Tuesday, October 2
I flew first to Minneapolis for about 24 hours to hang with my best friend who just had the cutest little boy ever. Andrew and I bonded, pictures to come. Then I headed for the icy land known as Iceland!
Wednesday October 3/Thursday October 4
After a 5 hour flight (not that bad) we landed and it was cold and rainy--- kind of like you would expect. I met my fellow travelers- mostly the over 65 crowd, but since we have established that now includes me, I fit right in!
Iceland is known for its spas, so the first place we went was the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal pool that is supposedly great for your health. It is a sort of milky aqua water that pops right out of the center of the earth (or something like that.) The water comes out so hot in some places that Iceland uses its energy to power the entire island.
After that we headed to our hotel for a nap and then did a bus tour of the city that day. The island has practically no building materials so everything is made of corrugated steel and concrete. Even their main Church, see below! 
Dinner that night was room service in my hotel- AWESOME! For your entertainment I will keep a running total of some of the bills. Dinner in my room that night: Slice of Pizza, French fries and Pepsi: $45.Friday, October 5
The next morning we got up and did a full day bus tour of the northern part of Iceland. We saw some amazing scenery. The whole island is a combination of active and inactive volcanoes. Its kind of like Canada and Hawaii had a baby. A fellow traveler took this picture- see the glacier in the background to the right!
The beautiful Iceland landscape. Note that what appears to be grass is really just moss growing on old volcanic rock. It is very difficult to grow anything in Iceland.
Also in the north, we went to see the Golden Waterfall. It got its name because on days when its not pouring (like today) the mist appears gold. Adventurous ones like myself (oxymoron?) could walk right down to the lip and snap pictures! Water in Iceland is 100% pure and drinkable right out of the river. It is all rain water or run off from glaciers!
The last crazy landscape destination was the mouth of an extinct volcano. Everyone hold on to their virgins! Camera challenged… you will have to see this in two photos.
That night a group of us had dinner at a restaurant in Reykjavík. Pizza (yes, again), pepsi and chocolate cake: $42.
Saturday, October 6:
On Saturday morning we all met for a lecture from the Adler astronomer, Mark, that came with us on the trip. He explained how Aurora Borealis happen (some mumbo jumbo about sun spots) and our chances of seeing them on the trip. That afternoon we went on a bus tour of the southern part of Iceland.
There is a little bit of grass and actual dirt in this part of Iceland, so some people have attempted to farm. Mostly they just raise sheep and Icelandic horses (more on that later.) But in the south there are active volcanoes that blow everything to smithereens every few decades. Apparently in the 1970’s they had an eruption that wrecked everything- first with the eruption, but then they had a tsunami and to add insult to injury the heat melted some of the glaciers and caused a catastrophic flood. WTF! All the southern people have basically just finished rebuilding and now geologists are saying another eruption will come again soon. Yikes! But the landscape was BEAUTIFUL and I managed to get some decent pictures.
Waterfalls were everywhere- they pretty much just poke themselves out of the inside of the mountains and volcanoes.
Waterfall #1
There are rainbows everywhere because of steam and waterfall mist. And you wonder why 85% of Icelanders still believe in the existence of elves.
Waterfall #102:
I also have to show this one- a working Icelandic farm. Now they can build houses the “regular way” but in the past they would build things out of rock and drift wood, then insulate it by piling sod onto the roof and walls. On this farm they are using the old house for storage and barns. (Yes, people LIVED in these! The person in the background will help you put the size into perspective.)
Later that night was a dinner of Icelandic lobster, tiny little things compared to what we are used to here. After dinner we went hunting for the northern lights! We had planned to do this 3 nights in a row. We saw an awesome display the first night. The second night was pretty dim and the third night was pouring rain- bummer! My camera could not capture anything--I will make some of my friends with real cameras send me copies of their pictures and post them later. (Don’t be haters.) By the way, dinner was included this night, so I don’t have a total for you. But I did buy some rolos at a rest stop for $5. A snack bag of Cool American Doritos (their version of cool ranch, hilarious!) was $3.50.
Sunday, October 7:
This was a free day, so I spent the day alone exploring Reykjavik. I did a lot of shopping and ate some interesting food. I also got lost (boo) so cheered myself up by eating ice cream (yeah!). Dinner that night was as a group in our hotel.
