Iceland Day 6: Akureyri to Egilsstaðir

Goodbye Akureyri, little town of the north that I will spend more time in one day.

Hello Húsavík, cutest whaling village in the country and last view of the Arctic Ocean we would have. I bemoaned the fact that a boat trip would make me so seasick that I would not enjoy the rest of the day and settled for walking along the wharf instead.

This was the hottest afternoon (and by that I mean 59º which resulted in wearing a short sleeved shirt for a brief 30 minutes). 

An example of fancy housing in the neighborhood above the town center. Alas our brief stay in Húsavik did not feature a trip to this (just seeing if you are paying attention). Our time was limited as we were on a mission and it included the most powerful foss in all of Europe - Dettifoss!

The drive defined isolation as we charged through the basaltic terrain - dust trails followed the SUV for kilometers through a sparse landscape with little to no vegetation. Upon our arrival, there were no guard rails so I tested my limits on proximity to the edge.

 

This was the closest I dared despite my fear of heights. I still do not know if I was brave or foolish as all I primarily thought about was falling. I have never experienced a waterfall like this. It was so powerful that it vibrated the rocky surroundings. The sheer volume of the water was startling as the landscape driving to the source was nearly flat.

Donna is in the distance trying to decipher my unimaginative hand signals.

Here is where I touched the ice cold water thinking of standing over the top of Niagara Falls five years ago knowing that absolutely no one would survive the fall into this watery abyss. I was thankful we drove to this side as the view across the foss did not look as impressive. [Here is a decent link to see photographs from both perspectives.]

The pathway to the parking lot. Needless to say feeding wildlife is not a problem here.

We pulled off alongside the road after leaving the foss (this is a major thoroughfare) to document how crowded it was at the beginning of high tourist season.

I whipped out the binoculars to document my favorite tuya on the horizon:  Herðubreið.

There were few photographs taken of Egilsstaðir as we arrived late and were locked out of our hotel room due to the battery running out in the automatic key system. Here is a photograph of the dessert consumed for dinner instead. Passionfruit. Yum.

Iceland Day 1: Arrival

The mother of all road trips: the Ring Road. Clockwise. 3308 kilometers. June 2015. It was the beginning of high tourist season though what that meant was a frequent point of conversation. My cousin, Donna, and I spent 15 days wondering what Iceland could look like crowded. Thankfully, we never found out.

First view from the Keflavík International Airport en route to buy groceries in Reykjavík.

Fascinated by the aesthetics of baked goods though not one to eat them often, I found the muffins borderline appalling.

Lunch in the grocery store parking lot. Peas imported from Ireland.

Five hours sleep in 48 hours and a 13 hour layover at JKF does not bode well for starting off in an energetic fashion. We did not visit Hvalfjördur out of sheer exhaustion, opting instead to rest by both of the Akranes lighthouses in the late afternoon sun. 

The side view mirror was also used to capture piles of drying salt at the peninsula. This was one of the warmest afternoons as I was only wearing two layers rather than the typical three. First locational comparison: an industrial Maine coastal town with 1/16 the population.

After dinner at the Settlement Center of Iceland, we drove inland to our funny hotel on the Grimsa River. "Funny" is used as a description because of the abundance of trolls (for better or for worse - more so the latter).

The Fossatún Hotel view from outside our room at 11 PM. Like most people who have never experienced 24 hours of daylight, I was constantly observing the quality of light at all times of day. The grays, the blues, the sun hanging over the horizon eons longer than normal before it sank into the sea, were all noted. Birds never ceased singing. Light never stopped entering the cracks in the curtains though this hotel would prove to be the darkest of all that followed. We would miss this the rest of our journey.

Second locational comparison: parts of Southern Idaho after a snow melt. Legend has it that there are piles of gold under the grass mounds. We did not find any but loved to look at the clumpy formations up close and from afar while speeding by in the SUV.

The Fossatún Hotel offered many photographic opportunities excluding stone sculptures of trolls. Above, I was channeling my inner Peter Happel Christian by documenting a rock holding down a grate.

I returned to this cabin multiple times trying to capture its odd shape in the landscape, never fully succeeding.

A hobbit house with grass resembling long hair. It was with this photograph, taken shortly before midnight, that I realized I was not near anything I had ever known. It was not the subject matter per se, but fully understanding how far north I was... traveling near the Arctic Circle in June. The abundance of light made the distance greater.

10 AM through the window of the hotel room the next morning (it looks a lot like midnight). After much needed sleep, we would venture further inland to visit countless waterfalls (hereby known as foss) and the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.

Iceland would come to represent my desire to visit the edges of the earth, the point where all roads end, where the sea is the final barrier. The entire country defined the edge and I, trying desperately to hide my fear of heights, would peer out into this volatile space, day after day in wonder.

4 Years Today

Photograph from the Madonna Inn (more pink coming soon)

Four years ago today, this blog was born. 2014 was the first time I thought about letting it go because I was concentrating more on making artwork rather than discussing and documenting it. Also, it was a difficult year and perhaps I am letting that taint my productivity in posting more than it should. In any case, I will try for year five. I hope to finish my water and artist stalking series soon. Another trip abroad may be in the near future as well as an earthworks road trip redux. I am excited about all of this and will try to channel that here more so than I have in the past six months.

A magnificent cake in Lieko Shiga's "Album/Rasen Kaigan"

Lieko Shiga, From Album/Rasen Kaigan

and while we are at it, here's a globe:

Lieko Shiga, From Album/Rasen Kaigan

Telecake News

I found this photograph in Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel and couldn't help but laugh. It was source material for their billboard research. It also serves as a reminder how much cakes have changed since 1972 (technology too).

Year Three

Somehow this blog marks its third birthday today. To celebrate, some of my favorite found photographs via (this book that keeps on giving) featuring Edward and his birthday cake.

Christmas 2013

Anonymous, 1940s

Anonymous, Hollywood, Florida, 1937

Joel Meyerowitz, Christmas, Kennedy Airport, 1967

Anonymous Cake Photographs from "The Art of the American Snapshot"

Images scanned from here.

This made my day...

Lots of great postcards arrived in my post office box this week (my refrigerator is the fullest it has ever been!). This submission by Maria Daniela Quirós made my day:

Nothing like feeling compelled to kick it up a notch next time around.

Opening Reception at Stutz Gallery

It was difficult to discern which was my favorite one. Perhaps it was the slice (which was real) but the rest of the cake was styrofoam. I could be jaded because it is also associated with my favorite photograph in the series. In any case, we should have made more chocolate.

Thanks to Natalie for working overtime on baking all of these!