Too much time has past since our last post and trip. We celebrated our birthdays this year with an escape from the cold Minnesota winter, and headed out to Palm Springs. We rented an Airbnb with amazing views just outside of Joshua Tree, and spent our time hiking at the national park and exploring the city. We visited Coachella Valley Nature Preserve, Pioneertown, the iconic Cabazon Dinosaur roadside attraction and visiting Mount San Jacinto NP. The trip was short but exactly what we needed to get away and recharge.
If you’re interested, check out the video highlights of our trip as we made our way around Iceland’s Ring Road. In this first video, we traveled from the Blue Lagoon, around Snæfellsnes Peninsula, through Akureyri and to Egilsstaðir. #iceland #vincentadventure #ringroad
After being sidelined from traveling for a year, and having to reschedule our previous trip, we were so looking forward to getting back to travel adventures. With our vaccine cards in hand and negative Covid tests complete, we were off to explore. Iceland was exactly what we needed.
On this visit to Iceland, we spent 11 days, putting over 2000 miles on the rental car, traveling the ring road and the Snaefellsnes peninsula. Highlights of the trip included: hunkering down in our cottage on a horse farm in a storm with 40mph wind gusts,
a whale watching excursion where we saw a humpback and several pods of pilot whales,
Jubilee the humpback whale
conquering the roads of the eastern fjords with their high, narrow passes and no guardrails,
Eastern fjords of Iceland
taking an upgraded “private boat” tour in the glacier lagoon,
hiking to the active volcano,
Fagradalsfjall
gazing at countless waterfalls,
Skogafoss WaterfallGljúfrabúi WaterfallFjaðrárgljúfur Canyon Skógá Trail/Waterfall Way
soaking in geothermal pools,
Blue Lagoon
seeing the northern lights for the first time ever,
and being tortured by Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habbits on repeat due to an apparent lack of songs to play.
The best part of the trip though was getting to spend time on this adventure with Jason celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary. There is no one else out there who would put up with pb&j car sandwiches and jam packed days cramming in as much sightseeing as one possibly can during daylight hours. Time to start planning the next adventure.
Skogafoss is located in southern Iceland a few hours east of the capitol and just off the main highway. This of course means it’s super popular and ALWAYS busy.
But if you’re willing to climb the 370 steps to the top, you can escape 2/3 of the crowd. And behind that if you choose to walk the path you are rewarded even further.
Waterfall Way is a 15 mile uneven hike that can take a full day to complete. Along the way are dozens of named and unnamed falls. We decided to walk the path for over 4 hours, barely seeing any other hikers.
Due to the weather we brought multiple changes of clothes. Visibility changed multiple times during the hike, almost as many times as I shifted layers of clothing.
This trip was supposed to happen in May of 2020. With the delay came a years worth of planning and preparation. Routes were discussed, where to drive, where to sleep. How long to stay in each area, one night or two? Have we visited this area before, should we again?
A year of research. Months of planning. A week of exploring. Days of driving. Hours of walking.
And then the moment happens.
You find an unplanned cave. Not a lonely area, but not one too crowded either.
What came before the globe got hot? Glaciers. What will be here after we leave? Rocks that glaciers helped form.
We took what ended up being a private boat ride to Fjallsárlón glacier on the southern part of Iceland. Check out some of the videos to appreciate the cold.
Seydisfjordur is a half hour drive over a twisting mountain landscape where you move from 25 km/h to 90 and back down again every 150 feet. A small town of less than a thousand provides a nice break from other travelers that might be filling the ring road.
We got there even earlier, by European standards anyway, and were able to walk the area with the bright sun before anyone else arrived. A rare bright day from start to end.
We're going on an adventure! 