Glamping in Red Rock Canyon: Route 66 from Bridgeport to El Reno, Oklahoma

July 31, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

I spent a quiet morning in the canyon, but I planned to explore another stretch of Route 66. I hoped to hike some trails when I returned, but after the night’s rain, the clay paths were slick—and I’m too old to be slipping and sliding around.

Glamping truly suits me! My tent is air-conditioned, with a cozy bed, a microwave, and a refrigerator. I even have a resident owl who woke me in the night. This morning, I took it slow—slept in, enjoyed breakfast on the deck, and didn’t leave until around 11 a.m.

I headed north from the canyon toward the interstate and picked up Route 66, planning to drive the section from Bridgeport to El Reno. The scenery was pretty in its own way—tree-lined hills and valleys replacing the long, distant views of the plains—a different beauty.

One highlight was a striking bridge over the South Canadian River near Bridgeport, Oklahoma. Though it looked new, I learned it was the historic “Pony Bridge,” recently reconstructed. The bridge has 38 pony truss spans, which were removed, refurbished, and reattached to a modern deck before it reopened in May last year.

Aside from that, there was little evidence left of Route 66’s earlier days in this stretch. When I reached El Reno, I noticed an old Route 66 bridge had been preserved—but with high safety barriers that obscured the view. I couldn’t get a picture, but you can see what I mean in this blog post.

After lunch in El Reno, I took the scenic route back along smaller roads beneath the interstate. What views!

This area was truly beautiful—

rolling farmland, scattered windmills, and oil wells dotted the landscape.

One scene especially struck me: a modern wind turbine standing alongside an old one—a glimpse of past and present power sources.

I hurried back because it was about to storm, and I’m was in a bad part of tornado alley.

This park has been in operation since 1956, well before my family first visited in 1963.

Because the trails were still slippery, and I had no business climbing up on the rim, I returned to a spot I remembered vividly—where a concrete post still marked an old wagon trail. This was the same place where Daddy once hoisted me up on the canyon wall when there were no stairs. He climbed up behind me, and we walked along the canyon rim until we reached a point 40 feet above our camper.

Pam and Mama were still asleep, so Daddy and I dropped little pebbles on the roof until Mama opened the door and hollered, “WILLIAM!” She always knew who the instigator was.

We expected more thunderstorms tonight. I felt reasonably safe tucked in the canyon, though the idea of flooding gave me pause. My tent sat beside a small creek—or “crick,” as the locals pronounced it. After the rain, it turned to mud.

Still, glamping was lovely. Even the owl became a kind of companion. I drifted off to the sound of his call and, though the storms woke me briefly, he was cooing again early the next morning.

Here’s some more photos from inside the canyon.

Red Rock Canyon Revisited: A Nostalgic Journey on Route 66

July 29, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

The history of this road is long and much more than the ribbon of concrete it became later. Like the old roads in the east, it began as a series of paths, first created by animals and then followed by Native Americans.

Later, the European settlers made it their own and traveled it on horseback and with wagons. Unlike the eastern older roads, though, which usually ran north and south, this settlement road ran east to west.

It ran alongside rivers that also ran east to west, such as the Canadian River. Like the Fall Line road in the east, this path came down out of Chicago and made an arc. Later beside it, cities sprung up like St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, before it disappeared into the Old West and California.

This Wikipedia map shows how Route 66 moved across the country and the cities along it, but unfortunately, it shows it as a connection of interstates.

Oklahoma is the state of the Okies who left in droves on this road during the Depression, moving west to new opportunities. Over 15% of them left. The people I see here today, though, are the ones who stayed, who persevered. As I traveled the Mother Road, I tried to visualize its paved days—with motor courts, neon lights, Burma Shave signs, filling stations, cars and trucks loaded to their gills, and hitchhikers.

East of Oklahoma City, the land is forested and hilly, but west of the city, the rolling land opens to drier, grassier, and flatter plains. In between are unseen draws and ravines. One such is Red Rock Canyon, south of the Mother Road near Hinton, Oklahoma.

Red Rock Canyon used to be a state park.

