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.

October 29, 2023; Pickle Ball Redux, Highlands of Sabino Canyon

This morning Sandy and I met first Bev and later Jim at the pickle ball courts.  This time I got to play also.  I found that the game is very fun, and perfectly designed for us old people who are dealing with all sorts of skeletal problems but somehow, by the grace of God, can still move our arms.  There are, however, three areas in which the game can be improved. It is my hope that through this blog posting and my general propensity to rant that the powers that be in the world of pickle ball will address these issues.  Number 1: The scoring system needs be revised, after every volley the server announces the score, something like 4-2-2 or 5-6-1.  The obvious problem being is that there are only two players or teams but three scores.  So what is that third score all about?  Someone has got to fix that.  Number 2:  There is something called the kitchen and you are not supposed to go there.  As someone who spends a lot of my time in the kitchen at home, I would also like to spend a little time there when playing pickle ball.  But, no-o-o I can’t.  Several times while playing I snuck in there and was always chastised.  Lastly, the name.  Honestly, pickle ball?  What were they thinking.  The game needs a more “macho” name, like maybe “Refined Tennis”, or perhaps “Smash Ball”.  If it is imperative that food has to be in the nomenclature I’d at least go with something like “Meat Ball” or “Bourbon Ball”.  Well those are my thoughts.  I hope they are taken with the good intentions with which I have offered them.  In any case, with or without my suggested changes, I hope to play more “Pickle Ball” when we get back home.

After Pickle Ball, Bev and Jim took us back to Sabino Canyon where we took a shuttle bus well up in the canyon, gaining altitude along the way.  Once at the top we walked part of the way back down the canyon.  One thing about the desert mountains, everywhere you look, the sights are dramatic.

Following our walk, maybe about a mile downhill we headed over to Three Canyons, the Bar/Restaurant behind the condos, to enjoy a cold, refreshing drink.

Finally, later in the evening Sandy and I drove to the other side of Tucson to enjoy another one of their Sonoran Dogs.  The place we found was in the heart of a Mexican section of town and in sort of a stand-alone food court.  Also, there was a lot of excitement associated with the coming of Halloween. In Mexican culture, Dia de Muertes, November 1-2, is a day set aside to remember relatives and friends who have died and have come back to celebrate with us.  Young and old were here in a party atmosphere.  Everyone was having a good time including Sandy and me!  My Sonoran Dog came from Monster Dogs, which seemed appropriate for a Halloween Party hot dog shack.

October 28, 2023; College Football Saturday

 Sandy and I started the day again at the French Café.  I know there must be a bakery down here that would better reflect the heritage of the American Southwest, but Jeez Louise, between this French Café and the Mona’s Danish Bakery it is hard to go looking elsewhere.  I think that is one of the beauties of Tucson.  At a population of about a half a million people it is big enough to have most anything you want, but still, as big cities go it feels reasonably small and manageable.  We can understand why so many people come here to live.  I had the Monte Christa Kouign Amann, a sweet pastry with fruit and almond custard filling, and then an extra filling, (the Monte Christa part) ham and Swiss cheese.

Sandy met Bev up at the condominium association’s amenity center where she played her first ever match of pickle ball.  I believe that Sandy and I are the only baby boomers in the United States that had not played pickle ball.  Now it is just me.

But, today is another College Football Saturday.  More important than most, because today The Ohio State University plays the University of Wisconsin.  This is the one game of the year in which Sandy and I are not supporting the same team.  As with all football Saturdays we try to have a meal/snack that is in someway representative of the cuisine of the region that Ohio State’s opponent is coming from.  With Wisconsin, the food choice is easy, beer, cheese and brats, there you have it, Wisconsin on a plate!  We invited Jim and Bev over to partake with us (note we invited them over to their own house).  We enjoyed (some of us) Ohio State’s resounding victory over the Badgers.

October 27, 2023; Tucson

 After some very good pastries at a French Café we headed down to Tucson to see some of the sites of the city.  Tucson is so named as a derivation of a name associated with the Native Americans that occupied the area when the first European Explorers (Spaniards) arrived. Those people, the Tohono O’odham (Desert People) had a village and irrigated fields at Bac, about 7 miles upstream from their village of Stjucson (or Schook-shon), meaning “At The Foot of Black Hill or Mountain.  From there the pronunciation evolved through the Spanish and then English inhabitants of the valley to the current Tucson (Two-saw-n).

Tucson’s first European settlement was the establishment of a presidio, in 1775, one year before the United States' declaration of independence.  The fort was established by an Irishman, serving in the Spanish army, with the purpose of protecting his soldiers and the Apache clans that he had allied with against other powerful Apache clans.  These Apache wars continued for 111 years until Geronimo surrendered to the U.S troops.  He was the last Native American to formally surrender. 

The courthouse included a very nice historical museum.  Another treat was that one of the courtrooms has been restored to the way it was when the Dillinger Gang was captured at the Congress Hotel here in Tucson. Then they were arraigned in this restored courtroom.  There was a fun and informative audio presentation that recounted that little piece of fame for Tucson. 

part of original adobe wall of presidio

part of original wall of presidio

Behind the courthouse is a beautiful sculpture park.  It is part of their January 8th memorial honoring U.S. Representative Gabriel (Gabby) Giffords who was shot right outside of the courthouse.  Two interesting statues in the park, the “Leather Jacket Soldier” depicting a Spanish Soldier who would have first occupied the presidio.  A second sculpture commemorates the“Mormon Battalion” that passed through Tucson during the Mexican war on their way to California.  Good news!  The Iowan “Mormons” and the Spanish “Roman Catholics” got along well for the few days they were here.

Spanish Soldier

Mormon Batalion

Sandy and I then walked over to the Cathedral of St. Augustine.  This church is the seat of the Diocese of Tucson which is the fifth largest diocese in North America.  The church reflects a very large version of the typical southwestern mission churches that are found so often from Texas to Southern California.

At this point we were done with history and ready for refreshments.  We made our way to Telles Block, and area of Sonoran row houses that are now a collection of artisan shops that form an inner courtyard.  In that courtyard is a restaurant and, more importantly, a fine bar.  Sandy enjoyed another of her margaritas (this was her favorite since arriving in Arizona and I had a version of a whisky sour using some desert fruits to sour the drink.

Driving back to the Condo the scenery was beautiful.  Tall mountains surrounding a table flat valley.  

We finished the evening by plugging in the car and meeting up again with Bev and Jim, we enjoyed a good meal prepared by our hosts and lots of pleasant conversation late into the night.