Time to start at the beginning and see how much I can remember.  Liz took careful notes as we went, but I was too wrapped up in the moment to do that.

August 4:
Paul and Liz picked me up Tuesday afternoon to head for the airport.  After months of preparation, this is really going to happen.  We were glad that we were very early, because their computer system had broken down and we had to be hand-checked in, one by one, just like they used to do years ago.  Of course, not anticipating this, they didn't have adequate staffing, so we spent almost 2 hours in line waiting to be checked in.  We checked in our small suitcases and small soft bags which held bedding for the night we spent in the pod.

Once on the plane, neither of us could sleep.  The lady next to me seemed to think it was her goal to talk to me the entire way.  Even when I said I was going to try to get some rest, she didn't let up.  Liz was by a crying baby, so got no good rest, either.

Once off the plane, and with luggage in hand, we went through customs which was basically getting them to stamp our passports as we walked by.  Off to the car rental place.  We figured that the gas tank was full, but Liz was soon doubtful as the gas signal turned red.  We stopped and basically had to fill the tank.  When we returned the car, we showed them the receipt and they refunded that amount.

Our first stop was to get a puzzle cache near the airport.  We realized that on the way to that one, we were passing an earthcache, so got the answers for that at the same time.  Wind!  It was incredibly strong at this site, a taste of what was to come on this trip.

Then we went for a few other caches on our way to Reykjavik.  Fortunately Liz's Nuvi has Icelandic roads, so we soon just trusted it instead of the careful instructions I had written down in advance.

Once in Reykjavik, we took a small boat to the island of Viðey.  As an extinct volcano, it has some of the oldest rock in the area.  We wandered around and found a few traditional caches and then completed an earthcache based on the amazing basaltic columns there.

Back on the mainland, it was off to the next adventure - walking to an island at low tide.  Definitely a bucket list item for me.

Liz was feeling up to driving, so I happily let her do that as I wasn't sure my reflexes would have been good enough at this point without sleeping the night before.  She was amazed at all the traffic circles, and while at first I thought I should help her, it was soon obvious that she had them under control.

We checked where we would be picked up the next day for the volcano tour, did some "in-town" caches, and then headed out for the only letterbox hybrid cache in Iceland.  We were about to give up when Liz turned around and just like that saw the container almost at my feet.  Success was ours!  We had to figure out distance in meters, and directions without a compass.  We felt pretty good about doing that.

On our way back to town, we stopped at the Mid-Atlantic ridge where we could touch both sides at the same time.  My right hand was in North America and my left hand in Eurasia.  My feet were in the middle of nowhere.

We arrived at our guesthouse, and some of the ladies staying there suggested a place to buy groceries.  I got some snacks for the next few days, some fruit, and a wonderful chicken salad for dinner.  We went to the local KFC for what looked to be a Dairy Queen style Blizzard.  I wanted calories to pour into myself.  It was nothing like we expected.  Ice with a bit of milk poured over and a few crumbs of Oreo cookie.  We ended up taking them back to the guesthouse and letting them freeze up a bit so that we could eat them with a spoon.

Now to add some photos - interesting - they seem to decide where they want to go, so not in order.

The lighthouse on the island we walked to

Interesting artwork

Liz getting on the boat to Viðey
 



Basaltic columns on the island of Viðey
 

Touching North America and Eurasia at the same time