Our first stop driving east was Jökulsárlón, a glacial lagoon bordering Vatnajökull National Park. The diversity in terrain and habitat on this relatively small island was amazing.

I didn’t get a very good photo, but there were seals swimming around in the lagoon.

That night, we camped in a town called Höfn. It is a fishing town known for their langoustine, Icelandic lobster. We treated ourselves to a lovely lobster dinner.

That night was super windy and cold. We couldn’t set up our tent, so we slept in our car. The next morning, we woke to this comical sight of two girls trying to sled down a hill in the campsite.

As there was not much else to do in Höfn and we had really only come for the lobster, we  got back on the road. The day continued to be overcast, but the views were amazing as usual and the fog created a fun effect on the mountainous region.

We drove by some beautiful cliffs as we headed further east and we pulled off at a few spots to look over the cliffs into the sea.

 

We came to more waterfalls, the first one surrounded by some interesting layered mountains.

After the waterfall stop, we were back on the road again.

Our next stop turned out to be one of our favorites of the trip. We chose it so we could see puffins, and we saw a ton of them, but the town had a lot of charm to offer beyond the puffins. This is the view as we drove in.

The town is called Borgarfjörður Eystri and has a population of about 100. It is a colorful, adorable fjord town.

We set up camp as the sun was setting. It felt very serene. We put our tent at the base of a hill that is fabled to be home to the elf queen.

After we set up camp, we took a short walk to the harbor and the viewing spot for puffins.

There were a ton of puffins and many other species of birds on some cliffs near the harbor and the lighting was perfect. We timed it perfectly with the setting sun and captured the scene during magic hour.

 

To top off the evening, we treated ourselves to a seaside hot tub and relaxed with a glass of wine. It was magical.

After this, we struck up a conversation with a young Russian traveler who had left his country for the first time at our campsite over dinner, and watched as some Japanese men made a very fancy dinner that they served on rocks from the area. Rocks are valued in this area and used to make all sorts of items. We bought a couple candle holders from here.

Here are a few more photos from around this beautiful town, including the famous grass-covered house.

We left the next day, wishing we had time to stay longer, and made our way to Húsey. This was Evan’s least favorite stop, and he still makes fun of me for dragging us an hour out of our way. It is a stable where they breed Icelandic horses and offer visitors rides, but it needs to be booked in advance. We did not book in advance, so we drove all the way out there to look at these horses. They were beautiful, but we got a bit of a weird vibe when we showed up without reservations and just asked to photograph the horses.

Back on the road again, we took a nice walk at a scenic spot and then we moved on to the north.

I am now 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant and still awaiting our baby’s arrival. Depending on how tomorrow goes, I will be posting the north soon. Thanks for reading!

 

 

As I write this, I am 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I am 2 days past my due date and frankly looking for any distraction I can. Though I finished editing our trips to Iceland and Japan last summer a long time ago, I am admittedly very behind in posting the blogs, so I figured I would try to do just that before our sweet baby arrives and takes over our lives.

I cannot believe it has been close to a year since we were in Iceland. It was hands down one of the best trips we have ever taken. It is such a unique place with such abundant natural beauty. We drove the circumference of the main part of the island and camped along the way. I will break these blogs into regions.

Packing for this trip was complicated. We had to bring warm clothes, outdoors clothes, some nice city clothes, a bunch of camping gear and camera equipment. This is what our bag situation looked like headed to the airport. We also planned to backpack, so our backpacking backpacks are inside the large north face duffle bags.

After arriving in Reykjavik and lugging our heavy bags to our Airbnb, we rested, showered and grabbed a quick bite to eat. It was, unfortunately not our best meal, but we did have better food later on. The air and water smelled of sulfur and the city felt like a fishing town meets a party town. I will devote a post to Reykjavik at the end since we spent more time there at the end of the trip. We slept well that night, and then the next day we grabbed a cab and headed to our car rental place. We rented a Subaru with a mattress in the back for sleeping on. It was not luxurious, but it did the job. On our way out of the largest city in Iceland, we stocked up on supplies at the grocery store. Food is expensive in Iceland, very expensive. I recommend cooking your own food as much as possible. We had stocked up on booze, wine and beer at the duty free in the airport, which was a recommendation from a travel blog. It is hard and expensive to find booze in Iceland (other than at bars) and the beer you can buy at the grocery store is something akin to 3.2 beer here.

