Posts Tagged ‘adventure’
Constant Shifting
We rode from Ely to Tower after barely surviving the epic downpour on Monday night.
I took a picture of the high water mark where floating debris remained after the flood receded.
Just a little further and our tents would have been inundated.
Riding was superb on this leg of the Mesabi trail.
In the photo, I am secretly trying to hold Steve’s pack so he can pull me while I coast.
The up and down gyrations of this trail forced the most shifting of gears that I’ve done in a long, long time.
Eventually, the sky cleared up so we could dry things out after we returned to our tents in Ely.
It looked like the tent had regurgitated its contents.
In honor of Rich’s sharing his photos with me to use here, I will close with a shot he took that features him prominently.
Thanks, again, Rich!
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Almost Packed
Today, I depart for the annual Tour of Minnesota biking and camping week. I think this will be my 26th time in the 31 years since I first tried my legs at long-distance cycling. I guess you could say I found out I liked it.
I almost finished packing last night.
The bag currently weighs in at 45 lbs. That’s not a concern this year because the tour has changed from them hauling our gear from campsite to campsite, to riders needing to drive their own cars to each destination after biking a loop that day. Unless this new routine really ‘wows’ me, I believe this will be my last year riding the TOM.
What brought me back this year? The people who have become treasures whom I get to share the week with, submersed in the great outdoors and pedaling together for long hours over many miles.
One of the things I find challenging about packing for trips is the number of things I am still using, and thus don’t get packed until the last minute. After that, my challenge becomes trying to recall where I put things that did get packed.
Usually, I end up figuring out a system by the 3rd or 4th day, but by the end of the week, I’ve started tossing things anywhere and everywhere, and my duffel bag becomes a big mess. The amount of chaos in my bag is often related to how rainy the week has been.
This year, the forecast looks like a good chance of rain up north. We are starting in Grand Rapids, then heading up to Ely for two nights before coming back to Chisholm. I predict my bag will end up messy.
I’ve not prepared any posts in advance this year. Hopefully, I will be able to connect to the internet through my phone and, at the very least, provide an image or two each day.
Northern Minnesota Iron Range, here we come!
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Regular Adventures
Over the years, much of my old wardrobe that I haven’t been able to part with has ended up in a closet at the lake. It is always a fun moment for me to rummage through the variety of shirts to pick an old favorite to decorate my day when we are at Wildwood.
We packed up early yesterday and then waited for the delivery of our new oven. As the appointed hour neared, I hopped on a bike and rode up to the end of the driveway to help guide the truck to our place. After almost 60 minutes of riding circles and watching traffic pass by, I came back to the house because I was getting chilly.
As I walked in, I heard Cyndie on the phone with the appliance place, and they were telling her the guys are on their way. I didn’t go back out again. Turned out I didn’t need to. Moments later, they were at the door. Old stove out, new one in, connected, leveled, and calibrated without any complications.
Too bad we weren’t hanging around long enough to bake the first batch of cookies in the new oven.
It was good to get home and find everything mostly in order, and the animals happy to see us. The gardens are growing well, the raccoons got into the bin of kitchen compost, and there is evidence that Asher did some unauthorized digging in the yard.
The jewel weed is looking about as happy as we’ve seen it in years. It’s hard to tell which of the two plants wants to spread out more: the strawberry patch that Cyndie’s trying to rein in or the wild jewel weed.
It rained off and on all weekend at home, but there was barely a quarter of an inch showing in the rain gauge. It hardly looks like the lawn grass has been neglected. I think I’ll get away with waiting closer to the end of the week to mow before I’m gone for the next week on the bike trip.
It’s time to really appreciate the luxuries of my bed and private bathroom, because that comes to a temporary end by Saturday. My countdown is definitely on, looking forward to the next adventure.
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Pretty Colors
Have I written much about the weather lately? When I’m trying to pretend my country isn’t spiraling ridiculously down the proverbial drain, the weather provides a convenient distraction. One thing I appreciate about weather is that the conditions I experience right outside our door are the pure truth. It is hard to gaslight me and tell me that the snow falling isn’t actually falling when I can see it absolutely is.
In the dark of night last evening, we could hear the pelting rain on the roof, but the radar image of the storm revealed the full gamut of what was swirling our way.
So many pretty colors! I am curious what we will find when dawn breaks. The ground was completely covered in white when we headed for bed last night.
We have been warned about the probability of heavy, wet snow in the amounts of 4-8 inches. I’m not looking forward to the effort of pushing wet snow off the driveway with the ATV plow. At least I have the benefit of sun and melting temperatures expected to follow this batch of precipitation. I can get away with doing a rudimentary job of exposing pavement. Solar energy will clean up the asphalt in short order.
