Southern Iceland

We’ve officially done our first trip abroad with another family! For Thanksgiving this year, we wanted to do something non-traditional from the turkey, cranberries, and pecan pie, so we decided…why not go eat some fermented shark in Iceland! We’ve always wanted to see the northern lights and heard Iceland was an otherworldly place to go and see them. We’ve also always wanted to travel with another family and thought the kids were old enough now, so we invited our good friends, Matt and Emilie and their two kids Julian (9 yrs) and Bella (2 yrs). We were really excited to share this experience and for the kids to have friends to play with…and who knows, maybe have a date night out! 

Leading up to our departure we all started going to bed super early to try to keep the jet lag at bay since Iceland is 8 hours ahead of us. The day before Thanksgiving, we all got up at the ungodly hour of 3am for our 3pm flight to start wearing the kids out. We knew the only sleep we would get that night was on the plane during our seven hour flight so we wanted to make sure we’d all be exhausted by the time we boarded to get as much sleep as possible.

Turned out none of us got more than a couple hours of sleep on the flight. Lesson learned, better to just power through and get naps when you can than try to align days beforehand. When we arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland at 6am we were all exhausted. That was short lived, because it was Thanksgiving Day and we were in ICELAND!!! Our excitement to be there gave us enough energy to start the day and we were determined to get the most out of it. We went through customs and the kids were a ball of energy running up and down the lanes with their little suitcases in tow. Every once in a while Wesley’s suitcase would flip around and we’d hear an ‘Uhhh ohhhhh’ and we’d help flip it back around so he could keep chasing his brother. Tyson and Wesley love each other so much and it’s so fun to watch them when they’re playing and getting along.

Once we got out of the airport, we took a ten minute shuttle ride over to the car rental place. We picked up our sweet nine passenger van and started the hour and a half drive to our first destination in a small countryside town along the Golden circle called Selfoss. During this time of year, there is only about five hours of daylight, so it was still dark outside when we left Reykjavik. The moms and kids slept most of the car ride while Marshall drove and Matt kept him company in the front. As we got closer to Selfoss, we all woke up to see the sun beginning to rise with all of Iceland’s glory starting to peak through the hillsides. WOW! What an incredible place. Green hills, mountains, crystal clear water, and open land as far as you can see. Occasionally, we’d pass huge plumbs of steam rising up from vents letting gas escape from underground geothermal areas. It seriously looked like a set from a classic Sci-fi movie. We were really excited to see what the rest of the trip had in store. 

We arrived at a beautiful lake house that we rented from VRBO. Turns out it was actually on a river in an area that had widened so much that it looked like a lake. We woke the kids up, got their jackets, gloves, and hats on and hopped out of the van to meet the owner of the house. She greeted us at the door and even had breakfast ready for us with a bowl of chocolate cookies for the kids. So nice of her! She then gave us a tour around the house and gave us some recommendations for places to check out in the nearby area. 

Even though the sun had started to come up, we found out sunrises take quite a long time in Iceland, seemingly not wanting to pop over the horizon for hours. It was still a little too dark to go exploring outside, so a few of the kids and adults decided to take a nice long nap. There was only one shower in the house, so I took the opportunity to shower and get ready for the day while everyone was resting. I always like to make sure I’m the first one ready so nobody has to wait on me. I know, so thoughtful of me!

After everyone was up and around, we made lunch at the house with the food that the owner had bought for us and then it was time to go explore the area. We had pre-booked tickets for the kids to ride Icelandic horses and they had been excited about it for weeks. Icelandic horses are known for their small, but strong looking stature and gorgeous long manes. When we arrived to the stable, the owner said that she was normally closed in November, but she opened up the stable just for us. We felt so honored! She had a cute little coffee shop connected to the stable and made us all swiss hot chocolates while her kids got the horses ready to ride. She gave us a tour of the stable and Marshall immediately had an allergic reaction. He is highly allergic to hay and has some crazy stories of him being rushed to the hospital for asthma attacks. When he was a kid, he and his cousins once thought his eye was going to fall out of his face after a piece of hay got behind it, lol. Luckily, the cafe area had a big window that looks into the horse arena so he could sit in there and take pictures. 

