We have been going non-stop for over 48 hours. No time to peacefully sit down and tell you about our travels.
We are all healthy and having fun. Today was a 12 hour tour and then Nicky and I played golf!!
The land of the midnight sun does exist and it is in Iceland. The golf course was packed for our 9:45 p.m. tee-time!! We are just in and it is midnight.
Lots to share.
Have to go home tomorrow.
We will be back.
Post to the blog tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Continuing our day on the 4x4 7-18-11
We made our way to a camp site. Bjarki had no idea that we were not campers! Pretty funny but interesting to see all these Germans, French, locals, etc...taking off their clothes and running through a field to get to a warm spring where they sat with about 12 other people in a God-made hot tub! Not for us. Kathleen found the "mall" and went shopping. We got cookies for a friend of hers back home.
The weird shot is out the front windshield of our Super Jeep while we plunged into a river and took on a bunch of water. It went up and over the vehicle and it was thrilling. We stayed in river beds mudding and riding though river a lot of the day. Really fun.
This was a steel sign that was bent to point straight up...we should have known it was going to be scary!
Pictures from the top of Mount Helka
There are wildflowers all over the place. If I could did up some of this Lupin, the tall blue/purple flowers I would. Why? They say it grows like Kudzu!! We need a bunch of this stuff to "color-up" the tornado ravaged area of our neighborhood at home! A little wildflower color would be welcome there. Somebody google it and see if Lupin seeds can be bought and brought to Alabama!!
Horses. Icelandic horses are small and gentle. They are supposedly easy for beginners to ride. We managed to come across a herd just making their way down the road. Sadly, they eat horse here and say it is very good. We have not tried it. Another thing, the horses all have bangs!!
Smiling faces by the waterfalls. There was no wind to speak of. Our guide told us that last Saturday in this area that they could hardly stand here never mind the top of the volcano in all the wind!
There is so much water both crazy hot and crazy cold you can't have a day in Iceland without seeing a magnificent waterfall! Our guide, BRkey, that is not how you spell it but how you say it, his name is really spelled, Bjarki. He was great. He was very knowledgeable about all we saw and did and was smart enough not to get too close to the edges of the mountains even when I thought he was way too close. The letting the air out of the tires gave us a smoother ride STRAIGHT up the mountain. We even rode through ice/snow fields with ease. It was a little scary but we got used to it. The incline going up that mountain was about about 75 degrees. It was up, up, up, and when we stopped I was happy not to go to the very top.
The waterfall was a good place to "plank" or at least Kathleen thought so!
Landmannalaugar 7-18-11
Nicky did not get much sleep, as he stayed up reading To Kill a Mocking Bird, required summer reading! Finished it but paid the price this morning in the lobby waiting for our ride!
He was happy to see that Iceland has the good sense to have Subway restaurants! Although we did not stop, (they were closed) I am certain he has it in his memory bank for a treat on the way to the airport!
Mount Hekla has some interesting history. You have to understand though, that people in this country, not all, believe in elves, both good and bad and trolls. Now fore the story, Mount Hekla was unclimbed until 1750 mainly because in the popular folk stories it was the gateway to hell. How about that! The rumblings the people could hear for months after an eruption were said to be tormented souls!! The volcano erupts about every 10 years now. The last time was in 2000. That did not sit well with me when I heard that because the locals are hoping for another eruption any day now! While we were standing on top of that volcano you could look down at what is considered to bethe world's most voluminous lava flow since the end of the last Ice Age The lava flow, now a petrified field of lava stones covered with moss and creepy/pretty covers about 500 square miles.
Mount Hekla is where this photo was taken. We were not quite to the summit, but very close. Very, very close. The vehicle we used to get there had 46" wheels!! It was a Super Jeep, as they call them here and it could go anywhere and everyone gets out of your way. We took so many pictures today, I hope I can give you a tour that will make you feel like you were with us because you should have been. Anyone that loves the outdoors, loves clean air and enjoys a surprise around every corner needs to come to Iceland!
