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We went to Universal Studios Orlando! We got up early every day to beat the crowds. We took advantage of a very rare 4 day weekend on the school calendar thanks to a teacher work day on Friday and Diwali on Monday. We flew down to Orlando Thursday night for four days of fun in Florida.

Here we are at our hotel (Portofino Bay) waiting for the ferry boat to show up to take us to the park. The three of us have Harry Potter-themed shirts, robes, and wands. And I've got glasses too. And if you want to point out that my robe is not a Hogwarts robe, I'll point out that only the students at Hogwarts wear house robes - professors can wear whatever fits their style 😁 .

Inside the gate on the first morning. Ready for fun.

Jen wore a Potter shirt, but had no robe or wand, so she became the victim/test subject for our spells.

We of course went straight to Diagon Alley to experience some Harry Potter. Once you walk through the brick wall, it's like you're transported to a different world. There's lots of fun things to do, but I was happy just to wander around and take it all in, especially first thing in the morning before it gets crowded.

Of course, we did lots of fun things. Our first ride was the Escape from Gringotts, which was a lot of fun.

We'd bought wands at Olivander's when we went to Universal Studios Hollywood five years ago. These can be used to cast spells around the Wizarding World. They didn't seem to be working, so we stopped in to Olivander's to get their wands "repaired". They could only repair Leah's, as Molly's wand had been discontinued and they no longer "had the parts" (we think they just replace the wand). Fortunately, after further testing, Molly's wand did work (at least some of the time). She cursed her mom with a weather jinx here.

We spent a while wandering around casting spells and exploring. The girls tried out Sirius's motorbike, though it would be the next day before we got to ride it.

The dragon on top of Gringotts breathes fire every 10 minutes.

After an early morning and lots of exploring, we were hungry. We had a delicious lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. It was authentic British fair, including Fish & Chips, Scotch Eggs, Cottage Pie, and Bangers and Mash. Highly recommended.

After lunch, we rode the Hogwarts Express from Diagon Alley (part of Universal Studios) to Hogsmeade (part of Islands of Adventure).

First stop was one of my favorite rides: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, where we get to fly around Hogwarts. We'd ridden this in California, and it was still so great. We rode it 4 times over the course of our visit. That was in part because it's a great ride, and in part because our Express Passes meant the line was always super short.

We spent the rest of the day around Hogsmeade in and out of shops, riding Forbidden Journey again, and riding the Flight of the Hippogriff (a kiddie coaster, but we had to ride it anyway). Then we went back to our hotel and ate Italian food at Mama Della's Ristorante (which was excellent).

Saturday morning we got to the park early to go to the most popular (by far) attraction - Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. We got to the park around 20 minutes before the start of Early Park Admission (7:40), were in line by 8:04, and got on the ride at 9:00. Not bad, considering wait times ranged from 120-280 minutes during normal park hours. The ride is the most expensive roller coaster ever built, and it is a lot of fun. #1 ride for both Molly and Leah (and a tie for first for me as well). We managed to ride it a second time Monday morning at park open as well, after getting there even earlier then waiting through a 30 minute ride delay.

We rode Forbidden Journey again.

We then left the Wizarding World to head to Marvel Superhero Island. First stop - The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man.

Hulk was our first traditional big roller coaster to ride (Hagrid is so much more than just a roller coaster). It was a lot of fun, so we rode it twice in a row. Leah discovered she's a bit of a daredevil.

We discovered this hot dog place in City Walk (outside the parks). Cheaper, and less crowded. We all ate there Saturday, and the girls at there Sunday as well.

After lunch we hopped to the other park to check out non-Harry Potter things there. We saw some the Horror and Make-Up show, went on the Transformers ride, rode the E.T. ride, and went on Men In Black Alien Attack.

We went back to Diagon Alley and watched a show. We went on Jimmy Fallon's Ride Through New York and Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. We saw the Beat Builders show. And then we headed out of the park for dinner.

We ate dinner at Cowfish in City Walk Saturday night. They have a mix of sushi and burgers, including some hybrids. The girls loved this, and begged us to go back (which we did for our final lunch on Monday).

Molly and I both got Burgushi - burger sushi. These are sushi rolls with hamburger meat in place of the fish. They were fantastic. Molly got The All-American Bacon Double Cheeseburgooshi and I got The Taste Explosion Roll (which it was).

