Cousin Iceland Adventure 2018: Day 1

Day 1:

I picked Maddy up at the airport in Keflavik at the crack of dawn. I mean... I guess there is no actual crack of dawn here at this time of year in the land of the midnight sun... My point is that it was very early.  Too early. I considered (only very briefly) calling her a taxi and having them deliver her to me so I could sleep an extra couple of hours. I'm not willing to part with any of my internal organs though, which is roughly what a cab from the airport would cost here. Maddy is the 16 (almost 17) year old daughter of my cousin Jackie. She lives near San Francisco and as of today I have met her exactly three times. The first time we met she was about 8 months old and I was 14 or 15. The second time was last April when I visited her family in California. Maddy is very enthusiastic about Iceland and I'm so excited to get to introduce her to the country and to some of our Icelandic relatives. We are going to spend a full week exploring Reykjavik, the south coast, and the East Fjords in a whirlwind tour before she has to return to California next Friday.

Today as soon as I picked Maddy up we headed to the Blue Lagoon. This is a great way to freshen up and feel relaxed after having been on an airplane for 8+ hours. Or, in my case, having woken up grouchy at 5:30 in the morning. The last time I was at the Blue Lagoon was with my Snorri group in 2011. I remember having a quick evening visit and doing some wading around in the Lagoon, but the memory is murky. I was happy to go back today and see everything again. It is super touristy and busy, but don't that stop you from checking it out. With the amazing blue color of the water contrasting with the black of the lava rocks, and the steam rising up, it is sort of magical. We enjoyed smoothies from the swim up bar and applied the complementary silica mud masks to our faces as we lounged around the lagoon. Maddy really enjoyed it, saying that she could happily live in the lagoon, mermaid style.

We drove south to Grindavík and stopped for a quick lunch. Maddy shares my affinity for gas station tuna fish sandwiches, so I think we are going to get along very well on this road trip. I wanted to show her Seltún, which is a goethermal area on the Reykjanes peninsula, and some spots along the shores of nearby Kleifarvatn as well. I missed a turn and we ended up going a little farther than necessary, but we ended up seeing a cool church called Strandarkirkja because of the error, so it was okay.

Maddy took a quick power nap on the drive to Seltún. She hadn't slept much on the plane and her energy was flagging after so many sleepless hours of travel. She perked up for a little walk around the bubbling, sulphuric landscape. We managed a quick hike up the steep side of the little mountain. As always, climbing down is way worse than climbing up. I did my old lady shuffle all the way down after we enjoyed the view, wishing I had worn my super grippy hiking boots rather than my slippery soled tennis shoes.

Maddy at Seltún

Edging our way back down the hill.

Maddy at Kleifarvatn.
Not pictured: Me in the background, shrieking, "Don't go any closer to the edge!"

Maddy and I both napped once we checked into our Airbnb in Reykjavik. I only let myself sleep for about 45 minutes, but Maddy got in a couple hours. I felt like a real villain making her wake up so we could walk around for awhile in the late afternoon, but I wanted to make sure she would sleep tonight and get on a normal sleep schedule for the rest of our trip. By the time we finished our early dinner (delicious plökkfiskur for her and the "fish of the day" for me) at Cafe Loki she was mostly awake. We took a brief walk down to the shore near Harpa and the Sólfar statue to look around and then made a very necessary stop at Valdís for ice cream cones on the way back to the hotel. Once we reached the room I think Maddy was asleep before I even had my shoes off. She will be well rested for a day of adventuring and exploring more of Reykjavik tomorrow!

Leaving Hofsós (But just for a little while)

This afternoon I drove back to Reykjavik, taking a short leave from Hofsós. My cousin Maddy is flying in from California tomorrow morning and we are going to spend a week traveling around Iceland and meeting with Icelandic cousins. It's going to be a blast, and I'm pretty dang excited. We are starting out tomorrow with a visit to the Blue Lagoon to help Maddy wash off the airplane dust, and that will just be the beginning of our planned adventures.

This morning before I hit the road, Kat, Viktor, and I went to Kolkuós to see the new foals and enjoy a lovely pancake breakfast made by Lena. The weather was warm and the wind was under control, and we strolled through the fields above the sea with bellies full of pancakes and whipped cream on our search for the herd of horses. We discovered them tucked away in one of the many nooks of their field. The mares took their foals a safe distance from us while the childless horses came closer for a snuggle. We were able to manoeuvre ourselves closer to the mares eventually, and Viktor even got in a few fuzzy foal nose snuggles.

The last few weeks in Hofsós have been chock full of horseback riding, hikes in the foothills, enjoying family time with Valgeir and Gunna (and their cute grandkids), and many hours at the Icelandic Emigration Center, greeting guests and helping fellow Western Icelanders with their genealogy research. It was an amazing whirlwind, and the time passed much too quickly. I am so excited for these next 10 days of traveling, but I also can't wait to go back to Hofsos.

