November 18, 2014: Tanya's Iceland Trip: Day 4

Hoping for a better Tuesday

Hi there and Hello!! 

On the mend...
Well, I had an interesting day yesterday.  I usually am the one to drive the girls to school in the morning, but occasionally Tedd will come along.  Yesterday was one of those days.

It was a rainy, wet day, but I was in really good spirtis. I was pumped for the day and the many things I had to get done.  

Ok, so when I get the kids to school, I pull up on the opposite side of the street to the building and the first thing I do is get Kelsey and Gianna out of the car on the driver's side.  I open the door for them and then help them get out and shut the door myself (to avoid any possible accidents of anything getting caught in the door, since they are usually still a bit groggy).  

Then I walk over with them to the trunk area, making sure both girls are not in the way, open the trunk and help them put their back packs on. I then pull them away from the area and hit the button so the trunk closes. 

Yesterday, however, Tedd got out first and I was in the passenger seat. He "FIRST" went to the truck and opened the hatch back to get the back packs.  As I went to exit the car, I realized there was a huge puddle on the passenger side of the car and I saw that Kelsey was getting out on that side.  She started to open the door and I cautioned her to go over to the driver's side rear door where I would meet her and help her out.  

That was my plan.  Unfortunately, as I exited the car, with my rain jacket hood up, I took a quick right turn to walk behind the car to get to the other side and B-A-M!!  I walked right into the hatch back door which was still up.  I literally walked into it - hit my head on the right side of my upper forehead and sort of bounced back, lost my footing and fell in a puddle, bracing my fall with my left arm.

I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I know I hit my forehead - head-on; and I'm pretty sure I hit the top of my head somehow because it was also very sore. The way I banged into the door, my glasses hit into it as well and the rim of my glasses on the bridge of my nose, broke the skin from the impact.

Well, I got up - soak and wet, very stunned and wasn't sure if I was going to pass out or what.  I stumbled back in the car and just tried to relax.  Kelsey was crying; Tedd was saying "Mommy's ok" and I was yelling "MOMMY IS NOT OK" because I was so stunned.

The rest of the day was pretty much wasted. I got home and relaxed most of the day, taking Tylenol and putting ice on my head.  By 10:00pm last night, I felt a bit better.  The muscles in my eyes weren't as sore but I still had sinus face pain and my forehead where I banged my head was sore to the touch and had formed a bit of a bump.

Seriously!  What a day!

I woke up feeling more "alert" than yesterday - could it be the sun shining through the window made everything feel better too?  Still have throbbing on the right side of my face and forehead, but I guess that's to be expected.

There is not much on my end today - going to take it easy, but was struck with Tanya's excursions yesterday in Iceland, discussed in her Daily!  I saw that she is planning to drive The Golden Circle and go on a Northern Lights Tour.  I thought since she is probably pressed for time, I would detail a little bit about these fabulous sites!

The Golden Circle
The Golden Circle is a popular tourist route in South Iceland, covering about 300 km looping from Reykjavík into central Iceland and back.

The three primary stops on the route are the national park Þingvellir, the waterfall Gullfoss (meaning "golden falls"), and the geothermally active valley of Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur. Geysir has been inactive for a long time, but Strokkur, on the other hand, continues to erupt at every 5-10 minutes interval. (I hope Tanya catches a glimpse of this!!)

I cannot wait to see Tanya's photos from these remarkable places along the "Golden Circle" route !!

Gullfoss, Iceland (courtesy gullfoss.is)

Northern Lights Tour
The Northern Lights (or Aurora Borealis) are among the most spectacular phenomena on earth – and Iceland is the perfect place to see them.

These bright "movements" of lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. The beautiful northern lights can be seen best in Iceland from middle of September to middle of April under optimal conditions which include:  

• clear dark sky (away from the city lights)
• the colder the temperature, the brighter the show.   

Aurora Borealis (courtesy boomvisits.com)

For more details about the scientific facts of the Aurora Borealis, check out this website: NorthernLightsCentre.ca

I'm sure Tanya is going to be posting photos away of these sites - I know I certainly would!

