I picked Maddy up at the airport in Keflavik at the crack of dawn. I mean... I guess there is no actual crack of dawn here at this time of year in the land of the midnight sun... My point is that it was very early. Too early. I considered (only very briefly) calling her a taxi and having them deliver her to me so I could sleep an extra couple of hours. I'm not willing to part with any of my internal organs though, which is roughly what a cab from the airport would cost here. Maddy is the 16 (almost 17) year old daughter of my cousin Jackie. She lives near San Francisco and as of today I have met her exactly three times. The first time we met she was about 8 months old and I was 14 or 15. The second time was last April when I visited her family in California. Maddy is very enthusiastic about Iceland and I'm so excited to get to introduce her to the country and to some of our Icelandic relatives. We are going to spend a full week exploring Reykjavik, the south coast, and the East Fjords in a whirlwind tour before she has to return to California next Friday.
Today as soon as I picked Maddy up we headed to the Blue Lagoon. This is a great way to freshen up and feel relaxed after having been on an airplane for 8+ hours. Or, in my case, having woken up grouchy at 5:30 in the morning. The last time I was at the Blue Lagoon was with my Snorri group in 2011. I remember having a quick evening visit and doing some wading around in the Lagoon, but the memory is murky. I was happy to go back today and see everything again. It is super touristy and busy, but don't that stop you from checking it out. With the amazing blue color of the water contrasting with the black of the lava rocks, and the steam rising up, it is sort of magical. We enjoyed smoothies from the swim up bar and applied the complementary silica mud masks to our faces as we lounged around the lagoon. Maddy really enjoyed it, saying that she could happily live in the lagoon, mermaid style.
We drove south to Grindavík and stopped for a quick lunch. Maddy shares my affinity for gas station tuna fish sandwiches, so I think we are going to get along very well on this road trip. I wanted to show her Seltún, which is a goethermal area on the Reykjanes peninsula, and some spots along the shores of nearby Kleifarvatn as well. I missed a turn and we ended up going a little farther than necessary, but we ended up seeing a cool church called Strandarkirkja because of the error, so it was okay.
Maddy took a quick power nap on the drive to Seltún. She hadn't slept much on the plane and her energy was flagging after so many sleepless hours of travel. She perked up for a little walk around the bubbling, sulphuric landscape. We managed a quick hike up the steep side of the little mountain. As always, climbing down is way worse than climbing up. I did my old lady shuffle all the way down after we enjoyed the view, wishing I had worn my super grippy hiking boots rather than my slippery soled tennis shoes.
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| Maddy at Seltún |
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| Edging our way back down the hill. |
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| Maddy at Kleifarvatn. Not pictured: Me in the background, shrieking, "Don't go any closer to the edge!" |
Maddy and I both napped once we checked into our Airbnb in Reykjavik. I only let myself sleep for about 45 minutes, but Maddy got in a couple hours. I felt like a real villain making her wake up so we could walk around for awhile in the late afternoon, but I wanted to make sure she would sleep tonight and get on a normal sleep schedule for the rest of our trip. By the time we finished our early dinner (delicious plökkfiskur for her and the "fish of the day" for me) at Cafe Loki she was mostly awake. We took a brief walk down to the shore near Harpa and the Sólfar statue to look around and then made a very necessary stop at Valdís for ice cream cones on the way back to the hotel. Once we reached the room I think Maddy was asleep before I even had my shoes off. She will be well rested for a day of adventuring and exploring more of Reykjavik tomorrow!
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