My plan at the beginning of this week was to head out today for a solo mini-vacation to the lake for a few days. Cyndie just returned from California for the second visit in several weeks and will be leaving for Florida next week, so my getaway is a chance to balance the workload of taking care of the ranch alone.
I will relish the time free from dog walking and horse care since they become my exclusive priorities whenever Cyndie is away. I love the job, I really do, but I also love the opportunity to stay in bed for as long as my brain and body desire and then do whatever I want for the rest of a day without worrying about any other tasks that need to happen.
Sometimes, the best adventure is no adventure at all. Or, the adventure is in following whatever whim shows up and letting it play out for as long as it holds interest before dashing off after whatever shiny thing grabs one’s attention next.
I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit how often the adventure I long to experience involves lounging in bed well past a decent hour and falling back to sleep whenever sleep beckons. Some of the best dreams come to me in the morning hours. My mind is most creative in the morning. I have found that most of the time when I have mentally conjured up solutions to the world’s problems, it has been before dawn. Like a dream, I tend to forget those solutions by breakfast time.
Maybe tomorrow, I will wake up at the lake and take a crack at the long, slow effort to get out of bed. It all depends on when snow stops falling and how long it takes me to plow and shovel pathways for Cyndie to navigate while I’m gone.
That is today’s adventure.
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Quick Reykjavik
On our last full day in Iceland, we started with an almost 2-hour drive toward Reykjavik. This included a trip through the 5,770-meter-long Hvalfjörður Tunnel under the fjord, making the crossing in 7 minutes from what otherwise takes about an hour to drive around.
It was hard to tell if we’d arrived at typical Sunday morning activity in Reykjavik, but parking on the street was a little hard to find in the vicinity of the tall church, Hallgrímskirkja.
Our visit to Reykjavik was a quick one, exploring some streets and perusing a few shops, sometimes feeling swarmed by crowds of tourists and sometimes passing areas where Sunday morning appeared to be too early for commerce.
After more than a week of overwhelming natural phenomena in the countryside, city life just didn’t compare. Of course, I admit to being biased toward rural life.
The highlight of the day was a visit to the Perlan Museum. This place was fantastic and well worth the price of admission. We watched films about the Northern Lights, volcanic lava flows, and glacier melting, and toured an ice cave.
Each exhibition was top-notch, offering valuable information in interesting and entertaining ways.
For lunch, we visited the rotating restaurant on the upper level under a glass dome for some excellent food.
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We decided to pose with our shared dessert.
When we had exhausted ourselves of all the offerings at the museum, it was time to find our hotel near the airport and return the rental car.
We got a tip that there was a sports bar in walking distance that might show NFL games. Indeed, we were able to catch the Vikings vs. San Francisco 49rs game while having dinner. It was as if we were almost home.
All that was left to do was get up at 5 a.m. for a ride to the airport and navigate security and a couple of jet flights home. Retrieving all our luggage without complication was the cherry on top of an absolutely fabulous adventure vacation.
I was definitely ready to be home, but there is no denying the incredible experiences we enjoyed in Iceland were worth the burdens of travel that I loath. Those hassles I can forget. They have already been overshadowed by all the great memories that I’ve chronicled in the posts published here.
Thanks for following along on our 2024 adventures in Iceland!
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Adventure Continues
As I shuffled toward the farm guesthouse kitchen on the morning of our 8th day, I found Mike finishing up a watercolor painting as Barb was setting out fixings for our breakfast.
We soon set off from our fantastic farm visit toward the Hraunfosser and Barnafosser waterfalls. I thought I had seen pretty much everything there is to see about waterfalls, but the spectacle of the “lava falls” wowed us beyond expectations.
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Once again, photos in no way do justice to the stupendous wonder of nature in the way the water gushed from the side of the wall of the river gorge for a surprising distance up and down the river from where we stood to view it. I think we all found ourselves involuntarily uttering random exclamations of wonder over what we were witnessing.
Just a short distance upstream, the spectacle changed dramatically into a raging turmoil of rushing water around impressive rock formations.
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At the same time, I still found myself equally amazed by the ripples of hardened lava that vividly reflected the volcanic activity shaping all this some thousand years before.
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Like I felt so many other times on this trip, we could have spent much of the day exploring the scenery right here, but this was just an “appetizer-adventure” for this day. We had an appointment at Krauma Hot Spring & Spa.
