Christmas 2012 - A Week with Family

I had such a hard time finding the Christmas spirit ahead of time this year.  I finally found it in Iceland when I started shopping there and then the first week home, we had to finish shopping and get everything shipped.  Whew --- I cut back a ton this year -- not even any cookies.  What is up with that?





We did get the house decorated a few days before Christmas and we were actually ready for the day when it arrived along with our guests.  We had decided to add red to the mix on the tree this year and I love the way it turned out.



We spent the early afternoon at A Tuba Christmas at Thanksgiving Square in Downtown Dallas.  There were over 150 musicians.  The park was packed and the music was kept very spiritual.  Jingle Bells was the only secular song played.  It made for a very nice start to Christmas Eve and certainly set the tone for me.

Cass and Scott arrived in the afternoon for our Tomato Bisque ritual and I had made fresh bread for it earlier in the day.  Yummy.

They did a sleepover and so were here Christmas morning and guess what ---- It snowed again!!!  Woohoo.  That makes the second time it has snowed when they have been here. Too funny.

Christmas morning was fun and yes, Santa had arrived.  We were able to have a little fun together sharing gifts and stories.




We had our traditional Christmas dinner and Mister's prime rib was amazing as always.  Didn't the table look so pretty all in red and white?  I had great help from Cassie as you can tell.

We ended the day by the four of us going to a movie after which Cass and Mister found some time to play and then Scott and Cass headed home.








The day after Christmas Jen and family came up to spend a few fun-packed days with us.  Cass and Scott drove back over for the first day and we all had another Christmas  with  gifts, fun, and messes everywhere.  It was a great time and we made a ham dinner and relaxed for the evening.










The next day we spent the day at the new Perot Science Museum, but not without "surprising" the boys with a stop to get haircuts, what fun. I had to do a before/after of each one.

We were not sure if they were happy or sad to see the hair go.  Saw some frowns and some smiles -- best comment came from Jacob -- "My hair looks good no matter what."  LOVE IT!

We ate at Texas Land and Cattle for a late lunch/early dinner, and that evening we all went to Urban Air trampoline with the kids (and Mom) jumping until they were exhausted.



I had to work the next day and it was Mom Hayter's birthday, so we headed off and Jen and family went to freeze their little backsides off at Six Flags and then head home.  They are tough Texans!

Iceland - Day 7 and home - Blue Lagoon

It is a sad day for us because we are headed home today, but it is also a day that I have been looking forward to since we got here because we get to go to the Blue Lagoon today.  After a quick breakfast and time spent tidying up the house, we pack up early and start the drive that will complete our trip around the island by arriving back in Reykjavik.  We want to be at the Blue Lagoon shortly after it opens to spend as much time there as possible before having to go to the airport and also to hopefully avoid any crowds that may gather as the day progresses.  It is only about an hour or so down to Reykjavik and the landscape has once again changed.  It has flattened out and we are along the coast of a fjord with farms dotting the landscape on both sides of us.




We discover that the route we have taken has a toll tunnel that goes under the fjord and when we exit -- Reykjavik!  We are back on the road taken the first night to watch the Aurora.  What an incredible journey this has been.









Next stop --- the Blue Lagoon.  (Please google this and read all about it.)  I am so excited as I am definitely a hot water lover and want to just bask in it and relax my entire body before a 7 1/2 hour flight back to Boston.








Mister has read about it ahead of time and knows about the secret entrance where we don't have to run around barefoot on icy ground between the locker room and the lagoon like we are watching everyone else do.  Yay Mister!  We go through the little pool entrance and are instantly in a covered area with speakers telling the story of the lagoon.  Excellent.

We wander the whole lagoon finding the waterfalls of hot water, the silica pots for masks, direct inlets of incredibly hot water, etc.  We cover our faces with a silica mask and continue to wander for the 20 minutes it needs to set and then go back to the waterfalls to wash it all off.  Yes!  Oh so nice.  We spend a couple of hours there, just floating, walking, and visiting with others.  It is so worth the trip.  I know that Icelandair flies to Europe from the U.S. via a layover in Reykjavik --- do this!  The Lagoon is only 20 minutes from the airport and definitely a great way to kill a couple of hours.

After we are dressed, we find the platform overlooking the lagoon to take a few pictures.  What a great last day we have had.













It is now back to Keflavik to refuel and  return the car.  Mister has finally mastered their gas pumps.

Alas, we are back at the airport after being delivered by the Blue Car Rental guy.  It only takes a few minutes to get our boarding passes and clear security -- love it.









