Night Walks
It has become a tradition of mine to take long walks at night here. I’m not really sure how it first began, but now it’s my favorite time of the day. Last night I walked until 2am. I’m not really sure how that happened either, but I just couldn’t pull myself away from the beauty of the night.
We (Justin, Max, Ashley and I) started out around nine pm, just to stroll to the church and catch the last glimpse of the sunset. But we couldn’t stop there—the night was drawing us in too much. So we set out along the one road that runs by Solheimar. First we walked slowly down the main road interspersing laughter into the silence of the night. Walking here is unlike anything I’ve done before: the darkness engulfs the wide-open land here so that as you walk, you can’t really tell where you’re traveling or how fast. It’s like walking in an extended dream—walking just for walking’s sake, which is the best reason to walk. After a while we turned onto a dirt road stretching towards distant lights, again, with no particular goal or care in mind. This road was a little darker with fences lining the sides. Slowly we came to notice that walking along side us, on the other side of the fence, was a herd of horses. And so it just happened: We found ourselves in Iceland feeding startlingly white horses in the light of an almost-full moon with Northern Lights dancing through the sky, keeping us company. It was one
of those moments when you have to step back just to take it in. So I stood in the middle of the road and turned my head from side to side, right: shadow of friends feeding Icelandic horses in the moonlight and left: Northern Lights forming ribbons of green and pink. It was one fabulous extended day dream that none of us cared to end. It took us a long time to find our way back, mostly because we didn’t really want to leave. And once I did find my bed inside a warm house, I pulled the covers over every part of me and closed my eyes only to dream about dark skies, full moons, Northern Lights and the quietness of rural Iceland.
It has become a tradition of mine to take long walks at night here. I’m not really sure how it first began, but now it’s my favorite time of the day. Last night I walked until 2am. I’m not really sure how that happened either, but I just couldn’t pull myself away from the beauty of the night.
We (Justin, Max, Ashley and I) started out around nine pm, just to stroll to the church and catch the last glimpse of the sunset. But we couldn’t stop there—the night was drawing us in too much. So we set out along the one road that runs by Solheimar. First we walked slowly down the main road interspersing laughter into the silence of the night. Walking here is unlike anything I’ve done before: the darkness engulfs the wide-open land here so that as you walk, you can’t really tell where you’re traveling or how fast. It’s like walking in an extended dream—walking just for walking’s sake, which is the best reason to walk. After a while we turned onto a dirt road stretching towards distant lights, again, with no particular goal or care in mind. This road was a little darker with fences lining the sides. Slowly we came to notice that walking along side us, on the other side of the fence, was a herd of horses. And so it just happened: We found ourselves in Iceland feeding startlingly white horses in the light of an almost-full moon with Northern Lights dancing through the sky, keeping us company. It was one
of those moments when you have to step back just to take it in. So I stood in the middle of the road and turned my head from side to side, right: shadow of friends feeding Icelandic horses in the moonlight and left: Northern Lights forming ribbons of green and pink. It was one fabulous extended day dream that none of us cared to end. It took us a long time to find our way back, mostly because we didn’t really want to leave. And once I did find my bed inside a warm house, I pulled the covers over every part of me and closed my eyes only to dream about dark skies, full moons, Northern Lights and the quietness of rural Iceland. 
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