Leah's first time eating special rolls (she's usually more of a simple salmon or tuna roll kind of kid).

Certified Angus beef, applewood smoked bacon rolled and coated with tempura flakes and topped with Roma tomatoes, jalapeños, pepper jack cheese, then baked. Drizzled with spicy mayo cashew cilantro pesto.

And some serious milkshakes for dessert.

After dinner, we went back into Islands of Adventure to catch the Dark Arts light show (running around Halloween) at Hogwarts, and it was phenomenal. Highly recommend you don't miss it (I assume the other seasonal light shows are also great).

Hogwarts at night is truly magical.

Sunday we hit the park early and went to the newest big roller coaster - Velocicoaster. This ride is awesome - one of our favorites. It's so fast, full of thrills, and extremely smooth. We rode it twice Sunday, and a third time on Monday.

On the second ride, I was on the car in front of them, so we aren't in the pic together.

After Velocicoaster, we continued exploring Jurassic World. First we went on the Jurassic Park River Adventure. This is a fun ride through Jurassic Park, which ends with you plummeting down and getting a little splashed. I thought the little splash was no big deal, but the three ladies in the family decided they needed ponchos. As you can see, Molly decided she even needed to cover her face. She also decided to be fancy and hold up her pinky finger. Leah, on the other hand, looks disgusted. The two of them alone might make this our favorite picture, but several of the other riders added to it the awesomeness as well.

I don't know why they decided to make this photo spot, but we took our picture there.

We were thirsty, so we ducked over to Hogsmeade for some Butterbeer. We drank a lot of Butterbeer on our visit. Cold (normal) Butterbeer, frozen Butterbeer, and even hot Butterbeer (first time trying it, and it was fantastic).

To finish out the morning, we rode Skull Island: Reign of Kong. Then we headed to City Walk for lunch again (hot dogs for the girls, Bread Box sandwiches for Jen and I). We then hopped to Universal Studios to watch the Bourne Stuntacular (which is really good). Then we rode Rip Ride Rockit - a fun roller coaster with music you pick and a start that has you go straight up before plummeting down. Leah liked it so much she and I rode it twice in a row (Molly took the second time off).

I should mention when I say "we" rode these rides, Jen passed on a bunch of them. She gets motion sickness too easily to ride all these rides, so she was very choosy about what to ride (and never rode anything more than once).

We ducked out of the parks early on Sunday to give ourselves a break. We headed back to our hotel for some pool time. Portofino Bay is probably the nicest hotel at Universal Orlando, so we took advantage of it. The girls really liked the water slide at the pool. But before we got on the boat back to the hotel, we got a picture with the Universal globe.

For dinner that night we had late reservations at the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. We decided in the end to go ahead and eat pizza at the hotel, then just get dessert at Toothsome. The three of us got some awesome fancy milkshakes - Key Lime Pie, Chocolate X5, and Strawberry Cheesecake. They were awesome (and more than we could handle). Jen got a small white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, which was good too.

Monday was our last day, so was a shorter day. Jen stayed at the hotel to check us out and stow our luggage while the girls and I headed to the park early to ride Hagrid again (once was enough for Jen). After Hagrid's we rode Velocicoaster for the 3rd time. Then Jen met us and we went through the Olivander's Experience where they help one person choose a wand (the inspiration for the wand choosing ceremony at my Harry Potter birthday parties).

Then we went back to Cowfish for lunch. We hadn't planned to go back, but the girls begged us to go again repeatedly, and we eventually relented. If we had one of these near us, they'd want to go there every time we went out to eat. The two of them ordered the same thing they'd had two days ago (Jen and I did not).

Then we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags, head to the airport, and fly home. It was a great trip, though I'm not sure we'll do it again any time soon.

Leah's party was supposed to be the weekend after her birthday in September, but she turned up Covid positive the day before. So, we celebrated on her 13 plus 1 month birthday instead.

For this birthday, Leah requested a painting party. Jen found online tutorials and allowed Leah's friends to pick the artwork they each wanted to create.

Molly was just as excited as Leah about the painting party. Molly has been taking Art electives in school for many years.

The Step by Step Painting tutorials had great instructions and pictures to follow.

After a couple hours, we took a break for some cake.

There were gifts.

Our artists were loving their painting time so much that we extended the party another 30 minutes. A group photo (minus 1) of the finished artwork.

Here are Leah and Molly's final paintings.

