- - -
For the next hour Brian and Justin followed the coastline to the north side of the peninsula. The scenery was definitely nice but their senses had been blown out by the battlefield in the waves earlier between the Orca’s and the Minke Whales so they opted out of more walks and instead headed straight for the the tiny fishing village of Rif. It was already past 4 pm but neither of them felt particularly hungry. They just wanted to sit down and have some coffee so they found a small café. It was a cozy old-style house and they both felt relaxed coming in there. The waitress recommended pancakes with their coffee. The coffee was amazing, although very strong. Brian removed the sound file from the video and emailed it to the park ranger. The Ranger wrote back saying that the State’s channel ‘Evening News’ had contacted him and asked if he knew of any usable recordings of the incident and so he wanted Brian’s permission to forward his recordings to them. Brian readily gave his approval to use his recordings. Justin had gone to ask for a refill of their coffee and when he came back he had also bought some pre-stamped postcards and they spent the next few minutes writing in silence.

‘Dearest Nana,

In Iceland people say: ‘I don’t call everything my grandmother’ when they mean that they have a lot of experience in life. You would love Iceland. It’s beautiful and the people here are extremely nice. Please don’t worry, I inherited your smart thinking and we won’t go near the volcano. Brian and I look forward to seeing you in September! Love Justin.’

‘Hey Mom & Mollusk... & Tucker ;)

Iceland is really great. We’ve seen the eruption from afar but there is no ash where we are and it’s absolutely amazing. Everyone is so nice. We’ve seen more in just 3 days than I’d have thought was possible. Yesterday we took a tour to a glacier and today we witnessed killer whales attack and eat other whales - It was totally surreal. Everywhere we go is so beautiful; I’ve got enough painting ideas to last me a lifetime.  Brian says hi. Love Justin.  ps. Molly, Icelandic boys are cute ;)’

‘Hey Ma

You would like the people here in Iceland and they would love you. We already met your match - twice… and slept in a cabin with some of them (No, nothing kinky). The food is great, the people are fun, they actually believe in trolls and elves. The countryside is very beautiful and no, I have not grown a vagina.  I’ll bring you back something nice.  Sunshine says hey. Love B.
Ps. Say hi to the good cop.‘

‘Daph!

Fuck me, this island is great! I want to move here. Caves, Glaciers, Whales, Awesome coastlines and the food is amazing. You have to come here sometime. Brian spoils me rotten in bed and out of bed and things are good. xoxo Justin ♡ Iceland.’

‘Yo! Zephyr!!

Iceland needs you - there are angry sheep on the road causing traffic problems and poor little minke whales are getting mass murdered by killer whales. Perhaps you can enlist the trolls to help. Also, there is an active volcano making a mess but it does not bother me so you can leave dealing with that until last. Sorry I can’t help. JT and I are very… busy…   All the best to the professor and your kid.  Your favorite superhero, Rage.’

‘Hey Gus

Someday I’ll take you to Iceland, it’s great here. Justin and I drove in a huge truck to the top of a glacier yesterday and today we saw whales. We also walked inside of a huge cave - It even had a skeleton inside it! I’m taking a lot of pictures; can’t wait to show them to you. Give your Mothers and JR a kiss from me. Love, Dad.’

--------

Before leaving they asked to buy some water but the cafe only sold soda so the waitress offered to fill a bottle with tap water for free.  She also told them where to find a mailbox.

It was now nearing 6 pm and both men felt a bit tired. They decided to keep on heading closer to their destination. The had both realized by now that the peninsula could not really have been done in two days; three days was more realistic and even then they were skipping a lot of places marked as interesting. They soon arrived in Grundarfjörður and decided to stop at the tourist information center since Brian had already been informed that morning that the guesthouse did not serve dinner.  

“Are you going for the golf tournament tomorrow?”  the assistant asked them.

“The wha…? There is a golf course here? Really? No, we are renting a cabin out here just for the night. Is golf a big thing here?” Justin responded in surprise.

She then explained that golf was perhaps not big as sport but a lot of people definitely liked it as a form of leisure, right after swimming and horse riding. This particular golf course was a 9 hole course, open all night this time of year because of the midnight sun and they should try it. The guesthouse would rent them the golf set. Justin suggested they’d skip eating at a restaurant so they went by a supermarket to get a few handy food items. Justin wanted to get a small hiking stove with a pot and a deep pan that fitted nicely inside each other. He convinced Brian that it was a bit too far between villages sometimes and he was certain a nice cup of coffee would be good at some point. While Justin was shopping, Brian saw something else he wanted to get and quickly hid it in the car. He decided to surprise his lover with it later.

