Island Hopping 2024: Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss, Icelandic Hot Dog

 The weather broke a little today and we were able to get out to see some of the outstanding geology all around us.  Still, we did not get a full day’s worth of sightseeing in.  That is not to say that we haven’t been having a wonderful time, we have.  It’s just that we have not been doing much of what I had planned.  Who knows, if we don’t see it all, maybe we will just come back some day.

We drove towards the sunrise, on a partially snow/ice covered road.  Importantly, visibility was great!  We were trying to get to the Icelandic town of Vik.  The road east skirts between the tailings of the shield volcanoes and the flats that tilt into the Atlantic Ocean.  Craggy and covered with snow, this was dramatic scenery.

On the road at sunrise, 11:35

Icelandic Horses

Our first destination was Skógafoss, (“foss” means falls, so Skógafoss means the falls at Skógar).  Along the way we saw a small herd of Iceland’s famous horses.  They are small and if classified by height alone, one  would call them ponies.  However, because of the Icelandic breed's ability to carry heavy weights, their spirited temperament and their general hardiness, they are considered horses by Icelanders and non-Icelanders alike.  Skógafoss is a tremendous waterfall when considering how small Iceland is.  It flows as glacial melt (from the Sólheimajökoll) the year round because, while snow is constantly being deposited on the top of it, the bottom of the glacier receives a steady supply of geothermal heat from below.  So, the water coming over this falls is very ancient glacial water.

Skógafoss

Viking Sandy

After viewing the falls the weather, as predicted, started taking an ominous turn, so Sandy and I headed back to the Rangá.  We did make a stop at a smaller, but still significant, glacial falls, Seljalandsfoss. 

Here comes the weather!

Not as bad as it could have been.

 Seljalandsfoss

Iceland is rightfully proud of their “natural casing” hotdogs.  In various lists of the top ten things to eat while in Iceland, their hotdogs are always there.  So, even though there was the option of a seriously gourmet meal at the Rangá, today at least, I opted for a hotdog at a road side cafe.

It is as good as it looks!

A fun, though shortened, day.  It was nice to get back to the Hotel.  It was a good day.

The Polar Bear in the Lobby (Huge)

Salmon River directly behind the Lodge

Winter Island Hopping 2024 - Iceland: Hotel Rangá and HotTubs

 We did not have a break in the weather today, so we decided just to enjoy another day around Hotel Ranga.  

Views from outside of the Hotel

Inside views

Iceland's only indigenous mammal, the arctic fox.  In the summer brown like this, in the winter snow white

Icelanders and their hot water.  It’s not just about getting clean, it’s a national pastime. They use the warm geothermal waters to heat large lagoons, community swimming pools and in the case of our hotel three hot tubs.  There is something appealing about being surrounded by subfreezing temperatures, several feet of snow, and wind blowing at 20 mph, while sitting in a barrel of water naturally heated from the water from a nearby spring.  So in I hopped.  Icelanders are highly educated and I think even the hot waters have a Ph.D in philosophical thought.  For whatever reason, while sitting in the tub with several people I never knew,  we discussed geothermal power, the Aurora Borealis and the fine dining in the restaurant.  Refreshingly, not a word was said about sports, war or presidential politics.  I think these waters are the glue that binds the nation and could save mankind. 

Me and my glass of wine

Me, and two ladies from Milwaukee, only one got in.

Me, the lady from Milwaukee, a lady from Brazil, and a gentleman (behind the robes) from central England.  I left before the arrival of any other countries.

Sandy and I decided to have dinner in the bar/lounge.

As this was a slow day for us, I had plenty of time to think of Iceland.  Settled first by the Viking, Ingólfur Anmarson, who had been exiled from Norway for being too bloodthirsty.  What must a Viking do to be “too” bloodthirsty?  Apparently he looked at the lava beds, hot springs and perfectly unpronounceable names (Eyjáfjallajökull … are they serious?) and then said here, I will build a farm, then a nation.  The rest is Icelandic history.

Winter Island Hopping 2024 - Iceland, Driving in Iceland, Husband's Day

We have begun our winter 2024 travels!  Overcoming some last minute airline cancellations we were able to reposition ourselves to Toronto and then on to Keflavik, Iceland.  Both Sandy and I were pleased with the IcelandAir experience.  The business class (they call it Saga Premier) seats were like domestic business class, oversized tilt back seats, not lay-flat seats.  We felt, however, that the service and the meals were better than expected.

Me scarfing down some snacks at the Iceland Air Lounge in Toronto

It is only a six hour flight from Toronto to Iceland but still a six hour time change, so adjusting for jet-lag has been a little tougher for me.  Sandy never has problems with sleep adjustments on long distance trips and was almost immediately accustomed to Iceland time.  The bigger problem for her was accepting 18 and a half hour nights with only five and a half hours of daylight.

