Sunshine to Snowstorms and Everything In Between: We put the ICE in Iceland

Yesterday we roadtripped out to a huge glacier on the east end of Iceland. We hit lots of stops along the way, firstly because there is so much cool stuff to see and secondly because we have a 1 1/2 year old who can't sit in the car for too long of a stretch.

We had planned to drive out to the glacier and stay the night, but upon researching it found that there was no place to stay out in that wilderness for less than $300 per night. So one looong day it became!

Our first stop was a waterfall called Seljalandsfoss (aren't these names trippy!). The really cool thing about this fall was that you could walk behind it! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures behind the fall because I was worried about getting my nice camera wet (it's been acting up). But for the record, we did do the trail all the way behind the waterfall!

After Seljalandsfoss, we ate lunch and Quintana fell asleep, so we trekked straight out to the Vatnajokul glacier.

We stopped at a lagoon where the glacier meets the ocean. This lagoon has only existed for the last 70 years; in that time several kilometers (yes, we're Europeans now and using the metric system, haha) of the glacier have melted and formed a lagoon with floating icebergs.

We took a boat tour of the lagoon, but the tour was delayed by almost two hours, so we also spent some time walking around the area.

One of the craziest things we saw I didn't capture with the camera sadly (did I mention the camera was acting up? grrr). We happened upon a field where hundreds of sea birds had made nests on the ground. There were birds flying guard around the area, and if you got too close they would divebomb you! Quintana and I hightailed it out of range, but the boys had no fear! All I could envision was the Hitchcock movie "The Birds!" I don't care what Levi says; birds can be scary!

When we finally got on the boat tour, it was pretty fantastic. We drove up close to the icebergs, and got to hold a piece. We actually even ate a piece of iceberg! Our guide kept telling us we were tasting 1,000 year old ice. Yum. Even Quintana got a bite!

Yum!

We didn't get to ride all the way up to the glacier; not only is it kind of far, but it also is a little dangerous as chunks of ice can unexpectedly come crashing off. But it was a pretty awesome lagoon.

As we left, we saw icebergs floating out to sea. The picture isn't great, but it was kind of cool to see.

Driving home the kids did so well. Levi kept Quintana entertained for quite a long time with jokes and books and tickles! He's such a sweet older brother.

We stopped near a town called Vik at a gorgeous black sand beach. The rock all around is intricate lava formations. Some look like columns, some like waves, it was all so unusual.

By this time it was almost 9:00 pm and still so bright out!

These two are two peas in a pod, truly

I had been in the car all day so it actually is a good thing you can't see my face

Family shadows

We didn't make it home until almost midnight, and the kids did not sleep on the drive home. Needless to say, Daniel Tiger was on repeat from Vik on home. But I was so proud of how well the kids did on such a long day!

I do love roadtrips. We haven't done them much since having kids, but yesterday it was kind of fun to get into it again. We saw so much unique landscape as we drove across the country (and back again!) There were areas that looked like the surface of the moon, then a few miles on would be farmland with sheep and horses grazing, then a few miles on beach, then huge waterfalls, then more moon rock. Iceland is a crazy cool place!