DAY 2 - Out on the Town!

Rekjavik, Iceland is a beautiful city!

We arrived on Icelandair at 9:30 am and after negotiating the bus systems, met our host at the main bus terminal at 11:30. Such a nice guy to pick us up! Jonas has an Air BnB that we'll be staying at for 3 nights.

Reykjavik is the capital and largest city of Iceland. Population: 140,000 Place of the 1st permanent inhabitants in 874 AD. The city was officially founded in 1786 as a trading town and grew steadily over the following decades.

Our apartment was very cosy wth everything we would need. AND so close to everything! It was going to be perfect!

YUM! We used some of our freeze-dried food - veggies, a bit of chicken & eggs, and a ramen and spices that Jonas had provided. Oila - so tasty. The Air BnB had quite a lot of food and snacks, so we were all set! Time to go explore the city! We set out to catch a bus, but met a kind couple who lead us downtown, through a beautiful park, and to the main drag of Laugavegur. The street is one of the oldest streets in Reykjavík. Its name roughly translates to 'the Water Road'. We spent a couple of hours meandering through tourist shops and taking photos of several of the old/new buildings. Bright colors were welcome on a gray day.

The old prison at Skólavörðustíg street closed in 2016. The building is located in Reykjavík’s main shopping and nightlife area. Its construction was finished in 1874 and for years it was one of the capital’s most grand buildings, serving additionally as the home to Iceland’s Supreme Court between 1920 and 1949. Prisoners rarely escaped from the building. The last escape occurred in 1993, when three prisoners sawed a bathroom window bar apart with the blade of a hacksaw. They were quickly recaptured. Some of the stained glass windows were famous prisoners. We enjoyed talking to a gal who had just finished her Master's in Architecure and they were presenting their works on the lower floor of the prison. Her class was the 1st ever in Iceland.

What a great 1st day in Iceland! Our comfy bed was a welcome sight as we came home, after eating eggs and instant potatoes.

DAY 1 - Denver to Reykjavik, Iceland - only 7 hours & $300 each!

 Time to fly and get on our 8 pm flight.  Think we'll sleep?  Not much, but that's ok.  We're still young, right?  We'll arrive at 9:30 am, which is really 3:30 am Denver time.  

At 71, Rich & I are still enjoying traveling!

It's great to finally be at the airport and sit down!  We stayed at my daughter, Danae, and her family's home the night before our travel day.

Off we go in the rain with all our luggage!

It started raining and hailing just before my daughter was going to take us to catch the light rail to the Denver Airport.  Pulling out our rain gear put us a bit behind so we nearly missed the train. 

Can't believe we actually made it!

After we got off downtown, we had to go to Union Station to get the train to DIA.  My google map said it was a 5 min walk.  OH NO!  It was a 35 minute walk through the rain pulling a 50 lb. suitcase and carrying a 20 lb. back pack and holding a 10 lb. personal bag with computer and snacks, etc.  What went wrong?  Not a good start to the first day of our trip!

At the airport, we were held up for quite a while at the TSA checkpoint.  The X-rays didn't really like some of our freeze-dried food as some of them had turned into powder.  Also, peanut butter is considered a liquid, I guess, so they tossed it out.  mmm.

We've been preparing for this trip for a few months and the newest thing we've been doing is freeze drying a lot of food.  1/2 of our luggage is food!  Food is expensive in Iceland and Sweden. 

Showing off our new Harvest Right!

It's been fun trying a variety of fruits, soups, stews, yogurt,  cottage cheese, eggs, and more.  We'll be camping in a camper van for 6 days, so these will come in handy.

Freeze Dried Food that we brought along

We tried freeze drying raisins - didn't work!  HA!

After packing up, we headed for Denver and enjoyed meeting with some relatives at my niece's house in the mountains above Boulder. Great to see my brother, Norval, and sister Carolyn again!

Bre & Daniel's boys are so cute!

My cousin, Roxana & her husband, Ron, joined us.

 

We stayed at my sister's house for a few days and then on to Rich's niece's house to meet his sister and husband for Sunday lunch.

