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Iceland 2017
  • Matt Brubaker
  • Matt Brubaker

Iceland 2017

A 14-day adventure by Matt Read more
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  • Trip start
    July 1, 2017
  • Matt BrubakerIceland 2017Traveler

    Painless and sleepless flight

    July 3, 2017 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    The flight from Dulles to Reykjavik was only a little over 5 hours. I was only able to sleep for maybe an hour. Suzanne got a couple hours of sleep. But that will be out sleep for the first night and we will just push through.Read more

  • Matt BrubakerIceland 2017Traveler

    Time to hit the road

    July 3, 2017 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    We picked up our camper van at KuKu campers and I was a little caught off guard by the size of this thing. I upgraded to a larger one when I reserved it but I didn't realized it was a 20 footer! It's actually easy to drive and we have a ton of space for just the two of us. Running on only a couple hours of sleep, we zombies around the grocery store to pick up supplies, attempting to read labels and not buy anything that would kill Suzanne on the first day of our trip. Then we hit the road, headed towards Glymur and made a quick stop to capture a beautiful lake.Read more

  • Matt BrubakerIceland 2017Traveler

    Glymur pt. 1

    July 3, 2017 in Iceland ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Glymur is the tallest waterfall in Iceland, located in the east just north of Reykjavik. It's a 5.5 km hike in and back, with a sketchy river crossing and a pretty treacherous trail at times. The hike was challenging and fun. A perfect way to start our trip!Read more

  • Matt BrubakerIceland 2017Traveler
    1

    End of day 1 and near sheep attack

    July 3, 2017 in Iceland ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    After Glymur, we headed northeast towards Borgarnes to check out a cafe on the water that was recommended to us. It was closed when we got there, so we decided to go search for a hidden hot spring we read about. We headed up to an area we think is called Eldborgarhraun. This area is along an active fault line and has multiple volcanos which we could see in the distance. We found the hot spring but didn't get in because it was too shallow. We also made some sheep friends who scared the crap out of me when they popped out of the abandoned shack. There are sheep everywhere in Iceland and apparently they don't care about the laws of the road and will just walk out into traffic. Damn rebel sheep. Then, we found a campground slash weird hostel and set up for the night. The extra big camper van was a great choice and gave us plenty of room to cook, clean, eat and sleep. It is 24 hours of daylight this time of year here, which really threw us off. But once we closed all the curtains, put our sleep masks on and our heads hit the pillows we were out immediately.Read more

  • Matt BrubakerIceland 2017Traveler

    Starting our longest trek

    July 4, 2017 in Iceland ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    On day 2, we woke up at almost noon after some much needed catch up sleep after the red eye flight and a full day of hiking. Suzanne made breakfast in the camper while I showered at a pool. Apparently the bacon in Iceland is way better than in the US. Then we hit the road to head toward Kirkjufellsfoss and stopped at a natural spring to fill up water. We later realized that water was from a mineral spring and tasted like a water bottle full of pennies. The grass appreciated that water. Suzanne did most of the driving and got the hang of this 20 footer pretty quick. At one point she was driving it like it was her old Civic and there was literally stuff flying around inside. But we lived and made it to our destination and I appreciated her driving.Read more

  • Matt BrubakerIceland 2017Traveler

    Kirkjufells

    July 4, 2017 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Visited Kirkjufells, one of the most picturesque areas in the country. Then we hit the road for a long drive to the north. It was long, but the 1 am sunset was worth it. Found a random campground just to crash at for a few hours before getting back on the road the next day.Read more

  • Matt BrubakerIceland 2017Traveler

    Akureyri and Godafoss

    July 5, 2017 in Iceland ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Day Three (part 1): We woke up and drove to Iceland's second largest city, Akureyri. We were in search of a local brewery, but discovered that they only brewed there and there was no tasting room. That was Matt's first time driving our camper van (who we lovingly named "Coco Puff") through a city. No pedestrians were injured that we know of. We found a highly-recommended hole-in-the-wall restaurant and had fish and chips before hitting the road again headed for Godafoss. Godafoss pretty much needs no description. Just look at the pictures, though they don't do it justice.Read more

  • Matt BrubakerIceland 2017Traveler

    Myvatn Lake

    July 5, 2017 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Day Three (part 2): We left Godafoss and headed for Myvatn, an area we choose spontaneously. There is a beautiful lake there that's speckled with tiny islands and also a lot of geothermal features in the area. We visited a lava field filled with formations that are so unique, we read the only other place to see things like them are on the bottom of the ocean. After that we hiked to the top of a crater formed after a volcano eruption, crawled inside a hot pool cave (too hot to get in the water), and made dinner at a scenic pull-off on the side of the road. Then we found our campsite and took a swim in the Myvatn Natural Bath, a geothermal mineral pool that made Suzanne gag from the smell of sulfur, but was the thickest, smoothes water we've ever waded in.Read more

  • Matt BrubakerIceland 2017Traveler

    The North

    July 6, 2017 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Traveled to Husavik for a morning whale watching tour and a drive along the northern coast and into some remote interior areas.

  • Matt BrubakerIceland 2017Traveler

    Updating the blog

    July 14, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    It's been awhile since we posted because we were taking full advantage of the 24 hours of daylight and cramming as many activities into our days as possible, which did not allow for blogging time. We also didn't have great internet reception in some of the remote areas. We plan to add posts covering the rest of the trip today though. So check back soon.Read more

    Trip end
    July 14, 2017
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