The Land of Ice and Fire (but mostly just ice) - part I

This weekend is one of the very few - if not the only one - that I can remember this year where I was alone and totally 100% free. And my god, it was just wonderful. I ran errands, I did yoga, I made butternut squash soup, I went shopping at HomeGoods (my new obsession...I am nesting so hard, people), and I drank so much green tea that I'm pretty sure I'm immortal now.

Life has been pretty nuts these last few months so a weekend to myself was much-needed. A lot of things happened in this period. Quick recap: I ran a marathon, started a new project, moved to another state, bought a car, and squeezed in a weeklong vacation to Iceland somewhere along the way. That last bit is what I'd like to share in this post.

Rewind to a little over two months ago: we've just landed in Reykjavik. It's cold out and we're all exhausted because we took the red-eye over but nobody really slept. We step out and are immediately greeted with a glorious motherfucking rainbow. 

I mean, you could even see the purple, and that never happens.

We picked up our home for the next week, a camper with a pronounced forehead that I was way excited to sleep in.

Home sweet home

There were seven of us total - me, the boy, Steve, Phil, Kristin, Jerry, and Sydney. Technically, the five of us were crashing Jerry and Sydney's honeymoon. I mean, we'd been invited and all, and they were staying another week afterwards by themselves so it wasn't a complete invasion of matrimonial bliss. But yeah. Best honeymoon ever.

One of our first stops was to the grocery store. I love going to grocery stores in other countries. It's fun to see what locals eat. And it always makes grocery stores in the US look insane by comparison. I have not found any country that comes close to offering the prices, quality, and selection of grocery that we enjoy at home - something to be very grateful for.

Anyway, it was here that I discovered that the Icelandic really love Cheerios.

Icelandic people must all have really low cholesterol.

Chocolate bar wrappers here are kind of intense #iceland #groceryshopping #twostallionsfoughttothedeathforthischocolate

A photo posted by @adidav9 on Sep 18, 2015 at 4:48pm PDT

We made out with the goods, climbed into the camper and set off towards the Golden Circle, a popular tourist loop in the southern part of the country. 

Our first stop was at Thingvellir National Park, famous being where the American and European tectonic plates are pulling apart by a few centimeters every year. This site also played a crucial part in Icelandic history as well for it was where the Icelandic Parliament was established in year 930 and remained until the end of the eighteenth century.

One of the first waterfalls we saw. We were very impressed. We had no idea what was coming...

One of my favorite pictures from the trip. Jerry and Sydney returned and went scuba diving here after we left.

Gorgeous Iceland

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye to the park and drive to our next destination.

Euro(sorta)trip!

Along the way, we were treated to another incredible rainbow...

One that ended in a field of  Icelandic ponies, no less.

I wasn't sure if it was the jetlag or the weird sandwich I'd had for lunch, but Iceland was definitely coming off as pretty otherworldly to me already.

Up next: fooling around geysers and the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen.