Iceland May-June 2018, Part 3 - North Iceland and Travel Notes

Jurassic dinosaur or Killer Whale?

How big is a Blue Whale? (historical photo)

 We headed north to Hvammstangi and toured the Seal Museum and saw several waterfalls at Kolugljufur Canyon. In Siglufjordur, we toured the award-winning Herring Museum. This town was the primary port for herring processing in Iceland between 1903 and 1968, but due to over-fishing, no herring are currently fished. In Akureyri, we camped next to a preserve that had lots of hiking. We also walked through the town’s botanical gardens, which were pretty amazing that close to the Arctic Circle. In Husavik, we had the best Fish & Chips that we have ever tasted. We also explored their outstanding Whale Museum, with a full-size skeleton of a Blue Whale.

Don meets the locals

The Rock People

Asbyrgi Cliffs

Our last major destination was Jokulsargljufur (canyon of the glacier river Jokulsa) National Park. We started at the northern entrance, Asbyrgi, where a catastrophic glacier flood carved out a canyon with 300-foot vertical walls. We hiked here a couple days before taking on the very challenging dirt road to Dettifoss. On the way we stopped to see the bizarre shapes and twists of basalt columns and a horseshoe shaped waterfall. We finally reached Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe. Just a little further upstream was another pretty waterfall, Selfoss. From here, we started our trip back to the airport.

Jokulsargljufur Canyon

Golden Plover

Slavonian Grebe

We camped at Myvatn Lake and were greeted by thousands of black flies! The next morning, gale force winds made the little buggers disappear. We also got a text message from the rental company telling us that we should not be driving in such high winds. That’s when we figured they were tracking us. I guess they didn’t know we had two days to drive half way around Iceland. So, we really had no choice but to start knocking out the kilometers. We stopped at Godafoss again and were surprised to see a much higher water level than we had experienced three weeks previously. We missed Glumbaer Folk Museum on the way out, so we stopped and toured a large sod house. Back at Touring cars, we returned our RV – no problems - and headed for the airport. This time we flew Iceland Air and had a much more enjoyable flight back to Halifax. 

Godafoss

Sod House

Inside a Sod House

Travel notes on Iceland

STOP, don’t pack your bags yet. Regardless of how you travel in Iceland, (short of hitchhiking) you will find it very expensive. As a general rule expect everything to be at least double what you would normally pay for it. Gas or diesel was three times more. Laundry was about seven times more expensive. We did have some good weather in Iceland, that is when we took most of our pictures. But the weather changes quickly, except for the wind, which can blow hard for days in a row.

Icelandic Horses

July and August are the peak travel months in Iceland and that was reason enough for us to avoid that time period. June was crowded enough for us. Our old 1996 travel guide said, “Iceland has still to be discovered as a tourist island”. In 2001, we did a three-day layover in Iceland on our way to Scotland.  Now Iceland hosts five times their population each year. They are trying to improve their roads and facilities, but they just can’t keep pace with the increasing hordes of tourists. This is especially true in their campgrounds. 

Almost Heaven, North Iceland

Most of the wild flowers bloom in June and everything else is green, where vegetation exists. We did have problems with black flies around Myvatn Lake, but by July the black flies are more wide spread. Most of the days in June were cool (40-50 F) and windy. But when it was nice, it was beautiful.

This ship sailed to America and back

We spent a full month in Iceland, a 10-day cruise and 22-day RV rental, and we didn’t see it all. For most people, a layover (up to 7 nights free from Iceland Air) of 3 nights is enough to see Reykjavik, take a Golden Circle Tour and soak at the Blue Lagoon. If you love it, then plan a longer trip and be sure to include North Iceland. If you have the time and money, the ProCruise’s Ocean Diamond was an easy way to see lots of Iceland in a short period. OK, now you can pack!

Dec 2017 - May 2018 East Coast

Pat after back surgery

Pat finally got the back surgery she needed. It was a painful 4 days in the hospital, but she is doing well now and glad she went under the knife. We stayed in the RV while Pat recovered, since everything was on one level. But later in the month a long cold spell hit and the waste tanks discharge lines froze solid. The temps never got above freezing for 10 days. This forced us to move out of the RV. We moved in with Julie and Tom, fortunately by then Pat was able to do steps. Even with a heat tape wrap, it was twelve days before we could free up the drain lines and dump the waste tanks.

