Arctic adventuring!

Friends, I am back in business with a new adventure! This time... ICELAND! And this time... Cousin fest 2016! Heather and I left Fresno on Thursday at 5:30 am (shoutout to Auntie Linda for the ride to SFO). On the way we got a text from Wow Air saying our 12:30 flight was delayed. Sooo we ended up at SFO with exactly SEVEN hours to kill. Don't you worry, though, we made the most of it. First was noodle soup for breakfast served with minuscule spoons, so it took forever and a day to finish... Which was perfect because that's exactly how long we had to wait. Our seven hours fairly flew by, with many thanks to the Express Spa (facials and massages for all!) and the yoga room. We cleansed our auras and got out.

Some fellow travelers in line had dubbed Wow Air "Whoa Air". At least that's what I thought. After one flight I realize they meant WOE AIR.

You want a reclining chair? Nope.

You think you should get a snack on an 8 hour flight? Not today, friend.

Thirsty for water? That's not free.

An in-flight movie? Only if you brought your own.

It was a rough, rough 8 hours. But I know you probably don't feel sorry for me, so I'll move on.

Day one in a nutshell... We arrived in sunny (okay, freezing cold and windy) Reykjavik at 8 am and spent the day first being denied access to the Blue Lagoon (so apparently we needed to pre-book a hot springs soak), some geothermal geysers, a lighthouse or two, and... Wait for it... Being in two continents at the same time. It's true! We stood on the border of the North American plate and the Europe plate. Who knew plate tectonics could be so thrilling?!? Right foot, Europe. Left foot, North America. It was like the best game of Twister ever... without winners and losers, because we are all winners here.

Cousin Gray arrived from Dublin at 3 and we hit the road. First things first, town of Reyjkavik. Super cute town! Heather and I are excited to explore it when we have four days there next week. Best part... Trip Advisored best coffee and turns out it is across the street from our hotel for later in the week (Probably an intentional and amazing move by Shandon who found us our hotel) Which means the goal will be to have the barista know our order by heart. Bonus points if he knows our names.

Here is where our adventure really began!! With a tank of gas, 24 hours of sunlight on our side, and some trail mix, we hit the road. Our plan was no plan. We found two massive waterfalls (one with a rainbow and one without), a glacier, and a hike that ended with natural hot springs to sit in. Take THAT, Blue Lagoon.

We will post more pics tomorrow! Keep in mind the objects you see in these photos are colder than they appear.