Snorrastadir Farm

Snorrastadir is a farm in western Iceland where we stayed with some family friends, Dora and Bassi. Dora and Bassi are sister and brother- though Dora now lives in the US and Bassi in Scotland, they grew up in Iceland and still own a cabin on the farm at Snorrastadir. "Farming" in Iceland consists mostly of sheep farming (for wool and meat) and horse farming, and Snorrastadir is no exception.

The farmer's house at Snorrastadir

Eldborg, a blown-out volcano near Snorrastadir

Icelandic horses are prized all over the world and are known for their toughness, tolerance to pain and cold, and comfort for riding. They are much smaller than "normal" horses but Icelanders get very offended if you call them ponies. No other types of horses are permitted in Iceland, which ensures that the breed will stay pure, I guess. After an Icelandic horse is born it is basically free to run wild for a long time before the best horses are selected to be trained and bred again. The Icelanders feel that it is important that the horses grow up learning how to be an independent thinkers, to take care of themselves, and to not be too dependent on humans. I'm not sure what happens to the "less than best" horses that don't make the training cut, but we did see a generous selection of horse meat on sale at a large market in Reykjavik.

You can rent horses at Snorrastadir, and people come there from all over the world to go on horse-camping treks. We didn't try any riding because apparently the Icelandic horse is not for beginners, so we left that adventure to the horse folks.

Icelandic horses grooming each other

A horse trek in action





Aiden watching the horses


More horses

Horses that did or didn't make the "cut," depending on how you look at it

Dora and Dad enjoying the sun from the cabin porch

Sheep in the endless twilight (near midnight in this pic)

Clockwise from top left: Aiden on the porch; mudflats at low tide; Icelandic flag blowing in the ever-present wind; sheep! sheep!

Lots of shorebirds by the sea

Snorrastadir Farm is about a half-hour's walk to the ocean, so we took quite a few treks down to the water to watch birds and try fishing for salmon and sea trout. Fishing in Icelandic rivers is HIGHLY regulated, to the degree that people own and pass on through their families the "rights" to stretches of river. Only the person holding these rights (or someone s/he allows or rents the stretch to) has the opportunity to fish on this stretch, and only one person may fish at a time. You can go with a friend, but only one rod! Fishing in the ocean is a different story (open to anyone with a fishing rod and some patience).

Bassi owns the rights to the strech of river near Snorrastadir, so Micah and Andy got to try their luck at fishing it. Micah had a large sea trout (about 5 lbs, he thinks) on the line and brought it right up to Bassi who was about to slip a rope around its tail when it dramatically twisted and got away. Very sad for Micah, who was already tasting the grilled trout with lemon and butter.

Micah trying his luck

Andy birding by the sea at Snorrastadir Farm

Micah and Bassi watch Andy fish

Travel Tips for Iceland

We all just returned from Iceland, land of volcanoes, glaciers, sheep and geothermally heated "hotpots!" The scenery was awe-inspiring everywhere we went, and we got to view it for essentially 24 hours each day since it never truly got dark. My next few posts will be about the different regions of the country that we visited, but first I want to share a few travel tips, in case you ever find yourself with a round-trip ticket to Iceland...

Tip #1. DO NOT take the red-eye flight with a 10 month old infant riding on your lap.

Aiden was definitely a real trooper during most of our Iceland vacation, considering he had no idea why we were driving and hiking around like maniacs snapping pictures left and right. But he was a true little divil on the plane flights! Picture spending 5 hours confined to one seat holding a squirming, complaining, sometimes bawling, NEVER sleeping, WAY overtired baby on your lap. Banging on the seats in front of us, grabbing for everyone's in-flight beverage, and of course taking a poop when it's least convenient. It might have been a little better if he had his own seat, but I'm not sure he would have slept even then. If anyone in rows 23 or 25 on Icelandair Flight 631 happens to stumble upon our blog, I do apologize for the inconvenience.

Tip #2 DO try the local cuisine!