Bill Holm Day

Today we celebrated the life and memory of Bill Holm, Western Icelander, Minnesota author, and part-time Hofsós resident. I am a great admirer of Bill's writing, but sadly never got to meet him. He died in 2009, around the time I was first getting involved in the Icelandic American community in Minnesota. There are many people here in Hofsós (and elsewhere) that miss him greatly, and today was all about honoring his memory and gathering together people who knew and loved him. Valgeir, and others here in Iceland have been planning this celebration of his life for who knows how long. It all came together today in the form of a magnificent program and dinner. I am so honored to have been able to be a part of this event.

We closed the Icelandic Emigration Center early today to get ready for the program, which is something that is almost never done. The World Cup and Bill Holm are the only things I know that are powerful enough to close down the museum, even for a few hours. At 3:00 I went with Viktor and his dad for a last minute practice of our poetry reading. The event was scheduled to begin at 4, but this is Iceland... so it was more like 4:15 when people began to trickle in and take their seats. The next two hours were filled with speeches, musical performances, and poetry readings. Viktor and I waited anxiously for our turn on stage. We were scheduled to speak near the end of the program. Even with anticipated stage fright, it was impossible not to enjoy the show. A large local choir sang a variety of amazing songs, a pianist named Daniel Ripple came all the way from Minnesota to play some of Bill's favorite tunes, and a fantastic soloist named Anna Sigga sang along with the piano. It was fabulous.

This is one of Bill Holm's many great published works and includes the poems
Viktor and I read during the program today. 

Viktor and I went up to the podium together when our turn came. I think I was just as relieved about this arrangement as he was. Viktor was tasked with reading a sweet poem written by Bill Holm just for him on the occasion of his baptism, nearly 11 years ago. In the days leading up to this event poor Viktor has claimed complete terror at the thought of getting up in front of a room full of people to read this poem. Today he did absolutely wonderfully. He sounded cool and confident, reading a poem in his second language in front of so many people at the age of 11. Amazing. I was up next, reading a poem titled, "Solstice Poem- for Kristján Árnason." When I was asked to chose a poem to read, this is the one that jumped out at me first. It is about watching the way the colors of the mountain change during the night of the Solstice, and the feelings it evokes. It is beautifully written, and I hope I was able to bring it to life for a few moments.

I was aware during the program that I was an outsider to both the truest grief and gladdest memories of this man. Most of the people in the room had met Bill at least once and had a story or two to tell about him. Many were dear friends or family; people who wiped tears from their eyes when hearing one of Bill's favorite Haydn compositions played on the piano, and those that could not get through speeches about this great man without their voices cracking. I absorbed these feelings, becoming teary myself when Bill's widow, Marcy, emotionally thanked everyone for coming. I wished that I had known him personally, but there amongst those people tonight, I feel like I almost did.

I left the dinner party tonight a little after 10pm to come home and check on the horses and do some writing. I am full of salmon, and rhubarb cake, and a strange sense of nostalgia for someone I never met. Tomorrow when I walk past Brimnes, Bill's house here in Hofsós, I will send an imaginary tip of the hat to a great author and man, who is greatly missed here in Iceland.

The Big Game (The First One at Least) and Some Other Stuff

Yesterday Lena, Kat, (who is one of the newly arrived Snorri Interns here in Hofsós for summer 2018) and I went to Kolkuós after work to spend some time with the horses. The horses are all fat and sassy, enjoying the lush spring grass in their seemingly endless field. Their lips are stained green from the grass, and it looks like they are wearing a questionable shade of lipstick. None of these horses are trained to ride, and some of them even pretty wary of people getting too close. A fair number of them are plenty curious though, and they were very happy to get some neck scratchies and snuggles from us. 

Snoopy horse

Brand new baby

One year old

The horse photos are courtesy of Kat, who was wise enough to bring her phone with to snap some pics when I was not.

Today was the big Iceland vs. Argentina World Cup soccer game. The level of excitement today was insane. I could practically feel it in the air the moment I stepped outside this morning. We actually closed the Emigration Center for a couple of hours (this is unheard of) so we could go to the community center here in Hofsós and watch the game on the big screen. I am somewhere near the bottom of the list of people you could consider a sports fan, but here today in all the chaos and excitement and Icelandic pride, I fell well within the range of average on that list. Maybe even slightly above average. The game ended in a tie, which is considered a great victory against a team like Argentina. Here is a video of the crowd at the community center cheering and celebrating at the end of the game this afternoon.

