Christmas Part 1

My mom and Andrew came out for Christmas in Colorado this year! This is only the 2nd time ever we have not travelled at Christmas-- the first was when I was 8 months pregnant with Logan. It sure is nice to have everyone come to us, although I did miss Christmas Eve at Aunt Susie's.  We tried to re-create it by making the Italian dinner (which was pretty successful after a few calls to Susie for eggplant instructions).  The Singers and Burmans joined us, carrying on the tradition of having Christmas Eve with friends. 

Grandma Z arrives!  Grandma and Logan (lured in by blueberries)

Uncle Andrew and Logan on the slide. The twisty slide was maybe not the best choice for a tall guy recovering from back surgery, but Logan sure loved it.

Logan and his friend Andrew at the Christmas parade in Golden.  A glimpse into what its like to have two.  Except Andrew is the most mellow easy kid you'll ever meet, so its probably actually harder than this.

Watching the Christmas parade.  There was lots of candy and lots of animals in the parade to keep the boys entertained.

Logan & Auntie Kenny on Christmas Eve

The Zimmerman kids

Mom, Logan, & Kenny

Kenny, Logan, Andrew

Mark, Logan, Ginny.  And the easter bucket.  Wrong holiday, Logan.

Stockings hung by the chimney with care

Reading books on Christmas Eve with Mark & Ayla.  I didn't manage to get a picture of Katrien and Xander or Kari & Bill.  They were there too!

Not to be left out... Logan and me.

Family pic

Grandpa Z reading the Night Before Christmas from the self-record book.  Logan was excited to hear Grandpa Z but not so sure why we would let this Santa guy sneak into our house in the middle of the night.

Christmas morning!  Logan only got through two presents, the train table and the treasured Dora car.  He was totally satisfied so we just put the rest away for birthday/ baby present/ next Christmas. 

Looking cool in new stocking stuffer sunglasses

Logan discovers his new train table.  Took Santa & his helper 2 hours to put this together.

Pretty pleased with the whole thing

Logan was also very into the candy in his stocking.  He ate several chocolate Santas and 2 candy canes and then later we realized why you don't give kids a bunch of candy at 7am.

We spent Christmas day skating at the lake and playing with our new toys before heading to Kenny's for dinner. 

Christmas dinner at Kenny's

Logan instructing Ginny on how to download apps on the new iPad.  He must have downloaded about 20.  They were mostly free, but I just got a receipt for one he *purchased*.  Fortunately it was only 99 cents.  This time.

Playing patty cake under the dinner table with Grandma

Janie came up from Colorado Springs to visit the day after Christmas, and gave Logan a roller suitcase which he loves.  He promptly filled it with his trains, and even tried to sneak Kenny's iPad in there when it was time to go home.

Thanks for making the trip out, Mom & Andrew!  We had a great Christmas.

ABCs

Santa

Logan went to meet Santa today. I wasn't too optimistic about this going well, but we prepared by looking at pictures of Santa on the iPad and talking about what Logan wanted to ask Santa for. His list: lollipop, candy bar, blueberries, and an app. We went to the bookstore in town. It was nice because Logan could run around and play with toys and books and pet the resident cat while we waited. The downside was that this Santa spent 10 minutes with every child and we had to wait forever. When it was finally our turn, Logan surprised me by not throwing his typical "I don't like it, I don't like it" fit. Santa charmed him with his sleigh bells and by letting him draw with a pen in his book that all the kids sign. Logan isn't really allowed to use pens, and definitely isn't allowed to draw in books, so I guess this was an offer too good to pass up.

Logan sizing up Santa

Santa one him over by letting him draw with a pen in a book

1 year 11 months

At one month shy of two, Logan is starting to watch TV programs.  Finally!  I thought the day would never come.  (I know TV is awful and all, but its a pretty great babysitter too.  And I'm pretty sure he learns stuff from some of the programs.)  Logan's favorite is Super Why, especially the theme song.  We have to rewind to listen to it over and over, and now Mark goes around singing it all day.  Its a pretty nerdy show-- about super heroes who's powers are spelling, reading, alphabet, and words.  Like father (and mother) like son, I guess.  There's a part where all the super heroes introduce themselves, and then turn to the viewer and ask them to say their name.  Logan always hides as I shout "Logan!," as if he's too shy to have the TV characters know his name.  Either that or he's just already embarassed over his dorky mom.   He also likes the part on PBS Kids where they show a birthday cake and the letters "happy birthday" turn into cupcakes, ice cream cones, and lollipops.  He runs up to the TV and pretends to eat them. 