In 1963, my father planned a two-week vacation around the Santa Fe Trail, lawmen, and outlaws. I was 9, and I’m 71 now, so it was over 60 years ago. The four of us made the road trip from Florida and had been in western Kansas in old Abeline. Beginning to turn back toward home, we wandered south into western Oklahoma.

After days of arid open plains, we stopped at a campground called Red Rock Canyon State Park, and everyone of us fell in love. We talked about it for years. We were awestruck by this canyon, and I wanted to come back and see if I felt the same way today. Now, I am the only surviving family member of the four. So here I am, spending two nights at the campground!

But why was this place so special? Last night, I didn’t realize the answer until I drove down into the canyon. I had wondered why we remembered this canyon with such love. The answer was—we were homesick!

Our part of Florida is a parkland of trees and canopied roads that would probably seem like claustrophobic tunnels to people who live on the plains. North Florida is lush and beautiful, similar to what I found in this canyon.

I’m staying for two days. I’m a little tired, so this will be a good rest. Notice the pictures of then and now, and yes, I love the canyon as much as I did back then.

Dad’s camera made the color photos, but they only bought black and white film for mine and Pam’s cameras. It was cheaper, and we were kids.

We camped in a Camp-O-Tel camper, which was a Florida-manufactured camper. Its founders were local friends of the family. This was our first trip in the new camper, and I remember complaining that this wasn’t as much fun as sleeping in a tent. It is a wonder they didn’t throw me out with a pup tent.

Our Camp-O-Tel Camper, manufactured in Monticello, Florida, by James Demott and Mack Wright.

In the canyon, though, this time I am glamping. I don’t think Mom or Dad lived long enough to know what glamping was. They both died almost 20 years ago, but I think my Mama would have loved this. The tent is even air-conditioned, and neither the truck nor camper above was.

A Cross, a Crisis, and a Canyon: Another Day on Route 66

July 28, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

You know the song? 🎶 Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam.🎶 Well, just east of Amarillo, there are homes on Route 66, but not a buffalo in sight.

There are windmills everywhere, but this is high plains, as flat as a pancake. You can see for two days.

As I get farther from the city, once again, I’m driving next to the interstate. It is a pleasant day. I woke up and it was 51° but it warmed up to a dry 65 degrees by the time I left my hotel. We are already in the 90s in Florida, and it is a steam bath there, so this Texas weather is nice!

At the exit to Groom, Texas, I got off the interstate because I could not miss the giant cross in the distance.

It is really worth a visit.

Not only is there a cross, but there are life-size statues of the stations of the cross.

I have seen the stations of the cross depicted most of my life on paper or on the walls of churches or in stained glass, but nothing touched me like this. I’m 71 years old, and I got emotional seeing these life-sized sculptures.

About 10 miles from Groom, TX and the cross, I was on Route 66 and realized that I was almost out of gas. I broke my number one rule when following old trails, I always buy gas before leaving each morning, because the areas I go into have long stretches with no gas stations. It has been so long since I’ve followed a trail on my own, like this, that I forgot my rule.

I was between Alanrede and McLean, Texas and trying to get to McLean where Google says there are some gas stations. There was one in Alanrede and Google said it was open, but it looked like the picture below. Obviously, it has been closed for a long time. Oh well! It’s something I would’ve stopped to take a picture of anyway.

So I kept driving east on Route 66 with the interstate right beside me until horror of horrors I ran into a dead end with road construction. My gas indicator says below empty. I cannot continue and I can see McLean, Texas in the distance. So what was a girl to do?

I guess I broke the law. I backtracked and drove through a shallow, wide ditch to get onto the interstate. I’m lucky because Texas does not have fences that run down the sides of their interstate like we do in Florida.

Then I got off the interstate a quarter-mile later at the McLean exit and got my gas. Cattle operations built McLean.

Hungry, I found a restaurant (the interior shot could be in Florida). It was in McLean, TX on Route 66. At the table next to me was a man and his mother, who were from Florida. He was moving her to his sister’s home in Arizona.

When I got back on the interstate, I realized I was running low on time, so I quit getting off the interstate and I drove like a bat out of hell to my destination for the evening, a former state park near Hinton, OK.

