in the public library in Akureyri, waiting for the cafe to open for lunch. I've said a fond farewell to my little Suzuki Swift which took me 2000 kilometers along countless fjords, crunched down gravel roads and weathered massive potholes better than I thought it would. I'll be on buses and ferries for the next few days visiting Hrísey, Grímsey, Mývatn, and the Jökulsárgljúfur National Park (if things go according to plan).