Happy birthday Leah!

On the afternoon of day 7, we had our most extreme activity. 5 days before we left for Iceland, a volcanic eruption began. Within hours, we got an email from one of the companies we'd booked a tour with saying we could book a guide to take us there. We made a quick decision, and decided to do it.

Over the next week, we kept getting emails warning us off the hike. They told us it had been reclassified as a challenging hike, and that children were not recommended. Then the government officially banned children under 12 going (good thing Leah's 12). We were excited to go, so we stuck with it.

We were supposed to meet our group at the parking lot at 4:30, but were running late (didn't count on Reykjavik traffic). We got there right as the tour was supposed to leave, but couldn't find our guide in the sea of people. After phone calls and emails, we finally found our guide and rushed to catch up with the rest of the group.

Around half way, we got to see the field of mostly cooled lava rock from last year's eruption.

The hike itself was tough. 14km round trip, with a maximum ascent of 350m. The majority of that was maybe 1km in and was really steep. About a third of the hike was over very rocky terrain, but the rest was on nice dirt paths that had been created since the eruption began (we went to see it on day 13 of the eruption).

After a couple of hours, we topped a ridge and saw the volcano. It was incredible.

Meradalir volcano on day 13 of the eruption. The eruption began with a 100m fissure, but much of that has stopped, concentrating the lava flow in one area. A cone has just started to develop there, so this is a baby volcano. Depending on how long the eruption lasts, this cone may continue to grow bigger and bigger.

I took some video footage of the volcano in the rain and heavy wind. It was so awesome. Note that this is an HDR video, and is best viewed on an HDR display.

Leah, Molly, and Jen found a great spot to sit and watch the volcano from the hillside next to it.

Here we are, in Iceland next to an erupting volcano.

The eruption was nice and active, constantly throwing lave into the air.

The hillside next to the volcano was really steep, but I decided to try to walk down to the edge of the lava flow to get as close as possible. I made it down (though fell a couple times on the way). It was much warmer down there.

That's my hand, touching the cooled lava rock (though still a bit warm).

Here's a view of the volcano erupting from ground level.

While I was down next to the lava rock, a bride and groom came down with their photographer to take wedding photos. Icelanders are tough.

As we left the volcano, our guide invited us to his "souvenir shop", where we could pick a lava rock to take home.

The weather was nice as we started out hike to the volcano, then got very windy and rainy after the first hour. It got even nastier on the way back, including fog/clouds that reduced visibility a lot while walking through the rocks.

Here's a view of all the switchbacks that formed the primary ascent on the way there. This hike was tough, and we weren't' sure if the girls would make it up. Molly in particular struggled to breath during the hike, which made even more sense when she tested positive for Covid two days later. But they both pushed through, and were rewarded with a once in a lifetime experience. If you ever get the chance to see an erupting volcano up close, don't pass it up.

Our trip to Iceland was amazing. We highly recommend going if you get the chance. Also, we planned this trip ourselves using lots of online resources, but the biggest and most helpful resource was Jeannie at Iceland With A View. Her videos and blog posts were so helpful in planning, and we referred to her guides constantly while traveling around. Big shoutout to her for helping us have such a great trip.

Table of contents for the whole trip

1. Day 1 - Reykjavik and Lava tunnel
2. Day 2 - Golden Circle
3. Day 3 - Vestmannaeyjar
4. Day 4 Part 1 - Ice Cave
5. Day 4 Part 2 - Black sand beach, puffins, and waterfalls
6. Day 5 - Glacier hike
7. Day 6 - Glacier Lagoon
8. Day 7 Part 1 - Blue Lagoon
9. Day 7 Part 2 - An active volcano

Day 7 was a super full day, starting with a 6am wakeup and ending with us getting to the apartment to eat dinner after 11pm. It was so full, that I'll split it into 2 posts.

Our early wakeup was due to having tickets to the Blue Lagoon at 8am when they open. It can get crowded, but getting there can avoid those crowds.

The Blue Lagoon is a natural hot spring with milky blue water. It was neat, and very warm.

The water gets its appearance from silica found in the spring. That same silica forms a paste that the Blue Lagoon offers as a mask. Only Leah and Jen partook in the mask wearing.

The water was very warm, ranging from 97 degrees in the cooler parts to 104 degrees in the warmer parts. Molly ventured into the deep, hotter part of the pool (around 104).

