We planned a trip to Iceland! It seems kind of random, but I thought it would be fun to do something out of the country with the kids and it's not that long of a flight and the time change isn't as bad as mainland Europe. When we would tell people we were going on a trip to Iceland there were only two reactions: 1. OH MY GOSH I WANT TO GO THERE SO BAD/OH MY GOSH I'VE BEEN THERE AND IT'S AWESOME or 2. ....Why?! We were excited to get there and see if it was worth the trip. And it was!
Day 1 (June 11): Airplanes
It was nice to finally have a flight that left later in the afternoon so we weren't running around like crazy. We ended up still running around a little bit before we left, but it was better than normal haha. We got to the airport, made it through security, and got some food before we boarded the plane! The flight to Minneapolis was nice and quick. The next leg was hard, because we were all tired but nobody could get comfortable. There was a lot of crying and whining, and nobody got much sleep.
Amelia was having the WORST diarrhea in the airport
Day 2 (June 12): Airport and Snaefellsnes Peninsula
We finally landed in Iceland at 6 AM, an hour earlier than anticipated. We got off and then got our bags and went over to find our rental car. We couldn't see a desk for our company, "My Car", and ended up joining up with another family that was also looking for that company. We waited for about 30 minutes before someone came and we were able to take the shuttle to their office and get our car.
We were all pretty dead but what are you going to do? So we started driving towards our destination, making our first stop at a grocery store in Borgarnes. It was fun and interesting to walk around and see what kinds of things they had in the store. Some things were very similar and other things were kind of wild!
We made it to Ytri Tunga, a beach where you can see a colony of harbor seals on the rocks off shore. We didn't make it out though, and had to take a quick nap in the car before we made it to our first stop. We saw the seals and some birds, but it was pretty windy and cold and we had a lot of stops to make before we got to our hotel so we didn't stay long.
Our next stop was Budakirkja, a cool black church in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing to do here but just take some pictures from the outside!
Right across the street is a waterfall named Bjarnarfoss. We parked and then hiked up the trail. It wasn't very long or difficult at all, but it sure was beautiful! This was the first time that we felt kind of settled in for the day and started joking around and having fun.
We made it to the sea and did a really cool sea walk where we got to see Gatklettur, a stone arch, as well as so many cool birds and bays. Right next to this was Bárdur Snaefellsás, a troll stone structure that is of the troll that is "protecting" the bay. There's a fun folktale about him pushing his nephew down so hard that it created a big ravine, because he was so mad that his nephew sent his daughter away to Norway on an iceberg.
It was really, really windy so we opted out of the beach we were going to visit and when we went to the Cliffs of Londrangar, we didn't stay long. The views of the cliffs were really beautiful though!
Our last stop was the Kirkjufell Mountain and Kirkjufellsfoss Waterfall. It was a really easy, short walk to the viewpoint but so worth it! This was my favorite part of the day for sure. It was so beautiful, and I have been planning this trip for so long and this mountain is the most photographed mountain in Iceland. It was still so windy so we didn't stay long, but we loved seeing it!
Our place was in the next town over, Grundarfjörður, and it was only 2 minutes away. We checked in, made a frozen pizza, and tried to get as much sleep as possible haha. The midnight sun here is freaking insane!
This is around 2 in the morning
Day 3 (June 13): West Iceland
We checked out this morning of our AirBnb and went on our way again! Our first stop was Glanni Waterfall and Paradise Hollow. It was rainy, but we carried on and even had our picnic in the rain haha. I think the kids' favorite part of this was seeing the harlequin ducks!
Our next stop was the Glaumbaer Open Air Museum. This was a cool place that showed old turf houses. I knew that they had the turf on the roof, but I had no idea they also had it up the sides of the house too. And in places it was just turf and then little windows sticking out. We toured around the buildings, starting in the yellow house that was not turf but just a house that they moved to this location. We looked around and then got some treats for the kids to eat!
The road names here are crazy
Next we looked at the gray house, another house that was transplanted here.