Jeremy, Katie, Pam, Rich & I, & David make home made pizzas - YUM!

 On to my daughter's house in south Denver.  GREAT to catch up and spend a few days doing last minute packing before heading off to Iceland.

Sissy made the nametags for the Olson Family reunion in Sweden.  Isn't she great! 

42 nametags are ready

I think we're ready for the reunion and we're definitely ready

for ICELAND!!

On the plane and ready for 40 days & 40 nights!

PREVIEW to 40 Days in Europe for our Midsommar Family Reunion in Sweden & Our 20th Anniversary

Here we go again!  It's been 10 years since we traveled through Europe and 35 different countries.  Time to go again!  It will be our 20th anniversary in July AND for the past 3 years, starting during the CoVid Pandemic, I found scores of new relatives.  In fact, I found nearly ALL of the posterity of my 2X great grandparents, Olaf & Brita Olafsson of Rättvik, Sweden. (That's a lot of people, both dead and alive!)

Olaf & Brita - in about 1845.

I started a facebook group called OLSON Family page - from Rättvik to Herndon and from March 2020 - May 2022, I highlighted nearly EVERY adult relative of Olaf & Brita.  283 DAYS of posts.  It was unbelievable and so much fun meeting everyone!  June of 2021, 120 of us went to Herndon, Kansas, where 3 of the brothers came over in the 1870's-1880's to settle, having come from Rättvik, Sweden.

REUNION 2021 - Not everyone is shown, but what a wonderful weekend we all had!

Descendants of Ole, Andrew, and Erik - in Kansas

REUNION 2023 - during Midsommar in June!  16 from the USA and 25-30 Swedish cousins will meet together for Olaf's 200th birthday celebration.  He and Brita had 10 children with their 2 daughters and 2 of their sons dying young.  5 of their sons went on to Kansas and Illinois and Bom Daniel continued to stay on the farm. 

MORE coming up on the reunion the week of June 19th, so stay tuned!

Rich & Shari's 20th Anniversary in July - we'll be in Lithuania for this!

Saint George - Dec. 2022

Not much change in 20 years, right?!

Cabo San Lucas - Dec. 2003

In 2013, we spent 7 months in Europe couch surfing, which means we stayed with complete strangers and slept on couches, dorm rooms, in a chalet, fancy houses, and even on a sailboat.  

We shared meals, enjoying their culture and history.  So memorable!  This time, we'll do Air BnB, Bed & Breakfast, hotels, and even camp in a camper van in Iceland.

Join us for the next 40 days as we travel to Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.  Rich will continue to stay in Switzerland for another 6 weeks at a couple of places during 'work away' projects.  I'll come home and work in the garden and our house that we're building.

February 2018 News From Baja

Dental Work in Mexico - mmm????

I know, I know....WHY do we go to Mexico when there are drug cartels everywhere, you can die from drinking the water, you probably will get food poisoning, and people are risking their health by doing cheap dental work here?

1.  We haven't gotten robbed yet or shot.  BUT....two policemen did stop us on Friday while Rich had just turned right on a red light in the middle of the big city of La Paz.  They told Rich he wasn't supposed to turn on stop lights.  Rich was pretty sure that was not the law.  They told him he would have to go into the station and pay a big fine.  He asked for their identification which they promptly showed.  Then he asked me to get a paper and pencil and copy their names down.  OOHHH!  They got so upset.  Then one proceeded to tell Rich he better realize he was in MX no, not the USA and he'd better respect the police.  Then they said GO and be on our way.  It is common around here for the police to want to be paid off and bribed if they tell us we will go to jail.  Whew - a little frightening, but we've yet to see any drug dealings or problems that way.

2.  Water and food.  YES, it's true, you may get sick if you drink the water so we buy water.  The food is just fine and we wash our vegetables that we buy, but we have a beautiful garden that we know is organic and safe.

Greens, Greens, nothing but Greens!

Cute momma hummingbird on her nest of two tiny eggs.
 So beautiful!

