Today, we were off to our final destination, Iceland. We ended last night at our hotel with a drink in the hotel bar, reminiscing about the 3 1/2 weeks we spent in Norway and all that it gave us. We were sorry to have to leave, but good things come to an end, and Jason will probably return one day with his family.  

We love to get off the main roads into the back areas, hoping to see new things, and today did not disappoint. Hundreds of sheep lined the road, some with their young ones resting on the side of the road, not willing to move. It was a long, slow drive to the airport, but we enjoyed our last morning to take in what we could.

As we patiently waited in a construction zone for oncoming traffic, a sudden, piercing screech from the phone startled us both. It was an emergency alert system, but just a test one, so nothing serious. Arriving at the airport for our 4:30 flight, we smoothly handed in our car, a process as simple as driving through a scanner and dropping our keys in a box. 

Arriving at the Keflavik airport in Iceland, I was stunned at the desolate yet unique landscape I saw out the airplane window. The rugged mountains, vast stretches of volcanic rock, and the occasional burst of greenery were a stark contrast to the lush landscapes of Norway. I hadn’t researched Iceland, so I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. 

Jason wanted to test an electric car, so we picked up our Tesla. He spent some time learning how to use everything, and then we headed to our hotel, the Lighthouse Inn. It was situated on the most north-westerly shore of the island, about 15 minutes from the airport.

The grey skies and windy conditions did not make our first thoughts of Iceland any warmer, but we went to town for something to eat and ended up in Tommi’s Burger Joint. We quickly learned that eating for the next three days would be expensive, even by Scandinavian standards. We thought Norway was pricey but weren’t prepared for this. A hamburger, fries, and pop was almost $30, a significant jump from the prices we were used to. We were too hungry to care and ate every bit.

The wind howled, and the rain didn’t let up all night, so in the morning, we dressed warmly and headed out to explore. We drove the Golden Circle route, first stopping at Thingvellir National Park. We quickly stopped at a tourist info and souvenir shop before hitting the road again. Ahead, we saw many cars pulled off the road, so we pulled in and walked to see a waterfall higher up in the mountain.

That’s pretty much how the day went. Driving many miles, stopping to view something quickly and back in the car to drive again. We compared everything to Norway and thought, had we come here first and the weather had been better, we might have thought this was fabulous. Still, we had already seen so many more beautiful things in Norway.

Our next stop, and the best one for me, was the Stokkur Geyser. Standing near it, waiting for it to erupt, which it did every 10 minutes, I wasn’t ready for the moment it did and the aftermath. It shot high into the sky and fell hard to the ground, spraying everyone on my side and soaking us to our core. I never expected that we would have been close enough to it to get soaked, but I think the strong winds blew it towards us. I got some great footage showing it hitting us and laughing after we realized what happened. A man beside me offered to take a picture of me as Jason was off somewhere, keeping dry! It was a long, cold walk back to the car to find a dry pair of pants in the laundry bag but no other dry clothes there. Jason turned on the heated car seat, which helped, but the rest of the day was uncomfortable being wet and cold until my clothes finally dried.  

Jason got out of the car to see several waterfalls and a crater, but he came back cold at each, so as sorry as I was not to get out and see them, I simply couldn’t handle any more cold. We did a lot of driving today to see a few things, and we were both glad to get back to Reykjavik at supper time and a walk around a large mall we found there.

We stopped at our neighbourhood lighthouse on the way back to our hotel. The tide was far out, and birds scrounged the beaches for a meal to feed their tiny babies, who followed their moms, learning what they needed from her to survive. It was so interesting, but the cold got us again, and we returned to the inn for the night.