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Boy, do these people believe in rising early! We are up early and our riding days are over, sorry to say. On the other hand, I should be glad because my hip is acting up more than ever. Lucky for me, I am with a very caring group of ladies and everybody watches out for everyone else. In the short time we have been together, we have formed some fun friendships. Every time I am feeling like I don't know what I am doing, they come along and offer great moral support. They keep telling me what a great job I am doing with the tolting and the rest of the ladies are equally supportive. Heck, I was even called a Master tolter.
Since you are not allowed to share medication, I won’t give names but someone had some codeine and shared a couple tabs with me. Thank You!!! That got me moving this morning since I used the first one to help me sleep last night. It’s funny but in a group of this age range, I complained about my hip and the immediate response was questions of whether I was getting an operation to fix it. I’m not at that point as my hip usually isn’t a big problem; all this riding aggravated it this time. A few days and I should be good as new…or old.
Nice simple breakfast this morning of buttered toast and coffee. I figure I don’t need much more since we are now sightseeing for the remainder of our stay. We are asked to get our suitcases packed and moved upstairs where some of us will stay that night. They will find room for the rest of us when we return from sightseeing at the end of the day. They have a new group in and we will only be spending one more night at Skalakot. So, here we go again with cramming all our junk into suitcases. Thank goodness Lee is with us since he is only in his thirties so he easily grabs our bags and runs them upstairs for us once they are packed.
Our first stop of the day is Skogafoss Waterfall. This waterfall is huge and awesome! It is fed from the melting of two of Iceland’s biggest glaciers. The water was coming down hard and forming mist that rose up from where the water crashed on the rocks below. I walked as close as I could without getting soaked and shot a few pictures. Tammy and some of our crew actually climbed the five hundred seventy two steps up to the top and took more pictures. This place is a something to behold. Legend has it that some guy hid a treasure chest behind the falls and at some point a little of the chest was visible. Some guys tried to retrieve it and managed to get a rope on the exposed ring attached to the side of the chest. Unfortunately, the ring snapped off the chest and they got nothing. Supposedly, the ring is now displayed at the Sod House Museum we will be visiting later. As far as legends go, this is a pretty good one! Some holes in the story but fun to listen to anyway and with this legend they at least have a memento to tie to it.
Back onto the bumpy road to see if I can bang my head on the ceiling again. Yes! I can…..unfortunately. The Sod House Museum was really interesting. Of course the first things you see are more Icelandic sweaters for sale. I guess if you want a true Icelandic sweater, this is the place! Tammy owns an Icelandic sweater I got her a few years back and loves it. All the women in our group just love the sweaters we saw everywhere we went. I forgot to mention that at one of the tack shops we stopped at, we even found an Icelandic sweater woven for a horse! No kidding! This thing was in the shape of a horse blanket but was clearly the same designs they use on the sweaters and woven by hand. One of our ladies was this close to buying it for her horse!
Lots of artifacts at the museum from the olden days that were used with horses to carry equipment, to ride, and lots of machinery which looked odd but I guess the terrain here required special machinery. One of the things that had me laughing was a switchboard and some really old phones. Arnold said that when he came here in the sixties, these were still in use in Iceland! We even saw parts of a generator run by the thermal power plants of old. With this much easily accessible thermal power, they don’t have to worry about water running low like we do at our power plant in Ketchikan. The trucks they had for snow and ice use are really odd looking and pretty skookum. Once we finished the inside tours we headed out to view the displays on the property. We didn’t do much of this as a group since we all had different parts that interested us so we moved through the displays at different paces.
I guess the Old Icelandic people were either short or didn’t mind bonking their heads on doorways much because doorways are pretty low on all the old buildings. The houses were tiny and usually only a couple of rooms without much storage space. Most had these really thick walls made of rock that then had earth against them and some type of earthen roof? I guess all that acted as insulation to keep the harsh weather out. We wandered about for a while admiring tiny blacksmith shops and other places which were clearly intended as workshops of some kind or the other before hitting the road again. I should mention something I have been noticing. This place has tons of little churches! I am told that every small group of farms has their own church so this is why there are so many!
