geek – Page 42 – Geeky Girl Engineer

Skogafoss

Posted on May 19, 2014 by geek

Day 4 in Iceland had us traveling east. We stopped at Skogafoss, which is another must see waterfall in Iceland. Iceland is an island full of waterfalls. Seriously, you can’t go 10 minutes without seeing one. However Skogafoss is beautiful, and if you take the stairs to the top, you will be treated to magnificent views of the countryside. You can then hike past the waterfall viewing platform, where it follows the river that feeds it and reveals one waterfall after another. All of them are gorgeous. Lonely Planet refers to it as Waterfall Way. I don’t know if that is the official name, but it is certainly an apt name.

Skogafoss

View from top of Skogafoss

Waterfall Way

Eyrarbakki

Posted on May 19, 2014 by geek

Day 4 in Iceland. Today we left the little village of Eyrarbakki, where we had been renting a house, and traveled eastward along the Ring Road. I thought Eyrarbakki was such a cute village, that I decided just to post a few photos of it. It is a small little village right on the coast that evidently is a very old village that used to be an important fishing area.

Eyrarbakki

The church

A little museum

One of the houses

Cute little houses

Right on the coast

Bruarfoss

Posted on May 17, 2014 by geek

While visiting the Golden Triangle, we visited a second waterfall besides Gullfoss. Bruarfoss is a waterfall that my sister found out about through lots of researching on Iceland. It is kind of hidden, and it was not that easy to find. It is between Geysir and Þingvellir Park, just east of 355. You have to go into a summer house neighborhood to get there. You have to earn the waterfall, you might say, but it is totally worth it. The blue of the water is just beautiful.

Edited to add: Due to inquires, the following is best way I can describe how to get there. Take 37 northeast until you pass 355. Right after 355, look to your left (north), and you will see a neighborhood of summer homes. In May 2014, the first two turnoffs (i.e. closest to 355) into that summer home neighborhood had gates. The third did not. Thus after you pass 355, take the third left into the neighborhood. The roads were poorly marked in the neighborhood, but basically follow the road you took in past most of the houses to the back of the neighborhood, there was a very small turnoff to the left with enough room for about two cars to park. The turnoff was not at the end of the road, and it was not marked, but it was at the edge of a grassy area with no houses. There was short foot trail to a creek. At this location on the creek, there was a short foot bridge. My camera recorded the GPS coordinates of this foot bridge as Latitude: 64° 15′ 48.372″ N, Longitude: 20° 30′ 34.308″ W. Cross this bridge and follow the trail to a larger foot bridge that overlooks Bruarfoss whose GPS coordinates are Latitude: 64° 15′ 51.282″ N, Longitude: 20° 30′ 53.322″ W.

Bruarfoss

Bruarfoss pool

Bruarfoss outfall

Bruarfoss downstream

Bruarfoss water

Gullfoss

Posted on May 16, 2014 by geek

During the Golden Triangle visit, we of course visited Gullfoss. Gullfoss is an absolutely stunning waterfall. It is well worth the visit.

View of entire Gullfoss falls

Gullfoss, some of the highest falls

Gullfoss, middle section

Gullfoss canyon formed at end

Rainbow formed from Gullfoss

Geysir

Posted on May 16, 2014 by geek

Day 3 in Iceland. We did the Golden Triangle today. I’ve decided to post photos separately because there are just too many. Iceland is just amazing and amazingly beautiful. So first post today are from Geysir. Geysir, the original geyser from which all other geysers are named, actually rarely erupts. However, there are several other geysers and hot spots near it, and Strokkur does erupt quite frequently.

Geysir

Strokkur

Strokkur starting to erupt

Strokkur erupting

Strokkur flow deposits

Blesi

Fata

Fata water edge

Heimaey, Iceland

Posted on May 15, 2014 by geek

Day 2 in Iceland. We drove to Landeyjaharbour to catch the ferry to Heimaey. Generally tourists, including us, go to Heimaey to try to see puffins. Unfortunately we seemed to have visited the island too early in the season. We took a cruise around the island but didn’t see any puffins. However the island is beautiful, and the terrain is impressive, all of which is a result of the volcanic origin of the island. On the south side of the island, the effects of the 1973 volcanic eruption are evident. I am disappointed not to have seen puffins, but at least we did see gulls, guillemots, and eiders. Also, our cruise featured a trip into a cave where our captain played the saxophone to demonstrate the cave’s acoustical properties.

