Have we been traveling for two weeks already!? Where has all the time gone! And sheep have 1,150 years of owning this country! Breakfast had some local delicacies. I used my Google Translate app on the bottle and it called it “Russian Candy”Stopped by the grocer called Bónus and they had a cute mural of the river monster and the waterfalls. We went to the East Iceland Heritage Museum that had things from an old turf house. Saddles and other horse tack.Traditional clothesWe cannot fathom how hard it must have been to live like this in northeast Iceland. We stopped by a reindeer park with no idea what to expect. We got to feed the reindeer!Look at that fuzzy noes! The guy that owns the place rescues injured ones and gives them the best life he can!His best friend showed up getting in on the food action.He also had a baby that was abandoned at 3 days old that he is bottle feeding and even sleeps with to care for it. He really loved his mommy/daddy. So tiny and cute!It’s never a bad day when you start it by visiting a baby reindeer. This furry boy was busy alternating scratching his head with his hoof and his rear with his antler. We started making our way west and it was a different planet. AgainA waterfall that looked like a dress. Old turf house. It was actually more for animals than humans. Quite cozy considering. There were two at this location that we could peek in.
Kept the sheep fed and cozy.
Oh hi there giant waterfall!And the landscape kept changing. From dry brush to basalt and thick patches of snow. It was so surreal. We also had no one in front of us or behind us for quite some time. Nice little snow pack. And as we dropped in elevation, the snow slowly disappeared. Are mountains coming back?Literally found a cafe in the middle of nowhere, which was good because we were hungry!Slight view of a weird landscape.And back to back to vegetation growing on basalt. The changes can give you whiplash. More pretty. Geothermal stuff. Smelled like sulfur a bit. I love the smell. Mom is normal and doesn’t, so we didn’t stick around too long.However, she doesn’t mind the smell of a giant beautiful waterfall! Goðafoss. Oh! The color green is making a comeback! Also, across the river is Akureyri, where we are staying for the night!Church in town and next to our hotel was having its stairs repaired. View from our room. This ship followed us from Reykjavic. Would love to spend more time here. Mom wanted to pack this building up and take it home. MuralSee you tomorrow!
Right when we were leaving our hotel, we spotted these oh so sleepy baby Icelandic horses. They hardly moved an ear when we tried to talk to them. They have a super rough life. The weather apps and news said we should have a good weather day, but it started off a little ominous. A red chair. On a rock. Looking at the North Atlantic. Because why not?The fog was rolling in as we headed north up the east coast. No one was around us so we just took our time winding down the road. The fog being a very gentle blanket. And then the grey made way for stunning blue skies!We went in and out of fjords most of the day and each turn was better than the last. This country is ridiculously beautiful. We made a detour to a town called Djúpivogur and as soon as we pull in, reindeer! Even the locals stopped to watch. Can I buy this old, rusty barn on a fjord please? Thank you. It all looks kinda fake, but we’re so close and at sea level and the scale of these mountains just are awesome. We’re not sick of waterfalls yet. We had lunch in the red building. The view sucked. Just kidding!One of the tour books or maps told us to stop at Petra’s. So we did. A local woman walked the mountains collecting minerals and then she used her garden to show them off. It was an unexpected treat of a stop. It just kept going with these giant mineral samples and flowers. A wooden statue of Petra herself and her bag of minerals. Most were not labeled but this section was color coordinated. She created a village for elves. There is a good percentage of Icelanders that believe in the existence of elves. Thanks Petra!Mom loves lighthouses. I don’t think she believes me that this is a lighthouse. And another. Every view is just majestic. We’re so used to tunnels after Switzerland. What’s another through a beautiful mountain.Oh darn, the other side of the tunnel is stupid ugly. Just kidding. Ugh. So pretty. Can I please have the rusty barn on a fjord and a cute little red house in the mountains together? Pretty please!?We made our way to the town of Egilsstaðir where we are going to stay the night. Our room had a view of a river named Lagarfljót that has a sea monster and we’re off to go pet it! Until tomorrow.