We stopped for a burger lunch at a place called Skaftarskali that I can only surmise translates to Wendy’s or something like that. Everything on the board is Icelandic but thank goodness they have pictures for me to point to. All the people here seem to speak English pretty well so communicating was never an issue. I get my turn at the counter and I look up to see the stereotypical Viking waiting to take my order. I am not joking, you take every movie you have ever seen about Vikings, mash it together and get a composite of what a Viking looks like and this guy is it. If you look closely in the picture, you’ll see what I mean. I start looking around and realize, this place is full of these Vikings! I had to crack up a bit at that but that is exactly how I felt.
Well, that’s one burger down and perhaps one of the few times we have had what I think is beef the whole time we are here. Time to hit the road! We are tourists and we have a mission to see all we can after all. I shot a few pictures out the window as we rolled down the highway to occupy my time and enjoy the views.
Our next stop comes when we reach Glacier Lagoon, which from the shore is unbelievable. Here fresh water meets salt-water and mixes in the lagoon chock full of icebergs! Arnold gets the tickets for the duck tour and then they spring the surprise on him that we don’t get our tour for two more hours! He asks whether we want to wait the two hours or just enjoy what we see from the shore, which is plenty and we all agree that the ride can’t really show us more then what we are seeing. Well, they won’t give him a refund and we are stuck with tickets for a two-hour wait. At this point, we decide they aren’t gonna get the money which is about thirty five dollars a head for nothing. We all agree to meet for the tour and head in different directions. Some go closer to the seaside and watch some seals pop up and others wander about. After a while we headed into the little store/coffee place and had some hot chocolate. While we are waiting, Dar buys a couple decks of cards and teaches Tammy and I to play a game called three to thirteen. It was a fun game to learn but we had to rely on Dar for the rules because they can be a bit convoluted. Tim, Dar’s husband, watched us play and then told us we were playing under the wrong rules but it was fun anyway. We agreed we would play a fresh game with the right rules when we got back to Skalakot.
Finally two hours go by and time to board the duck! Some guy approaches Arnold and asks him in Spanish how big the group is. Arnold lets him know he is not Spanish and I strike up a short conversation with the guy in Spanish. We board and our group gets the best seats because we were first in line. I have to say the long wait was worth it. The view up close of the icebergs was great and our boat tour guy is this funny young guy who proceeds to give us a lesson on what the icebergs are, why they are the color they are and the age of the ice, etc. A small inflatable comes along side after picking up a chunk of ice from the water and hands it to our guide. He tells us the ice is about a thousand years old and is so clear because it has been compressed for so long. He breaks it in half and then breaks up chunks for us to eat if we want. Of course we can’t refuse that! I have to say that it was really clean tasting and seemed both colder and slower to melt then other ice I have had. The guide then handed the remaining chunk of ice to use to take pictures with if we wanted to. Again, we are not a camera shy group so many of us posed with the chunk of ice, which is really cold and hard to hold more, then a minute. The tour only lasted thirty to forty minutes but was good and enjoyable. Most of us were glad we decided to wait.
On the road again and headed back to Skalakot. Its dinnertime and we decide to stop at a Bistro for dinner. I had the chicken pasta, which was great, and Tammy ordered the meat soup. Since this Iceland, I have learned that anytime they don’t tell you what kind of meat you are getting, it is lamb! Tammy enjoyed some of her soup but the serving was too big to finish so they packed it up for her to go. We ended up throwing it away later as it got in the way and we realized it wouldn’t get eaten anyway. After dinner we shopped at Vik Wool, an Icelandic clothing and gift shop. We all bought some trinkets and hopped back into the van for our ride back to Skalakot.
When we got back we found that indeed, they had a new group in and they had taken over our sleeping quarters. This group was a bunch of young kids. Three from our group spent the night upstairs at that building, Arnold and Lee stayed at the hotel that is under construction there. I guess it is all open since it is far from being finished but they had a clean dry place to sleep. Tim, Dar, Elaine, Tammy, and I got moved to a quirky little cabin about a quarter mile away. This place was tiny and had about four rooms to it. The bathroom was so small; you could barely turn around in it. If you had to use the toilet, the sink was practically in your lap. Definitely not up to code! The living room was all glass panels and tiny as well. Tim and Dar got the full bed in a small bedroom and Elaine, Tammy and I took the remaining room that had cushioned bench seats on either side of a table and another seat against the back wall. This cabin reminded me of a sailboat because even these seats were usable as beds. We played three to thirteen a full round using Tim’s rules and of course using the right rules, I got skunked. I think I like the wrong rules better! We had a good night’s sleep here after all that driving around.
