Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
We did two hikes today, one in Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, a serpentine canyon with moss-covered walls and the winding Fjaðrá River. The second hike was the Svartifoss Trail in Skaftafell National Park, which has a waterfall over columnar basalt. We extended the hike to see the Selið turf houses.
We spent the morning around several waterfalls, and the afternoon looking at cliffs, a black sand beach, and puffins
In the morning, we went a bit north of Reykjavík to look at some turf houses and hot springs. Then, in the afternoon, we tried to see the eclipse.
We completed the Golden Circle by going to Þingvallahreppur, or Thingvellir National Park. We did some hiking in the morning, had lunch, then did another hike in the afternoon.
This was the first day of traveling as a group. We piled into two vans and went out to the Reykjanes Peninsula to explore a lighthouse and a bridge across two tectonic plates, then did part of the Golden Circle, seeing a volcanic crater, a geyser, and a huge waterfall.
Our last full day in Reykjavik, we took it easy and only did a few things during the day, meeting up with the rest of the hiking group in the late afternoon. It was our first day with clear weather, a nice change from the clouds and drizzle we’ve had the other days.
We had a lazy morning before going to the Settlement Exhibition. We stepped outside the door of where we are staying to see the start of the Pride Parade and took a dip in some heated pools
For our first full day in Reykjavik, we completed the last few stops on our walking tour, went to a midday concert at Harpa (the concert hall), and walked around the harbor area.
Melody and I arrived in Iceland a few days before our hiking group so we could do some sightseeing that wasn’t on the group agenda, as well as giving ourselves a bit more time to acclimate to the area and time change. After landing in the morning, we spent a few hours walking around Reykjavik.
My cousins meet in Las Vegas a couple of times a year. Last year, Melody and I spent several days at Death Valley National Park beforehand. This year, we decided to spend time in Zion National Park before meeting with the cousins.
During the pre-pandemic days, Kellen and Brady left Seattle to live in Germany for what ended up being about a year and a half before they moved back. In a few days, Tynor and Mallory are moving to North Carolina. The move that has been in the back of their minds for quite a while, and last year they set things in motion.
Melody's sister Celeste usually comes out every year from New York, and this year we made a larger road trip than in the past. We spent time in each of Spokane, Boise, and Yakima.
On our last full day of the trip, we drove back south a bit to hike the Trail of Ten Falls. We knew that the water flow in the summer would be low, but it still seemed worthwhile for most of the waterfalls.
This was a travel day for us, going from Ashland to Portland. When we arrived, we dropped by to see the troll at Nordic Northwest, then went to a few places we frequent in Portland.
For our last full day in Ashland, we walked around more of Lithia Park and went to the Japanese garden. For dinner, we went to Medford to visit high school friends of mine.
We did a hike where we got a view of Mt. Shasta, then spent the afternoon in Downtown Ashland.
A short drive north got us into Oregon and our destination, Ashland. We walked around the town a bit and saw a musical at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
We did a short hike from one lake to another, and got great views of Mt. Shasta. We then spent the afternoon in town.
Our first full day around Mt. Shasta had us doing two hikes. One gave us a very close view of the mountain, and the other went between three waterfalls.
Another travel day. We met a friend I worked with at a previous job for brunch, then we drove to Mt. Shasta.