Icelanders are known for eating some really bizarre and gruesome things, but we found plenty of local specialties that tasted great.

Some of the best:

- Skyr: this is an icelandic specialty something in between fresh cheese and a really thick yogurt, and it comes in different yummy flavors like "peach and raspberry" or "melon and passionfruit." This was by far Aiden's favorite! Skyr has been made in Iceland since vikings inhabited the country, and it isn't made anywhere else in the world (too bad for Aiden Aiden Poop).

Mmm...skyr...




Are you telling me I can't get skyr at home?!?

- Smoked Lamb & Bean Sandwiches: These we found at literally every convenience store or supermarket we went into- different brands but always the same ingredients. I was skeptical at first but they were delicious and after the first one I got them everywhere.

- Icelandic Ice Cream: can you say HEAVY CREAM? The butter aftertaste on these ice-cream cones are ridiculous. Again, a favorite with the fussa bud.

Mmm.... frozen butterfat.....

- Minke Whale Steaks: OK, ok... Greenpeace and PETA will put this blog on their hit list, but Andy and my Dad had minke whale steaks at a seafood restaurant (Fimm Fiskur, or "five fishes") and they were just like rare, tender beef. Only a bit darker in color.

Minke whale steaks

- Smoked Puffin: Andy could not partake of eating a "poor little puff-puff" but I had to try it. Pretty good- I expected it to be fishy but it wasn't at all.

Poor little puff-puff! Mmmm....

- "Cool American" Flavor Doritos: Just kidding- we didn't buy these but laughed at the label for what we would call "Cool Ranch" here.

There were some things of which i was not a big fan:

- Icelandic Beer: pretty much on par with Schlitz Ice or Natural Light- whether the brand was "Viking", "Gull", "Premium", or "Thule" the taste was all the same out of large 20 oz. cans. We stuck to the Danish beer after awhile.

- Licorice & Chocolate Candy Bars: There is a lot of different candy in Iceland, and its usually behind a glass counter which somehow makes it seem like a controlled substance and strangely more appealing. A lot of the candy features black licorice, which I actually like quite a bit, but the Icelanders like to mix licorice with chocolate in their candy bars. I'm not a fan of the combination but maybe it's an acquired taste!

- Brennevin: Icelandic Schnapps with an anise-caraway seed taste. You're supposed to mix this with coffee but I just can't do that to my coffee.

And some things even I wouldn't try:

- Hakari: Probably the most famous "gross" dish in Iceland, featuring gelatinous rotted shark that has been buried underground for a long time and then dug up when it's good and putrified. Supposedly it smells like ammonia and you can leave it outside for as long as you like without any fear of a feral animal running off with it.

Tip #3. DO NOT convert prices from icelandic kroner to dollars before you buy something.

This is for your own sanity. Almost everything in Iceland, with the exception of geothermal energy and possibly skyr, must be shipped to the country. As a result, everything is ridiculouslly expensive. For example, to fill our gas tank about 3/4 full, it cost about $85 US dollars. A typical entree at a (NOT fancy) restaurant runs about $40, a bowl of soup is about $20. If you just don't do the math, you are much happier. (Until the credit card bill comes, which it hasn't yet!)

Tip #4. DO go in as many "hot pots" as you can!

Aiden hot-potting with mommy

Geothermally heated pools, or "hot pots" as they call them in Iceland, are everywhere. Many of them are not chlorinated (some are actually just hot lakes, steaming up from the grassy landscape), because they're designed so that the naturally hot water refreshes in them about every half hour. Aiden LOVED hot-potting, and we LOVED it too, since it was basically how he kept semi-decently clean the whole week!

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Grandma Chris came to visit for a full week, and despite the miserable weather, we all had a great time. Especially Aiden, who got to stay home from daycare and get lots of love and attention. (he is very fond of ATTENTION!! and requires an audience in order to perform certain tricks like clapping and jumping psychotically in his jumparoo)

After a whole month of almost no rain, it decided to pour every day that Grandma Chris was here! Granted, we did need the rain, but it put a damper on outdoor activities and made it interesting to try and pop Aiden into the kiddie pool between thunderstorms.