The kids first got to groom one of the horses to make sure it looked picture perfect. The owner then brought two of the horses into their indoor arena. Tyson and Julian strapped on their helmets and each hopped on a horse. The owner and her daughter walked each of them around the arena in a figure eight pattern for about ten minutes. Then the boys hopped off and Wesley and Bella had their turn. The kids were all gleaming the whole time they were riding! Afterwards, the owner brought the horses outside so we could take family pictures with the beautiful countryside landscape in the background. All the kids really loved the experience and it was a great way to kick off our Iceland adventure!

It was time to head to a restaurant that I made dinner reservations for a few weeks prior. We wanted to make sure we had a table at the nicest restaurant in the area since this was our Thanksgiving dinner and we all wanted to have a great experience together. The restaurant was called Raudahusid which was really cute and cozy inside. Come to find out, we didn’t need to make reservations at all…we ended up having the place to ourselves! Probably a good thing since we didn’t have to worry about the kids sitting still or being too loud. They didn’t have American traditional Thanksgiving options on the menu of course, so we had the opportunity to try some authentic Icelandic food. Well, all except me who had delicious chicken pasta. The other adults got a raw beef (tartar) appetizer and steaks for their meals. The steak was a little different than they were used to in the States and it became a joke for the rest of the trip that maybe all those Icelandic ponies had a less than storybook purpose after all. Haha! Overall, the experience was amazing and we really enjoyed our time there. 

When we got back home from dinner, we were hoping the kids would be ready for bed, but they were all wide awake from the jetlag and just wanted to chase each other around the house. The adults wanted to hit up the huge outdoor custom hot tub that could fit like 12 people. Julian offered to babysit all the kids for us while we were outside. Score! We mixed a cocktail, cranked up some music and relaxed in the steaming hot tub under the clear crisp evening sky. Meanwhile, we watched the kids through the glass door having a blast running around making up games to keep everyone happy and entertained. We were really hoping to see the Northern lights while we were in Iceland so we kept gazing up at the sky and we thought we saw a couple faint streaks that may have been northern lights. Marshall had the brilliant idea of downloading an app on his phone that would notify us to go outside when there was a high chance of seeing them, so we called it a night and went to bed. 

The next morning, we slept in a bit since our internal clocks were still a little off. We wanted to do something fun but not plan a full day of activities since we were all still trying to adjust for the time change. After a little research we decided on a lava cave tour about a half hour away. After breakfast we piled in the van, cranked up the local music station and jammed out to some Icelandic rap as we headed toward the cave. About half way there we saw some steam rising from various holes along the hillside, so we had to stop and check it out. As I stepped out of the car, a rancid smell hit me in the nose and I immediately thought Wesley pooped his pants. Turns out the smell was the sulfurous gas rising from the hillside. We took a little stroll down a trail and took some epic pics before getting back in the car. 

We arrived at the cave minutes before the tour started and everyone else was all ready to go into the cave. We quickly strapped our helmets on and headed down into the underground cave tunnel to meet up with the rest of the group who didn’t look too excited that we’d kept them waiting and added 4 kids to the mix. Smiles go a long way in those situations. Once we got in, we noticed a few large holes in the ceiling where sunlight was able to shine through. As we walked further in and turned a corner there was complete darkness. The only way we could see was the lights on our helmets. The guide told all about how the cave was a lava tube that ran miles and miles all the way to the coast and explained how it took years to cool. He also told us about some hippy parties that took place in the cave back in the day. At one point the guide had us turn all of our helmet lights off so we could experience total darkness inside the cave. So cool! The kids enjoyed asking questions about the cave and jumping around the boulders along the way. Bella wasn’t as impressed. She fell asleep on Matts shoulder about half way through, so he seemed to have lots of fun carrying her up and down all those boulders and stairs on the way back to the van.

On the way home from the cave we stopped at a local store to pick up ingredients to cook a homemade dinner. Emilie made delicious spaghetti with meatballs and roasted brussel sprouts for everyone. Yum! We spent the rest of the evening relaxing by the fireplace and enjoying the hot tub while the younger kids slept and older kids played games on their iPads together until bedtime. 
The following morning, we all got up early and planned a full day of sightseeing. We hopped in the car and headed south toward the ocean where we knew there’d be lots of great sights along the way. About an hour in we see the most ridiculously beautiful white horse in all of Iceland and I immediately yell “OMG, it’s a white horse! Pull over!” Emilie and I freaked out with excitement and ran across the road to get glamourous shots with the pony. Apparently, everyone else thought the same thing and we created a spontaneous tourist stop for all the cars behind us. Once we got plenty of pics, we jumped in the car and continued on our way to Seljalandsfoss waterfall.

