The Exploration Continues…..

On Thursday we continued our journey around the north part of Iceland. My daughter mentioned that she didn’t understand our route because my old blog had a map of where we were going and this one does not. So you understand, we began in Rejykavik which is in the southwest part of Iceland and we drove east, then north, then west, then south back to the beginning. We circled the entire island.

Google Iceland and connect it to the names in the travel if you would like a more precise idea where we were.  Next trip I’ll try to include a map!

So we had a way to go on Thursday. We stopped at an information center and discovered that there was a place on the way that had turf houses that were built in the 1800’s and earlier.  They were really quite well done – old furniture of the times inside. What impressed us the most was how warm the turf walls were and how warm it was inside.

That’s a little heater, above.  And the Master Bedroom below:

Some long socks!!!!  And a mill below:

The dorm above and the pantry below.

Next we had lunch in the town where we would be staying that night, Sauoadarkrokur – at the Hard Wok Café. No Chinese for us, just burgers and pizza. Speaking of pizza, it appears that that is the go-to meal for lots of people in Iceland. Michael obliged by having it nine times!!!!! That way he didn’t have to try anything weird! But John and I had five pizza meals, Kathryn four. Hahaha…… We passed by our hotel, described as quaint and romantic…….also pretty rustic.

Just a little charm:

The big adventure on Thursday was the Family Rafting trip. We were able to choose between 2+ and up……or 4+ and up. Thank you very much, but the Family Trip was adventure enough! It was in a beautiful canyon and was tons of fun….. we stopped several times along the way; first for hot chocolate, then to allow those that wished to jump off a tall rock, then later at a smooth place, where one could get out to swim in the cold water. We were all in dry suits and Kathryn and Michael were happy to take advantage of the fun.  John and I were happy to watch. The entire trip was fun for me…….until the end when we had to climb a gigantic mountain to get back to the bus to take us to base camp.  My wonderful guide Djeep helped me slowly, slowly, slowly make my way to the top. But I didn’t have a choice – I had to get there!

I didn’t want to climb over the rocks to where they were serving hot chocolate — I received special delivery!!!

Do notice how high the walls of the canyon are……and think about me going up them — even if there was so dirt; it was still quite high!

Michael was the first one to jump — next two pictures (mine then the professional).

Kathryn jumped second; this time his, then mine….

And swimming back….

 

And I upgraded so I could do video!

That wasn’t even exciting — just a nice little bouncy, bounce!!!

On Friday we also had a lot of driving to do……but we had a great stop midway through the day at Into The Glacier, a fascinating walk into a tunnel inside of a glacier. I am going to include the sign picture because the facts are quite interesting.

Putting on out crampons….

You can read the age, just like the rings on a tree.

Standing behind the altar in the old chapel.

Sitting in the new chapel….  There have been many weddings there!

By the way, when I went to get my drysuit, the woman asked me if I got cold easily — hahaha — NO!  So she said I could just wear my coat (that I had waterproofed) with that light but waterproof blue jacket over it.  Bad choice whenever I sat down I was freezing!!!!  Although I had sprayed Scotchguard on my jeans — they were cold and wet…..

I made it all the way, but I was really tired!!!

 

We ended the day with a drive back into Rejykavik to our same hotel and a nice dinner at Jaime’s Italian again.

 

On Saturday morning we slept in a bit, but there was some shopping to do before we headed to our last adventure on the way to the airport – the Blue Lagoon.  However, poor Michael had to make three trips to the car to get us all loaded!!!!

The Blue Lagoon is, arguably,  the most famous of all of the things we did; it’s a very, very nice thermal pool. Our entry included two kinds of masks (one silica mud and one algae) and a drink and a towel. We had very little time, but we did enjoy the experience and wished we had had more time!

Pops found the rain shower….

Our flights were really long and the connection was really late. We didn’t end up getting to Austin until 2:30 a.m. and then had to get our car from the airport hotel (slightly offsite) and drive almost an hour to the lake – that’s getting into Austin at 7:30 a.m. Iceland time…………LONG DAY!

But what a trip – Iceland wasn’t even on my radar when some friends of ours from England told us they were going, maybe about five years ago. I asked them why. And they told me that it was really beautiful. They were right. Mostly it is very interesting: the scenery changes instantly when you go around a mountain from green pastures to a moonscape covered with moss. The weather often changes every few minutes. One of our guides told me that tourism has increased by 30 to 40% each year. That’s huge!!!!

The opportunity to spend such good, quality time with Kathryn and Michael made this a cherished event. Here’s a fun fact: their sister Maddie was in the Newark airport at the same time we were at JFK on the way home. She was on her way to Edinburgh with other students from Texas A & M majoring in dance to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Wow! The world has gotten so much smaller since we were in school!!!! Wish I could have been in both Scotland and Iceland at the same time.

I hope you have enjoyed following us on such an exciting adventure — we had the time of our lives!!!!

Love,

Beth

p.s.  a bonus if you wish —  more videos from past times (courtesy of Kathryn):