Oklahoma has done a better job of repairing the old Mother Road and keeping it open. I got off the interstate one more time at Shamrock to see a few things and then I got to Hinton, Oklahoma, home of Red Rock Canyon, where I stayed the night.

Shamrock, TX – service station used as a prototype for the “Cars” movie.

I guess the rest of Britten is gone.

By the way, I camped at Red Rock Canyon south of Hinton for two days. My stop here was nostalgic. The last time I was here with in the 1960s as a child with my parents. I’ll share more in my next Route 66 blog post!

Following Old Trails: From Albuquerque to Amarillo on Route 66

July 24, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

This is another blog post in my Following Old Trails section of the blog.

I recently traveled west for a family reunion. One of my characters in the second book of my “Palmetto Pioneers” series moved to Texas in the 1870s, and his offspring was having a family reunion near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Anyway, a flood canceled the reunion, but I had already made my flight arrangements and lodging reservations. So, I made the trip anyway and followed an old trail—or road in this case.

About 19 years ago, my youngest daughter and I did a significant section of Route 66 from Santa Monica in California to Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was a great two-week vacation, and we had planned to do another section of the road later—plans that never came to fruition.

So, I did another section of it from Albuquerque to Tulsa in the first week of June. Here are some scenes from my first day, which was Albuquerque to Amarillo, TX.

By the way, originally Route 66 followed the Old Santa Fe Trail, which ended in Santa Fe, New Mexico; but they re-routed and bypassed Santa Fe in the 1930s. I had already traveled the Santa Fe portion of Route 66 many years ago; therefore, on this trip I followed the bypassed, straighter, and more direct section.

Albuquerque was getting ready to celebrate the 100th birthday of the road, and I took a few pictures before leaving the city. The Mother Road came to Albuquerque in 1926. There were banners on the road,

and people had restored some of the old signs, even though the properties were long gone.

From our earlier trip in the early 2000s to now, there was not much left of the old stores, motels, and sites. But there were a few.

Check out this bus stop!

Once you leave the city on Route 66, the road becomes State Road 333.

There’s hardly anything man-made left ,

but the views and the vistas are exceptional.

This is a pretty part of New Mexico. Imagine what the earliest people who used this road, especially those moving west, thought about these views.

Route 66 is also called the Mother Road. Through many states, it runs alongside I-40.

Frequently, Route 66 was on higher ground here, running along the top of a ridge. They had been getting rain, so everything was green. However, between Moriarity and Santa Rosa, they buried the road beneath Interstate 40. I got off when there was a town.

One of the former Harvey girls ran the Blue Swallow Inn in Tucumcari, NM. “The Harvey Girls, sometimes known as the women who ‘civilized’ the Wild West, were young Americans (well-groomed, well-behaved, single, 8th-grade educated, and white) who left family and friends to head west as waitresses for the Fred Harvey restaurants,” writes Alison Owings. Mr. Harvey owned a chain of restaurants beginning in the late 1800s, and his women became legendary as independent women. There is a Judy Garland movie about them called “The Harvey Girls.”

Some places have done Route 66 art to commemorate the road. This monument to “The Mother Road” is in Tucumcari. Notice its tailfins, commemorating the golden age of American automobiles.

I stopped at the Silver Moon Cafe, established in 1959, for lunch in Santa Rosa. Great Mexican-American food. I had their Indian Tacos.

A popular place for travelers to stop was the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, an 81-foot deep artesian well. Its crystal clear waters have a constant temperature of 62 degrees.

Before I got to Texas, the road ended, and I had to get on the interstate. There are stretches of the road in New Mexico, just before I got to the Texas state line, where the locals said that they were better off with an interstate because this stretch was so dangerous. I noticed one time that what was left of the roadbed went up the side of a draw, and it occurred to me that only a car that could climb like a mountain goat could’ve made it. The roadbed was gone, and there was nothing but a rocky dirt road going up.

This part of the road near the state line reminded me of the old Road Runner cartoons. I kept looking for one or at least a coyote, but saw neither, except for this sign.