Finally we saw the turf houses. A bunch of white and yellow buildings that were for livestock, storage, and then the main living quarters. Basically they lived underground! It was so interesting to walk around and see the kitchen area, their bed area and their food storage areas.
We got back in the car and looped around Trollaskagi to Siglufjordur, our home for the next two nights. We checked into our place, a delightful little house that was built by a shoemaker in the early 1900's. It was cute but the stairs were SO steep that we had to be really careful going up and down and had to ban Amelia from using them alone because she slipped down two steps our first night and scared us all.
A crazy one lane tunnel! It was so long, and there were only a few pull outs. We weren't sure what to do and it was scary!
Kiddos playing with my phone
Even though we were so tired we went out to dinner at Torgið, a restaurant right in the harbor. Rusty and Amelia got pizzas and the rest of us got hamburgers. Their ketchup is really sweet, and they used sweet pickles! What. But the views were perfection.
Doing laundry here is going to be challenging haha!
Day 4 (June 14): Siglufjordur and Akureyri
Today was an open day that we could either spend at the house or go swimming at the hot spring. I had tried to find us a swimming pool but while we're in Myvatn it was Sunday and then their National Holiday, so we couldn't do either. But I also found that the Akureyri Pool is the best for kids, so an option for today was to drive over there if we were feeling up for it. The truth is I don't think anyone was really feeling up for it but they wanted to go swimming so we went for it anyway. But first we went and got some donuts from the Aðalbakarí Bakery and let the kids jump at one of the local parks. It's so fun to have these bouncy things at their public parks! The kids loved it!
We drove over to Akureyri Swimming Pool, which looked like it was going to be so awesome for the kids! It was a bit of a drive, but it was beautiful! We went through an even longer tunnel to get to the town Akureyri. Something fun and different about this town is that all of the stoplights were heart shaped! I also had read that there was a food truck here that sold gluten free fish and chips, and I am so glad we stopped. They were so delicious! And we needed to try them here because they are a big deal.
While we were eating the kids danced around this grassy area while some people blasted some music.
We weren't allowed to take pictures at the swimming place so this is the best I could get. This place was... well it was a lot of things haha. It was fun and the kids loved the pools and the slides! It was really cool to see what is their most common pastime here. BUT it was also slightly traumatic because we had to get all the way naked and shower in common showers with everyone and I didn't know that so I had my swim suit on and the lady came over and yelled at me. She must have had a bad day, because she was really angry. And I had a waterproof cover on my phone that I wanted to take out to the pool and that made her yell even more because I can't take my phone with a camera in the shower where everyone is naked. I didn't even want to go where everyone was naked! The girls, particularly Della, was pretty distraught about the whole situation and I was too. We walked out and saw Rusty and Henry and Rusty and I just started laughing when we saw each other. He knew that was going to be terribly awkward for me haha.
On our way out there was a food truck parked in the parking lot that sold the famous Icelandic hotdog. I had read about it in a novel that takes place in Iceland so I was pretty bummed I couldn't eat it- they have flour inside the actual sausage here. But the general consensus from the kids and Rusty was that it was terrible haha.
Beautiful views on the way back to our house!
When we got home we showered everyone and then ate some frozen pizza. This kind was sourdough so I could eat it and it was so delicious! Amelia was feeling really upset because of jet lag and the busy days and everything, so I was trying to help her feel better with her underwear on my head.
Day 5 (June 15): Husavik
Today we left our place and went to my FAVORITE town of our whole trip: Husavik! We left and went straight to the Whale Museum. We needed to be there around noon to have enough time to look around before our whale watching boat ride at 1:15. The museum was really fascinating! It had a model of a blue whale's heart: and it was huge! I would have loved to see one here; I've never seen one before. But we were able to see a full skeleton of one that washed up on a beach here!
Backstory on this building: this is a museum that I wanted to go through purely because I just couldn't fathom its purpose. It is the number one attraction in this town, and it is a herring museum. It's like four buildings and its all about herrings haha. What could we possibly have to say about them that would take that many buildings. We didn't have time to go to because we would have had to get an early start, so I just took a picture outside of it.
