Reykjavik to San Francisco

The final leg of our trip was the flight from Reykjavik to San Francisco airport. We flew WOW Air, a budget Icelandic airline.

After waiting for a mechanical problem to be corrected, we were in the air and on our way home. G mostly snoozed, and I mostly binge-watched Netflix shows I had downloaded in the Reykjavik airport.

About 8 1/2 hour later, we were on the ground in San Francisco. Tired and hungry and sore from sitting so long, we stumbled off the plane and into the airport. After waiting our way through the immigration line, we emerged in the airport.

We caught an Uber and made it home by 11PM. Exhausted, I went straight to sleep. I had work the next day.

Last Day in Reykjavik

On this day, our last in Reykjavik, we woke up and ate the included breakfast at the hotel.

After packing up or bags, we headed out into the city to see Reykjavik in daylight. The highlight of the walk was stepping inside the performance hall, Harpa. I'd spent several days in Reykjavik in 2013, but I'd never been to Harpa before.

Harpa has one of the most interesting architectural styles in the city. While blocky and dark from the outside, it is light and colorful on the inside. The geometric windows create patterns of light on the floor. There are souvenir shops on the bottom floor, but as you ascent the levels of stairs, sounds of musicians practicing reach your ears. These musicians are practicing for concerts, likely later in the day. Unfortunately, we didn't have more time. If we had, we might have stayed to listen to one of the rehearsals. As it was, we had to return the car by 4PM, and we still wanted to stop by the Viking World museum near the airport.

The highlight of Viking World was the full size Viking ship replica hanging in the main room of the museum. Patrons are allowed on the ship to explore and take photos. Again, we were short on time, and I could have spent a bit more time exploring the museum grounds, but I did get my picture taken on a Viking ship!

By 3:20, it was time to head to the airport, Keflavik. Keflavik is less than 10 minutes from Viking World. We hit a snag when trying to gas up the rental car, but turning in the car went off without a hitch. Before 4:00 PM, we were in the airport terminal checking in.

Next stop: home.

Bergthorshvall Farm

This post is in the form of a letter. It is a letter I wrote to one of my students. As explained in a previous post, I am a private tutor, and I like to give my students extra practice when I am away. Extra practice sometimes takes the form of letters. Here is one of my letters:

Dear Student, 

I hope you are having a good week and had a good time on your field trip. 

I wanted to tell you about staying on a farm in a town called Bergthorshvall in Iceland. The funny part is that there is only one farm in Bergthorshvall. There are no other houses or stores. It's a really old farm too. It has existed for about a thousand years! In fact, there is a very famous Icelandic story that is told about the people who lived on this farm. It's called a saga story, and it is very, very complicated. It is all about a man named Njall (Neal) and his family. 

This farm has chickens, horses, and sheep. I didn't see any chickens while I was there, but I did get to visit the sheep. I was excited to feed and pet the sheep. They were so hungry! Some of the sheep even climbed up on top of the other sheep just to get to the food in the trough. A trough holds animal food.I even got to see a baby lamb. It was only a few days old. The farm worker said he is expecting many more lambs soon.  

I never stayed on a farm before, so it was a new and unique experience. I better go, but I look forward to seeing you later!

Your teacher, 

Elaina

Reykholt (the north one) to Akureyri

From Reykjavik, we drove north through snow-speckled hills and interesting landforms. There is not much in the way of civilization out there - a farm or two here and there only.

Today was a long driving day, almost 4 hours by Google maps, and we are finding that Google underestimates the time a bit. We made few stops along the way. Places to pull over on the side of the road are few and far between. Additionally, there was not a whole lot to see beyond ice and snow. Before setting out on our round-the-country road trip, I had the expectation that the trip would be a lot like the drive around Yellowstone National Park that G and I did last summer. There, we stopped every few minutes to check out some geyser or mudpot or some waterfall. At Yellowstone, we spent all day pulling over on the side of the road and hopping in and out of the car. However, this part of Iceland is nothing like Yellowstone.