On landing in Iceland at 6:15am local time, we picked up our automobile, a Tesla, and headed to our hotel.  The Hotel Rangá initially showed on the navigation system as being a little over two hours away.  It turns out that as we landed the southern coast of Iceland, where we were driving, was experiencing a substantial snow and wind storm and driving warnings had been sent out.  We made the trip in a little over four hours.  While they were plowing the roads, the winds and sideways snow was immediately drifting them over making it often impossible to tell where the road was.  At one point, after daylight, the combination of snow and fog created a complete white-out.  We honestly could not see to the end of the hood of our car.  I, and several autos around crept on at less than five miles per hour by watching stakes in the ground out the side windows that indicated the edge of the road.  Eventually even that method failed and I had no choice but to stop, hoping that no truck would come roaring up behind me.  After about fifteen minutes the wind died down and we could see.  We found that I and the car that stopped behind me had actually driven off the road, so therefore even if that truck had come, he would not have hit us.  Sandy and I have always found we are lucky travelers.  This time, both because we got to experience driving in Iceland through some iconically Icelandic weather and that since I had cleverly driven us onto some lava field we didn’t get smashed by a truck.

Pretty good driving conditions

Great Driving conditions

11:00am Sunrise

At the hotel (log cabin lodge of 53 rooms), we were pleased to find that the hotel has a fine restaurant.  I was informed that it was “Husband’s Day” in Iceland and they treated me to an excellent gin-based cocktail.  For dinner I enjoyed reindeer carpaccio, and cod.  Sandy had an excellent salmon.  Cozy, warm and well fed, it was a good day. 

Sandy's Pinot Grigio, my gin cocktail

Our waiter explaining the liqueur that went into my gin

Reindeer Carpaccio

Salmon with sweet potato sauce and pecans, cashew, and sunflower seeds

Cod with sun-choke puree

October 30, 2023; Mount Lemmon, Boneyard

 October 30, 2023;  Mount Lemmon, Boneyard

Sandy and I enjoyed the “Shaka” audio guide when driving the road to Hana in Hawaii.  We discovered that they have also have prepared an audio guide to Mount Lemmon, just north east of Tucson.  We decided that this would be fun, so we loaded up Bev and Jim in our electric Pole Star rental car and hit the road. 

Overall Sandy and I feel that Mount Lemmon is a greatly unheralded treasure of Tucson, and recommend that anyone who visits this town should not pass it up.  I was pleasantly surprised on how easy the drive was.  I have been on some “white-knuckle” mountain roads, and this was not one of them.

Mount Lemmon is the tallest of the Santa Catalina Mountains, so tall, in fact, that driving up the 25 mile road to near the top of the mountain, (The mountain is 9,157 feet, the road stops at 9,000 feet.) one passes through six different vegetation/life zones.  These are the same vegetation/life zones that one would pass through driving south to north from the southern to northern borders of the United States.

At the base of the mountain, the foothills stand at approximately 3,000 feet of elevation which is still in the Sonoran Desert Zone (3,000 to 4,800 feet and 11 niches of annual rain) with lots of Saguaro Cacti.

The next zone is Semi-Desert-Grassland (4,800 to 5,800 feet and 14 inches of rain) characterized by only an occasional Saguaro and lots of grass with some oak and juniper trees.  

Semi-Desert Grasslands (Thimble Peak in background)

Third zone we passed through was Oak Woodland and Chaparral, (4,800 to 5,800 feet and 17 inches of rain) with lots of oak trees and sagebrush and absolutely no saguaros!

These are hoodoos 

Next came the Pine-Oak Woodland (park 5,800 to 7,000 feet and 20 inches of rain) with about a 50/50 mix of pine trees and oaks. 

 The fifth life zone we drove through was a Ponderosa Pine forest (7,000 to 8,000 feet and 20 inches of rain). 

And finally at the top of the mountain and the end of road, a Conifer Forest with lots of pines, firs, spruce and huge aspen groves (8,000 feet to the top, about 26 inches of annual rainfall).  

So, there it is, Mexico to Canada and back on less than a full charge of the Pole Star! Of course, driving through the zones is not a sharp border crossing from one to the other, but it didn’t take too long to note that the plants were changing dramatically as we drove up the mountain.  

Along the the way there were a number of of interesting sites: thimble mountain, seven cataracts, a small ski resort, Arizona University Space Observatory, the town of Summerhaven and the evocative remains of a Japanese internment camp.  

Ruins/Foundation of the Internment Camp

After returning to Tucson, Jim drove us to Calle Tepa where Bev, Jim and Sandy had very good Mexican meals and I continued with my Sonoran Dog Tour

After dinner we drove by the Davis-Monthan AFB airbase where all the retired military planes are mothballed out on the desert.  This is called the Boneyard and on it are found retired aircraft from as far back as the 2nd World war.  Because I did not have my I.D. with me (there was 100% ID clearance) we could not get on the base.  But even from outside of the fences it did look like a lot of airplanes.