Sticky Apple Kisses

Tomorrow we head towards what is known in Iceland as the golden circle, or a collection of tourist sites that no tourist in Iceland should miss, namely Geyser, Pingvellir, and the waterfall known as Gullfloss. We spent the day in Reykjavik, and except for making me a little homesick (it reminded me a lot of home!) the entire trip has been amazing. But I am starting to miss bed mattresses! Our Iceland camping card has meant that outside of the 100 Euros we paid for it we have not had to pay for accommodation since, and camping in Iceland means some very nice sites indeed. But sometimes a bed would be nice! But then I think of this and I think I can wait another 3 weeks for my bed!:

Cave hot springs:

and camping spots in Iceland:

Bit when I do get home Im spending an entire weekend in bed!

So up until last week when we entered the West fjords we have had no problems whatsoever finding internet or internet connections for free, they were everywhere including our campsites. A whole week in the west fjords however meant no internet, and that may have made us a little twitchy. SO much so that I am now sitting outside a museum in the rain to use their internet…

Iceland continues to astound me. On the one hand its natural beauty is what does it, on the other its the fact that this island is the only other one outside of Newfoundland where it can be sunny, rainy, hot and cold all at the same time (hot temperature but cold winds while being rained on while the sun beats down upon you!). Really unbelievable!

But I was hoping to do some Christmas shopping here, but seeing the prices I am thinking people need to accept German chocolate instead. And since my father loves cigars, maybe a more Cuban themed Christmas gift is in order!

I know that digital cameras slightly adjust the colors. But seriously, here there are 2 colors, cold and gray, or stunningly wonderful. Iceland looks like mother nature photoshop project whenever the sun comes out.

So as of tomorrow we should have the tire that we need for my bike, and we will be again underway with our trip. And may I say that the swimming pools in Iceland are just absolutely wonderful! Hot tubs and whirlpools are considered a given and a norm!

However as we would not be ourselves if we were not taking every waking moment to either plan a trip or participate in one, we used our hot tub and swimming time to talk about our next trip, and we got to talking about planning the next family motorcycle trip, in particular renting holiday cottages in devon and those who were not participating in the biking part of the tour could instead go horseback riding.

What brought the idea of renting cottages in devon on? Well first of all, as of this morning it was 3 degrees in Iceland, and although our holiday has been lovely so far, there is something about 3 degrees and a tent that makes you wonder if something a little more sheltered is called for. The thing is, we are not a hotel type of group. (Unless the hotel is on a beach in the Caribbean, then I am all over it), but if the hotel is somewhere in Europe I tend to feel that the whole experience is just a little stuffy. I would rather our own space, and two of our favorite vacation spots so far have been the house rental in Tuscany, and the wooden hut rental in Amsterdam.

So since we know that we want our own place, and preferably one that can hold the entire extended clan ( 12 people at the moment), we need a holiday cottage or home. Plus the German’s sister’s kids are of the age that they need entertainment as well. And since I have time to play on the internet now whiel the German cooks (he cooks on tour, I cook at home) I used it to check out the area and found a place online that not only accommodates all of us, but also offers horse riding lessons to children. Nothing short of perfect!

And this is what you do when you are dreaming of warmer weather and waiting for your replacement tire, you plan the next escape!

One of the reasons why we always try to take trips where time is not really a pressure is not just because we do not want to rush, which is of course a factor! But also because we like to be able to say that we like a place and we want some downtime. This is our vacation, and we want to be able to say when we get back that we do not want a vacation from our vacation!

At the moment however we are glad we have the extra time because it means that we have time to replace the tires that blew! (Yup, both bikes picked up nails in their back tires, total bad luck, but that is where lots of time comes into play!)

This means we can also upload new pics, the sad part is that our camera was not in top form when we went to Kverkfjöll. Maybe because it was rainy, but then the camera refused to work at all, and then only in fits and starts, so even with the cloudy weather, we really missed out on some awesome shots!

Then is the time you really wish you had buy.com coupons that you can use to purchase brand name camera equipment at a discounted rate! Iceland is not a cheap country!!!! Trust us, it costs 10 Euros for a burger, and that is the “cheap” food! Electronics, SOB! Now that everything is dried out its working again, but really, back up your back ups before coming, its cheaper in the long run!

Literally no where Iceland! We spent 2 days in the interior, and now we are staying at this camp site: http://www.fjalladyrd.is/, there is a rainbow outside, its warm inside, and after 2 days of wild camping and riding to Kverkfjöll and back, well, let us just that this now looks like a puddle to me:

and I laugh at that fact that on the first day here I thought it was worth photographing!

Anyway, I though I would update everyone and let them know I am still alive and kicking, and then we want to head over to do some shopping, not for ourselves, but for Skye J and the new McCarthy baby due to arrive in November! (So I hope my sister in law is taking her prenate dha every day!) Little cute squisher that she is going to have! We figure since its raining heading off into the interior is not the best idea, better to wait a little, and instead we head off into the wilds of the Icelandic shopping mall, where the prices make you weep.

I just laughed out loud, my bunny is boarding with friends, and they just left a message he is getting the snip chop because now that he has fathered a bunny his services are no longer needed, and he is a little male rabbit shall we say.

I come home to a fatter bunny I think…

The ferry ride to Iceland took 2 days and then some! Well I think more or less 48 hours exactly, we started in the morning, and then spent 2 nights, and then the morning of the 3rd day we disembarked. We made it all of 20 kms yesterday, we just kept stopping and taking videos and pics!

But on the boat we treated ourselves to the breakfast buffet and planned out our trip. And then I was jealous of the receipt printer they had on the boat. Our printer is only 2 years old, but in technological time that is a dinosaur (which makes me rather sad in terms of sustainability and waste management, but another post for another day) but it is a monster, and then looking at our print offs with what our neighbors at the table over had, (and it printed in 10 seconds, completely silent, and then they had tourist info), well it makes me wonder if I need another printer….