The Long and Winding Road - Day 3

We were all looking forward to getting back on the road today! After a quick breakfast in our car, we made our way to our first stop, Seljalandsfoss Waterfall.  Logan was excited when we arrived yelling "Water-fall!"

One of the coolest parts of this waterfall was that you can actually walk behind it! We all got a bit wet, but it was super pretty and really neat.

Logan's highlight was climbing the stairs and holding onto the rope fences!
...and of course, throwing rocks in the water!

We finished up at the waterfall and headed out to the Eyjafjallajökull Erupts visitor centre.  We watched a little movie about the volcanic eruption from 2010 that grounded thousands of flights to and from Europe.  It was focused on a farmstead located directly below the volcano.  It was interesting to learn that the biggest issue for the farm was flooding due to melting of the glacier on top during the eruption.

We made our way back out on the road.... to see our next stop, Skógafoss Waterfall.We couldn't walk behind this one, but we were able to get nice and close!

On the way to our next stop, we came across the base of this glacier on Katala.  We were able to drive right up close to the base.  Logan was sleeping in the car, so Angus and I took turns.  He took a walk right up to the glacier and touched it. When he came back it was my turn!I got quite close, but being all by myself was a bit scary.  And the signs reading "unstable ground" and "beware of quick sand" had me a bit nervous.  So I didn't get close enough to touch it...but I'm okay with that!

We continued down the road to our next stop, Dyrhólaey Nature Reserve.  It was high up on the cliffs looking out over the black beaches and the ocean.  It was super windy at the Nature Reserve, so we didn't stay for too long before heading out towards Vik.

We were quite excited to see the Puffins! Logan kept saying "Hi Puffin!"

It was quite late again and we hadn't eaten dinner yet! So we stopped at this little picnic area, and tried to cook our dinner.  It was far too windy, and decided to head to our hostel for the night.

This is our hostel....directly below the volcano and glacier that we had learned about erupting in 2010!

Tomorrow we make our way to Höfn!

The Long and Winding Road - Day 2

We woke up this morning and had breakfast at our hostel before heading out on the road.  We were impressed by the snowy mountains as we started to make our way around the Golden Circle. 

Our first stop was at Thingvellir National Park.  This park is a UNESCO world heritage sight. 

We went for a little adventure walk with Logan in the pack to check out the lake Þingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland

It was quite cool and windy so we didn't stay for too long.  We started making our way to Lake Laugarvatn.  On our way we spotted our first "hobbit house" which we assume are usually barns for farm animals. 

Logan fell asleep on our way to the Lake, so Angus and I took turns going for a little walk.  There are 2 hot springs pools where you can pay money to bathe, but we decided to opt out this time.  But I checked it out from the edge of the lake.  Here is where we saw our first natural hot spring.

The water in the lake was actually boiling hot!

This lake has some  historical significance too.  Here is the sight of a bath from medieval times.

After Angus and I each had a turn walking around the lake area, and eating our PB & J sandwiches for lunch, we made our way to an Icelandic Farm down the road called Efstidalur.  Logan was very impressed by the Icelandic Horses and the cows!

From inside the little shop, you can see the cows being milked! Logan was very excited to try their ice cream!

After some play time, we continued on our way!

Our next stop was a bit of a challenge!  We had heard about the Bruarfoss waterfall, and had seen many pictures on Pinterest.  Everything we read explained how difficult it was to find!  There are no signs or road maps to direct you to this location.  Just a set of loose directions that one blogger wrote. They basically said, start here and turn left - keep going until you cross a bridge, then keep going until you hear water, walk towards the sound.

After returning to the car several times, we finally found ourselves going in the right direction!

It was totally worth it! This waterfall was gorgeous! 

Logan was excited to put his hands in the water! Angus carried him down, but once he was there, he wanted out! So we let him out to explore a bit, and he hiked himself back to the car.

The car was next to a play ground! So we let Logan enjoy some free time, where he slid down the steepest slide I've ever seen!

Our next stop was Geyser and Strokkur.  These geysers were very exciting for everyone watching, and when Stroker would blast, everyone would yelp!

As we strolled around, Logan kept yelling "Gey - ser!!!"

When we finished up there, we made our way to Gullfoss Waterfall.  Logan was sleeping in the car again, so Angus and I took turns walking out to see it.  

The next Waterfall was called Faxi.  It was right off the road, so we could leave Logan sleeping in the car for a quick picture.

By this time, it was almost 7:30 at night, and we decided to make our way to our Hostel in Selfoss.  After making some dinner for ourselves, and since Logan napped so late in the day, we decided to go back out! We drove to Kerið crater - a large crater which used to be a volcano.  

That was our last stop of the day.  We went back to the hostel and tried to sleep...we were glad that ts place had blackout curtains! The sky is never dark! 

The Long and Winding Road -Day 1

Today was a day to acclimatize after our over-night flight.

We packed up after our morning rest and met our rental car at noon.  

While waiting for our rental company, we got our first real glimpse of the scenery! There are snow capped mountains! 

Our rental company was late meeting us, but they made up for it.  We had booked a Yaris, but they didn't have one available, so they've given us an SUV!  This means that we can take any road we want to without restrictions, and we can all fit very comfortably! 

Once we loaded the car, we headed off to Reykjavik to check into our hostel. 

Once we checked in, we had a snack and couldn't resist another nap! We slept much longer than we had hoped...but the sun was still shining, so we decided to go explore a bit.  We will be returning to Reykjavik so we weren't too worried about seeing everything! 

Our first stop was Hallgrimskirkja Church...notice the time on the clock tower and how light it is! The sun hasn't set yet...and it was still quite light out even after the sun went down. 

Then we walked down to the harbour front where Logan was fascinated by the water and mountains! 

We also saw the sun voyager sculpture. 

After getting a bite to eat, we went back to our hostel where we all fell asleep for the night by 12:30am (and it wasn't dark out!) 

Tomorrow we will explore the golden circle! 

The Long and Winding Road

We've made our way back out on the road! This time we brought just the littlest adventurer in our family and headed to Iceland!

We managed to sneak this trip in only weeks before Logan turns two.  This was great for our trip budget, as we only paid a nominal fee for him to fly! 

The airport was super exciting for Logan! He's learned a lot about travel at daycare...and he LOVES his airplanes! 

Watching the planes come and go, as well as the "trains" aka luggage carts made the time fly by! And before we knew it, we were boarding the plane! 

Logan was quite cozy on my lap! He cheered gleefully "weeee" when we were taking off! After several snacks and a few laps around the plane, he settled in for the night! 

If only it was so easy for all of us to sleep on a plane! We took off at 7pm and it got dark about an hour into the flight.  Not long after that, the sky was a pretty pink sunrise!

When we landed it was 4:50am and sunshine! We knew that we would need a rest so we headed straight to our hotel down the street.  Unfortunately, someone decided that he was done sleeping.  So now here we sit while Angus sleeps...my turn will surely come later! 

Top 3 tips for flying with a toddler:

1. Book an aisle seat! Walking around the airplane was essential to the success of our flight!

2. Pack all the snacks! Plan for a new snack every 20 minutes! Eating kept him settled and happy during the awake times....there was one occasion that candy was the only thing stopping him from a melt down! ....bring a sucker or two!

3. Before take off...find a few minutes to set up your space! Keep the essentials in the seat pocket: water, books, snacks, and one thing we wished we brought was an iPad loaded with a movie or two..or and ap!