Finally, we made it to our next destination, Akureyri. Akureyri struck me as a town that would be much more enjoyable in the summer months. As it was, I was freezing the whole time. The temperature was low, and the wind was strong. The harsh wind made the walk around town even harder.

Despite the weather, we were able to walk around the whole town, shivering a little on the way. The town is small and quaint, but most businesses were closed for Easter Sunday. Happy Easter by the way!

The main attractions are the church at the top of the hill, the fjord below the city, and the botanical gardens. The church was closed, but we walked up the hill to get a closer view anyway. From the church, we could get a pretty good view of the town and the fjord below. From the church, we made our way to the garden. Since it's still just April and the daytime temperatures are still just in the upper 30s or lower 40s, few plants were growing.

Bird's eye view of Akureyri

The church

The fjord

One of the only flowers blooming in the garden.

My favorite activity from today was going to the Christmas garden. About a fifteen minute drive from Akureyri town center, the Christmas garden featured a gingerbread house Christmas store selling primarily handmade ornaments. I bought a few ornaments before we explored the rest of the grounds, Santa cutouts, Santa's laundry, miniature houses, the world's largest advent calendar, another store, and even a couple of art sculptures.

After seeing the Christmas house, we drove back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

Keflavik to Reykholt (the Reykholt in northern Iceland)

We arrived in Reykjavik in the middle of the afternoon. Exhausted (after only about an hour of sleep on my end) and a little disoriented, G and I made our way to the Hertz counter to pick up our rental car. At the counter, we found out that our car was an hour away at a municipal airport. We're still not sure how the mix-up happened, but we were fortunate that the rental guy was able to get us a car at the Keflavik International Airport where we were.

Neither of us owns nor drives a manual vehicle, but as we are in Europe, a manual car was our only choice. We ended up with a tiny VW Golf. Whenever we go on a car trip, G always drives. This trip is no exception. G took the wheel, doing very well for someone who only drives stick when we are in Europe.

Our plan for this trip is to follow the Ring Road. Basically, the Ring Road is a route that goes all the way around the country. As it is still only April, and there is still snow and ice around, this may be difficult or even impossible. There is the very real possibility that we will have to turn around once we get to the eastern part of the country. We've read that April is often hit or miss for weather - you can get lucky and encounter passable roads, but you can also see road closures because of ice and snow. Since the weather changes frequently, we still aren't sure what to expect.

Leaving the airport, G turned us in the direction of the town of Reykholt (the one in the north). Apparently, Iceland tends to reuse names for their towns, meaning that there are at least 2 Reykholts in the country. After stopping at a grocery store and coffee shop for supplies, we began our trek. Tomorrow night, we plan to stay in a town called Akureyri. Our goal today was to get a couple of hours closer to Akureyri. That, we did. We drove through to the town of Reykholt. Honestly, there's not much between the airport and Reykholt. There's nothing in Reykholt either, except for the guesthouse where we are staying. Really, this town, if you could even call a handful of buildings on the side of the road a town, is just a place to spend the night. There are no tourist attractions, and there's nothing much of interest here.

On the drive to Reykholt

Until tomorrow...

New Trip

It's that time again. G and I are setting out on a new trip. This time, we are headed to Iceland, land of waterfalls, the aurora borealis, and Icelandic horses.

It's a straight flight from San Francisco to Reykjavik, just about 8 hours in the sky. The next you hear from me, I'll be in Iceland!

Best and Worst: Trip-End Roundup

This is the spot where I catalog the best and the worst, the most and the least. Basically, this is where I put my trip into numbers. I'm home, and now I can really reflect on the trip. I started this tradition years ago with a Europe trip, so now it must be done with all major trips.