Logan has started to surprise me by knowing things I did not teach him, and telling me about  his day (although I can never really be sure its really what happened).  He has a buddy his age at daycare named Devon.  They do not leave eachother's side all day long.  They also fight all day long.  It continues when Logan comes home (even though Devon is not here).  As he's playing by himself, I hear "Go way Dev!"  "My car!  Mine!" 

Logan has started the Mom, look!  Mom, watch this!  thing.  Over and over as he does the same thing again and again. 


The funniest thing Logan said this month was while I was changing his diaper, and Mark came in to hold Logan down as he was thrashing around.  Logan turned to Mark and said "Go watch TV." 

Iceland Part III: Return of the Vikings

Raise your hand if you're sick of reading about Iceland!  I won't blame you if you just scroll down to look at the pictures.

Sunrise in Kirklubaejarklaustur

Day three started in Kirkjubaejarklaustur with a couple of quick stops on the way out of town to look at some promising rock formations.  The volcanic tuff-lined Fladrargljufur gorge had some beautiful towers and buttresses. 

Kirkjugolf: The sheered off basalt column "floor" of Kirkjugolf

The wind was raging all day, and it really showed how fickle the weather is in Iceland.  The wind made the differnce between T-shirt climbing in the sun, to completely unbearable even in a hooded puffy, and it went form to the other almost instantly.  The penetrating chill kept us in the car almost the entire day, but we were able to find a few sheltered spots to enjoy the amazing scenery.

Fladrargljufur

We also got a chance to inspect a herd of Icelandic sheep up close along the drive.  These sheep are considered the most pure breed in the world, and their wool is one of Iceland's key exports.  Everywhere you go wool sweaters, gloves and hats are for sale, but a regular wool sweater will set you back $180!  The sheep are really fun to watch, with a hilarious waddle-like gate and enormous fluffy coats of wool.

The next major destination was the coastal town of Vik and the nearby Dyrholaey sea arch.  I've seen quite a few sea arches around the globe and this was easily the most massive I've ever seen.  You could sail a decent sized ship under the thing, and that is in fact one of the primary industries in Vik (shuttling tourists under the arch).  That isn't really our kind of thing so we admired the arch from the lookout.

The massive Dyrholaey ("Hole in the Door") sea arch

The day before while browsing in a gift shop I saw a postcard that showed a promising escarpment of basalt columns on a black sand beach with the arch behind.  I made a point to find this beach and explore the climbing potential.  I either failed to find the correct beach, or the postcard was heavily photo-shopped, because I never found the idyllic view pictured in the post card, but I did find a beautiful sheltered cove of impeccable basalt. 

Bouldering near Dyrholaey, with the arch behind

Next on the agenda was a pair of outstanding waterfalls famous waterfalls.  It was pretty amazing how much the landscape had changed in only 24 hours.  When we blew by these falls the day before they were falling straight down and surrounded by lush green moss.  Now they were falling sideways and all everything was plastered with ice for 50 yards in every direction.

Skogafoss

Skogafoss was the first and we stopped in the gift shop for lunch where I enjoyed the most hilarious "sandwich" I've ever had.  This feat consisted of two slices of white bread with a single slice of lamb, literally 1/16" thick.  It was actually really tasty thanks to a healthy serving of honey mustard but I'm skeptical of its nutritional value.  We were beginning to get the feeling we may not see the Northern Lights on this trip so we took some photos of the dramatic posters in the gift shop just in case.

Seljalandfoss

After a brief and bone-chilling stop at the dramatic Seljalandfoss we continued on to Hveragerdi to search for some of the delicious pastries we had heard about and check out the nearby Reykjadalir geothermal site.  There was an impressively large boiling mud pit and a convenient "hot pot" that wasn't really warm enough to compensate for the incessant wind.

Smoldering craters at Reykjadalir

We headed to Reykjavik to finally check out some of the city sights, get some dinner and hopefully some rest before heading out again in search of the Aurora Borealis.  Reykjavik was quite "quaint" for a capital city, and has some interesting architecture.  The best way to describe the urban areas is "punk", with lots of graffiti and murals coating the alleyways.  The centerpiece of town is the Hallsgrimkirkja church, situated at the top of the hills, with streets plunging steeply down the hill in every direction like a miniature San Fransisco.