Details on the photos:
Pic 1 - Breakfast
It doesn't get simpler than this for breakfast. Buttered toast and coffee.
Pic 2 - Skogafoss Waterfall
Beautiful waterfall you can climb up to and see from the top.
Pic 3 - Skogafoss Waterfall
Now that's serious power. This one comes with a legend of buried treasure!
Pic 4 - Skogafoss Waterfall
Tammy shot this from the top after having to climb 572 steps! Not me!
Pic 5 - Skogafoss Waterfall
An even better shot of the falls.
Pic 6 - Skogafoss Waterfall
Selfie Time!
Pic 7 - Skogafoss Waterfall
Dar and Tammy at the falls looking triumphant after a big climb to the top!
Pic 8 - Through the Mist
Still at Skogafoss Falls but looking through the mist at the scenery.
Pic 9 -Sod House Museum
Ancient boats abound here!
Pic 10 - Telephone Anyone
Arnold said these were in use back in the sixties when he came to Iceland.
Pic 11- Lineman
Check out the Personal Protection Equipment on this guy! I wouldn't want to be up there!
Pic 12 - Thermal Power
Parts from an old thermal power plant unit.. Iceland has unlimited thermal power available.
Pic 13 - Snow Power
The original snowmobile!
Pic 14 - Rescue Vehicle
Hey, didn't I see this in a movie?
Pic 15 - Real Sod Houses
They have a few of these on the grounds and all have really short entrances.
Pic 16 - Blacksmith
Tammy at the door to the blacksmith shop.
Pic 17 - Tea
This is a room in one of the sod houses. The ceiling is very low and the room is tiny.
Pic 18 - Signs
Hey, where's the Ketchikan sign?
Pic 19 - Church
Another cute little church.
Pic 20 - Serious Insulation
Tim and Dar checking out one of the many houses on display here.
Pic 21 - Serious House
Check out how the walls are made thick from rock on all these house to keep nasty weather out.
Pic 22 - Lunch Time
I think this means Wendy's?
Pic 23 - A Viking
Look at the guy at the counter! This is what I thin a Viking looks like. This place is full of them!
Pic 24 - Real Meat
I think this is beef but I wouldn't put money on it! They didn't specifically say it was beef.
Pic 25 - Glacier
On our way to Glacier Lagoon.
Pic 26 - Glacier
Getting closer!
Pic 27 - Lupine Everywhere
These fields seem to go on forever. Lupine for everyone! Little purple flowers.
Pic 28 - Glacier Lagoon
We are excited to get a good look at this place!
Pic 29 - The Duck
A simpler duck then we have here in Ketchikan but this is our tour ride!
Pic 30 - Glacier Lagoon
Simply amazing!
Pic 31 - Glacier Lagoon
Pic 32 - Glacier Lagoon
Pic 33 - Glacier Lagoon
Tammy and I at the water's edge!
Pic 34 - Ducks Away
That's Lee, Tim, Dar, and Elaine.
Pic 35 - In the Lagoon
These icebergs are floating everywhere! Only ten percent of them shows. This one is dirty from all the volcanic ash when the volcano erupted in 2010!
Pic 36 - In the Lagoon
Pic 37 - In the Lagoon
Pic 38 - In the Lagoon
Pic 39 - In the Lagoon
Pic 40 - Really Old Ice
Our young boat tour guide tell us this ice is 1000 years old! It is so clear because it is under so much pressure. He broke it and gave us a sample to try. Super cold and slow to melt!
Pic 41 - Arnold posing with the ice Fragment
Pic 42 - Me posing with the ice Fragment
Pic 43 - Elaine posing with the ice Fragment
Pic 44 - Tim posing with the ice Fragment
Pic 45 - Lee posing with the ice Fragment
Pic 46 - The Bistro
Time for dinner!
Pic 47 - Odd Rocks
A shot from the parking lot at some rocks in the ocean.
Pic 48 - Dinner
Tasty pasta with chicken and cheese on top. Very filling.
Pic 49 - Tammy's Dinner
Meat soup! Tammy really enjoyed the soup but the helping was too generous.
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