I can honestly say, this 4th was a day fully worth celebrating. The past few years I've grown a bit ashamed of the holiday, whether that's an issue I need to personally resolve or not, today had all of the good feels and more...despite it being my final hoorah in Reykjavik.
Judith was sent in today as a routine since Lisa was off, but also to move into my place--leaving me the car to drive home with this evening. However in bigger news, the arrival of the new girl last night created a buzz about the day! We weren't thinking she was supposed to arrive until tonight, but we had a full couple hours to prepare for her before going to bed after all of our schenanigans last night. Lisa prepared her place on the couch, and at about 2am I heard some voices, but didn't go to greet her until the morning. I don't know why getting new people is so exciting, but I guess its the chance that they might turn out amazing that makes us all full of anticipation. When we got started for the day setting out saddles we did the introductions--our newest member's name is Zosia and she's from Poland! :). She seemed a bit shy, but again I think it's just the first day emotions, and especially in Reykjavik, there's just so much going on around you at all times. It was a full tour, so we decided to put her on FÃa (as she had a girth wound and would need a guide, but also it would be Zosia's first ride so we wanted to give her someone chill) and the other guide horses were distributed on the ride (Judith on Floki, the fourth coworker on Mango, me on Bliki, and Axelle on Darri.) We figured out after the manager's visit the other day that Mola had split lips on both sides, so she's been left out of the tours the past few days.
**Side note: I'm not sure I recorded that as I was too busy writing on Lisa & my ride in the Lupines--but the manager visited a couples days ago and rode Mola for 10 minutes of the tour before deciding she was too strong...which she partly is, but Lisa had been guiding on her with loose reins and quite enjoyed her so? Either Lisa is a horse god, which could be very probable as she's the most likely person I know to be a Disney princess in real life with the animals, or she was just a calm rider...lol fill in those blanks however you wish to. Anyway, we found her split lips when we got back, after that same manager accidentally saw us doing our daily race home when we turned ahead of the tour. I partly understand his anger there, it is careless, but it was the fourth coworker's idea (who is quite literally family with the owners and "head guide" apparently?) and apparently had been going on all summer so I kind of figured it was a chill thing? Oh well, consider my bridge with the manager burned at this point--so I decided to tell him I was leaving 2 days early and that finished it off. I have two family events coming up in late July, one of which I really have to attend as my family gets older and health starts to decline, so leaving the two days early allows me to go with Axelle and Iti on the road trip before getting a flight home. I had originally wanted to take a solo trip to Norway before heading home, but with the time frame I have, the road trip with A + I will be shorter and let me get home with plenty of time--it just made sense. It seemed easier to tell them I just needed to get home rather than go into all of the detail, but I guess I should of because of course they took offense to it. It's not personal babes, it's (as you understand I'm sure) just business.**
Back to the day, the first tour went well, and I think Zosia enjoyed it for the most part. I mean it's nothing to write home about, but it is relaxing and entertaining as guide. FÃa was fine for her, and after lunch we tacked up for the last tour. I wanted to go out on a fun note, so I took Mbrun as my guide horse, we gave Zosia Eldey, Judith took Bliki, Axelle took Floki, and the fourth coworker stayed behind. It was a smaller tour so we didn't really need him, and we were able to let some more of the horses with wounds sit it out. I ended up taking the slow group at the photo stop split up, but enjoyed talking to the kid and parent that I had with me, and imagined Zosia was enjoying her tölt of all tölts on Eldey. I tried to soak everything in as we wove back to the barn, and helped my small group untack before prepping for the rest of the group to return.
After the tourists left, we all took a quick breather as I packed my things and Judith unpacked hers. Before heading out I wanted to do one last race on the track for memories, so we all tacked up to head over. Lisa took Floki, Axelle took Grima, Judith took Fra, we gave Zosia Eldey again, and I took Mbrun. I'm not sure I'll win this race as Eldey usually goes the fastest, but how could I not bring her!! We each took turns filming each other tölting or galloping around the loop before lining up at far the end of the straightaway track (Lisa opted to video here after her memorable race yesterday) and racing for a final time. Eldey indeed won, but we all forgot to tell Zosia that the horses would try to turn home at the end of the track, so we had a moment of panic yelling to stop her and trying to simultaneously stop all of our own horses halfway up the hill home. It's quite hilarious looking back.
We didn't linger long, as I still had a final bag to pack and then drive back to Ölfus, but it made me a bit emotional thinking it'd be my last hug with Lisa, and last cuddles with some of my favorite horses. Apple had curled up on my bed, conveniently on the clean sheets I'd left for Judith--it's a good thing she likes cats. I have 7 days left in the company and am not sure if they'll be moved to Ölfus before I go. The drive home was quiet, but god how I missed these hills. It feels magical to descend into them again, and then walking into my old room felt warmly nostalgic. I missed Elisa truthfully, and the lazier routine here. I needed groceries and ice cream, so once I dropped my bags we all went out for some essentials and ice cream. The owner's granddaughter joined us, as she has been helping out as a jr. guide since I had moved to Reykjavik. Judith had given me the rundown on the situation, and I was happy to have some extra help. We went to this new balloon trampoline thing the girls had found and messed around while Elisa tried to figure out how to do a flip before heading back home for an early night. In truth, I wish I was back in Reykjavik even though the misty mountains here feel like home.
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