Leif Erickson statue in front Hallsgrimkirkja.  In 1930 this statue was given to the people
of Iceland by the US on the 1000th anniversy of the first Althing

After dinner we returned to our hotel to get some rest and finalize our plans for Northern Lights hunting.  We planned to head out around 8pm and head straight east.  We initally stopped about 20 miles east of Reykjavik, and there were some faint glows on the horizon that gave us hope, but it was clear we were still too close to the city, so we continued east towards Thingvellir National Park. 

Reykjavik

We headed east on Highway 1 for nearly an hour, then turned north towards the park.  Almost as soon as we were clear of the lights of Selfoss we began to see the characteristic green streaks...

Northern Lights

You need a tripod and a camera that does long exposures to shoot the Northern Lights

We stayed until the lights began to fade and then slowly made our way back to Reykjavik, stopping from time to time to get another look.  We arrived just before midnight exhausted but satisfied. 

These are all 15 second exposure with heavy post-editing.  Longer exposures
would be better, but that is the most my camera would do.

By day number four we were pretty much tapped out as far as tourism was considered, so we headed a bit north of town for a nice scenic hike.  Next we headed to the Reykjanes Peninsula to explore the dramatic volcanic landscape and see a few sights on the way to the airport.  The peninsula has some tempting mountains that would be casual dayhikes.   

Gunnuhver geothermal area, with a nice lighthouse on the left.

We stopped at the Gunnuhver geothermal area which produced overwhelming amounts of steam and fueled a nearby geothermal energy plant.  The final stop was the "Bridge Between Two Continents", a cheesy metal footbridge that spans an exposed section of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

The comical Bridge Between Two Continents, a monument to Industrial Tourism

The airport experience was typical, with a fun diversion at the duty-free shop attempting to calculate the maximum amount of cholcolate and alcohol we could get with our few remaining Krona.  It was an exhausting trip, but completely amazing, and I would recommend it to anyone, but I might suggest  visiting in the summer ;)

Northeastern Canada from the plane.

Iceland Part II: Between the Start and the End

Day two started out slowly with use sleeping in till 9am. We slept 12 straight hours, probably for the first time since Logan was born.  It was perhaps the highlight of the trip.  This was going to be a big day.  There are a number of worthy sites in the southeastern quadrant of Iceland, so we were going to try to drive as far east along Highway 1 as we could get before sunset.  Originally the plan was to secure lodging wherever we would up, but we the latest forecast forced a change in plans. 

Sunrise just east of Reykjavik

The ability to see the Northern Lights hinges primarily on two factors, cloud cover and auroral activity.  The latter is hard to predict (although NASA's NPOES satellite provides near-real-time data that can be used to make dubious predictions).  As for the former, Iceland's weather service provides detailed cloud cover predictions in 3-hour increments.  Obsessive analysis of these predictions told us we needed to spend the night in Kirkjubaejarklaustur, about 150Km west of our day's eastern turn-around point, so we would be much more hurried than we wanted.

Reykjadalir Geothermal Area.  We soaked in some hot springs here on the return trip.

The upside to our late start was that we could final enjoy the landscape around Reykjavik, which we had only previously experienced in darkness.  The landscape in Iceland is stark, or perhaps even bleak at times, but it is always interesting.  Hwy 1 winds and twists through rolling hills, and you are never more than a few minutes from a beautiful waterfall, striking rock formation, sparkling glacier.

Mt Eljafjalajokul from Highway 1.  This is the volcano that erupted in the Spring of 2010,
causing weeks of mayhem for European air travel.

We passed a number of amazing waterfalls (more to come on this) and glaciers.  The highlight of the drive for me was an amazing rhyolite rock arch I spotted along the highway just east of Kalfafell. 

Kalfafell Arch.  This thing is huge, probably 50 feet or more at the apex.

After Kalfafell comes the enormous Skeidararsandur, which is basically an enormous (20 mile wide) sand flat covered by a spaghetti web of rivers delivering Vatnijokull's runoff to the sea.  The sand in Iceland is all black, and its an unreal setting, with visibility for miles and miles.  The amazing thing about the glaciers to me is how accessible they are.  I've spent plenty of time on some big glaciers and ice caps in Alaska and Canada, but it always seems like it takes a mini-expedition just to get to them.  The glaciers in Iceland are everywhere, and its eerie to drive along a busy highway, passing almost suburban neighborhoods, with enormous seas of ice in the background.

