icelandic escapades {golden circle and hot soaking}

Day 1-

Golden Circle Drive- Post-arrival in Iceland we checked in to our hotel; everyone took a quick power nap to re-charge and ward off jetlag.  From there our agenda included the "Golden Circle" drive which took us north from Reykjavík to Thingvillr {THING-VA-LEER} National Park.  It covers a fairly large area and similar to a national park in America.  I hope I remember all of this correctly.  

The area is a popular tourist destination in Iceland and part of a fissure zone situated on the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a tetonic plate boundary separating the Eurasian and North American Plates.  Most of this ridge on our planet is underwater but is elevated enough on Iceland to make for a pretty neat landscape feature and cool place to visit.  

The weather was perfect for our all afternoon driving adventure.  It was partly cloudy and not raining; we contributed this good fortune to our collective effort of just plain ole' Good-Clean-Living.  

The visitor center for Thingvellir leads to a walkway down into the great Almannagjá fault. 

Even the public restrooms at the visitor center highlight the amazing view of the surrounding landscape.

Lake Thingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Icleand is in Thingvillr National Park.  

As we approached the park area we noticed a field full of these tiny stone cairns.  We never did find out why this particular field had so many of them but it was just one more thing that made this enchanting land so unique.

I created my own tiny cairn back in the hotel room with some of the many rocks I collected.

Silfra, a famous scuba dive spot is part of the lake and tetonic plate boundary.  It is also one of the top places on the planet to scuba dive…if you have the appropriate cold water diving gear.  The water is so clear and reflects a beautiful blue color it is easy to see why it is so appealing.  But it is not on my bucket list.

Swimming and diving is at your own risk, but a convenient stairway is provided.

Thingvellir Church is located in the park and another popular stop for tourists (and aspiring photographers).

Parliament was established here, waaaaaay back in 930.  Important government meetings in Viking times and the early Middle Ages took place in Thingvellir.  Likewise, grievances had to be settled and punishment enforced; this area holds a history of executions and torture.  Supposedly this waterfall- Oxarafoss- is one of those places. 

There are so many waterfalls in Iceland no one knows how many there really are.  Gullfoss is one of the largest and most popular to visit and part of Golden Circle drive.

Our third major stop on the Golden Circle tour was Strokkur Geysir.  It is actually several geysers in one geothermal area.  Because of so many volcanoes there is seemingly an unlimited amount of hot lava flowing under all of Iceland.  All of that hot lava creates heated underground water and in this case it combines with other complicated geophysical factors where it is forced out of a hole in the ground creating an awesome geyser.  This area had a several geysers and all of them erupted every 5 or 10 minutes.  There was also a very strong sulphur smell but it was worth it to see the geysers erupt.

This is the only printed warning you get that the water may be hot.  

Something I took away from Iceland is that they consider their citizens- and visitors- to have and use common sense!  There wasn't an overwhelming amount of danger signs, guard railings or safety barriers.  In other words, they consider everyone to take it upon themselves to be safe.  And if you happen to stand in the way of steaming hot water when it erupts you probably wouldn't get an ounce of sympathy and you certainly wouldn't be able to file a lawsuit against anyone for your own choices {and stupidity}.  I liked this attitude A LOT! 

Here is one of the geysers at rest...see, just barely a rope barrier to keep people out of the mud and away from the hot water.

All over Iceland there are areas in the ground where steam escapes.  This one happens to be in a rural area along the highway but in more populated places these are used to generate heat for buildings or homes.  

Across from the geyser field is a gift shop and café.  Couldn't resist a picture of a tractor!

The wool from Icelandic sheep is incredibly warm and one of the iconic pieces of their culture.  I bought a sweater but I'm wishing I'd have picked up a pair or two of warm socks.

There isn't a lot of forest land in Iceland so it was a bit of a surprise to see this art installation using tree trunk pieces.  European repurposing at its finest.  This is a space divider in the café built into a doorframe so it can swing open.  I love that part of European design.

A Hot Soak- After a long day of traveling, driving, and walking to see so many amazing landscape features we ended our day with a visit to Laugardalslaug public pool for some communal soaking.  Sounds crazy but the pools are geothermally heated and the mineral content is therapeutic.  Communal soaking is part of the social fabric of Iceland.  

This is a pic I found on Google Images of Laugardalslaug...just imagine that round soaking tub with about 40 people in it.  The one just beyond it had twice that many so we opted for the one that was a little less confining in case we wanted a quick exit.

