This Is My Secret: The Blog and Website of Writer Kristin Cashore

One of the things I appreciate most about my parents is that they've let me make my own decisions, even if it means they've had to stand back and watch me make mistakes. Being allowed to mess up is fundamentally freeing. Knowing that failure is always an option -- being suspicious about the assumed definitions of words like "success" and "failure" -- is, too. I suspect that this kind of parental noninterference is very difficult :). But the consequence is that I'm left understanding that my life is mine.

I've been thinking about this tonight as I listen to Icelandic music. This is Svavar Knútur, from Iceland's western fjords, singing a song called "Humble Hymn."

Akureyri is my final destination in Iceland. I'm here for a few days, and I confess that my hours have been consumed by writing – which means less picture taking. But I have taken a few snapshots of this beautiful northern town! Some taken from my own windows – I've got some wonderful writing views.














This may be my last post of pictures from Iceland, depending on how the next few days go. I had so much fun posting them, and I hope you've enjoyed them! I thought to myself, on one of my driving days, that now that I've been here, I hardly need to go anywhere else. Of course that's not true, but Iceland inspires those kind of feelings. I promise I'll come back.

I took the bus from Egilsstaðir to Akureyri (here's the route). For most of the journey, I was the only person on the bus who wasn't Icelandic, and I took so many pictures that they must've thought I was barmy. Especially when I started to cry. It was so beautiful, I couldn't help myself.

I took about 500 pictures! (Through the bus windows, so forgive any blurriness or weird splotches.) I've narrowed it down to 40ish, still an awful lot, so this post will contain a jump break. A warning that if you'd rather avoid pictures of snowy roads, this post does include one view through the front window of the bus that shows the road we were traveling on. (It is picture #4.) How happy I was to be in the hands of our imperturbable bus driver.











Click the link below for the rest!

I drove from Jökulsárlón to Egilsstaðir, with stops in Höfn (where I got gas) and Djúpivogur (where I had lunch). Here's the route. This drive, through the East Fjords, was the most dramatic yet. I love driving on Icelandic roads! There's always either a gorgeous vista or a challenge (steep drops with no guard rail, sheep in the road, slow cars that you pass by crossing into the oncoming lane) or both, so it's never boring.

Sadly, the most beautiful things I saw were things I couldn't get pictures of, because I was driving. A herd of reindeer. After a (very!) long tunnel, an opening into a fjord at twilight with the water shining silver and the sparkling lights of a town. Also, the fjords – they're just too big and too grand for my iPhone (especially with the dreadful iOS update, have I mentioned the dreadful iOS update?).

Now that I'm in the northeast, I find the roads to be snowy and icy. They're drivable, but I don't feel like dealing with it, so her…

Jökulsárlón is a glacial lake full of icebergs that have calved from the glacier. One of the many single-lane bridges of the Ring Road passes right above it. On one side is the lagoon full of icebergs and the glacier; on the other side is a black sand beach covered with chunks of ice.

I spent hours there. I'll be as selective as I can, but this place is like no other on Earth and so this 20+-photo post will contain a jump break.