Rainbow in Myrdalsanddur

The first objective for the day was Skaftafell National Park, gateway to the mind-boggling Vatnijokull ('Water Glacier').  The term "sea of ice" gets bandied about, but this thing is bigger than the state of Delaware, and its omnipresent to anyone traveling in this part of Iceland.  Its more visible than the nearby ocean, and almost seems bigger.

Kate & I at Svartifoss.  In 1000AD when the Althing decided the country would become Christian, the "Law Giver" (basically the Prime Minister) threw all of his pagan idols over these falls!

There's a lot to see in Skaftafell, but at the top of our list was the remarkable Svartifoss ("black falls") and the turf house village of Sel.  If we had time, we were also hoping to set foot on Vatnijokull for no particular reason.  The hike to Svartifoss was nice; our first real exercise in several days, and provide gobsmacking views of the nearby glacier tongues.  Sel was completely unspoiled, and all the doors were open allowing use to poke in and out of the houses and underground stables.  The barren landscape provided a real appreciation for the courage and perseverance of the early Viking settlers.

Kate admiring the view at Sel

We jogged the short path to the glacier, and had a fun time routefinding through the gnarled moraine to reach the ice.  I was champing at the bit to get to Hnappavellir, Iceland's premier rock climbing destination, so we snapped a couple pics and headed back to the car.

On the way to Skaftafellsjokull, one of Vatnijokull's many glacier tongues.

It was a bit of an adventure getting to the cliff.  The most pressing problem was the swampy nature of the surrounding fields.  You could see countless puddles glistening in the sun, and was not looking forward to driving down the sketchy, soaked mud roads that lead to the crag.  Fortunately the west end of the cliff is near an old air strip, which has a nice gravel road we could take to get within a 100 damp yards of the cliffline.

The Hnappavellir cliff.  The highest peak in Iceland (2110m) is partly visible behind the cliff

The first crux was to leap across the narrow creek, then we had to hop across the marshy field.  I devised a clever scheme to leap between raised tufts of grass, which resulted in totally soaking both of my feet.  Fortunately this particular cliff sector sits up on a small rise so the ground under the routes was dry. 

Kate negotiating swampy terrain to reach the crag.

I started on a brilliant 5.11, which started on a slight overhanging up amazing, hidden, sculpted water pocket jugs.  The climbing was super fun with gymnastic long reaches and heel hooks between huge jugs.

Climbing at Hnappavellir

We still had one major objective another 50km down the road, so with light snow falling we packed it in.  I would have loved to climb more at this intriguing place, but we were clearly here in the wrong season, and we didn't really have the time to stay longer anyway.  I hope to have an oportunity to return here (in the summer!) some day.

A crazy rock arch on the way to Jokulsarlon

"Jokulsarlon" translates to Glacier Lagoon, and this is one of the coolest spots in Iceland.  Its a small lake situated at the toe of the Breidamerkur glacier tongue, with a short river at the south end flowing a few hundred yards directly into the Atlantic Ocean.  The lake is full of beautiful sculpted icebergs, and we were fortunate to arrive just before sunset.

Jokulsarlon

My favorite part of Jokulsarlon was watching the icebergs flow into the ocean.  It really brought home the "tip of the iceberg" metaphor, as seeming small blocks of ice would constantly high-center on the river bed, creating temporary heaving ice dams.  When the bigger swells hit the ice blocks would break free and continue their journey to the sea. 

Sculpted ice blocks on the beach

The nearby beach was littered with ice blocks of all sizes, creating some outstanding photo opportunities.  I convinced Kate to stand on one of the flat icebergs nearest the waterline so that it would look like she was in the ocean when the next wave came in.  This worked out a little too well as the next wave was a doozy, and it looked for a while like she would have to wad through the icy sea to get back.

Kate standing on an iceberg!

Next we headed to our hotel in Kirkjabaejarklaustur.  Long story short, we stayed up for hours and never saw the Northern Lights (though we did see some amazing stars).  It was completely clear, and we could see a really faint glow to the northeast, but that was it.  According to NASA if we had been about 100 miles further north it would have been brilliant.  We had one night left to accomplish our primary goal.  Would we be so lucky??  Tune in next week to find out! 

Sunset over Jokulsarlon