Black Church at Buðir

A classic take on the black church

Látravík

Snaefellsnes Peninsula

John, Sandy, Liz, and I met this morning with the remaining five members of our group; Harlan, Bill, Robyn, David, and Mark. Together we left the Reykjavik area and headed north to the Snaefellsness peninsula. Bill, tired from jetlag, soldiered on until we arrived at the town of Grundarfjörður, and the Hotel Framnes. We left our bags, but we were informed that the rooms would not be ready for another two hours, so the intrepid nine continued on up the coast a few miles and found some light.

Disappearing Photographers

 

Þingvellir

The band on their day off

Yar gets his shot

Sandy gets her shot

Liz wards off paparazzi

Þingvallavatn

Special for Danni

Ice Troll

Chapman Sheets & Kawano Welcome A New "Guest" Member

 You undoubtedly remember Chapman Sheets & Kawano's sophomore album On Ice (pictured above). Today the band announced their new effort Grounded Flight with special guest Yar. Henceforward the band has stated their intention to become known as Chapman Sheets Kawano & Yar. See a sneak peak below of their forthcoming album from the group critics call a unique blend of piano, ukulele, triangle and timpani. 

Rare sighting

A rare Icelandic kawano is caught on camera in spite of her terrain-adapted camouflage 

Yar ready for serious shooting

Vík in the Mist

Sandy, Liz, John and I drove to the southern town of Vík this morning. As John explained, there are lots of víks in Iceland; Reykjavík, Keflavík, and others. A vík is a bay. Ok?

The Icelandic rain gods tried to discourage us, and continued to present our party with washed out vistas and washed out lenses. We were greeted thus in Vík, and so did what all hardy travelers do; we ate lunch. The Halldorskaffi turned out to be just the place for some nice sandwiches and soup. And a beer. For me. John was driving, and I felt for him.

After our plates were cleared, we walked out to a clearing sky. Clearing, Iceland style, that is. But whereas we couldn't discern a single feature of the coast when we entered town, now we could make out headlands and rocks through the mist. And a view in the other direction, that is, looking up the valley, revealed a lonely fog shrouded church on a hill.

 

 

Safe and sound

Just a quick note to let folks know that we're safely ensconced in Hvergerði. Today was a typical Icelandic day - we had various sorts of weather ranging from rain to sun, though luckily nothing difficult. As you can see from the photos, we made good use of the day in spite of our jet jag, exploring Geysir, Gullfoss (photos to come), and Þorlákshöfn. (I've been mostly shooting film, so I may be posting less that on previous trips; at least until I run out of film!) Looking forward to the arrival of the rest of the group, but enjoying the exploring beforehand. Tomorrow will be a long run, hopefully we'll be making it all the way out to Vík and Dyrhólaeh as well as Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss along the way. Should be fun, but please don't hold it against us if we're too exhausted to post tomorrow evening...!

John and The Beast in Þorlákshöfn

Liz in Þorlákshöfn

Chapman Sheets & Kawano

For our next record album (vinyl, of course)

Sandy vs. the Geysir

Sandy works her magic

I'm Getting Reports....

I'm getting reports off the inter webs that half of our contingent is already in the air and on the way to Iceland. Sandy, John, Harlan, Liz and Yar are winging their way to Keflavik International Airport and should be tagging the ground there about 2:30AM EST, lucky rascals. I'm hoping they'll be posting a few pics and generally warming the place up for the rest of us that will be arriving n a few days.

Be safe and have fun you guys! Wish I was there already!

Weather or Not

I've been tracking the weather for our trip here:

Icelandic Met Office - West Fjords

We should be enjoying temperatures between 7 and 10 degrees Celsius (45 and 50 Fahrenheit) more or less. This website also has links to road condition web cams which show lots of clouds and mist, but not any pouring rain.

And no, I'm not jinxing anything!

One Iceland pano deserves another

This is on the road to Djúpavík. Reykjarfjörður is the name of the fjord in which Djúpavík is located.

Reykjarfjörður Fogbank

Only 7 More Days!

That's right, Kids! Only 1 week until we fly! These pages will soon be filling up with fun and beautiful photographs of our journey around the wild West Fjords of Iceland. It's going to be a lot of fun and I hope you'll stay tuned and enjoy the ride.

Iceland's West Fjords!!

Only 24 days till departure! Here is the route will will be traveling over the course of the journey. Please bookmark this page and come back in time for the start of the trip! We'll be blogging several times daily once we get going, so don't forget to check in often!