Iceland
As usual, I will explain what took us to the location of our travels. This one was a bit different for us. Kathie and I only started traveling abroad after we dropped Rachel off for her freshman year at college. After about ten years of traveling and the kids no longer in the house we decided that doing a family vacation would be a fun adventure and a Christmas gift for all of us.
Starting this, Rachel took on the research for a location. Late last year she found cheap airline tickets to Iceland and she found a house outside of Selfos on air B&B. On January 31st we boarded Icelandic Air at 6PM. The tickets were super economy so we all had a carry-on bag and a personal bag. At check-in the attendant offered some of us to check in our carry-on bags. This worked out well and allowed us to board much easier.
We arrived in Iceland Keflavic airport at about 5AM on February 1st. We got off the plane, gathered our checked luggage and hopped on the shuttle to the car rental location. We picked up our car and Tommy drove us into the edge of Reykjavik where we stopped at a grocery store to pick up goods for the weekend and rendezvous with the manager of the Air B&B we would be using. We got our envelope of keys and instructions for the house.
Tommy drove us to the house were we unpacked and explored to
house. It was a log cabin on acreage the looked out on the plains and mesas in
the area. We took a little time to rest up and prepare for our fist tourist
adventure. We all got in the car and headed to Gullfoss. This was a park area
that had rather impressive waterfalls. So much so that they claim that the flow
over the falls exceeded Niagara Falls.
The weather at the park was in the mid-twenties and the sustained winds were at least 30 mph. We got to explore the falls and were happy to return to the car. Our second stop for the day was a field of geysers. We stopped in the gift store for this location then walked out to the geysers to take in the sites including one geyser that seemed to be erupting every 5 minutes or so.
We finished touring and returned to the cabin where Michael grilled up steaks for us all. We enjoyed dinner and played some games to pass the time. Soon we were getting ready for bed. I fell asleep quickly but as is usual for adjusting to jet lag, I woke up at about 1AM. I got out of bed and went to the living room where I found Rachel who was up also. We sat for about an hour then Rachel returned to bed and I lasted another hour then went back to bed myself.
In the morning we had a quick breakfast and then drove out to a restaurant that was in a greenhouse that grew tomatoes and was climate controlled with geothermic waters. We had a great lunch and got to see some of the details of the operations in the green house.
After lunch we went to Kerio, which was a large crater
formed by volcanic activity. We then returned to the cabin and dropped Michael
off so that he could do a training run while we did out next excursion.
Tommy, Rachel, Kathie and I next went to Thingvellir, which was a park containing rock-formations along a hillside and river. It had an interesting history including being a meeting place for law conferences that were meetings among the different regional jurisdiction lawmakers.
There is a path through the park that started between rock formations and took us past a small village and a river that ran outside the formations. It also took us past several small waterfalls. The second waterfall was medium in size and the water came for the mesa above the formations. We finished walking the park then we returned to the cabin.
At the cabin we re-joined with Michael and we got ready for dinner. For dinner we went to a nice restaurant in Selfoss where we enjoyed our evening and the food.
On Saturday we got up early, prepared breakfast and got a
quick start for a busy day of touring. Our first stop for the day was outside
of Reykjavik at a place called the Blue Lagoon. This was a public bathing area
that is filled with geothermal waters that ranged from 98 to 102 degrees. We
changed into our bathing suits and entered the waters. This was a unique
experience, going swimming in near freezing outdoor temperatures.
After the Blue Lagoon we headed into Reykjavik and parked at the Harpa convention center. This is where the Northern Lights Fun Run was scheduled to start. From the Harpa center we walked into the old part of Reykjavik and found the store that was distributing the runner packets. We picked up the packets for Kathie, Rachel and Michael then moved onto lunch where we had Crepes. After lunch we walked up to the Reykjavik church and took the elevator to the Bell Tower of the church. The church sits on top of a hill and the views from the tower were incredible. The church itself was also beautiful. The architecture was simple but elegant and the pipe organ at the back of the church compliments the church.
After visiting the church we all walked back to the Harpa Center via the tourist areas in town. We made several stops looking for souvenirs. Tommy and Rachel were looking for Puffin stuffed animals for the daughter they are expecting in July.
We eventually got back to the Harpa Center where runners had started to gather and a DJ was starting to warm up the crowd. The theme of the Fun Run was Northern Lights and the packet that the runners received had accessories that glowed or lit up to wear while they were running in the dark.
The run started at 7:00PM and meandered through Reykjavik.
Tommy and I were not running so we headed to the finish location that was at a
museum not too far from the Harpa Center. We found a corner restaurant/bar and
had a beer while waiting for the runners to finish. Soon we saw runners walking
away from the area and with a few cell phone calls Rachel and Kathie found us
and we started walking back to the Harpa center to get back to the car and
hopefully find Michael who had turned the fun run into a training run. We ran
into Michael before reaching the Harpa Center and we drove back to the cabin.
On Sunday we got up and packed and cleaned up the cabin in preparation for our departure. We drove back to Reykjavik where we returned for more Crepes for breakfast and then drove to Perlan, which is a museum that focuses on the geothermal activity in Iceland. It contains many displays about volcanic activity and a man-made ice cave that they gave a tour through.
After Perlan we drove to the airport, dropped of the car that was due at 2:00, and took the shuttle to the airport. We checked in and had about an hour of waiting until our plane started boarding. It was still daylight out when we took off and remained so until about an hour before we landed. We landed and found our way to the parking shuttle then drove to our local Italian restaurant for dinner then we all went our own directions.