Hello again, Blogonauts!

Friday found me once again on the road, with a couple of wonderful stops along the way.

I first set my sights on Husavik, a prosperous-looking fishing village that also is well known for whale-watching excursions out into the Skjalfandi Bay. (We will, for the moment, ignore the Will Ferrell movie partially about the village.) Without the time to head out seaward in search of blow holes and flukes, I instead visited the informative Husavik Whale Museum.

Coastal communities all over Iceland have come to trust the museum to help deal with the challenges presented by dead whales washing ashore. The museum contains almost a dozen carefully reconstructed skeletal remains of these naturally deceased cetaceans. There are also exhibits about whale evolution and the now-reduced whaling industry.

After having a delicious seafood lunch (cod, not whale meat), I drove a further few miles to my lodging for the coming two nights: A 5-room guest house/bed-&-breakfast. Ironically, the first other guests I encountered are from western Massachusetts, one with an uncle who lives in Keene.

It was still early, so before making my dinner, I wandered out again to see the nearby Goðafoss, or Waterfall of the Gods. It is so named because, according to the saga, an Icelander who was newly converted to Christianity tossed his old pagan idols into the river here. This tale sounds like a great way to help the gods survive the trip over the falls. I'm even keeping their memory alive by retelling the story here.

Tomorrow I'm venturing out to see the thermal vents around Lake Myvatn. Last one there smells like a rotten egg! (Really…the vents smell like rotten eggs.)

Blog to you later!