Ours was one of the first sessions of the day, so the spa wasn’t crowded yet. This plush facility offered pools of several different temperatures, including an ice-cold pool that I dipped into twice (because I could then immediately move to the 102°F infinity pool). As the pictures above show, we were graced with another blue-sky Icelandic day that made a blissful soak at this classy spa all the more sublime.
Just down the hill from the spa, we found a food trailer run by an Icelander offering tomato soup and fish & chips. I regret not learning his name or getting his picture because he was wonderfully gregarious and informative, sharing personal information and waxing eloquently about the reason he believes there are so many horses in this island country (hopeful breeding to win their national competition).
After lunch, we continued our exploration of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula with a visit to the basalt rock columns of the Gerduberg cliffs. Just another Icelandic visual extravaganza.
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I felt a need to stretch my calves, but Cyndie took a picture because it looked like I was trying to push this rock uphill.
Next stop, Yrti Tunga Beach, a hidden gem on the peninsula with golden sands and playful seals. I found two smooth stones here that traveled home with me as souvenirs for my kids.
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In the distance, a great view of the most prominent landmark on the peninsula, the glacier-capped Snæfellsjökull stratovolcano. Just plain remarkable scenery everywhere we look.
Finally, we set out to find our beds for the night. It happened to be our most expensive hotel of the trip, Hotel Budir, a real charm.
It was a great old hotel, although the bathroom in our room had been squeezed into such a small space that we could barely fit into it around the door, resulting in much laughter each time we tried.
Continuing a trend, we were given another showing of awesome Aurora at nightfall to cap off another brilliant day in Iceland.
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Jadar Farm
After the wonderful adventures at Glymur, we made our way further around the fjord, stopping at a scenic pull-off for a picnic lunch in the car. There wasn’t a drive on the entire trip that didn’t offer eye-popping vistas of always interesting landscapes with mountain views, glacier fingers, moss-covered lava flows, or grazing sheep and horses.
We were headed for Jadar Farm Villa, an Airbnb cottage, by way of a Bonus Grocery store in Borgarnes for foodstuffs. We had an inkling the farm would be a real treat, and we weren’t disappointed.
We were ready to get in a little sooner than planned, so Mike called to ask about an early check-in. We were accommodated without hesitation. However, when we showed up, the farmer, Eiríkur, was in the finishing stages of cleaning for our arrival. It appeared he stopped his farm work to meet our request. We barely saw him during our stay because he was in his fields raking hay, but he was a phone call away and very helpful and responsive to every query we had.
This turned out to be our first chance to get close to horses.
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They had a dog that quickly came over to greet us, too.
We were in our glory to be able to interact with their animals. We were also looking forward to another soak in a hot tub, but we couldn’t rush that as the water temperature was intolerably HOT! Eiríkur gave Mike instructions that included adding cold water from a hose, and soon the water was just right.
There is never a shortage of hot water in this country, it seems.
Dinner was burgers on the grill. It almost felt like I was back home for a day in the middle of our travel adventure.
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Despite some clouds as darkness moved in, we enjoyed some flickers of Aurora in the sky before heading for our beds to close out our seventh day.
I can’t imagine any way that day could have been any more of a rewarding experience than it was for us.
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Glymur Hike
On this trip, we selected a wide variety of overnight hotel accommodations, all of which offered pretty similar and thoroughly satisfying continental breakfast choices. The pub of Hotel Laxness offered most of the usual bread varieties, a toaster, jams, cheeses, hardboiled eggs, oatmeal porridge, beans, breakfast meats, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, sometimes pickled herring, yogurt, fruit, muesli cereal, sometimes a waffle, coffee, tea, juices that we had become familiar with from previous days.
We checked out of our rooms and set out for a 50-minute drive around the coastline of the Hvalfjörður fjord toward the Glymur waterfall. We didn’t tend to stop on the road to photograph sheep or horses that pepper the landscape but these three had just stepped off the road after stopping us, so I took a quick pic before we continued.
Glymur was one of the more challenging hikes we tackled.
In addition to areas of easy, wide trail, some rock hopping and a bit of hands and feet grappling at steep elevation changes were required.
Research had made us aware of a river crossing that consisted of a log and a cable hand-hold that can barely be discerned in the distance of the photo above (click to enlarge). We all agreed a decision could be made when we reached that point. I’m glad we chose to press on because the route included a pretty cool cave that was worth the experience.
