Hanging out in Reykjavik

If you’ve taken a peek at my Twitter account over the past day or so, you might have noticed I’ve been slightly out of pocket. In fact, I’m in Iceland. And until perhaps six months ago, I never actually thought I’d write “I’m in Iceland” and mean it. But I’m here, and I’m stoked about it.

Here’s the deal. My enterprising, talented, travel-writer wife Kate is participating in the Iceland Writers Retreat this week. Check out the link, because it’s very cool. In addition to her communications business and her travel writing, Kate’s working on her own fiction as well. So she wanted to come and get a good dose of writer-time.

And so we turned it into a family trip. My daughter and I get to participate in the Retreat’s fun stuff, like tours and receptions. And when Kate’s in class, the kid and I get to explore.

Just this afternoon, while Kate slept off some jet lag, Anna and I climbed Öskjuhlíð hill, which leads to a former water storage site-turned-observation deck and restaurant called Perlan. The views, as you can see, were stunning.

More curiously, we found a number of old foundations and, in one case, an actual pillbox bunker built into the side of the hill, overlooking Reykjavik’s tiny municipal airport. Overlooking as in perfect-line-of-fire-defense, in fact. Turns out that Öskjuhlíð was the site of a series of World War II bunkers designed to protect Iceland’s critical air field. The one below is in surprisingly good shape.

I’ve been mulling my writing options for when the Daedalus series is finished, and I have to say Öskjuhlíð got the writer-mind well engaged. Plus, we got some fresh North Atlantic air, a good hike and some cool history. And we’ve been here for barely seven hours. Who knows what the next seven days will bring?

Plus, it should be noted, Icelanders make awesome coffee. Maybe that’s why my jet lag has yet to hit.

#SFWApro