Box of Chocolates: Iceland Days 1 & 2

Heyyyy friends! So, remember when I gave an overview of my family vacation? Well, now you're going to see it broken down by day or days within the trip. There were so many amazing photos, I couldn't justify doing only one post. So you're going to get several! Sorry about that, I'll try to be light on the words and heavy on the pictures!

We're going to start with Iceland days one and two, and Rich and Lea's first couple days before we got there. So I flew out of DC on August 19th at about 9PM. It was an overnight flight, so I arrived in the Keflavik/Reykjavik airport around 5:30AM on the 20th. While I was waiting for my parents to arrive, I got a small coffee (about 8 oz) and flatbread sandwich for 1500 Iceland Krona (roughly $12 USD). I was a little surprised at how expensive it was, but that wasn't the worst of it!

Once the parents arrived, we took our car and drove towards Selfoss (near where we were staying). I'm not sure how much you know about Iceland, but it's an island... of VOLCANOES! They have a lot of geothermal energy, which allows places in Iceland to be heated from the Earth's crust!

First we stopped at the Blue Lagoon, which is heated by geothermal energy. It was absolutely crazy because it was 50 degrees out, but this water was hotter than a hot tub!

Look how light that water is!

That is a geothermal energy plant!

Me, Scotty, and Mom in the Blue Lagoon! It was really HOT!

Do we look like we didn't sleep last night?

After driving to Selfoss, we did a little grocery shopping then met Rich and Lea at the house! Pretty sure the groceries were RIDICULOUSLY expensive!

Love that Coke was doing the Name campaign in Iceland!

Here are a few photos from Rich and Lea's journey before we got there!

Cute fam!

Charlie!

Look at the cool glaciers!

Beautiful Waterfall and Rainbow!

Rich and Lea

Charlie and Lea

Charlie and Glaciers

We had to go to bed a little early that first day, which wasn't unexpected since we spent the whole previous night flying and I somehow managed to acquire a cold while traveling. On Thursday we woke up and drove to Landmannalaugavegur, South, Iceland for a little hike. Yeah I couldn't even BEGIN to tell you how to pronounce that. :) It was a bit of a drive from where we were staying, including some dirt roads that weren't properly taken care of... mom and dad skipped out of this one and instead went to go see the glaciers!

The nephews :)

Ohhhh selfie! Charlie, Scotty and me in the backseat!

Beautiful lake we got to see!

Scotty with the lake

Ok, check out the thing on the drivers side that looks like a snorkel... it IS a snorkel for a car...
apparently driving through water is normal in Iceland.

Scotty waiting for Rich and Lea to get a map

Charlie hanging out

I guess we'll follow the sign!

All that steam is from the geothermal energy. Oh and there's Rich.

Charlie and Lea

Me at the top of the hill :)

Scotty and Lea

Beautiful View, this picture doesn't even look real!

Lea and I made it to the bottom!

Beautiful little lake with a reflection!

Charlie with the reflecting lake!

After completing our hike, everyone except me took a little dip in the geothermal heated river. I would have liked to take a dip, but since I had a cold and knew I would freeze AFTERwards I opted to take photos instead. I did stick my feet in and it was REALLY warm! :)