Spotting puffins in Iceland is a bucket list item for most visitors. I saw these at Reynisfjara, and had to zoom the camera quite a lot to really see them. I was so excited, until I got home and found out we have puffins in Washington state, too.
ByGD
Famous Beach
Recognize this beach? It’s kind of famous.
It’s also kind of dangerous. Several people have been swept away when the sea looked calm. So stay away from the water.
ByGD
Less Traveled By
It’s actually the path not taken. I didn’t follow this divergent path because a carload of people were waiting for me. It was mighty tempting, though.
ByGD
Unfamous Falls
I’m in Iceland right now, but this photo was taken on an earlier trip. Seljalandsfoss is one of the most famous waterfalls in Iceland, and deservedly so. Those majestic 63-meter falls are quite photogenic, with a trail that runs right behind the cascade. No wonder it swarms so thickly with tourists you can barely see the water.
But right around the corner is a second fall, Gljúfrabúi. Harder to say, easier to see. Hardly anyone knows it’s there. It has cut a channel back into the rock. Visitors follow the stream back to the hill, then walk through a rock channel into a cave. The waterfall has carved out a doughnut-hole in the roof. You can climb up on a big rock in the middle, look up at the open sky, and feel the fine shower of waterfall spray on your face.
ByGD
Soft Sunset
I grew up on the desert, where urban pollution and barren earth combined to create some pretty epic sunsets. Colorful sunsets were among the very few things I missed about the Southwest when I moved to Seattle (Indian fry bread was another). Here, you could miss the sunset entirely behind the clouds.
But I’ve grown to love the gentle Northwest sunsets, all colorless light and shadow. This one was at Cama Beach.