Slide on my butt down a glacier. Check.

Greetings all once again from Iceland! Today I ventured out beyond Reykjavik, where I am staying for four days. I joined up with a Jeep excursion, with a most awesome tour guide and capable Jeep driver, Lulla (short for Ludwig). Joining me in the Jeep were Kiwi and his wife Becky from the UK, whom quickly became my friends.

First stop was Pingvellir National Park, which is home of the Viking's first parliament. I never though Vikings to be the parliamentary type, but apparently they were! Iceland has the longest standing continuing parliament in the world, going back some one thousand years. This is also the site of where the North American continent and European continent meet. I am standing on the NA side, and the mountains behind me are the European side. They're moving apart, which results in the valley behind me.

NA continent to your left - European in the background and to the right

Next we zoomed off to these glacial waterfalls. The water you see is glacial ice melting - next stop being the Atlantic Ocean. As is always the case, pictures don't do nearly enough justice. But below is a feeble attempt.

Now for the most amazing part of the day, a trek up to Langjokull glacier. It took a couple hours on "roads", going through streams, and through snow drifts. Our driver handled it like a pro, and only a couple times did I think I might die :)

Me mugging in front of our Jeep, which wasn't a Jeep at all, but some Nissan SUV that I'm not familiar with. It was pimped out, complete with a winch and "snow anchor" in case you get stuck.

As you can see, other than the three other Jeeps joining us (behind us), we were quite literally alone in the interior of Iceland.

Umm...I think the picture sums up what happened here. Not our Jeep, but we stayed to help them get out.

Finally, we reached the glacier. 750 meters of ice underneath, and ice all around. I can't begin to describe how cool this was. It changed between howling wind and whiteouts, to times when it was clear with blue sky. The weather changed several times in a matter of minutes. While riding in the Jeep, at times you literally couldn't tell if you were moving forwards or backwards. He was basically driving by GPS alone.

Umm, why did nobody tell me that glaciers are slippery?

View away from the glacier, back towards land.

Snowball fight!

Next, on to the lava cave. Lava flows underneath like a river, and leaves a hollowed out cave. No pictures from in the cave because 1) it's dark in caves and 2) I was trying to not slip on the icy rocks and crack my head open. This was no touristy cave with walkways, handrails, and gift shop. It was hard descending down the hole!

My cool friends Kiwi and Becky from the UK

Me. Doesn't get much dorkier than rain pants and a helmet.

You want me to do what?!

To finish up our super surreal, fun, and jam packed day, we stopped at the world's third largest hot spring. It produces 160 liters of hot boiling water from the earth every second. They divert the water into pipes, and use it to heat homes throughout the countryside. The video shows this better than photos...

I ran into Kiwi and Becky in town later that evening, and we shared a drink (remember, Reykjavik isn't very big - so running into people seems to be quite common).

Tomorrow I'm off to Gulfoss waterfall and a geyser. So, off to bed!