HP - Iceland 2-4 April

Ísland

To celebrate John's birthday, the boys enjoyed a weekend trip to Manchester for a United match. While they were away, I decided to go see what was lower on their priority lists and high on mine...the Northern Lights. Realizing that it was a bit of a long shot being so late in the season, I kept my hopes low.

My dear friend Anna had connected me with her beautiful cousin Gunnur, so I cemented plans with her and boarded my Iceland Air flight a few hours after the boys headed to the UK. Landing at 3pm gave me enough time to enjoy the famous Blue Lagoon rich with silica and other minerals before heading to my hotel. The hot springs is a geothermal pool of steam rising out of volcanic stones all around. It looks like an island oasis in a sea of black.  The mud mask is a nice touch, and I thoroughly enjoyed soaking for an hour in the warm water and steam. 

Heading straight then to my hotel with only a granola bar for dinner, grey line tours van picked me up 10 minutes after checking in. We commuted to their bus terminal and boarded a huge coach. The next 5 hours (9pm-2am) were spent chasing the Northern lights all over the island. It didn't appear to be a good potential that we would see them as we drove out into clouds and rain, but God answered my prayers about 30 minutes outside Reykjavik and lit up the sky with His beauty multiple times. We stopped twice to stand under the dancing colors and enjoyed watching from the coach as well while we drove ahead of the clouds and rain. Unfortunately none of the videos or photos came out on our fancy Canon or on my GoPro, but the IPhone at least grabbed a couple blurry ones.

After a short night (morning) of sleep, I enjoyed thoroughly one of my best breakfasts in Europe.  Then the tall church down the street called my name with its chiming bells, so I walked there and took the elevator to the top floor. The view of colorful Reikjavik was outstanding. I love all of the brightly painted buildings dotting the landscape surrounded by a sea of blue ocean against snow covered mountains. Truly stunning!

By 11,with map in hand and GPS set, the Yaris and I hit the open road. The Golden Circle beckoned me to explore, and I was thrilled when just outside Reykjavik, the snow covered ground came in to view. It was crazy, almost every 10 minutes, I had to pull over for photos. The landscape is so incredible!

The highlights on the circle are the Bingvellir National Park, Geysir (after whom all geysers in the world are named), and Gulfoss Falls.

With a huge lake in the middle, Bingvellir is covered with amazing hiking trails that I longed to climb but didn't have time. The views were incredible though just from the road.

Geysir and its buddies were incredible explosions of steam in an otherwise volcanic rock and snow covered tundra. The largest of the hot springs, Strokkur, gives an amazing show about every 10 minutes with enormous eruptions of steam and boiling water. To not get soaked, the crowd has to take into account the direction of the wind. Many people miscalculated and no doubt enjoyed their soggy memories for the rest of the day. The modal Atlantic ridge cuts Iceland in half and the sides are drifting away from each other at a rate of 2cm per year. The geothermal zone where these geysers are located are in the volcanic zone with base temperatures of 250 Celsius and surface temps of 100C. Geysir only erupts after earthquakes and its last one was in 2000. Strokkur's eruptions are roughly comparable in height to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park which I had visited as a child with my family. However, Strokkur launches every 8-10 minutes whereas faithful plus more like every 30 minutes.

Here's a video of one of Strokkurs' temper tantrums!  

Definitely some soaked photographers after this one.

Gulfoss Falls was truly majestic with its roaring waters tumbling in multiple levels. There was a closed path due to "treacherous winter conditions" that dared me to travel closer to the top. I did. It was worth it.

Miscalculating how long I would dilly dally along the path to the furthest point, I now returned directly to meet Gunnur and her family. They were delightful, and Gunnur showed me around her area through the hot springs, black rock beaches, and a black sand beach where Clint Eastwood filmed a movie. Dinner was a delicious traditional Icelandic Sunday meal of lamb, potatoes, and red sour kraut. I was thoroughly happy enjoying a yummy meal with warm new friends in such an incredible country rich in beauty.

Another short night of sleep, and I snuck out their door at 3:45am for my flight home.