We drove the circumference of the Ring Road. Our first stop was Þingvellir National Park (pronounced Thingvallir). It was a gorgeous, bizarre landscape featured often in Game of Thrones.

 

Our first night on the road, we made an easy meal and slept in the car.

We hiked out further the next day and explored the park. Þingvellir lies in a rift valley, in the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The park has a rich history: it’s name literally translates to “assembly fields” and served as the home of the Icelandic Parliament (established in 930 AD); it still features the Prime Minister’s Summer Residence (white buildings pictured below); and was host to some rather unsettling executions, with sites like the “drowning pool” (pictured above with the young girls) and Gallow’s Rock.

One of the highlights of the park for us was when we went snorkeling in glacial water between the tectonic plates. It was a very memorable experience. We wore dry suits because the water is bitterly cold- just a couple of degrees above freezing. We were told to just drink the water if it got in our snorkel or if we got thirsty; it tasted incredibly pure and delicious. The water was crystal clear, even at its deepest points.

Our next stop was Geysir. A geothermal area near Þingvellir. On the way I made friends with a cat that looked like Kote and we saw some of the famous Icelandic horses from the road.

Geysir has a very impressive geyser as the centerpiece and it erupts about every 10 or 15 minutes.

After this, we continued on to see our first of many large waterfalls, Gullfoss. This remains Evan’s favorite waterfall from the trip. It was as beautiful as it was impressive and I enjoyed photographing every angle and the small details of dew on the side.

The trip involved a lot of driving, but with the views we got, the drive itself was very enjoyable as well. If I ever get around to completing my project on photos taken from windows, a lot from Iceland will be making the cut. I do like the effect of impermanence it can have–a fleeting moment.

When we saw the insane beauty in our mirrors of the above photo, Evan pulled over so I could take some photos from outside the car.

As the sun was setting, it was time to get to our next campsite and set up. Most nights we slept in our tent as Evan was really too tall for the car. We didn’t need reservations for camping, so it allowed us to have flexibility in our travel, which added extra spontaneity to the trip that we usually don’t have. We loved this next campsite so much, that we ended up staying longer then planned. It is called Þakgil (again, pronounced like “thak-gill”) and we had read about it on a blog. It is a local secret of sorts and a bit off the beaten path, being about an hour’s drive up a dirt road from Ring Road. Here are the images from driving in, including some of the Icelandic sheep that roam all over the island without fences. Wool is a large staple of the Iceland economy.

The campsite itself is in a valley surrounded by bizarre mountains.

We set up camp and ate our dinner in a cave. It was a very cool feature of the campsite, because it protected us from the wind and it brought people together from all over the world. We were making hot chocolate and were approached by some Icelandic and Austrian people who offered their rum in exchange for hot chocolate and soon we were all drinking hot cocoa with rum to keep warm and swapping stories. We met another group of Americans, people from India and people from Japan also and everyone just spent the night in the cave sharing food and drinks from different cultures. English was the common language among everyone. It was a magical night that cannot be planned or duplicated and I think Evan and I will always remember it fondly.

The next day we took a 13 mile hike and got to see more of this unique area.

This is the view looking down on our campsite.

We hiked to a glacier.

That night, we dined in the cave again and had a romantic evening with candles and champagne. I played around with my tripod and long exposures to capture the cave without flash.

Alas, as much as we loved this place, it was time to move on the next day. We said goodbye to the campsite and drove out to Vik, a black sand beach just south of the campsite.

It was a cloudy, wet day, but the sand and rocks were very beautiful.

There was an adorable wool store there, where we bought a cat toy for Kysa and Kote, which they love and keep losing, and some slippers (not pictured) which we will give to little baby Momo!

The next stop was a bit underwhelming, but luckily not out of the way. It is an interesting geological feature, but not super exciting to witness–basalt columns on the ground. We did get to see some more sheep up close though, and I really like the colors in the photo where they are walking in the line.

After this, it was on to our final stop of what I will call the Southern region. We hit a sandstorm on our drive, and then drove across our first one lane bridge.

Next we went on a hike to see two waterfalls. I am so glad I brought my tripod on this trip, because I was able to photograph all these magnificent waterfalls with a slow shutter speed. The difference in a slow and fast shutter speed can be seen in the first two photos and generally, the slower speed of the second one is a prettier effect.

The second one, surrounded by basalt columns is called Svartifoss and is really a site to behold.

And with that, I will conclude this post. Next I will continue on to the East, an equally beautiful region. I am still not in labor, but hopefully anytime now…