Hofsós was especially sunshine filled today

On my after dinner walk tonight I head for higher ground, my path a familiar one just a short drive from Valgeir and Gunna's farm. I have had several opportunities to hike around here the past two summers, exploring, picking blueberries, and contemplating life. Some of the sheep Lena and I have chased this week have been relocated to areas along this route so I keep my eye out for familiar sheep faces, or at least familiar rear ends. The few I see eye me with severe distrust. They've been burned by me before (figuratively). I give them the two pronged "I'm watching you" gesture and keep walking.

Suspicious sheep butts

The wind that has been blasting us here in Hofsós for the past two days has died down this evening and the air is still and smells of mountain grass and moss. A few drops of rain make an appearance but I don't take them seriously. The clouds above me are not threatening. The sound of the waterfall I follow up the mountain ebbs and flows as I weave through the little hills up and around it. The white noise is soothing and perfectly compliments the cries and chatter of birds, and occasional distant bleeting of sheep. I take off my headphones and turn off the hiking mix on my iPod to enjoy a more natural soundtrack.

When I return to the house, Viktor is waiting for me and challenges me to a rock skipping competition. "I'm terrible at that," I tell him, which seems to make him even more excited to begin. We spend the next hour or so skipping rocks on the edge of the lake. He makes up rules for different competitions, making sure I don't get have too much luck on any particular challenge. Tonight my record is 6 skips, a personal best. It is nearly 11pm when we turn back to the house, and Viktor still displays a shocking amount of energy. I make sure to stay well ahead of him and the rope that he has managed to procure.

Sunshine and Walkies

Today was a beautiful, sunny day in Hofsós. After work, which involved holding a museum guest's cute baby for awhile, and reading outside on the bench in the sunshine, Viktor and I stopped and got pizza and gummy candies for dinner. His idea, which I fully supported. Viktor had plans to spend his evening designing a ramp for his scooter, so I headed for the hills, literally. The dogs, Max and Birta and I went for a nice walk in the foothills, soaking in the sunshine and chasing some sheep off the upper hay fields.

It's getting late here, so here are some pictures to do the work of writing for me.

Sunny Hofsos

On the right you can see my sunny reading bench

The view from my sunny reading bench

I was bamboozled into thinking I was buying gummy sharks when really they were gummy gators

Waiting for pizza (and hiding a half eaten bag of gummy candy)

Flower river

Starting our evening walk

We almost immediately encounter the orphan lambs!

Birta is less concerned about the future of these motherless babies than I am.

Birta assures me that the orphan lambs will be fine and we are able to enjoy our walk

Best í heimi

Late night light

In Which I Become a Sheepdog (But Better and with Thumbs)

After an incredible night of solid non-airplane sleep and weird dreams I bid adieu to Erin and Guðjón and began my journey to the North. The couple I will be staying with for most of the summer, Valgeir and Gunna, have generously let me use a car that until recently belonged to their son. I'm not completely clear on the details, but endlessly grateful to not have to go through the expense and hassle of renting a car here. It's a hellish system that requires black market kidney sales. Anyway, Valgeir and Gunna's son, Þröstur, along with his son Viktor (age 11) picked me up this morning so I could take this old car, and Viktor, up to Hofsós today. Look out Iceland. Mallory and Viktor are on the road.


My eleven year old travel companion and I are old pals. We have had many adventures together the last few summers and engaged in some thought provoking discussions. No joke. He is pretty much perfectly fluent in English, in large part, he claims, thanks to YouTube. Today over a ready made sandwich and Powerade lunch at N1 (a gas station) I was asked, "What do you think of Global Warming?" I balked, taken off guard. How do I answer a question like this, I think to myself, as he waits for my response. How deep do we dive into this topic? "It's...bad?" I finally say. "Really bad." He nods, approving of my sparse answer. The next topic of conversation is what to bring with if you are stranded on an island. I want to tell him that I brought two oversized suitcases to this island I'm currently on and am still worried about running out of underwear, but instead play by the rules and say something about fire, water, shelter, etc.

My buddy, Viktor

Our salon style luncheon ends and we head back to the car. We still have a good three hours or more of driving to do, and have a few stops to make as well. Our first stop is Grábrók, a volcanic crater that Erin Jones and I explored last summer. We march up the steps, Viktor with the joie de vivre of an 11 year old boy, and me with the energy level of a 90 year old man with respiratory issues. We made it up the stairs in record time (11 year old boys don't really stop to look around and take in their surroundings for long periods of time) and made a quick loop around the boardwalk at the top of the crater. It's a cool spot.

We spend the next hour in the car having a competition over who can do impressions of famous people and cartoon characters' voices the best. It isn't me... but I'm not sure it is Viktor either. He does do a chillingly accurate Donald Trump impression though.

