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Gwen and I decided to take a big trip this year - might be the last year for awhile that I make any money over the summer so it seemed like a good time. Been wanting to go to Iceland for awhile so we decided to go for it. A couple that we're friends with and often travel with (Mike and Karen) signed on for the trip too. We spent about half the time with them and half on our own.

So we left Orlando about 7:00 one morning and got to our first night motel in the city of Reykjavik about 1 am local time the next day. The whole nation of Iceland (about the size of Kentucky) has only about 300,000 inhabitants and over half of them live in Reykjavik.

After getting some sleep, we flew the last leg the next day to the northern town of Akureyri, where we met up with Mike and Karen and picked up our rental car. Over the next 10 days, we made our way clockwise on route 1 (the ring road - so-called because it circles the island close to the coast) and saw many cool things - like geysers:




Lava:




Glaciers:



Sea Stacks:






A really cool lake with icebergs:








And a zillion waterfalls, ranging from wispy to ultra-powerful:





[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/FallsNearS.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/FallsMike.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/FallsAccident.jpg[/img]

The last waterfall photo was the scene of my first misadventure. Shortly after shooting it, I slid on the rocks and went down hard. I was lucky I didn't break any bones - I landed on my backpack which was filled with drinking water and warm clothes and I think that saved me.

Unfortunately, the camera I had just purchased a few days before went underwater and ceased to function immediately. I looked at the bright side though - I wasn't hurt, we still had Gwen's camera, and the pictures I had already taken were still viable on the memory stick.

Then, amazingly, over the next 24 hours, the camera started to regain functions and it was completely back to normal a day later! Talk about luck

Iceland is a fascinating place - sheep are everywhere!

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/SheepAndSign.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/SheepAndHouse.jpg[/img]

Notice the ones at the base of the sea stack as well. We even saw some on the putting green of a golf course but couldn't get the shot - there are no road shoulders on the ring road.

We asked someone why the sheep weren't shorn for the summer and he told us that the demand for wool is low enough that they only shear the sheep once - when they die.

Some other cool things:

Lots of horses:

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/horse.jpg[/img]

Lots of really old structures. Was amazed to get up to this one and see a bed of yellow flowers growing inside of it:

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/HouseAndYellowFlowers.jpg[/img]

lots of old churches and old buildings with turf roofs. Here is a pic of both

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/turfChurch.jpg[/img]

Some picturesque inhabited farms:

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/skalanes.jpg[/img]

and what must be the most bizarre museum I've ever seen - it has a sample of a phallus for each of a huge number of different species. Not man - though there are apparently 4 guys on a waiting list to leave their member to the museum

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/phallus.jpg[/img]

Didn't go in - was after closing time

Iceland had considerable variety in it's landscapes. Much of it is a beautiful green. And a lot of it is desolate. Here is a shot of one of the bridges of the ring road that gives you a sense of that:

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/RingRoad.jpg[/img]

They get a huge fraction of their energy from geothermal sources. Here is a pic of one of the geothermal power plants:

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/powerplant.jpg[/img]

On the last day, we went to one of the natural hot pools - this one called the Blue Lagoon, just south of Reykjavik. It is supposedly THE place to stop if you go to Iceland and I have to agree it was awesome. It was also as expensive as hell. Here is a shot of the Blue Lagoon with a power plant in the back ground that serves as a source of the hot water:

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/BlueLagoon.jpg[/img]

We planned to have one day of climbing on the trip and hired a guide to take us. It just wasn't feasible to lug our own gear - we barely made the weight allowance with everything else!

On the day we met our guide Ivar, it was raining. We gave it a go anyway, doing two climbs. Here are a couple of pics of Gwen on a route called Guillotine.:

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/GwenRock1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/GwenRock2.jpg[/img]

By the end of this one, our feet were skating all over the place. The guide suggested we go for a glacier walk and then try ice-climbing instead - rain wasn't really an issue for these.

I had previously sworn that I wouldn't try ice-climbing. Rock climbing is stupid enough. Now add to that the fact that what you are climbing can peal away at any moment.

What the heck though - I'll try it once with an expert present. I don't have to do it again.

So Ivar outfitted us with crampons and ice axes and led us out over the glacier:

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/GlacierWalk.jpg[/img]

After awhile he lowered us one at a time into a deep gap and had us climb out. Here are a couple pics:

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/scottice1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/scott59_photos/iceland/scottice2.jpg[/img]

I'll admit that it was a bit of fun. Basically you swing axes to hang from. Then step up high and kick your crampon points into the ice to support your feet. Then stand on your feet and swing higher. While it was fun to try, I get the feeling it would be pretty monotonous

Was a pretty exciting trip with a lot of cool things to see. In particular, the dual forces of the geothermal/volcanic sources and the glaciers above them create some dramatic scenery and also a bit of uncertainty for the people who live there. It's an expensive trip but I didn't even think about that while I was there - was too busy looking at stuff with my mouth hanging open

Another thing that was interesting is that I only saw darkness on the day we flew in. After that, it was dark only for a few hours in the middle of the night on the south side of the island and I don't think it got dark at all on the north side - where we were about 30 kilometers from the Arctic circle.

Didn't have any trouble sleeping though - it's one of our skills

Scott

thats truly incredible Scott!

thanks for the great pictures and equally fine trip narrative........you are a real adventurer.....

Tom

Hi Scott,

WOW, VERY IMPRESSIVE.
Thanks a million for sharing and explaining everything.
Glad you both enjoyed it !

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hi Scott

Wow ! Looks like a super adventure -- You are wise to take advantage and go as you could.... makes me wanna put it on my list to do too.. Thanks for sharing -- your photography is wonderful !!!

jm

Nice eye for photography and narrative. Enjoyed it, Scott.

Glad you liked those, Tom!

Adventurism is relative - I consider myself pretty conservative in that area. Moving to Nashville to make it as a songwriter - now THAT's adventure!

Scott

Thanks Calvin - yes, we had a great time!

I thought of you at the phallological museum. Not because I associate you with phalluses - but because if anyone was ever going to write a song about a museum filled with phalluses, it would be you.

Hmmm, I'm getting a spelling error on phalluses. I wonder what the plural is - phalli? Maybe so - didn't get a spelling error there.

Scott

Thanks Joice. Yes, what I found amazing was the sheer number of interesting things to photograph in a relatively small area.

Another nice thing about Iceland for me was that every Icelander that we either needed or wanted to talk to spoke English. My brain is more wired for mathematical thought than it is picking up other languages so this was a plus for me.

Scott

Thanks Dan. Ten years ago, I would have lugged my tripod and 4x5 camera along. These days I'm more or less in travel mode and use a hand-held digital camera. Still try to make use of all the tricks I used back then but there are still some limitations in capturing the image as I want to.

Scott

ha ha...

I'll write it if you will sing it.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Ha - sorry Calvin, I just know in my heart that I couldn't do it justice! Would be happy to help on the musical track though

Scott

Great job. Between your and Brian's pictures, I get to vicariously travel. Very cool shots.

Thanks Jean - was a great trip!

Scott

I'm glad I found this, love the pictures,..for some reason, I feel really cold now...

glyn

Thanks Glyn

I wouldn't dare go in winter - though in summer it was quite nice. Except on the glacier

Glad you liked the pics.

Scott