Iceland Day 8: Puffins, Crossing Streams, and Blue Dreams

By the end of the trip, I was getting a little nervous we would miss the puffins.  Kristen was confident we would see them at the Dyrhólaey Nature Reserve.  When we got out of the car, the winds were strong enough to hold us up while leaning into the wind.  It was wild and easily the strongest gusts of my life.  Spotting the puffins right away was thrilling and I probably squealed a whole lot.  We walked along the coast, watching the chubby birds fish and sea and come back to their cozy corners.  We are all really excited Cory and Kristen and a zoom lens and binoculars.

Dyrhólaey means "the hill island with a door hole."  While it was unique and interesting, the birds won for most exciting.

They are bigger in real life than I anticipated.

It was time to leave the Vik area and our goal was Pórsmörk in the southern highlands region.  Kristen told us in full disclosure that there would be stream crossings but I did not realize what that meant.  We very nearly turned around despite Brett's confidence we would not flood the engine, and Brady convinced us to stick it out and watch a car traverse the longest, deepest stream.  I felt like I was playing with matches under my mom's bed but everyone else seemed plenty confident.  We arrived with only 2 hours to hike, but the best hiking surprise of the trip awaited us.

We knew from all the research that Pórsmörk was the hiking mecca of Iceland.  We were once again caught off guard by the stunning vistas that are just steps away from gravelly, dull landscapes the entire way there.

It was also sinking in: these were our last moments of the trip.

I have some sensational hiking pictures now...

...because of all this effort, plus the other cameras!

My favorite trip photo.  Thanks, babe.

Loved all these charming signs.

Someday, we will go back, stay in the volcano huts, and hike to our heart's desire in this gorgeous canyon.

We left with our hearts full and grateful, off to celebrate a successful trip at the Blue Lagoon.

The experience seemed a little silly (and hot!), but ultimately I'm glad we did it.  I get major FOMO and Blue Lagoon is something every tourist checks off the list.

We had our last dinner, our last Icelandic candy pit stop, our last AirB&B, and our last time repacking the suitcase.  We were exhausted and satisfied, and spent the evening watching Katla and identifying areas in Vik.  We were also ready to see our kids--excited to play with them and hear all their updates.

2400 km traveled

56 hiking miles

6 compatible travel buddies 

Best vacation of my life.