We walked around the town a little and had lunch a neat little coffee shop called Vinaminni Kaffihus, which is next to Arnor Bakari, and now I feel like I am gaining the ability to read Icelandic. On the ferry back, we were accompanied by I think almost the entire town. They were going to support the town’s school’s handball team which was evidently playing in the national championships or something like that. The entire ferry was decked out in support of the team, and there were eight buses waiting for the them on the mainland. We briefly discussed that since the entire town seemed to have left the island, that we could invade and take possession of the island like modern day pirates. However, we had no idea what to do with the island, and Icelanders are so nice, we didn’t want to do that to them. We decided just to go to Reykavik for dinner instead.

Island near Heimaey

Heimaey islands

Cave on Heimaey, in which our captain played a saxophone to demonstrate the acoustical properties

Heimaey shore

Heimaey harbor

Colorful ships in port

Street sign. Puffins everywhere.

Eiders

Gulls and Guillemots

sea urchins

Blue Lagoon

Posted on May 14, 2014 by geek

Day 1 in Iceland. I think I got about 20 minutes sleep on the plane. We drove to the western edge of the Reykjanes Peninsula to see the lighthouses in Garður. Then it was on to Iceland’s most visited tourist attraction the Blue Lagoon. Some genius turned what was a pool formed by wastewater from a geothermal power plant into a rather expensive, somewhat posh hot pot to which all tourists flock. It is really cool though. The water color is this gorgeous, cloudy sky blue. Also, they give excellent massages while you lay on a float in the lagoon. When you’ve been on a plane for six hours with no sleep, walking around a wonderfully heated pool and then getting a massage is quite frankly, a great cure for your exhaustion. Walking around the lagoon is great exfoliation for your feet, and they have buckets of silica from the lagoon to rub on your face for a facial. From a geology standpoint, the pool is really neat because you can walk through micro heat spots, not to mention to entire heated by geothermal heat thing. In some areas the pool is warm and in some areas, the pool is hot. The lagoon was also a great place for me to play with my new GoPro camera, which can be used underwater.

The area around the lagoon is bizarrely pretty. It is dark craggily, sharp volcanic rock that is covered with this lush, soft in appearance, green plant. I am guess the green is actually lichen or a moss, but I need someone to educate me on what it actually it.

Power plant which caused the Blue Lagoon to form

Blue Lagoon

Bridge over Blue Lagoon

I’d be curious to know if this bridge is ever not slippery

Not often you see a lifeguard dressed like that

Rock edge of Blue Lagoon

Precipitate on rocks

Surrounding terrain

Lichen? Moss? It covers the volcanic rock

Master Bathroom Renovation Is Finished!

Posted on May 11, 2014 by geek

The master bathroom renovation is finally completely finished. The bathroom is small, but it has all the features I need and want. It is functional, and I love it. I previously wrote about the cabinets, but the final piece, an open shelving unit that sits on top of the countertop has been installed. All the cabinetry is from Tuscan Hills, and while most of it is standard cabinetry, some of it, especially the false bottom of the wall cabinet for access to the bath mechanics is custom. The tub is an MTI Andrea 14, and I must admit, after having taken a bath in it, it is even bigger than I realized, but it has whirlpool jets and air bubblers and is quite lovely in which to soak. I used frameless glass for the shower and simple, clear glass vessel sinks, so that visually they take up as little space as possible. I previously wrote and posted more detailed photos of the shower, so I am not posting too many here. The plumbing fixtures are all Grohe’s Atrio line. I used Moen’s Iso line for the towel bars and rings, robe hooks, and toilet paper holder, and I used Thomas Lighting’s Pittman fixtures for the vanity lights and wall sconces in the water closet.

Newly renovated master bathroom

Shower

Tub

Wall cabinet next to the tub

Water closet

Vanity

Open shelves on the vanity

One of the sink areas

Vanity faucet

Vanity lights

Ferdinand’s Face

Posted on May 8, 2014 by geek

I just bought a macro lens for my camera. [For photography geeks, I have a Canon 6D, and my new macro lens is their EF 100mm 1:28L IS.] I have been wanting one for a while, and my upcoming trip to Iceland seemed the perfect reason to buy one. Once the lens arrived, I decided to test it out on my favorite subject, Ferdinand the basset hound. Thus, here is a Ferdinand’s face, a photographic study.

Ferdinand’s face

Ferdinand looking up

Ferdinand’s eye

Ferdinand’s nose

Ferdinand asleep

Ferdinand in profile

Ferdinand licking his paw

Ferdinand’s paws (not technically his face)

Ferdinand’s snout

Concrete Crushing

Posted on May 5, 2014 by geek

Excavators with concrete crushers attachments are badass. They just chomp concrete like most of us chomp on walnuts. The claw closes around the concrete, then chomp, and then there is rebar and small bits of concrete.

There is an old railroad bridge being destroyed over Four Mile Run between Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia. Here is video I shot of an excavator destroying what is left of a pier from the bridge.