Day 73-exploring west of Borgarfjörður

   March 17-We slept in this morning and then hung out in the apartment.  Alex called a little after noon and asked if she could stay at Kristín's house another night.  We had no specific plans for the day, so we told her that would be fine.  Since the weather was nice and we now did not need to wait for the party to be over to go pick up Alex, we decided to spend the afternoon exploring the area to the west of the Borgarfjörður.  You won't find this region mentioned in any guidebook.  The land is simply an extensive lava plain that is sparsely populated with farmsteads.  Nonetheless, we came across some interesting churches, Sally got to see some birds, and the shallow shoreline had lots of small, rocky islands, making it very picturesque.

Hafnarfjall to the east of Bornarnes.

Borgarnes as seen from the west.



Whooper swans.



Gyrfalcon.  These were caught and exported to Europe in large numbers during the Middle Ages,
because they were prized by European nobility, for whom falconry was a popular pastime.

Lighthouse on Þormoðssker, a small, rocky islet four miles off of the coast.

Small rocky islets in a shallow bay north of Traðir.

Church at Áftanes, which is a farmstead that was established when Borgarfjörður was initially settled.

Farmstead and church of Akrar with the mountains Hafersfell (right) and Ljósufjöll behind it. 

   While we were off exploring, Alex had a great time at Kristín's extended birthday party.
They stayed up until 3am on Friday night, watching the movie, "Bridesmaids."  Alex declared that "it is the most disgusting movie ever," but she also says that she liked it.  They spent
time today playing party games and board games that the girls had brought along and also just running around on the farm.  Kristín's family owns 60 sheep, a couple horses and a puppy, and Alex got to see and play with all of the them, which she obviously enjoyed.  Since a farm needs have upwards of 1000 sheep to be economically viable, both of Kristín's
parents have other jobs as well.  One of the party guests, Þorgerður, was accompanied by
her stepsister and a friend, both of whom were visiting from out of town.  After they left in the afternoon, the remaining guests (Emba, Brynja, and Alex) helped make a carrot cake,
which was the birthday cake for the celebration that evening.  The smaller group of guests
went to bed "early" tonight, only staying up until 1 am!

   The sky was mostly clear again tonight and the auroral forecast indicated that there could be some geomagnetic storms.  So, Sally and I looked out the windows whenever we thought about it in the evening and then whenever we woke up during the night.  In the process, we caught a couple moderate displays.  Isn't it nice that Mother Nature decided to celebrate St. Patrick's Day?  The Hays family did as well today by wearing green, although it is not otherwise celebrated in Iceland.