Top Five Sights:
This is not my photo (it will likely be a couple of weeks till I get my digital pics uploaded as we have a crazy couple of weeks ahead), but this is exactly what it was like...faint neon green lights that danced over the ocean just to the north of us. We want to try and see them again some day. Pictures of them I found during my research for our trip looked simply incredible, but you cannot precisely predict when they will show. You have to have perfect conditions all happen at the right moment...solar flares, no clouds, little to no light pollution, etc. I'd love another chance to see them really fire up and dance in a range of colors across the night sky. On the way home, our flight with Icelandair even had mock northern lights shining above the overhead bins.
I stumbled across this landmark during my online research for Iceland, and I knew my Star Wars loving crew would enjoy it. The landmark was not too hard to access, and it really was a neat place to explore. However, the hike around this area was fun too. The ocean was just out in front of us, the weather was great that day, and the kids all climbed really high up the side of the mountain, with Drew even making it to the top.
This amazing canyon was not only a nice, short little hike, but watching the dark turquoise waters rush beneath us, knowing that over centuries they carved out this ancient canyon cast a spell over me. Maybe it was the fact it had been my screen saver at work for the last few weeks, or maybe the canyon is truly magical. Either way, I could have stayed there and looked at it for hours on end. I just felt so peaceful there among the water and rocks.
I mean, we touched and drank 1,000 year old water from a glacier! Getting there just before closing, catching the last few tickets on the last boat of the day, being there at sunset, finding pieces of the glaciers on the black sand beach nearby...it was all just so magical!
5. Amazing Waterfalls
As I said in an earlier blog post, there are literally waterfalls everywhere you look in Iceland...over 10,000 in fact, and those are just the ones big enough to be named. Water has always been soothing to me, so the sights and sounds of rushing water all around us was just incredible. Again, I could have stayed and stared at each one for hours.
Aside from the nature all around us and the cool hikes we took, just being in another country was also very fun. Here are our top five fun moments that were not necessarily part of the amazing landscape:
1. Icelandic Sheep
There are literally everywhere! Some right by the road, many way up in the hillsides, and even lots inside town limits. We were constantly impressed by where we'd see a group of them pop up. Icelanders use their meat for food and the wool to make much needed warm items for the biter cold. Wool also dries quickly, so it's the perfect material for those cold and chilly conditions. I bought a wool winter headband with a traditional woven Icelandic pattern for my souvenir. Farms way out in the most remote areas amazed us and thinking about caring for all those sheep during the upcoming harsh winter seems daunting.
2. Icelandic Food
Hot. Dogs. I don't really need to say more. Yes, we loved the fresh caught fish and chips, seafood chowder, lamb dinner, and lamb stew, but the hot dogs were game changers. Knowing that gas station food is not only OK but a staple of the Icelandic way of life was also very fun to experience. I ate 5 hot dogs last week, and could have easily wolfed down two or three more.
3. Amazing Campgrounds
America could really learn a thing or two about cool campgrounds from Iceland. Nearly every single town has one, and almost all of them have cool community spaces for cooking, doing dishes, and hanging out (lots with free WiFi). Bathrooms and showers were always clean, and the fees were only charged for adults...all kids camp free and most had cool playgrounds and activities for the kids too even in the fall/winter. Mike and I hope to return in the summer some day and experience even more at these cool campgrounds.
4. Icelandic Candy & Treats
Shopping for all foods and drinks in Iceland was an adventure, but buying candy was it's own wild ride. At the stop where we got this loot, the lady at the register said Icelanders would buy this much for one person alone. They love their candy! Most of it contains some sort of black licorice, which I thought I totally hated, but when it's covered with chocolate or filled with caramel or coconut, you just can't get enough. The sodas and bakery treats were fun too. It's just neat to try foods from other cultures. Most of the time we hit the jackpot and even went back for seconds of somethings like the yummy quick breakfast treats we found and bought two more times. Only a few times did we regret our choices, like when Jack got two completely licorice gummy candies that he spit right out or when Livy tried something she hoped was lemonade only to find out it was grapefruit soda. Fun with food, indeed!
5. Icelandic Churches
About 80% of Icelanders are members of the Lutheran State Church. Every small town, and even lots of places that seemed way out in the middle of nowhere had a church or two. My favorite where the cute little red roofed white buildings out by the ocean or in the middle of a farm field. Some were very tiny...not able to hold more than twenty or thirty parishioners. The grass covered churches were neat too. There are several books dedicated to the churches of Iceland and their history. 
Something we love about our town is the sense of community. You could feel that in all the small towns and cities around Iceland. Their community centers held practices and meetings, saw gatherings of friends both young and old, and provided great opportunities for their residents. Honestly, we also loved the idea of swimming outside in the winter!
To say our week in Iceland was amazing is simply an understatement. We loved every single moment! Did we argue at times? You bet...we were six people crammed in less than 200 square feet for over a week. We were also in a foreign land, trying to interpret road signs, see as much as possible, and learn about the culture along the way. Did the kids get engulfed in screen time while we drove the Ring Road and not look out the windows at the ever-changing landscape as much as we would have liked? You bet! But even with the couple of quarrels and moments that they said were "boring," we saw more amazing stuff than we could ever have imagined, we played games, read books, and snuggled watching movies before bedtime. We hiked, swam, drank hot chocolate to warm up, and marveled at nature together. And, most importantly, we're already dreaming up our next adventure together. Thanks for coming along to Iceland with us! Bless!