It was a fun experience. It felt more like a luxury spa than a natural wonder (even though it is a natural wonder), which was a nice break before our more extreme afternoon activity - an active volcano.

Table of contents for the whole trip

1. Day 1 - Reykjavik and Lava tunnel
2. Day 2 - Golden Circle
3. Day 3 - Vestmannaeyjar
4. Day 4 Part 1 - Ice Cave
5. Day 4 Part 2 - Black sand beach, puffins, and waterfalls
6. Day 5 - Glacier hike
7. Day 6 - Glacier Lagoon
8. Day 7 Part 1 - Blue Lagoon
9. Day 7 Part 2 - An active volcano

Day 6 in Iceland continued our glacier-related adventures. We went to the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon. This is a lagoon next to the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, formed by the glacier melting and full of icebergs that have broken off of the glacier. We booked a tour on a Zodiac boat to explore the lagoon.

A view from out the back of the boat.

There was a seal hanging out on a rock in the lagoon.

The four of us, on a boat, in a glacier lagoon.

We eventually reached the back of the lagoon for a good view of the glacier.

We were lucky enough to get to see a piece of the glacier break off (calve) and fall into the water. It was awesome to see, and bitter sweet. Knowing that it happens, we were excited to get to see it happen. But the fact that it is happening is sad, knowing that it means the glacier is melting and receding. The lagoon has doubled in size in the last 15 years at the expense of the glacier. Note that the video is shot HDR, and is best viewed on an HDR display.

After the calving, the place it had broken from had fresh ice, which appears blue.

Sadly, we ran into car trouble at Jökulsárlón. As we pulled into the parking lot, the rental car alerted that one of the tires had low pressure. We got out and could hear the air escaping and tire deflating. We ended up going on our boat tour and leaving this problem to solve afterward.

Unfortunately, the car had no spare. It did have a tire repair spray, but it required an air compressor to use which the car did not have. So, I needed to call the rental car company, but I had no way to do that. I'd opted for an eSIM to get data in country, but had no way to make a phone call. I ended up borrowing a phone from the ticket desk (her personal phone) to call the rental car company. They said they'd send out roadside assistance, but we'd be paying out of pocket because we had not opted for the extra roadside assistance package. Also, in Iceland, tire damage is not covered by the rental car company, so we were going to have to pay to replace the tire as well.

The roadside assistance guy in Kirkjubæjarklaustur was busy, so they had to send the guy from Höfn (both about an hour away, but Höfn was the opposite direction of where we were headed). Since we had an hour or two to wait, we wandered around Jökulsárlón to see it from land.

The roadside assistance guy, Sven, was very nice and helpful. He looked at the tires, and said that all 4 were totally worn down on the inside, likely due to an alignment problem. The car needed 4 new tires. The good news was this was the rental car company's fault, so they'd be paying for everything. The bad news was that he'd have to tow it to the tire shop in Höfn. Our plan of seeing a few more things, then driving 5 hours back to Reykjavik was shot, but we were still going to need to drive to Reykjavik to our new place to stay. Höfn is a bit more than an hour further east of Jökulsárlón, so we'd be adding that distance to our drive back as well.

So, we hopped in Sven's truck and rode with him to Höfn.

Gas stations are a hub of food, supplies, and gas in Iceland. So, while our car was getting new tires, we walked to the closest gas station and got ice cream. Ice cream is Iceland is so delicious.

After our car ordeal, we drove all the way back from Höfn to Reykjavik (about 6 hours driving). We passed Falljökull glacier on the way, where we'd hiked the day before. So, we decided to stop and get a picture of the glacier from afar. Note that Falljökull is just the glacier in the foreground, though all the glaciers you see are part of the Vatnajökull glacier system.

We finally got to our apartment in Reykjavik a bit after 11pm. We got our stuff in quickly and got to bed, as we knew we had to be up around 6am the next day.

Table of contents for the whole trip

1. Day 1 - Reykjavik and Lava tunnel
2. Day 2 - Golden Circle
3. Day 3 - Vestmannaeyjar
4. Day 4 Part 1 - Ice Cave
5. Day 4 Part 2 - Black sand beach, puffins, and waterfalls
6. Day 5 - Glacier hike
7. Day 6 - Glacier Lagoon
8. Day 7 Part 1 - Blue Lagoon
9. Day 7 Part 2 - An active volcano

Day 5 in Iceland continued the majestic ice theme with a hike on Falljökull glacier! Yes, we hiked up onto a glacier, and it was incredible. But first before the hike, we went to Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, which had some excellent views.

Then it was time to hike Falljökull glacier! We met our guide at the tiny airport near the glacier (they have a lot of helicopter and propeller plane tours over the glacier). We hopped in their super jeep with one other family, and headed in. This photo was taken from where the super jeep was parked. Note the tiny people walking up (not us).

Jen, near the base of the glacier.

View from on the glacier, part way up.

The four of us on Falljökull glacier. We had much bigger/scarier crampons than the ice cave (understandably), plus everyone had their own ice axe. The harnesses were not used, but we were required to wear them in case someone slipped and needed to be rescued.

Looking up the glacier.

Here's a view of the surrounding landscape from about half way up our hike.

The four of us, up on Falljökull glacier, complete with crampons and ice axes. It was awesome!

Our guide had us peer down this very deep crack in the glacier (and she kept hold of us in case we slipped).

Our group was handling the hike well, so our guide had us hike up some more. It got a bit steeper up here.

Molly and Jen on top of the glacier. Well, not really, as it is really tall. But on top of this part at least.

After a sunny start (a rarity in Iceland), the clouds rolled in. And I don't mean above us, they rolled into us. It got very wet and rainy, but we were prepared.

We had to learn how to hike downhill in crampons.

All of us drank from the river flowing on the glacier doing a Viking pushup on the ice axe.

The glacier was truly magnificent. It's impossible to capture the scale of it in pictures. And Falljökull is really just an outlet glacier of the huge Vatnajökull glacier which covers 8% of Iceland.

After our hike, we headed to new lodgings. There's not a lot of civilization around the glacier, so finding a place was challenging. Jen found an AirBnB about 20 minutes away that would let us spend just one night. It looked like a metal warehouse building from outside, but was a lovely 2 bedroom apartment on the inside.

The house may not have looked like much, but the view was not bad.

Table of contents for the whole trip

1. Day 1 - Reykjavik and Lava tunnel
2. Day 2 - Golden Circle
3. Day 3 - Vestmannaeyjar
4. Day 4 Part 1 - Ice Cave
5. Day 4 Part 2 - Black sand beach, puffins, and waterfalls
6. Day 5 - Glacier hike
7. Day 6 - Glacier Lagoon
8. Day 7 Part 1 - Blue Lagoon
9. Day 7 Part 2 - An active volcano

The ice cave was amazing, but day 4 wasn't even close to done yet. There's lots to do around Vík that we weren't going to miss.

Iceland's coastline is full of black sand beaches (volcanic rock turned sand). One of the most famous is Reynisfjara, which was very near to us when we stayed in Vík.

One of the most famous features of the beach are its enormous basalt columns.

We walked along Reynisfjara beach for a while, and there are so many awesome things to see. This giant basalt cavern, for one.

There were rocks to climb.

And more caverns.

Me and Jen, on a black sand beach, in Iceland.

After some time on the beach, we went up to Dyrhólaey lighthouse, which gives fantastic views of the coastline.

But better than landscape views, there were a bunch of puffins next to Dyrhólaey lighthouse. Thanks to Molly for finding them. They were even closer to us than they were on Vestmannaeyjar! We stayed for a while watching and photographing them.

I spent a lot of time photographing puffins. In fact, a fellow tourist who happened to also be from Maryland gave me his email address so I could send him my pictures. But eventually I pulled myself away from photographing the puffins, and we headed to another waterfall.

Skógafoss is another waterfall that's easy to get to, and magnificent. I love that Molly's totally up for getting up close and drenched.

Near Skógafoss, there is another hidden waterfall if you know where to go. Getting there involved climbing this ladder over a barbed wire fence. You really feel like you're trespassing, but our guidebook said this was OK so we went with it.

After hopping the fence and a short 20 minute hike, we arrived at Kvernufoss. You can go behind this one too, as you can see from Leah, Molly, and Jen's bright colored jackets.

For dinner that night, we went to the Black Crust Pizzeria in Vík, which has, you guessed it, pizza with black crust. Very on-theme for all the volcanic rock and ash around. It was absolutely delicious - some of the best pizza I've ever had.

