In September, my sister led me on a fascinating 3-day adventure heading North from Reykjavik to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. We stayed at a modern and beautifully scenic Airbnb at Stóri Kambur, where we rode Icelandic Horses. On the beach. At Sunset. With rainbows. And dogs. And Sun rays. And the glacier. And mountains. and… and…  did I mention I rode horse (named Elvis) in the ocean!? Such an exhilarating experience.

We toured the most western part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, driving around the Snæfellsjökull glacier. The glacier lies within the national park, and the park is the only Icelandic national park that stretches to the sea. Along with getting a few times to view the otherwise hidden-in-the-clouds snow, we enjoyed seeing such sights as waterfalls, basalt column cliff sides, mountains, and lava. Lava, formed into vast fields of rugged moss-covered boulders was colorful and added more texture to the already rugged terrain. The fish soup we ate at a quaint library/cafe/musuem in a small fishing village was incredible. The city was called Grundarfjörður. And, if we had to move there, it would not be a disappointment. 

This is post 2 of my trip. (Read Post 1, here)

Iceland, Day 1

As we drove north from Reykjavik, I couldn’t help but ooooh and ahhh at every tree we passed. It was funny. I live in the Northwoods, so I see trees all day, everyday. But in a vast land, rugged and wild, there is so little provision for a tree, that there aren’t many. We saw them in clusters, though, and I found several photos of them on my computer when I got home. I guess I was thrilled for this country, this arctic island, to be able to sustain more life than I expected, and subconsciously documented it while my sister drove our little car around on the typical, two-lane, dark pavement rode of Iceland.

I enjoyed the Icelandic language very much. My childhood gave me a keen interest for world culture and language. I saw resemblance to Norwegian, Swedish, English, and perhaps some Finnish (since that’s the Scandinavian language I know best, but isn’t as similar as Norwegian). For example, just knowing roots of words helped read signs, and mainly, guess at what things meant. I’m a nerd, and thoroughly enjoyed this brain-quiz while I was traveling.