matt mcaskill

The Angus was tasked with a new challenge and unique travel route last week. Typically, the Angus journeys in or around North America, but all captains should yearn to test their limitations over and over. This heading would lead the Angus into international waters, specifically, Iceland. The McAskill family has been kicking around the idea of venturing to Iceland for Christmas for at least five years. Normally these ideas are just in jest, but something changed last year. My parents had their 50th anniversary and decided we needed a family road trip through Utah and its gorgeous national parks. This was an adventure I assumed impossible due to all the moving parts, but alas it was pulled off. That journey’s story is one for another day. BUT its success led to my parents to go back to the lab and this time, they proposed we leave North America. Captain Matt rarely shies from uncharted waters, so I was game for the next Griswold McAskill trip. The Angus was prepped for Its voyage, the family piled in with their waterproof clothing, suggested for all travelers heading to Iceland. Chip, Val, Big bro Jamie and Britt found their place and we hit the seas. Captain Matt was at the ship’s helm with some rough waters, luckily, they subsided, and it was clear to entertain the crew. With this specific destination it felt appropriate to screen the 1990’s classic Mighty Ducks 2. In this cinematic masterpiece the Mighty Ducks are invited to the Junior Goodwill games and face a pile of international teams they seem to dispatch with ease, until they face Iceland! Captain Matt is a Duck all day, the Mighty Ducks movies made me want to start playing hockey, which I’m thankful for. Once the ducks secured their gold in the fictious tournament, we landed in Iceland. We had a god headwind so the ship essentially steered itself, so the captain got into his cups a bit. Once we touched land in Iceland, I headed right to the duty free shop. Apparently liquor stores are sparce and extremely expensive in Reykjavik, so the smart practice is to buy from the airport! On the journey over I acquired a taste for Reya vodka, so in the duty free I secured a bottle and a case of Viking beer. Once I staggered out of the shop, we headed to meet our driver who had a sign with my brother’s name on it, which was very cool to say the least. Less than an hour later we made it to the hotel and checked in. I was starving, as were my brother and wife. We found a hot dog/sandwich stand and devoured what was available. One thing that seems made up about Iceland is this, it’s famous for its hot dogs. This is 100% true as odd as it may sound. After some half-decent dogs (put a pin in that idea) we hit an Irish pub for a pint before calling it a night. Reykjavik is a bit of a melting pot of European culture and pandering to American tourists, in case the Irish Pub threw you.

The first full day in the land of ice we decided to explore our town our Reykjavik. The first stop was BakaBaka Bakery, holy smokes do I miss this place every single day. I forget what made us want to walk in, probably all the amazing pastries resting in the windows facing the street. My mother who seems to have a sixth sense for good shit, scooped a cinnamon bun that would knock anyone’s checkerboards off. Britt instantly ran in for her own swirl of cinnamon and joy. After some sugar and bread, we forged our way up the hill to the famous rainbow road. This is a street full of rad shops, restaurants and bars that point to this incredible structure which happens to be Hallgrimskirkja, this gorgeous church that looks like a stone rocket. We hoofed our way to the doors and thankfully they had an elevator that only cost five bucks, which is roughly 56 Krone. The conversion rate is pretty simple, but I still used a calculator all week. The view from the top of Hallgrimskirkja was beyond incredible, you could see all of Reykjavik with all the viewing windows from the top. Captain Matt might be a brave and noble leader of a mighty vessel, but I’m brave enough to say what scares me. One of those things is heights, don’t get it twisted, this will never stop me from experiencing something high up. Just know when I’m peaking over great heights, I’m terrified, but still holding my ground. Inside this giant church they ring cacophonous bells every 15 minutes. I felt like I needed to experience that, living inside time as it screams to the next moment while overlooking a truly magical place is an experience worthy of a small headache. Time and space have been traveled and now feels like a suitable excuse for lunch. Cards on the table, there is a restaurant/bar in Reykjavik that spoke to me in a language I speak fluently. I was always going to take this trip with my family but what made me look forward to it the most wasn’t the history, magic, northern lights or promise of Nordic gods or trolls, it was The Lebowski Bar. Most of you probably read that as hyperbole, it’s not. Look, I’m a fairly well-traveled man to a degree but I love movies and kitsch. The Lebowski Bar is a bar modeled after one of my favorite movies EVER, The Big Lebowski. Somehow, I convinced my family to get lunch there. We walked in and I was NOT even remotely disappointed. There was art from the movie all over the walls, a faux bowling alley secured sideways on the wall, bowling pins and balls all over the bar top. We were guided to a table elevated in a section made to look like the deck of a small home. I could barely sit down due to over-excitement. This bar does something I wish more bars would have the balls to do and show movies. How many highlights of a game can you replay? We were lucky enough to get one of my favorites, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The menu naturally had a pile of White Russian options, I got the classic for The Dude and once it came, I ran off to explore. My brother and wife were amused but unimpressed. My dad and mom on the other hand were right at home since my father is a former professional bowler, both spent a lot of time in bowling alleys, so it was nostalgic for them. Okay I’ve ranted a good amount about this sacred place, lastly, I’ll say the burgers are unbelievable, as are the cocktails.

