24 hours for laundry!

Being home and enjoying your bed is definitely a treasure.... 24 hours at home is not enough, but it was all I had to do laundry and repack for my next trip. I'm currently sitting in a boudoir class in Vegas at 8:30am... Iceland to boudoir?! Yes, I enjoy landscapes and portrait photography.

When I was flying here yesterday evening, my brother was flying home from Vegas from a bachelor party. Not planned, his flight arrived at the same gate that I was leaving from at JFK. It was such a surprise and very neat. Even the pilot thought it was fantastic that he flew in from Vegas and I was flying to Vegas on the same plane.

Driving the southern coast back to KEF

I can't believe this trip has gone back so quickly. Today is our last day as we fly out early tomorrow morning to head home. It was cloudy when we woke up today so the sunrise was a bust. Even though this was meant to be a photo trip, we were able to get some good shots, but the weather really didn't cooperate too well for us... Had some yogurt and museli for breakfast, packed up all of our gear and hit the road.

We stopped at a few places along the way back and it took much longer than we had anticipated... About six hours of driving. We stopped at a waterfall we've driven by four times and each time we say we have to stop and photograph it and finally we did.

I flew the drone there and may have cracked a rotor the first time I took it up... Then it was much better! Whoops!

We stopped at skaftafell glacier again and flew the drone and took a few more photos.

Then we met up with Andrew again and went to skogafoss at just the right moment as there was a double rainbow appearing! And blue skies! Finally a great shot from the trip!

There was a waterfall in a canyon type cave that we wanted to go to near Seljalandsfoss and so we drove there (about 20 minutes from skogafoss) and when we drove up, we were greeted with a parking guard telling us they were filming a movie and that we had to park farther away but we could still see the waterfall. Well of course we knew what movie they were shooting as we've known Jackie chan was filming here but it was great to be able to see it in person. Unfortunately we wanted to shoot sunset there and the filming did not allow us to be able to do that, so we explored and then hung out for a while and watched them shoot the movie. It was exciting and seeing Jackie chan act was cool!

We usually try to avoid touristy things when we travel but last year we decided to go to the blue lagoon on a whim and it was one of the best choices we made so this year we wanted to venture back for the evening before we have to pack and leave. However, the lagoon closed at 8 pm and we never made it. We only got to our hotel by the airport around 9:30! Sadly, the lagoon will have to wait for another trip. We saved some money so that's okay too. Our hotel here is called the Bergas Guesthouse and its in a weird location, but it's quick elegant and nice and they packed us a breakfast to take with us to the airport in the morning! Thoughtful. Our flight is early so we are waking up around 6am! Woohoo!

See you tomorrow NY!

Windy and breathtaking

A windy evening kept us awake for most of the night and also our alarm that woke us up every hour to check to see if the Aurora were out. They never made an appearance but we did wake up to beautifully clear blue skies, a gorgeous sunrise (though not super photo worthy), and super winds! 

Breakfast was good... I feel as if I'm turning into bread as that is one of the only really good things to eat here, though I am having some yogurt and museli too.

We are driving to the eastern fjords today where I've never been before so I'm hoping to find some more beautiful views.

It's now about 11pm and we are just returning home to our guesthouse. The fjords were truly breathtaking. It's hard to put into words or even show them on photos just how magnificent they are. One of the most beautiful places I've ever ventured. Ok, well before we drove around the fjords, we left the guesthouse this morning and drove into Hofn where we met two photographers friends of Aarons. We were supposed to meet up with them just to say hi for a few minutes but it ended up being about an hour of talking... The nice light was fading... However, an Icelandic man came over to us while we were talking and asked where we were from. We replied the US. He then proceeded to ask us if we were trump or Hilary supporters. One of the photographers said that he was a Sanders supporter and the Icelandic man said, "ah, okay. Well the other two are dog shit and cat shit, respectively." I almost lost it. By far the greatest comment about them I've heard thus far. He then went on to talk about how he can't believe Americans are supporting trump and how stupid they are. We all nodded our heads.

After we said our goodbyes, probably 45 minutes past when we should have, we made our way to Vesturhorn, where we photographed the Aurora last year. I wanted to get a shot of the mountain during the daytime so we stopped, took some photos and flew the drone! It's a beautiful mountain... Steep peaks and they bottom directly in the ocean with the black sand beach surrounding it and some sand dunes!

The light began to disappear quickly with some cloud cover that started to appear so we packed up and started to make our way to the fjords. To get there, we drove through a tunnel behind Vesturhorn and on the other side, it feels as if you've entered a whole other world. The mountains are huge (they are gigantic over here too but different), there is more snow, more wind, more sunshine, lots of reindeer, the ocean waves were gigantic, and I felt as if we were in the Swiss alps on the ocean. It was one of the most beautiful sites I've ever seen. 

This photo does not do this area justice but it's a start. We drove for over two hours along the windy, curvy, steep road and found ourselves at a seaside fishing village when we stopped for a bit, filled up with gas and had to drive around following WC signs to find the bathroom. It ended up being a nice bathroom which I did not expect!

