September Reflections

Sep 30, 2024

Hello Loves,

I went on my dream honeymoon.

Two days after the wedding we flew to Iceland!

I’ve longed to experience this country for years. My wife was unsure about where the heck we were going – not the Bahamas, or the Turks and Caicos, or Fiji – but she wholeheartedly agreed. Thanks babe!

The first comment my wife made when she got off the plane was that this place was so foreign to her. Think of a land mass that is mostly made up of steep volcanic mountains. Their height is truly dizzying. And yet, at times, you can be in the middle of a lava field so flat and vast that there is nothing else in sight. We drove around the entire circumference of the country. We saw SO MANY WATERFALLS. Waterfalls in giant caves, waterfalls falling from twenty stories high, waterfalls in canyons, waterfalls bigger than Niagara Falls, waterfalls with rainbows. Oh and the sheep and horses! There’s about 800,000 sheep in Iceland in the summer and over 80,000 Icelandic horses year round. Everywhere you go there they are – the fattest, fluffiest sheep you could ever see and the most stunningly beautiful horses.

Iceland’s motto is – The Land of Fire and Ice. We saw the erupting volcano! From a safe distance we watched the bubbling cauldron of orange shoot out it’s fiery lava like a fireworks display show. It was epic. And we hiked to and drove around glaciers so large, that they went for miles and miles and miles. There presence held such a quiet stillness. People had told us that the weather in Iceland is quite unpredictable. We thought we understood. We didn’t. There was wind so strong that if you didn’t hold onto your car door when you opened it, it would be ripped off. The next day it could be sunny and hot and you’d need to put on sunblock. Then the rain, wind combo. Kaboom. Perilous driving conditions. Then back to sunshine.

We saw black sand beaches and the bluest waters, and the roughest oceans, and the sweetest birds, the greenest fields and the wildest heather, and landscapes that looked like you’d landed on the moon. And I could write a thesis about the multitude of hot springs, spas, and public pools. Pure perfection and relaxation. Each one unique and gorgeous and healing. There were so many first-evers and surprises in Iceland, and the people of this country treated us with humble kindness and curiosity.

Iceland, I miss you.