The following is from an email written in 2005 to a friend that was interested in our trip (I did have to add a few things that I left out back then). . .
We have made it back from our trip to Iceland! Iceland is a wonderful place to visit. There are some of the most awesome displays of nature. I was particularly surprised by the diverse landscapes we saw while touring the island. This first picture is a structure at the airport and is said to represent Iceland as the end of the rainbow.
Let me start from the beginning of our visit. We started
out by going on a do-it-yourself Golden Circle Tour. This is a tour that my sister had gone on before, but we found a few more sites to visit this time. Our first stop was
(Th)ingvellir. This is one of the most sacred sites in Iceland as it was the nation's meeting place beginning in 930 AD. An old parliamentary building still stands on the site. The area has been protected since 1928, has the largest lake in Iceland, and is the oldest
national park. After a long walk in the park admiring the steep sides of the ravine and the small waterfall rushing into the lake, we proceeded to Gullfoss. Gullfoss (The Golden Waterfall) is Iceland's most famous waterfall. It was truly a fantastic site. One thing my sister told me about Iceland is that they generally do not put safety barriers at these 
potentially dangerous places. From the governments point of view, if you are silly enough to get yourself hurt, then it is your problem. There is no way to sue the government. Needless to say, we did not let the kids stray too far from our grasp as we were just a few feet from the rushing water. 
Our next stop was the Great Geysir, an active geyser. There we saw boiling water rising up from underground. We also got to see the geyser erupt 3 times while we were there. There was a roped area around the Great Geysir, but you could certainly get close enough to get wet when the geyser erupted.
As you looked out over the area you could see stream coming out of the ground in many places. The water ran along the path and even though it was fairly cold outside 
the running water was warm. These were the big three sites that were planned for our tour. We were surprised to also find a smaller waterfall called Faxi Waterfall in the middle of a grassy field and Kerith (Crater Lake) which is a lake at the bottom of an eruptive crater. We ended the day at a gift shop/restaurant called Eden in Hveragerdi. We had regular American food (hamburgers). According to my sister the real Icelandic thing to eat is sheep and I mean every part of the sheep. Needless to say, we didn't seek out the opportunity 
for true Icelandic cuisine.
out by going on a do-it-yourself Golden Circle Tour. This is a tour that my sister had gone on before, but we found a few more sites to visit this time. Our first stop was
(Th)ingvellir. This is one of the most sacred sites in Iceland as it was the nation's meeting place beginning in 930 AD. An old parliamentary building still stands on the site. The area has been protected since 1928, has the largest lake in Iceland, and is the oldest
national park. After a long walk in the park admiring the steep sides of the ravine and the small waterfall rushing into the lake, we proceeded to Gullfoss. Gullfoss (The Golden Waterfall) is Iceland's most famous waterfall. It was truly a fantastic site. One thing my sister told me about Iceland is that they generally do not put safety barriers at these 
potentially dangerous places. From the governments point of view, if you are silly enough to get yourself hurt, then it is your problem. There is no way to sue the government. Needless to say, we did not let the kids stray too far from our grasp as we were just a few feet from the rushing water. 
Our next stop was the Great Geysir, an active geyser. There we saw boiling water rising up from underground. We also got to see the geyser erupt 3 times while we were there. There was a roped area around the Great Geysir, but you could certainly get close enough to get wet when the geyser erupted.
As you looked out over the area you could see stream coming out of the ground in many places. The water ran along the path and even though it was fairly cold outside 
the running water was warm. These were the big three sites that were planned for our tour. We were surprised to also find a smaller waterfall called Faxi Waterfall in the middle of a grassy field and Kerith (Crater Lake) which is a lake at the bottom of an eruptive crater. We ended the day at a gift shop/restaurant called Eden in Hveragerdi. We had regular American food (hamburgers). According to my sister the real Icelandic thing to eat is sheep and I mean every part of the sheep. Needless to say, we didn't seek out the opportunity 
for true Icelandic cuisine.