When I got to Texas, everything flattened out. These were the plains of Texas, and I was in Comanche territory. This was also where the big herds of buffalo roamed.

Route 66 moved across the state like a rifle shot, and mostly it was right next to the interstate, but Texas did not do a very good job of maintaining this road. I think it is used only by ranchers. And their ranches were few and far between.

Gone were the vistas from the Mother Road where it ran higher than the interstate. Instead, in Texas, it ran directly beside the interstate. On my left as I traveled east, my view was of Interstate 40. This part of Route 66 was not my favorite. Only where the road intersects with towns, can you see anything left of what the road used to be. Route 66 was famous for sites that displayed unusual sights to get people to stop. Even today, they still use this strategy.

Also, Texas chopped up the Mother Road into fragments, crossing the panhandle. Here are little towns, long passed by the interstate, called Glenrio, Adrian, and Vega. Adrian was at the midpoint of Route 66. A sign said it was 1,139 miles to Chicago and 1,139 miles to Los Angeles.

I got to Amarillo in time to have dinner with one of my Andrew’s cousins. Her second great-grandfather is Henry Andrews in the book, and Henry was two years older than my second great-grandmother, Laura, who is also in the book. Henry named one of his daughters Laura.

Andrews Cousins, Palmetto Pioneer Descendants

I stayed at a Route 66 hotel called the Big Texan.

And we had dinner at the Big Texan Steak Ranch, next door. This motel and restaurant made it because they left the Mother Road and rebuilt their operation next to the interstate in the late 1970s. The restaurant gained renown for its free 72-ounce steak. If you can eat it in one sitting, there is no charge.

Just as we left, a man was trying to eat one. Neither of us wanted to see him get sick.

The Footsteps of St. Paul in Thessalonica and Berea

June 18, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

I discovered I did not post this part of my trip to Greece and Turkey. In our “In the Footsteps of Paul” series, my daughter and I also traveled to Thessalonika and Berea. We were not alone, though. On this week-long Collette tour, we joined a larger group from San Angelo, TX, from a Catholic diocese there. We were the only protestants in the group, but they treated us with open arms. They were a fun group of people.

To retrace the steps of St. Paul in Thessaloniki, you can visit several key sites. The Vlatadon Monastery is believed to be built on the site where St. Paul preached here. Near the monastery, a spring is a pilgrimage site, connected with the tradition that Paul escaped through a nearby city gate. There is also the city’s Roman Forum, the ruins of the ancient city market where St. Paul would have been present during his ministry here.

In Acts, we know Timothy stayed in Thessalonica, probably on instructions from Paul, while the Apostle and his companion Silas made their way to the town of Beroea, about forty miles to the west.

Now those (in Beroea) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the Word with all readiness of mind and examined the Scriptures (the Old Testament) daily to see if these things were so. As a result, a great number of them believed, including not a few of the honorable (upper class) Greek women and men (Acts 17:11 – 12)

The first convert of Beroea was Sosipatros, who is a saint in the Greek Orthodox Church. Sosipatros is called Sopater in the Authorized Version of the New Testament. Paul was with him in Corinth when he wrote the Epistle to the Romans, as his name, spelt Sosipater, appears in that letter.

In Berea today you can see The Altar of the Apostle Paul, a modern monument the Bereans erected to remind them of Paul’s visit to their city nearly 2,000 years ago. This “Triptych monument” includes three steps (in the center) believed to be from the ancient synagogue where Paul taught, and it depicts scenes related to Paul’s work in Berea, such as the Macedonian man vision and his address to the Bereans which was from the Bema in Beroea, a type of raised platform.

The Alter of the Apostle Paul. Notice the Iconography.

We also learned a lot about the Greek Orthodox and what makes them different from the Catholics and Protestants. One major difference is they refrain from using figurines, but use iconography. We visited a state-funded place where they still teach this and observed a demonstration.

Demonstrating Iconography (how it is done and what they use)

In the Footsteps of Paul to Phillipi

May 7, 2025 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

Today, we traveled from Thessalonika to Phillipi, where St. Paul first planted the seeds of Christianity in Europe. We are on a highway that looks similar to our US interstates. It is the Via Egnatia, which was built on the Roman road used by St. Paul to travel between Phillipi and Thessalonika.

