Geysir, Horses, Sun & Birthday

2020-07-26Finnur's family, Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 26 – 31 July 2020, posted online 17 January 2021. Zero domestic covid-19 cases found yesterday for the first time in four months, the border is seeing an increase in cases though. It’s a bit scary.]

Anna kept reminding me of my promise of more than one horse riding tour, so we found an operator close to the Geysir area, and booked a tour. Afterwards we took a peak at the bubbling waters, while the car charged.

Finnur joined us, and we frolicked in the sun and even visited Fontana, the spa on the edge of Laugarvatn lake. Then we drove back into town, and celebrated Finnur’s 46th (!) birthday. (65-ish images total)

Sunday 26 July 2020

Myself and Emma on horse back at Geysir Horses.
Spooling forward in time a bit, here the kids are saying hi to the dog on the farm.
Cool sitting area.
I signed a liability waiver, not very common in Iceland.
Anna and Bjarki would go off on their own with one guide, while Emma and myself had another guide for a slower ride.
I forgot to set Strava to record so I don’t know what exact route we traveled, but the guide knew about Emma’s recent scare and was very good about slowly encouraging a little bit of extra speed here and there. Emma felt a lot better riding in single file than double file.
We crossed that river!
A photo opportunity to give the horses a small break.
Anna sent a snap.
We arrived back at the farm shortly before the others did. They’re visible as 3 dots riding fast up the road on the lower left.
The kids were very happy with their ride, as they’d gotten to ride at speed, crossed a few rivers, and gone through a forest.
There are still precious few fast chargers around the countryside, but I knew there was one at the Geysir area, which is why I booked the horse rental close by. I plugged in, and then noticed the handle was broken, and called it in. The charger worked fine though, and gave us more than enough juice to drive back to the house and into town a few days later. Big batteries are nice. 🙂
Screenshot of the available fast chargers from ON. The distance between Laugarvatn, (middle-left) and Strokkur, aka the Geysir area, (top right) is 30 km (19 miles).
Obligatory ice-cream.
Looking to where Strokkur is.
Strokkur erupting. There were more people there than I expected, but a lot less than usual.
The kids had gone up ahead of me, and were walking around the upper area when I arrived. One day I’ll actually hike up to the top of the hill there, but we were tired after the horse ride.
Strokkur typically erupts every 6-10 minutes.
Waiting to capture an eruption.
Emma being silly as she worried about missing an eruption!
Bjarki learning that wind carries water.
Emma post-geyser spraying.
Then we walked back past Little-Geysir to the car, which now had a belly full of electrons. Finnur then joined us later in the day.

Monday 27 July 2020

The following day was goooorgeous, and the sun easily strong enough to burn wood through lenses.
The kids found a not quite empty bottle of orange soda, and Anna took it upon herself to split the contents into three glasses. She was under strict supervision, and did not get to pick first.
More wood burning.
Finnur had helped his dad the previous summer with fixing the deck, and this time around he helped put the support beam back in place.
Emma still burning wood.
I found a tree growing through a walking bridge.
Ball games happened.
Finnur sub-deck.
The wooden maze is always popular.
We then headed to Fontana by lake Laugarvatn. They’d torn down the fences, probably reasoning that people sitting in hot tubs didn’t really need a lot of wind shelter.
But, I’m pretty sure this fence was new…
It was quite crowded.
Emma in the lake itself, I think Anna was one of the specks further away.
Walking towards Anna. Bjarki found himself at a distinct disadvantage, as he has his father’s flimsy fat coverage, while us girls are well insulated.
The building is somewhat camouflaged.
We walked to the Lindin restaurant next door, and lucked out as they had space for us. No menus though, we were asked to photograph the menu for reference.
Quick selfie. The food was great!
Everyone feeling much better, leaving Lindin.
We drove back to the house, quickly packed the cars and set out to drive home. Much to our surprise a car was sitting outside the other house Finnur’s family owns, so Finnur went to investigate. Turns out they were airbnb tourists (from abroad!), who’d taken a wrong turn, the cabin they’d rented was further up the road. With that taken care of, we took off.
Anna driving past lake Thingvallavatn in the blaring sun at 9 in the evening.
The road through the Thingvellir national park has finally been fixed, as it was literally crumbling apart. Now there are fancy railings, proper lookout stops, and even a small shoulder!
The view from our bedroom window, and home sweet home.

Tuesday 28 July 2020

We went to the west end for a bit of doggy duty.
Funny how people come to chat if a dog is present.

Wednesday 29 July 2020

Presents for Finnur on his 46th birthday!
We had a bit of a brunch, and my brother Pétur who works close by, came and joined us.
Pétur valiantly took this photo of us as wasps circled his feet. That was when we realized there was probably a wasp’s nest hiding under the deck, along with the friendly bee’s nest we already knew about.
Again we found ourselves in the west end helping with the energetic puppy.
The puppy managed to tear a hole in Anna’s pants, so to the store I went to get a needle and thread… If only I’d had the sense to bring the pants!
Mending her pants.
We went out to dinner with friends to celebrate Finnur’s birthday. It was excellent!
The ladies.

Thursday 30 July 2020

Anna practicing driving around a roundabout, on our way to puppy-land.
A moment of calm.
Cute.
At home, one of the anemones had bloomed! Only three or four ever peeked out of the ground from the 30 or so seeds I put in. Sadly, the weeds had also gone crazy, as I had trouble gathering the mental energy to go after them again.
Anna’s garden looking quite green.
The lawn, pre-mowing.
Post-mowing.

Friday 31 July 2020

By the end of July, diagnosed covid-19 cases began rising again. This was probably due to an infected tourist who’d been tested at the border before he was sick enough to be diagnosed. As the summer went on, the border testing changed from only test upon arrival, to test upon arrival, quarantine for 5 days, then a second test. Or, people could choose to forgo a test, and quarantine for 14 days.
I think this was about the time authorities started talking about masks, and requiring them in some cases. Anna and I went shopping, and were one of very few individuals sporting masks in the mall. Now (January 2021) everybody wears mask while shopping.
Playtime! Thus ended July 2020.