There were all of these wonderfully beautiful flowers!
Blue whale heart!
Blue whale!
A Narwhal!!
After the museum we went on the whale watching tour! It was three and a half hours, and jet lag was really doing a number on all of us by this time. I had a panic attack last night too, so that made it more difficult for me today. We went over and checked in and then got our extra layers from the company! I tried to have everyone dressed in all of the warm layers we had, but when we got there I started getting kind of nervous. They put us in these huge jumpsuits and told us that it gets so cold out on the water they provide them for everyone. We went out on the coolest old wooden ship! Our first stop was Lundey Island where we were able to see tons of puffins! The kids and I were particularly excited about seeing the puffins! I didn't know they were bad flyers, but man are they! It was so funny to watch them try to take off from the water.
After we saw the puffins we went out into the open water to see some whales! Today we were able to see two different humpback whales, and they stayed at the top for quite a while because they were feeding. It was so cool to see these whales with the beautiful mountains behind them! It was hard to get good pictures of the puffins or the whales, but the trip was great! Towards the end we were given hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls to warm us up!
Coming back into Husavik!
After the whale watching tour we were going to check into our Airbnb and then get some dinner. But when we got there it was absolutely trashed! I've never had that happen to me before in all of the AirBnbs we've ever stayed in. So I called AirBnb support and got a refund for the night, but then I had no idea where we were going to stay. Rusty and I both were looking up places and he found one so we checked in there for the night. We ended up eating pb&js for dinner because it was later by now and we went to sleep! We were only staying here for one night.
Day 6 (June 16): Myvatn
Today we woke up and stared over to a waterfall, one of the most important ones in Iceland: Godafoss. We were really hoping that we would have a clear sunny day for this because the color of the water is so beautiful and the water can look gold when the sun shines on it! Alas, we got cloudy, rainy weather. It was still beautiful but we missed out on the colors. Godafoss translates to "waterfall of the gods" and has a really interesting story behind it. In the year 1000 the Althing (parliament) decided to adopt Christianity as their country religion. It was a difficult decision for the leader, Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði, to decide what to do. After he converted to Christianity, Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði went to the waterfall here and threw all of his statues and idols of Norse and Viking gods into the falls as a symbol of his total devotion to Christianity.
Our next stop was the Hervir/Namafjall Geothermal Area. This was actually one of my favorite spots, but it was definitely a controversial stop. It didn't smell good AT ALL there, and Amelia had a particularly difficult time with it haha. She hated that place and every time we drove past it after we went there she would tell us how much she hated it and make sure we never had to go there again. This place is called Hell's Kitchen, and walking around it definitely looked like it. There were lots of steaming pots and boreholes. We walked around and did a short hike up the mountainside. One spot had a steaming ridge that made the kids disappear. They thought that was the best thing and loved hiding in there.
After the stinky, smelly stop, we went to the Skutustadir Pseudocraters to hike around. It was windy and cold, but it was pretty cool to see these craters! These are a really crazy national phenomenon that are only found in Iceland and MARS. MARS! What?! It looks like a regular volcanic crater, but it doesn't actually have a vent for any magma. They happen when hot lava goes across something wet, like Lake Myvatn. It makes a steam explosion and forms these fake craters. We went for a little walk around the psuedocraters and got our first chance to see and touch snow in Iceland!
To end the day off perfectly, we went to a restaurant. This one was called Vogafjos Farm and it was cool and took "farm to table" to a whole new level. The cows were literally in the same building! The kids loved seeing the cows while we were waiting for our food. And, this food was SO GOOD! After dinner we went and checked into our AirBnb. It was a cute place in the middle of nowhere.
These caramel chocolates were SO good!
Day 7 (June 17): Myvatn Area
Today was a beautiful, sunny day! And it ended up being the only sunny day of our trip there. We didn't have rain every day, but this was our only true sunny day. I was tempted for a little bit to go back to Godafoss, but it was an hour there and back and we had been in the car so much we just couldn't do it. But we did have a slow morning and then went to see Stóra Víti, a beautiful crater that has the most incredible blue water inside.