Best and Worst of the Western US 2016:

# of Days on the Road: 17
# of Unique Species Spotted in the Wild: (15) beavers, fox, moose, elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, grizzly bear, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, prairie dogs, bison, pronghorn antelope, skunks, wild horses, wild burrows

# of Casino Players' Cards Requested: 10

# of Nights Spent Camping: 12

# of Miles Driven: 4,156

# of States Visited: 10

# of Pennies Flattened: 8

# of National Parks Visited: 10

# of National Monuments Visited: 9

# of Hailstorms Driven Through: 1

Creepiest Motel: Clown Motel in Tonopah, NV

Most Luxurious Hotel: Monte Carlo in Las Vegas, NV
Worst Hotel: National 9 in Cortez, Colorado

Best Scenery: Yellowstone National Park

Worst Scenery: Northern Nevada

Strangest Sight: Area 51 Alien Center in Nevada AND inside Tonopah Station in Nevada

Best Ghost Town: Rhyolite, Nevada

Worst Ghost Town: Coaldale, Nevada

Clearest Night Sky: middle of Nevada
Hottest Weather: Nevada

Best Food: buffet at Monte Carlo
Worst Food: sandwiches again

Best Hike: Lower Geyser Basin trail in Yellowstone











Worst Hike: to Lovelock Cave in Nevada
Best Subterranean Experience: Wind Cave National Park

Best Selfie: me with a dinosaur

Scariest Moment: Drive up steep switchbacks to Canyonlands National Park
Cheesiest Tourist Trap: Area 51 Alien Center in Nevada
Biggest Revelation: South Dakota is cool.

Last Day

8/14/16

Dear H-,

How is your weekend going? I hope you are getting to do something fun.

My vacation is almost over. Right now, I am staying with some friends in a cabin in a town called Oakhurst in California. Oakhurst is south of Yosemite National Park. I've stayed the last two nights in this cabin, and today I will be making the last part of my journey home.

While here, I've been able to spend time with old friends. I've made a few new friends as well. There are 16 people staying in this cabin, so you can imagine how crowded it is!

Yesterday, all of us went to Bass Lake.  Most of the people in my group went swimming in the lake, but I didn't! I don't like cold water, so instead, I wrote letters to my students!

After hanging out at the lake, we all came back to the cabin where pretty much everyone went down to a waterfall that is near the cabin. Unfortunately, I had tried to hike down to the waterfall the previous day, but I had fallen and scraped up my toe pretty bad. I was not feeling so good about hiking down again, ,so I stayed at the cabin and watched the Olympics. My afternoon was great! It was quiet and comfortable in the cabin. 

Now, it is the morning of the last day of my trip. Everyone is getting ready to go. Today, all I have to do is make it from here to the Bay Area. It's been a great trip!

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for session.

Your teacher,

Elaina

P.S. On the way home, I made one last stop at the quirky Casa de Fruta. It's a hotel, restaurant, fruit stand, gas station ,candy store, tourist train, carousel, antique farming equipment location, and more, all in one stop. 

Devil's Postpile and Yosemite

8/13/2016

Dear I-,

How are you? I got your letter. I haven't played Pokemon Go, mostly because my little brothers really liked Pokemon when it first became popular years ago. I wasn't interested in POkemon then because they were. Now, I guess that old idea is still stuck in my head! It sounds like you've been having a good time in Tokyo.

Last night, I stayed in a city called Tonopah, Nevada. This town was a gold mining town in the early 1900s. This morning, I got the chance to explore the town. I walked through the cemetery that was used from 1901-1911. I also walked in the downtown area and even checked out some really old mining equipment.

Tonopah cemetery

downtown Tonopah, Nevada

 I dropped off a couple of letters for my students at the old post office downtown then got back on the road. My next destination was Devil's Postpile in Mammoth Lakes, California.

It took a bit more than 2 1/2 hours, but I finally arrived at the shuttle bus stop. The only way to see Devil's Postpile is to take a bus to get there. The problems were that the bus ticket booth had a long line AND the nearest parking spot to the bus stop was 1/2 mile away. I was surprised by how many people were there already!

After waiting in a very long bus line and riding on the bus for 30 minutes, I arrived at the Devil's Postpile trail. I hiked the trail and arrived at the Devil's Postpile National Monument.

Earlier in my trip, I saw Devils Tower, a national monument with clusters of geometric tubes clumped together that rise out of the ground.