We are all about the local experience and it doesn't get more real than visiting a public communal soaking pool.  In fact, if there were an Olympic event for soaking the people of Iceland would win it hands down.  I'd even consider moving there to become a citizen and major contender for the team.   We paid our admission and locker rental- about $8- and got quite the awakening with the locker room experience.  

There is a rigid, multi-step process for the locker room that we failed to read in our travel guidebook.  First, you are not allowed to wear shoes into the locker room.  That was our first mistake.  Second, you are expected to strip down to your birthday suit at your locker and proceed with your swimsuit in hand to the shower area.  That was our second mistake.  Third, you must shower BEFORE putting on your swimsuit and proceeding to the pool area.  That was our third mistake.  {We were unaware how serious the Icelanders are about cleanliness in their pools for we did not realize the pools are not very chlorinated...but are they too hot for bacteria and other germs to multiply???  We chose not to think about it...until we spotted someone who looked like he had chicken pox.}

Frankly, there is no modesty in a European locker room and there isn't much tolerance for modest Americans that enter it.  We received quite the scolding from the shower boss.  There was no free pass for us; we were sent back to the lockers then followed procedures under her watchful eye to make sure we were thoroughly scrubbed and clean before allowed to don our swimsuits and enter the pool area.  It was rather awkward at first but we were the only ones bothered by the idea of any of this.  Understandably, there are no photos of this experience; you'll have to go see it with your own eyes if you don't believe me.

Once we finally made it to the soaking pools we found a spot and did like the locals- we soaked and took it all in.  And since it didn't get dark until nearly 10pm we soaked amidst the evening twilight as we mentally recovered from the locker room debacle and thought about our adventures in the previous 12 hours.  Day one of Iceland was certainly not wasted and our next escapade- a volcanos and glacier hike tour- was scheduled for the following morning.

icelandic escapades {an introduction and a sad car}

May 2013- This girl’s trip was epic.  It was the chance of a lifetime and one of the best places I’ve traveled thus far.  I’ve already shared the tale of why we went to Iceland.  Now you’ll get a rather lengthy recap of our escapades.  

First of all, the unofficial default language is Icelandic, and many speak Danish, but dare I say everyone in Iceland speaks English.  And speaks it very well.  The people are very friendly and eager to share their culture in this semi-isolated part of the world.  If you think Iceland is a frozen tundra you couldn’t be more wrong.  We visited in early May during the off season for tourism which is just after the winter rush of tourists seeking out the Northern Lights, and just prior to those enjoying the chilly but long summer days.  Although we didn’t experience the aurora borealis we did manage to hike a glacier, witness breathtaking waterfalls, tromp through ancient Viking ceremonial sites, stand in the shadow of volcanoes, traverse the continental divide, soak in healing geo-thermal waters, partake in Icelandic cuisine and become one with such an enchanting land.  My official statement: Iceland is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Let me introduce you to the cast of characters:

Jamie- she may be from a small town in West Texas but don’t let that fool you- she is very worldly, knows the latest on everything and has more stamps in her passport than a supermodel.  {I’m a tad bit jealous of that.}  Like it or not she’s our chauffeur pretty much anytime we travel.  Hey, if she can drive in D.C. traffic she should be able to drive anywhere on the globe, right?  She was my college roommate; she’s my oldest born’s godmother and she’s stuck with me for the rest of her life, yet still loves me anyway.  God Bless Her.

Laree- the planner, budgeter, location researcher, get the most out of your trip as you can traveler…and my roommate in Iceland.  She earns a gold star for that last one.  She’s also the navigator and has a crazy sense of direction that can get us anywhere we want to go…even if the map is Icelandic!

Julie- the comic relief, crazy as all get out, up for anything one of the bunch.  She’s a natural linguist  and spoke the most Icelandic by the time we left.  And she’ll drink champagne with me any time of the day or night.  Love her to pieces.  {She normally doesn’t go on girl’s trip with us but was our number one pick to stand in for Lora.}

Then there’s me- the photojournalist taking entirely too many pictures {like hundreds more than needed}, eager to stop at any and every sight along the way, over-packer, somewhat scattered and extremely ecstatic to be traveling anywhere they will take me {even if it’s not the beach}. 