The other big adventure for us was traveling along the southern coast from Keflivik to Jokulsarlon (Glacier Bay) with
lots of stops along the way. First, we stopped at Seljalandsfoss. It is a beautiful waterfall that you can walk behind. Then, it was on to Skogarfoss (Woods Falls). Legend has it that a chest of gold is hidden behind the waterfall. We didn't get close enough to check that out, 
but we did go up the steep steps next to the falls to get a view
from the top. It was quite beautiful to look out over the valley from the top. Along the way we also saw huge fields of flowers that looked like our very own Texas Bluebonnets. We were spending the night at a farmhouse cabin so we made it there to check in before going on to Glacier Bay. The cabin was a quaint three bedroom structure. There were no other cabins around and we were surrounded by rolling hills. Even though the drive was long, you didn't really notice because the scenery 
was so entertaining. Mountains on one side, ocean on the other, then moss covered rocks that made you feel like you
were on the moon., then waterfalls, then glaciers and snow capped mountains. It was amazing. The view was even more incredible once we finally made it to Glacier Bay. It was sunny and already closed so there were very few people around. One of the best things about our whole visit is that we could go until we got tired because it never really got dark. On the
other side of the road from Glacier Bay was the ocean. The shoreline was a black beach complete with huge icebergs. Some of the chunks of ice were melting and you could
see the perfectly smooth rocks embedded in the ice. Very cool. From where we were on the beach, you could see the water and ice rushing out of the bay and at the same time the tide brining the ice onto
the coast. I just remember thinking that the ocean looked so very angry.
After spending the night in the cabin, we headed back to Keflivik. Our only planned stop was Dyrholaey to see the puffins. Puffin season just began near the end of June and the roads to Dyrholaey were open for visitors. The view was specatcular. We were right at the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. There was a lighthouse and again no barriers between you and falling from the cliff. At first, we thought we were just out of luck regarding the puffins as there were none to be seen. Then as we were walking back to the car, two puffins 
appeared out of nowhere near the edge of the cliff. We stopped to take some pictures. Then, wondering what else might be near the cliff, we peaked over the edge and found hundreds 
of puffins and other birds nesting along the cliff. Completely, hidden if you didn't get close enough to the edge. The are really cute. Becoming curious about puffins, we found out the they made for life, lay a single egg per year, and come back to the same nesting place every year. There is an island just off the coast of Iceland called Vestmannaeyjar
(Westmann Islands) where, in August, they have something called "the nights of the puffins". The parent birds have stopped feeding the babies and they are forced out of their nest in search of food. They are attracted by the lights of the city. Fortunately, the local children and tourists aid the young puffins by collecting them in boxes. The next morning the babies are taken to a cliff and thrown out to sea. The birds are able to glide down into the water where they are able to swim and fend for themselves until they are strong enough to fly.
We visited a couple of places in Reykjavik. On our first trip to the capital, we found the Icelandic Girls and Boys Scout Headquarters
(Skatamidstrodin) and visited their Scout Shop. We found out that almost all Icelan boys and girls are scouts and they don't get to do much until they are around 11-years-old. They were in the midst of preparing for the National Jamboree. We also found the mall. On our second trip to Reykjavik, we visited The Pearl which is 5 huge water storage tanks. There
were two man-made geysers, one inside
and one outside. They also had a museum and a restaurant inside. We looked out over the city from the observation deck. We then proceeded to Hallgrimskirja church, which is the biggest church in Iceland. The architecture was incredible. There was a statue of Leif Erikson in front of the church. Walking from the parking lot to the church, we saw evidence of some Texas Aggies. Who knew that Ol' Sarge 
would make his way to Iceland? We also stopped briefly at a famous house with Swiss architecture. Two major events happened 
in this house. In 1972, Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky to win the World Chess Championship. Then in 1986, President Ronald Reagan had an important meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that was said the be "the beginning of the end of the Cold War."
Our last touristy adventure was to visit the Blue Lagoon. It was an interesting place to visit. The water was very warm overlooking the ocean
the air outside didn't feelnear Grindavik and saw another cliffand salty. They had silica mud pots around the lagoon so you could mud yourself down. It was supposed to be very good for your skin. After
spending a half hour in the lagoon, as cold. It was quite refreshing. We also drove to and a lighthouse. Then, we went to this geothermally hot area where you could see mud boiling out of the ground. This grand adventure 
was capped by visiting Reykjanes. This is the site of a bridge that spans two continental plates, the European and American. The divide between the continents is said to
expand by 6 inches every year. All along the roads you would see these piles of rocks. Apparently, tourist build mini-monuments to mark their time in Iceland. We built our Icelandic monument while visiting Reykjanes.
The rest of our time was spent visiting my sister and her family. Ayden turned one and Ryan turned 4 during our visit so we had a big birthday party. We also visited a few places on base and I got to play in a softball game or two. Playing softball in Iceland is definitely a whole different experience. Chelle and Donnie taught us how to play Bunco and we went to a spa party. I still probably left out some of the fun places we went or things we saw and did. Let's just say it was a great adventure!I probably never really told my Mom how much we enjoyed the trip and how thankful we are that she helped pay our way. I also doubt that I told Chelle and Donnie how much we appreciated all they did for us while we were there. The trips we took were fantastic and they were excellent tour guides.
