Flip

Sunday and Monday were perfect beach days here in Reykjavik, reminding me of childhood trips out to Asilomar and Lovers Point, the sands of Carmel and, in later years, Santa Cruz. In Northern California the ocean is cold, and spring/early summer excursions to the seaside demand just-in-case parkas and blankets and even cozy socks to cover up with when the winds pick up or the clouds shift over the sun. The same goes here, athough I'm not sure the water is quite as cold out there, Alaska current or no, as it is here: 8°C along the coastline.

Kids, though, run hot in general, and seem to hardly mind the chill waters. Adults who practice cold-water swimming here make the front page of papers for braving ten-minute health dips, while teens like my daughter Valentina, shown here, are doing back flips off a small cliff into the sea just for fun.

How easy it is to forget the simple joys of nature! Of riding a bike along an ocean path, of leaping off anything, into the sky, just for a thrill, of laughing joyfully while bundled against cold winds with friends, and of sitting on a quite rock near midnight, just miles below the arctic circle, and watching the golden sun set into a placid northern sea.