The town has a great name starting with a D and of course I cannot even begin to pronounce it so when Siri tried to say it, it sounded like yogi bear to me... The town has now been dubbed yogi Berra.

I drove us down one of the dirt roads in this town and took us right out to the ocean. There was not a single person anywhere. The ocean is in back of me crashing from the photo below.

We also found another spot where we hiked out onto a cliff face to get closer to some of the mountain peaks and it was so windy I could barely stand up. I videoed a bit of the journey for our video of the trip.

We drove about another half an hour north and then decided to start heading back so we could catch sunset on the way at a nice spot. We stopped frequently as it was just too gorgeous not to. We found our sunset spot overlooking a frozen lagoon at the base of the eastern side of Vesturhorn and the beginning of the fjords. We flew the drone and hovered over a herd of reindeer. It was really neat. They are scared of humans but not of cars and a little spooked by drones. Sunset was nice.

Kelsey and Erik were exploring Hofn and said they found a nice spot for dinner so we drove into Hofn after sunset and met them for a nice meet at a hotel there. Hotel Hofn. A real hotel... Rarely are their hotels here so it was odd, but the food was pretty good and expensive. Lobster pizza!

Aaron was driving us home from dinner as he had yet to drive the 3.5km road out to our guesthouse that is covered in ice and snow and a bit sketchy and he needed to do it once this trip, but as I was looking out the window, it appeared that the Aurora were starting to come out. We stopped in a spot along the way that we had scouted earlier and started shooting. It was faint at first but definitely there, reds soon started to appear but so did ominous dark clouds... As the dark clouds took over, we did some light painting which is so much fun! I'm getting good at making the letters look sharper with my flashlight!

After about an hour of shooting, we made our way back home, hoping the clouds would disappear. They never did though Aaron woke up every hour and went out to investigate. We only have one more day in Iceland so we're hoping for more!

Silhouettes and Drone success

Farmhouse breakfast with our nice view of the area.

It was so quiet and nice in our place 3.2km off the main road. I'm glad we have two more nights in this spot.

Yesterday evening while we were finishing up dinner, a group of ten Chinese tourists came in and had dinner. The wifi only works in the main room, so we were sitting working on our laptops and iPads and Aaron was editing some photos and showing Kelsey and Erik what the Aurora looked like from last year. The Chinese guys were so impressed and started asking questions. Aaron showed them his Aurora video and then we told them that the Aurora should be visible and told them a spot about 30 minutes away to capture some great shots. We also told them in broken English that they had to leave pretty much right then... They obliged and off they went. I'm very glad the Aurora did make an appearance otherwise I would have felt badly to send them so far out to capture nothing. This morning while we were enjoying breakfast, they all came in and were so excited that they got to capture the Aurora. They showed us their photos and wanted to see Aarons. It was extremely obvious that they could care less about any females or pretty much about anything that I had to say. (Even though most of the ideas for where they should shoot last night were mine!) Anyway, they really wanted to take photos of Aaron with his photos and then wanted us to pose for them... We were sitting across the table from each other and they wanted us to stare at each other because our 'noses' looked good from the profile. We tried very hard to keep a straight face as they showed us a silhouette image of our Jewish noses. It was a funny experience. They invited Aaron to come to China and visit with them. And the Asian invasion continues.....

Off to the glacier lagoon today we went. It was overcast and very white today and of course we were hoping it would clear up at some point, but it really never did. We went to the glacier lagoon first where there were so many cars and tour buses. It's exploding with tourism here and there is no regulation yet. We heard that in the ice caves there are about 90 people at a time... There is only one accessible tourism cave that people go to (though we are supposed to do a private tour to a different one but it may not pan out this year), and that is way too many people in a tiny space. Something needs to be done at some point before someone gets severely injured. We hiked for about half an hour or so out past most of the tourists and to some quiet spots along the lagoon. I flew the drone for the first time today and I'm totally in love! It is so much fun... I even flew it over seals! I was very nervous with the controls, but once Aaron taught me the basics, it was fairly simple! I can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

I wanted to photograph a little bit on the ice beach as well so afterwards we went across the street to the black sand beach and tried to find a few icebergs. The ocean is super strong right now because of several storms and lots of wind and the icebergs don't seem to be reaching the beach as much as they used to. I was still able to get a few nice shots but definitely different.

We hiked out there with Andrew, a photographer friend of Aarons who we've been getting to know. He took an amazing shot of us flying the drone in front of the mountains yesterday and just sent it to me so I have to post it.

We drove into Hofn after the beach to fill up with gas, buy a couple things at the grocery store and then met Kelsey and Erik and all had dinner at the same spot we ate in last year! It was still delicious. We had langoustine:

We are hoping the Aurora comes out again tonight but it's very windy and cloudy! I'm looking forward to taking a shower after I finish this! Aaron and I picked up some local beers and are having a few while we take advantage of the wifi in the common room 

Aurora success!

The Aurora came out for hours last night! Yippee! That means this trip can now enjoy considered a photographic success! Here's a little sneak peek from the back of my camera: