On May 2nd, I went to a ranch with Icelandic goats living on it! The very nice women who runs it, Jóhanna, talked to my family and me a lot about how she runs it. A lot like the goat farm in Gunnison, she rents goats out to people. They then come to her farm to help with the goats. This breed of goat was apparently brought over from Norway with the Vikings, and has been here ever since. My family and I came to the farm with another group of people, and everyone was very excited to see all of the goats, especially the baby goats! Jóhanna breeds most of her goats so that they have babies in the spring, but that means that she would have a lot of goats up there. So, instead, she makes soaps and ointments out of them. Thankfully, my parents drew the line at buying goat meat. Anyway, the baby goats were adorable! Some of them were so calm while others tried to eat your ears. While we were talking about the goats, Jóhanna informed us that she is the only farm in all of Iceland that has Icelandic goats in a particular brown color.
Once we were done seeing the baby goats (though I doubt that I would never get tired of seeing the baby goats), people started heading over to see the big boy goats. Most of them were really shy, but there were two that came right up to you. One of them was twelve years old and HUGE! His name was Prins. The other friendly guy was a yearly. He was super cute and my siblings and I could just walk up to and pet him. After we got tired of trying to pet the other bucks, my family and I bought our goods and left for Bifröst. Before we left, though, Jóhanna offered for me to come out and help her on her farm sometime if I want. I believe that I will take her up on her offer.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Birds of Iceland
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| This is a Whooper Swan at a big pond in Reykjavik. There are a lot of Malerd ducks in the pond, too. |
Some other birds that I have seen include the Eider duck and the White-tailed 'Sea' Eagle. Eider ducks make their nest with the down from their chests that is very soft. Eider duck hunters collect the down from the ducks' nest and sell the valuable feathers while the Eider ducks make a new nest. The White-tailed Eagle is an endangered species native to norther Europe. In Iceland, there are as few as 140to 200 birds in the Westfjórds (the 'claw', or piece that sticks up in the west of the island) and surrounding area. I was lucky enough to see four or five of these rare birds with my family in the spring.
Despite Iceland being known for its large puffin population, I have still not seen some puffins! My dad has, though, while he was out with his friend Alison. I am SO jealous! Here are the pictures,
Bless,
Alex : )
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Traveling Iceland
Hi again! Okay, this is the blog about when I was traveling around Iceland. On Saturday, my grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins, mom, dad, sister, brother and I all drove down to Reykjavik. We saw the church and horse parade, and we toured 871+/- 2. 871+/- 2 is a building in whose basement was found the ancient remains of a Viking long house. Saturday night we slept at a very nice guest house.
Sunday, we toured around the Reykjanes peninsula. There was a cliff that would have had puffins on it in the summer, but we were there too early in the year. Other than the cliffs, there was a very steamy mud field thingy. Basically, it was a wet field of mud with lot of steam pouring out. Apparently, there is a ghost that lives there. On the way, we stopped at the Blue Lagoon just to look at it. Also, there was a very interesting museum about a 30 second drive away from our guesthouse A boat, lighthouse, and indoor museum were all present on the very tip of the peninsula. Again, we stayed at the many-bedroom guest house.
Monday, we packed up and moved on farther east. Of course, swimming at the local pool was a must. This pool, translated, was 'Water World'. It definitely lived up to it's name. There was a playground structure designed for water, a seal and turtle that shot out water, and a mushroom with an area inside of it that kids could get in. There was also 'stair steps' of pools of water, and some buckets of water that occasionally tipped over and drenched the kids underneath. My cousins, siblings, and I all enjoyed playing there for about 45 minutes when it was time to go.
After our swimming fun, Misty (my aunt), my grandma, my mom, cousins, sister, brother, and I all took a shopping trip. We went to a gift store where I got a puffin stuffed animal. It's not four feet tall, though. Anyway, we couldn't really go anywhere quickly because there were nine of us and our car only held seven people. We did, in fact, make it to Hagkaup, which we did have to drive to in two rounds.
That night, we went to a new guest house. This guest house was enormous. It was like a mansion with really cool stuff in it, such as a zebra skin and fancy, matching couches. About eight chickens were full-time residents at the guest house. Tomorrow, we (the kids) would have a fantastic time with the chickens.
