Views of Sequim, the Olympic Peninsula. . .and beyond
We took the Edmonds ferry to get to Seattle on Monday and were treated to a clear view of Mt. Rainier. We don’t see Rainier from Sequim. It’s located to the east of Seattle. You can see taller Seattle structures at the left side of the shot, including the famous Space Needle that looks like a tiny flying saucer on a pole.
Monday. Sometimes it’s hard to face getting things back under control.
Before we head back to the U.S. and my hometown, I thought I’d show a few more buildings in Reykjavik that caught my eye while we were there. This one is on the main shopping street.
This one was nestled back in an alleyway. I love the polka dots and stripes.
And here’s a nod to Art Deco. Notice the dark shapes to the bottom left of the shot? Those were small columns with the look of basalt that were dividing lanes on the street.
The down side of taking a bus tour is that one can’t call out “photo op!” and pull over to the side of the road. But some of the sights in Iceland were so compelling I couldn’t resist taking shots through the window of our moving bus, such as they are, glare and all. Churches in the countryside rarely failed to catch my eye.
I saw a number of classic red roofed churches like that in the first shot, but there were occasional less traditional ones as well.
Mind you, these weren’t in cities, for the most part, but out in the open, sparsely populated countryside.
I so would have loved to stop and explore this structure that appears to be growing from the hill behind it. But then, if I’d had my druthers I’d probably still be there today, happily roaming with camera in hand.
Lest you think Iceland is just fire and ice, think again. There are also beautiful waterfalls cascading down hillsides across the countryside. This one, Gullfoss, flows with turquoise glacial meltwater. As you can see, it’s two waterfalls. The water rushing down the bottom of this photo virtually disappears into a long, deep fissure to the right.
This is Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall of a different sort. Behind the bottom third of the waterfall is an overhang deep enough to create a passageway that allows visitors to walk behind the falling water. You might be able to make out people approaching on the right. There are a couple of people visible as specks in the mist on either side of the falling water.
Did I take the walk? Let’s just say I prefer to keep my camera dry.
And, at this waterfall, Skogafoss, keeping my camera dry was an unexpected challenge. You no doubt can see white spots across this shot. Although we left Reykjavik on a sunny morning, as we headed toward Iceland’s south eastern coast we drove into increasingly darker clouds…until — you guessed it — it started snowing. This was the only stop where it snowed steadily. By afternoon it was just a unique travel memory.
Our guide gave us an Icelandic perspective on snow: How can you tell it’s summer in Iceland? The snow is warmer. Sounds about right to me.
Iceland is home to 32 volcanic systems and around 130 volcanic mountains. Many are considered extinct but some, like Hekla, above, are not. Hekla was described to us as being like a woman who is 12 months pregnant and very, very grumpy.
Volcanic activity is not far beneath the earth’s crust in Iceland and areas of geysers and steam vents are indications. This is the Strokkur Geyser.
Because thermal energy is so close to the surface, Iceland has harnessed it for the benefit of more than half the population. Geothermal power provides hot water and energy to Reykjavik and excess hot water is used in the city to heat up streets and paths to make them safer during winter.
Iceland’s volcanic history is told in features like these basalt formations at Reynisfjara Beach, as is the sea stack offshore to the right. And the black sand beach.
These formations are likened to Giant’s Causeway in Ireland.
The land that we saw in some parts of Iceland was almost a moonscape, the result of regular volcanic eruptions and lava flows that have covered the land. Things grow slowly on the surface and the land is softly undulating and covered with thick moss. It is a very fragile landscape with little of the sort of soil most of us take for granted.
I’ll show you more interesting features tomorrow.
On one of two bus tours we visited Solheimajokull, part of the Myrdalsjokull Glacier. Iceland is a land of glaciers and this is the fourth largest, though like others around the world, this one is melting and retreating. To get an idea of the size of this glacial tongue, note the small, colored dots on the right of the shot above. Those are people.
Several years ago, the land on the left side of this photo was covered by the glacier. As you can see, it’s now exposed and a small lake has formed at its base.
Huge blocks of ice have calved from the glacier and float in the lake below. The black that you see on the ice and glacier are ash from volcanic eruptions including one volcano, Katla, that is hidden beneath the glacier.
Katla, unlike erupting peaks that may be more familiar to us, erupts from under the glacier, causing enormous glacial outbursts as the ice melts into massive floodwaters that can cover surrounding lands and flow for days. It is also accompanied by dense ash like you see in these photos as well as toxic fumes. Since Iceland was settled (sometime after 700 A.D.) Katla has on average erupted twice a century. The last eruption was in 1918.
Melting glaciers present a unique danger in Iceland. The weight of the ice may serve to cap volcanic activity beneath them. Will the volcanoes become more active as the weight above them is reduced?