3.  Dental Work.  YES, I have succumbed to get my cleaning down here every year.  It costs $40 and  is the most amazing cleaning.  She takes nearly an hour and you go through four different processes.  If you'll remember, I lost my crown in August due to a cracked tooth underneath, I guess.  SO....I had 3 different estimates and consultations in Idaho Falls about what to do.  It would be from $3,500-$5,000 to get an implant and crown.  After her telling me I would probably get an infection and my bite would change and I was too young to have a missing tooth when I smiled, I made an appointment with her oral surgeon.  The cost: $1,500 for extraction of the rest of the tooth, sinus lift, bone graft, implant, and a crown next November after I'm healed.  
So - I'm healing, resting, eating soft foods, NOT eating hot or spicy foods, nuts, seeds, or anything like that.  I'm on pain meds and antibiotics.  I get stitches out on Friday and wait til November while the bone grafts into the socket.  OH BOY!  Not the worse thing I've gone through, for sure!

NO PHOTOS as I don't look too hot!

Work-Away Friends - We have a couple our age staying with us this year from Canada.  They are so fun, knowledgeable and WORK HARD!  The gal in the middle is from Columbia and she is teaching us all better Spanish.  She is so energetic and LOVES life!

Randy, Ingrid, and Gail

 THE CASITA next to the Sea of Cortez

Front view looking to the north.

Everyone works 25 hours a week in exchange for room and board.  This couple sleeps in an old trailer that is sufficient for their needs.  We have a little outhouse (with flushing toilet) close by as the bathroom in the trailer doesn't work.

View to Isla Cerralvo to the northeast and our beach

Ingrid is helping lay tile with Rich.  They are learning how to do it together.

 I know the colors are bright, but it's MEXICO - right?  The pink is in the kitchen and the blue is in the bedroom.  Originally, it was supposed to be more of a red, but that's okay - I actually really like it!

The bathroom is yellow with a laundry room beside it.

A view of the bathroom area

Kitchen with a big picture window

Large bedrooom/office area with walk-in closet

Top of the casita - Sunrise spot where I stretch each morning

Gail & Ingrid with their big smiles after doing dishes!

Dancing, Singing, Laughing, Washing Dishes, Cooking, and Working together sums up each of our days. 
Then we have the occasional hikes on our days off.

Trip to the Cardon Forest

Beautiful, majestic cacti that are hundreds of years old

Can you see the chamber orchestra of cactus with the giant snake cactus coming to get them?

Peek-a-Boo

Beautiful cloudy day for our hike

I climbed up into this one (actually Rich lifted me up on his shoulders!)

This is my favorite - the Palo San Juan tree

 Have you ever seen a Sun Halo?  I hadn't.  On our hike this day, there was a little rain and a lot of clouds, but when they finally subsided, the sun had a beautiful rainbow-like circle around it. 

 Halos around the sun or moon happen when high, thin cirrus clouds are drifting high above your head. Tiny ice crystals in Earth’s atmosphere cause the halos. They do this by refracting and reflecting the light.

I captured the previous photo, but here is one I copied off the internet from Sweden that is very cool!

To La Paz for our bi-weekly shopping trip, we often times see cows in the middle of the row.  WATCH OUT!!

Wouldn't want to tangle with this one!

On our way home after a movie and shopping all day, we see more cows.  This one is close to home and he knows that trash pick up day is tomorrow!

UH-OH!  I'm caught!

Ahi Tuna is the BEST!  Freshly caught at the market.....Time for Randy to prepare it as he is the BEST COOK!

$11 in Mexico - Randy says it would be $100 any place else!

Add some steamed Swiss Chard from our garden

Curried rice and a tomato side dish - YUM!  What a feast!

CELEBRATE!  CELEBRATE!  In our garage dining room!

There was BLUE, BLOOD, SUPER Moon a couple of weeks ago that I hope you all saw.  We had a very cloudy streak for three days, so we never saw the moon.  VERY sad!  But, I loved this photo of it with one of my favorite hymns.  Have an AWESOME month all of you!