Tuesday morning came bright and early. Spencer and Kailey were up the earliest of everyone. Monday night, Joslyn, Spencer, Kailey, Stacia, and I had been awaiting the arrival of morning because then we got to go collect eggs. Finally, everyone was up so we could rush out and grab the eggs. The hen house had the nests by a wall with circular pieces of wood that came out to get the eggs. These were fairly high up, so only Stacia and I could reach into them, and then not even very well. In the end, we came up with about seven or eight eggs, not including the ones in the fridge collected before our arrival. Everyone, the adults and the kids, enjoyed a breakfast of eggs and different bread products.
The chickens lived up to their name. My companions and I (Joslyn, Spencer, Kailey, Stacia, and I) ran around after the chickens, sometimes yelling or barking. Our goal was to, of course, catch them, but we had a couple of unique ways to capture them. Our first genius idea was to herd them into a corner of the house's deck. Second, we tried simply chasing them. Neither of these thoughts worked out well, but we were able to draw some conclusions: A. The smaller rooster is very smart so separate the chickens from him to catch them, and B. the smaller chicken sticks to the rooster like glue (I think that she was his girlfriend or something). In the end, Spencer and I caught two chickens.
The same day, we all toured the Golden Circle. The Golden Circle consists of Geysir, Gullfoss, and þingvellir. First on our list was Gullfoss. All of the females spent an excessive amount of time in the gift shop, much to the annoyance of my uncle and grandfather. Geysir never goes off anymore, but it's neighbor, Strokkur, blows about every five to ten minutes. We did not venture into this gift shop. I have already visited þingvellir, but I still love to see the ancient mounds, staircases and continental drift. Back at home, we dropped my dad off at the house. My dad got really sick and couldn't walk from his bed to the bathroom, which was only about 15 feet away. Thankfully, he was more or less better in the morning.
Wednesday we packed up and moved on again. This time we moved into tiny, three room cabins in Vík. Emma and Pálmar, some of our friends, had told us about them because Emma's aunt owns and runs the farm where the cabins were and where we were staying. Today, we didn´t do much because we were moving where our 'home away from home' was.
Thursday, we split up. The Fritzes (my aunt, uncle, and cousin's last name is Fritz) and my grandparents all took a ferry out to the Westman Islands while my mom, dad, sister, brother, and I drove for two and a half hours to a glacial lagoon by a black sanded beach. It was a very beautiful area and there was a large colony of seals living there. We saw a lot of seals while on the beach. They were playing in the water very near the shore, so while Joslyn, Spencer, and I were waiting for the waves to come to run away from them, we saw the seals a lot. Then, we got back in the car and drove the two and a half hours back to the guest houses (I really think that it was more like three hours, not two and a half). That night, the Fritzes and my grandparents returned to the guest houses and we rejoined our little groups.
On Friday, we split up, again. This time, the Fritzes, my grandparents and my dad went to the glacial lagoon, and my mom, Joslyn, Spencer, and I stayed to 'help' with the horses. Basically, our help was riding some horses bareback down from the winter fields. Our friends, Emma, Pálmar, and Þorsteinn, were there, too. On the way out to the field, I go to ride in the back of the pick-up with Jakóbína. Then, Joslyn, Spencer, Þorsteinn, and I got on horses while another person lead the horse. Once on the horses with some one leading, the rest of the horses followed us while everyone else rode in the car back. 'Everone else' was Emma and my mom. After riding the horses down to the barn (which really wasn't that far away), we all rode on the horses around a small pen. Over all, there were probably 15 horses at the farm. Jakóbína demonstrated her amazing horse skills by standing up on a horse. After playing in the horse pen about half an hour, my sister, brother, mom and I went back to the cabins to relax a little.
Back at the cabins, we had lunch. The other companions on our journey still had not returned from the glacial lagoon. My mom, sister, brother, and I walked back to the farm and there four horses were saddled up for Jolyn, Spencer, Emma's aunt, and me. My siblings and I were all guided by Emma's aunt along the black beach each on our own individual horse. My horse was named after one of Odin's horses. Joslyn and my horses were always competing with each other to be in the lead, so we were always pulling way ahead of Emma's aunt with Spencer's horse tied to her saddle despite our attempts to slow down. We made a large loop going through the black beach, starting and ending at the farm. After my siblings and I went on the ride, my mom, Emma, Pálmar, and Þorsteinn accompanied Emma's aunt on the same trail that I had taken with my siblings. Because there were only four saddled horses, Þorsteinn rode with Emma on her horse.