He texted Justin “get some oranges”.

The drive to the guesthouse was less than ten minutes and the scenery was amazing. The signature mountain of Grundarfjörður, Kirkjufell (the church mountain), stood proud almost like an island guarding the village from the cold ocean gales. The motto of the village was actually ‘Grundarfjörður, where the calm resides’. The still waters of the bay reflected the image of the mountain and Justin simply could not go on, he had to stop the car. “Perhaps you should drive Brian, we are never gonna get to the cottage if Iceland keeps being so beautiful.  I really need to sketch that…. when we get to the cabin” Brian did not take the wheel though, he also liked the view and was fine with stopping for awhile.

Upon arrival, they were shown to their cottage, and the host booked them for the golf course for later in the evening. They would start at 10 pm so they had time to take a much needed nap. Unfortunately the shower was even smaller than the one at the last hotel, so while Justin was in the shower Brian quickly placed water in the ice cube tray of the tiny freezer. He also placed the item he had bought earlier in the freezer. When he was done showering, Justin was already asleep.

When they woke up there still were a couple of hours until their time at the golf course started so Justin told Brian he wanted to walk down to the shore and sketch the evening sun scenario and the church mountain. Brian stayed behind and answered a few important emails. It was not much. Cynthia and Theodore seemed to be doing great as captains of Kinnetik. He then mixed some whiskey into the jar he had acquired at the store. He had gotten a Manhattan Cocktail Mix that came with a small jar of Maraschino Cherries and orange colored plastic cocktail sticks. He was glad that the cottage had glasses that worked perfectly for the cocktail. He placed the cherries on the sticks and cut long strips of orange peel from one of the oranges Justin had bought, added the ice to the jar, but chose to wait to pour the drinks once he’d made it down to the shore.  

When he made it to the shore, he found Justin so caught up in his sketching that he did not even notice he had company.  Brian did not want to scare him though so he made a little noise, clinking their glasses together.  “Ahemm… You asked for a cocktail on the beach . . ” he said to his young lover’s surprised look.  

“My God, Brian! I’m sorry to tell you this, but that is very romantic! He hugged him and stole a kiss, but Brian just smiled “Yeah, I get that way sometimes, don’t I?” he said rhetorically. Justin smiled.  “It’s ok. I won’t hold it against you.” He took Brian’s hand and together they sat down on a flat rock where Brian poured the cocktails. They sat quietly drinking their drinks, gazing into the evening sky, which was slowly turning orange as the Sun prepared her hot love affair with Ægir, God of the Oceans.

About an hour later, their golf time arrived and, since there was a tournament the next day, they could sign up for an open non-formal competition with other amateur players.  Justin had been playing since he was a teenager at the country club with his father and Brian, well… he was just born that way, so they both played close enough to par to earn a gift card for a boat trip on a neighboring bay which was given to the top 5 players of the evening. It included a lunch of freshly caught seafood, which was to be served on board. They were told they could use the gift certificate the next day before sailing to the Westfjords, if they wanted. One of the other guests said she and her husband had tried the tour last summer and that it was a completely different experience than the ferry. It included a guided tour that went much closer to the islands and skerries and gave great photo opportunities of birdlife.

Midnight golf

It was almost 3 am before they made it to bed because neither man wanted to miss the midnight sun. The door to their cabin had barely closed when Brian firmly pressed Justin up against the door and ravaged his mouth like a thirsty man who had not had water for days.

“I’ve been wanting to do this do you all. day. long.” he growled into Justin’s ear.  

Justin was equally aroused. “Get me out of these clothes NOW!” he commanded breathlessly pulling briefly away from Brian’s demanding kiss. Brian did not have to be told twice and as both men fought to remove every last item of clothing, their lips only separated at the annoying necessity of removing their t-shirts. They almost fell over the small living room couch and Justin got on his hands and knees and waggled his ass at Brian seductively. “Look what I got for you.. come and take it… it’s all yours,” he said in a dangerously seductive way and not even three seconds passed until Brian was hungrily feasting on his delicious hole.  “Mmmmm good… you taste so fucking good, Justin…”

Justin was losing it. “Ohh mmm… ahh… that’s ahhha… Bri... Brian don’t stop… don’t ever stop.. mmm... God... I need you inside me… all of you,”  he begged.  