P/C: Della
P/C: Della
P/C: Amelia
After the crater we went and saw the Dimmuborgir Lava Formations. These formations are so cool, and so huge! I had read that you could go out and walk around them and so I was excited to have a place where we could just let the kids loose and let them run free. Sadly, when we got there there were signs everywhere next to the trails that said you couldn't leave the marked trails. I felt so bad about it, but the kids didn't want anymore trail walking. So we sneaked off to just play for a little bit, and climbed some of the lava mountains. But then we felt bad and went back to the trail, and walked five more feet and then it was all open and you could go anywhere you wanted haha. We played hide and go seek and had the best time!
We crossed the line!!
Everyone was really beat. This trip has been awesome, but it's a lot of driving and moving around to different AirBnbs. It's a lot of work. So tonight was movie night! We watched Alice in Wonderland and just relaxed. It was great!
The girls loved taking my phone and taking pictures of themselves
Today was Iceland's holiday!
Day 8 (June 18): Eastfjords
Today we woke up and set off with our packed lunches. We went to Dettifoss- one of Europe's most powerful waterfalls. I had read that we should do both the upper and lower overlooks, so we made sure to visit both and they were both really cool! You could definitely feel how powerful these falls are. It was rumbling so much you could feel it in your body!
It's hard to see at first, but all of those little specks are these awful bugs that were everywhere in the Myvatn area
After Dettifoss, we did a little longer hike to get to Selfoss. With the snow and the melting/slippery conditions we couldn't get very close to it. I don't know if that's how it is all of the time or if later it will open up more, but this was still an impressive waterfall even from far away! We sat here and ate our lunches looking at the falls and the river.
White chocolate and strawberry yogurt- but kind of also looked like it could be butter. Skyr was SO yummy!
Sometimes we would just look at the street names on the car navigation system and start laughing because those are crazy!
Also, the second name on this sign is crazy
Our next stop for today was Stuðlagil Canyon. I knew that there was a viewing platform on the west side and the hike was on the East side, and we were (okay I was) wanting to do the hike down the canyon for a little ways. But we went to the West parking lot on accident, and then once we got down there it would have taken a lot of backtracking to get to the other side so we just looked at it from the platform. This is definitely a place that I would like to visit again if we come back to Iceland! These rocks formed as basalt columns shaped like hexagons. It was absolutely amazing!
Finally, we checked into our new place in Seydisfjordur! This is a small town that is famous for ornate wooden architecture and herring (but they did not have a herring museum so you tell me if they're really famous for it or not). This town was pretty far back here and we had to go over a large mountain pass to get here where it was snowing hard. This little valley was absolutely incredible though! I think from our bedroom window we counted 52 waterfalls. 52! From our tiny window.
This was our house
It's a cruise port!
I loved this little church!
We at dinner at El Grillo Bar. Henry got lamb and was ecstatic about it. The girls liked their burgers too! It was a cute little place with a fun, cozy vibe.
On our way home from the restaurant we stopped at this really amazing playground and just let the kids loose for a while!
That night we had a movie night and watched the new Mary Poppins!
Ok we loved these little boot thingys. Every single place we have stayed at so far (and for the rest of our stay here) had these by the door. How awesome is that?
Day 9 (June 19): Southeast Iceland
Today we got back in the car and left this area, but it was one of our favorite stops! Such a cute little town and the views here are absolutely insane. And it's right on the coast, which I obviously love. It's a cruise port and so you can come just for the day which would be really fun.
When we were driving back over the pass we saw these animals and at first we couldn't figure out what they were, but then we realized that they were caribou! I was so excited to see them, and then we were going through the snow so I turned on "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" and Rusty and Henry were thoroughly ticked at me but the girls liked it haha.
Caribou!