We were on a mission today, so we left the pillars of Vik around 6:30 AM. And around every turn we had a new view. We saw our first outlet glacier Myrdalsjökull. More outlets from Myrdalsjökull.We even got a little rainbow action. Waterfalls…Waterfalls…And more waterfalls!We took a trip to the surface of the moon.And that lead us to Vatnajökull! It never stopped. They are just so big!And it was one after another. We turned another corner and the dark clouds disappeared and the wind died down. And things just got prettier. And of course, more glacier outlets. And then there was a giant one just in front of us! Is this why we hit the road so early?Yes it is!It was time to play with icebergs and glaciers!The weather turned out to be perfect for a boat ride with giant ice!The black lines are volcanic ash. We didn’t get too close to the foot of the glacier. Our tour guide said that the large icebergs take 2-3 months to melt and that seems so quick. This was the best way to start a day for sure!I want to take a bite of the glacier. I chose this nail color purely to match glaciers and I think I was spot on. The ice is just so impressive. Our guide brought a piece on board. I adopted the little ice baby and named it Heitum ís, or Hot Ice in Icelandic. We had a man in a zodiak following us the whole time for safety reasons, I assume. Seals love this lagoon because predators cannot get in and its full of fish that humans can’t fish for. Its so cute and cuddly. Upside down stairs. I swear I am almost done with icebergs. Last one!Looking south at the Atlantic. More of Vatnajökull. It’s the largest glacier in Europe and 8% of Iceland’s area. I had an unrealistic dream of retiring to Höfn and we finally paid a visit and found a fixer-upper for me. Icelandic hot dogs for lunch in Höfn.They were pretty darn good and cheap. Did a little more sightseeing around the village. Warning in our hotel. Our hotel with glacial views. Dinner at the hotel and an early night for us. Glaciers exhausted us!
We made our way to Route 1 and its just stunning!Every turn around a bend delivered a new view that made us say oooo or ahhhh. Made our way through the town of Selfoss and it was uneventful. We stopped at this gas station place for lunch. Sign in the bathroom made me laugh. I love a Pepperoni Taco. Mom tried it based on my enthusiasm and my memory of love for them (I jump skipped when I grabbed it). She was not a fan and it only brought me joy. Agree to disagree. Potatoe salad and mushroom and butter bruschetta chips were not the best choices, but you gotta try what you can, right?Sure, lets hit up the Lava Center. This hallway listed the volcanos from the past 100 years and their lava flows and terra (ash/pumice) flows. They did a darn good job trying to show a mantle plume or hot spot. The biggest hot spots in the world.First waterfalls in Iceland!The parking attendant was holding a giant knife. Mom was logical and thought he was using it to cut rope but I think he’s using it to threaten the area rocks. Every corner has a treat. Not a bad place to take a road trip. This used to be a family owned museum for the volcano Eyjafjallajokull which erupted in 2010 and disrupted air travel for like two weeks. It smelled like volcanic sulfer here.Its now a cute little cafe that gave me iced coffee.Oh darn, another waterfall!Lazy, sleepy sheep just enjoying the view of the waterfall. How adorable!?We’re just minding our own business when BOOM! Glacier. Biggest one mom has seen so far!Just another cute view. Today’s destination was Vik and we made it! I had a memory of a cute little white church with a red roof and it is still very cute. Went down to the black sand beach and saw a bunch of Icelandic horses giving a ride. Some pillars of basalt out in the Atlantic. Horsey prints!Baby lupines doing their best to grow. Birds nesting in the cliff behind our hotel. More birds flying inside the lobby of our hotel.
Today was a mostly leisurely trip but we have an early morning tomorrow!
