Strokkur, the mighty Geyser!

It was really great to be in Iceland. As a little girl dressed in Icelandic sweaters, I always wanted to go visit this mysterious land of ‘fire and ice.’ Here’s a pic of Strokkur, the geyser, shooting up. I think he put up a great show for us!

I went to Iceland in October of 2013. It was a lovely little getaway. I needed to clear my head and I decided to go to the Airwaves Festival, which I had been meaning to attend for a long time. I figured it would be a good time also to think about my book and hopefully get some ideas and words out on paper.

My trip was wonderful. I explored and enjoyed good music and tasty food. I also met up with an old dear friend. I went on a tour of the Golden Circle like a lot of tourists do. It was pretty windy on our trip but we got to see quite a bit. I had visited Iceland two times before but it was this trip that I enjoyed the most. It feels a lot like home in Vermont - just a different language and some fascinating, unearthly landscapes! The strangeness was compelling...

I was fascinated by magma, the hot, molten lava that comes out of the earth from a volcano. Also I discovered that Iceland has a surplus of geothermal energy in some areas like the city. In fact, it never has a shortage of energy. How amazing is that?  I also loved learning how Iceland lies at the strategic intersection between American and European tectonic plates. It was easy to picture battles and trade and understand better alliances forged between our two countries. It was also fabulous for dreaming up ideas! You can see some photos of my trip on Instagram.

Next time, I will have to visit Snæfellsjökull and ride a horse along the beach. I've seen pictures and it's a fun little adventure I imagine.

Planning for Reyjkavik trip

In 3 weeks, I will be heading over to Reykjavik. Going to the Airwaves festival, which I have wanted to attend for almost a decade. : ) Excited. It's been a while since I have been out of the country (4 years). The last time I was in Reyjkavik, I passed through on my way to Oxford (2004). It will be great to be back!

This time around I'd like to travel a bit more. It would be fabulous to catch a view of the northern lights. We've had some great nights in Vermont lately. Some photographers have captured it beautifully. The first time I saw the northern lights I didn't actually know that was what I was looking at. I was driving back home and had just passed Waitsfield in the central valley and it was pitch dark out. I was the only driver on the highway. I was reaching a bridge, one of the highway markers reminding me I'd made progress when I saw a faint glimmer of red.  I squinted and paid better attention to my driving. A few minutes later, the right side of the sky started to glow brighter and brighter red with white and slightly yellow. It was spectacular. It throbbed, cavorted and danced away.