yeah yeah yeah

Snowed In and Happy

Right now I'm sitting on the over-sized futon, dog in lap, looking up at the window in the basement. About half of the view is covered in snow but it still offers a pretty good peek into the world outside. The crazy snow world outside. Holy hell we have a lot of snow. After round one of Snowmaggedon I placed a ruler in the yard - officially marking the 23 inches of snow that dumped on us. This morning, the ruler is deeply buried. So I don't know what we are up to as far as accumulation is concerned but what I can report is that the snow is close to reaching the top of the fence in the back yard. Check it out.

 

What does one do to keep sane while cooped up in the house for what is now day six? This household has spent most of the days in the basement. Last Thursday I got ourselves all organized and snugged with our essentials downstairs. We got ourselves a bottles station, changing station, a dog and his bone area. Lance has his in-home office and baby girl has toys a-plenty along with blankets and pillows on the floor for grandé tummy time. The bassinet is back up for nap times and our fridge is full. Life is good. We are warm, happy and together. Lance spends most of the day working. He is actually working from home and getting paid (Gratefu!). Sunny rotates from my arms to Lance's lap, the jumper, the floor, the bouncing chair and back to my arms. It is a routine we are liking. She is completely obsessed with her rainforest bouncer and it is officially the MVP of Snowmaggedon in this house. 

 

So what does this momma do to stay sane? Bake. A lot of baking. Chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls, apple dumplings, no-bake cookies... good God we are packing on some extra warmth in this house. Luckily we aren't eating these alone. We have been sharing with various neighbors and enjoying the camaraderie that a blizzard brings to the neighborhood. But the shoveling counteracts the sweets, right?

Lance is obsessed with these cinnamon rolls. So good.

  

Chocolate chip cookies full of love. I used more brown sugar and less sugar this time. Awesome change-up that worked really well. 

Apple dumplings. They were much better then they look. I used my mom's old recipe and my house smelled like cinnamon for days. Reminds me of my momma. 

I've also knitted for a special February birthday and made some Valentines. And of course facebook dominates much of my home-bound time. I'm completely frustrated that it is all wonky this week, but whatever. Good times! Ha ha. And I mean good times without sarcasm. I guess I'm one of the crazy few who actually enjoys these "no where to go" days. I've yet to experience cabin fever and all this snow makes me dream of spending a winter in Maine, snowed in for months. Crazy talk, right? But this is also coming from the person who spent her last vacations in Iceland and the Eastern most part of Maine.  

Happy winter and happy Snowmaggedon. Stay warm and stay safe friends.

Night Four - Never Ever Saw the Stars So Bright In the Farmhouse Things Will be Alright

Night Four
Grindavík, the Northern Light Inn
November 26, 2008

Why Iceland?
Okay, many have asked the question, "Why Iceland?" So here is the answer:
We started thinking about a trip to Iceland about three years ago after we saw an ad in the Washington Post Express promoting cheap flights from BWI to Reykjavík. Iceland really wasn't in our radar as a future travel destination but we started doing some minimal research and discovered several appealing things about Iceland.

1. Iceland is only a five hour flight from BWI or JFK - not much different then a flight to LA or Vegas.
2. Northern lights are common in Iceland outside of the major cities between Nov - March. Iceland is directly below the strongest concentration of the Aurora Borealis annulus – The Green Belt – an oval of cosmic light that circles the earth off axis.
3. Compared to mainland Europe, Iceland is less touristy.
4. The Blue Lagoon.

And from there our obsession grew. The only problem, Iceland was also one of the most expensive countries in the world to visit. Basically the US dollar did not get you far. One beer = 10 USD. For that reason we put the Iceland trip on hold waiting to safe lots of money. But of course we spent our money on other things and the Iceland trip seemed just a passing thought. But I had this annoying, nagging obsession to see the Northern Lights. So jump forward to August 2008 and I'm sitting outside having a few drinks with a very close friend and she said, "Hey idiot, why haven't you and Lance gone to Iceland like you want.  It isn't like you have kids to worry about. Don't your really want to go to Iceland?" And you know what, she was right. I really did want to go to Iceland and why the hell didn't we go? So that week I started looking for flights, hotels and bam... we were going to Iceland.