When modern-day Greeks built this road, they uncovered cobblestones and mile markers used by the Romans. Initially, the Romans built it as a military road.

So we are on our way to the ruins of Phillipi. We are driving east across the region called Macedonia (Macedonika) birthplace of Alexander the Great. This is not to be confused with the country North Macedonia,which is a Balkan country made up of Slavic people.

The suffix ika added to a place or noun means lesser, such as a smaller city or lesser area, such as a region.

We first went to the ruins of Phillipi, the first community of Christians in Europe. And the conversion and baptism of Lydia, the first European baptized.

They named Phillipi after King Phillip, who restored internal peace to his country and, by 339 BC, had gained control over all of Greece through military and diplomatic means, thus laying the foundations for its expansion under his son Alexander the Great.

People know this mountainous region for its gold. After the Ottoman conquest, people abandoned the city in the 14th century AD.

At the ruins of Phillipi, we saw the place where Paul and Silas were imprisoned, and we saw the ruins of an early basilica, a Christian church in Philippi, showing later evidence of the seeds that he planted west for Christianity.

Saint Paul, it appears, was the Johnny Appleseed of Christianity for Europe.

This imprisonment was for a short time. According to the Bible, they prayed, and an earthquake freed them. The guard feared their release, so he was going to kill himself, but Paul and Silas told him, “Don’t harm yourself. We are here.“

Then they informed him they were Roman citizens and that Roman law had led to their illegal imprisonment. In the end, they were let go, and they went back to the home of Lydia.

We visited the prison where guards held them.

We also visited another round Christian basilica; they built it for a martyr or someone special to the church. It has amazing mosaics on its floors. There is also a mosaic with an inscription, which says that a certain bishop in memory of Saint Paul built the church. They know this Bishop lived in the fourth century A.D. It is the earliest known church dedicated to Paul.

We left the ruins and not too far away; we visited the place where Lydia was baptized. She was the first European baptized by Paul. The Book of Acts describes Paul’s encounter with Lydia. The stream where it happened is a cold mountain stream. Eighty percent of Greece is mountainous.

They built a church at the site and there is a small amphitheater by the stream for local baptisms.

On our way back to Thessaloniki, we stopped in the port city of Neapolis, now known as Kavala. This is where Paul first set foot in Europe. It is an old city where the ruins of a city wall and Roman aqueduct still stand.

This is also where there is an original section of the Via Egnatia, the Roman road mentioned earlier, that still exists. He used this road to travel to Phillipi.

How to do a solar eclipse!

July 24, 2023 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

Goodness. Tonight, I searched for an earlier post on a solar eclipse we witnessed while traveling in Idaho several years ago. I discovered that it was a post I never posted. So, with some updating, it is below.

We in the United States will soon have two opportunities to witness two more solar eclipses within the next year. More on that below.

On August 20th of 2017, Chuck and I had two goals for that day and the next–to see a solar eclipse and to drive to Missoula, Montana. But we had also been following the trail of Lewis and Clark. Though theirs was a water trail we followed it by searching for their camps. We were on their return from the great Pacific.

At this point in the trail, Lewis and Clark were stuck near Kamiah, Idaho in a month-long camp waiting for the snow to melt on the Lolo Pass Trail. Like Lewis and Clark, we were stuck, too. A great forest fire blocked our way back to Missoula on the Lewis and Clark Scenic Byway through Lolo Pass.

We found ourselves in a pickle. We wanted to travel a little farther south to see the solar eclipse on August 21, the next day; but south of Missoula was the fire. Because this vast wilderness area lacked roads, to travel south to the eclipse, we would have had to drive another couple of days. We were flying out of Missoula on the 22nd. We didn’t have another couple of days.

So where could we go to watch the eclipse and still make it to Missoula in time for our flight the day after the eclipse? Turns out we had to go north, away from the best place to see the eclipse, but there were no places to stay between Kamiah and Couer d-Alene, the closest city with lodging.

So we spent our day traveling the blue highways north. We were off the Lewis and Clark Trail to see the eclipse.

