REFLECTIONS

by Katie Butler Johnson

August is the hottest month in Texas.

Since Texas extends 801 miles from its most northern location in the Panhandle to its southernmost point on the Rio Grande, even if the temperature cools down during August up north, it remains blazing hot down south in Brownsville.

I’m no fan of heat and humidity. When that duo barges in on us in August, I head for cooler climes. Sometimes that means hiding out in my air-conditioned house and cocooning on the overstuffed sofa. That’s when I delve into one of those books on my stack of must reads. Other times, I head the devil out of Texas to give it time to cool down.

One August awhile back, I headed to Iceland and Greenland. I convinced three buddies to join me on a Smithsonian Expedition: “In the Wake of the Vikings.” We packed our suitcases with expedition clothing, trekking sticks, binoculars, waterproof boots and parkas - and several decks of BRIDGE CARDS. With three of us avid bridge players, the fourth had no option but to learn how to play during the trip.

Our Smithsonian adventure began in Iceland with a 190-mile Golden Circle Land Tour that took us out from Reykjavik. We visited Thingvellir National Park - the site of Iceland’s Rift Valley. That’s where Iceland is slowly being ripped apart by tectonic forces. The Great Rift Valley in East Africa is the only other place on earth one can see the results of two major tectonic plates drifting apart.

Next, we stopped at the Guilfoss (Golden Falls) waterfalls and then on to Geysir, a geothermal area. Standing by the geyser Strokkur, we waited and watched as it bubbled and spewed jets of steaming water – just like Yellowstone’s Old Faithful does.

Last stop on our Smithsonian Golden Circle Tour was Kerid, a volcano with a 3,000 years old red rock caldera - then on to the Hellisheidi Power Station - one of the largest geothermal power stations in the world.

Icelanders enjoy a high quality of life and also have one of the longest life expectancies in the world. Their country ranks # 1 in education globally. And yet, as strange as this sounds to me, a portion of the population is said to believe in the existence of Huldufolk (hidden people - kind of like invisable elves) that live among them. I’ve read that construction for a new business might sometimes be halted due to fear that bulldozers might destroy a hidden person’s home or community.

After our brief time in Iceland, we boarded a french ship, L’Austral, for the next part of our Smithsonian tour and headed to Greenland - the world’s largest island that is not considered a continent. With less than 60,000 people, Greenland is one of the least populated countries in the world. It’s considerably colder than Iceland because it’s closer to the Artic Circle and doesn’t have the Gulf Stream to moderate it as does Iceland. Most of Greenland is uninhabitable; 70% of it is covered by a permanent ice sheet.

Greenland is a photographer’s dream. Any way you point your camera you capture that perfect shot. Glaciers, mountains, amazing rock formations, floating icebergs, colorful Inuit villages, ancient Viking ruins, wild flowers, sun glinting off the ice and surf - it’s all there to be had with the click of a shutter.

We visited a string of Inuit villages. At one village, a number of our ship’s crew plus some fellow passengers formed an impromptu soccer team and played a bit with the Inuit village’s players on their soccer field. There was lots of cheering for both sides.

While we were at anchor that same day, the ship’s staff provided fishing poles to passengers who wanted to fish from the ship. I watched as fellow passengers snagged a bumper crop of fish. Then the chef prepared and served us a meal that night featuring those very same fish.

Our trip to Iceland and Greenland was a great experience. The August timing made it a perfect escape from the August heat.

Oh, and those bridge cards I mentioned that we packed for the trip were quite well used. We played during our down time. And, let me tell you, that gal that started out as a bridge novice is a novice no more.