Not surprisingly, I was pretty focused on planning a trip that allowed us the best opportunity to see the Northern Lights, which is why we chose Thanksgiving weekend. Now we needed a location away from the city lights and google searching our options I found the Northern Light Inn - a small inn located close to the middle of nowhere of Iceland and a mile from the Blue Lagoon. It was the perfect focal point for the trip and everything else just started to fall into place. We especially got a big break when the Icelandic krona took a huge hit and plummeted virtually overnight. (And I don't want to sound like we were happy for our luck based on Iceland's HUGE economic crisis. It was a break on our pocketbook but I'm sorry to the Icelandic people that they are in such devastation right now. It's real bad.) 

Right Place, Right Time
Like I said before, seeing the Northern Lights takes a little planning and a lot of luck. We placed ourselves in the right location by staying a couple of nights at the Northern Light Inn and we planned our trip in late November during a peak time for the lights. We were also not competing with a full moon and the weather report called for clear skies toward the end of that week, pretty much the perfect setting for Lights.

Luck
Wednesday night we ate dinner at the inn's panoramic restaurant where they had a beautiful view of the mountains in the distance. The whole dinner we kept asking each other, "Do you think we will see anything tonight?" After dinner we walked outside a few times noticing every single clear patch or break in the clouds. Just a few minutes past nine the sky cleared and we could see our first glimpse of green squiggly, dancing light. We rushed to put on layers and layers of clothes and ran outside to see what else was in the sky.

Okay, here is the hard part, describing the lights. Because first off they are like nothing I've seen. They started off very small and then suddenly a large green rainbow like line was going over our head. That line would move and small green waves would dance far off in the north then suddenly green would stretch across the sky for a second. All this carried on for about an hour and then it stopped. Most people outside with us watching the sky packed up their cameras and tripods and went in to warm up by the fire. At that point, probably 11:15 or so, TL and I were the only ones actually outside. He didn't want to go in because he saw something "suspicious" off to the north and thought more were to come. He was right. Directly in the spot he called, light started growing and taking shape and covering the north and it looked like small green flames were emerging out of the green band of light and then suddenly the light started getting more vivid and twirling. It created an S shaped funnel until it looked like the "Hatch" (a building up on the hill and to our north - named by the UK couple we met - it is a reference from Lost) was about to get sucked up into another dimension and then, in less then a minute, and it was gone and back to a light green glowing sky of lights. No, we weren't high and we weren't tripping. It was freaking crazy, celestial. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Once the sky went back to a little more normalcy we couldn't talk ourselves into going inside. We just wanted to see more - to chase that dragon.

We had no way of getting any pictures of that nights sky. You have to have a major high dollar camera, tripod and experience - but we met a very nice couple from the UK and they were kind enough to send us a picture they captured on Friday, after we had already left Iceland. The lights that night were not as bright as what we saw on Wednesday but you can see in the picture the shade of green that was lighting up the sky and you can see the "Hatch" building in the background. Wednesday night it looked like the "Hatch" would be sucked up from Earth and the green was much more vivid then what you see in the pic.

If you hadn't guessed it, I was pretty damn happy to see the Lights, especially while wearing my awesome "Northern Lights" mittens that BFF made me. I'm pretty sure the mittens brought me the needed luck to get such a clear night in Iceland to see the lights. And you know, that night felt about as surreal as the night BFF, my dear M and I found a full living room set-up and arranged in the KD apartment parking lot. The crazy green lights in the sky reminded me of that strange night in college - a dreamlike feeling in a truly bizarre moment...I couldn't help but think how much they would both love the lights I was seeing in Iceland.

Awww, the Northern Light Inn. We love this place. Cozy, clean and new. Helpful, nice staff always ready to shuttle you where you needed or wanted to be. Great restaurant and the views were amazing. But most importantly, the view was perfect for the lights. I feel like the luckiest girl that got to see the Northern Lights on her first try. But again, I did have the mittens and that worked in my favor. And guess what... I now, no longer can say, "I never ever saw the Northern Lights."