As we were driving we stopped at Lagarfljót Lake for a little while. The idea was to let the kids play and run around here for a while but it was so stinking cold that Amelia was only out for a little, and I didn't even get out of the car. But this lake has a cool history around it; it's the Loch Ness of Iceland. There is supposedly a monster that lives in here, and people are always showing pictures of weird things here. It dates all the way back to the 1300's and has been printed in stories and poems since the 1500's. According to legend, "a young girl was given a gold ring by her mother, and she sought advice on how to maximize its value. Her mother relayed a local myth: placing a worm on gold would make the gold multiply. The girl, hoping to increase her wealth, locked a worm in a chest with the ring. Contrary to her hopes, the worm grew exponentially. Overcome with fear upon discovering the worm’s transformation, she hurled the chest into the lake. Since that day, the creature, resembling a giant sea snake, has surfaced sporadically, captured in fleeting video glimpses that stoke the fires of legend and debate. To some, these images are proof of its existence; to others, they are mere fragments of myth. The true nature of Lagarfljotsormur remains shrouded in mystery, its legend undiminished by time." We listened to this podcast episode while we were driving there so that the kids were excited about seeing it. At first they were nervous, but then they just were excited about playing around because they knew it wasn't real.
We were SO EXCITED to see some more caribou further on our drive! And these ones were close enough and we were going slow enough that we could pull over and look at them with our binoculars. It was so cool!
We had a beautiful drive to our next spot: Hofn. We were staying at the same AirBnb for a few days and had some down time planned here, which was great because we were all very much in need of that. Before we checked into our AirBnb we went to a restaurant I had searched up and ate what became our favorite meal of our entire time in Iceland!
I don't remember what made us laugh so hard but we were dying
We checked in to our AirBnb, which became our favorite AirBnb, and then explored around the grounds a little bit. This place had tons of acreage and it was SO cool to explore and hike around. Then I went in to go to bed and ended up with all three kiddos in the bed with me haha. It's hard to be trying to get over the jetlag and also trying to sleep when it is SO LIGHT outside.
This place had so many kid toys! My kids were in heaven!
I loved sitting out in this enclosed porch and reading Journey to the Center of the Earth (takes place in Iceland... well before they go down to the center of the Earth obviously).
Day 10 (June 20): Southeast Iceland
Today we got up and hung out for a little bit before driving to our activity for the day! It was only about 40 minutes to get there, but this drive was SO BEAUTIFUL!
There were little sheep all over the place, and often they would be right on the road. Rusty loved honking the horn right when we passed them to try to get them off the road "to be safe" but honestly he just liked to watch them spaz out.
Stop it with these views.
Today was one of the activities that I was most excited for, and after the whole trip was over it was one of my favorite parts! We drove to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon to do a boat tour. I've never seen icebergs in real life, and the pictures of this place were so amazing. After visiting here, the pictures are not an exaggeration. It is stunning! We got on our "boat" which was one of those cool amphibious vehicles and the kids got the biggest kick out of that. When we just drove right into the lagoon they couldn't stop laughing!
Before it was our turn to go on the boat we had some time to go down to the shore and explore a little bit. It was amazing, and we watched this little duck family with tiny ducklings trying to submerge under the water. It was so stinking cute!
Then it was time for us to go out on the lagoon! We drove around and got pretty close to some icebergs, and saw lots of little harbor seals! That was surprising to me; they like to come in here because the orcas cannot make it in because it gets too shallow. They were so funny and looked like they would pose for us when we went past. Another favorite part was when the guide grabbed a chunk of ice and let us hold it. He also came around and took pictures of us. I couldn't find my beanie so Rusty was a gentleman and gave me his and he wore his baseball cap.
After the boat tour we walked around the lagoon coast again and explored.
Our next stop was just a walk away! We walked under the bridge, staying along the river from the lagoon out to the ocean. Then we arrived to Diamond Beach! Big pieces of ice wash up on the shore here and look like diamonds. With the sand being black it looks especially beautiful! We hung around here for a while, and then watched a bunch of people get stranded on a little sandbar that they risked going out on while the tide was coming in. Then they had to cross through the water and got soaking wet haha. Everyone was in good spirits!