Devil's Postpile is a similar, unusual rock formation. This formation was created by lava around a hundred thousand (100,000) years ago. I took a bunch of photos and finished the hiking trail back to the shuttle bus. 

My next stop was Yosemite National Park. I've been there quite a few times, but this time, I entered the park from a different direction. I was able to see a part of the park I've never seen before. 

mule deer in Yosemite

along Tioga Pass

Unfortunately, I didn't get to stop very many times since I had to meet some friends at a cabin in Oakhurst, California for a camping trip. This camping trip is the very last part of my trip.  

I look forward to seeing you this week.

Your teacher,

Elaina

Weird Nevada

8/12/16

Dear NH,

How are you doing? When will you be leaving on your trip? You might even leave for your road trip before you get this letter.

Yesterday was such a crazy day. I started out in Las Vegas, Nevada. I had been to Las Vegas four times already, so I already knew a lot of things about that city.

I stayed at a giant resort hotel called Monte Carlo. This hotel had something like 25 floors, a wave pool, and a lazy river.

After eating a giant breakfast in one of the hotel restaurants, I spent some time in the pools. It was already really hot outside, so being in the pool was kind of nice.

Finally, it was time to go. I still had to get across Nevada and head toward Mammoth Lakes, California. I started on my way.

I wasn't planning on stopping on the way, but I encountered some really interesting places. First, there was a place called Area 51 Alien Center. This place was a combination gas station, diner, convenience store, alien enthusiast site, fireworks stand, AND spot for setting off fireworks! How crazy it was! I took a couple of photos and bought a pin with an alien on it as a souvenir.

I continued on the road northwest across Nevada. I next stopped in a ghost town called Rhyolite. This city is actually a part of Death Valley National Park. Most of the park is in California, and Rhyolite is the only part in Nevada. I had been to Rhyolite once before, but that was years ago, so I wanted to stop by again.

When I arrived, I found several buildings in ruins. (These buildings have been in ruins for years.) I walked around some of these buildings and found a lot of pieces of rusted metal, old drink cans and parts from a machine. Some of the metal pieces were probably even from old mining equipment since Rhyolite used to be a mining town.

One really interesting thing I found was a grave for a woman named Mona Belle. Next to her grave, I saw many trinkets: beaded necklaces, drink bottles, high-heeled shoes with messages written on them, and old silk flowers. There are several tall tales associated with Mona Belle. One story is that she got into a fight with her husband. She shot him first and hurt him. Then he shot her and killed her. Now, people leave small trinkets for her in tribute. I left a bottle of nail polish!

The other really interesting thing I found was a real mine shaft. It was blocked off, so you couldn't go all the way inside, but you could go in the entrance area and look inside.

There was even a really old cemetery down a dirt road nearby. Most of the graves were marked by pieces of wood. Some were marked by stones, and some were not marked at all. Rhyolite was such a good stop, but I had to continue.

Not far out of Rhyolite, I stopped again. This time, I stopped because I saw wild donkeys. There was a whole herd of them. Some were eating. Others were crossing the road. I took tons of pictures and moved on. However, I saw more donkeys, so I stopped again. This time, there were baby donkeys! They were so cute!

I finally pulled myself away from the donkeys to continue my journey. By this time, it was late enough for dinner. It was decided that the next stop would be in a town called Tonopah. Tonopah, Nevada was a strange city. It was prosperous around 1900 because gold was found in the area. Of course, the gold "dried up" and the town went bust. Now, the town still exists, but it's not as big or as successful. I went inside a casino/hotel called Tonopah Station for dinner. The inside of the building was full of unusual antiques. There was a giant, taxidermied bear with a sign that said his name was James. There was also an old doll propped up next to a doll-sized sink. A doll-sized toilet was next to her, too! There were mannequins in Victorian clothes and old signs from now-defunct (closed) businesses. The place was like a museum!

