To The Land Of The Ice Bears

Iceland Extension

Paul and Grace Pitzer with

Lindblad Expeditions

July 2003, the Photography Expedition

Expedition Leader and Photographer Ralph Lee Hopkins

Upon arriving in Reykjavik, Iceland we had a nice tour of the city and a stop at the Thor Heyerdahl museum before going to the domestic airport for the flight up to the northern part of the country, the city of Akureyri.

View from our hotel window.

Water is one of Iceland's resources, so we stopped whenever there was something spectacular, like these falls.

This being a photography expedition, those of us who had tripods brought them along. Mine is good for video and stills.

When we flew into Iceland we say all of these white dots in the fields. After quickly ruling out sheep, I figured out they must be a way of baling hay. Right, it is put in these plastic bags and vacuum sealed. When needed to feed the sheep they just break them open on the spot.

Paul is always looking for something unusual. This statue caught his interest.

The day we left Akureyri we took a long, early morning drive out to see the puffins. Unfortunately, they all seemed to be out feeding and we didn't get a very good look, and definitely no pictures.

Back to Reykjavik, which is a very nice little town. It is very clean and the people were friendly.

Reykjavik has some interesting buildings. We were staying at the Radisson which was only a ten minute walk from town. This was an Icelandic tourist shop.

There is so much geothermal and volcanic activity in Iceland that there are a number of hot geyser, steam and mud pot areas. We stopped at one area that could have been in Yellowstone except that it wasn't as well guarded or protected.

Another area had a geyser that spouted about every five minutes, more or less. You could stand close enough to see the water level rising in the crater just before it would blow.

There are many locations where bore holes have been drilled to tap the hot water. This is one plant that takes the hot water and turns it into electricity and then sends it on to heat houses. Their system of pipes allows for very little loss in the temperature.

Iceland sits right over the Mid Atlantic Rift, where the tectonic plates are pulling apart. This is the area where the magma fills back in the area and is covered with lava of all kinds and cracks and fissures, like this one. It was a fascinating place, and especially for one with a little geology background.

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Upon arriving in Reykjavik, Iceland we had a nice tour of the city and a stop at the Thor Heyerdahl museum before going to the domestic airport for the flight up to the northern part of the country, the city of Akureyri.	View from our hotel window.
Water is one of Iceland's resources, so we stopped whenever there was something spectacular, like these falls.	This being a photography expedition, those of us who had tripods brought them along. Mine is good for video and stills.
When we flew into Iceland we say all of these white dots in the fields. After quickly ruling out sheep, I figured out they must be a way of baling hay. Right, it is put in these plastic bags and vacuum sealed. When needed to feed the sheep they just break them open on the spot.	Paul is always looking for something unusual. This statue caught his interest. The day we left Akureyri we took a long, early morning drive out to see the puffins. Unfortunately, they all seemed to be out feeding and we didn't get a very good look, and definitely no pictures.
Back to Reykjavik, which is a very nice little town. It is very clean and the people were friendly.	Reykjavik has some interesting buildings. We were staying at the Radisson which was only a ten minute walk from town. This was an Icelandic tourist shop.
There is so much geothermal and volcanic activity in Iceland that there are a number of hot geyser, steam and mud pot areas. We stopped at one area that could have been in Yellowstone except that it wasn't as well guarded or protected.	Another area had a geyser that spouted about every five minutes, more or less. You could stand close enough to see the water level rising in the crater just before it would blow.
There are many locations where bore holes have been drilled to tap the hot water. This is one plant that takes the hot water and turns it into electricity and then sends it on to heat houses. Their system of pipes allows for very little loss in the temperature.	Iceland sits right over the Mid Atlantic Rift, where the tectonic plates are pulling apart. This is the area where the magma fills back in the area and is covered with lava of all kinds and cracks and fissures, like this one. It was a fascinating place, and especially for one with a little geology background.