My mom sent me this conversation she had with Maya while Tim and I were away:
Maya: When is my mom's birthday?
Me: December 8th.
Maya When is my dad's?
Me: July 16th the day after grandpa's.
Maya: I'm going to make him a very special birthday cake. I'll have mommy take me to the store to buy cake and icing.
Me: What kind of cake?
Maya: It will have a dinosaur and a rainbow on top. He will tell me it is very pretty. I will make it for a surprise.
13 June 2011
12 June 2011
Iceland Day 6
On Friday, we still had the car, so Tim, Tony, and I drove north along the western coast of Iceland toward the Snaefellsnes peninsula. Our first stop was the Glymur waterfall, the highest waterfall in Iceland. It was (if you would believe it) not marked from the road, so we had to stop at a gas station and ask for directions. We drove to the parking lot a couple of kilometers off of the main road, then started a 3+ mile round-trip hike to some very nice vantage points of the falls. The hike was labeled as "easy." I wouldn't call it easy, mostly because it had washed out or completely eroded in some places, but we felt like we couldn't complain since there was a 10-ish year old girl behind us just scaling rock faces like she did it every day. Tony called her the adventure monster. From the falls, we headed back to the aforementioned gas station for some very delicious burgers. Then we drove on into the town of Borgarnes. There aren't any photos from our visit to the city, but we saw a really lovely exhibition about the settlement of Iceland the Egill's Saga (one of the most famous of the Icelandic sagas). We then drove on through Reykholt and happened upon Deildartunguhver, Europe's largest hot springs. Since we were close to them anyway, we drove a little bit on up the road to a pair of smaller but no less impressive falls: Hraunfossar and Barnafoss. They were very difficult to photograph, but truly one of the coolest things I've seen. That was pretty much the day, so we drove back into Reykjavik (through a 3 mile tunnel) and had dinner at the Sea Baron, a restaurant rated highly for its lobster soup (it was delicious) and other seafood. We returned the car and headed back to the hotel to pack.
And a couple from our hike from my camera:
And the EveryTrail Version:
And a couple from our hike from my camera:
Iceland Day 5
On Thursday, Tim, Catalin, and I rented a car and drove along the southern coast. For Tim, this was a little bit of a repeat of the previous day, but he got to see some new things, too. We started with a stop at Seljalandsfoss, the second waterfall Tim had seen the day before. Unfortunately, the day was pretty hazy, so we didn't have really good vistas as we were driving, but the views of the waterfalls and other stops were fantastic. From Seljalandsfoss, we continued our drive along the coast, with great views of sheep and the coast. We drove into the town of Vik and had a lovely lunch at a little local cafe. Vik is notable for its proximity to a nice black sand beach, which we strolled along for a bit. We then cajoled Catalin into asking for directions to the really pretty black sand beach, and we drove back up the road to see that. This was a black sand beach (not signed at all from the main road), with towering basalt cliffs along the coast, and some lovely views out to sea to some natural rock formations off the coast. From here, we turned back towards Reykjavik to see the sights we had skipped along the way. First was the glacier, and Catalin and I got to walk up to it and touch it a bit. I didn't really want to walk on it; since I wasn't keen on going home with a broken leg... The glacier is still gray in color on top from last year's eruption of the volcano we can't pronounce. (Clearly, this is where the US filmed all of the moon-landing footage.) From the glacier, we took a quick stop up the road at Skogafoss, the second waterfall Tim had seen the day before. We continued back on the ring road towards Reykjavik. As we approached Seljalandsfoss, the sky completely cleared, so we pulled off the road to see it one more time. We then went into Eyrarbakki, a little fishing village along the coast to have dinner at Rauda Husid, a delicious restaurant we'd read about. After capping off lamb, lobster, and steak with some more of Iceland's delicious chocolate cake, we headed back into town and our hotel.
And the EveryTrail Version:
And the EveryTrail Version:
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