On Friday we spent the day visiting some of grandpa’s favourite spots in Iceland, but before we hit the road dad and I went on another one of our morning walks and stopped by the bakery again. When we got on the road we made our way to Reykholt to see the school grandpa used to go to, he pointed out the rooms he used to stay in and where they used to have the swimming pool. You could really tell that he had a great time attending school there. We then made our way to Barnafoss – the children’s waterfall, this area is so absolutely beautiful featuring a large lava rock waterfall but has a tragic story. Once upon a time there was a woman who had two children, one day she went out she told her children not to stray from the house but the children grew restless and decided that they wanted to follow everyone to church. They walked down to the river until they met a small lava rock walkway high above the river and decided to try and cross it. Unfortunately the children fell into the rapids and were swept away with the falls. The mother was so upset that she had the lava bridge broken so no one else would tempt to cross it. Such a sad story for such a beautiful place.
We then made our way to Husafell and towards the farm my grandfather used to spend his summer’s at as a child. The farm is no longer being used but before we arrived grandpa called the owner to make sure that it was ok if we walked around. The view from the farm was incredible with lava fields, mountains and glaciers sitting at their doorstep. Grandpa says that it was the best years of his life at the farm and I could see why. After wandering around and grandpa sharing stories with up we drove down to a summer home close by to visit an old school friend of grandpas. It was such a great time having the opportunity to sit down and meet different people with grandpa and hear them share memories. After the visit we made our way back to the Reykholt area and stopped to have dinner before stopping by the farm one last time. It was a nice visit for me as it felt much more casual then the week before. Dang those people sure are a good group. When we got back to the house I started packing up my stuff and got ready for the big travel day.
In the morning Dad and I woke up and walked to the bakery one last time and grabbed ourselves some goodies. We made our way around town saying goodbyes, stopped at a wool outlet shop and finally to Adda’s house for lunch. Dad hadn’t seen her since about 1972 so it was nice for them to have a chance to see each other before we left. We had a nice little visit before we made our way to the airport. Everything went really well travel wise, dad and I got on the road around 8:30 and were home shortly after. I was so excited to see my mom but when I saw her I could sense that something was wrong. Turns out someone had tried to break into our house the night before… the theory is that it was some drunk/drugged out kids who thought it was a different house, they kept yelling to let them in, tried to kick in the door and broke a window. Mom is ok, she ran out of the house and made her way to a neighbours while calling 911. I’m just so glad that she is ok. Anyways, that wasn’t quite the welcome home we were all expecting, but life’s an adventure and you never know whats going to happen next. Thank goodness she is safe and ok. We were all pretty exhausted, dad and I from travelling and time change, mom from not being able to sleep from the night before, so we all went to bed earlyish.
It was weird waking up this morning in my own bed. You know how Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz wakes up and realizes everything was a dream, but a really real dream, it kind of felt like that. The 8 weeks just flew by, I know I was in Iceland, it was magical and wonderful and one of the best experiences of my life to date… but being home it also kind of feels like it didn’t even happen – if that makes sense?
In addition to those feelings this morning I also thought “oh my god I’m dying.” Exaggeration much? Yes, but holy hell its hot here! It was 6 am and already 24 degrees feeling like 33, and its supposed to feel like 38 later today. I just couldn’t believe it, it was pretty hard breathing this morning and I felt like I had a fever but alas I think this is just Ontario’s idea of a warm welcome home. I know I’m going to get used to it again but its a little difficult right now, thankfully there is a nice breeze right now. I didn’t realize how I missed the sound of the wind through the leaves.
While my trip in Iceland has come to an end I’m not done blogging yet. I have a few reflections that I’m going to write down here a little later on which will probably be a little sappy and sentimental… but now its time to visit with my mommy!