now for some actual Iceland, after Daniel Brim and I landed… here’s Iceland day 1. this turns out to be the least exciting day, as far as pictures go, but hey you get to hear about how we got the door nearly blown off the rental car. Wait, you did what!!?? Yeap, the wind in the Iceland, it’s something to behold. Must have been a constant 100 mph… I needed [...]
having finished Norway, here are photos from Iceland – all as I prepare for my trip to Yukon and Alaska. Do we detect a theme here? Arctic Circle or bust! Iceland will be done in about seven batches, just like Norway – even though I spent only four days in Iceland. And of those four days, here are … none of them. This set of photos is just the flight [...]
Let us behold day 6. We head out to the outer islands of Langøya and Andøya, and then head back to the airport with remarkably little time to spare. The shortest place name on Earth. Å. This is why I wasn’t too worried when I didn’t get a photo of the sign for Å i Lofoten – because here is Å i Andøya. And here is the å for which [...]
Starting from Alta. Highway E-6 for a while, then an excursion to Straumnes, where there is much snow to be found. Then onwards to the inevitable Tjeldsund bridge. A fishing boat, under completely overcast skies. The buoy is red, and everything else really is that gray. A frozen waterfall at Kafjorden. A boat in Finnsnes Harbor. And, just to prevent the stressful effects of suspense, here’s a photo of the [...]
day four of the week-long excursion into northern Norway. Day four features a trip to Kirkenes, the easternmost town in Norway. Further east than Istanbul, even! A bit of beholding of our dear Russian neighbors, and then, heading back west, getting caught in whiteout conditions over the Eaštoroaivi mountain pass, then attempting to make a run on Nordkapp – the northernmost point in continental Europe – and getting stuck in [...]
Day 3 features us exploring inland, into the Finnmarksvidda. So let’s see about the etymology of this word: “Finn” is Finn, to reflect the locals; “Mark” is Mark, as in the Experience; and “Svidda” is the land of snow, ice, and a whole everloving metric ton of reindeer and not much else – except for that one guy with his airplane. No, I didn’t get a photo of the airplane [...]
Norway, day two on the ground. We pick up from Day 1 near Nordkjosbotn, and dash south in the middle of the night on highway E-6, to where it hits E-10. E-10 west, across the Tjeldsund bridge, all the way to the village of Å, and then back along the same road, because northern Norway is – like Alaska – very sparsely connected. E-10 all the way east to… well, [...]
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Picking up in Tromsø, we proceed to learning to drive stick shift in ten minutes on the road to Hansnes, and then march onwards to Nordkjosbotn and a spectacular northern lights display. you may note that Hansnes and Nordkjosbotn are in opposite directions. I drove to Hansnes, turned around, went back to Tromsø, verified that I was all right at stick shift by driving around downtown some, and then headed [...]
the first batch of Norway photos. Not quite on the ground yet: these are all from my insane amount of flying, from San Diego, to Chicago, to Oslo, and finally to Tromsø. Northern lights! We’re not in Norway yet, and there they are. Mission accomplished, a whopping eight or so hours into the expedition – before the first official night, even. Don’t mind the Brownian star tracks: I managed to [...]