We walked back over to the parking lot of the lagoon and got some lunch from the food trucks there. I got a delicious burger with no bun and the kids got hot dogs. Rusty got a seafood something that he was not a fan of and then got a hot dog haha.
The glacier!
Our next stop was Fjallsarlon Lagoon, just a short drive away. We didn't do a boat ride here, we just went down and sat on the shore and hung out. We threw rocks in the lagoon, Amelia and I played with the rocks like puppets and acted out the entire Frozen story, Rusty took a nap, and then we people watched. It is a beautiful location, but I was not prepared for the number of people that were here taking pictures. Dressed in all kinds of things. Like astronaut outfits and lingerie. Henry saw the lady in lingerie and he said, "Her bum cheeks are red! Do you think that's because she's embarrassed?" I said, "No, I think it's because it's very cold. But also she might be embarrassed because this is strange haha."
The lady in the yellow cloak was in the lingerie, and she's trying to warm up before wading out into the water again
We drove back home and hung out while Rusty went into town and got us some pizza from a restaurant there: Ishusid Pizzeria Restaurant. It might not have been the best pizza we've ever had, but it was pretty good and they had a GF crust so I was stoked! While we were eating we talked about our meanest faces we can make and then each tried to make a mean face to scare everyone else.
An oystercatcher in the yard! I think they are so beautiful!
She named the flower Elsa and she wanted it to sleep in the house with us so it wouldn't get cold
Day 11 (June 21): Southeast Iceland
Today was the Summer Solstice! To celebrate we took a hike. Actually, it was just the day that we were going to take a hike but the summer solstice is a pretty big deal here in Iceland! And I can understand why. It's so dark here in the winter, I'd want to celebrate it too. We checked out of our AirBnb and then drove to where we were going to hike.
Every time I see these horses with the wind blowing in their manes they just look like models and it makes me laugh
Our goal was to do the Skaftafell - Svartifoss - Sjónarsker - Sel Hike, which would have been 4 miles. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but we ended up doing 7 miles. It was all pretty though! And the kids were ABSOLUTE troopers. Well, Amelia wasn't at the beginning. She was screaming and wouldn't walk so that was not great. BUT after that. She was great.
Amelia tripped and fell into a pokey bush, and Henry was such a hero brother and automatically ran up to help her feel better!
Our first stop was the waterfall called Svartifoss. I was really excited to see this one, and I tell you it did not disappoint. It was stunning and so unique to anything else I've ever seen before. Everywhere you looked there were these hexagonal columns. It was amazing! We were here for a while just enjoying the sight and eating snacks, and taking pictures!
We took a different turn here and didn't go to the other stops we were thinking but instead went on the Skaftafellsjökull Glacier Trail, which ended up being really amazing! We got high enough that we started to see the foliage change around us and get into the high tundra. While we were up pretty high we saw a ptarmigan! That was cool! Then we got to the glacier lookout. It is massive! One of my favorite parts of the hike was seeing the Snæfellsjökull volcano and hiking closeish to it. I've been reading Journey to the Center of the Earth on this trip because they start in Iceland, but I had no idea we would actually hike by this volcano where they went down into the Earth! That was a cool thing for me.
Ptarmigan!
We were absolutely toast after this hike and checked into our AirBnb and went to bed!
Day 12 (June 22): South Coast
We checked out of the AirBnb again and kept going on our journey. By this time we were all pretty tired of changing hotels every other night or every night. The day was very packed, so I knew we wouldn't be able to do everything that was on the list. So we started at Fjadrargljufur (it just feels like I'm writing gibberish) but didn't do the whole 2 mile hike. It ended at a waterfall, but the main reason I was really excited about this hike/walk was the canyon. It looked so cool, and when we got there in person it really was beautiful!