Don's Family at Christmas

Jenn and Patrick

We did a side trip to Philly and visited Jenn and Patrick, Floyd and Lauren and Yanjin’s family. Pat had cataract surgery on both eyes over a two-week period. This improved her vision so much she only needs readers now. With all the surgeries and follow up out of the way, we headed south. We spent a few days on Jekyll Island in GA before heading into FL. Our RV problems started to accumulate faster than we could fix them. We had problems with our levelers, the charging system for the RV batteries, but the most annoying problem was the door to the RV was stuck in the closed position and we had to go in and out through the cab. Getting RV work done in Florida in the winter is nearly impossible. It took a month before we got all these issues resolved.

Whitehall*

Julie, Sue. Pat, and Don*

We spent a week at our timeshare on the beach in Jupiter. Julie, Tom, Susan and Windsor rented a unit near us and we had a good week exploring and hiking. We all went to Art Fest and then to Palm Beach to tour Whitehall, the former home of Henry Flagler. Henry was critical to the development of Florida, among his other achievements.  After Jupiter, we visited with Randy for a couple days before heading to Ft. Lauderdale. We visited with my Aunt Bernie for four days. We really enjoyed the time we spent with her. Less than 2 weeks after we left, she suffered a stroke, and passed a few days later. Such a kind and gentle lady, we will miss her dearly.

My Aunt Bernie

Ibis*

Minnihaha Falls

Trillium

Glen Falls

On the Gulf side, we toured the local beaches with Jean and Gordon, before heading up to a timeshare in the mountains of GA. I managed to tear the meniscus on my left knee while hiking. We moved on to Boone, NC for another week in a timeshare, then we spent a few days working on our property in Lewisburg, WV. We were camped next to the Greenbrier River and watched it rise from a peaceful river to a raging torrent as it rose 10 feet and threaten to flood our campsite due to 3 days of rain. We stayed with Shirley and Bill on our way back to MD where we had lots of doctor visits to catch up on.

Greenbrier River in flood

We visited with many of our friends and family in the area, before starting our 6-month trip north. In York, we met the newest member of the Topper family, Lilly, a companion dog for Sadie. We spent a week at a timeshare in NH getting ready for our trip to Iceland, Newfoundland and Atlantic Canada. We have been chasing Spring north, from GA to ME. In addition to enjoying the black flies from PA to ME, we also caught the first flowers of Spring, and some interesting wildlife. In northern PA, we were excited to see our first wolverine (it was not Hugh Jackman). In NH we saw a family of four black bears. Sorry, they didn’t stop for pictures. 

Crawford Notch, NH

You are probably asking yourself, are we full time RVers or full time timesharers? A timeshare is a nice break from an RV, plus it’s cheaper than paying camping fees! Our next blog will cover our month in Iceland. Do something fun this summer and share it with us.

* Photos by Tom Gingrich

Aug - Nov 2017 MD, TN, MI, MA, VT

Total Eclipse in TN

One of the Twin Arches in Big South Fork, TN

We had our new RV for almost a year and a half, but had not taken it very far. Now that Pat was free to travel, we planned a trip to see the total solar eclipse and then up to Isle Royale NP in MI. We spent the first night with Shirley and Bill on our trip to Marysville, TN. We saw the total eclipse, fortunately, we didn’t have the crowds or traffic some locations experienced. It was very hot, so we returned to our campground and soaked in their pool. On our way north, we camped at Big South Fork NRA in TN and Natural Bridge SP in KY. Both areas had some outstanding rock arches. In Cincinnati, we visited the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Here we had the virtual reality experience of being Rosa Parks and being asked to move to the back of the bus. 