“Fuck! Where did my jeans go?” Brian hissed, annoyed. He could not see them anywhere. It was as if someone had stolen them.  When he had thought he looked in every direction, they appeared right in front of him but hanging from a cross beam above them. Brian certainly could not remember throwing them with such force. He reluctantly got up and grabbed them while Justin turned on his back, impatiently waiting for Brian to provide the necessary accessories.  

“Come to bed baby. I want to fuck you where it’s more comfortable for you.”  Brian reached down and pulled Justin up to a seated position and did not give in when Justin tried to trick him and wrestle him back onto the couch. Brian slapped his lover’s ass. “First one to the bedroom gets to top!”  That certainly got Justin moving and it was pure luck that neither of them got hurt as they playfully fought each other for first place,  Justin pulling all the tricks in the book so that he would indeed win the race to the bedroom. Which he did….

When they were lying in bed after their first round of lovemaking, Brian was busy slowly drawing circles on Justin’s back.

“You got all that you wished for this morning?” Brian asked quietly and smiled a little as he was a bit surprised at himself.

“I just can not believe this day, Brian. I was joking about the golf - I had no idea such a place existed. But thank you for the cocktail on the beach, that was all you.” Justin tuned to his side and caressed Brian’s face. “Did you get all you wanted? he asked him.

“I only wanted you,” was the reply.

- - -

The next morning they slept long. They certainly needed it after the past few days, which had been, to say the least, quite exhausting. The evening before they had already told the hostess not to expect them for breakfast, so that they could stay in bed until checkout at noon.

The drive to Stykkishólmur was normally done in less than half an hour, but the hostess recommended taking it slowly along the coast, paying attention to the birdlife.

“Recently the fjord was closed off by a road and new bridge and this seems to have caused confusion with the herring population and they now dwell in millions in the fjord instead of out in the bay where their habitat was mostly located earlier. So the birds have come in closer to feed. Even white-tailed eagles and whales can be spotted there sometimes,” she informed him.  When Brian told her about the whales they saw the day before she told them she had seen it on the news. Brian admitted it was his footage that was used with the story.

“The video was amazing, are you a photographer?”  She asked.

“No, I work in advertising, but my camera is pretty idiot proof. My partner, Justin, is the artist in the family,” he told her. Just then Justin joined them. He had gone back to the car to get one of the water color pictures he had painted last night of the Church Mountain. Needless to say the lady of the farm loved the picture and went back to her kitchen and brought them a plastic container full of freshly baked goods.

“Those are Kleinur, in English we call them twisted donuts, and they do taste a bit like donuts only less sweet. It’s a very common and traditional food in Iceland. I got the recipe from my grandmother. I fried them this morning.”

They drove off and took her advice. Already in the next fjord they saw the eagles and a few orcas. There were also hundreds of seagulls and other seabirds. They had both watched Finding Nemo several times with Gus and it was actually true, with a little bit of imagination, the seagulls could actually be imagined yelling, “Mine mine mine”. Even though there was plenty of herring, they fought each other for the food and even bullied one another. Justin had made coffee at the cabin and, after they’d had one cup each, poured the rest into a small thermos flask he also bought at the supermarket the day before. Since they had not had breakfast he thought it would be smart to have a small snack. He did not want to be rudely hungry when they showed up at the lunch tour.  He therefore took some apples and the kleinur over to Brian who was having fun photographing the seagulls in their plentiful feeding ground, some of them peaceful and others not so much.  

“I’m glad we are not in France. You were right to come here,” Brian said and snaked his arm around Justin, when he was finished eating his third donut. “Those are good. Do you think they have any calories?” he said and made a silly face.

“Ummm.. let’s see... flour, sugar and probably a bunch of butter, then deep fried… naaa probably not,” Justin joked back. “But if they do, I promise to make you work it off in bed tonight,” he added and kissed his man.

For their tour they had to be at the SeaTours office on the harbor in Stykkishólmur at 1:20 pm at the latest, so they left the the herring and seagull fjord and made their way along the shore. At the office they made sure their booking for the Ferry was done correctly and that they would have time to do do the sightseeing tour. The assistant assured them it would be alright but asked them to be ready to board with the car half an hour before departure. They should have plenty of time for that, since the sightseeing trip was due back with 15 minutes to spare before the ferry started boarding, so even if there might be a small delay, they would be alright.

