Lovely-Ladies-trip to Thórsmörk / Valahnúkur
[Photos taken 15 July 2023, posted online 21 April 2024. I screwed together a 120-cm wide non-Ikea bed for Emma yesterday, and re-ignited the sprain in my lower-back from my 140-kg ego-deadlift a couple of weeks ago. Such is life.]
The first night in our Thórsmök cabin went ok-ish. The skinny foam mattresses in the cabin turned out to also be quite thin, so I woke up every time I changed sleeping positions. Thank you massive hips! On the upside, not everybody showed up to the fully booked cabin, so we had a bit of extra space.
It was a groggy Hrefna that emerged in the morning, but the day turned out fabulously, both weather- and hike-wise.
Saturday 15 July 2023
Lovely-Ladies-trip to Thórsmörk / Hike Towards Tungur
[Photos taken 14 July 2023, posted online 20 April 2024. Spring is in the air!]
It turns out that I’m a sheep when it comes to outdoor activities. I suck at making them happen, but will happily show up when someone tells me to be somewhere, and do the thing.
Thus it was that I was invited to join what turned out to be a 10-lady group on a weekend trip to Thórsmörk (Þórs-mörk, the area/forest of Þór/Thor), which is a beautiful area in the south of Iceland, only accessible by large all-wheel-drive vehicles, as the rivers leading there change too fast for bridging to make sense.
Friday 14 July 2023
Shopping, Meeting, & Departing in CA
[Photos taken 06-09 June 2023, posted online 10 March 2024. Still no eruption.]
While planning my California trip, I allocated one day to shopping, a walk, and a downtown-dinner. The day after I managed to invite myself to visit a person I’d been regularly remote-meeting with for work that whole spring, and then it was time to fly back home!
Tuesday 06 June 2023
Stanford Reunion & Memorial, Bjarki Graduates 10th Grade!
[Photos taken 04 – 05 June 2023, posted online 3 March 2024. We’re waiting for the next burp, err… eruption. There was a small magma-run yesterday, but it stopped before peeking out of the ground…]
My whirlwind-visit to the San Francisco Bay Area continued with a reunion of the Stanford lunch group (or whatever to call it?). The following day was dedicated to attending the memorial of Prof Len Tyler, and then literal walks down memory lanes as I walked all over the Stanford campus, curios to see what was new and what was the same.
Sunday 04 June 2023
California Revisited
[Photos taken 01 – 03 June 2023, posted online 17 February 2024. There’s been another eruption since my last post! This one took out the hot water pipe to the Reykjanes peninsula, but it was fixed by building a road on top of days-old lava, and reconnecting a new pipe on top of it!]
June was a busy month. It began with Bjarki departing on a multi-day trip with his graduating-class to celebrate the end of their journey together. Trips like these came about to stop 10th-graders going on drunken binges downtown to celebrate finishing their compulsory education!
Then I was off on a whirlwind-trip to California to attend a memorial ceremony for Professor Len Tyler, who’d passed away a few months earlier. It so happened that I also managed to wrangle together a meetup with lots of old friends, as well as inviting myself onto the campus of a company that I’d had remote meetings with for months. The biggest drawback was that I missed Bjarki’s graduation ceremony, but the boy did good, and passed all his classes!
Thursday 01 June 2023
Annual Ball Abroad & Springy Spring
[Photos taken 01 – 10 May 2023, posted online 07 January 2024. Solid ice on the streets, but multiple days predicted of above freezing temps so it might wash away.]
The staff association coffers at my company were full to the brim after the non-action in covid-times, and so it was decided to have the company annual ball in Copenhagen, Denmark! It was an absolute blast, and will probably never be repeated.
Monday 01 May 2023 – Labor Day Public Holiday
Tenerife Couples-Trip: Routines & Departure
[Photos taken 06 – 09 February 2023, posted online 07 October 2023. Woke up to a frozen world. It won’t last, but it was a nice glimpse into the future.]
Two of our Tenerife travel buddies decided to join us at the very last minute, knowing they couldn’t stay the whole week. We said goodbye to them around lunch time, and then ventured along the beach a bit.
The following days were very lounge-y, and then it was also time for us to leave!
Monday 06 February 2023
Tenerife Couples-Trip: Jogs & Random Weather
[Photos taken 04 – XX February 2023, posted online 01 October 2023. How is October already?!?!]
After the big e-biking trip it was time to chill, or so I hoped. As it turned out, my nervous system was wired and jittery, so I tried calming it by going out on a jog. There was also a bit of shopping.
The weather was a bit tumultuous, swinging between blue skies, and a bit of rain even!
Saturday 04 February 2023
Tenerife Couples-Trip: Arrival & Masca Valley
[Photos taken 02 – 03 February 2023, posted online 30 September 2023. Warm fall this time around, wondering when a storm will tear the pretty leaves off the trees.]
After the successful ladies-only trip to Tenerife in November of 2021, we decided to repeat the trip, but this time invite the lads along.
Since we were looking for peace and quiet, we found a good Black Friday deal at an adults-only hotel, granting us “platinum” status, meaning we had access to a nicer breakfast area, a roof-top pool, and happy hour.
We left now formally-adult Anna (19 years old!) in charge of her siblings, which I will admit to feeling slightly guilty about, but it all worked out.
On our second day, three of us went and e-biked 32 km, visiting Masca Valley. It was a lot of fun!
Thursday 02 February 2023
Do. All. The. Things. Part. England
[Photos taken 22 – 26 October 2022, posted online 01 July 2023. After a mostly miserable and fall-like June, we might get a week of nice weather starting tomorrow.]
The younger kids got two days of winter-break towards the end of October, so we decided to journey to England and say hi to (grand)dad, Shirley, and Anthony.
I made the unilateral decision that Anna would not be traveling with us, since she was busy at university (they have four 12-week courses, followed by one 3-week group-work-course). Thus this was the first trip abroad with just Emma and Bjarki tagging along.
Saturday 22 October 2022
