Iceland at last
Hello everyone! It has been a while since I have written something. Just yesterday my family and I left for Keflavik, Iceland and we are now in Iceland. We flew out of Baltimore Washington Int. in the evening, and we did not arrive until 5:30am Icelandic time. Our plane was purple with white lettering just as I wanted!
I really never believed that we would do this trip that we had planned and here we are in Iceland! We began planning it in July and we left Sept. 9th.
Before the trip mom had told us that we might feel sick when we are going up and when we are coming down. I took that very seriously and was very worried that I would get sick and not feel good.
Our plane was late so we got to Iceland slightly later than expected. Jack, Bria, Landon, and I had the hardest time flying. :( I had it the worst. Ascending, my ears just kept popping and it hurt. Jack, Bria, and Landon all had about the same -mild discomfort.
Descending was even worse! Bria, Landon and I had it the worst on the way down, and Jack had a little popping but not as bad as Bria, Landon, and I had! After we got off the plane and were walking around I started to not feel good in the stomach too. ;(
When we got off the plane, we picked up our check bag and then we went looking for the people who we had rented our cars from. We found mom's car first and loaded all the bags in. Mom and us 4 kids went to try and get out of the airport. We did and then we waited for dad to get his car and catch up with us. From there we went to a Bakery for breakfast. The house that we had rented would not let us in until 2pm so after breakfast we just started to drive west and we stopped at a cave. The cave was very wet and COLD! Ever since we got off the plane it has been raining and windy and the wind made the air cold! The land was bare! There is nothing but rocks and grass. We think they are rocks? Iceland is also known for its volcanoes! So there are really big, big mountains!
We then drove through a small town and next we went to see what a supermarket is like in Iceland. Everything is in Icelandic. At lunch time we went to a little coffee shop and had pizza. It was really good, even though I had only one piece -still feeling sick. We went to a clothing shop to look around after lunch. We drove around town and went to the local supermarket to get some food to make dinner and some other random things. At 1:50pm we headed for our house that we are staying in. We got there and put things away and we are now resting and enjoying the house. Landon has been playing with the host family's son who is about Landon's age.
Day 2 in Iceland. We are still adjusting to Icelandic time. We all had a good night of sleep after a bad night of sleep on the plane. After a short morning of mostly sleeping in and walking around the farm, our day was filled with interesting things. At lunch time, Mom got the time from Louise (our host) to go horse back riding. Mom, Jack, Bria, Landon, and I went horse back riding for an hour and a half. It was a lot of fun! I had never ridden a horse before. First of all I loved the ride! Second my helmet was too tight, which gave me a head ache for half of the time we were out there. And third, I thought it was cold!
The horses have to have Iceland's special saddles. When we got on the horses our host Louise told us how to hold the reins right. You don't let much rein between you and the horses mouth. You also have to hold the reins tight so that the horse knows you're in charge. When you put your feet in the stirrups you don't put you feet in the whole way, because if you fall off your feet will then (hopefully) come out of the stirrups. If you have them in the whole way then if you fall your feet might keep you hanging. You keep your heels down, because if you bump the horse a little bit they think that you want them to go faster. My horse was very sensitive to my feet. When we were riding on the road my feet hit her side very, very lightly and she went a little faster. Some of the other horses were not sensitive when you kicked them.
Three people helped us with riding technique, safety on the ride, and led us around. First they saddled us up and took us out to the ring so we could get use to our horses. When we knew what we were doing and got a feel for the horse they led us out to the road. Down the road a little is another farm on that farm they train dogs for dog sleds. The dogs are so cut! They took us to the biggest river in Iceland, Oifusa River. The river is a mile or so behind our guest house. The horses that we were riding were Icelandic horses. Iceland has a law that their horses are not to be shipped out of Iceland. They choose to eat them sometimes to keep the population down. Yuck! I would not like to eat them. Ok then, enough of that. The horses behaved very well. (I think?) I had so much fun that when I got back inside I went to look up horses to buy. I plan to save money to buy a horse now.
The weather for today has been very nice. Low 50's and the sun has been out! Yay There is a little wind but not like yesterday. Yesterday was raining, windy, and freezing!
Sept. 11th for dinner we had a free dinner. We are still battling a bit of jetlag so being too tired to run to the store again for dinner ingredients, mom rooted out the cupboards to see what people had left behind. We had green beans, pasta, and a casserole. The casserole had lentils, rice, tomatoes, basil, salt, and garlic oil. It was really good.
I miss everyone back in the states, but I am having a great time out here too!