Viktor explains the game Fortnight to me and tells me all about the tricks and tumbles he does on his scooter at the skatepark. He is very sweet and even humors me and laughs when I tell him a couple of stupid jokes. 

We make it to our destination and go to greet his grandparents, who are working at the Icelandic Emigration Center/Museum. They run this museum, along with several other businesses and two farms in the area. I am so happy to see them again. Being in Hofsós with them is a perfect mix of comfort and adventure. 

I work a couple of hours at the museum, getting to know some new staff members and reacquainting myself with everything. Lena, a woman from Germany is here helping for the summer as well, and she came back to Valgeir and Gunna's house (Vatn is the name of the farm) where we all enjoyed a delicious dinner made by Valgeir. We had just finished eating when Valgeir announced that there are some sheep in a field where they are not allowed, and could we help to chase them into the right spot? Yes! I loved doing this last summer, the few times I got to try it. Lena and I put on waterproof "horse boots" and get into the truck with Valgeir. He drives us over to the offending sheep, who are lounging in his hay field, eating up all the sweet, new grass. We are instructed to encourage them to move back up the hill and over behind the house, where they can access the correct dining area up in the foothills.

The sheep want nothing to do with us and immediately start to move in the right direction as Lena and I step out into the field. We follow them at a distance, pushing them toward the place where Gunna and Viktor are waiting to further herd them into place. The dogs, Birta and Max "help" by barking and charging. I don't know what instructions to give them to make them more helpful so I shush them instead. Everything was going swimmingly when we notice two lambs, one black and one white, separated from the herd and on the other side of the fence, right next to the road. There was no mother with them, which is not a good sign. They were wary of us as well, though not as much as the others and we somehow manage to convince them to come back through the fence (they did this completely on their own and we were totally lucky that it happened this way) and in with the rest of the sheep. As it turns out, their mother died and they are little twin orphan lambs. They are old enough to fend for themselves (a good 6 weeks old or so), so they're out there in the world making a life for themselves. If their little bums weren't so caked in dried poop I might have asked if I could bring them into the house for snuggles.

We get the sheep to the right field and are celebrating our victory when the little buggers find a way through a fence and break into yet another place they aren't supposed to be. We are given further instructions on what to do, so Lena and I take off again, trudging over the uneven ground after the sheep. We need to cross a little stream, but the orphan lambs are too scared to cross. When we try to scoop them up they scatter and take off back toward the farm. Valgeir and Gunna yell to us that the orphan lambs can stay and to keep following the main trouble makers. They will meet us at the gate across the other fields. We are warned to watch out for the rams in the next field and are told that we will have to walk through their field but to just scream at them if they look threatening. Um...oh lord. We make it across the stream and climb through the foothills after the rogue sheep. They make the journey look easy, but in too large "horse boots" and skinny jeans I do not manage to replicate their grace.

Lena and I wonder if we are going in the right direction, and hope that we understand what Gunna and Valgeir were wanting us to do. We finally reach a corner of the pasture where the sheep are stuck. The gate is closed. The problem is if we go over there to them to open the gate they will scatter and we might be starting this all over again. Plus, the two rams have managed to mix themselves into the group and we aren't supposed to let them through to the next pasture. The dogs are barking and making the already nervous sheep more antsy. Our shushing is ineffective. I can't say exactly how we managed, but Lena and I worked as a flawless team and managed to get the lady and baby sheep separated from the rams and through the gate. We were both incredibly surprised. 

I didn't have my camera with, but if you want to have an idea of how this all went down, here's a couple little clips that pretty well illustrates my evening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGoKKhQPggM   and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zHmeTeLgMY 

It was amazing.

No Sleep Tonight

I began my flight to Iceland, as always, with the best of intentions to get a solid flight of sleep. No dice, Mallory, you optimistic fool. My sleep supplies (TRTL sleep pillow https://trtltravel.com/ eye mask, melatonin and sleepy time playlist) were no match for good old fashioned anxiety, an uncomfortable airplane seat and a spontaneous case of restless leg syndrome. I turned on a movie and half watched it while sort of dozing/zoning out and watching the small line of light on the horizon grow bigger and bigger as the first few hours passed. As we flew over the Eastern wing of Canada (Newfoundland, as far as I can figure) the sun really started to get to work and from there on the views outside were too interesting for me to want to fall asleep anyway.

The edge of Canada

Clouds and ice flows

Cloud roads

It's a drizzly, gray day here in Reykjavik. Perfect Iceland welcome weather. My friend Gummi picked me up from the airport and brought me to Erin and Guðjón's apartment where I will stay tonight. I'm about to go have some lunch with another friend, Stefán. Erin and I are going to dinner with the new 2018 Snorris at 6:30. Lots to do. I'm going to do my best to stay busy until a respectable time tonight when I can go to sleep like a normal person. We'll see if I make it.