After dinner, I needed a place to stay since it was dark. I looked no further than a place called Clown Motel. This was one creepy motel. Inside the motel lobby are hundreds of clown figurines. On each room door, there is a funny-looking clown ready to greet you. The creepiest part is that the motel is next door to a cemetery! This cemetery is the final resting place of miners, gold prospectors, and townspeople who died between 1901 and 1911. I bravely entered the cemetery after I got my things settled in my room. I was a bit too scared to go very far into the cemetery. I'm not usually scared of cemeteries, but I guess they are more unnerving at night.

That was my interesting day! I hope you are having interesting days too, and I look forward to hearing from you about your trip.

Your teacher,

Elaina

Stormy Weather in Zion

8/11/16

Dear NS-,

How is Tokyo? I know you won't get this until you return, but know that I am thinking about you and Iris and hoping that you both are having a great time.

Yesterday, I continued my trip by seeing even more national parks. When I left California I expected to see at least three, but as of now, I've visited eight national parks just on this trip. Additionally, I've visited a large number of national monuments.

I started early in the morning by driving through Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Utah. This was not my main destination for the day, so I only stopped off at a few vista points and the visitor center. Grand Staircase is a place with really interesting land formations. Here, the land shifted a long time ago. The shifting created land that looks like stairs.

After stopping in Grand Staircase Escalante, I waited until I got to Bryce National Park to stop again. Bryce is famous for rock formations called hoodoos. A hoodoo is a column of rock, normally red in color. Some people say hoodoos look like ghosts or goblins. I thought they looked like the Terra Cotta soldiers in China. The Terra Cotta soldiers are statues of soldiers created a very long time ago. There are dozens of these soldier statues. There were dozens, maybe even hundreds, of these hoodoo rock formations in Bryce Canyon. Here's a fun fact: Bryce Canyon isn't a canyon.

After visiting Bryce Canyon, the plan was to visit Zion National Park. Zion is about an hour and a half from Bryce Canyon, so it was logical for the next destination. Unfortunately, a really bad storm rolled in when I was on my way. I went straight through the storm. There was a lot of thunder and lightning, hard rain, and heavy hail. Plus, the temperature inside the storm was in the 50s, at least 20 degrees lower than it had been outside the storm. Sometimes, the storm was so bad you couldn't even see to drive, so you had to pull off the road and wait.

When I arrived at Zion National Park, famous for a very beautiful section of the park called the Narrows, the park was closed! Apparently, the storm had caused flooding, and the road through the park was impassable. I was forced to turn back and backtrack about 20 minutes to a junction in the road where I could choose a alternate path.

The alternate route was long and inconvenient, taking me out of Utah, into Arizona, and back into Utah again. There was nothing I could do about the situation, so I looked online to see if there were any interesting places to stop in Arizona.

Interestingly enough, there was a place called Pipe Spring National Monument on the way. Pipe Spring was a Mormon fort built on Native American lands. It was named for the cool freshwater springs that come through the ground in that spot. Today, the monument is completely surrounded by a Native American reservation.

This Mormon fort was never completed as a fort. The threat from the Native Americans who lived there first faded, and the Mormon people were able to use this place as a hideout for their extra wives. Do you remember how we talked about it being okay for a man to have multiple wives in some cultures? In the 1800s, having many wives was normal and accepted if you were a member of the Mormon church. Today, the practice is illegal in the United States. It still happens sometimes, but it is illegal. Back when the Mormon men were hiding their extra wives at Pipe Spring, the United States was putting pressure on the Mormon church to stop the practice of having multiple wives. That's why they needed a hideout. The unexpected stop turned out to be a great one, and I learned a lot!

After visiting Pipe Spring, I had to drive back through the same storm to get back into Utah. I should mention that it was much cooler in Arizona than normal. Usually, it is 100 degrees or more in the summer. This day, it was in the 70s. Inside the storm, it was in the 50s.

Funny enough, because of the way the roads are, I had to go through Arizona AGAIN to get to Nevada where I stayed for the night.

I know this was a very long letter, but yesterday was so interesting and so eventful! I really look forward to hearing about your adventures from your trip to Tokyo when you get back.

Your teacher,

Elaina