I knew this particular waterfall was going to be a beautiful backdrop so I had planned our outfits that day to take our family Christmas card photo in front of it. Even though it was cold, windy and water was flying all over us, the boys powered through and we all took a minute to get the pic we needed. Luckily the pictured turned out great and nobody would ever know how freezing we actually were. Once we had that ticked off our list, we hiked up the side of the waterfall and were able to walk all the way behind the waterfall and through to the other side of it. Such a cool experience and the kids were blown away (sometimes literally)! 

We continued driving south about thirty more minutes and arrived at a second waterfall called Skogafoss, which sounds like the perfect name for a bad guy in an Icelandic cartoon. When we got out of the car and walked toward the waterfall, we noticed a couple hangliders that leapt off the cliff and were flying over the top of the waterfall. On the right side of the waterfall there were tons of sheep hanging out in a green pasture. Such a gorgeous sight! There was a huge staircase where you could climb up to the top of the waterfall, but it was MASSIVE and we figured there was no way we could get the kids up and down it without them wanting to be carried. No thanks! 

Instead, we got as close as we could to the waterfall (without getting completely drenched from the mist), snapped a few photos and walked over to a nearby restaurant that has a view of the waterfall. It was one of those places where you order your food at the front and then wait for it to be delivered to your table. I asked the guy taking our order if they served cocktails. He looked at me like I was crazy and told me that the only places in Iceland that sell cocktails are in Reykavik.  We knew that wasn’t true since I had a tasty cocktail the night before at a restaurant by our rental house, but I let that one slide.

After lunch we got back on the road and headed toward the southernmost town in Iceland called Vik. Along the way we came across a sign that said “glacier” with a long name nobody came close to being able to pronounce. We turned off the road to go check it out and were treated with an amazing valley that looked like it was created to be the set of an epic movie. There were people hiking up the glacier with full mountaineering gear for full day excursions, but we just wanted to get close enough to take pictures of it. We took a short walk up and the sun shined through the clouds just in time for us to take some beautiful shots. The kids stretched their legs running up and down the hills and playing with some toys in the rocks for a bit. 

After the short stop we got back on the road and made our way to a black sand beach called Reynisfjara. It was super windy by the ocean and still fairly cold, but we were determined to see the whole beach and it was well worth it. We walked all the way to the end of the beach where there was a little cave and tall stone columns that were naturally formed. The kids climbed up the columns and enjoyed exploring inside the cave. Marshall, Tyson and Wesley all filled up a water bottle full of the black sand so we could take it back home as a souvenir. Such a unique place and we’d never seen sand that dark of color before! 

By this point in the day, we were all done sightseeing and feeling pooped, so we debated going into the town of Vik or just head back to the house. Personally, I wasn’t ready to head back so I convinced the rest of the crew to find somewhere to lounge and have a drink. I searched on my phone for nearby cocktail bars and found a nice little hotel bar. You’re probably thinking “who the heck brings kids to a bar?” We do……when we’re in Iceland!! When we walked in we were excited to see the bar was super modern with a nice couch and a few cocktail tables beside a cozy fireplace. The kids brought in a couple toys to play with, so they kept themselves entertained. Marshall was our driver for the evening, so he waited patiently while the adults ordered cocktails. The bartender made me the best espresso martini and said he put in a special ingredient that he refused to tell me. As long as it's not roofy I'm good. This place was definitely a great find and it was nice to relax and reconnect after such an eventful day.

After our bar break, we drove an hour and a half back to our lake house. We got our swim suits on and spent our last evening at the house relaxing in the hot tub. The kids absolutely loved playing in the hot tub together. Matt and Marshall took the van into town to have a bit of guy time and swing by the store to pick up groceries for the rest of the trip. The town didn’t really have a bar scene, so they just went to the store and headed straight back. No biggie, this house was a great find and one of our favorite places we’ve ever stayed at. That night, the northern lights app said there was a high likelihood we’d see them. We got super excited, got our shoes and jackets on and ran outside to see…...a thick fog had rolled through our area and we couldn’t see squat! Dang it! Oh well, I guess we used up all our luck with the white horse sighting. No, we just have a reason to come back!