Iceland: day 1

Europe
July 13th 2011

Published: July 14th 2011

Day 1: Iceland

So I have never tried to get a good nights sleep in broad day light. It is almost impossible. I even had two beers and didn't sleep a wink on the plane ride here to try and adjust! Seemingly, that should be enough to do it, but the sun, though it has set, continues to light up the sky....

I'm in Inasfjordum right now, a place I can't even say. We are in the part of iceland they call the West Fjords. As Stewart put it, we could pee in the arctic circle. I'd prefer to skip stones there...the thought of submerging any part of my body in that water-even to pee- is terrifying. It is cool though to be this far north, with the exception of the sun thing.

Our plans for today weren't suppose to lead us here. Our original itinerary had us driving the ring road south towards a gigantic national park in the middle of the island with a lot of v's, k's, and j's in the name. We were going to see some evidence of volcanic eruptions, some waterfalls, and hike to see some glacier fields. Well, due

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to the volcanic eruption on Sunday- yes there was one--the road was impassable. New plan: after looking at the passable roads, it as decided to head north- yes even more north than we already were. We hopped in our rental car, and off we drove. The rest is a summary of our distractions on our way north. Most of which is more for me to remember, in my overly tired, had just enough beers state.

The ride there was absolutely gorgeous. A mix of what I would imagine Alaska and Hawaii would look like, with a touch of yellowstone and the moon.
Our first stop: the Blue Lagoon. Though wildly overpriced, $40 US dollars per person, the opportunity to hop in an aqua, steaming hot lagoon after your red eye was too good to pass up. And so we did. It felt heavenly, especially the hot spots, and though it was misting rain the whole time, we never wanted to get out. But, was it a tourist trap? absolutely.

Next up, Iceland west coast! On this drive we saw disgustingly beautiful waterfalls, the largest hot spring in europe, and beautiful snow capped

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volcanoes, abruptly ending in the sea (for you non- geeks, these are called fjords). We continued on, but became highly focused on the pursuit of beer and/or wine. This focus, though rather easy to achieve, say anywhere else in the world, became all consuming in Iceland. Here's why:

1. Iceland only sells 1/2 strength beer in grocery stores and gas stations (yet full in calories).
2. There is an actual liquor store every 50-100 km or so, once you leave reykjavik.
3. When you finally find a liquor store, they are only open 1, yes one, hour per day.

The chance of you driving through the town at that one hour?- well you'd be luckier than us. I feel this is important to include in my blog for any future Iceland travelers: TAKE CARE OF THE EVENING SUPPLIES first, beer and wine are hard to come by in this country.

As we failed in our pursuit for alcohol, we succeeded in finding the most absolutely remote yet beautiful landscapes in the world. The lack of human presence is overwhelming. These views, this land, yet no one lives here, and few visit.

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It's remarkable. My pictures will describe, I'll try my best to leave out the science in which I bored Justin, Stewart, and Jen with the whole way up ( though Jen is an a+ student). The massive glaciers of years past, left what is called a moonscape on the high plateaus. This land looks alien in nature with random scattered rocks, little vegetation, and an occasional glacial lake. We also saw massive fjords: textbook. Perfect U-shape valleys, some hanging while others plunged to the sea, all filled with glacier remnants. We did see two remaining large glaciers, though probably shadows of their former selves.

We also managed to see a minke whale in one of the fjords. Pretty awesome.

This town, we are staying in, is a small fishing town in the far north of Iceland. It's cute, and fishy. It's surrounded by massive mountains and the arctic. The town is on an inlet, with fishing boats scattered all around. We found a retsauarnt that served a buffet of whatever fish the cook had to cook.. It was sick! Best fish I may have had--ever. Sorry dad......We also found real, full bodied beer- thank god.