We enter the main shopping area at the airport and take the time to make sure we have not missed any little thing here.  We had heard about a donut/sweet treat called Kleina that we had not yet had and so found one, sat down, and savored it.  It reminded me of a donut type treat that my grandmother used to make called Grebel.





We still needed a meal before our flight and so as usual Iceland delivered first class.  Smoked salmon, wine, eggs, etc.  Real dishes!  Not once on this trip have we had paper products and we stumped a lady when we wanted a bottle of water.  "Why would we want that?  The water here is so pure."  Oh my.  We simply wanted it in the car.








With full tummies, we went to the gate, received our boarding passes, and left Iceland with a determination to return again.  What a magnificent country -- one that we fell in love with and would recommend absolutely everyone to go to at least once.  When we landed in Boston we were faced with and incredibly slow customs, a mad dash to a different terminal, check-in at a kiosk, security, and run to the gate.  I barely had time for a quick potty stop and we boarded Jet Blue back to Dallas.  Whew.

It is no wonder that this was number one on Mister's bucket list.  This was such a great Christmas gift!

Iceland - Day 6 - Western Fjords

We have scheduled breakfast for 7 a.m. as we have a very long drive today and wanted to get a good start.  When we leave the room and head to the dining area, this is what greats us:

Oh my goodness.  All this food for only two of us.  Since I know that we have a long day, I pack quite a bit of it into bags for lunch and to snack on in the car.  Mister has tried the smoked fish and loves it but is unable to place what wood is used to smoke it with.  With the wood shortage here, we decide that it  must be birch.  As we pack up to leave, we stop and visit with the woman who runs the place for a few minutes.  Mister asks about the fish and her response is forever etched into our brains.  She said, "oh what is the nice word for it?"  She thinks for a minute and then says, "sheep shit."  We laugh and tell her the nice word is manure and she repeats it several times to try and remember it for future use.  Way too funny.

As the guesthouse was up the west side of the lake, we have a little bit of a start on our way today and so continue up the west coast.  Not long after leaving Lake Myvatn, we cross a bridge and I look off to the side and up the river to spot a waterfall and tell Mister about it.  A few seconds later we see a sign for Gothafoss which triggers a memory for me again and so we backtrack and check it out.  Dawn is still heavy in the sky and so our lighting is not the best, but these waterfalls are amazing.  The blues, both frozen and flowing, are beautiful and we feel fortunate to have spotted this.  History tells us that these falls were once used  to dispose of the statues of pagan Norse gods in the year 1000 when Christianity was introduced.

Once again, endless roads in which we count the markers to see how far ahead we can see.  Everything is white.  We pass farms with their barns full of cows and sheep as they are not kept out in the winter.  Only the horses are outside.

From here, we traveled into Aukeyri, nicknamed "the capital of the north".  It is a great little city with a wonderful downtown area that I immediately fall in love with.  We find Akureyrarkirkja,  the huge church that overlooks everything here.  It has excellent stained glass windows and incredible lines that Mister gets out to photograph.  We wish that we could go inside for pics, but it is Sunday and they are in the middle of services.


 We stop downtown for a cup of coffee and find that the place I was looking for is not exactly what I had in mind.  As we are walking, I ask a local if he can direct me to a coffee shop using hand signs as he does not speak English.  He points across the circle and so we take off in that direction and find Kaffi Ilmur - a cool little shop that has used all the history of the building in it's remodel.  I enjoy a Swiss Mocha -- something I have truly come to love in Iceland.  So delicious.

 Leaving Akureyi and heading west, we head towards the fjords and pass over the mountain ranges in the process.  At the top of one of the passes Mister spots a picnic table and stops for me to take a picture out in the snow as I have joked about these tables all over the island.  I hop out and climb onto the bench for a quick shot as it is quite cold out.  The sun  is showing some amazing colors and we stop to truly appreciate what we are seeing each day.

I decide to take a little side trip without telling Mister where we are going.  He had mentioned to me that he really wanted to see some of the old turf houses and I had read about a place where they had kept several classic ones from 1750-1879.  As we reach Glaumbaer, there is a small church in front of the houses and we stop there first.  As I walk through the cemetery, Mister gets some really nice pictures of the outside of the church.





He then joins me at the turf houses and we examine them and talk about how dark and damp it must have been to live in them.  These houses have been fronted with imported lumber and so the family who lived here must have been fairly well to do.  Mister peeks in the windows and is able to get a glimpse of life indoors as well.  As we are leaving, I check the doors on the church and they are open so in I go.  What a cool little church and I am sure that it was used that very day.

 

It is still a long way to our destination for the night and so we are soon on the road again.  As we are driving along, a herd of horses are being moved on the highway and I try and get a few shots as we drive along -- very hard to do and as a result nothing really turned out well.  The best part of watching them was the little border collie doing its work at keeping them in line.  Awesome.

The scenery on this side of the island varies greatly and we are basking in the differences.

As we are driving we notice the sky out the window to the east and decide that we have never seen anything like it.  We were able to see the ground which was covered with snow, then a brilliant blue strip of sky, followed by a strip of bright pink, and topped with white clouds.  It was truly an aha moment and we had to stop and embed it in both our minds and the camera so that we could always remember this beauty.

As we drive through lava beds for what seems like hours, but is only about 30 minutes, we come to our farmhouse for the evening.  It is so very nice and we have it all to ourselves again.  It is a Sunday evening and so all the restaurants are closed, so after checking into the room, we go back into the small town nearby to find a small grocery store that is about to close so that we can add to our stash from this morning in order to put together some sort of dinner.  As we drive through the town, we are drawn to the church where the markers in the cemetery were all lit up and it was such a peaceful scene that we stopped to reflect and revel in the quiet.

Back at the house, Mister goes watch them milk the cows and I read for awhile.  He comes back with stories to share and then we get the hot tub ready for a dip under the stars in the crisp air.  It is so nice and feels so good.  It is a unique hot tub in that the water is constantly emptying and filling.  As it drains into a hole near the top of the tub, it fills from the center at the bottom with water direct from the ground.  Amazing -- and oh so warm and cozy.  What a great time!




Here are a few shots of our house.  Isn't it nice?



The floors are heated as well so your feet do not get cold.  Oh how I wish I had that at home in Texas.  Our hardwood floors can get icy cold in the winter and slippers are a must.
















We make our snack dinner and sit down to enjoy it when our hostess arrives with supplies for breakfast in the morning.  We have told her that we are leaving early and for her not to make a big breakfast.  Cereal and toast are great and so she is dropping off fresh bread and milk (straight from the cows).  She also mentions that there is a nice aurora out tonight and so we walk out onto the deck and spend our last night marveling at the wonder that is the Aurora Borealis.  We have been so blessed to have had three incredible nights to witness it and wish that opportunity was there for everyone.  It is a fantastic last night in Iceland and we are both sad that our time is coming to an end.

Is there truly anything more phenomenal than that?  The title of a hymn comes back to me -- "I Stand All Amazed".

Iceland - Day 5 - North Coast

Breakfast is at 7:30 so we are up and moving quite early.  We walk up to the main house for breakfast and are seated in their dining room.  Once again, there is enough food here for an army.  The lady of the house stops in and so we engage her in conversation (not an easy feat with these Icelanders).  She is 82 years old and learning English.  Oh my -- I am sooo certain that I will not be able to do the same thing at that age.  Learning a new language now scares me to death.  She tells us about her childhood and all the changes that have occurred in Iceland during her life.  It is enough to make us pause and appreciate the many luxuries that we have had all our lives and taken for granted.  Things like electricity and indoor plumbing.  She did not have those things until the 50's, after she had already married.  We have to laugh at some of the things she says as it is opposite from our perspective.  For example, we have noticed the absolute lack of trees in this country but comment that south of there we had gone through their largest forest on the way here.  Her reaction is swift and emphatic - "Damn trees!  They keep planting them and they are ruining the view."  Funny, but made us think.

It is time to leave Egilsstathir and start our journey across the north coast of the island.  We had a great time here but are saddened that we did not take pictures last night when we arrived as everything was coated with fresh snow and this morning it has all been blown from the trees and bushes.  Live and learn.  It is going to be a snowy day according to the forecast, but the roads should be open all the way to Lake Myvatn so away we go.  As we drive along, the wind is blowing very hard and has formed large drifts on the road everywhere we go.  Many times we have to drive on the other side on several occasions we are fortunate enough to follow a snow plow. as the road is completely covered.  As we drive along, we spot several places where the river is showing through the ice and you can see the water bubbling up through the opening as it travels along.  The snow pack around this spot is at least 6' deep as we are high above it on the road.

Iceland - Day 4 - Eastern Fjords

Early wake up this morning, with breakfast in the large dining room.  Lots of food again, for just 4 people. We eat a leisurely meal, looking out onto the dark ocean. Mister is going back to the iceberg lagoon to get pictures when the sun comes up. I have decided to stay and plan out our day and pack us up so we can leave when he gets back.

Mister drove out and parks at the visitor center building and walks around taking pictures while trying not to slide into the lagoon. As it gets light, he drove back across the bridge to where pieces of iceberg wash up onto the black sand beach.