When we left Studagil, we chartered our way to Möðrudalur, our stay for the night. Google Maps offered a “shortcut” of over an hour going across the Vajantafjool glacier. We looked at the road, a solid packed and wide road, with a max elevation of 1600 ft above sea level. There was a thin covering of snow and a fair amount of wind, but we decided to tackle it.
At times, the blowing snow was a little scary and the gusty wind shook the car, but in no time at all, we were coming out of the snow and into a black, charred landscape that was a volcanic field. It almost looked like a moonscape. We pulled into Möðrudalur and found a quaint little farm with several buildings and long houses set up for guests. There was a church and a working equipmemt barn, a house with an angora bunny just munching on grass in the front yard, a baby reindeer wandering and scoping out the dishes left for the farm dogs, and sheep just wandering the area. I was charmed to be sure. We checked in and got the key for our stay to find out we were staying in a shared house. That would be a new experience. We let ourselves into the house, found our room and unloaded our gear. This obviously used to be the main house of the farm, my guess is built in late 50s. While the bedroom was small, the living room was nice and spacious with a big glass window, perfect for looking for the northern lights.
We went down to the lodge center for dinner and enjoyed moss soup and vegetable soup, as well as locally caught fish and farm-raised lamb. Dessert was a rhubarb cobbler, though not the same style as I made and In our opinion, suffered in comparison.
We walked back to the house after dinner and awaited the lights. About 9:00 p.m. I stepped outside and saw light gray whisps floating through the air. I borrowed Ray’s gloves because my wool mittens were still damp from the 14 flights of doom from earlier that day.
He stayed inside and I geared up and headed out. I first went behnd our house to try to find some dark sky and once I got set up and focused, I was rewarded by seeing bright green streaks in my captured frames! I was so excited! I had composed a shot in my head that I wanted so I made my way through the dark to the church and sat up to capture the shot I had in mind. The lights were gaining intensity and I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. I shot every angle I could get with ambient light (the hosts had every building lit well and did not turn lights off) After shooting for about 30 min, it started to lightly snow and clouds began to move in so I decided to call it a night and head back. On my way, in one of the turf houses, a family from Italy came outside and were disappointed they didn’t see the lights. So I explained to them they needed to use a phone or a camera. The mother did not speak very good English, so she begged me to wait on her son who could translate. Once he came out, the lights picked up strength and I visited with them and waved Ray to come out and see the lights. We even got them to take a pic of us with the lights, and we were so happy to finally get to see them!
We headed back inside to edit what I got, and while they aren’t the best photos I’ve taken, they’re still special to me.
