Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

USA 2022 – Colorado Lounging, Climbing & Splashing

2022-08-07Friends, Us, USA Standard

[Photos taken 07-10 August 2022, posted online 22 April 2023. I’m officially ridiculously far behind on my blogging!]

We flew from Spokane, Washington, to Denver, Colorado, picked up our rental car and made our way to Sarah and Augusto’s place. En route we were given a glimpse of the mad downpour that can happen in the area, with multiple cars simply driving to the side of the road and waiting the rain out rather than continue onwards almost blind.

Our Colorado days were calm in comparison to the first week of our US stay. We literally spent the first whole day lounging, although I did manage to get our travel insurance to OK Anna getting an x-ray of her ankle (not broken). The following day, most of us drove into the mountains to play in an elevated obstacle course, splash in some fresh river water, and check out flood remnants.

The following day we split up, with some of us shopping ’till we dropped, and others doing more relaxing things!

Sunday 07 August 2022

We made it! Then ate dinner and promptly collapsed into sofas!

USA 2022 – Upper Glidden Lake & Idaho Departure

2022-08-06Us, USA Standard

[Photos taken 06 – 07 August 2022, posted online 08 April 2023. The storm has come and gone… but more in a few days.]

On our last whole day in Idaho, we drove up the canyon and hiked to Upper Glidden Lake. The lake and surrouding area were gorgeous, but then the mishaps began!

Finnur tripped and scraped his leg, ripping up his pants leg. Then, thankfully pretty close to the car-park on the way back, Anna tripped and twisted her ankle so badly I ended up giving her a piggy-back-ride back to the car. Yay for lots of gym-time!

Just to make the day more colorful, we were met in the parking lot by a guy who was looking for a jack, as one of his tires had fallen off, and he didn’t have a big enough jack to get it back on. His car was of course blocking the road, so we tried helping him, but it wasn’t until some more cars arrived, one of whom had an old-style jack, that the tire got put back on.

The following day began with yet another variation on an amazing breakfast, before we said our goodbyes. We then drove back to Spokane airport, and flew onwards to Denver, Colorado.

Saturday 06 August 2022

Hikers enjoying the view of Upper Glidden Lake.

USA 2022 – Biking the Route of the Hiawatha

2022-08-05Uncategorized Standard

[Photos taken 05 August 2022, posted online 07 April 2023. Storm incoming, thankfully above freezing.]

We kept adventuring, and next up was to bike the Route of the Hiawatha which is a “scenic 24 km (15 miles) long mountain bike or hike trail with 10 large and dark train tunnels (nine that you ride your bike through) and 7 sky-high trestles.”

I had made reservations many weeks in advance, and ordered rental bikes to be delivered at the starting point. We set out fairly early, and the 45 minute drive went smoothly.

The weather was gorgeous, and the ride went pretty well, although the bikes were not great. All in all a memorable day, and lots of wow! views.

Friday 05 August 2022

Finnur and the kids on the Route of the Hiawatha.

USA 2022 – To Idaho, Zip-Lining & Silver Mine Tour

2022-08-03Us, USA Standard

[Photos taken 03 – 04 August 2022, posted online 06 April 2023. Hello Easter Break!!]

We landed in Spokane, Washington, after about an hour in the air from Seattle. The Spokane airport is tiny so we quickly collected our luggage and rental vehicle, and began the drive east towards Idaho.

We’d no sooner got going than I realized Emma needed sneakers to go zip-lining the following day. We therefore stopped at a Spokane mall and walked out with four pairs of new shoes! Yes, shoes can be silly expensive in Iceland, and I go a little nuts elsewhere.

About an hour later, we’d found our way to Ivan & Margo’s cabins, in a canyon the mountains of Idaho.

The follwing day was full of action, as we went on a zip-line tour, and then visited a silver mine!

Wednesday 03 August 2022

USA 2022 – Seattle Days 2&3 – Cruise, Aquarium & Airport

2022-08-02Us, USA Standard

[Photos taken 02 – 03 August 2022, posted online 26 March 2023. Second confirmation party of the season later today, three more to go!]

Our second day in Seattle was in large part dictated by the Seattle City Pass options. We thus found ourselves on a sight-seeing boat that went up and down the Seattle sea-side. Afterwards the kids opted for an unscheduled ride on the local Ferris wheel, before we went hunting for lunch. The second activity was checking out the aquarium, which was pretty nice, but didn’t quite match the monster aquarium in Monterey, California. Oh, the dangers of having traveled.

Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel, with a quick side-tour to Walmart where we found almost all the products hidden behind lock and key (?!?!). Dinner was at a nearby Indian restaurant, and I’ve rarely gotten so sleepy in my life. Back at the hotel Finnur thus got to pack the bags for the next hop, while I lay near-comatose in bed, yay jetlag!