Getting There:  Let’s begin with the departure.  It was admittedly a bit rough for me.  Aside from this being scheduled during a busy time of work for Casey, a quick freelance assignment for me during the time I should have been packing and organizing, a slew of spring activities at school for Pecos and some creative {and stressful for me!} juggling of everyone’s schedules to make sure the boys were taken care of while I was gone, I’d say it was perfect timing.  I left detailed notes, daily schedules, dinner ideas and instructions, and stocked the kitchen and pantry with enough groceries for the month {just in case my return was delayed due to the unpredictable eruption of an Icelandic volcano}.  I also laid out clothes for the boys for each day, all the while thinking in the back of my mind they’d end up wearing whatever they wanted and most likely eating corn dogs and pizza for a week.   {Yes, I’m crazy and obsessive just in case you had any doubt.  But I own it.}

As for me, I packed too much and too big of a suitcase…

But in my defense I had to pack for 7 days and three separate climates, one of them requiring layers of insulation and a bulky winter coat.  Plus, I’m accustomed to packing myself and the River Boys and I’m a bit out of practice when it comes to frequent flying.  So there I was- standing on the curb at Reagan National Airport with my over-sized baggage, my jumbo Consuela bag, and a backpack full of camera gear, wearing my neon pink Junk Gypsies t-shirt.  It gave Jamie a good laugh when she pulled up to get me.  She was justifiably concerned about fitting all of it in the trunk of her car just to get to her house, much less the flight to Iceland.  Luckily she had a spare smaller suitcase and helped me figure out how to consolidate and what to take on to Iceland.  {She's always taking care of me.} Problem solved.

I found this bottled water at the Dulles airport...it was meant to be.  

This was printed on the pillow on our Icelandair flight.

I was a bit concerned about sleeping on the flight…it was an overnight flight and we would arrive in Iceland mid-morning with the entire day ahead of us for exploring.  I didn’t want to be the jet lagged one to drag us down.  The prescription medicine I took was intended to be more effective than Tylenol PM but not as severe as Ambien.  Perfect for a six-hour flight, right? Wrong!  I fell asleep fine and woke up barely two hours later…same problem I have at home.  I couldn’t sleep the rest of the flight so I watched movies and then just before landing my body decided to metabolize the medication.  {Here's a thought: maybe if I hadn't entered into the trip completely exhausted and sleep deprived I wouldn't have had these issues.}  I was really groggy but since our rental car shuttle was no where to be found I grabbed a bit more shuteye right there in the airport while Jamie and Laree sorted out the snafu {then a bit more of a catnap en route to the hotel... and then we ALL took a quick power nap after we checked in…three naps later I was finally ready to go}.

Sunrise somewhere over the North Atlantic Ocean:

The airport in Iceland is about 45 minutes away from the main city, Reykjavik.  We opted for a rental car since we wanted to travel around on our own as much as possible.  Our budget friendly option was SadCars.  

Yes, that is the real name.  With a name like that what did we expect?  Not sure, but what we got was a couple of young college guys working in a kwanza hut renting ragged out Subaru station wagons to American female tourists.  Seriously.

Here’s our first class Icelandic transportation...the sun flare I captured in this image was an effort to make her look radiant.  {She needed all the help she could get.}

We referred to her as Sally the SadCar for the remainder of the trip. 

After we signed our paperwork the rental guy came out and proceeded to walk around our car looking for damage. We thought he was joking since there was basically a scratch, dent or missing decal on every side of her.  We told him to just put an ‘X’ on the entire car image on his clipboard.  Aside from a major collision there’d be no way to tell if we added any more dings to it.  When it came time to load our luggage into Sally we couldn’t get the lift gate open.  Perfect.  I thought this was a prank by the rental guys.  We sought their help and got a rather exasperated reaction when we told them we couldn’t get the car opened.  Their reply: “sometimes it sticks and you just have to bang on it a bit.”  After we loaded our luggage and slammed the back closed a piece of the taillight fell off.  It became our first souvenir.  Seriously, I couldn’t make this up if I tried. 

Just in case we thought our Subaru SadCar could take us up to a volcano they provided us with this map which assured us 90% of Iceland was indeed not suited for SadCars. 

 And with that we were off on a grand adventure of Icelandic Escapades!

d.c.- the capitol building tour {pre-icelandic escapades}

Visiting the Capitol Building is something every citizen should do if they are in Washington D.C.  But I must say, visiting it when your best friend works there is a special treat.  

I was so excited and nervous about getting in through the staff entrance/security checkpoint I’m afraid I made quite the spectacle.  I forgot to take off some of my jumbo turquoise jewelry.  And coins from my pockets.  And maybe the cell phone from my back pocket.  I set off the alarm more than a few times.  Poor Jamie has to see these guys daily and I’m worried they still give her a hard time about her friend from Texas who clearly doesn’t know proper security procedures. 