Table of contents for the whole trip

1. Day 1 - Reykjavik and Lava tunnel
2. Day 2 - Golden Circle
3. Day 3 - Vestmannaeyjar
4. Day 4 Part 1 - Ice Cave
5. Day 4 Part 2 - Black sand beach, puffins, and waterfalls
6. Day 5 - Glacier hike
7. Day 6 - Glacier Lagoon
8. Day 7 Part 1 - Blue Lagoon
9. Day 7 Part 2 - An active volcano

Days 1 to 3 in Iceland were amazing, but day 4 took things to another level. In fact, I'm going to have to split day 4 into 2 posts. For the first post: our big activity of the day - an ice cave!

We booked a tour to see an ice cave in the Mýrdalsjökull glacier near the Katla volcano. Getting there is difficult, so we rode in this fancy van with giant tires. They even had a phone app to control the tire pressure to deflate them when riding through the volcanic ash desert.

We spent a 30-45 minutes driving through the ash desert created by Katla's last eruption, and stopped to take in the amazing views. It really was awesome. Of note, this is where they filmed the opening scene to Star Wars: Rogue One.

We could start to see the glacier in the distance from there.

After a bit more driving, we got as far as we could and had to proceed on foot. To walk on ice, you've got to have crampons. These were smaller and simpler than the ones we used for our glacier hike the next day.

Here's Mýrdalsjökull glacier. The ice is covered in black volcanic ash.

Our guide let us have a little fun with his ice axe.

They built a makeshift scaffolding to get up to the ice cave.

Heading into the ice cave.

The ice cave was so cool. It was created by the rivers of water that flow through the glacier. At some point, this was a river, but the water eventually took a different route leaving a tunnel for us to walk through. And since this glacier is full of volcanic ash from all the eruptions, the river left a convenient layer of ash on the ground for us to walk on.

Note that this ice cave is open on both ends, as it opens up into a large crack in the glacier.

Molly's not sure about tasting the glacier ice.

After leaving the cave, we got a little bonus. The glacier has melted a bit at one point, leaving an opening we could go in. Yes, there's thousands of tons of ice above their heads.

One last picture of the glacier and surrounding landscape before getting in the monster truck to head back.

This was one of our favorite experiences of the trip. The ice cave was so cool, and the drive there through the volcanic ash desert really did feel like you were on a different planet. I can see why Star Wars chose to use it.

Table of contents for the whole trip

1. Day 1 - Reykjavik and Lava tunnel
2. Day 2 - Golden Circle
3. Day 3 - Vestmannaeyjar
4. Day 4 Part 1 - Ice Cave
5. Day 4 Part 2 - Black sand beach, puffins, and waterfalls
6. Day 5 - Glacier hike
7. Day 6 - Glacier Lagoon
8. Day 7 Part 1 - Blue Lagoon
9. Day 7 Part 2 - An active volcano

The main event for our third day in Iceland was to leave the mainland and go to Vestmannaeyjar, an archipelago off the south coast. The largest puffin colony in Iceland lives there, and we couldn't wait to see them. But first, in the morning, we checked out another couple waterfalls.

Seljalandsfoss is fun and easy to get to. It is a bit crowded, though.

You can go behind Seljalandsfoss, but beware that you'll be soaked (rain pants are a must). Sadly, it was so bright behind and so dark inside that you can't see any faces.

Molly was happy to get drenched, so ventured out onto this rock where the water was pouring down.

Seljalandsfoss was a lovely waterfall.

Gljufrabui is a short walk from Seljalandsfoss, and hidden inside a cave. It's a challenge getting into the cave, but once in there it's beautiful.

We then hopped on the Herjólfur ferry to go to Vestmannaeyjar.

There are lots of small islands surrounding the main island in Vestmannaeyjar, and each one has a single house on it. These are members only clubhouses (think like the Elks Lodge in America).

On the ferry as we were getting close to the island, I saw some sheep from afar and decided to photograph them. Turns out they were surrounded by puffins! I thought we were going to have to venture to the furthest corner of the island to see them, but there were all over the hillside as we approached!

Once we got to Heimaey, the big island of Vestmannaeyjar, we took a tour of the island. Our tour guide showed us Spranga, the local sport involving climing, rapelling, ans swinging from the cliffs. This is not just for fun, but also a source of food as residents gather eggs from nests along the islands (not puffin eggs).

Surtsey Island is the newest of the islands of Vestmannaeyjar. It was created by a submarine volcanic eruption from 1963 to 1967. Humans are not allowed on the island yet, as scientists are studying how long it takes for plants and animals to colonize it.

