Iceland

Iceland was the first stop on our adventure. I don't think any of us knew exactly what to expect, and Iceland blew us all away. The scenery is stunning and surprisingly diversified. It felt like we were in a different country everyday. We did way too much to go into much detail, but here are some of the favorites:

Dyrholeay:

Dyrholeay literally means “door hole island.” I believe we were the first Harding group to visit, and I think everybody agrees that it should become a tradition! From this peninsula we had an excellent view of the mainland, the black beaches, and the ocean. I know I say this a lot, but it was stunning!

Glacial Lagoon:

It is impossible to take a bad picture at the glacial lagoon. We had a perfect day to visit, which only helped the pictures. While here, we got to go on a boat ride through the icebergs, and we even got to taste some of the ice! For how old it was, it tasted surprisingly good!

Foss (waterfalls):

It is impossible to talk about Iceland without talking about the waterfalls. Everywhere you turn there is another gorgeous one! My favorite, though, was Seljalandsfoss. This was probably my favorite because we were able to get a different view of it by walking behind it.

Thorsmork:

Thorsmork literally means Thor's valley. The trek out to it was quite intense. I think we forded twelve creeks. I was very impressed by our driver, DeeDee. He never lost his calm. It was definitely worth the hike. We were able to explore this narrow valley with a stream running through it. It was almost impossible to make it without getting your feet wet because we had to hop from rock to rock, and, at one point, we had to climb the side of a three-foot waterfall. Luckily, there was a chain bolted to the rock to help us with the short climb. I know I say this a lot too, but the wet feet were worth it. At the end of the valley there was another waterfall. Even though this one was not as big as the other ones we had seen, it had the special quality of being isolated. This little valley gave the illusion that it was our own personal beautiful place in Iceland.

Landmannalaugar:

If we thought the trek out to Thorsmork was exciting, we had an even greater surprise in store. We got to ride in a super-van! This things are massive! Before we got the mountain, a lot of tourists stopped and took pictures of the super-van. It was just that impressive. Because of this van, we were able to go up in the mountains and swim in some natural hot springs. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the hot spring, but we also took a gorgeous hike.

Northern Lights:

We were fortunate to see the northern lights on our second night in Iceland. We stood out in the freezing cold wind just staring at the sky as the green lights danced across. Words and pictures cannot do it justice. However here was my attempt at capturing the beauty.

Reykjavik:

Even though Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland, it still has a small town feel to it. This might be because it only has 180,000 people in it. It had the cutest shops and the cutest houses. I am so glad we were given some free time to explore!