Jamie works for Senator John Cornyn who serves as the Minority Party Whip.  She spent several years in his office over in the Senate building then transferred to his whip office after the last election.  Which puts her in a position with enough prestige to take us on the floor of the U.S. Senate chamber….this is a pretty big deal.  The public tour of the capitol doesn’t even take you by the door.  A tour set up through your congressman’s office (typically given by an intern) may take you to the door of the balcony and even let you sit in the balcony if you are lucky or pre-arranged for a pass.  But NO ONE goes onto the floor without special permission.  And it’s not like you’d end up there by accident…the only way in is through the main doors if you first make it past a slew of security guards and capitol police.  The other way is through the Senate cloak room/lounge area, which is kind of like a very private and prestigious country club.  You can see the Senate Chamber on C-Span, but NO cameras are allowed by commoners like me (I begged but Jamie said no and I didn’t want to get her fired) so you’ll have to make do with this pic I grabbed from Google Images. 

  

The Senate was on recess when we were there {i.e. the main reason Jamie could even travel to Iceland with us that week}, and since they were all gone we got to walk around the floor, sit at the Senators’ desks and ask tons of questions...but no pictures.  Did you know there’s a desk on the Senate floor that is the “candy” desk?  The drawer of this desk is normally full of candy, but it was devoid of any on our visit…very disappointing for me.  The Senators usually sign the inside of the drawers of their desks so it was kind of neat to look around for some famous signatures.  The funniest part of our little tour was when Laree asked the staff member in the Republican Senate cloakroom if she had anything we could take.  Even though the intent of the question was more about the idea of a souvenir like a pen or something that said U.S. Senate Chamber on it that you can't get at a regular gift shop, the look of shock and embarrassment on Jamie’s face was priceless.  

We spent some time touring the Senate Minority Whip’s office, which happens to be the office space once occupied by JFK prior to his presidential inauguration. {Sidebar- I used a new collage template in Lightroom for this set of pics...easier than other templates I've used.}

Another funny quirky thing you get to see on private tours is something like this:

Oh yes, that is a tiny private bathroom disguised as cabinetry in this office.  Kinda makes you wonder about some of our elected officials….why can’t they just use a regular bathroom down the hall like the rest of us?  Hmmmm.

Fun fact you may not know:  Senators and Representatives each have their own little private room somewhere in the capitol building.  They are commonly called their ‘hideaways’ and selected by each Congress member based on seniority.  There’s even an entire staff responsible for remodeling, painting and moving furniture every time these little escape portals change over to a new person…and that happens non-stop.   I get it, sometimes when they are in the capitol they need a place to have a meeting or make phone calls but these things are all over the place- down hallways and hidden just about everywhere, many of them unmarked other than a number on the door.  Just what exactly has to be hidden away so privately?  Hmmmmm. 

  

They are scattered throughout the building, many of them on the interior and lower level, so Senator Cornyn has worked his way up the list quite a bit to get one with this view of the National Mall and the Washington monument.

I’ve taken tours of the capitol building on previous visits to D.C. but not since they created the official visitor’s center and tour program.  Guided tours are scheduled throughout the day. The tour is free {well, technically it is paid for with our taxes}; reservations have to be made in advance but it is well worth it.  

After a brief introductory video, everyone gets a headset to hear the tour guide.  The first stop is the crypt.  It is actually on the ground floor but since most people think of the main floor being one level up at the large rotunda room it seems like this is the basement.  Plus it is dark and feels like a basement.   There is a star in the center of the room that supposedly marks the center of D.C. 

This is me standing at the center of D.C.

  

Next on the tour is the rotunda room and to get there you have to go up this stairway…this is the same stairway the President comes down to exit the doors out to the stage area for the Inauguration. 

 

view of the stairway looking up into the Rotunda room

view of the stairway looking down to the doors
that exit to the stage on Inauguration Day

detail of the ceiling that arches over the stairway

The interior of the beautiful Rotunda (dome) of the capitol building:

The final stop on the tour is the National Statuary Hall, which houses statues donated by each state to honor persons notable to their history.  This is the same room where the House of Representatives met from 1807-1857.  The design of the room and building materials create a unique acoustical feature.  Because of the way sound travels, if you stand in one corner of the room and talk in a normal voice you can be heard all the way across the room in a particular spot.  The current dome of this room, which is crucial to the acoustical effect, was installed long after the room was used by the House of Reps so it is doubtful any eavesdropping actually took place at that time.  Your tour guide will show you how it works.

That’s all for my review of D.C. for this trip.  As always it was a great time checking out some of our nation’s history and spending time with Jamie {and Julie!}.  But it was only a brief stopover before the real destination: ICELAND!