After we turned around and got back to the car we drove to the black sand beach called Reynisfjara. It was cold (obviously) and the rip current here is really bad even very shallow so nobody got in the water. But we climbed on the basalt columns a little bit and then played on the rocky beach! We looked over at the three big rocks that they say are trolls but I didn't take a good picture of them. Legend goes (man I do love all the Icelandic lore and legends) that two trolls were trying to pull a ship to shore during the middle of the night. However, they lost track of time and since this was during the warmer seasons when we have shorter nights, the sun came up sooner than they thought. Everyone knows that any troll caught in the sunlight turns to stone and that is exactly what happened to them. It’s said that the three rock pillars are the two trolls and the ship they were dragging.
So picturesque!
Della was scared of slipping off the rocks
We were going to go do a little walk around a lighthouse, but that day I heard on our Iceland podcast that the same paths by the lighthouse are actually really optimal places to see puffins. PUFFINS! So we started over on that side and I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that everyone but Rusty was absolutely loving this. Rusty loved it too, but not as much. They were sooo close to us, and they were so cute and beautiful and just looked like you wanted to snuggle them and give them kisses. We watched them for a long time, and when they are on land they really are quite awkward and clumsy. But oh my heck they are so cute.
So we finally left the puffins and continued walking around by the lighthouse and we got another view of the trolls and the black sand beach.
Trolls! And their ship!
And look at this beautiful arch! The color of the water was just stunning.
Next was one of my favorite waterfalls: Skógafoss. It was a short drive to get there, and luckily it wasn't super duper crowded. We originally were going to do this waterfall tomorrow morning because I wanted to be there without people for a good picture but we drove right past it and we just didn't want to add something to the next day. It was too much. BUT it was still good and we got some great pictures! This waterfall is massive and you can hike right up the side of it on a trail and see it from the top. So cool! We definitely did not have the energy for it, but one day I'd love to come back and do the Waterfall Way Hike/Skoga Trail. It continues on for 10 miles and you see 25 waterfalls!
Mustache!
Our AirBnb had the old school Nintendo! I showed the kids and it was a blast!
Day 13 (June 23): South Coast
This morning we woke up and instead of packing up first, we went straight to the Seljalandsfoss waterfall to hopefully beat the crowd. And we did! There were only a few other people there the whole time we were. This one was really cool because you go behind the waterfall! The kids all really liked it, except Della was really scared about going behind it and didn't want anyone to get too close to the water because she thought they'd fall in. So she was really grumpy that whole time. And Amelia started out grumpy. Actually, by this day everyone was pretty done and we were all kind of grumpy. But they still liked the hike going behind the falls.
Afterwards Rusty surprised us and got hot chocolate and donuts from the little stand in the parking lot!
After this we went back to the house and got ready and packed up and drove to Hvolsvollur to see the Lava Center. I read a lot of cool things about it, but wasn't entirely sure what to expect. We liked it, and it definitely got us excited about the voclanoes and lava here in Iceland but it didn't quite scratch the itch. I was really glad we added on another stop in Reykjavik
We surprised the kids and took them to a Lava Show! They went up and got some lava rock from a volcano here in Iceland and then have a stove that will heat it up to 2000 degrees to melt it again and it flows down into the room. It's the only live lava show in the world! It was incredible to see it, and to feel the heat even from our chairs. This was such a cool thing, and one of the favorite stops of the whole trip for the kids.
It was our first time in Reykjavik, so we walked around downtown for a little! I really didn't think that I would like the Hallgrímskirkja church building, because in the pictures I just didn't care for it. I don't know if it was because I was there in person or because I had seen all of these cool basalt columns around the country, but seeing it today really changed for me. I loved it! I think it is so unique and beautiful, and I love that they built it based on the natural landscapes here in the country.
Sólfarið "Sun Voyager"
To end the day we did a bucket list item: we went to the Blue Lagoon! We had tickets for 17:00, and we had planned plenty of time to get there but the problem was that they had closed down a road because lava was flowing across it. That's never happened to me before. So we had to take a one hour detour to get there, but they still let us in. It was wild to drive in and out of there because you could literally see the piles of rock on the side of the road steaming because it was still cooling lava. Like, where even are we? How is this real?
