The Day Axelle & I Said I Do?
Before I went to bed last night, in my delirious state I figured a nice joke to make (in light of the sheer insane amount of time Axelle and I have spent together all summer) would be to bring my diamond beach proposal full circle. Very dry and niche joke, I now know, thus prompting this for my Insta story friends. I was wholeheartedly not prepared for the extent at which they would believe me. I need to watch what I say more carefully now, but peep Iti's response at the end. Regardless, Axelle found it wildly hilarious and responded with "ahhhh ze Americans, always so gullible eh?" I will add though, I took it as the highest compliment--as I quite enjoy the fact that my buddies and acquaintances back home see me as the most likely person they know to run away and marry a French girl for visa perks. Icon behavior, truly.
*Back to the Main Plot line*
In other news, our campsite was AWFUL. Granted no one ever came to ask us to pay soooooo I suppose it was a partial win? Considering that and the semi-free laundry together? The campers and cars though--they were all maybe 2 feet away from each other, and we were crammed into the small lot. I'm telling you, something about campsites and sleeping in this part of the north just doesn't hit like literally everywhere else in the country. I don't know about my other two comrades, but I was thoroughly happy to get out--so much so that we left a little too early for the distance we had to drive to get to the horse farm and arrived 30m early. Axelle and I annoyed ourselves on that one, since we had really hated when people arrived too early for our tours. Nathan was happy to go to a cafe while we rode as he had a book report to do, and when he left, Axelle and I did our part to help the woman leading our tour get everything ready.
It turned out the woman giving our tour, Anna, was the owner of the farm/herd, and the guide riding with us was a workaday girl staying with her for the summer! She had never ridden before this summer, but I think she did wonderfully with the horse she was given! Axelle and I had thought about pretending to be very bad guests (asking for seat belts, screaming everytime the horse walked, or holding our reins up high) but we felt bad after learning the young guide was a brand new rider. They had brought in two (normally) guide horses for us making me think that the owner and girl were looking forward to a fun ride, so we went with acting like our experience level and set off.
Now you might be asking why Axelle and I wanted to do a ride having just spend out entire summer guiding rides, but we really wanted to know what it was like on the other side of the rock, so to speak. We knew our tour, and our horses, and how we did things, but we were curious as to how it went in a smaller, family focused company. Plus the website for the place we picked was super cool.
I definitely recommend them for anyone going north and wanting that experience of riding: https://www.eyjardalsa.is/eng
The ride was several hours, and it was honestly amazing to be back on a horse. I thought after a week it would still feel a bit like a drag, but I felt alive and felt all of my muscles in tune as we crossed the terrain. Anna was very chatty and friendly the whole way, taking us on new routes and over all sorts of rocks and moss towards multiples waterfalls and viewpoints throughout the tour. We went to 2 waterfalls, with her young sheepdog sprinting alongside us the entire time. At the first (larger falls) soooo many tourists took photos of us on the horses and really took a lot of joy in seeing some horses crossing the river and grazing.
I forgot how much horses make people smile--it was one of my favorite parts about doing the Disney Tours and Viking Cafe meet-and-greets this summer. While Axelle and I got off to look around and the Anna took the saddles off for a rest, a group of young girls approached the horses and took photos with them. The dog took a full-flop nap after sprinting for the entire first hour, and I smiled at how connected this lifestyle really brings you to the gentler creatures. For the rest of the ride we tölted across rivers, and galloped along grass pathways on small islands in the river way.
After the second falls (a bit more hidden but still so picturesque and exciting) we were headed towards home much the horses excitement, and Anna offered for us to try jumping two streams for fun. I haven't jumped all summer (intentionally at least), and it was the funniest jump I’ve ever done. I can tell they only jump on necessity, but we took the streams at a nice gallop and got over both clearly--thats all that matters. We ended the ride giggling up the driveway at the young guide's wacky jump/hop that her horse did, and had some coffee and biscuits with Anna and her girls before heading off.
Anna mentioned a fun waterfall to visit, which Axelle and I were both pumped to try out, and she asked if the younger guide could go with us and we very gladly accepted...however when Nathan arrived with the car he was very hungry and asked if we could just go get food instead. I was kind of bummed seeing as I was looking forward to getting to know the younger guide a little and have a fun waterfall hike with her, but I guess food makes sense. We said our goodbyes and thank yous before driving onward. Ish. We stopped at gas station next to the first waterfall we saw for half an hour and had a couple hot dogs each before planning our route west...finally. :)
On the drive towards the northwest Axelle found a small natural hotspring waterfall/river a little off the main fjord road (as we're starting to get into fjord country now woohoo!) and we took a slightly dysfunctional dip for an hour or so. At first it was very peaceful, and the water was so warm it steamed as we sank into a pooled up section hidden behind some trees. As we shifted around positions though, the current quickly took its spotlight as some trucks went (conveniently) by and Axelle almost lost her bottoms while Nathan struggled to pull himself together and Axelle out of the water. I had gotten out to dry off at that point, so when Axelle finally gave up I had laughed and filmed well past my fair share for the memories.
I think I speak for everyone in saying that we’re missing Iti. She really brought so much laughter to the group, and many times that we’re doing some stupid shit like Axelle in the hotspring I find myself turning to see if she’s laughing as well. I’m sending her all of the videos that I can, but we’ll definitely be counting down the days until we get to see her again for the blue lagoon and dinner.
I found a quite campsite in a nearby coastal town, and we quickly made camp next to some other car-tent campers. The view was panoramic mountains behind us and across the fjord, and the sky was pastel and perfect as the evening closed in. I'm not sure if it was just the sheer contrast from last night's campsite, the view and facilities, or a combination of both, that made me so excited for a deep and restful sleep here. The dining house was essentially a glass cube, which was both cool and a little strange as everyone could see into what we were doing, but it was pretty empty so we editing photos and cooked in relative peace. When it came time to shower I was over joyed to find both a FREE shower and an entirely private-stall shower. I took full advantage of it and deep conditioned my hair, shaved my entire body, and exfoliated. Apparentlly Axelle got those vibes in the shower as well, because as we were climbing into bed we both said at the same time "I shaved for youuuuuu." What a jinx moment if I ever had one--we giggled at our new hive mind and raved about our shower experiences after that. You know what they say--great minds. :)
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