My Iceland Adventure With Some Of My Favorite Canadians

Who goes to Iceland in February you ask – I did with hopes of seeing the Northern Lights!  We flew out of Toronto leaving a beautiful sunset behind & arrived on a very early Saturday morning filled with fog and mist.  We stayed at a lovely rental home right on the water in Vogar – the view was amazing!  After a much needed nap, we were eager to get out to see at least a few sights on our first day.  The Reykjanes peninsula is on one of the world’s major tectonic plate boundaries, the Mid Atlantic Ridge – the bridge between two Continents was a must!  On our way to the Krýsuvík Geothermal area we had the pleasure of meeting the sweetest Icelandic horses – I wanted to take them all home with me!  Krýsuvík had such amazing landscape with it’s bubbling mud and water, moss covered rock and beautiful hills – it made us feel like we were on a different planet, like nothing we had ever seen.  Day two took us into the city of Reykjavík where we discovered interesting street art, delicious hot dogs & friendly locals willing to give advice on what to see next!  Before the trip we were told to take our bathing suits every where you go – it’s true!  We ended the day with a warm outdoor swim at a geothermal pool.  We started day three out nice and early as we had plenty to see – the Golden Circle was on our agenda.  First stops were Þingvellir National Park, Geysir geothermal area and Gullfoss waterfall – the Geysir erupted every 4 minutes!   The second half of the day took us to Faxi waterfall, Skálholt Cathedral & Kerið Crater – we were surrounded by beauty the entire day!  Our fourth & final full day started out with snow which changed our plans a bit but we still managed to find amazing sights.  We spent some time aimlessly driving around after which my cousin Ellen went into a convenience store for directions on what to see.  The store clerk drew her the smallest map on a sticky note to a Geysir with this advice, “Don’t go off the path or you will die!”.  So of course we headed there next although I’m not sure how we ever found it!  It was another great find with constant furious steam coming from the ground – you really couldn’t see anything when walking through it!  Very near there was a beautiful cliff which was the location of the first lighthouse in Iceland – all in all it was a great day!  Every day that we were in Iceland we were persistently checking the Aurora forecast with hopes of seeing the Northern Lights – so far nothing.  Our last evening was turning out to be the most clear night so far, the prediction was still low.  Sometimes fate has it’s magical ways and at 12:30am green lights appeared in the sky which led to waking everyone in the house, (thank goodness for Ellen’s insomnia)!  I grabbed my camera and tripod and started snapping – it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen!  We watched the green light dance across the sky for around 40 minutes and just like that they were fading away – sleep did not come easy after that excitement!  Iceland was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever traveled to and I was lucky to be with such a fun, adventurous group of people – we really had an amazing trip!