More and more! Sat, 8/13/22

 

Sailing to Iceland on Oceania Insignia was part one of our trip.  Spending time touring Iceland was icing on the cake.  My sister, Nannie in Baton Rouge LA, and Jan, our travel agent in Grass Valley CA (Adventure Travel), arranged these private tours via phone.  When presented to me, I said, sure, okay, sign us up!  Jimmy and I are used to group tours with Road Scholar, etc., so having personalized day trips is great.  We could get used to this!

Today is our fourth day of Iceland adventuring -- and we'd travel The Golden Circle, (but backwards) with Bjarni, of BHT, again.  He took us around on our first day.  We were looking forward to all we'd see on the Golden Circle, we'd heard so much about it.  Apparently it's a MUST for tourists.  I dunno, it seems like all we've experienced thus far is primo.

Anyhoot, The Golden Circle is Iceland’s most popular tourist route. Its three main highlights are Gullfoss; the Haukadalur Geothermal Valley, with its many springs and geysers; and Þingvellir National Park, the only UNESCO World Heritage Site on Iceland’s mainland and the birthplace of the country’s parliament.

First off was a walk around the approximately three-thousand-year-old Kerið crater, making it younger than most of Iceland's volcanic craters -- and that's the reason its slopes are red-colored rather than volcanic black, because the iron deposits are, geologically-speaking, fresh.  And, I mean, RED. The path around it is roughly a mile.

Woohoo, it's chilly and windy, but here we are.

Layered up.

We could've walked down the stairs to the water's edge, but (not sure why), none of us felt the need to do this.  The crater is 180' deep, so that's a lot of steps.  I haven't enhanced these pics.  The color you see is what we saw.

My first crowberry.  I'd never heard of crowberries prior to this trip.  They're small and REALLY low to the ground and almost invisible, but Bjarni found a patch.  I ate one and found it tart, not like a sweet blueberry.

Nannie and I got a headstart.  The fellers are following ....

Kerið looks smaller from the other side, but if you look closely, you can see a couple of people at the water's edge below the steps.  The lovely gray bush on the right is a fur willow, native and prevalent in Iceland -- it has soft furry leaves.

 

Close-up of the people,

and fish rings on the water.

Bjarni wondered if we'd like to get close to Icelandic horses, and we said yes.  After leaving the crater, we stopped at a local farm to check 'em out. 

Fridheimar farms supplies most of Reykjavik's tomatoes.  We were invited to go inside one of their greenhouses to view the operation.  Not like anything we've ever seen!  Tomato plants towering ten feet off the ground.

With TONS of tomatoes.  I tried one and it was delicious.

Two of the horses, one's a girl and one's a boy.  Ahem.

I've been trying to spot a White Wagtail (bird),

and here it was, waiting for me!

Aha, next up, on our way to Gullfoss, was a quick detour to view Faxi falls.  Wide and serene, this falls boasts a fish ladder (rising from the top of my head 😊).  We walked from the viewing platform above, down to the water.

Serene, maybe, but that's a lot of water flowing over the rim!

We didn't see any fish, but I found a clump of Bluebells, aka Geranium sylvaticum, or Wood Crane's-bill, (Blágresi in Icelandic).  Always appreciate spots of color.

Our first sighting of Gullfoss, otherwise known as Golden Waterfall!  OMG, so impressive!  It's 105' tall, with lots of mist and a roar that can be heard far away, and it falls in two tiers into a beautiful canyon.  Look closely and you'll see people, more like dots, out on a headland over the falls.  We did not go there!

So much water, so scary in its intensity. 

Nannie and I grew up in Niagara Falls,

we've seen waterfalls.  This one was amazing.

It's big.  Real big.

Down the canyon.

And here we are at the Geysir geothermal area, and as I pulled my camera out of my pocket, the geyser erupted!  Old Faithful, right on cue.  Actually this is Strokkur, which erupts to heights of up to 131 feet every ten minutes or so.  Cool beans.  It scared the daylights out of me when it blew with a loud whooosh!

100°C is 212°F -- don't go any further!

Some of the geothermal pools had an almost iridescent glow, and a wonderful shade of blue.  The sulfur smell wasn't prevalent except in one area, below.

Like any other geothermal landscape, it's desolate and barren-looking.

We walked around the entire area.

This gives you a comparison of geysers.

Never mind the purple bird dookey dribbling down.

We stopped for lunch at Efstidalur family farm for lunch.  Originally it was maybe an ice cream stop, but we were hungry enough for burgers and fries!  Those cows must produce some fine ice cream!

Finally, Þingvellir National Park (Thingvellir), the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Iceland.  Here we sat on the Atlantic Ocean ridge, between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.  This location is also a historical center, being home to the original site of the world’s longest-running parliament. Icelanders formed it here in 930 AD, before much of the rest of Europe had even starting thinking about representative democracies.

The Eurasian tectonic plate is above, a tortured-appearing jumble of rocks. Þingvallavatn Lake (Thingvallavatn Lake) is behind.  

Look below the red x and you may be able to see a bit of white (like a waterfall), and that is where the North American tectonic plate is.  It took like seven minutes to drive from one side to the other, and then we were out of the national park, which surprised us Americans who are used to large parks with lots to see and do.

Still and all, we had a great day, and were happy that we got back to our hotel at 4ish, rather than 6 or 7 in the evening.  We're tired at the end of touring, yet have to go find dinner, get showers, and be ready for the next day.  Tonight we went to the local grocery store and bought containers of Skyr, wonderful Icelandic yogurt and ate that (and popcorn) for dinner.  Easy-peasy.  Tomorrow is our last day of scooting around the island with a guide.  Oh boy, new territory.

Three for Three! Thursday 11/24/16

(... a continuation from my previous post)

Never in my wildest imagination would I have presumed to see the three known Old Faithful geysers in the world.  The first, and largest, of course, is in Wyoming's Yellowstone Nat'l Park, which we've watched blow sky high several different times.  The second, and smallest Old Faithful, we sort of accidentally discovered in Calistoga, right north of us in California!  It surprised us to know the durn thing existed.  Then, we learned a third Old Faithful could be found in New Zealand ... and I may have made a flip remark about going there to check it off the list.  Lo and Behold -- here we are!  Life delivers some amazing turns and surprises.

We traveled from our morning adventure to Te Puia -- the geothermal valley -- as well as a center for Māori cultural experiences. We walked the geyser boardwalk, visited Māori Arts and Crafts, pigged out at a traditional mouth watering banquet of authentic Māori cuisine (kai) Hangi style, including New Zealand mussels, corn on the cob, flavored meats, chicken, lamb, vegetables and salads. And entertainment!

Whakarewarewa Geyser Terrace (do not ask me to pronounce that word) in the Rotarua area is where Old Faithful (Pōhutu) spurts. It's the largest active geyser in the Southern Hemisphere.  Pōhutu means "Big Splash,"  It erupts once or twice every hour, up to approximately 90 feet.  We saw it when it was just finishing it's Big Splash.

The Blueys Pool, has highly alkaline water, and a water temp usually between 30C and 50C (86-122 Fahrenheit), and it's still a favorite swimming hole for descendants of the original inhabitants.  I'd call it a giant hot tub!

I'm determined to get a decent photo of the melodious Tui bird,
the guy with the butler look.

Boiling mud pots look icky!

Interesting read.

A lovely skirt (or apron) made of New Zealand Flax, from arts and crafts school.

Cooked in the ground, traditional style, and truly delicious, every bit of it, we ate and ate.  Dessert, too.  I have a feeling none of us on this trip is going to be losing weight!

But the entertainment came before food.

A marvelous show.

Oh yeah, let's eat!

Honestly, these chocolate-covered creme puffs were to die for.

Never mind how many I ate (but it was legendary, I think!).

California's Old Faithful? Yes! Monday, 1/26/15

I picked up a copy of RV World the last time we were in Camping World, and inside this edition was a write-up on California's Old Faithful in Calistoga, CA.  What?  I read the article and said to Jimmy, "This is so close to where we live, we should go there."  Voilà, here we are!  We didn't get an early start THIS morning 'cause the temp was a nippy 38°.

Wine Country -- it's such a beautiful part of the state. Approximately 30 miles from our Elks RV site in Napa to Calistoga, our drive to the geyser was a joy.  Beautiful dormant vineyards line Hwy 29 with their perfectly spaced grids stretching up into gently sloping hills, all painted spring green by last month's rains and covered with flowering yellow mustard, make the drive gorgeous.  Fabulous and stately homes or wine-tasting "castles" perch on hillsides or nearer the road, tho we didn't go in.  Some of them are outrageously pretentious.

  

The wine train was on the move this morning, and the engineer waved.

We always wave, too!

We arrived in Calistoga at lunchtime and stopped at the fine restaurant pictured above for a yummy lunch. The food was as good as the last time we ate here.  Excellent chips and dip. Calistoga is an historic and idyllic town, known for its mineral springs and the water that comes from its springs, and ...

 So, here we are at last on a delightful afternoon.
We did not know that this "Old Faithful" Geyser is one of only three in the world.

Because of recent rains, this geyser "blew" often, like every ten minutes.  No where near as large or impressive as Yellowstone's Old Faithful, it was, nevertheless, cool to watch it blast hot water up to 75 feet in the air.  

Jimmy with imposing Mt St Helena (4,331') in the background, tallest mountain in Napa County. We know that there are trails you can hike (but not us) to the top where you can see all the way north to Mt Shasta and west to the Pacific Ocean.

The people who own/run Old Faithful are smart by adding the farm animals, because once you've seen the geyser spout, what else is there to entertain you for your admission money?  

Honestly, these were THE weirdest things I've ever seen.

This guy seemed to enjoy Jimmy's attention to its horn ... one of it's FOUR horns!

And then there were these guys. Cute li'l babies running -- really running like kids do -- fun to watch.  There were a lot of little ones hopping and jumping around.

Typical kids, getting into stuff.

We were talking to the caretaker (above) about the fainting goats. "Do they really faint?" It's a phenomenon where they don't lose consciousness or actually faint. "They're myotonic goats, whose muscles freeze for roughly ten seconds when the goat feels panic. Though painless, this generally results in the animal's collapsing," sez Wikipedia. The caretaker said, "watch." He went inside the large pen, yelled at the goat, and down it went, it's back legs stretched out behind him, for (like they said) about ten seconds. Then it got up and ambled away. I hope it isn't cruel, because it sure was funny!

One last look at the steaming geyser,

as the sun begins it's descent into the west.

What can I say?  The End?  Nope.

(this picture makes me laugh every time I see it!)

We've seen two "Old Faithful" geysers.  Maybe you're thinking, where is the third one?  New Zealand, we hear, tho we cannot find anything else about it.  Two out of three.  Guess we'll have to go to New Zealand to discover the third one for ourselves!

The End!