After lunch we did a little poking around the fun shops and headed back to the hotel. I discovered the hotel had a small spa in the basement complete with large hot tub, sauna and steam room. They had a gym too, but I didn’t go near that mess. I grabbed a Viking beer and sat in the hot tub and chatted with a couple from New Jersey. Dinner rolled around and we hit this splendid food hall next door to the hotel with every kind of food you could imagine. I got a pile of wings that should be hung on the wall of a museum and a cocktail that made me rethink my idea about a higher power. I’m not sure how I kept getting the say of what bar to go to, oh wait I do. My wife and brother are both indecisive and I speak with confidence and trick them for tiny moments. Which would explain why we made it to Lemmy’s, a metal bar that also served cereal as a meal option, a dog roaming around, a small aquarium and a large statue of Lemmy Kilmister. One drink there closed out our first full day.

Day two we had reservations at the famous Blue Lagoon, but before that we had time. Jamie declared early on that breakfast was do as you please until we picked up the rental car. Britt and I love touristy shit, it’s our bread and butterworth. We are two people who will do a ghost tour in a town we lived in or spend extended time in Niagara Falls, which is amazing if you’ve never been. Just stay on the Canadian side, much different and better vibe than Buffalo. With that said, Reykjavik has a unique museum which is near the top of kitschy tourist destinations. I’m a traveler that loves a local museum, as is my wife. We love learning about the local culture and history. With all that said, The Icelandic Phallological Museum was a bit different. What is the Phallogical Museum captain Matt? It’s a penis museum. GASP! Okay, grow up people! Kidding, they want it to be fun and silly with a tinge of education. It’s mostly animal members, art inspired by said organ and a delightful café with delicious penis-shaped waffles. Which of course we got. I had fun walking around looking at animal jewels while drinking a $14 mimosa, who’s the dick now? After the waffles and some images that will take some time to shake off, we reunited with the fam. Somehow nobody else wanted to join us, their loss? Once we had the whole brood in tow, we checked out the Sun Voyager, a beautiful sculptured dedicated to the Vikings who landed in Iceland. As a fellow captain I paid my respects to the mighty Vikings who landed here. That was a cold, rainy and extremely windy trek that left us all pretty beat. How will we refuel? Hot dogs! Jamie found the famous hot dog stand Reykjavik, Beejaris Beztu Pylsur. It’s a tiny red stand with a huge line, but don’t let that deter you. The place is AMAZING, and the line moves very fast. It’s two ladies in there just churning out the best dogs ever. I got two for myself because nobody else was ready to eat. I had Jamie hold one and convinced him to take a bite, of course he wanted to crush the rest. I WILL be returning to this magical place. Dogs crushed and we grabbed the rental car, our compact SUV chariot for the rest of the week. We all piled in, which was a bit difficult. Jamie was the captain on this vessel, I was his co-pilot, and we had our mom, dad and my wife crammed in the back seat. We had some daylight left so we headed to a national park. This place is breathtaking, when the weather is in your favor, today it didn’t. It was pouring like a noir film and so windy it was hard to walk. We struggled to walk across the walkway overlooking… something! We scrapped it and headed to Blue Lagoon, that will raise our spirts! A massive spring with soothing hot waters, bars and mud masks apparently. We made it, struggled with the lockers and finding one another. Once we were in the water, we were greeted with pouring sideways rain and gusts of wind that would make anyone blush. But the water was nice! And luckily, they had a spotlight to glide over the pools in case anyone felt lost, which made it feel like a warm prison escape. All said and done, it was a blast and the fact it didn’t go right was more emblematic of how my family travels. Never perfect, but resilient with pockets of everlasting memories you can’t buy. Blue lagoon in the books, time to sleep and make our second crack at the Ring Road. This is the road most of the captivating views of this island reside.