The first stop of the day produces everyone grabbing a snack. Kathleen and Nicky found some unusual ones. Kathleens piece of chocolate cke was bigger than her head and there were a few trolls sitting by the door, YIKES!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
White Water Rafting Iceland Style 7-17-11
At the end of the day...there were smiles!!!
The drive to the river was about an hour and a half. Along the way was mostly just beautiful countryside. We met a family from Virginia on the bus and we talked to them about their trip. They have been to Iceland 6 times! They are practically writing the Frommer's Guides! They shared a lot of interesting information with us and instead of taking pictures along the way, we found out the best places to eat "off the beaten path"! Sorry.
We were picked up at the hotel at 8:00a.m. and off we went. You have to understand, Charles and I have been hold outs for white water rafting all over the world and for some crazy reason we agreed to do it with the kids here, in Iceland! Not in some warm wonderful spot, Iceland! We really did not know what we were getting into and sometimes that is best.
We arrived via nice tourist type bus and then were told to sign the waivers to not sue them if we died. After that, we were put in a large room and given very specific "rules" of the water. Then...the gear!! Oh my! If you have ever gone snow skiing and never really loved it because of all the gear you have to put on just to head to the lift, this is not for you! Again, this is not for you! They gave us wet suits that were wet. Yep, wet. They had not had a chance to dry from the previous groups that had come through to go down the river! I could hear Charles over in the men's area saying "Are these really wet or are they just cold"? I should have known then that things might not go so well. Wet, wet suit, wet shoes and a wet life jacket. Lucky for us that all these items do heat you up from the inside out, so the wet really wasn't that bad once you were able to pull the wet suit over your dry skin with about 25 other ladies standing in the changing room with you in all states of dress. Once in the gear...off we went. Where, to the lovely school buses that took us up to the river. May I say that my wet suit probably had been down the river a few dozen times before I got in it and the sweet smell of their fun was left in it for me to enjoy!
We were split up into groups and off we went to Louise, our river guide. It was Louise, our family of four, a couple from Chicago, sisters from Colorado and a couple from Florida. The youngest in their group was about 65. Kathleen and I volunteered to paddle the front and be the ones that kept everyone paddling in lovely poetic style. We had some practice drills of paddle forward, paddle backward, stop and hang on. Four commands. Not too hard. Ya think?? We pushed off and in the very first rapid, off fell Sharon...no last names. Sharon was so quiet about falling out, we did not even miss her! Our guide did and rescued her immediately. She was coming back into the boat drenched like a wet dog before we missed her. I would have been screaming my head off! The water was coming straight off a glacier...not cold but freezing cold. We had on wet wet suits for goodness sakes. Got the picture? Sharon, safely in, we got back to paddling. The people in Iceland waste no time with their fun. We hit large rapids very rapidly, guess why they are called rapids...sorry. The next big DIP caused much screaming and much water into the boat. We did not lose anyone but Charles was swallowing his first gallon of water for the day. He managed to hang on and not hit the lady that was telling him that he was not holding onto the boat correctly! He was just glad that he stayed in the boat. All scary parts and risking lives aside...it was FANTASTIC! We managed to forget that we smelled like hobos, didn't care that we might fall out, and had a ball.
The pictures may look like we were wet, tired and not having fun...wet and tired yes, the not fun, no. The kids said it was one of the best things we have ever done.
We got to spot midway down the river to jump off a cliff. That was not in the paperwork and when they said that we were going to jump, it was not well received by Charles! The kids wanted to jump, so off they went. We don't even let them jump at Chimney Rock at Lake Martin, but here we are in Iceland and I guess the air is too clean, we went nuts and let them jump, they loved it. Again, sorry for the poor photos. I was worried they were going to hit their heads on the lava rocks and forgot to snap pictures! There are some on the edge and in the water after the jump. Most everyone that did jump, screamed went they hit the cold water. One Japanese man kind of lost his mind for a few seconds and forgot to swim back to the rock wall and started to float down the river and he was thrown a life rope and did not have the sense of mind to grab it but did start to swim! The guide called him a late swimmer, it was pretty funny. Scary for him but he never realized it.
