Wrapping Up

Days 16-17:

After a hearty breakfast, in one last effort to show us her power, Iceland set us up with a nice mix of rain, snow and high winds on our way back down to Reykjavik. It's so interesting how the impressive landscapes have become so familiar to us over the past couple of weeks that the 3 hour drive was fairly uneventful. No surprising animal encounters, save for some tattered sea birds, leaving a 6 km tunnel under a fjord as the most surprising part. With nothing specific planned for the day and a beautiful corner apartment with a view of the harbor, we settled in pretty early. Under some light rain, we visited the shops around town, witnessed a blatant shoplifter, then chose a nearby fish restaurant to be our final dinner in Iceland. Baked ling, arctic char, cod, mussels, and freshly baked bread... we have no regrets on our choice. With the rain subsiding as we returned from our walk, a rainbow stretched across the entire harbor, really hammering in the bittersweet feelings of a waning vacation.

Expectedly dragging our feet in the morning, we had a small breakfast at a strange little bistro, packed up the car that served as our Icelandic home base, and made our way to the airport. Our final half-day was uplifted a bit by finding out that our long flight for the day had been upgraded, so we knew exactly where we would go after arriving super early to the airport... the lounge. But first, we had to soak up the last bit of clean, chilly air before returning to the sweltering heat of Southern California in October... Dressed a bit like John Candy's polka band in Home Alone, we settled in to the lounge, charged our phones, ate some hors d'oeuvres (which would turn out to give Jason food poisoning), drank some drinks, and waited for our flight to board. Being an entirely daytime flight, no Northern Lights were seen, simply stunning views of the seemingly uninhabitable Greenland. At that, our little autumn vacation is over.

**It is never an easy expectation for a group of adults who have their own lives, feelings, desires, limitations and interests to spend 24 hours a day with one another for a long period of time. There will always be ups and downs since none of us are perfect, but it needs to be stated that we are so grateful for one another. Parents and their children wouldn't drive each other crazy if there wasn't love binding them together**Read more