Day Two Iceland - Something is Painted in the Snow That You'd Like

Day Two
Reykjavik - Golden Circle - Reykjavik
November 24, 2008

Skifan
So we had big plans of getting up early and starting our day with a big breakfast at the hotel but it isn't so easy to get up when the sun doesn't even rise before 10 am. We did finally get up by 9 or so and that is when I discovered that TL cannot function with music videos on TV. TL and I both like to have music in our background pretty much at all times so one of the first things we did when got into our hotel on Sunday was plug in the iPod player using our little iPod speakers and our handy European AC adapter. But, we used the wrong AC adapter and fried the iPod plug in, blew a hotel fuse thus leaving us with no music in the room and looking like dumb American tourists thanks to our rather dumb error. Luckily our music withdraw was saved with one of the four available TV channels, Skifan. Skifan is what MTV use to be... it plays videos! I never knew that music videos mesmerized TL so much. Put that kid in front of a music video and he can't do anything else, like getting ready to go out for day. But thanks to Skifan we were introduced to one of Iceland's favorite pop star Páll Óskar, or shall I say gayest pop star? Check out this video that was played constantly on Skifan - "Sama Hvar Þú Ert". I don't think our trip would have been quite the same without our daily dose of Skifan. 

Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur
I did finally pull TL away from the great Páll and we headed out to buy some Icelandic wool, some hats and a world famous Icelandic hot dog - Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur. Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur is a famous hot dog stand in downtown Reykjavik. Bill Clinton ate one a few weeks before his heart attack and they say no trip to Iceland is complete without one. We were told to order it "ein með öllu" which means with all the works but we chickened out. Since I hate raw onions it wasn't an option for me so I just got mustard and the sweet relish, I'm not sure what was TL's excuse. As far as hot dogs go, I have had better but we can at least say we gave it a try and uh, let's hope we don't suffer the same fate as my man Bill.

 

GOLDEN CIRCLE
When visiting Iceland you absolutely have to go on a tour of the Golden Circle. This is what Iceland is all about, nature like I'd never seen. We did the express tour but our tour guide was nice enough to expand the trip so we go to see three breathtaking sights - Þingvellir National Park, Geysir and the Gullfoss waterfall. No need to describe too much about these, I think the pictures tell the story fine on their own.

Þingvellir National Park
This is the original site of the oldest existing parliament in the world. The Great Atlantic rift is clearly visible so geographically speaking, at the park you have North America to your West and Europe to your East.

 

 

Geysirs
Geysir is the oldest known geyser in the world and when it goes off it can go up to 60 meters. We weren't lucky enough to see Geysir erupt but we did witness Strokkur's eruption a couple of times and it surprised me every time causing a shout of "Oh shit" a few times. All around Geysir were smaller geysers and hot pockets of boiling water. According to our tour guide if you fell into a hot pocket you would boil alive in less then three minutes.

 

 

 

Gullfoss
Gullsfoss waterfall is by far one of the most awesome things I have seen in life. I found it amazing how close we were allowed to climb around the waterfall with barely any barriers. Although you can't see it in the pictures, in the far off horizon is a glacier called Langjokull. 

 

 

 

An Icelandic Dinner
What better way to follow up a day of exploring the natural wonders of Iceland then with an authentic Icelandic dinner in Reykjavik. But finding a place to eat dinner took us forever. The trouble, we had reached that point of tired/hungry mixed with jet-lag and we were very indecisive on where to eat so it felt like forever until we finally saw the perfect menu. The Hereford's Steakhouse menu caught our eye with their featured dinner special of whale and potatoes. TL thought that sounded intriguing and I was happy to see Icelandic lobster on the menu. At least TL can now say he's tried whale, but I don't think he was all that impressed. He ordered it med rare but it was still a little dry and tasted like liver. I think that was his first and final attempt at eating whale. I however was the big dinner winner with my order of lobster tails. The lobster in Iceland is different then a Maine lobster. The tail is quite a bit smaller and it tastes more like shrimp and crayfish rather then a traditional lobster. And since shrimp and crayfish are my favorites, I was happy happy. I could actually eat them every night which is a problem since I don't think I'll have much success finding any here in the US. 

Surprises and/or Iceland Facts
Trees in Iceland do not grow tall at all. If you find yourself lost in an Icelandic forest, stand up and you will find your way.

