Iceland in pictures

Had a great day with Nicole showing me around today - she used to be a postdoc with a friend of mine in Woods Hole, and moved to another postdoc in Reykjavik around a month ago, so offered to show me around to help fix my underwhelmed feeling today. It was awesome. My view on Iceland - somewhat changed. Would I come back? Probably not unless I was in this direction, but at least i'm not leaving feeling I really didn't like it here, I did thoroughly enjoy today. Here it is, in pictures. Tomorrow i'm off towards Hawaii, unfortunately a two day journey, so it's another overnight in Seattle.

We searched for a trail head this morning for a wee while. Came across this golf course. Yes that's a steam plume coming up in the background, many areas of Iceland release geothermal plumes of fumes and even water, and it's a daily part of life.

When we finally found the trailhead we went on a spectacular hour hike following a "hot river". My last river crossing was in Patagonia where the water was around 20F. So much nicer when the water is 40F.....!
The whole valley filled with geothermal plumes of steam, water and even mud!

A mud pot! First time i've seen one - so much more vigorous than I was expecting!

Couldn't stop taking pictures of the valley and river...

A few of the locals. If the ground was 40F where I lived, I would spend a lot of time sitting down too!

Another valley shot, very cool...or warm....
The end of the trail for us - a hot river! And what better to do in a hot river than.....

...chat to strange blokes in speedos! The water was really relaxing, we ate lunch then jumped right in for a good hour soak, so nice!

And the hike back out.....the valley was still spectacular....

...even in sepia....

Our trusty steed for the day!
After Nicole kindly drove me around the "Golden Circle". Which included the quite spectacular Gullfoss waterfall.

Nicole in front of the waterfall. So much closer than you would ever be allowed in the US or UK.

Also on the Golden Circle tour......more hot pots! This time at Geysir.

And this is the famous Geysir....where all Geysers got their name....those are people for scale.

A hot pot at Geysir, pretty blue.