Iceland_final notes

Greetings good people,

The last short slideshow is up and loaded into Vimeo website. I am using Vimeo due to the very very slow upload times here at Word Press. I think I will alternate more now between posting just photos and also occasional slideshows. Also stay tuned for the opening of my woodwork/photography website which I really need to get online to help make more of a living….may need a few weeks to get that up….

The final slides here are from the trip Sara and I took in Iceland in early April. I wasn’t sure what Iceland might be like this time of year and it proved to be an interesting and sometimes chilly trip. There was plenty of snow in the mountains and even down in some of the lowlands up North and in the West where we started out. Down South, the weather was a little more mild, but the winds were impressive a few days….60mph winds kept my flight from leaving until a few hours after the scheduled departure. Whale watching up in Husavik proved to be quite an adventure on a snow covered boat and in chilly conditions. We saw some whales (maybe 2) briefly and checked that off the things to do list. Icy waterways and Common Eiders bobbing about in the waves were a delight to see. Icy waterfalls and snowy landscapes reminded me of many winters spent in the snowy mountains in the Northwest. Long-tailed ducks, Ptarmigan in snowy-white plumage, tube-nosed seabirds, seals, beautiful Icelandic horses in snowy landscapes, and an excess of fresh water everywhere it seemed (a dream for a Californian) made time up North well-spent. Hot tubbing at one guest house proved to be a good way to end days. Down towards the Southern side of the Iceland, we enjoyed hikes up small coastal highlands onto wide-spanning mesas in search of panoramic view and puffins. The final day in the south we finally spotted hundred of puffins circling over the off-shore rock pyramids – probably just returning to land after a winter at sea? (this helped prompt the July trip BTW). Eating the super-thick yogurt-like SKYR is worth going to Iceland for alone IMHO….top that off with fairly affordable wild smoked LAX (salmon), and you are ready to go! The geothermal areas of Iceland have bubbling mud puddles and rocket like steam vents showing off how volcanic/geothermal Iceland is. The picturesque Ice Caps off in the distance look like something to explore by backcountry skis some day. The final day to explore proved to be to one windy and rainy day. The end sections of the slideshow shows the amount of wind – look at how the waterfalls in background are blowing horizontally! And, from the more recent trip – a walk through any nesting area of Arctic Terns is not for the faint of heart. They are some tough and noisy little seabirds. Hope you enjoy set 3 of 3….the first link is for set 3 and below that is set 2.

https://vimeo.com/231210993

And Part 2 of 3…..

https://vimeo.com/230184831

take care