Tag: reykjavik

(Eden)

Today we: Woke up and enjoyed the insane wind blustering across the lake towards us. Had a search and rescue party spread out to locate my phone, which ended up being inside the campervan. It felt amazing to get a full night’s sleep. 

After a simple breakfast of hot oatmeal, cold cereal (including Weetabix!), orange juice, and coffee (for dad), we finally got on the road (maybe by 1030?). We headed to Kerið Crater, where we walked the ridge high above the lake and then the perimeter of the volcanic lake down in the crater. Before leaving we sampled some Icelandic lamb soup from the food truck in the parking lot. Yum, although not all of us are huge fans of lamb. 

Then we backtracked north again to Þingvellir National Park: insane beauty. The kids table made sandwiches for all as dad drove, an epic reversal of normal roles as we passed sandwiches forward to Mom and Dad. The park was beautiful and blustery: meandering between walls of volcanic rock, views upon views, an impressive waterfall, Dad’s ideal drone shot (drones weren’t allowed, but he still got nice pics), skipping through the canyon, poking along through woods that reminded us all, separately, of our favorite New Hampshire camping spot, Pawtuckaway State Park, convo about our individual funny manifestations of benign OCD stuff as we walked towards the church, and back up again to the entrance.

On the way out of the park the kids table constructed a charcuterie board, which was infinitely fun to create and pass forward to the driving team.

We impromptu stopped at a dairy farm recommended to us by the visitor’s guide I picked up at the penis museum, run by four siblings. We shared some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had while watching the milk donors themselves, and then got a start on the digestion while bouncing on an insane inflatable bouncy bubble while Mom chatted with Lancaster girls. 

Our next stop was Geysir, the OG geyser that all others are named after, apparently. It erupts pleasantly frequently, like every 5-7 minutes. We watched a few cycles, took pics and vids, and walked around a few of the other geothermal features before escaping the sulfur smells. 

Then to Gullfoss waterfall: what some have claimed is the most beautiful waterfall in Iceland and more beautiful than Niagara. It was beautiful. Misty and rainbowy. I feel like I should write more about this and less about the dairy farm but by this point we (I) were feeling a little sleepy. It was stunning and I was really glad to see it but I also think waterfalls scare me enough that I’m not overly excited to keep seeing them. Bad news for tomorrow!!

Then to the Friðheimar tomato farm. The main restaurant was closed but we sat at the bistro, sharing tomato soup and filling up on bread. We ate under the grape vines and adjacent to the tomato greenhouses. Today was very farm to table — since we also split a lamb soup at the crater. I guess there’s a huge incentive to eat local given the constraints of importation.

Then a beautiful almost-sunset drive south to finally meet up with Route 1, the Ring Road, to pass through Hella for our campsite tonight. It is part of a camping pass that we bought for not much and means we have hundreds of neighbors but you would never know it once the blinds are up.

Dinner quickly became legendary, and involved ramen. Except it was spicy ramen because I didn’t read the label but just got excited about it because all of my friends eat it. But importantly none of us had tried it before. I put in three packets of soup base for five ramens and it was still the spiciest ramen I have had in a long time.

The legend: Elliot asked how much we would pay him to drink the dregs of his broth. Harrison said $5. Elliot began drinking. Now that I’m writing it is infinitely less funny to articulate into words so maybe I’ll stop. But mission successful and Elliot is now $5 richer.

All of this is so deeply insufficient but just need to put SOMETHING down.

Dad was commenting today about how it is interesting that almost all of the sites have a parking fee but no per person entrance fee. In a way, a larger family benefits from this policy, although we were comparing it to the US, where for the national parks, at least, you could buy an annual pass that would give you affordable access to all of the sites. We are paying approximately $12 per place to park the camper and have always found a way to squeeze in somewhere. Both mom and dad are getting proficient at parking in tight spaces! 

(Lin)

Today lasted forever, regardless of how “today” is quantified.