The bus that made Rosa Parks famous

Before we had a car, we avoided big cities due to the difficulty of parking and maneuvering an RV in the city. Now we could leave the RV at the campground and take our Honda into the city. We camped outside Detroit. From here Pat had to fly back to MD to see her doctor for a follow-up on her hand surgery. After she returned we went to the Ford Museum. Henry Ford started an amazing collection of historical artifacts in addition to all the cars in the museum. The purpose of the museum was to ”…show the actual development of American Industry...”  In the Detroit area, we visited the many attractions of Belle Island and took an architectural tour of the beautiful Graham Building and a historic tour of the Picquette Plant, where the Model T was first built. We also toured Ford’s Greenfield Village, where in seven historic districts he showcased American traditions, ingenuity and resourcefulness.

1909 Ford Model T Touring

Miners Castle, Pictured Rocks NL

We left Detroit and went to the Phoenix Cruiser factory where we had some warranty work performed. From here we drove north through MI to the Mackinac Bridge. One lane of the bridge was closed for an antique tractor parade. We almost felt we were part of the parade as we drove alongside the tractors. We drove to Pictured Rock National Lakeshore and hiked to many of the waterfalls in the park. We left our RV in Copper Harbor and took a boat to Isle Royale NP. I had Isle Royale on my Bucket List for about 20 years. It’s a very isolated park, surrounded by Lake Superior. It’s not an easy place to visit - you need transportation reservation and good timing to see this unique park. We were there the last week of the season. We did canoeing and hiking on the island and took boat trips to interesting places in the park. The boat trip from Copper Harbor had been pretty rough but the return trip was even rougher. Later I found out that the locals refer to that 100-foot passenger ferry as the “barf barge”.

Canoeing Tobin Harbor, Isle Royale NP

Rock Harbor Lighthouse, Isle Royale NP

Bond Falls, UP

Hawk in our campground 

Back on the mainland, we decided to concentrate on touring the Upper Peninsula (UP) of MI. The UP is known for its copper and iron deposits and for having 199 of the 200 waterfalls in the State of Michigan. We did an underground tour at the Quincy Mine (copper) and saw many waterfalls on our way down to the Porcupine Mts. SP. We spent most nights in state parks and explored from there. We worked our way over to Van Riper SP which was near where 30+ moose were relocated from Canada to the McCormick Wilderness Area. We hiked into the wilderness area, but found some of the trails under a foot of water, great for moose, not so great for hiking! Despite this, no moose rewarded our efforts. 

Helen Lake, Sylvania Wilderness Area

Agate Falls

Our car with rental canoe

Rare October Harvest Moon, over Lake Superior

Fall colors reflected in Ford's Alberta Pond

Upper Tahquamenon Falls

We found Marquette to be a good base for exploring many scenic areas like Presque Isle and Little Presque Isle. At Fayette SP we toured the historic iron processing town site. All the parks were closing on or before Oct 15, even though the temps were 6 degrees above normal. We had to see Tahquamenon Falls and the Shipwreck Museum before we left the UP. On our way south, we went back to Detroit to see the Detroit Zoo. Their $30 M Polk Penguin Conservation Center is as close as anyone has come in bringing the Antarctic experience to the city. It has a 4-D, 360-degree entry experience based on Shackleton’s crossing of the Drake Passage. 

Polk Penguin Center, Detroit Zoo

We drove to York, PA in time to celebrate Rob (Rick’s brother) birthday. Pat had appointments with two back surgeons, she picked one and scheduled surgery on Dec 6. With a couple of weeks to kill, we decided to spend a week in the Berkshires in MA and a second week in Wilmington, VT. We left the RV in a campground in Woodbine, MD and stayed in timeshares. The week in the Berkshires was cold, but otherwise nice and we went hiking every day. We went to the American Museum of Tort Law in Winsted CT - it was more interesting than it sounds! In VT, the weather turned wetter and windy. We had our first snowfall of the season. We went to a few art museums on days too nasty for hiking. We had Thanksgiving dinner at a nice restaurant.

Great Gray Shark Attack in VT

Jan- Aug 2017 MD to British Columbia

Neptune and friends guarding Va Beach

After we returned from Antarctica we settled in at Tom and Julies. Pat was back to driving to Asbury, almost every day, to attend to Bob’s needs and provide companionship. In late Jan. Pat’s dad was put in the hospital and later released to the nursing care unit at Sprenkle. When Pat needed a break, we traveled to Hilton Head and Va. Beach. 