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”
Another perfect morning in a perfect city. We’re driving over the first plaza we arrived in here in Amsterdam. There are “trees” in the terminal with bird sounds coming from them. Also, guess we pimp burgers out when leaving Amsterdam.Where shall we go? Where? Back to Ireland? Nah, not this time!Oh! Iceland? Go to Iceland? Sure! Let’s go there! *note to those that don’t know, I was there eight years ago with my friend Claire (👋🏻 Hi Claire!) and I loved it so much. I’m so excited too see moms face when she sees certain things.I am not emotional, but going back to Iceland was making me tear up, so she oscillated between the gin page (I hate gin) and…An image of one of the recent eruptions here to see if it would make me happy cry. Until next time Amsterdam!Hello Iceland!!! 🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🌋We will do what ever you tell us!Our travel agent told us to make sure we had wind insurance! We got it AnnaMaria! 👋🏻 Hi!Hello moonscape!What does the sign say?Well, what ever it said, we’re trying to be ready for it! (That stupid smile has been frozen on my face for hours. It’s not a good look). The wind was pushing so hard and it was raining sideways. IT’S THE MID ATLANTIC RIDGE! Eurasian plate and North American plate are separating!You know when you make a silly face and your mom says it will stay that way, here is an example. Let’s picnic. Oh hi volcano hiding in the clouds! We see you!We got into Reykjavík. Saw a lighthouse for mom, and a city that has grown so much in the past eight years, I hardly recognized it. We had a drive by of the Sun Voyager but may check it out later. Had a welcome beverage with some chips. It really is better than any other water out there. And we get an ice bucket here! With ice! Man, I love this country.
Tomorrow, we venture a little deeper into Iceland. 🇮🇸
Mom and I finally had our first day to sleep in. We’ve been on the road at 7 am every morning since we arrived. Today was different. We had a slow start and it was perfect. So was the mimosa and limoncello spritzer. We both were in the mood for a steak salad and found it! Again, another perfect dressing. It was perfect out. 73° out. Slightly breezy. We thought from pictures that the canals and buildings were a small neighborhood. But its the whole city. This pupper needed out attention and we bowed down and gave it. The building where Anne Frank was hiding for two years. We got a 30 minute introductory tour and it was very somber. Kids would get these cones on their first day of school. The example at the bottom is like the one Anne’s sister had. And then we see the propaganda from the Nazis carried by the little boy in the picture. They had many editions of the same book. A list of Jewish people killed or moved from The Netherlands in 1945. It contains 120,000 namesSo many people. Their family. Carefree before the horrors. When she was so little. From this point on, we were not allowed to take pictures. It was a very emotional museum.We left and I found not an iced coffee but a frozen blended version and that was very fine with me. We walked more and tried to cheer ourselves up by looking at this beautiful city. Taking all the sites in. And we ended up on a canal boat cruise!Let’s go for a cruise. Our Captain owned his look. The harbor.All of the Eastman people that drove us around made sure to point out that this is a great music venue. That epic dinner we had the other night was in that brick building. We were told this is the best Chinese food restaurant and can also seat 800 people. Hard pass. Finally, we get into the canals. House plants on a house boatThe Opera house that doubles as city council office?If you look closely, we’re in a boat traffic jam. How many boats can you count ahead of us?Hello!Is that a keeshond mix? We had two of those perfect Dutch Barge dogs and they belonged on this trip with us. Love and miss you Yogi and Boo Boo. We stopped at a store for souvenirs and spotted a partect shape and sound. Meow! purr. This city is stupidly beautiful. Alcohol ban but please drink alcohol?Never gets old. Rarw Lime scroppinos for our last night in Amsterdam. 10:08 PM and sun and moon are out.
We need to pack up in the morning and head out, but Amsterdam left an impression on our hearts and we can’t wait to come back soon.
We had the same cab driver take us to work and he took us on a modified route. And that gave us another windmill! And he took us through this great little town called Wilnis. And it was filled with these adorable brick homes that had their own island and canals.Look how cute these are!🧱🧱🧱 There is a skilled artist in the Eastman office. After a productive day of work, we made our way back to Amsterdam. We finally could be proper tourists. We went to the Van Gogh museum!Self-Portrait as a PainterPaints Sunflowers… Cuts off his ear. Wheatfield with Crows Tree Roots – his last painting. Its was sitting on an easel and then he shot himself. A Crab on its BackAlmond BlossomsIrisesHead of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette The Potato EatersSunflowersAfter Van Gogh, we plopped down at an Italian restaurant where almost immediately, the waiter started playing scare games and jokes with mom. Like popping up behind her saying “Boo!” with a glass of Prosecco.The dinner was delicious. The waiter gave us a free dessert of lemon ice cream, vodka and Prosecco The waiter made sure mom had enough receipts. Waiter asking mom if she needed another receipt. We took a leisurely stroll around the city .Cute home!We found a Cheese Museum. This city is too prettyWe made some ex-pat friends from Atlanta named Kristi and Joe and they showed us their new home. And then they made us jealous with their ice supply. Why doesn’t Europe like ice?