On the dock at the Lake House

We did get to the lake house for dinner with the Turners one night, and up Mt. Mansfield (which was in the clouds, as usual) and to a Vermont Lake Monsters game, so we didn't sit inside all week. Aiden had a great week and really warmed up to Grandma by the end of the week, with big smiles every time he saw her (more than for mommy & daddy, that's for sure...). He'll miss his Grandma but we keep telling him that she'll be back soon!

Bunchberry on Mt. Mansfield

Part-way up Mt. Mansfield

Lunch at the Shed in Stowe

You better not have designs on my pickle. MY pickle.

Aiden's newest thing is to carry all his toys in his mouth like Timber does

At the Lake Monsters Game



Champ, the Lake Monster

Aiden as Champ

We're off to Iceland tomorrow for Aiden's first international adventure. And I'm sure it will be an adventure! Look for new blog entries in a few weeks!

Aiden's first parade

Here are some scenes from Aiden's first parade... We basically sat in the cemetery (the best seats in the town because of the slope, you can see over everyone else's heads) to watch the Town of Richmond's 4th of July parade. Aiden was google-eyed as all the big fire trucks and floats passed by (ok, the floats were more like tractors pulling wagons of farm animals and/or people dressed like farm animals, but hey - this is vermont).
.

Our seat in the cemetery...

Lots of farm animals...

Fire trucks...

And tractors....

I think in Richmond, if you want to be in the parade, you just ask... there were people dressed as cows and squirting the crowd with squirt guns, people juggling, and this guy with his 'cat'atonic cat strapped to the handlebars of his bike.

Civil war infantrymen...

And bagpipers.

I think Aiden's favorite was the helium baloon!

Party Like You're 96!

Grandma Dean celebrated her 96th birthday on Sunday at her camp on Higley Flow. She had a great birthday picnic with lots of friends and family and all her favorite 4th of July foods: scalloped potatoes, ham, macaroni & cheese, pickles, olives, and Harvard beets. And don't forget the custard pie, Grandma Dean's favorite. She actually refused to blow out the candles on her official birthday cake - not because she didn't think she could blow them out - she said she did not like flames too close to her face, and proceeded to nimbly pluck a burning candle out of the cake (!) and blow it out separately! Go grandma!

The beach at camp

Aiden was not feeling particularly well on Grandma's big day - he was more than mildly "backed up" as they say, and was pretty grumpy and lethargic as a result. We fed him about, oh, 12 oz of pureed prunes over the course of the day but got no payoff until we made it back home to Vermont that evening. I guess some folks just can't go when they travel. Even though he was grumpy, Aiden did get to spend a little time with his cousin Ciara who is now 21 months old. Jeni & Glen have recently determined (the hard way) that Ciara is allergic to egg whites, peanuts, and tree nuts, so everyone (especially Jeni) was careful to watch that she did not pick up a stray cookie or get fed by anyone who didn't know the situation. Ciara is talking like crazy now, so hopefully her first run-on sentence will be, "Did you know i have food allergies, are you sure you should feed me that!?"

Glen and Ciara

Chowing down outside despite the cool weather

It threatened to rain on the picnic when we got started, but by the time dessert was out, the sun was poking through the clouds and warming everyone up. Happy Birthday Grandma!

Aunt Memorie and Grandma

Grandma gets her custard pies



Fussa Bud taking some quiet time away from the party

The biggest smile we could get for Grandma's B-day

Oh, and I almost forgot... as we were getting in the car in the afternoon to drive back to VT, Andy spotted our newest life bird of the year... a male Mourning Warbler! Poor Aiden had to sit in his carseat (probably rolling his eyes) while his parents stalked around the car with binoculars for five minutes trying to confirm the sighting. Something tells me he won't forget these moments...