Honestly, I had no idea what to expect when I booked my trip to Iceland.
Thanks to the beauty of modern day social media I knew what a few places looked like, but not many and not much else about them. I'd heard Reykjavik was all about high fashion and crazy nightlife which was honestly intimidating. Let's just say the club isn't my scene... I had done just enough research to find out Iceland is roughly a quarter the size of California, and had winds comparable to the top of Pike's Peak. I'd heard rumors of a glacier lagoon, though I was uncertain what that even meant. How is it a glacier and a lagoon all at once? All that aside - truthfully, I wanted to wing it; to get there and scope it out, see how it made me feel, and figure it out from there.
I'm glad I had no expectations, because Iceland blew my mind.
It supersedes anything imaginable.
The land is purely magical.
I spent the first week or so in Iceland on the road. Map in hand and packs in the trunk, my buddy Adam (stellar photographer, btw) and I took off in our rental car aiming to experience everything we could and knowing only that we had to be back in time to catch the bus to Landmannalaugar for our Laugavegurinn trail trek. (Say that three times fast, I dare you.)
Heading clockwise around the island and using the ring road as our frame of reference - we took off. First expedition - the west fjords. Vesturland. Vestfirdir. Surrounded by waterfalls, mountains that dropped sharply off into the sea, winding roads, and thick fog I fell in love. Instantly. We even got a snowstorm on the second night to make this Colorado girl feel at home again. Then east through Nor∂urland Vestra, up to Jokulsargljufur National Park, into Austurland, down south to Skaftafell National Park, west across the coast of Su∂urland. As the sun set on our road trip (psych, it never set, ever!!), we meandered to Reykjavik and got ready for our trek.
I'll let the pictures do the talking from here and give you a glimpse of the splendor of such a wondrous place.