When we dropped down to the river level, there was a couple just crossing that we were able to observe in action. The water flow was a raging torrent compared to the picture of the log crossing Cyndie had seen earlier. I found this example on the web:
This is what it looked like for us:
Mike was putting tension on the cable to reduce the wobble for the person crossing, the same as the guy had just done for the woman he was hiking with who preceded him. As if the water rushing over the rocks wasn’t enough to make it a “no-go” decision for us, seeing that the guy needed to duck under the cable and switch hands to get on the other side of it when reaching the log made it all the more convincing.
It meant we wouldn’t actually reach a view of the high drop of the Glymur Falls, but we were all just fine with that outcome, safe and dry as we were.
On the way back, we ventured to an outcrop that was way more dramatic than photos convey. Mike made a good effort to show the steepness.
We got all the adventure we wanted out of this hike on this day.
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Self-Guiding Iceland
Our fifth day in Iceland started with a casual breakfast in our Blue View Cabin. The makings for a picnic lunch got packed while the Icelandic gales roared outside. We learned about lenticular clouds from Mike, given the perfect visual aids available in the big sky views above.
Setting our own agenda made it easy to switch up our itinerary and visit the Strokkur Geyser before the Gullfoss Waterfall simply because we came upon it first on the route from our cabin. The early hour and intense wind had us wrapped up tight against the elements.
After an extended wait, a construction worker happened by and informed us the big geyser wasn’t blowing. We adjusted our attention to another spot where Mike caught the eruption.
The assault of the freezing temperature and intense wind had us seeking brief respite in the shelter of the coffee shop before setting out again.
The breeze was no less challenging at Gullfoss, but the temperature was warming, and we generated some of our own warmth with the hiking to see the marvel of yet another unique and astounding waterfall.
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I found myself mesmerized by the visual of the spray rising out of the canyon to the top of the ridge where the gusts immediately and emphatically rushed it away.
Given our freedom to choose our agenda, we made a stop for a closer look at Skálholt Cathedral, which Barb had looked up for us.
Thankfully, they had preserved real history on the site, too.
It was a light day for our intrepid explorers and we made our way back to the little cabin for a soak in the hot tub, a little power lounging, and dinner from our groceries, continuing to enjoy the big sky views sheltered from the wind.
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Experiencing Iceland
It is not lost on me that we paid for seats on planes that spewed jet fuel exhaust and then rented a vehicle that burned diesel to witness a glacier melting in person.
May all the little changes toward expanding clean energy options continue to gain momentum toward reversing the runaway trend of carbon in the atmosphere.
On the subject of ethical dilemmas, I feel for the people of Iceland in the conflict of benefits vs. costs of the tourism industry. A comment from my friend, “You may have a hard time finding a local!” proved prophetic. Other than sharing parking and walking space with tourists from across the world, our interactions were with the two guides and a multitude of food and drink servers, some of whom shared that they hailed from France, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland, and Greece.
In all, we probably held conversations with maybe five locals throughout our visit. Each one became more precious as a result of the scarcity of opportunity.
The island country of Iceland is smaller in area than the state of Minnesota, USA, and has a resident population close to that of the city of St. Paul, Minnesota. Adding a couple of million foreign tourists annually demonstrates why it might seem like everyone around you is from somewhere other than “here.”
From the masses at the airport and car rental companies coming and going without pause to the busy car parks and pay stations, it quickly becomes obvious that the tourists are swamping the number of residents.
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The first local we spoke with was several days in when we were at the bar of a quaint hotel that seemed like a local pub. The other three in my group were trying to educate the bartender/hotel receptionist about their drink requests when Barb noticed this guy politely waiting. She offered him a chance to place his simple order for “2 pints” so he wouldn’t have to wait.
He seemed proud when we reacted like lottery winners upon hearing he was born and raised in the area.
I found it difficult to process the obvious pounding the ground suffers from unrelenting foot traffic at each location of incredible beauty. Add to that the human tendency to violate marked boundaries intended to preserve fragile foliage or maintain safe viewing distances and locations. Those who can afford to travel flock to locations of outstanding scenery and, in so doing, trample the surroundings to dust.
It was humbling to find myself participating, which made it easier for me to simply wait for a turn at a photo vantage point or pause in a hike to avoid widening the path by walking around other people.
Indulge me in posting a few more views of the glacier ice that Cyndie captured.
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When we returned from the glacier and dropped off our ice axes and crampons, the fish & chips being served from the food trailer nearby caught my attention.
As is usual for me, I was halfway through devouring the treat before it occurred to me to take a photo.
I had no idea that it would turn out to be the very best version of fish & chips (my favorite menu item!) I would find during our visit. For those who know of the fish fry at Lost Land Lake Lodge in northern Wisconsin, this fried cod was almost equal, except for the fact it was even better.
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Relative Something 