We saw a bunch of puffins right next to the golf course on the island.

We learned that it is easy to identify puffins in flight because they are really bad at it. They flap their wings very quickly to remain aloft, and often take multiple passes before landing as they keep missing their desired location.

Also near the golf course were turf houses made to replicate the early Viking houses here. We even got to go inside them.

The four of us, up high on Heimaey in Vestmannaeyjar.

We saw a lot more puffins at the south end of Heimaey.

The hillside was covered in puffins.

Leah had fun watching puffins, and patiently waiting on her dad photographing them.

There was a seal hanging out in the water near the puffins.

Here we are on Heimaey, Vestmannaeyjar where the eruption of the 1973 Eldfell volcano started. We're in the crater, surrounded by lava rocks and standing on volcanic ash. This eruption caused the island to be evacuated for months, and buried 400 homes in lava. As the lave kept approaching the center of town, they sprayed it with sea water to cool the edges and create a wall to keep the flow back, saving the rest of the town.

A view of the mainland of Iceland as the ferry approaches it.

Two kids on a boat, headed back to the mainland to drive on to our second lodging in the small town of Vík.

Table of contents for the whole trip

1. Day 1 - Reykjavik and Lava tunnel
2. Day 2 - Golden Circle
3. Day 3 - Vestmannaeyjar
4. Day 4 Part 1 - Ice Cave
5. Day 4 Part 2 - Black sand beach, puffins, and waterfalls
6. Day 5 - Glacier hike
7. Day 6 - Glacier Lagoon
8. Day 7 Part 1 - Blue Lagoon
9. Day 7 Part 2 - An active volcano

For our second day in Iceland, we went around the Golden Circle to see lots of natural wonders. Our first stop was Kerið crater, a giant crater created by the collapse of volcanic rock. It was beautiful and cool. The tiny yellow, pink, and teal dots are Leah, Molly, and Jen.

We then headed to Brúarhlöð, a beautiful canyon flowing with water. Most of the places around the Golden Circle had crowds, but this was a hidden gem with hardly any people there.

These two sisters always get along.

See...

We then headed to the biggest waterfall we'd see on our trip (and we saw a lot of waterfalls) - Gulfoss. Gullfoss is huge, and very popular. Tons of people, but the waterfall is spectacular. Be prepared to get wet if you go to the closer vantage points.

Our next stop was Geysir. Geysir is the original geyser that the rest take their name from. It's dormant now, but still steaming.

Strokkur, right next to Geysir, goes off every 8 to 10 minutes. I got a nice burst of photos of it going off.

Then we moved on to Þingvellir National Park. It's is a beautiful park with lots to see. This is a view overlooking the landscape from the visitor center.

A fun thing to do in Þingvellir is to walk the continental divide. The North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling away from each other here, and you can walk in between them.

After that, we continued exploring Þingvellir, checking out Öxarárfoss - a beautiful waterfall.

After Þingvellir it was getting late, but we had to squeeze in one more waterfall. Þórufoss was the most hidden gem we hit. Beautiful waterfall, but not a soul around the entire time we were there.

Molly tried to hold super still for this long exposure.

Then we headed back to Selfoss to turn in for the night. But not before a very late dinner. Icelanders are very proud of their hot dogs, called pylsur, and you can find them everywhere. We ate them a lot, including from gas stations. Our first experience was at Pylsuvagninn in Selfoss. The normal preparation is with both fried and raw onions in the toasted bun as well as ketchup, then the hot dog on top of that, then mustard on top (which is a bit more like honey mustard, but not all the way to how sweet American honey mustard is). I also got the potato salad hot dog, which has potato salad. Molly got their deluxe dog, which had french fries, garlic sauce, and cheese under the dog.

It was a fantastic day, but the adventures only got bigger as the week went on.

Table of contents for the whole trip

1. Day 1 - Reykjavik and Lava tunnel
2. Day 2 - Golden Circle
3. Day 3 - Vestmannaeyjar
4. Day 4 Part 1 - Ice Cave
5. Day 4 Part 2 - Black sand beach, puffins, and waterfalls
6. Day 5 - Glacier hike
7. Day 6 - Glacier Lagoon
8. Day 7 Part 1 - Blue Lagoon
9. Day 7 Part 2 - An active volcano