Puffins and Ice Cubes

Last night, the clouds parted and the sun shown brightly.  Unforutnately, when I was closing the curtains to go to bed, I didn't notice that there were 2 sets of curtains.  Carrie and I fought the brightness all night, until, at 4am, I realized that one half of one of our windows were darker than the rest.  On investigating, I found the blackout curtains hiding behind the thin white ones.  When I closed them all, it was relatively dark for the first time all night.We woke to a bright clear day.  We tried something new today, and started out at the grocery store.  We picked up some breakfast items and stuff to make sandwiches for lunch.  As we entered the store, the clouds parted and angels sang as I saw Starbucks bottled coffee in the refrigerated section.  I was going to have a taste of home as we drove this morning!  On the menu for breakfast was apples with peanut butter.  In the store, Pat had picked out some creamy peanut butter.  Les, however, wanted crunchy.  So, crunchy it was.  While pat was spreading the pasty goodness on the apples, her frustration level rose, as crunchy does not spread or stick to the apples well.  She let us all know how wrong the choice of peanut butter was, and we were all going to just have to deal with the deficiencies.  As soon as Carrie took her first bite, a big chunk of PB fell onto her scarf.  "See, that's what happens when we get crunchy" was the true statement from the backseat.  I will stop this section of the notes with merely saying that I have now heard Pat referred to as "Food Wench" and "Garbage Wench."On we drove to our first stop.  I sipped my coffe slowly, enjoying it.  We were backtracking the way we came last night.  However, yesterday, it was storming, and we couldn't see much.  Today, the sun was out, and it was IMPRESSIVE.  In the gaps of every mountain, glacier flowed.  The colors were more intense, and actually seeing the ocean was awesome.  We made a few stops along the way to take pictures of sheep, waterfalls, sheep, sheep, and more sheep.Our first event of the day was an excursion to see Puffins.  They nest in the cliffs of a cape connected to mainland by a plain of black sand, covered by rainwater and river runoff.  We piled into a hay trailer, and rode for 30 minutes.  We disembarked on the black sand and began to climb.  By the time we reached Everest Camp 3 (exaggeration, maybe, but it sure felt like it), we took a moment to breathe, and take in the view.  Our guide led us through some nesting Skuua, which can be pretty aggressive.  At the start of our climb, we were offered hiking poles. In addition to being useful during the climb and walk, the other reason we were given these, was protection.  In the event that one of these large birds decided to attack, we were to hold the walking pole straight up in the air, and the bird was supposed to relent.  Unfortunately, I had no pole, being the chivalrous husband that I am, I made sure Carrie had them, and they ran out before I could get a set.  For those unfortunate enough to not have protection, we were supposed to raise our hand up in the air, and they would likely attack that, instead of your head.  Neither sounded particularly attractive to me, but there was nothing to do but soldier on.When we came to the first nesting area, there was a puffin just sitting there waiting to be photographed.  Puffins dig burrows in the cliffs for nesting.  When startled, or when returning from fishing, they will fly in large circles, waiting for the coast to be clear, before landing again.  Those little buggers are fast!  Carrie got some great pictures, but it was so hard to catch them in flight.  We left that area and headed to another one, but the guide took a short cut.  Unfortunately, this took us close to another set of Skuaa nests, that were less used to random people traipsing by them.  We heard the sounds of a charging bird, and I looked back to see the last two-thirds of our group raising their poles, or hands appropriately, fending off the bird.  We bravely kept going, knowing that they would all be fine.At the next area we got some great action shots of a puffin attempting to return to the nest with freshly-caught fish in its mouth.  It kept circling, and circling, as some of our group were a little too close to the den for its comfort.  Once we got everyone at a safe distance, it landed.  We walked on to another area, and got some more great shots of the cliffs, other sea birds, and puffins.  Over a hill, we stumbled across a Skuaa nest with freshly hatched chicks.  Let me tell you, those parent birds were NOT HAPPY.  One of the admonitions of the guide was for us to stay together, for if we were on our own, we would be a much more attractive target of the parents.  I heard the guide say "oh, she's in trouble."  We looked back, and one of the normal stragglers was straggling much more than normal, and was standing right at the nest, oblivious to the circling doom around her.  The guide put on her firm voice, and instructed everyone to move on, and tragedy was averted.  If I say I was a little disappointed that we didn't get a dive-bombing exhibition, does that make me a bad person?We hiked back to the original base camp, and it was time for descent.  We saw the next batch of hikers approaching in their trailer, and our guide said she was going to run down the hill to move our tractor.  We were welcome to do the same, though after the strenuous climb, I didn't think that running down the hill would be a great idea.  However, as I started walking, I realized that the soft sand had made climbing hard, but that descending would actually be easy, even running.  So, I went for it.  Other than a significant amount of black sand entering my boots, nothing bad happened.We rode the trailer for the 30 minute ride back to our car.  We loaded up, then drove back to a fuel station to use their WC and get some hot tea.  We sat in the car, and Pat orchestrated the assembly of ham and cheese sandwiches, and we feasted.  From there, we drove to our next stop, a glacier lagoon boat tour.  When we arrived, we found out that we could get in on an earlier tour than we had booked, since we were early.  We had a bit of time to burn, so we climbed an overlooking hill and took some pictures.  The sun was gone, behind clouds, and it was getting colder.We were a little early for the boat, and ended up going on an even earlier tour, since the hostess took pity on us.  We crammed in the amphibious boat, and drove toward the water.  This lagoon was formed by the retreating glacier, and has an exit to the sea, but the icebergs that break off of the glacier are too big to leave, as they hit the bottom, so until they melt more, and break up into even smaller pieces, they are stuck there.  Some of the icebergs were cloudy white like snow.  Some were clear blue.  Those were icebergs that have recently flipped, and the section that was underwater has been melted and polished, so it is clear.  It will turn cloudy white from exposure to the air.  Some of the icebergs were black, or streaked with black.  Those are remnants of a volcanic eruption, where the glacier was covered by ash, later to be covered over by new snow, which will compact over time into the glacier.  The boat stopped, and they brought on a piece of an iceberg for us to handle, and eventually taste.  We saw an iceberg flip, and later, a seal.  It was a great end to the day.We drove back to Hofn, and eventually settled on a well-reviewed hole-in-the-wall joint.  Carrie, Les, and I had Lobster Rolls, an Pat got a burger.  All 4 of us ate for what Les's entree cost last night, so we counted that a score.  It was very good, and Les and Pat even were able to get Diet Pepsi in a cold bottle.  Back at the guesthouse, we talked to Emma via FaceTime, and imported pictures.  I'm finishing the notes while Les, Carrie, and Pat have hot chocolate.  Pat will argue the adjective for chocolate, as the water was merely lukewarm, and when she tried to use the microwave, she couldn't figure it out, so she gave up angry.  And, as they say in Groundhog Day, "don't drive angry."  It is so weird to be sitting here at 10:30pm, and know the only reason the sun isn't shining in, is the rain clouds in the sky.  At least, it might be darker tonight.  :). I really should think of another word for tonight - doesn't seem to fit here.