We got back in our boat and made our way down the river with no more close calls. Actually, so of the guides started doing back flips off the back of the boats just for fun and tried to get us to do it...maybe next time!
The drive to the river was about an hour and a half. Along the way was mostly just beautiful countryside. We met a family from Virginia on the bus and we talked to them about their trip. They have been to Iceland 6 times! They are practically writing the Frommer's Guides! They shared a lot of interesting information with us and instead of taking pictures along the way, we found out the best places to eat "off the beaten path"! Sorry.
We were picked up at the hotel at 8:00a.m. and off we went. You have to understand, Charles and I have been hold outs for white water rafting all over the world and for some crazy reason we agreed to do it with the kids here, in Iceland! Not in some warm wonderful spot, Iceland! We really did not know what we were getting into and sometimes that is best.
We arrived via nice tourist type bus and then were told to sign the waivers to not sue them if we died. After that, we were put in a large room and given very specific "rules" of the water. Then...the gear!! Oh my! If you have ever gone snow skiing and never really loved it because of all the gear you have to put on just to head to the lift, this is not for you! Again, this is not for you! They gave us wet suits that were wet. Yep, wet. They had not had a chance to dry from the previous groups that had come through to go down the river! I could hear Charles over in the men's area saying "Are these really wet or are they just cold"? I should have known then that things might not go so well. Wet, wet suit, wet shoes and a wet life jacket. Lucky for us that all these items do heat you up from the inside out, so the wet really wasn't that bad once you were able to pull the wet suit over your dry skin with about 25 other ladies standing in the changing room with you in all states of dress. Once in the gear...off we went. Where, to the lovely school buses that took us up to the river. May I say that my wet suit probably had been down the river a few dozen times before I got in it and the sweet smell of their fun was left in it for me to enjoy!
We were split up into groups and off we went to Louise, our river guide. It was Louise, our family of four, a couple from Chicago, sisters from Colorado and a couple from Florida. The youngest in their group was about 65. Kathleen and I volunteered to paddle the front and be the ones that kept everyone paddling in lovely poetic style. We had some practice drills of paddle forward, paddle backward, stop and hang on. Four commands. Not too hard. Ya think?? We pushed off and in the very first rapid, off fell Sharon...no last names. Sharon was so quiet about falling out, we did not even miss her! Our guide did and rescued her immediately. She was coming back into the boat drenched like a wet dog before we missed her. I would have been screaming my head off! The water was coming straight off a glacier...not cold but freezing cold. We had on wet wet suits for goodness sakes. Got the picture? Sharon, safely in, we got back to paddling. The people in Iceland waste no time with their fun. We hit large rapids very rapidly, guess why they are called rapids...sorry. The next big DIP caused much screaming and much water into the boat. We did not lose anyone but Charles was swallowing his first gallon of water for the day. He managed to hang on and not hit the lady that was telling him that he was not holding onto the boat correctly! He was just glad that he stayed in the boat. All scary parts and risking lives aside...it was FANTASTIC! We managed to forget that we smelled like hobos, didn't care that we might fall out, and had a ball.
The pictures may look like we were wet, tired and not having fun...wet and tired yes, the not fun, no. The kids said it was one of the best things we have ever done.
We got to spot midway down the river to jump off a cliff. That was not in the paperwork and when they said that we were going to jump, it was not well received by Charles! The kids wanted to jump, so off they went. We don't even let them jump at Chimney Rock at Lake Martin, but here we are in Iceland and I guess the air is too clean, we went nuts and let them jump, they loved it. Again, sorry for the poor photos. I was worried they were going to hit their heads on the lava rocks and forgot to snap pictures! There are some on the edge and in the water after the jump. Most everyone that did jump, screamed went they hit the cold water. One Japanese man kind of lost his mind for a few seconds and forgot to swim back to the rock wall and started to float down the river and he was thrown a life rope and did not have the sense of mind to grab it but did start to swim! The guide called him a late swimmer, it was pretty funny. Scary for him but he never realized it.
We got back in our boat and made our way down the river with no more close calls. Actually, so of the guides started doing back flips off the back of the boats just for fun and tried to get us to do it...maybe next time!
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