Saturday, March 21 - Sunday, March 22: Iceland

I missed a few days of blogging but it was only because my time was completely taken up by a big work event on 3/20 plus preparing for our big Spring Break trip to Iceland. And that's where I am right now--Iceland!

We left Saturday morning (wrenchingly, as Farrah gave us heartbroken looks of betrayal) and drove to Molly's house, where we spent a few hours and had lunch before driving to BWI for our direct flight to Keflavik. The Icelandair flight was incredibly cramped and uncomfortable, but we got there more or less on time. Snow was falling when we landed. It took a little figuring out to pick up our rental car, but Andrew found it in the lot and picked the rest of us (and all our bags) up from the terminal. We were on our way.

Our first stop--a big one: the Blue Lagoon. We'd booked our tickets for 8am, opening time, but didn't make it there until 9am; we were slightly worried but our late arrival was unremarked on. We all changed into our swimsuits, stored our coats and bags in lockers, and made our way into the glorious, mysterious, otherworldly waters of the lagoon.

I'm so glad we decided to do the Blue Lagoon upon arrival because it is the perfect welcome to Iceland. Snow was falling hard when we first got into the water, and then it started to hail, and freezing wind was blowing hard. It was ridiculous but also exactly what it's supposed to be like in Iceland in March. We'd brought hats, which helped. 

We spent some time at the mask bar, first trying a black lava mask and then a white silica mask. Lucia bravely retrieved her digital camera to document the experience (then quickly put it back in her locker). We swam around, letting our masks dry, and explored around a little bit. We took a break for some lunch (and coffee) in the cafe, sitting by the windows in our robes, looking out at the lagoon. Then we went back into the water to do another mask (mineral for Lucia and Greta, algae for the rest of us). We also tried the steam room and the sauna, and got drinks at the swim-up bar (Greta got a blue slushie and Lucia got a Pepsi). By that point, we'd been in the water for almost four hours. We didn't want to leave, but it was time to make our way to our rental house.

It was a wonderful experience. I remember being there in 2005--it was January and snowing; my eyelashes froze; back then there wasn't a "mask bar" but just troughs of silica mud you could grab handfuls of. It was just as otherworldly and amazing this time around--more so. It was the perfect start to our trip.

The drive to our rental house outside of Selfoss was through barren, vacant countryside. By that point Andrew was having a hard time staying awake and the girls decided playing songs from Frozen 2 matched the landscape and would help us all stay alert. It took about an hour to get to our AirBnB--a fabulous house in the middle of nowhere, with a hot tub, cold plunge, and sauna, plus a fireplace and huge windows looking out at the view. It's a perfect perch for our stay. We love it.

We forayed out once more to go into Selfoss for groceries, and had a dinner of cheese and crackers at home. Then we all got into the hot tub (Mom took pictures and will join tomorrow) for a last dip. Now we are all basically asleep so I'll sign off for today. Can't believe we're really here.