Day three, we are up early and, IN the car, rain has held off to a degree. We try the national park again and it went 60% better with a lovely view. But we had more to do! We misspelled a destination to a waterfall and ended up in a town with the SAME name but somehow didn’t house the waterfall of the same name, that was 7 hours away. Yea, that makes sense, thanks Vikings. Alas in that mistake we found this captivating crater that is now a lagoon (not one for swimming) it was breathtaking, as is 90% of the things in this country. After snapping some pics with the fam we headed to the Geysers. These steamy illusionists don’t have exact showtimes, so you just wait around hoping for a blast from the earth. These were a tad underwhelming BUT the gift shop was unparalleled. Wooden statues of Thor, Loki, Odin and Frigg. I scored myself a Thor t-shirt to beat the band. Back in the car we go to the next stop! This one was hard to even wrap my mind around the expansive beauty of it. We stopped at Gullfoss waterfall. This Waterfall knows all about showmanship you don’t pull into the parking lot, and it reveals itself, oh no. You must approach a large staircase and at the top you can see about 60% of this spectacle and it looks like a slice of pizza with melted cheese. The landscape is so packed with beauty it’s impossible to soak it all in at once. We all make our way down the large staircase, which is a task, I nobly stay with my mom who is 72 with a bum knee but the determination of a warrior with zero quit, but many breaks are required. We make it to the cliff’s edge, but more walking must be done to make it to the mouth of the falls. We venture down a narrow path with flimsy chain railings with increasingly wet/slippery terrain. After some time, we all make it there and bask in the awe of this sight, snap some pics and slowly guide Val back to the car. This was a struggle but if you make it to 72 with a bad knee and can walk down to waterfall and back, give me a call. We stopped at the giftshop/café and got some food. I had some Viking Goulash which felt fitting. We made it back to the hotel and a few of us hit the spa to relax after a long day in the car and cold. That night we kids split from the adults and we had ourselves a traditional Icelandic dinner. I ordered fish and chips, which is a famous dish of the area. This is something you can find many places, but good god was it the best fish and chips I’ve ever had. Also, as Icelandic tradition dictates we had a shot of Brennivin, which is kind of like vodka meeting sambuca. Not the best thing I’ve ever tasted, but certainly not the worse, see Malort (Chicago staple of grossness). After dinner I pushed for the return to Lebowski Bar, met by eye rolls from my wife and brother but they agreed. Sadly, they were full with no spots and we braved the rain to another bar. I pouted so big bro made a reservation for the next night at Lebowski to shut me up. Which I did appreciate.

