Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 366

So Iceland huh? I still have more to blog about it, but it was an interesting trip to say the least.

It is an expensive but beautiful country that I would gladly travel back to... with the right people. ha ha. I say that because my travel companion this trip... well... let's just say it wasn't the best trip. My own fault for traveling with someone I only met once off of Instagram. Sure... we had the family connection (my cousin's brother in law) but it wasn't enough. I felt like I was traveling with my friend's dad that didn't know how to communicate or interact with me. It was strange. Very very strange. He is super nice. Bless his heart. We are just VERY different people. This is why you will not see any pictures of us together. I don't think there are any. I take that back, I think there are a couple on his camera... but I will never see them because I am pretty sure we will never see each other or speak to each other again. Sad... but true. So, I spent a lot of time by myself on this trip because we would drive to each location together and then separate and then meet back up when we were done at each place. So most of the pictures I have of me on this trip were taken by strangers. I had to be that person.... I'm traveling a lone, can you take this picture of me at this cool place? Ha ha.. not my favorite.

That being said... what a beautiful country! Some of the most amazing waterfalls I have ever seen. My first time seeing the Northern Lights... it was a teaser but incredible. Magical hot springs and ice caves. Such a rad place. I can't wait to share the rest of my pictures.

Speaking of pictures. I posted some of my pictures on this Facebook group that I am a part of called Girls Love Travel. I know... how appropriate for me right? Well... it was a HUGE hit. I felt pretty cool, but it got old fast since I was answering hundreds of girls questions for the next 2 days about Iceland. It is becoming quite the popular destination. I can see why.

Got back from the trip late Monday night. Tuesday I was back at work. No rest time. Who wants to take days off to rest? My days off of work are precious and I use them all for travel. So Tuesday was work. After work I decided to go to Utah Lake to watch the sunset because it was such a nice day. Guess what? Such a good decision on my part. That sunset was AMAZING. So beautiful. One of those that is beautiful, but it just keeps getting better and better. I took SOOOO many pictures. ha ha. After watching such an amazing sunset...I spent the rest of the night unpacking and doing laundry and all those things that you have to do when you get back from a trip.

Wednesday, Stacey and I continued our tradition. After one (usually both of us) get back from a trip, we go to Beto's to talk about it and eat yummy Mexican food. Since it was such beautiful weather, we had the window's rolled down car dancing in his new car and took our Beto's to the mountain to watch the sunset while we ate. We had a blast (as we always do) while we ate and talked and laughed about my trip. I knew he would get a kick out of my travel companion. Such a good time. I adore our friendship. It is one of my favorites.

And that is all. More Iceland pictures to come.

Photo of the Week 364

Iceland Full moon and sunset. Always have beautiful scenery while in Iceland.

Icelandic Horses

Are these not the cutest horses you have ever seen? I definitely fell in love with these animals while I was in Iceland.

You see them everywhere around the island. We decided to pull over and interact with them when we saw a group close to the fence. So glad we did.

This little guy loved me and I loved him right back. Every time I tried to pet another horse or pulled away he would nudge me and and come in closer. It was the cutest. Loved every minute of it and I really really wanted to take him home. Such beautiful animals.

Ice Cave in Jökulsárlón - Glacier Lagoon, Iceland

One of the main reasons I wanted to go in Iceland at the end of Winter (besides seeing the Northern Lights) is to tour the Ice Caves. You know those sweet google images of Ice Caves you see on your computers screen saver? Totally can see those in Iceland. There are a couple of other places that have natural Glacier Ice Caves... but not many. So I was excited to see them. March is the last month you can see them before they close them down because it gets too warm.

They did NOT disappoint. The only thing is that I wish I could have experienced it without all the people... but like me... everyone else wants to see them too. It was expensive and crowded and I wished that the cave went further in... but it was pretty awesome. Knowing you are several feet under ice... pretty awesome.

Getting to the ice cave was an adventure in itself. We had to take this van with MEGA tires. There were SO many times that I thought we were going to get stuck and I let out a squeal. It was a rough road on the way there. Our tour guide and driver would laugh at me every time I squealed. He does it every day. He loves it.

Then we got to the cave. Put on our crampons and helmets and were on our way in. It didn't look like much on the outside.

Then you walk in and see the awesomeness. I was in awe at the shades of blues in the ice. Seeing the detail. Contemplating how nature creates such a wonder. Such an amazing experience. So glad that I was able to go and see it. P.S. Someone asked me if there are lights in there lighting up the ice. The answer is... no. That is all from natural light. Pretty sweet huh?