In Couer d-Alene, we stayed in a local hotel. We had both been there before, many years earlier. Chuck had attended an environmental conference there, back in the 1970s, that would be BC, before Cindy. The city had a lovely downtown with entertainment around a large lake. We spent a nice evening there.

Cindy on a Dock at the Lake

The next morning, for the eclipse, we had our special-purpose solar filters, which I had bought online beforehand. Thankfully, the online vendor sent several more than we needed. We were able to share with some of the hotel’s employees who were unaware of what was happening.

Chuck Looking at the Eclipse

We hung out around the pool where there were no trees to block our view. What we saw was a partial eclipse, though, because we were so far north. Still, we were excited by what we saw. It was a great day anyway.

That afternoon, we left for Missoula. Lewis and Clark, after a month’s wait, began their journey over the Bitterroots in mid-June and arrived at Hot Lolo Springs near today’s Missoula by the end of June. They made it.

We did, too. We got to Missoula by 3 pm the same day. The city was covered with smoke from the Lolo fire just about fifteen miles down US 30 West. We checked into a hotel and waited for our flight home the following morning.

At Lolo Pass, though, Lewis took a small party overland to the great falls and then up the Marias River. Clark took another small group and crossed through the Bitterroot Valley, across the great divide and to explore the Yellowstone. Their plans were to meet at the mouth of the Yellowstone on the Missouri River. This they did on August 13, 1806, over a month later.

After some councils with the Missouri River neighboring Indian nations, the expedition continued downstream covering 50 to 60 miles a day with the current. They arrived in St, Louis by the third week of September.

They brought with them a Mandan Chief Sheheke and his family. Can you imagine that scene when the world of the Mandan Indians came to St. Louis with its stores of foodstuffs, calico piled high, shirts, handkerchiefs, and beads?

The next morning, Chuck and I boarded a 5:40 am flight back to Florida arriving by 6 pm the same day.

Two eclipses coming soon!

There are two more solar eclipses coming soon. The first will be on October 14, 2023, and the second on April 8, 2024. Both will cross the United States. If you wish to see them, make plans to be in the areas where they can be seen best.

Below are two NASA links for each eclipse. Each shows its path.

October 14, 2023 Eclipse April 8, 2024 Eclipse

Also, here is a link for what you should do and expect to do. Wearing protective eyewear is vital. The National Park Service gives instructions. Only use special-purpose solar filters. It is not safe to use homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones.

Make sure your solar filters have ISO 12312-2:2015 certification, as well as the manufacturer’s name and address printed on them. Do not use ones made before 2015. With all the substandard Chinese products now sold in the US, this new certification will be vital. Don’t take chances with your eyes.

Below is the link on how to view the eclipse safely. It also explains the different types of solar eclipses, how to plan ahead, and how to use the eclipse filters correctly. Just click on the link below.

National Park Service, Eclipse Planning & Safety

Winter Swimming in Iceland

January 4, 2020 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel

We got up and said goodbye to Vik, Iceland’s southernmost village and its surrounding valleys, beaches, coastal cliffs, and mountains. We found our stay here to be peaceful, still, and serene. They told us to pack a small bag with our swimsuits.

Photo on Pixabay

This was rural Iceland and was supposed to be a prime place to search for the elusive northern lights. Of course, we missed them here as the weather did not cooperate, but we have one more chance tonight in Reykjavík.

Photo on Wikipedia

I also forgot to mention that in Vik is an IceWear outlet. Unfortunately for Chuck, our bus made a stop there. I love IceWear’s woolens though some are too scratchy for Florida wear.

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Photo on Pixabay

If you remember, our first night was not a good night as we had 90 mile an hour winds. What I didn’t mention before, though, was that the next morning we Floridians in particular looked for the devastation and was surprised that we found none. Iceland hardly has any trees, and it is our trees that seem to cause the most inland damage in Florida after hurricanes. They also had underground utilities.

On our way back to Reykjavík, we visited Seljalandsfoss, one of Iceland‘s most famous and picturesque waterfalls.

It has a walkway behind it but it was freezing, and the walkway was hazardous. This wiki picture shows what we missed.

