Iceland!

   I recently took a trip to Iceland with a friend, and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It was an outdoor person's paradise, and it was just amazing. We were in Reykjavik for the whole time but then took day trips out of the city to explore the countryside. It went by wayyy too fast, I want to go back! Also, it was super hard to pick and choose the photos I wanted to show (out of 500, I chose about 30, yeah, it was tough!)

Walking around Reykjavik once we got into the city. We landed at 6 am, and it was PITCH BLACK outside until about 9 am, so we got to see the sunrise!

the graffiti around the city was on point!

Red, blue, and yellow houses?! What more could a girl ask for? The city had a lot of charm that was just so inspiring!

Hallgrimskirkja, the coolest church I have ever seen in my entire life. 

The Blue Lagoon! The lagoon is water pumped in from the geothermal power plant near by. This water is too salty to provide central heating for homes, so it is used for the enjoyment of soakers of all ages. The pearly blue color of the water comes from a combination of algae, silica, and other minerals.

The entire landscape is covered with volcanic rock that has lichen and moss growing on top of it. We later found out that it takes 1,000 years for anything to grow on cooled lava! Really beautiful.

Photo shoot before we went in to the lagoon.

The 'swimming' area of the lagoon was really big! The water was like a hot tub, it got really hot in some places and the place smelled like sulfur. They had buckets of the white silt that is on the bottom of the lagoon that you rub onto your face to exfoliate. Our faces were soft like bebe's bottoms. 

We went on a hike up Mt Esja the next day. Mt Esja is along a volcanic mountain range, so we had a view the entire time we were climbing. 

Absolutely beautiful! 

Unfortunately, the weather changed on us rather quickly, so we couldn't make it to the top. Don't be fooled by my smile, I thought we were going to die. haha

That night in celebration of our lives, we treated ourselves to hot chocolate and a pancake filled with fresh cream and jam. Treat yoself.

Thursday was the Golden Circle Tour, and first stop was the Rift Valley. This is where North American and Eurasia split apart 2.5 cm a year!

The entire day, the sky either looked like it was in sunrise mode or sunset mode. So beautiful, I'm at a loss for words!

Walking through the rift valley. 

This area was where Iceland's Parliament was founded, and Christianity was also accepted.

Gullfoss Waterfall. Gullfoss means "Golden Falls". In the 1920s, a hydroelectric dam was going to be built, but a woman named Sigridur Tomasdottir, the daughter of the farmer who owned the property, threatened to throw herself over the falls if it went through. She is known as one of the first environmental activists in Iceland.

Next stop was Geysir

This is the Strokkur Geysir, which spouts every 4-7 minutes. Notice how close we were able to get to it!

Stained Glass windows from a Lutheran Church we stopped at. 

           

Downtown Reykjavik-- I loved this city so much! Sad to go!

Any tears vanished when we were on the plane flying over Greenland and saw THIS! Unbelieveable. It just shows you how many places need to be explored and visited. Next trip? Who knows, but I'm already saving my pennies!