Spinning Class

Took photos of Penny's spinning class today.  Gosh, if I wasn't missing knee parts, I'd love to take it. 

A beautiful afternoon inside looking out......ProActive

 

 

I had a super fun afternoon with these ladies today.  They all volunteered to have their photo taken.  Brave souls they are.  We laughed so much.  The afternoon sky and colors almost didn't look real outside.  It was a real trick with the lighting/flash.  But, overall, I am really pleased with  my first effort.  7D+17-55 & flash

Darwin at the top of the volcano

This is an example of a stiched photo with the S95.  The top one is 4 photos, the bottom one is 10.  We made a last minute decision to do the hike in the evening when the weather was good, so I just threw my P&S in my pocket.  Darwin is in the bottom photo on the far left, at the top.

Zephyr's new favorite place

She loves the Icelandic sheepskin!

Women's Professional Rodeo Finals - Lincoln

Went out to a session today.  Everyone talked to the older lady with the interesting hands.  7D+100 F2 lens and ISO 6400!

2119 miles and no snow

This was the only frosty morning in three weeks - the last day. The car rental company said they had two cars get stuck in the north yesterday. They had a large snowfall.

In Iceland, I drove 119 mikes and Darwin drove 2,000. We decided I was not a safe driver, looking around all of the time, instead of focusing on the road. We nicknamed our car Greuben, from the Journey to the Center of the Earth. Greuben was the young, tough love of the hero. That is certainly what the car turned out to be. Best decision on this trip, was to rent a 4 wheel drive.

Iceland - it is a wrap - best vacation of our lives.

We left the black sand beaches of Iceland and as you can see, took the long way home. This was the worst part of our entire vacation - the flight home. Oh my, was there turbulence! Nothing happened, but we were sure bouncing around - especially the first hour of the flight and the last hour.

Chocolate

This is the chocolate maker in Iceland. It is actually quite good and you can buy it at Whole Foods in the US. We drove by the factory yesterday, so I thought I would call and see if they did tours. I spoke to a very nice guy who said that they didn't do tours yet, but if I would stop by, he would have a sample packet for me. Well......check out the sample packet!! They really like the black licorice with chocolate combo here in Iceland. Anyone who would like to try it, just let me know.

Farm stay #10 - Gunnarsholmi

This is Jona. Her husband and son like to take trucks into the back country. This truck has been modified to do just that. Check out those tires! It is a Ford Excursion. We had the guesthouse to ourselves last night, and so it made it easy for us to pack.

Back to Thingvellir

We drove back to explore Thingvellir today. We walked in the area where the two continental plates (North American, left and Eruopean, right) are separating. Two cm a year is the distance that is being added. We are on the tail end of fall here. The mountains are now snow capped and yellows are the color that is left. The snow capped mountains added a perfect end to Iceland!

Farm stay #9 Efsta-Dal

That farm name means last in the valley.  This is Halla's brother Solvi.  He just turned 30.  He decided two years ago to make the family farm his career.  He is full of innovative ideas and vision.  We talked for a long time this afternoon about the unique opportunity that the farmer's have in Iceland - they have two industries on their farm - farming and tourism.  He also talked about the lack of work ethic in the young people of Iceland.  He said that their are many eastern Europeans coming and working in Iceland.  

Sent from my iPad2

Evening in the milk barn

I went in the barn for milking tonight. Twice a day, every day.

Alexandra and the horses

Alexandra came here from Germany 3 years ago. She has been working here with the horses. She owns two horses. They are in the stable for a few weeks and then they will go outside for the winter.

Horse show

Here is the arena where they have the horse show. They had over 4,000 tourists this summer.

Knutur and Helena

This was a first today. Knutur and Helena grew up in Reykjavik and moved to the farm after college. Knutur studied horses and Helena studied agriculture. Helena said that 16 years ago when the moved here, the seller believed in them as a young couple, so they got a deal. Since then, they provide tomatoes for 10% of the Icelandic market! You can see the bee boxes. The plants are changed two times per year. They have developed a way where the old plants are moved to the outside, and then they bring in the new plants. When the old plants are ready to be removed, the young plants have fruit ready to be harvested. They we super nice! The new building will have more growing area and a large reception area. The other thing they do is have a horse show.