Just offshore were a cluster of islands. Near that cluster was Surtsey, an island that did not exist until between 1963 and 1967. It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began over 425 feet below sea level. It finally reached the surface in 1963 whereby the eruption continued until 1967. We learned more about it at the Lava Center.

This is what Surtsey looks like today.

Photo from Wikipedia

We stopped at the Lava Center, an interactive museum about the science of geology and the volcanic systems that formed Iceland. With its high tech interactive displays, we were able to feel the forces of nature. For example, we experienced different types of earthquakes. It described the types of plate slips and then you felt what it feels like. In another room we walked down a hall during an earthquake, all made possible by special effects.

We also saw the Fiery Heart of Iceland, a 12 meter high structure simulating the mantle plume and the magma flow underneath Iceland.

We sat in a cinema auditorium to watch volcanic eruptions in HD 4K. I’ve been to a lot of science museums but this may be the best one I’ve ever seen. I’ve always been extremely interested in plate tectonics, and this place explains it better than anyone or anywhere else.

This was our last afternoon in Iceland. We drove along the south shore toward the Reykjanes Peninsular with its rugged landscape, lava fields, and numerous Hot Springs. This is also the home of the Blue Lagoon.

I had heard about the Blue Lagoon before and also heard that the mineral-rich seawater of its geothermal pool is good for you. What I didn’t know is that it is the outtake of a generating plant.

Its waters provide not only a lagoon, but also its patented, active ingredients in Blue Lagoon skin care: silica, algae, and minerals.

Our group stopped to take a dip, and the water was hot and wonderfully relaxing. Just what all of us travel-weary people needed.

The pool sits in the middle of a dramatic 800-year-old lava field. We walked through the lava to get to the spa.

We both got a mud mask, free with admission. I’d give anything if I had gotten a picture of Chuck with his mud mask.

We didn’t think their lifeguards needed to worry about sunblock.

We swam up to the swim-in-bar for refreshments,

and the water was truly relaxing.

After our dip in the Blue Lagoon we drove on to Reykjavík for a farewell dinner and overnight stay. After dinner, we took another cruise out into the bay to try to see the northern lights once again. Walking to the ship, we saw their city employees putting up their Christmas decorations.

This time we were hugely successful. We watched the Northern Lights reach all the way across the sky from the right to the left.

This one you could see with the naked eye, but I still took pictures.

We flew out the next day back to the states with a connection in SeaTac. I know! It was a lousy connection, but that’s what happens when so many planes are grounded thanks to Boeing.

The Most Voluminous Glacier in Europe

December 31, 2019 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel

This is another post from our trip to Iceland. We took another day trip out of Vic, but this one was to the Vatna Glacier. Using the Ring Road we traveled around the coastal side of the glacier which is the largest glacier in Europe by volume.

NASA photo found on Wikipedia

It sits in the Vatnajokull National Park, the largest national park in Europe. Within the glacier is Iceland’s highest mountains.

Our first stop was a visitors’ center to watch a very good film about the glacier. Its mass takes up about 3,204 square miles, and it is more than a half a mile thick at its thickest point.

Located immediately below the arctic circle, Iceland has an alpine environment. It also has a very short growing season. This makes for a beautiful landscape though.

It is a different type of scenic beauty.

Iceland’s soil is of volcanic origin and is very loose. Erosion is a whole other problem here.

Its highland landscape is wide, open, with a vast horizon.

We stopped in several places to view
fingers of the glacier up close.

We are traveling along the Ring Road, and at one point our tour guide showed us where a glacier outburst occurred.

Caused by a volcano inside the glacier, the flood water burst from under the ice in this area with immense violence. Large blocks of ice broke off the glacier and were carried down across the sand flats here.

There are two processes that happen here deep in the earth. First the Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs through here. Second, this is a hotspot. Hotspots are located throughout our world. For example Yellowstone is considered a hotspot.

The most intense Icelandic volcanoes are located beneath this glacier. There are seven volcanoes located underneath the Vatna’s icecap, and most of them are active.

This is what this outburst did to the Ridge Road bridges here. It happened in September 1996 when powerful earthquake tremors were followed by a volcanic eruption which lasted until 13 October.

However the floodwaters didn’t appear until November 5 when the floodwaters washed away the road crossing the sand flats here. One 376 meter bridge was completely washed away. Several others were badly damaged.

The outburst resulted in five channels of water and one channel was briefly the second largest river in the world. The five channels of floodwaters washed away a quarter mile long bridge, most of another bridge over a half mile long, over 19 miles of roadway and twenty-three power-line towers.

They used some of the damaged bridge to build a Memorial. No human lives were lost.

All is peaceful now in the same location.

We passed dozens upon dozens of waterfalls, all made by the glacier. One of my favorites was called the Two Sisters Falls.

Later, we traveled to the Jokulsarlon, which literally means ‘glacial river lagoon’.

It was amazingly scenic

with its bright blue icebergs

and seals.

This is either a total waste of tax dollars or someone must have tried it.

The river reaches down to the sea passing under the Ring Road and its impressive bridge.

On the other side of the bridge it too has a black beach.

We watched the icebergs move on into the sea.

People added their own creative talents to the topography.

Some comical.

On the way back we stopped at Hofskirkja in the village of Hof. The little parish church built in the 1880s is still in use and was the last turf church built in the old style.

A cemetery surrounded it.

We decided to take a group shot here.

After we got back to our hotel and had dinner we went out once again to see the Northern Lights traveling westward to total darkness near the sea. We used an app to see if they were forecast for the evening. There was a slight chance of seeing the aurora due to a possible predicted break in the cloudiness, but alas no dancing northern lights.

We did have a nice dinner though.

Have You Ever Seen a Black Beach?

December 4, 2019 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel

On day three in Iceland, we toured a Black Beach near Vik; Skogafoss, a waterfall; and a museum about the people of Iceland. It was another stormy day with high winds, but nothing like the night before.

A Black Beach

We were on Iceland’s southern shore at the Hotel Katla near Vik. We survived their Icelandic storm which came ashore just before midnight. Since there are hardly any trees, there was little damage.

Hotel Katla

I had seen a black beach before, but not one this pretty. The sand is like black crystals, and since it is raining it is glistening and beautiful. The Icelanders call this beach Reynisfjara.

Just offshore we’re black basalt rock formations that jutted out of the sea.

Plus there are caves and folklore stories. The rock formations in the sea were once trolls who were turned to stone when caught by daylight.

Supposedly, monsters live in the caves. The rocks near this cave look a little like the giant’s staircase in Northern Ireland.

The water was very turbulent and dangerous.

This beach is also known for its deadly sneaker waves. There were signs everywhere warning about these rogue waves, and we were told by our guides to stay far away from the water’s edge. We thought we did!

In the photo above, notice several of our group posing for photos in front of the angry sea. See that big wave behind the couple in their red coats?

Well, if I hadn’t put down my camera and ran like hell for higher ground, Chuck and I both would have been knocked down by that wave. The lady in the headband got wet to her knees and she ran, too.

Above was my next photo as people rushed to help those knocked down by the wave. Thankfully, all of us were well up away from the waves, but one of these sneaker waves pushed far up onto the beach where we stood. Too close to the sea, and someone might have been swept away.

So many of our group got wet that we had to go back to the hotel which thankfully was a short drive away. We began to see how Iceland can be a hazardous place for the unwary.

After a change of clothes, we went to see Skogafoss. If you remember foss means waterfall. This was one of Iceland’s largest in terms of volume of water. It falls over the cliffs of a former coastline. It is 49 feet across with a 200 foot fall.

One can take a trail up to the top of the falls, but we decided against it. Too much wind and rain for us. These falls have been in many movies and tv series, including “Vikings” and “Game of Thrones”.

Our next stop was a lookout along the coastline. The entire point was littered with foam blown from the sea down below on the cliffs.

I’ve never seen the sea this violent, and Chuck and I once experience outrunning a category 4 hurricane in a clipper ship. A short video clip is below.

https://oldageisnotforsissiesblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/img_2695-1.mov

Our last stop was to learn how the people of Iceland worked…