Iceland Day 4 - The Golden Circle

We woke up pretty early on Monday morning with plans to see Iceland's Golden Circle - it is a park near the summer house with geysers and waterfalls.  Before we get to the Golden Circle, let's stop for a minute and talk about the sun never going down the entire eight days we were in Iceland.  It never got dark.  Not even for one minute.  It was weird.  And it was hard to sleep!  This is summer in Iceland.  In the winter, it only stays light for 2 hours a day.  Who knew?  Maybe you did, I did not. 

Beautiful little breakfast put together by Esra's momma.  

First stop was a geothermic area with the Strokkur geyser.  Esra got a good spot where I thought I could see if from the car, but his mother was not having it.  She went to a hotel and sent Esra to a gift shop looking for a wheelchair for me.  Esra came back with one and I was so excited.  

Yay for wheelchairs!  

This is Esra's mom, Kristin.

Steam coming out of the ground everywhere. Smelled of sulfur.

You wait around for five minutes or so and then this happens! 

It was very impressive! 

The thermal field on the way back to the parking lot.  Steam rising out everywhere. 

I was so grateful I could see the geyser up close..it was very cool.  

Next up in The Golden Circle was Gullfoss, one of the most spectacular waterfalls in Iceland.  I wanted to see it, but I knew there were stairs involved so I thought it wasn't likely.  We pulled up in our van and Kristin pulled up behind us in her car and said "Get in."  She told me there was an old parking lot down by the waterfall where she used to park.  She didn't know if it was open to the public or not, but she said we would act dumb and try to drive down there.  

I could see the top of the falls from the road.  It was open! 

Kristin parked in a handicapped parking spot really close!  She said "I don't have a handicapped card, but they will take one look at you and know we need this spot!" Ha, ha!

She helped me get over to the railing and it took my breath away.  

Here come the rest of the crew down the stairs! 

Look at this!!!!!!  It was spectacular! 

My main nurse!  I had to keep apologizing for being such a pain in the neck! 

The girls! 

The Icelandic princess that made this happen for me! 

Our crew!  

We drove a little further to a site called Pingvellir, Arnessysla where the North American and European tectonic plates meet and also may be the site of The Bloody Gate from Game of Thrones was filmed.  I haven't watched Game of Thrones, but this as a setting is pretty dang cool!  I could not traverse this rocky trail and stairs, but these pictures are amazing and you just need to see them!

The reports from my travel companions was that it was amazing to see!  So, if you have two working legs - do not miss this!  

We ended our afternoon at Glo for some delicious vegan food.  I had a spinach lasagna with sweet potatoes, some kind of corn mess and beets.  It was yummy.  Then there was coffee!  I parked myself on a comfortable couch while the rest of my crew did a little shopping.   

After that, we went back to our home base...the apartment on the third floor with no elevator!  I managed to navigate the stairs fairly well, with a fantastic bit of advice from my sister.  Good leg first going up, bad leg first going down.  It worked and was not too painful. 

Not going to lie, it felt great to get horizontal on a couch and ice and prop my leg up.  We had some amazing laughs that evening and I may have gotten into such a laughing uproar with Callie that I peed my pants. Not just a little bit either.  It was not my proudest moment, but my mobility was impacted and I was laughing so damn hard.  I was mortified, but I just needed to document this to remember that even with the knee challenges we laughed our butts off on this trip.  This moment was more hilarious than most.  I wish I could remember what we were laughing about, but it escapes me!  I do know that it didn't phase anybody.  I could hardly make eye contact with Brett the next morning, but we got through the awkwardness and he even washed my clothes for me.  In fact, he washed everyone's clothes all the dang time.  We called him the Laundry Czar!  He was awesome! 

Next up, we are headed to the Blue Lagoon bright and early in the morning and then back out to the country to visit Esra's grandparents up north!  Come back....you don't want to miss it!