On Wed., August 6, we stuffed final belongings into bags and said our last goodbyes to Ace at 2pm EST on August 6, and then loaded into the minivan for the ride to Boston Logan. Thank you to Ryan for taking the vehicle back home. We took off around 7:15 pm, had a fairly uneventful 5 hour flight to Keflavik, Iceland, and arrived at 4:45 am. The camper van rental place didn’t open until 9 am, so we spent four sleepy hours in the airport, snacking on breakfast goodies and coffee until the taxi came for us at 8:40 am. 

It took an hour plus to be introduced to the camper van, agree to any and all liability (or so it seemed), and then transfer our items to the camper (named Frigg, after an Icelandic goddess). The van seems great – sleeps all six of us (everyone shares a full-sized-ish bed), has a fridge, 3-burner gas stove, and a full bathroom. We all agreed it felt a bit like our sailboat, but with less room! It’ll feel tight after two weeks, but we’ve done this kind of close traveling for years and love it. The camper van is a stick shift, so only Lin and Jo can drive it…which is probably okay. The roads here are somewhat narrow, with very little shoulders, and traffic barreling down at high speeds on the opposite side at times. 

Our first stop was at Costco, where we loaded up with food items that will last us at least a week. Iceland is incredibly expensive in most regards, especially with food. We are saving a ton by not eating out and making our meals in the camper. 

From Costco we headed to Reykjavik, where we parked at the Hallgrimskirkja church, the main iconic cathedral in the city with its soaring steeple. We sat to listen to an organ concert, which was lovely, but also sleep inducing, since most of us were running on only a few hours of sleep. We decided to keep moving, and walked down the hill to a cinnamon bun place that Eden and Jo visited when they were in January 2024. Eden was on her way to a semester abroad at Oxford, and Jo decided to make it a fun Iceland stop on the way there. They rented a car and drove around the south part of the island in the snow and dark for five days. So it was great to have their experiences to guide us at first. 

We then headed down the hill to the waterfront, where I flew my drone to catch some city and cathedral views (after carefully reading the regulations). The family briefly stopped by the Penis Museum (yes, really), before heading to the pedestrian zone to window shop, thrift, and take pictures at Skólavörðustígur, the iconic rainbow road. 

On the road again, everyone zonked while I drove and Eden navigated. We rented a hotspot for the van for the week, so everyone has access to their phones (for better or for worse!). Google maps seems to mostly work just fine. Eden and I put together a huge itinerary with various stops that makes it relatively easy to navigate. But we also want to have flex time to explore or spend extra time at spots! 

Our first stop was rather ambitious given our condition: a five mile in and out hike to the Reykjadalur Hot Spring Thermal River, which was both tiring and excellent. The landscape started rugged but turned into lush green hills and cliffs, sort of a mini-Scottish highlands. There was a waterfall along the hike that I pulled out my drone for, of course. At the springs, you can sort of choose your own adventure, with the hotter water upriver, and the cooler water downriver. We found a middle compromise and lounged for nearly an hour before awkwardly changing in the open under towels (as did everyone else) and then hiking back. Sheep are everywhere in Iceland, and I had a little conversation with a lost one on the way baaaaack. 

Finally, finally, we drove to a cute boy scout-esque campground down a beautiful small lane under pink skies of purpley clouds with insane mountains and the coast and ok go playing. Turns out it is next door to the forest service house Eden and Jo stayed at!

It somehow had gotten late – like 10 pm or so, but of course it was still very light outside, something that seems actually quite convenient. We ate Costco udon, all had much-needed hot hot showers, and eventually figured out how to configure all six of us into such a contained space. 

It was an epic, awesome day, and it is so exciting to be here.  We are all so tired — perhaps an average of 2 hours of sleep among us.

Some pictures below; I’m not sure my drone vids can be posted on wordpress yet. Click on each picture for larger versions.