As promised in my blog earlier this week, I'm working on my story of our Rome Illuminated Tour  "Rome at Dusk".  I'll be posting that later on! We were so thrilled with Evan Featherstone our wonderful Rome Guide, and the tour his company created, I want to be sure to share this with you for  your next trip to the Eternal City.

Another Day, another Vote!  Thanks for your continued support!  We have certainly moved up the ranks to #1 in the Travel Category of Top Mommy Blogs, thanks to you!!!

-E

Two Tours on Travelin' Tuesday

Góðan Dag - Good Day in Icelandic!

Being that we are 5hrs ahead of the east coast & 8hrs ahead of the west coast, we are already back in our comfy apartment from our Golden Circle journey...or should I say adventure?

Picked up by the tour company in the pitch black morning sky at 8am. We piled into the shuttle bus, and were off! Not being able to see a thing, I attempted to rest my eyes until the break of daylight - being that I had another disruptive night due to my awful neighbors! 
*Luckily they've checked out and have gone home!

So on with our day, and our first stop was at Hveragerði Regional Information Center where we saw about the exhibition The Skjálftinn Quake 2008. And got to see an earthquake crack in the floor thought to be 4-5,000 years old. SCARY!!!!

Next stop we were heading to was the Faxi waterfall, which is located on the Tungufljót river.

Well...our bus wouldn't start. So we had to sit and wait until they checked under the hood and eventually sent another bus our way to continue the tour.

The next stop was one that I was looking quite forward to, going to the highlands to visit the majestic waterfall Gullfoss - one of Iceland's most popular tourist attractions, and for good reason!

Gullfoss is in the river Hvítá, originating in the glacier lake Hvítávatn at Lángjökull glacier about 40km north of Gullfoss.
While rushing Glacial water is often brownish, since it carries lots of sediments that the glacial ice has carved off the earth. Gullfoss is called the "Golden Falls", since rumor has it that on sunny days the water plunging down the three step staircase and then tumbling in two steps down into the 32m deep crevice truly looks Golden. 
I cannot personally vouch for this, since it's been cloudy here in Iceland since we've arrived.

Next up was the Geysir Geothermal Field, where years ago 'Geysir' had retired, but he has pretty much retire. Yes they call it a HE! lol
The Great Geysir, was the first geyser described in a printed source and the first known to modern Europeans. 
In fact the English word geyser derives from Geysir. The name Geysir itself is derived from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush", the verb from Old Norse. 

Geysir lies in the Haukadalur valley on the slopes of Laugarfjall hill, which is also the home to Strokkur geyser about 50 metres south.

Eruptions at Geysir can hurl boiling water up to 70 metres in the air. However, eruptions may be infrequent, and have in the past stopped altogether for years at a time.

As for Strokkur - which is currently the most energetic spouting spring in Iceland. Spouting every few minutes, and sometimes reaching the height of 40m! 
He holds all the glory these days, and we stood and watched him spout. Standing in awe and fascination, staying and watching several eruptions, before continuing on. 
Keep in mind that I've also witnessed Old Faithful in Yellowstone, NP. There is actually much similarity between there and here in this Geothermal Field. And not just the stinky (sulfur) smell! lol

Our next and last stop was to Thingvellir National Park - we were taken alongside the lake Thingvallavatn and continued through the rift valley between the continental plates to Thingvellir National Park, the site of the first Icelandic parliament, Althing. Now the National Park is on the UNESCO World heritage list, and you should now by now how I'm a pretty big fan of UNESCO sites!!

*We also got to see hundreds of Brown Trout returning to the lake after spawning. It was unexpected and quite a site to see!

Lastly, you'll notice how I didn't mention us going on the Northern Lights Tour last night - it was cancelled again!! But so far we are totally on for tonight and no matter how tired any of us are, we have the energy to see this beautiful Phenomenon in the Sky! 

Shine Bright like a Diamond & Please vote for us!!

See ya back here for more fun tomorrow!
-T