Firstly, it is very important that you understand I would give my amazing, supportive, talented husband the moon if he asked for it. So two years ago when I broached the subject of his upcoming 50th birthday and inquired as to whether he wanted a vacation, a party, or some other celebration commemorating his half century birthday, I was ready to move mountains to make sure that happened. His choice? To go to Iceland and search for the Northern Lights. Done. We would rent a huge Air B and B, and invite anyone who could scrounge together airfare to join us. Check and check.
About 6 months after that, the opportunity came up to rent the condo in the Bahamas, that we have been spending March Break at for the last several years, for two weeks at Christmas. Brett decided that two weeks in the Bahamas for Christmas was better than a weekend in Iceland. So, condo rented, family invited, plane tickets bought. Done.
And then the thought hit me. Why can’t he have both? Unpaid leave approved, plane tickets booked, hotel found and dog sitter organized, and the decision was made to keep it a surprise. This needed some logistics so he was told we were going to Blue Mountain and to pack a bag. Long story short, he was surprised and we had an amazing time.
We toured the Reykjanes Peninsula, which is located on a drift zone between the continents of North America and Europe, and there are many places that you can see the two continents tearing themselves apart. It is a very unique site where you can find several different geologic elements due to this drift zone. This area is a great place to see geothermal geysers, lava fields and other natural phenomenon. It is also home to many lighthouses and a rugged coastline that is absolutely breathtaking.
We chose to stay in Grindavík, a small fishing community on the southern shore. It is actually one of the few ports on the southern shore of Iceland and the largest employer in the town is the fishing industry. It is also 5 km from the Blue Lagoon, Iceland’s overpriced, but oh so decadent, famous hot spring. The thought was that if the weather turned nasty we could simply park the rental car and take the shuttle to the Blue Lagoon and not have to worry about driving unfamiliar roads in a snow storm.
All in all Iceland proved once again to be a place of stunning beauty, a place we will return to, and admittedly I found it to be even more beautiful in winter.