‘The Viking Sushi’, as the tour was called, started with a short sailing time to some small islands a few minutes off shore. The boat was not very big and it could get pretty close to the islands, allowing a much better view of the bird life than from the shore. There were Puffins, Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Eider Ducks, Guillemot and European Shag. The name of that last one made Brian laugh out loud and he spent a considerable amount of time getting the perfect picture that included Justin with the bird. The guide told the guests the geological history of the area and described well and even acted out for the guests the way the lava hit the ocean and hence turned into the spectacular formations they saw around them. 40 minutes into the tour a shellfish plough was lowered into the ocean and shortly after a wonderful selection of shellfish and sea life was pulled up for viewing and tasting: scallops, sea urchins, crabs, and much more. That was definitely the freshest seafood Brian and Justin had ever tasted. They happily washed it down with a glass of white wine.

Sailing back, the guide read a folktale from the area:

Trolls in the Westfjords

In the past there were three trolls in the Westfjords who took it upon themselves to shovel the channel between the Westfjords and the mainland where it is narrowest because the wanted to live in peace from the humans and they also wanted to make some islands.

On the west side the shoveling was a lot easier since the bay was shallow and there were 2 trolls working together, a male and a female, and before long the entire bay looked like skyr with blueberries on top. But on the east side the job was not so easy for the lone troll woman because the fjord was deep and the rock was tougher. All she was able to create were some invisible reefs and skerries scattered around the fjord. The trolls shoveled all night and forgot to pay attention until daybreak and then they ran as fast as they could towards their cave, causing the entire country to shake in a massive earthquake. But they did not make it and as the first rays from the morning sun touched their skin, they got turned into rocks.  Still today one can clearly see that the largest rocks on the fjords indeed look like frozen trolls. One is tall and skinny and that is the male and next to him stands his big fat wife.

The third troll also forgot the time and, as she realized the sun was just about to rise above the mountains, she took to running towards her own cave. When the first rays graced her shins, she got so furious that she was going to die for a few skerries, that she flung her shovel so hard into the ground that a massive piece of rock got loose from a nearby mountain and stone skipped several hundred feet into the fjord. The island is among Iceland's largest islands and geologists have indeed verified that the rock on the island is the same type as the the one of the mountain so that proves the story. Since that day, no one has undertaken the task to create a channel between the mainland and the West Fjords.

Both men were glad they had tried the tour, but having just had a light breakfast and a few scallops on the boat, Justin was still hungry. He was therefore happy that there was a greasy diner onboard the ferry. Brian pretended he was not hungry and only ordered coffee, so Justin went ahead and supersized his meal; he knew his man, and of course, said man stole about half of Justin’s fries as usual.  

They both used the time on the ferry to check their emails and post pictures on Facebook and Twitter. They had completely forgotten to check their social media in the 3 days since they arrived in Iceland so there were quite a few messages from Michael and one each from several other members of the family. A wall post from Cynthia reminded them how smart Brian had been to redirect all their calls to Cynthia and he was happy that he was traveling with a cell phone, the number for which only she and Lindsay knew about. Justin’s agent was also able to call him if she needed, although she mostly communicated with him by email. By the looks of it, Cynthia was doing a good job as Brian’s personal gatekeeper.

As for the rest of the messages, Brian just posted a simple status, but they also wrote a few lines to Debbie, Lindsay and Jennifer in a private message, telling them briefly where they were and that it was better than either of them had envisioned: Amazing in fact.  Then they posted a few pictures, leaving out those of things already mentioned in the postcards. Justin insisted that the postcards should be fun to receive and not just a repeat of old stories from Social media.

Justin then posted a teaser on his Twitter account, pictures of places he would be painting, including some waterfalls and other nature pictures. He used his Twitter exclusively professionally and already had a few thousand followers.   

The two and half hour ferry journey went much faster than they had anticipated. For the last half of the way they stayed mostly on the upper deck and enjoyed the view of Flatey Island (Flat island) and the approaching Westfjords. According to the guide book, Flatey was a small island that catered to tourists who wanted to experience peaceful living. The island did not allow cars and the houses were all very old - some of which had been moved from other areas in Iceland and renovated once on the island - hence the little village had the feeling of the early 20th century.   

Getting from the pier to Flókalundur Hotel only took 5 minutes. Brian was a bit shocked when he saw the room though, it was that tiny. Two single beds separated by a single bedside table.

