First full day of vacation in Iceland and needed to start the day off right with breakfast.Our hotel is right next to the musical hall called HarpaWe were going to take an excursion and this was the silly view from our bus stop. We hopped on a bus to take us about 15 miles outside of Reykjavik. Mom wasn’t really expecting mountains. These aren’t the Swiss Alps, but they are impressive in their own way. Our bus got us to a meeting point where we met up with our guides, Jasmine and Stefan, and 16 other people. We began our 3.5km or 2.17 mile hike over a lava field. Yes! Mom was gonna hike with me!That’s our destination. Mainly the hill on the right. There was still some small patches of snow on the ground as we made our way. A long lava tube now filled with snow. We finally hit our base camp for the day. Oh, I should probably tell you what we are doing, were going inside the volcano, Þríhnúkagígur. There she is! You can see some things on the top. It’s actually a window cleaning lift that National Geografic paid for to film inside and they just left it. The crew here has improved upon it so it takes about 6 minutes to descend 400 feet into the empty magma chamberMom is a trooper. With the hike, the thought of going up the side of the volcano and then taking something with a see-through bottom with an unknown terrain, it was understandable that she might be apprehensive about doing this. She was almost ready to stay at base camp while I did the trip down. But with the help of the freaking wonderful staff and our team, she geared up for the adventure.Almost to the top of the crater. I will never get sick of looking at this country. The bridge to our lift down. Stefan and team member, Oli, really helped mom feel content getting up to the crater and onto the lift. My friend Claire and I had booked this excursion 8 years ago and they had to cancel because of weather. So excited for another opportunity. So, most magma chambers fill up and slowly cool or they collapse on themselves but for some unknown reason, this chamber emptied itself about 4,500 years ago. Geologists don’t know where the magma went and there is not a known other example of this phenomenon anywhere else in the world at this time. The whole descent was surreal.
Hello tasty rock!
I swear we’re almost to the bottom. You can see little orange dots. Those are the helmets of people already down in the chamber. An insanely beautiful gas vent. They had a seating area that was somewhat set out, but the rest of the chamber floor was scattered rocks to run around on. Mom sat down and said to me, “go, run around but be safe!” like a mother to her toddler. I obliged!The lift ascending back up!It’s difficult to see in the picture but that well lit area looked like a lava tube maybeMy face is still sticking that way and mom is among the 4 orange helmets behind me. The colors are intense in person. Red from iron, orange from sulfur and the yellow from copper. My face is still frozen in a silly happy face. Jasmine, the tour guide mentioned that that they have never found any evidence of animals getting trapped in here. Also, hardly any water makes it in, so there has been almost no erosion since the eruption 4,500 years ago.Got closer to the air vent. The strip of black is the original basalt flow from 50,000 years ago. Look at me and mom inside a volcano! What the heck!? So exciting. I got up as high as I could on the chamber floor and then looked up the vent to the top. Our lift coming to take us back to the surface.We will miss you volcano!Remnants of the magma dripping down the vent as we make our way up. Back on top! Back at base camp, they gave everyone soup and hot beverages before hicking back to the meeting spot. Eating soup with a view. Team 3 and Stefan! These people made it possible to do this with so much humor and kindness. Grateful for each one.🇮🇸🇮🇸🌋😍🌋🇮🇸Most of the hike was fine but there were moments we were hit with sideways rain, ice or snow.Lava tube!Not a bad day to spend a Monday or start a vacation. After a delicious dinner around town, mom headed to bed and I took 15 minutes to sit and watch the 10 pm sun while listening to some Icelandic music and taking a moment to realize I’m back in my favorite place. ♥️
Okay, so we both woke up at 12:17. Mom asks what time it is and I tell her. The conversation then goes something like this.
“Midnight or noon?”
“Midnight I think”
“Look outside, is it light out”
“That’s not going to help in Iceland”
“You wouldn’t sleep 14 hours!”
“Let me google what time it is in Boston. Okay, 8 pm, we’re good. Back to sleep”
Shoo & Ky's Road Trips 
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