Day four we learned a bit from our mistakes the first couple days and we were lucky to dodge the rain and made our way to Seljalandsfoss waterfall. There is this thing about the Ring Road in Iceland, it winds spectacularly at times and others it’s straight as an arrow. On those times it flies straight you can see these spectacular sights tiny in the distance and it grows as you inch closer to reveal an image you never thought possible. Today was a day like that, the falls came into focus, and we bundled up to get as close as the beautiful faucet would allow. The kids went headlong into the mist, the parents decided to smartly play it safe and stop before the mouth of this beast. Jamie, myself and Britt all climbed our way over treacherously slippery rocks and wet paths to get behind the falls. The 8th wonder of the world according to Disney’s Jungle Cruise, the backside of water revealed itself. We all stood there and stared not knowing how to even properly appreciate or soak in the sight. MY intrusive thoughts kept screaming for me to jump in but thankfully I was able to fight those off. We spent a lot of time at the falls since there were a few waterfalls there, but we had a reservation to get to! So, I grabbed a donut and we packed into the car. Yes, the waterfall sold donuts and they were delicious. Smooth sailing to the next destination and we made it to Fridheimar, a tomato farm/restaurant which I was extremely skeptical about, but Val was stoked on, so I rolled with it. We parked a few hundred yards away and followed a vined path towards the greenhouse glowing orange in the distance and Britt spotted something she had been yearning for the whole trip, an encounter with the small horses of the island. Iceland has an abundance of small horses, NOT ponies. An important distinction. She excitedly pets any horse that would be graced with her love, which was all of them. After all that and me taking a picture of a horse with the same haircut as my old roommate/homie when he was a young collage lad, we entered the greenhouse. We were early for our reservation, which is rare, so we had time to kill. I got a tomato beer, yes that’s real. Captain, Matt! Why didn’t you get a bloody Mary at this tomato farm, surly they boast to have the BEST bloody Mary on earth. I’ll tell ya, because I hate bloody Mary’s more than any other drink, they’re disgusting to me sadly. We got seated pretty quickly and was served with the best tomato soup on the planet most likely. I also got a pesto ravioli that would cross your eyes. Unbelievable meal in an odd but alchemistic location that won’t soon be forgot. That long day we crashed early as a group, but Britt and I took it upon ourselves to watch Eurovision on Netflix to honor the wonderful land we were residing this week.

Okay, so this post is a very long one, but I was in this enchanted land for a week and want to give it the just due it deserves, so stay with me! Day five we had a really rad day planned and booked. Big bro booked a snowmobile trip on a flippin glacier that ended at a waterfall. Are you kidding?! That’s magic! Butttttt there were terrible gale force winds and rain so that got cancelled sadly, so we had an open day. Our plan was to drive to the volcanic Black beach about 2.5 hours away. We got 30 minutes into the drive, the wind and the rain were tossing the car on the road like rubber duck in whirlpool, that’s not a saying but that’s how it felt. We pivoted and went to the science museum in Rykevik, Perlan. I was low-key stoked on this because I love shit like this. Perlan had an ACTUAL artificial ice cave on the premises. I took off my coat and sweatshirt and hung them up at the front door. But I was the only one. I guess I thought ice cave was just a simulation, nope. We watched a video and were escorted to a room sealed by freezer flaps, I messed up. I was in a T-shirt and jeans walking into an ice cave. Luckily, I have Scottish Highlander blood and managed to survive and crack countless jokes at my own expense. Sadly, one of the biggest goals of this family trip was to see the Northern Lights but the weather was overcast the whole week so fortunately Perlan Museum had an Aura show that was fantastic. Mama bear was disappointed to miss the real northern lights and left motion sick from the fake version. We retreated to the hotel; parents rested as the kids returned to The Lebowski Bar! I was BEYOND excited but let down. They stop showing movies at 9pm because they have a DJ. I tried to charm the waitress to put on Beetlejuice, despite her enthusiasm for my movie choice her hands were tied due to the “DJ” who didn’t mix any songs and just played some rad jams from the 70’s and 80’s. So, could be worse. My bar choices were maxed, and we hit a fancy place before calling it a night, I was outnumbered! Two beers and a cocktail for $50, way more than any drink pairing at Lebowski but whateverrrrrrr.

Day SIX! Our last full day in this enchanted land. Britt and I kicked it off with a trip to our favorite Bakery, BakaBaka. I got the best scrambled eggs with fried ham on top, a cinnamon bun split with britt and band-beating croissant to go for just moi. Val was feeling weak and a little sick and wanted to sit out one day of crammed road trips. We had a lot on the menu this day and missing mom was sad, but we still had to maximize the time. We packed into car and hit the Ring Road again and got very lucky to get some sun. After about 2.5 hours we made it to the Black Beach, which felt like another planet. All the beaches in Iceland are black sand but Black Beach feels like its Krypton. The caves and stone spires formed by volcanic activity makes it look like the birthplace of Superman. This was another destination I had trouble appreciating properly because it was so gorgeous, I didn’t know what to do. Britt did some research on the area and found a pizza place that made black crust pies and it was only ten minutes away. Big bro was tired of driving at this point, and it was finally my turn behind the wheel. As a man who likes to drive, I’ve been waiting all week for this! I assumed this black crust pizza was just a touristy gimmick, but I was SO wrong. It was honestly one of the best pizzas I’ve ever tasted in my life. Fueled with magic pizza we headed to Dyrholaey Lighthouse and lookout. This was a funky twist and turn up a hill to make it there. This was yet another place I stared out and began to think about local legends and folklore and believed it all. This a place that wasn’t just occupied by worldly creatures but something more. It’s hard to explain but Iceland’s folklore all feels 100% true once you’re there. Time was NOT on our side, so we had to dash to the next stop, Skogafoss waterfall which rests at the end of a massive glacier. The very same glacier we were scheduled to snowmobile on the day before. Alas! Better safe than blown off the edge of a glacier, next time baby. This waterfall was stupid and ugly. Nah, I can’t even pretend to be unphased by how many eye-popping stops this place has up its sleeve. We explored the base because the staircase to the top the falls was too high, and we hat to jet soon. But we did find some incredible rainbows in the base of the falls and felt like a place to make a few wishes. So far none of mine came true but I’m lucky to just have the chance to try. We flew the scene to head back to hotel to scoop mom and hit the second lagoon. I felt the car in front of me on the Ring Road was driving 10km below the speed limit warranted a passing. I made my move since it's legal to pass on the left in spots. That car sped up, so I had to hit the gas to pass to not become one with the car coming my way about a mile down the road. That decision like all the ones I’ve made this year was poorly timed and the speed cameras flashed and issued a ticket. Even in a foreign paradise my luck is trash and I remain a fuck up. Oh well, maybe the lagoon will wash it all way. We had some good weather, and all filed in at Sky Lagoon. Blue Lagoon is the more known lagoon in the area, sadly not fictional at the moment of this posting because of volcanic activity, stay safe lagooners. Sky Lagoon was more modern and overlooked the water, a truly beautiful and serene view, sadly no northern Lights. It’s hard to complain inside a hot spring with all your loved ones, so I won’t. Once the cider in our cups ran out and the fingers were pruned, we packed it in. We had our last family meal at the glorious food hall by our hotel, truly delicious and all on dad’s credit card. Thanks pops. After that mom and dad called it a night and the kids hit the town with a VENGANCE! Kidding, we had one drink at a lovely bar/lounge that required us to wait in line and I felt like an underdressed asshole, because I was. We sat tired and reflected on the trip and made our way a block away back to our hotel.

The final half day! Britt and I woke up early to catch breakfast at our favorite Bakery, BakaBaka. After some eggs, buns, and croissants we hit the shops for some souvenirs which we put off till the last minute. I bought some amazing t-shirts and a couple I did not need. We made it back to the hotel to absolutely cram all our bags into the rental car. The crew sailed the Angus home for us, so we needed to fly home. We made it to the airport somehow, I bought a pile of local candy and some Reya vodka in the duty free. Only to be told after I paid that Reya vodka is readily available in America at any Total Wine. Well, fuck me. Oh well! The process of boarding at the Reykavick airport was so ridiculous it’s a shock we made it. Our gate wasn’t announced until 10 minutes before boarding, and the gate was 20 minutes away, not counting customs. Oh, and when we got through ALL that we had to take a BUS to the plane! Which was foolish, but we boarded, and I watched movies till we made it back to Logan. I love to travel but nothing beats Boston in my book. Happy to be home and overjoyed to have the adventure I had with all my loved ones. Iceland isn’t a one week trip, it’s a different world you need to inhabit and adapt to. It’s not a vacation, it’s a different plane of existence and I hope I can return soon to continue the journey we merely began.

Thank you to everyone who stayed till the end on this Tolkien in length post, hope you enjoyed it and I owe you one fun sized kitkat. Stay tuned and keep smiling.