Aurora Borealis - The Northern Lights in Iceland

So one of the reasons that I wanted to go to Iceland in March (end of Winter) is because I heard it was the last month you could really see the Northern Lights. I was also told that the Northern Lights go through 10 year cycles and that this year was going to be the last year that we are able to see the Northern Lights well for the next 10 years! As soon as my friend told me this, I booked my trip to Iceland a week or 2 later. No joke. It was a major bucket list item and I did NOT want to miss seeing them.

Little did I know that there was a lot more into seeing the Northern Lights than just showing up in Iceland during Winter. It turns out... it is complete luck. ESPECIALLY in Iceland. I say that because the weather in Iceland is SUPER unpredictable. It changes by the hour. When I got to Iceland, I was SO worried that I wasn't going to see them because the forecast was not in our favor by the time we got there. I ended up finding out about a website where it tells you what the Aurora Borealis is rated for that day and where the clouds are covering Iceland at that moment. I just kept refreshing the site to check the clouds. As it turns out, the entire time I was there, the Northern Lights were never rated to be stronger than a 3 but mostly a 1 or 2. I was desperate to see them though. The first night we were in Iceland, we got talking to our roommates in our hostel. They were also wanting to see them pretty bad, but didn't seem too worried because they had signed up for a tour to see them on one of their last nights there and if they cancelled the night they were supposed to go they could go the next night free of charge. However, I convinced them to come with us. I told them I wanted to search of them every night that there were no clouds because I would hate to not see them and we just had no idea what they weather would continue to be like the rest of our time there.

So we checked the app and saw that there were no clouds out towards the airport. So we headed away from the city lights and clouds and found a dark spot to wait and see if they would show up. Before the trip I read somewhere that having a full moon makes it so you can't see them as well. So I checked the moon cycle before my trip and it was going to be close to a full moon while I was there which made me worry more. Turns out, that is a myth. You can see them just fine, and for pictures it is kind of awesome because you can not only see the lights in the sky, but the foreground is lit up by the moon, so you can capture both nicely. Anyway, like I said, we drove off the free to a dirt road to wait in the dark. We ran into these older British Men waiting for the same thing. So we figured it was a good spot. I was glad we ran into them because not only were they hilarious... but they had more knowledge about it than we did because they were out previous nights watching them. It was freezing, but we were determined to see a show.

They were there, but I had a hard time seeing them at first. Another thing that I didn't know about this trip before I went is that the Northern Lights can be different colors, including a light grey. You can easily mistake them for clouds if you are not paying attention to how they are moving. So I was having a hard time spotting them at first. But then I took a picture of it and it turned out green in my camera even though I saw them as grey. What? Yep! So we set up camp right there and I got out my SLR camera and my tripod so that I could get some better shots. Kyle was also nice enough to let me borrow a better lens for night photography... as good as my camera is going to do anyway. THEN I saw green in the sky. For about 15 or 20 minutes (it was close to 1:30am at this point) the Aurora Borealis came out and danced in the sky... just like people describe it. It was magical. I as so glad we went that night. Because guess what? We didn't end up seeing them any other night because it was too cloudy. So glad I convinced everyone to go that night even though we had all just flown in and were so tired.

Was it the display I was hoping for? No. Was it still awesome? Yes.  It just gave me this tiny taste of it and now I want more. I am totally going to chase after the Northern Lights again. If the going away for 10 years thing isn't true... I may even try again next year... I don't know if I would try to see them in Iceland again because it is so unpredictable (the weather)... maybe next time I will chase them in Alaska or Canada or Sweden. Who knows... but I am not done chasing them. I am so thankful that I got to see them while I was there. I was so worried I wouldn't see them at all. Aurora, thanks for coming out for me, even just for a little bit. I will for sure be seeing you again. And hopefully by then I will have a better camera to capture you with.

Jökulsárlón - Glacier Lagoon/ Crystal Beach, Iceland

Day 2 in Iceland we drove 4 hours to Jokulsarlon to see the Glacier Lagoon and Crystal Beach. Also the Ice Caves... but that was the main event, so I will do a separate blog post about that.

It was as cold as it looks... but it is also so beautiful and different than a lot of other places I have been to. I think this is the most North I have ever been in the world. With that brings some new sites because of the different climate. I loved watching 4 different seals swim around these huge icebergs.

Crystal Beach was also super unique. Black sand beach from the volcano's but ice scattered everywhere from the glaciers. So rad. If it weren't so darn windy and rainy and cold... I would have loved to spend more time here taking pictures.

Such a rad place. Also found out they did some of the filming for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty here. This was definitely one of the highlights of Iceland for me.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

My co-worker, Candice... she is my favorite. I also think she is hilarious. I found this hanging up at her desk and it made me laugh. So I took a picture so that I could have it too.