Brooke Cary

Our Iceland trip continues as we make our way east on the Ring Road. After our 2nd night in the back of the Suzuki, we woke up to an amazing sight… blue skies! We had overnighted in Kirkjubæjarklaustur (just trying saying that word!) and from here it was a short drive to the largest ice cap on the island. We were ready to check out how Iceland got its name!

Glaciers coming into view approaching Skaftafell National Park

We took a great hike to get a little closer to one of the glaciers

A surprise to find this melting ice cave at the end of trail

We also spotted a tour group doing a glacier walk. It looks like the brown area is just dirt, but there is ice underneath! We discovered we were unknowingly walking on ice ourselves at one point.

Walking the edge of Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon. This location has been featured in several movies. It’s truly stunning!

“Iceberg, right ahead!” (Sorry, couldn’t resist the Titanic pun!)

While the lagoon is beautiful, the real treat for me was seeing the “Beached Ice.” The icebergs actually escape the lagoon through a narrow channel and are washed out to sea. The warmer seawater sculpts the ice and the waves eventually push them ashore to this black volcanic sand beach.

This was one of my favorite sights in Iceland. Nature is so incredible!

We continued on and made it to the small village of Djúpivogur where we stayed the night. This photo was taken the following morning on our way out of town. We had a long drive ahead of us to make it through the Fjords.

We were constantly admiring the 4×4’s in Iceland. Check out the snorkel!

The roads in the East Fjords were some of the worst of the trip. Large stretches of dirt, high winds and a lot of curves!

Modern lighthouse on the coastline of the Norwegian Sea

We took a side trip in the Fjords to Seyðisfjörður. The scenery heading into the seaside village was beautiful!

The cute village of Seyðisfjörður. We had a great lunch here but didn’t stay long. We were excited for the next stop!

Part 3 coming soon!