“Holy cow… it’s the Presidential suite!  This is gonna cost a fortune!” he shot sarcastically. “I guess my standards are too high… I wonder why they call it a double/twin when it is a twin… well I guess this is the risk of booking last minute...”

“Yeah, well if you behave, I’ll blindfold you tonight and then you won’t notice how small the room is,” Justin said, grabbing a welcome folder that came with the room. In there he found a section describing how the beds were interchangeable and room was both a twin and a double room asking the guests to kindly to call for assistance if needed.

“Ahhh… I keep forgetting how smart you are Sunshine…” Brian lay down on one of the beds “Now, remove my boots boy!” he growled.

“Yes Sir!” Justin got right to work - he definitely liked a little role playing every now and then.

After a round of mutual blow jobs and a quick shower, the two headed for the reception and asked for assistance with the beds. The receptionist explained that there was a flaw in the online booking system that did not make it very clear to the customer how to tell what kind of room the customer was needing. She made excuses for the misunderstanding and promised to deal with it as soon as possible. They then entered the cozy homestyle dining room where they ordered the traditional Icelandic meat soup, made with lamb and plenty of root vegetables and herbs, and with the soup they drank beer from a local microbrewery.  After dinner they fell into conversation with other guests - a young Norwegian couple and 3 guys from the Netherlands - and ended up drinking several more beers. They found out from the other travelers several interesting locations they intended to visit the next day. An older Icelandic bus driver joined them and told them stories of the area along with a tale of how the country, Iceland, got its name.

According to history, three explorers came to Iceland in the ninth century before the main settlement began. None of those men stayed but they went back to Norway and told of the new land.  In Flókalundur was the winter dwelling of one of those explorers, Flóki Vilgerðarson (Flóki means unkempt hair could be dreadlocks). He had heard from one of the two earlier explorers that there was land to the west. He set off shore in Norway with his family and livestock. After a stop over in the Faroe islands, where one of his daughters was wed, he set sail again and took with him 3 ravens to help him find the new land and the hens got the nickname Hrafnaflóki, raven in Icelandic is Hrafn.  After sailing for a while from the Faroes, Flóki set one of the ravens free. The first raven flew back to the Faroes, later the second flew up in the air and back on board, but the third flew northwest and did not return. Putting their trust in the raven, the explorers followed and found land.  Flóki and his crew came up to the south shore and decided to sail around the island. They set up a camp in Vatnsfjörður at Barðaströnd. The summer was very good, and the fjord was full of fish so they had plenty of food. How ever they were unfamiliar with how harsh and long the winter would be and were ill-prepared. No one thought of harvesting hay so all the livestock fell during the winter. In the early spring, Flóki hiked up the highest mountain above his camp. From there, he spotted a large fjord; full of drift ice. Thus, he named the entire land Ísland (Iceland). After his winter in Iceland he headed back to Norway and told people he believed the land was worthless.

After the bar closed, Brian and Justin walked to a nearby natural pool (Hellulaug) for a little midnight dip. They arrived during high tide and the ocean just about reached the level of the pool but not enough to cool it down too much.

Brian unceremoniously grabbed Justin and guided him onto his lap. “We don’t have any condoms,” Justin panted in between kisses. “Ahh… have you forgotten, I always come prepared,” Brian answered.  

"Did you hide one  in your ass," Justin teased him, thinking two could definitely play this game, but as usual his playmate was ready with a comeback. "Why don't you try to find out?" Of course Brian had hidden a condom in his bathing suit.

“Brian...  someone might come...” Justin did not realize the double entendre of his words until  Brian replied: “I certainly hope so”. Before long both horny travelers had shed their bathing suits, and they slowly made love in the pleasantly hot water.

Afterwards, both men lazily half dosed in the pleasantly warm pool.

watching the tide roll out and the midnight sky turn red. "Mmm.......amazing. I just can't believe this place..." Justin mused out loud. Eventually they felt that if they didn't leave soon they might fall asleep in the pool so they pulled themselves together and walked back to their small but cosy hotel room.

When they arrived, Justin was surprised how different the room looked. The small bed side table had been moved to the corner and the beds were standing next to each other. He lifted the sheets in curiosity and found that the beds mattresses were now zipped together with a new full size top mattress and the base of the beds locked together with a metal bar.

“Are you done with your investigation yet? Where is that blindfold you promised me” Brian asked from the bed in a lazy voice.

Justin pulled a silk scarf out of the suit case and proceeded to blindfold his demanding lover.

...