Iceland!!

These two crazy kids have been planning this trip for m-o-n-t-h-s!!!!

Why Iceland? No one knows but they sure were over the moon excited to travel abroad and have an adventure! And an adventure they had!!!!

They explored the entire country. There is one main road that you can travel that takes you basically in a big loop around it. They saw some pretty amazing landscapes, architecture, and endured temperatures two desert dwellers have never encountered before! Ha!

I’ll let you peruse the pictures below. I don’t have a lot of information on where they were taken or even which days. I’m hoping I got them in some sort of chronological order. ;P

I loved this little bookstore they found.

They went to this tomato restaurant. If you know Eli, you know he hates tomatoes. Thankfully they had other options on the menu. 🙂

One of the really great things about Iceland is the way they process their dairy. It’s much different than America. Brynne can’t have dairy here but she could have cheese, ice cream, chocolate, whatever her heart desired while she was in Iceland. It was heaven for her!!! LOL!

They also got REALLY lucky and were able to see the Northern Lights! Isn’t that soooo cool?!?!!!!!

We all assumed that since it was winter the whole place would be snow covered. As you can see that wasn’t the case! It’s interesting to see how rocky and rough a lot of the terrain is. Which makes a lot of sense since it’s made up of volcanoes.

Iceland only covers about 103,000 square kilometers, making it a relatively small country, yet it is home to about 130 volcanoes. Under the land, there are over 30 active volcano systems. The only part of the island that no longer has an active volcano system is the Westfjords.

Of course there was plenty of snow in other places. Boy that just looks freezing!!!

They took a tour of an ice cave which is actually an iceberg!!!

They went to Diamond Beach which is covered in blocks of ice!

But the adventure didn’t stop there! They got a real feel for what it’s like to live in a place where snow is a challenge. They got stuck in a blizzard!

They not only survived a blizzard they also avoided an avalanche! Yikes!!

It even made the news!! Wow!

They finally made it out of Iceland but then another hurdle presented itself.

They made a mad dash to their connecting flight and made it JUST in time! They boarded and sat on the plane for 2 hours while they de-iced it. They thought for sure they were going to be told they had to de-board and their flight was going to get cancelled. A BIG blizzard was rolling into Minneapolis! Conditions were sketchy!

But as we’ve seen every step of the way of this trip they were being watched over. The Lord provided helpful strangers on the roadside, a kind hostess at the hotel (one could even say the Inn Keeper found room for them at the Inn <3 ), a store with just enough food to get them by, and Heavenly Father of course keeping them safe from not one but TWO blizzards and an avalanche and allowing them to get home safely.

Their flight ended up being the last one out of Minneapolis that night. All flights were cancelled not just on their airline but every other one as well. I think the last number I read said more than 12,000 flights were cancelled!!! Bananas I tell you!!!

We tracked their flight home and it kept getting pushed out. I think they were trying to fly around the weather/storm to get home and it added time to their flight. We headed to the airport around 2:20am to pick them up. It was a very long day of traveling for them.

It was a special reunion when they hopped in the van. The 1st thing Eli said though was, it’s warm here! Haha! Welcome back to the desert, son!

I hope they always remember God’s hand over them during this trip! <3