Day 4

Last day of solo exploring for this group. We have many days left in the trip, but the rest will be dedicated to conference time (I guess that is the real reason for making this trip across the pond). We started out on Rt. 1 and drove along the road we have spent many days exploring, but it never gets any less exciting. In the town of Vik, we got to take in the sight of the photography famous red and white church on the hill tucked among a field of…you guessed it…Alaskan lupine (the purple flower found EVERYWHERE here). A little farther down the road, we ran into the black sand beaches of Vik with massive basalt columns lining the coast. We did some amateur but intense rock climbing for some pretty epic pictures.

Waterfall #4 was our next stop because Iceland=waterfalls everywhere. It’s crazy that we are so enamored just by falling water, but it’s one of the most amazing views to experience and I can’t explain why. Even though we didn’t get to climb under this waterfall, of course I still meandered into the spray of the falls as close as I could before being drenched.

One of my favorite times of the trip so far was our last stop in the town of Hvolsvöllur. We found a charming coffee spot/pottery shop. A local family has owned the shop for 15 years and hand-makes the unique pottery pieces molded from materials gathered from the earth around the shop. So of course I had to support an amazing local artisan with a one-of-a-kind coffee cup.

We made it to the conference hotel where we enjoyed the opening ceremony meeting so many individuals from different walks of life and countries (Ghana, London, Canada, just to name a few). Best part of the night was meeting the President of Iceland, which I thought was AMAZING but I guess to Icelanders this is a more common experience. We chatted and drank the night away, learning about the lives of so many different people. My heart is so happy to be here I think I may burst.