Day 6: PUFFINS PUFFINS PUFFINS!
Jul. 13th, 2012 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
life_of_glamourCathyn hatched me a puffins!
Finally tracked down the wily and elusive puffin nesting grounds! We're out on the far Eastern edge of the East Iceland fjords.
OMG OMGOMG They are SO CUTE!!!
They make extremely silly noises, kind of a grumbling squawk. They live in little burrows on rock cliffs over the ocean.
And they stand around posing with beakfuls of fish! This guy stood and let me take approximately dozens of pictures.
My little camera that I got as a freebie has a serious zoom function, because I assure you I was NOT mere feet away from the birdies. More like yards. There was a huge cliff and it was covered with puffins! There were two platforms built up at the tops of staircases for people to view the puffins. There were a few people milling about, watching and taking pictures, and the birds couldn't have cared less about us.
When I was a kid we had a set of encyclopedias, and one thing I liked to do was to pore over the sections for various kinds of animals. I loved the birds, and I would look at all the different bird varieties for hours, but the bird I loved the most was the puffin. So, you could say that today was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me. I am happy, no matter what else we see (or don't) for the rest of the trip, I am happy.
Ok, hm, what else happened today? Oh, we saw a waterfall that was pretty neat. They're a dime a dozen here but this one was pretty great.
We drove over an extremely narrow, steep and windy mountain pass, and the road was gravel - not paved. You never realize just how much you enjoy and rely on having traction until you don't have it anymore. I'm not looking forward to doing that again. Tomorrow. Yikes! In fact, many of the major roads here have gravel sections that go on for miles. It's a little surprising.
And finally today - come to Iceland, where the junk food is accurately labelled!
Enjoy some Krap! No thanks, I don't want any of that Krap.
Finally tracked down the wily and elusive puffin nesting grounds! We're out on the far Eastern edge of the East Iceland fjords.
OMG OMGOMG They are SO CUTE!!!
They make extremely silly noises, kind of a grumbling squawk. They live in little burrows on rock cliffs over the ocean.
And they stand around posing with beakfuls of fish! This guy stood and let me take approximately dozens of pictures.
My little camera that I got as a freebie has a serious zoom function, because I assure you I was NOT mere feet away from the birdies. More like yards. There was a huge cliff and it was covered with puffins! There were two platforms built up at the tops of staircases for people to view the puffins. There were a few people milling about, watching and taking pictures, and the birds couldn't have cared less about us.
When I was a kid we had a set of encyclopedias, and one thing I liked to do was to pore over the sections for various kinds of animals. I loved the birds, and I would look at all the different bird varieties for hours, but the bird I loved the most was the puffin. So, you could say that today was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me. I am happy, no matter what else we see (or don't) for the rest of the trip, I am happy.
Ok, hm, what else happened today? Oh, we saw a waterfall that was pretty neat. They're a dime a dozen here but this one was pretty great.
We drove over an extremely narrow, steep and windy mountain pass, and the road was gravel - not paved. You never realize just how much you enjoy and rely on having traction until you don't have it anymore. I'm not looking forward to doing that again. Tomorrow. Yikes! In fact, many of the major roads here have gravel sections that go on for miles. It's a little surprising.
And finally today - come to Iceland, where the junk food is accurately labelled!
Enjoy some Krap! No thanks, I don't want any of that Krap.
