Summer House in Úthlíð
[Photos taken on 21 July – 28 July 2017, posted 29 March 2018. Looking like spring out there. Contemplating whether to continue blogging or not to continue blogging. Blergh!]
In Iceland, unions and employee associations are mostly just big summer house rental operations. As an employee (or union member) you pay a small amount into a joint fund, and then get rights to rent a summer house for a week for a low fee.
This summer, Adda and Halli were super lucky and got to rent a really nice new summer house in Úthlíð, a hop and a skip away from the Geysir area in Haukadalur. They kindly invited us along, and we had a lovely time, even may have returned home somewhat rested! (98 images total)
Friday 21 July 2018
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This summer house in Úthlíð that was ours for a week. It belongs to the employee association of Halli’s workplace.
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This is what’s referred to as a “2007 summer house”. It was built before the economic crash, and is suitably fancy. This house is extra special in that it’s completely wheelchair accessible.
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Our view. The house sits on a hill (“Hlíð” means Hill.) and the trees haven’t quite managed to grow tall enough to block the view yet.
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Next to the main house there was a second mini-house, with a bathroom and bedroom. Next the smaller house was a hot tub.
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Kind of liked the crazy effect my camera produced here. Here are the biggest kids hanging out in the girls bedroom in the second house.
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Emma getting a taste of nature. The morning after this whole field of flowers was covered with well behaved bees!
Saturday 22 July 2018
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As this was supposed to be a “restful” vacation, we didn’t do many extravagant things. The first day we walked down the hill to the community swimming pool.
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Next to the swimming pool is a community hall. The guy in the shorts on the right is then Iceland’s prime minister, there to watch the Icelandic women’s soccer team play on a big screen.
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I went on a finish-10000-steps walk after dinner. Found this house foundation, probably dating from the economic crash of 2008.
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Where to dispose of garbage. Since this is out in the country, there is no house-by-house garbage collection, they just empty these guys regularly.
Sunday 23 July 2018
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We drove a few minutes to visit the farm of Efsti-Dalur (Top-Most Valley). They make their own ice-cream, and the place was packed with visitors. Yes, bus tours stop here apparently!
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We drove back to the summer house, left Emma and Bjarki there with the others, and drove to Laugarvatn for a bit of Pokemon/Ingress (GPS games).
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Anna and I went out on a Pokemon walk, apparently at 11 pm (according to the photo-name). There was some event going on where there was a walking discount, and a lot of good Pokemons here and there.
Monday 24 July 2018
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We’d reserved an hour-long horse riding tour for beginners. The horse rental was located a short walking distance down the hill.
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Emma got to sit on one of the horses while the others were being readied. She’s still not big enough to go out on tours.
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Arnar got to free-ride a little further after we returned, as his horse had been so lazy that one of the guides had ended up taking its reins to pull it along, depriving Arnar of the opportunity to steer himself.
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Bjarki saying goodbye. It was a nice slow ride up further inland, past a bunch of summer houses of varying fanciness, but also with good views of the back-country.
Tuesday 25 July 2018
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After the big horse riding tour the day before, this was designated a calm day. I took the kids swimming…
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A little while later Anna spotted a rare Pokemon at a pokestop a little ways away, so we ran over there, only to get hopelessly lost, and arriving too late. But we said hi to the horses on the way back.
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There are not a lot of days in Iceland where you can sunbathe without hiding behind a wall to shelter from the cold wind. This was one of those rare days.
Wednesday 26 July 2018
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Anna’d wanted to go on a more “experienced” horse riding tour after the rather calm ride two days before. Finnur and I both decided to tag along, even though our horse riding experience is minimal, at best!
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The three paying riders. This was probably one of the warmest days of the entire summer, and I would have taken off my fleece jacket, except I had nowhere to put it.
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Waiting in line to cross a river. We then sped through that birch forest on the other side at ludicrous speed on a very narrow path, and I was happy to still have my jumper on, as it protected against tree branches flying at us!
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We made it back in one piece, although it would take a week for my fingers recover from hanging on to the saddle for dear life while trying to also hang on to the reins. I had quite a few rubbing sores!
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Next up: the Geysir area, some 15 minutes away by car. For some reason our group split up early on, and Bjarki and I ended up being paired together.
Thursday 27 July 2018
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The introvert in me needed a break from the crowd, so I drove on over to the Geysir area again, to enjoy a little me-time.
Friday 28 July 2018