If It Keep on Rainin', The Levee Gonna Break

Hurricane Hanna made its way up the East Coast on Saturday causing lots of drama in my neighborhood. So much so, we were all over the local and national news. Not TL and I personally, thank god, but we recognized many of our neighbors when we watched the broadcasts later that evening and read about it in the paper. Here is how it all went down.

As predicted, the rain started early afternoon on Saturday. Off and on sprinkles actually began in the morning and by about one o'clock half of the neighbors on our street were outside in the rain watching the water fill-up the street. Oddly, as the water started spilling out of the two large storm drains and filling the street with water it wasn't even raining all that hard. I'm not sure if storm drain is the right word for these things but two are at the end of the street covered by large concrete slabs which are raised two inches off the ground and who knows how deep those drain holes go and every time I mow by the hole I fear a snake or alligator is going to pop its head out of the hole and bite my ankle. Likely a snake over an alligator, but you never know. Anyway, it was raining only hard enough to warrant a light rain jacket. It's not like we were standing outside in torrential downpours. It wasn't even raining hard enough to worry about using my camera outside. But in less then hour, our street was three feet under water and our yard was transformed to look like something out of a Louisiana postcard. We looked like we lived on a bayou and if you didn't know better, you would have thought that TL and I had bought river front property.

 

 

While outside bonding with our neighbors, we watched the newly formed river swell as the Fairfax Fire Department and Alexandria Police Department wadded through the water and knocked on each door to enforce a mandatory evacuation. Their timing seemed a little off but all the same I guess it was nice to know that they were looking out for the residents and trying to help before matters got worse. It was quite a sight considering we had only four or so inches of rain during the entire day. TV anchors and camera men were at the end of the street documenting the sight and between the neighbors trash floating down the street and furniture left on the curb for trash pick up, they got their shot. It looked as if a director had yelled "queue the trash" just at the right moment as the policeman wadded in water with a child in his arms as he walked the family to safety. A motorized watercraft was also on hand if needed to save the residents of Huntington. Oh, it was that dramatic.

Obviously, all this has TL and I asking ourselves how in the hell does four inches of rain turn the street into a three foot deep river? According to all the past records I have read, Fairfax County has done a lot of talking and little to fix the problem. First off, they don't take blame for the new flooding trend. 2006 marks the first year where any major flooding had occurred on our street. The summer of 2006 all of our neighbors had flooding to the ceilings of their basements and had to leave their home for a month or more due to electrical outages and major structual damage. Our neighbors across the street have lived in their house for 30 plus years and said it wasn't until the county started work on the I-495 and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project that evacuating for a rain storm became a normal event. Like a lot of people in Huntington, they lost most of their personal items in 2006.

It just blows my mind that developers and planners can completely neglect an entire neighborhood in an effort to improve a road system. Here are a few things that took place in order to build the Beltway.

• To build the Beltway, Cameron Run was actually moved from its original location to a point over 380 yards closer to the Huntington neighborhood.
• Marshland that served as an important drainage system for the area was also filled in to provide a base for the Beltway.
• The Beltway itself, built along the bank of the new channel for Cameron Run opposite the Huntington neighborhood, acts as a concrete wall forcing any overflow from the Run towards the Huntington homes.
• The new channel dug for Cameron Run is significantly narrower than it was before it was moved, and that channel has not been dredged since it was dug.  After decades of development in the area, Cameron Run has filled with what was estimated 10 years ago as 5 feet of sediment.

Frustrating that such neglect can cause so much havoc in one neighborhood. And you can't help but feel like New Orlean's famous 9th Ward. Fairfax County was ranked the second wealthiest county just a year ago and to hear the neighbors talk, the water we get in our street is the result of dam releases to protect the wealthy neighborhoods northwest of us.

So today I have started wondering/worrying if TL and I are the worlds biggest suckers for buying this house last fall? We love our place but we don't want to stay here for 30 years. Will we be able to sell our house down the road or are we stuck? Our biggest hope if for the County or Feds to step it up and build the proposed levee that will protect our neighborhood from a Katrina like catastrophe, but so far it doesn't look like anyone is willing to pay for that project or any project that will improve the flooding potential. The county is proposing to build a structure to protect Belle View and New Alexandria where homes average a million plus but they don't see a need to protect the older, modest homes of Huntington. Frustrating. I'll keep you posted.