Monday, October 8:
This day was by far my favorite! We went horse back riding on their crazy Icelandic horses! Icelanders are very particular about their horses, so have done NO interbreeding in almost 900 years. These horses are exactly as the Vikings rode them when they first came to Iceland. They are small and strong with heavy coats. They also have 5 gaits, instead of the traditional 3 gaited horses. (You know, walk, trot, gallop.) Riding them was a blast! And again, I surprised myself by not only not falling off, but I even rode the suckers fast! It was great.
My horse, Fivid (or something like that) meaning Flower. This is him basquing in the aftermath of the “please don’t hurt me, kick me, or throw me off” speech I just gave him.
(If you’re looking for a picture of me on the horse, its not happening.)
After the ride, the horses were so excited to have their saddles off that they all dropped and rolled around in the dirt like dogs! Are they calling me fat?
We were back from riding at mid-day, and I was FREEZING so I immediately got into bed to warm up… then fell asleep. Whoops! But I was up in time for dinner at a cool restaurant downtown with the group that night. Dinner was included, but the lunch I had that day was not: sandwich and French fries (yes, again): $19.
Tuesday, October 9:
Waterfall #1
There are rainbows everywhere because of steam and waterfall mist. And you wonder why 85% of Icelanders still believe in the existence of elves.
Waterfall #102:
I also have to show this one- a working Icelandic farm. Now they can build houses the “regular way” but in the past they would build things out of rock and drift wood, then insulate it by piling sod onto the roof and walls. On this farm they are using the old house for storage and barns. (Yes, people LIVED in these! The person in the background will help you put the size into perspective.)
Later that night was a dinner of Icelandic lobster, tiny little things compared to what we are used to here. After dinner we went hunting for the northern lights! We had planned to do this 3 nights in a row. We saw an awesome display the first night. The second night was pretty dim and the third night was pouring rain- bummer! My camera could not capture anything--I will make some of my friends with real cameras send me copies of their pictures and post them later. (Don’t be haters.) By the way, dinner was included this night, so I don’t have a total for you. But I did buy some rolos at a rest stop for $5. A snack bag of Cool American Doritos (their version of cool ranch, hilarious!) was $3.50.
Sunday, October 7:This was a free day, so I spent the day alone exploring Reykjavik. I did a lot of shopping and ate some interesting food. I also got lost (boo) so cheered myself up by eating ice cream (yeah!). Dinner that night was as a group in our hotel.
Monday, October 8:
This day was by far my favorite! We went horse back riding on their crazy Icelandic horses! Icelanders are very particular about their horses, so have done NO interbreeding in almost 900 years. These horses are exactly as the Vikings rode them when they first came to Iceland. They are small and strong with heavy coats. They also have 5 gaits, instead of the traditional 3 gaited horses. (You know, walk, trot, gallop.) Riding them was a blast! And again, I surprised myself by not only not falling off, but I even rode the suckers fast! It was great.
My horse, Fivid (or something like that) meaning Flower. This is him basquing in the aftermath of the “please don’t hurt me, kick me, or throw me off” speech I just gave him.
(If you’re looking for a picture of me on the horse, its not happening.)After the ride, the horses were so excited to have their saddles off that they all dropped and rolled around in the dirt like dogs! Are they calling me fat?
We were back from riding at mid-day, and I was FREEZING so I immediately got into bed to warm up… then fell asleep. Whoops! But I was up in time for dinner at a cool restaurant downtown with the group that night. Dinner was included, but the lunch I had that day was not: sandwich and French fries (yes, again): $19.
Tuesday, October 9:
This morning everyone woke up feeling depressed because it was time to go. But we had a few hours to ourselves in the morning. One of my younger traveling companions, Suzen, and I spent the morning at one of the geothermal pools near our hotel. Then we came home and spent a good couple of hours trying to cram all the stuff we bought into our tiny suit cases (or actually, not tiny. That's what's embarassing.) After more hours of traveling and no sleep for an even 22 hours, I finally made it home by 1 am on Wednesday morning! Home sweet home!
Look at Cinderella getting her clean on. That's my girl!