Finally, at about five in the evening, the Fritzes, my grandparents, and my dad returned from the glacial lagoon. The wind had picked up by the time that my aunt, uncle, and cousins started their trip on the horses. As I said earlier, there were only four horses, so Kailey had to ride with Emma's aunt. Friday was my first time riding an Icelandic Horse.
Saturday came pretty early. It was the day when my family had to leave for Denver. We planned to make the most of that day, though. At about nine in the morning, we all left for Reykjavik. The drive took about two hours, but we made it to Reykjavik in time to go swimming. Only my aunt, cousins, siblings, my mom and I went swimming. The pool that we went to in Reykjavik had an indoor area that was connected to a larger outside section by a hole in the wall with water going through it. Once we finished swimming, all of us got a Popsicle before meeting up with everyone else to head to Keflevik. The Keflevik airport was the only stop on our trip there, and that is where we left my aunt, uncle, Kailey, Stacia, and grandparents. That night, my parents drove my siblings and me back to Bifrost.
Sunday, we toured around the Reykjanes peninsula. There was a cliff that would have had puffins on it in the summer, but we were there too early in the year. Other than the cliffs, there was a very steamy mud field thingy. Basically, it was a wet field of mud with lot of steam pouring out. Apparently, there is a ghost that lives there. On the way, we stopped at the Blue Lagoon just to look at it. Also, there was a very interesting museum about a 30 second drive away from our guesthouse A boat, lighthouse, and indoor museum were all present on the very tip of the peninsula. Again, we stayed at the many-bedroom guest house.
Monday, we packed up and moved on farther east. Of course, swimming at the local pool was a must. This pool, translated, was 'Water World'. It definitely lived up to it's name. There was a playground structure designed for water, a seal and turtle that shot out water, and a mushroom with an area inside of it that kids could get in. There was also 'stair steps' of pools of water, and some buckets of water that occasionally tipped over and drenched the kids underneath. My cousins, siblings, and I all enjoyed playing there for about 45 minutes when it was time to go.
After our swimming fun, Misty (my aunt), my grandma, my mom, cousins, sister, brother, and I all took a shopping trip. We went to a gift store where I got a puffin stuffed animal. It's not four feet tall, though. Anyway, we couldn't really go anywhere quickly because there were nine of us and our car only held seven people. We did, in fact, make it to Hagkaup, which we did have to drive to in two rounds.
That night, we went to a new guest house. This guest house was enormous. It was like a mansion with really cool stuff in it, such as a zebra skin and fancy, matching couches. About eight chickens were full-time residents at the guest house. Tomorrow, we (the kids) would have a fantastic time with the chickens.
Tuesday morning came bright and early. Spencer and Kailey were up the earliest of everyone. Monday night, Joslyn, Spencer, Kailey, Stacia, and I had been awaiting the arrival of morning because then we got to go collect eggs. Finally, everyone was up so we could rush out and grab the eggs. The hen house had the nests by a wall with circular pieces of wood that came out to get the eggs. These were fairly high up, so only Stacia and I could reach into them, and then not even very well. In the end, we came up with about seven or eight eggs, not including the ones in the fridge collected before our arrival. Everyone, the adults and the kids, enjoyed a breakfast of eggs and different bread products.
The chickens lived up to their name. My companions and I (Joslyn, Spencer, Kailey, Stacia, and I) ran around after the chickens, sometimes yelling or barking. Our goal was to, of course, catch them, but we had a couple of unique ways to capture them. Our first genius idea was to herd them into a corner of the house's deck. Second, we tried simply chasing them. Neither of these thoughts worked out well, but we were able to draw some conclusions: A. The smaller rooster is very smart so separate the chickens from him to catch them, and B. the smaller chicken sticks to the rooster like glue (I think that she was his girlfriend or something). In the end, Spencer and I caught two chickens.
