Today marks a full week since we’ve been back from our trip, and we kind of miss it already. It’s hard not to miss this place! From the never-ending stream of stunning scenery, to the feeling of freedom that comes from knowing that the only thing you have to do today is explore the nearly uninhabited Icelandic countryside..I have to say, readjusting to a life of cubicles and rush hour traffic has not been easy. With that said, I have an abundance of photos (roughly 1200 or so) that I can use to transport myself back in time as I await our next (currently unplanned) vacation.

Before you hit ‘unsubscribe’, don’t worry..I have no intention of posting 1200 photos. But I have decided to break up the photos into a couple of posts. You know, so as not to overwhelm you with the remarkable beauty this country has to offer.

If you are considering visiting Iceland, road tripping is totally the way to do it! The self-drive option that gave us the opportunity to explore at our own pace was perfect! It’s virtually impossible to get lost, since the major highway is a single road that goes around the entire country. And it’s always fun to get to discover interesting things off of the beaten path..it does feel like quite the adventure!

As far the view, I’m not sure it gets any better. Somehow, I don’t think that the camera captured it though. Actually being there in the vast emptiness felt surreal.

This would be the major highway I’m referring to,Ring Road. Two lanes. And parts are unpaved.

Sometimes it was difficult to focus on navigating because all I wanted to do was take pictures of everything we drove by (this is probably how I ended up with 1200 of them). Doesn’t it look a little bit like you’re in one of those race-car video games? Nothing but road in front of you! I don’t know about where you’re from, but I rarely see such pleasant driving conditions in the metro west region.

Please note the lack of other cars in the above photos. This was the case more often than not. We definitely encountered far more horses and sheep than we did people. The Icelandic horses are quite beautiful..and really friendly! Seeing packs of them running in the fields was such an incredible sight! We stopped so that I could take a photo they trotted on over to say hello! This funny guy kept sticking his tongue out at us. The sheep were not as personable. While I’m sure they’re very nice, they run away when you try to pet them.

While traveling, I was also recruited by Mazda to photograph a series of print ads. Just kidding, this is our rental. Due to the striking surroundings and lack of people or cars, we kept joking about the fact that our photos looked like a car commercial.

At this point you’re probably wondering if we did anything but drive around. Yes! Our first day was spent exploring the famous Golden Circle! Iceland’s popular tourist route that allows you to see several of the country’s famous sights in a short driving time (often done as a day trip from Reykjavik).

Þingvellir National Park holds much historic significance for Iceland as it was the site where the parliament was founded. It’s also one of two places in the whole world were you can actually see the continental drift between the Eurasian and North American plates!

Geysir was a short drive from the park. We didn’t actually get to see Geysir erupt, but this is the smaller and more reliable Stokkur! It erupts about every 6 minutes (Geysir erupts 2-3 times a day).

Followed by Gulfoss waterfall! The sheer size of which left us pretty awestruck.  See those little lines near the top to  the left? Those are people.

And yes, the person I’m standing with here is the boyfriend you’ve heard me mention from time to time! I’ve recently realized that he’s yet to make it into a single photo here on the blog and at this point you might be suspecting that I’m making him up. So please give a warm welcome to the boyfriend, otherwise known as Jason!

If you enjoyed these, stay tuned for a volcanic beach, a glacier lagoon, and another 60 waterfalls!

P.S. – what do you guys think of the new header? I tried to get fancy with Photoshop.