The Grand Puf-finale
"Am I gonna have to get a spray tan?"
Hello dear friends and family,
Reese and I are happily limping into the finish of our wonderful month of adventures. I am taking my decongestant religiously and alternating it with hot tea. Reese’s cliff jumping neck soreness persists, and we just had to wash out 2 pairs of underwear in the shower for tomorrow. HOWEVER. We spent a delightful day in Reykjavik taking photos, exploring shops, and biting the bullet on a puffin tour. “Guaranteed puffin sightings every time!”
We slept late in our little white box and then headed into town.
Reese here to tell you about our SHOPPING.
So far this trip, we have been unable to buy anything because of the extremely limited backpack space. Today, we made up for lost time.
Reykjavik is an amazing place to go shopping. We learned that all the souvenir stores are affectionately referred to as “Puffin Stores” by the locals because they are just brimming with puffin themed items. We went FULL TOURIST.
Itemized purchase list:
Five post cards (four of which are for my journal)
A set of matching lava stone bracelets for me and Mom
A puffin sticker pack (for my journal)
An “Iceland” sticker for my suitcase (it has stickers from everywhere I’ve been)
A “safe travels” viking rune (for my journal)
An Icelandic flag (for Nash, who collects the mini flags)
A Reykjavik tee that I’m obsessed with
Rainbow Street sticker (for the cover of my journal)
Puffin stuffed animal (I couldn’t help myself)
Icelandic birds keychain (for my journal)
Icelandic flag stickers (probably for my journal— getting repetitive yet?)
Icelandic candies
Four orange (the fruit) glasses that are wrapped up (I found these at a cute little European shop seville and LOVED THEM but didn’t buy them. Then, I tried to find them in Vila do Bispo because I wished I’d bought them and couldn’t. When I saw them here I knew it was a sign)
A little orange dish to match the glasses (also wrapped up)
So yeah, we may have gone overboard. But at least we didn’t buy this giant puffin.
Now I’ll turn it back over to Mom.
Reykjavik is a great little city - clean and easy to navigate and very friendly. And very into Pride month - it seems there are as many RAINBOW flags as Icelandic ones, so we loved that. Not to mention Rainbow Street, of course.
This photo illustrates exactly how I’m going to remember Reese on this trip, always with the camera around the neck, ready for a great shot. I’ve been grateful to have a terrific documenter with me every day, but we realized tonight that it has come at a price.
Reese again! Lets talk about PUFFINS! Because we FINALLY PUFFED IT UP!
At 4pm, we made our way down to the marina and hopped on our tour with a lovely guide wearing a puffin hat, Milla. I already loved her. Mom and I sat directly on the front of the boat like hood ornaments. At about 4:15, the boat started to pull away from the dock with absolutely no fanfare. There was no announcement or information, nor were we issued life jackets, nor did we sign any type of paperwork. This prompted a discussion about how maybe the US is just litigious, because this would never happen at home. Who knows!
After about a ten minute ride, we arrived at Lundey, which is directly translated to “puffin island.” And puffin island it was. There were SO MANY of these little stinkers. Milla told us they are sometimes called "flap-flaps” because of how quickly they have to beat their wings to fly (~400 bpm). We found this adorable.
I attempted desperately to take a good photo of the “flap-flaps” but was very much on the struggle bus. Below are my best attempts.
Whether the photos show it or not, it was really cool and ADORABLE to see all the little dudes on Lundey. We learned a lot about them and the Icelandic puffin industry too!
Back to Mom:
After the puffin tour, we popped into the tour company’s museum, which is housed in an old boat. It was tiny but cool, with some old whale skeletons and taxidermied (sustainably, whatever that means) puffins and what-have-you. Our favorite section was the “Art Gallery.”
Before heading back to pod-life, we had what will likely be our last gelato of the trip. Now we have to learn how to make it at home.
Tomorrow night we head home, and will be happy to see many of our favorite humans and dogs. We plan to send out at least one more trip update summing up any last moments of human kindness, ridiculousness, or funny sign sightings.
Love & goodnight,
W & R
Safe travels home! Can’t wait to see you again! Mary Ann
The dogs, chickens, cat, and I can’t wait to have you home. 🐕🐈🐓