The same day, we all toured the Golden Circle. The Golden Circle consists of Geysir, Gullfoss, and þingvellir. First on our list was Gullfoss. All of the females spent an excessive amount of time in the gift shop, much to the annoyance of my uncle and grandfather. Geysir never goes off anymore, but it's neighbor, Strokkur, blows about every five to ten minutes. We did not venture into this gift shop. I have already visited þingvellir, but I still love to see the ancient mounds, staircases and continental drift. Back at home, we dropped my dad off at the house. My dad got really sick and couldn't walk from his bed to the bathroom, which was only about 15 feet away. Thankfully, he was more or less better in the morning.
Wednesday we packed up and moved on again. This time we moved into tiny, three room cabins in Vík. Emma and Pálmar, some of our friends, had told us about them because Emma's aunt owns and runs the farm where the cabins were and where we were staying. Today, we didn´t do much because we were moving where our 'home away from home' was.
Thursday, we split up. The Fritzes (my aunt, uncle, and cousin's last name is Fritz) and my grandparents all took a ferry out to the Westman Islands while my mom, dad, sister, brother, and I drove for two and a half hours to a glacial lagoon by a black sanded beach. It was a very beautiful area and there was a large colony of seals living there. We saw a lot of seals while on the beach. They were playing in the water very near the shore, so while Joslyn, Spencer, and I were waiting for the waves to come to run away from them, we saw the seals a lot. Then, we got back in the car and drove the two and a half hours back to the guest houses (I really think that it was more like three hours, not two and a half). That night, the Fritzes and my grandparents returned to the guest houses and we rejoined our little groups.
On Friday, we split up, again. This time, the Fritzes, my grandparents and my dad went to the glacial lagoon, and my mom, Joslyn, Spencer, and I stayed to 'help' with the horses. Basically, our help was riding some horses bareback down from the winter fields. Our friends, Emma, Pálmar, and Þorsteinn, were there, too. On the way out to the field, I go to ride in the back of the pick-up with Jakóbína. Then, Joslyn, Spencer, Þorsteinn, and I got on horses while another person lead the horse. Once on the horses with some one leading, the rest of the horses followed us while everyone else rode in the car back. 'Everone else' was Emma and my mom. After riding the horses down to the barn (which really wasn't that far away), we all rode on the horses around a small pen. Over all, there were probably 15 horses at the farm. Jakóbína demonstrated her amazing horse skills by standing up on a horse. After playing in the horse pen about half an hour, my sister, brother, mom and I went back to the cabins to relax a little.
Back at the cabins, we had lunch. The other companions on our journey still had not returned from the glacial lagoon. My mom, sister, brother, and I walked back to the farm and there four horses were saddled up for Jolyn, Spencer, Emma's aunt, and me. My siblings and I were all guided by Emma's aunt along the black beach each on our own individual horse. My horse was named after one of Odin's horses. Joslyn and my horses were always competing with each other to be in the lead, so we were always pulling way ahead of Emma's aunt with Spencer's horse tied to her saddle despite our attempts to slow down. We made a large loop going through the black beach, starting and ending at the farm. After my siblings and I went on the ride, my mom, Emma, Pálmar, and Þorsteinn accompanied Emma's aunt on the same trail that I had taken with my siblings. Because there were only four saddled horses, Þorsteinn rode with Emma on her horse.
Finally, at about five in the evening, the Fritzes, my grandparents, and my dad returned from the glacial lagoon. The wind had picked up by the time that my aunt, uncle, and cousins started their trip on the horses. As I said earlier, there were only four horses, so Kailey had to ride with Emma's aunt. Friday was my first time riding an Icelandic Horse.
Saturday came pretty early. It was the day when my family had to leave for Denver. We planned to make the most of that day, though. At about nine in the morning, we all left for Reykjavik. The drive took about two hours, but we made it to Reykjavik in time to go swimming. Only my aunt, cousins, siblings, my mom and I went swimming. The pool that we went to in Reykjavik had an indoor area that was connected to a larger outside section by a hole in the wall with water going through it. Once we finished swimming, all of us got a Popsicle before meeting up with everyone else to head to Keflevik. The Keflevik airport was the only stop on our trip there, and that is where we left my aunt, uncle, Kailey, Stacia, and grandparents. That night, my parents drove my siblings and me back to Bifrost.
More Soon,
Alex : )
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