The following day we found yet another hipster café to eat a bit of breakfast, before taking the train to the airport. This time the mental patient on board was a young overweight man with random splotches of blue paint on him who sat facing us on the side, who constantly talked to himself (somewhat threateningly), while staring intently at us, like he was waiting for something to happen. We did our best not to make eye contact. Some fare-checkers came on board, talked to the guy, handed him some leaflets and took off. Thankfully, the guy left the train a stop before we did.

I highly recommend signing up for the speedy security line at the airport if it’s on offer, it made the airport experience more bearable. And then we were off to Spokane, and then N-Idaho! (65-ish images total)

Tuesday 02 August 2022

We made it to the sea-side and the very famous Public Market sign!

USA 2022 – Seattle Day 1 – Glass, Pop & Needle

2022-08-01Us, USA Standard

[Photos taken 01 August 2022, posted online 25 March 2023. It’s still freezing outside, it’s a bit unusual.]

Our 2-week-long vacation to the US was a complicated one. We began by spending two whole days in Seattle to get over the worst of the jetlag. Then we spent a day traveling east to Idaho to meet up with my Stanford advisor and his wife at their second home, where we spent three whole days. We spent a day traveling to Colorado, where we spent a further five whole days with old friends, before flying back home to Iceland.

For our stay in Seattle, I settled on buying the Seattle City Pass, and using it at five attractions. The first day we thus visited 1) Chihuly Garden and Glass, 2) Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP), and 3) Space Needle. (70-ish images total)

Monday 01 August 2022

Vacation: Birthdays & US Travel Begins

2022-07-23Uncategorized Standard

[Photos taken 23 – 31 July 2022, posted online 11 March 2023. Daylight is staying noticeably longer, the sun is higher in the sky, but we’re also frozen solid = window-weather.]

Week two of vacation was swimming, jogging, preparing and then departing for our trip to the US, celebrating birthdays, and deciding to quit my job. So, relatively calm? (60-ish images total)

Saturday 23 July 2022

Vacation: Home Improvement Week

2022-07-16Us Standard

[Photos taken 16 – 22 July 2022, posted online 05 March 2023. This is the last above-freezing day for the foreseeable 10-day weather-forecast future!]

The first week of our four-week-long summer vacation was spent on improvement work.

I had decided I wanted to paint the living room, which is easier with fewer people around. Knowing that Finnur’s dad needed help building a deck at their summer house, Finnur and Emma transplanted themselves to Laugarvatn for a few days, before spending a couple of days at house #2.

Meanwhile, Anna and Bjarki kept working their gardening jobs, and I fought a near-bloody battle with shades of white, before focusing on electrical switches and socket outlets. (60-ish images)

Saturday 16 July 2022

Big kiddos, about to be fed fancy pizzas for dinner.

Summer-Vacation-2022 Count-Down

2022-07-01Friends, Hrefna's family, Us Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 15 July 2022, posted online 04 March 2023. We’ve had our first spring this past week, but there are frozen days ahead.]

After the mad-dash that was June, July was very low energy. I had to get through two weeks of work before starting my summer vacation, but was sadly not really enjoying work very much, so it was a pain. I therefore found myself working from cafes a lot, especially since I was often on the hook for driving Emma to her afternoon horse/art-&-animals camps.

Meanwhile, I tried to tackle a few long-standing home-improvement projects like getting a new sofa and chair, getting rid of the old furniture, prepping future paint-jobs, weeding, oiling wood, and making it out on the occasional jog.

Happily, we got a brand new nephew for a visit, and I managed to meet up with an old friend! We also did make it up to the summer house, but the biting midget-flies started coming out in droves, so staying there was a little anxiety inducing (60-ish images).

Friday 01 July 2022

July was big on home improvements. After months (years?) of searching for a new sofa, we finally agreed on one. I desperately wanted to change the layout of the living room, living in the same place and with the same layout for 11 years had begun chafing at me! Thus it was finally time to take down the Yule images that had lingered a little too long…

Horse-Camp, Laugarvatn, Birthday-Boy & Graduation Party #2

2022-06-24Finnur's family, Graduation, Laugarvatn, Us Standard

[Photos taken 24 – 30 June 2022, posted online 19 February 2023. Today is Emma’s second family birthday bash, and there’s a storm coming.]

Emma’s first two weeks at horse-camp came to a close with a ‘show’, where the kids paraded in a line, demonstrating speed and direction control. The following week saw the start of a new two-week camp.

We decided to visit Finnur’s parents at their summer house in Laugarvatn over the weekend, where Finnur helped his dad build yet another deck. Then Bjarki turned 15 years old, we had a celebratory dinner, and then a party with Finnur’s family where we also celebrated Anna’s graduation, as so many had been traveling when the actual graduation took place. (45-ish images total)