Tomorrow we have a full touristy day for the first time on this trip and we cannot wait! 🇳🇱🧡🇳🇱🧡🇳🇱🧡
We woke up smiling to a beautiful morning in Amsterdam. The hotel had fresh flowers, many I’ve planted in my garden, like gladiolas and my beloved lupines. Had a delightful hotel breakfast. Then we took a cab to the office outside of Amsterdam. 10 minutes out of the city and we’re in flat country land. And still very beautiful. We get to the office and there are little paw prints on the floor. We’re gonna like it here. After a tour of the warehouse and work stations, we ended up in the showroom and it was so impressive!More of the showroom. I mean, look at how beautiful these guitars are. The guitars go on …And on…And on. We went out to lunch and I finally hunted down the elusive iced coffee 😍The lunch place also had a chocolate shop and mom may have bought a ton for the office!So yummy!After work, Harm took us to afternoon drinks on a canal.We then headed to dinner at a decommissioned Naval base called Marineterrein Amsterdam. It’s now filled with restaurants!And beautiful views of the city. I mean, come on, look at this!More views!The start of what would be one of the best meals of our lives. It was at Scheepskamel. It was one of those meals you don’t rush through and each course is enjoyed at its own pace. After bread, we had a cold course. Mom had this green asparagus, potatoes and fish egg dish and Harm and I shared the raw seafood. So good. Just soooooo good. I didn’t grab a picture of the hot course but we all opted for a white asparagus dish with béchamel sauce with mushrooms and fried chicken skin. I did however grab a picture of the sunset. I think it’s a good replacement. The main course was this perfectly cooked and salted beef piece with a bone marrow sauce and complimented by a shredded potatoes baked and watercress salad.
We then got dropped off at our hotel, put Law & Order on the tablet and got ready for bed and had the best night of sleep so far! Morgen weer aan het werk! 🇳🇱🧡🇳🇱🧡🇳🇱🧡
We started the day saying goodbye to our lovely chateau in the Alps.Boarded another plane. To land in a place where I was apparently allowed to bring my black cats if they had paperwork!Those tents remind us of the Denver airport! Are we in Denver?Just kidding! We’re in freaking Amsterdam!!! 🇳🇱🧡🇳🇱🧡🇳🇱🧡We knew it was a city of bikes but nothing really prepares you for the quantity. We couldn’t just stop smiling from the moment we arrived. Where we are staying is a second building owned by the hotel. Super old and on one of the canals. Across the canal (excuse the construction, they are installing a new gas line. More from across the canal. We’re here for mom to work and so we met up for dinner with her colleague, Harm, who has to be the greatest host of the city.We went to a steak house called Loetje and had delicious steaks all around and fries in mayo ( OMG so good) and a salad!Because of the construction in front of our place, Harm had to take a few detours around the city and then spotted one of the last windmills in Amsterdam! It has a brewery in it so we went for a drink!I really thought we would have to go out into the country to see one of these!It’s also an old bathhouse with different entrances for genders. Hours of the old bathhouse under an old windmill in Amsterdam if you ever need it. This is Brewery of the Egg. It was fun!And we bathed in the bathhouse in beer! Just kidding. We drank the beer.
The details and textures all over this hotel are something else. Like, we could make beautiful dress out of them!
We have almost naked babies watching over us while we sleep. Just the hallway of our building. What a fun and beautiful place. We have only been here a few hours and it’s been wonderful. Morgen meer 🇳🇱🧡🇳🇱🧡🇳🇱🧡
Shoo & Ky's Road Trips 