The land of fire and ice.
Spring break usually inspires people of the midwest to travel south and somewhere warm. We have dealt with a colder and snowier than usual winter here in Indiana. In October we found very inexpensive flights to Iceland direct from Chicago and having that high on our bucket list we decided that this would be our new adventure in the spring. Jamie had been to Reykjavik 20 years ago with his brother on a stopover from another European country in college but we were both excited to explore as much as we could of this beautiful country and hoped we we get a lucky glimpse of the Aurora Borealis.
We drove to O'hare which is a 3 hour drive from our city with usually a rest room stop. We like to arrive early so we are able to get a good meal before our overnight flight. Shawn, Jamie's brother decided to make the trip with us. We have found flying internationally and with a direct flight is easier out of Chicago as we don't have to make connections and deal with luggage again after passport control and customs. The drive home being jet-lagged can be a struggle though.
We boarded the plane around 7:30 pm and it was a 6 hour flight from Chicago to Keflavik International airport. The local time in Iceland was 6:30 am giving us a nice and early time to start exploring.
Unfortunately upon descent, Juliette complained of not feeling well which then turned into getting sick on the plane and then multiple times that morning. Poor little thing! A rough way to start our vacation but she was a trooper. We got our van and then tried to nurse her back to health that morning as we got started driving to our first leg of the trip to the Golden Circle. We stopped for groceries and supplies outside of Keflavik and drove clockwise around the Golden Circle.
Our first stop was Þingvellir National park which is northeast of Reykjavik. It is where the Vikings first established a democratic parliament which is the world's first. It was in AD 930 and meetings were held here.
This is also where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet with fissures and a deep valley of rivers and waterfalls.
A bit of cold fresh air helped Juliette feel a little better...she loves to climb and hike!
Þingvellir is Iceland's first national park and was made a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2004
Öxarárfoss
Occur River
Drekkingarhylur which is the pool was used to drown women found guilty of serious crimes.
Öxarárfoss
When you see "foss" at the end of the word in Icelandic it means "waterfall".
When you see "foss" at the end of the word in Icelandic it means "waterfall".
Haukadalur geothermal area
The original Geysir. It once was very active for 800 years and now is in a period of quiet activity.
The Strokkur geyser erupts every 5-10 minutes. It shoots 15 to 30 m in the air.
Geothermal areas
Walking over the run off from the Strokker geyser.
Gullfoss
One of Iceland's most famous waterfalls. It is a double cascading waterfall as seen in the picture. It drops 32 m. Amazing!
We followed the Golden Circle route to Selfoss where we spent the night in a very nice apartment.
One of Iceland's most famous waterfalls. It is a double cascading waterfall as seen in the picture. It drops 32 m. Amazing!
We followed the Golden Circle route to Selfoss where we spent the night in a very nice apartment.
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