The National Geographic Society

For years I've wanted to be a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, but I never thought it could happen. They only allow 3000 applicants each year, and odds are low to get it. When I touched down in the US on my way back from my Costa Rica Earthwatch Fellowship in February, I was surprised that my phone lit up with messages. Someone from Lindblad was trying to reach me, to let me know I'd been chosen! (Let's just say it was hard suppressing my screams in a random corner of the Dallas airport...)

Being chosen for the National Geographic/Lindblad Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship is so incredibly exciting. My entire life I've loved National Geographic, and like so many people I know I've always wanted to be a NatGeo photographer. Now I'm going to get the opportunity to travel to the Arctic Svalbard on the National Geographic Explorer ice class expedition ship, and I'll get to work with National Geographic photographers, naturalists, and undersea specialists. Squeeeeee!!


As part of the fellowship, the 35 2016 Grosvenor Teacher Fellows traveled to Washington D.C. for meetings at National Geographic headquarters. I was a bit bummed that I wasn't feeling great - I'd just gotten back from Iceland three days prior, and was jetlagged and getting over a cough... so I didn't really do much sightseeing and didn't hang out in the evenings with the other fellows. Even so, it was a wonderful experience, and humbling to be in a room with some truly amazing educators.

The very table where the National Geographic Society was formed!

National Geographic and Lindblad treated us like VIPs from the moment we arrived. At the opening reception, we got a tour of the National Geographic Society headquarters. We got to see the Executive Boardroom, the Founder's Room, and even met the President of the National Geographic Society, Gary Knell (And we talked UCLA - he's a fellow Bruin!)






The map in the NG Store has pins marking where people are from and where they are going. I got to put in a pin for the Arctic Svalbard...!

One night, I had a wonderful dinner at an Eritrean restaurant with my new friends Karla, Nicholas, Tim, Ellen, Amy, Jeanne, and Louise. The owners were lovely enough to tell us a bit about their story - they escaped the war in the 1990s and the whole family now works at the restaurant.






Meetings included sessions on what to expect, what to wear, how to prepare, and how to use the various technologies available to us - including the Theta 360 camera and Google Cardboard.

My fellow Fellows

The 2016 Grosvenor Teacher Fellows
Photo courtesy Winn Brewer

Grosvenor Teacher Fellows are traveling to Norway, British & Irish Isles, Canadian Maritimes, Iceland, the Galapagos, and Antarctica. I can't wait for my Arctic expedition, and can't wait to hear about the adventures of my fellow Fellows!

Spring Break in Iceland: Hluti Tveir (that's Part 2, Iceland Style)

WATER WATER WATER

Because there was so much to see in Southern Iceland, we decided to drive back and stop for the sights that we didn't have time for the day before.  One of the most interesting spots, both visually and geologically, are the beaches near Vik. Reynishverfi beach boasts the famous columnar basalt at the bottom of the cliffs near the ocean. They were created by cooling lava flow.
  

Just offshore are more basalt columns. These columns, the Reynisdrangar needles, are the remains of two night-trolls who tried to pull a three-masted ship to land. They took too long and at daybreak, the sun turned them into stone.

Across the beach to the west is Dyrholaey and its arch.

From Vik we drove back west, stopping to see the many waterfalls along the way. The first was Seljalandsfoss - where we got to see the back side of water...
 

Around the corner was Gljúfrabúi, the troll gorge canyon. We all loved climbing up to the top, then into the grotto at the bottom.

Next was Skogafoss. We arrived just in time for a view of the rainbow.

 

We hiked up to the top, where we got a view of the river that led to the falls.

Around the corner was the Skogar folk museum, where we could see the old-time turf houses.  

Our last stop was the Seljavallalaug pool, heated by natural hot springs.

Anil and I decided to hike further up the valley while Mat, Lizzie, and Gemma soaked in the pool.
 

A RAINY DAY IN REYKJAVIK

Unfortunately, our rescheduled glacier hike was cancelled again on Friday because of rain. Instead, we spent the day exploring Reykjavik.

Hallgrímskirkja

Next, we found the Phallological Museum, the world's only penis museum:

 

It was an exhausting morning, so we had to stop for some nice hot soup before exploring the city...

Downtown Reykjavik is easy to navigate, and interesting with all the graffiti murals:
 

More sights in downtown Reykjavik

We were in Iceland the day the Prime Minister resigned (then un-resigned, then maybe resigned...), so there were several protests in front of the Parliament building

LAST DAY

For our final hurrah, we started the day at the Leiðarendi Cave, in the Tvibollahraun lava field.