Old Glory still flying over Fort McHenry

Camping in the snow in York, PA

When we returned, we helped move Bob’s stuff to an adjacent building that could provide nursing care. It took two more moves before we got him back in a private room.   With warmer temperatures in Feb, we felt we could safely move back into our RV in March. Of course, March turned out be worse than Feb, and we got snowed in while camping in York, PA. Pat’s father’s decline accelerated in mid-March and he passed away a few days later. A week earlier, Pat brought her father’s two sisters up to see him. He was delighted to see them; it was his last good day.

Nelson with his sisters Anne and Janice

Pat had foot surgery, her first of three surgeries this year. Pat had been using Bob’s car to run back and forth to see him, but due to various problems, we realized we needed to get our own car. Except for rentals, we had been without a car for about 10 years. We bought a 2014 Honda CRV which we could tow behind the RV. We would find out later how this would significantly change our future travels. Our friend Cornelia flew in from WA to see DC and the cherry blossoms and we spent some time with her. Unfortunately, the cherry blossoms were several weeks early this year.

Island Lake, Fernie, BC

In April, we moved to Little Bennett Regional Park in Clarksburg, MD so we would be close to Bob in Gaithersburg. Bob’s decline was more gradual than his father’s. We spent about 3 weeks cleaning out Bob’s townhouse. We tried to sell as much as we could through e-Bay, bike stores and record shops. Even after all that, there were two donation truck pick-ups, three dump truck-loads of stuff to the landfill plus countless trips we made to Montgomery County recycling depot and Salvation Army. It was hard to believe how much one person could collect over a 30-year period. The townhouse got listed for sale. Of course, Bob had another house in DE. We managed to get this cleaned out in 4 days, with some assistance from Linda and Rick. We had a “Benefit for Bob” and managed to sell most of his nearly new stuff to his neighbors. Now his house was ready to sell. Tom, as Power of Attorney, handled all the financial and real estate transactions for Bob.

Pat, Julie, Tom and Don at the Fernie Alpine Resort

We had scheduled a five week stay in Fernie, B.C. but reduced it to a two week stay in June and the first week in July, so Pat could get back to Bob.  We expected cool and wet weather in June in B.C., instead we had near perfect weather. Tom and Julie stayed with us two weeks in June. 

Cow Moose at Waterton Lake.

In addition to getting some good hiking done, one day we took a day trip to Waterton National Park in Alberta. We got there in time to take the tour boat down Waterton Lake to Goat Haunt. Since Goat Haunt is in Glacier NP in the US, we had to pass through US Immigration. Their “office” was in the field at the trailhead. On the boat trip over we watched a moose walk along the shore line. Later, we saw four grizzlies in the park. On the 2-hour trip to and from Fernie, we also saw Big Horn Sheep, a Mountain Goat, and a group of Elk. Just a spectacular wildlife viewing day!

Hiking through the Bear Grass in Glacier NP

Cameron Falls, Waterton NP

Grizzle Bear roaming Waterton NP

Waterton National Park

On the Friday before we flew back, we decided to go exploring in our all-wheel drive small SUV. Mid-afternoon, while driving down a remote gravel road, we get a flat tire on our rental car. Our road service was no help and the closest service truck was 90 min away. With the help of a game warden, we got the donut installed. We knew we couldn’t rely on the donut to get us 90 miles back to the airport, so we drove back to Fernie to find a tire shop. Of course, the workers left for the weekend about 5 minutes before I arrived. I drove another 30 min to Sparwood and found a tire place there.  They were able to replace the donut with a real tire, and we made it to the airport on time the next day.

Bob and Houng

Prior to our camping trip to PA State Parks, Pat had thumb surgery. A few days later, Bob passed away in the middle of the night. His funeral was August 1. A week later, we went to Ocean City for a few days, then we joined Chris and Jocelyn who were camping at Greenbrier SP. In Timonium, we celebrated Sharon, Trish and Barb’s birthdays. This was number 70 for Barb.

Sharon, Barb and Trish celebrating birthdays