Iceland Part 1

 

We took the most spectacular trip to Iceland with Jason & Kasee and Blakely & Lindsey. We feel so lucky to have these dear friends we love to travel with. We were gone 10 days and basically drove around the island in a circle, beginning and ending in Reykjavik. Abby watched the kids at first, then Jake's sister Missy, and then Greg and Kathy finished up. Here we are at the SLC airport excited and ready to go!

We landed totally exhausted and hit the ground running. After most of us fell asleep in the car ride from the airport to Reykjavik (poor Jason was up front and had to talk to the driver), we freshened up for a minute in the hotel and then set out to explore the city. Our first stop was for caffeine, and we tried this delicious Icelandic energy drink called Collab. It became a trip favorite and we started most days with a Collab stop. (I wish we could get it in the US so bad!)

The famous rainbow road! I put on most of my layers and was still freezing most of the day. I started to get worried about the rest of the trip. 

The famous Hallgrimskirkja Church. 

Inside the church

We did a food tour most of the afternoon and had five stops. I thought the food was just okay? But most of the group seemed to like it! This was our tour guide Bryn.

We all had a very sleepy day.

We ended the night going to Sky Lagoon and it was incredible! We really debated between Sky Lagoon and Blue Lagoon and were very happy with our choice.

The next morning we picked up our big white van, did a quick Costco stop for snacks, and headed out to our first stop, Thingvellir National Park.

Our big event of the day was snorkeling in Silfra between large volcanic canyons. We were terrified all morning about how cold the water was going to be. The water was extremely cold (35 degrees or so), but the dry suits made it okay. But turns out we should have been more nervous about the dry suits rather than the cold because they were so incredibly uncomfortable. I honestly think I'd try a wet suit next time?! It was so hard to move and putting them on was so crazy and took forever. All in all, a very memorable experience.

Our next stop was Oxarafoss Waterfall.

I thought this view was maybe even prettier than the waterfall. So, so pretty.

We ate a late lunch at Fridheimar, a tomato farm and restaurant. Every dish was tomato related and was so, so good. The burrata was my favorite!

We went to Geysir next, which was cool, but maybe a little less impressive to us because we're used to Old Faithful?

A very weird statue we couldn't understand.

Gorgeous Gullfoss Waterfall

Next we went to Kerid Crater. Where Lindsey thought it would only take 8 minutes to walk around it and I thought it would take 20. She proceeded to basically run around it so she wouldn't lose the bet, ha ha. I think it ended up taking 14 minutes. :)

Urrdafoss

We ended the night hot tubbing. This is literally at 11 PM?! The light through the night was so crazy. It was cool but also it was tough--it made it tough to sleep. Our bodies never knew it was time to wind down.

The next day we started out at Seljalandsfoss, I think one of the coolest waterfalls we saw (and we saw a lot!). Rick Steves called it "handsome" and we definitely agreed. :) We put our rain gear on and walked behind the waterfall. (Funny enough, it was really the only time the whole trip we needed our rain gear? We had unseasonably warm weather and seriously lucked out.)

Our next stop was the famous Skogafoss Waterfall.

We began a very cool hike from Skogafoss, the Fimmvorduhals Trail. We really only did the first bit of it (I think we did 6 miles round trip?) where you see tons and tons of waterfalls with an incredible view the whole way.

Funny boys

Incredible!

We stopped at Mia's Country Van afterwards for possibly the best fish and chips of our lives. They also had really yummy flavored salts (it's a big thing in Iceland) to season our fries.

Our next stop was the Solheimajokull Glacier. Lindsey thought it was unimpressive since it was dirty, so we decided to not walk all the way up to it, ha ha. (The glaciers we saw the next day were way, way cooler.)

Our next stop was Reynisfjara Beach. All the basalt features were super cool.

The boys apparently have similar style.

We all loved the way the water sounded as waves rushed past the black rocks and back into the water. 

Our one goal was to see a puffin on the beach and we saw one right at the end! We saw him struggle in the waves and then emerge triumphant while a bunch of us cheered! It was so cute.

Our last main stop of the day was visiting Fjardarargljufur. It was a quick walk and rewarded us with the most breathtaking views. It was stunning. Apparently Justin Bieber filmed a music video here? 

We had to recreate a similar picture from our Switzerland trip 6 years ago!

We finished the night at a restaurant called Kjarr that was probably my favorite meal of the trip. I had this fish, which was incredible. Also the beets--yum!

I think our hotel that night was my favorite from the whole trip--Magma Hotel. We each had our own little cabins and this was the view from the back.