Hello again, Blogonauts!

Well, I'm home. There were no noticeable slip-ups in my return from Iceland. Delta landed the plane a few minutes early. Customs and border control at Logan Airport created fewer headaches than ever. And my 3-hour drive to pick up Bergen and bring us both back home to New Hampshire was simply routine.

After 2 weeks of touring one country, there were a few overall impressions that didn't fit well into any single blog entry. So in the interest of tying up loose ends, here are some things that made me tilt my head and say, "Hmmm..."

• Iceland is not a small country. In area, it's about the size of Kentucky, but driving around the island requires winding in and out of fjords and bays, so it seems bigger. When you add in my side-trips and excursions, I drove approximately 1500 miles.
• Nonetheless, except around Reykjavik, the roads are 2-lane, and occasionally only 1-lane. Places to pull off the road to take a photo or (ahem) to pee are rare. There are stories that Icelanders have grown disgusted by international tourists pooping on roadsides. I understand their ire, but perhaps offering facilities more frequently than every 2 hours would help plug that problem.
• Even though most Icelanders speak fairly good English, they love and eagerly use their own language. My pronunciation of Icelandic words, though, is abysmal.
• A soup-&-bread combo is a fairly common menu item, and it usually cost $12-15. Hotdogs are ubiquitous, and are usually offered with both fried and fresh onions. Ketchup is the preferred condiment, not mustard.
• The rarity of trees is makes distant views possible. The last time I remember this being true was driving through Arizona and Utah.
  Driving around the Ring Road is reminiscent of road trips around America in the 1960s and earlier: No superhighways or bypasses, looking for small eateries or roadside picnic spots, and hours of listening to music on the car radio...or nowadays, the attached smartphone.
• Temperatures in summer are still chilly. I seldom saw a day warmer than 70 degrees F. My daily wardrobe consisted of a T-shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, and a wool sweater. Most of the time I had a thick fleece vest on over the sweater. If it was windy or rainy (in other words, a normal Icelandic day), I topped them all off with a hooded raincoat/windbreaker.
• Rather than rain or snow, Icelanders care more about how much wind is in the forecast. Some days, I heard from one, it's just too windy to leave home. Much of the time, my brimmed hats would fly off. So for those days I bought a knit ski cap.
  The hand-knit Icelandic sweaters sold in shops are almost all made for women. And they routinely cost over $200.
• Rescue squads covering the trails for visiting the Fagradalsfjall volcano are all volunteers. Even though some of them are on-site from noon until midnight daily, almost none of them are paid for their efforts.
• Arctic terns are beautiful, but if you walk anywhere near their nesting grounds, they become a raucous and annoying pain in the butt.
• Icelanders love to soak. Even small towns have geothermally heated swimming pools. The larger towns have multiple pools, some of them with complex waterslides. However, I never saw a diving board.

I recognize that was a verbal kaleidoscope, but I hope it was easy to follow. The next time I travel, I may find a different travel blog, one that's more user friendly. Until then..

Blog to you later!