The hike to the caves

The cave entrance  

Several areas were tight squeezes, and it's lucky we had on hard hats!

The rest of the day was spent resting and relaxing, at the famed Blue Lagoon spa.

We had a great final Icelandic dinner, which included minke whale, puffin, and goose.

On the last morning, before catching our flight, we had a nice brunch (including Skyr, our favorite icelandic yogurt)

















and stopped at the flea market.





















It was a bright, sunny day - a lovely last look at the Reykjavik harbor.

Along the harbor

Harpa Concert Hall

The Sun Voyager

 Thank you Iceland!

Spring Break in Iceland: Part I

I decided to spend Spring Break in Iceland this year, because... c'mon! Iceland!! So I gathered the UK troops and headed off across the pond.

CAMBRIDGE
I started the trip in Cambridge, getting ready and doing some last-minute shopping. Since I was there, we took a tour of Pembroke College - where Anil is now a jolly good Fellow.














I'm a big fan of the libraries, and I love the architecture and the gardens...

but more than that, I love those Cambridge nerds...:

ICELAND 
On Monday, Anil, Gemma, Mat, Lizzie and I set off to Reykjavik. We rented a sturdy 4x4 (after reading about how the roads could potentially be icy) and drove South to our home for the week, just outside Selfoss.

We weren't in a remote area by any means, but it was still isolated enough that it was easy to relax and find some peace and quiet.

The house we were in was gorgeous and comfortable, and best of all it was toasty warm! Iceland is known for its pioneering use of geothermal energy for heat - we saw lots of hot springs and steam vents during our drive - and all the floors in the house were heated. It was heaven!!

The view from our porch

THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE

The next day, we went to see the famous Golden Triangle. Iceland has amazing scenery - it's starkly beautiful with tons of hidden surprises. We met these strange Huldufolk,

(who got along nicely with these strange folk):

and said hello to the famed Icelandic ponies:





Our first stop was Gullfoss waterfall. It's amazing in that it isn't in the mountains and you don't see it as you drive up. Instead, the Hvita River falls downwards into a crevice, so it almost seems as though the water disappears.

Strokkur, a dependable geyser that erupts every 5-10 minutes

From there, we drove to Haukadalur, a geothermal area where there were geysers and hot springs. In fact, the term 'geyser' comes from the most famous one here, called Geysir.

The final stop was Thingvellir National Park, the location of Iceland's first parliament and also the site of two divergent continental plates. 

At the Law Rock, the hub of the Icelandic Commonwealth, anyone could step up and give speeches. Near the Law Rock is a fissure zone, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are slowly drifting apart. 

TO JOKULSARLON AND BACK

What I realllllly wanted to experience in Iceland was glacier hiking and ice climbing, but it was raining on Wednesday, when we had our reservations. We rescheduled for Friday, and instead we decided to get up early and drive east, along the Ring Road.  

Our main destination was Jökulsárlón, a glacial lagoon near Hofn. It was close to 5 hours away, but Gemma and I split driving duties and there was plenty to see along the way.

Iceland is not very populated, and as yet there aren't too many tourists, so we often had the roads to ourselves. 

There aren't many homes either, but there were plenty of waterfalls along the way.

Because of the pyroclastic activity throughout the ages, the landscape changes in the blink of an eye. Luckily, our resident geologist Lizzie had a book explaining each type of lava flow and could point out the different geologic features. 

The moss fields of Laki

Laufskalar lava mound, from the Katla volcano

Along the way, we had to stop for the ubiquitous Icelandic gas station hot dog. For whatever reason, these are immensely popular... they tasted just like hot dogs. But I must say, the bacon wrapped hot dog was wonderful...!

We made it to Jökulsárlón in the early afternoon. The lake was created by the retreating Vatnajökull glacier, which used to be at the edge of the Atlantic but is drifting inland, leaving gorges that fill with water. The ice comes from the melting Breiðamerkurjökull glacier. 

Not only were there numerous icebergs, but there were plenty of harbor seals and diving birds like arctic terns and skuas.

We didn't have much time on the way back, but we got to see a few more sights.

The black sand beach at Vik (the wettest place in Iceland), and a view of the Reynisdrangar basalt columns.

Eyjafjallajokull Volcano erupted in 2010, disrupting European air travel for almost a week.

I was all over Iceland!

We got back late, but it was a great day!!