The Blue Lagoon is definitely a fancy, tourist thing as opposed to the more casual, local hot spring we did. But it was so beautiful that none of us cared. We got in and got dressed (yes we had to shower naked but this time there were individual stalls) and then got drinks from the pool bar before going over to get our mud masks. We didn't have our phones most of the time so we don't have pictures of most of it, but it was such a cool place! Dinner was just in the little store attached and then we went home!
Amelia calls boobs boo boos. We were swimming at the Blue Lagoon and I picked her up and she put her hands on my chest and said, "I can see you have your boo boos... but we don't talk about that." I started laughing so hard so Rusty came over and asked what happened and Amelia shook her head and said, "There's no boo boos here!"
Day 14 (June 24): Golden Circle
Today was our last full day in Iceland, and it was a doozy! It was a very full day, but very very magical! We started out by driving through Thingvellir National Park. The kids have been using their Iceland travel journals and I'm loving seeing what they do! These are Della's.
"I saw lava"
"Day 1 the Troll"
"We saw a puffin"
Icelandic horse
Sweet note from Della to Henry
Thingvellir! This is where the people of Iceland have been holding parliament from 930 AD to 1798. This is where the counsel decided to accept Christianity, which is why they threw their idols in Godafoss.
Our first stop was Laugarvatn Fontana- a hot springs and geothermal bakery tour! We didn't have time to swim in the hot springs, but we did the bakery tour. We walked down by the lake and even though it was cold, some of the puddles of water were boiling! I was a little nervous about having the kids walking along the boardwalk haha. But the guide took us out there and dug up a pot with bread inside of it, that had been cooking for 24 hours. She opened it up and then we got to eat it!
For lunch we stopped at EFSTIDALUR II. This is a really cool farm to table place, where you could see the cows from the restaurant. We also got some ice cream here!
The next stop on the tour was the Geysir Geothermal Fields. Here we got to watch Strokkur erupt and see where Geysir is. We loved watching Strokkur go off, and did it a few times. Then we walked over and saw Geysir, and man that thing is huge! To have been able to see it go off would have been amazing! I totally get why all of these features are named after this one.
The bubble right before Strokkur erupts!
Next, we drove to Gullfoss. We wanted to get a little closer, but we knew that we had very limited energy we could make our kids do. So we just parked, looked at it, and then got back in the car to hopefully save enough energy for Kerid.
While we were driving, we saw a sign saying that we could feed the Icelandic horses in this guy's pasture! It was a fun little spontaneous stop and the kids enjoyed feeding them. The owner came out and answered our questions and told us a little bit more!
We made it! Our last stop was Kerid Crater. We saw the view from the top, but we wanted to walk down to the bottom and walk around the water. This was beautiful, and the color of the water was amazing!
We came back to the AirBnb and Rusty picked up some delicious pasta (even some of it gluten free!) in the rain and came back soaking wet. I did lots of laundry and tried to get everything packed up for our flight home tomorrow!
Day 15 (June 25): Airplanes
For our last day we checked out of our Reykjavik place early (by 6) to make it to the airport in time for our flight. We got there with no problems, and as an added bonus Della lost a tooth last night! We weren't sure what the tooth fairy would do in a different country but she brought Della Icelandic coins!
I didn't sleep at all the night before so I was trying to get some sleep before the flight
Amelia's feelings at our layover. This is what happened when I told her that she needed to put all of her things back in her backpack
Della's little stuffy
Final impressions of Iceland:
- It would be a great place to come back when our kids are big enough we could do the bigger hikes
- We'd focus on some specific areas instead of trying to do the whole island next time, but this was a great introduction and overview!
- Probably the worst food of any country we've visited so far haha
- People are not that happy or warm
- The beauty here is almost painful- it's stark and lonely and dramatic and SO beautiful! It's unique and not like anything I've seen before. You can't believe it but you can't get enough of it either.
- Our first trip to Europe with the kids!
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