Wrapping up.

Hello All,

We made it home.  We only had three things on our agenda for our last day.  Go to the Blue Lagoon, return the car and get on the plane.  As we packed, we were greeted by the departure committee.  It was very sweet.




I feel like the first thing I heard about Iceland was the Blue lagoon.  I have to say, it didn't disappoint.  You can see steam in the distance but it exists next to a power plant in the middle of a lava field and like so many things in Iceland, you would have no idea it was there if you didn't follow the one sign telling you it was there.



It can be frustrating finding things in Iceland because there are no billboards and street signs are at the street which means you're constantly passing your turn off and having to either back up on the highway or find a turn around which can mean having to go miles and back track.  Having said that, in a place as beautiful as that, it's nice not to see branding everywhere.

The Blue Lagoon is much bigger than the geothermal bath we went to in Myvatn and their big selling point is that the water has silica and algae in it which are supposed to have healing properties.  There is a hut in it where you wade up and get hand fulls of silica to make a face mask which you wear and let dry for 10 minutes before you wash off.  Then you do the same thing with the algae.  It's fun.  There is also a swim up bar which seems very un-Icelandic until you realize there is a 3 drink limit.  The package we bought included a free drink so we floated around with a glass of Prosecco.  It was a spectacular day.  It was about 55 degrees and not a cloud was in the sky.  Except for getting sunburned, it's a fantastic thing to do before getting on an international flight.













And that's the trip.  I have to say, it was the trip of a lifetime.  What a magnificent place to see.  It was odd in a lot of ways.  First of all, usually when you travel you have goals.  You're getting somewhere. On this trip, the point was usually not to get to our stopping point but to enjoy the journey and see things along the way.  I'm a goal oriented driver so that was a big mental switch.  Another odd thing was just how much driving there was.  Ultimately, I drove 1,700 miles in 9 days.  There were only a couple days which seemed like long driving days.  Usually we had enough sight seeing to do to break up the trip.  But it was a lot of driving.  Surprisingly, we learned very little about Icelandic culture or it's people.  We dealt with the people who worked at the hotels or sold us our meals but otherwise, I don't think we had a meaningful conversation with any local.  As someone who has studied and been fascinated by languages, I didn't attempt one "hello" or "thank you" or "please" or anything.  We went in one church but we didn't go in any museums or really read any history.  We just enjoyed the physical beauty and strangeness of the country.  In going back over the trip, there are very few things we would change.  Even on the days that didn't completely blow us away, it's only because there were days the bar was set so high from previous days that there was no way to to sustain things.  In truth however, I don't think there was a moment when I wasn't fascinated to see what was around the corner and the least interesting thing we saw would have been the most interesting thing I had seen on a lot of trips.  It really is a country of wonder.

I'd like to give a shout out to Oboz hiking boots, Aveeno sun screen and Advil.  I couldn't have survived without them.  And, of course, Rebecca Daws who is an adventurous, beautiful and hilarious travel partner!