Here's the second part of our trip to rural Iceland! You can read part I HERE, our time at the Blue Lagoon HERE, and the first leg of our vacation in Reykjavik, Iceland HERE.
First, a quick word on how we get these amazing travel opportunities. Many years ago, Brad started researching credit cards and found that several offer huge amounts of Aeroplan points when you sign up. If you're able to be very responsible in paying off your credit cards in full every month (as to avoid interest and a poor credit rating), it's a great way to amass enough points to travel the world for almost nothing! Read his post for more details. It's a little complicated, but SO worth it for free flights for our whole family!
I loved this trip for the amount of times it caused us to face fears. I'd say I was afraid at least once every day, and how much better we were for it! It was exhilarating to do something that frightened us and to see our little ones challenging themselves. Again and again we'd look at one another and say, "this is our kind of vacation!" One such event was definitely spelunking as a family! Aka cave exploring. Brad did a lot of research to see which ones would be safe enough for our crew, but like everything, there's always risk. It was so rewarding to complete a kilometer of an underground cave with our little ones! We were insanely proud of them and even of ourselves for coaching them through it and believing that our little family could have a great time there. Kid-friendly vacation is kind of a state of mind, we think. In many ways this was the most kid-friendly activity - no lines, free, outdoors, no noise limits, nothing breakable - but of course a lot of people might think we're crazy! We're ok with that :)
At the end of every day we loved coming home to our little Airbnb. It was a two bedroom log cabin with an outdoor bathtub (read: not exactly a hot tub, but still awesome considering it was usually around 10-15 degrees out!). It was so cozy and the perfect location about an hour's drive from every major destination we wanted to see. Our place didn't have laundry, which made our capsule wardrobes that we brought extra crucial. Our kid's mainly wore Luv Mother merino wool layers, which saved the day! Especially in the weather which was often windy and wet, they were so cozy and dried quickly. I'm a big fan of buying quality over quantity, an ideology that is wholly embraced in Iceland where everyone has one single wool sweater that doubles as a coat and is worn daily. The merino layers and sweat pants were the perfect Iceland uniform, and now that we're back, they're pretty darn great for Montreal too!
On a drive to see the epic water fall Skogafoss, we pulled over to explore some rock formations that made a bunch of above ground caves. When we started walking we realized the ground was covered in the spongiest moss. It felt like carpet! We ended up spending an hour just wandering around. It was truly the greatest playground!
The drives to all of our destinations were just so stunning, they could have been destinations in themselves.
Stay tuned for more waterfalls, geysers, and Iceland frolicking tomorrow :) Last one, I promise!
/// In this post:
Baby carrier - Beco Gemini (purchased HERE)
Kid's clothing - Luv Mother (15% off with THIS link!)
My poncho - Swimms (purchased HERE)
My boots - Hunter (purchased HERE)
First, a quick word on how we get these amazing travel opportunities. Many years ago, Brad started researching credit cards and found that several offer huge amounts of Aeroplan points when you sign up. If you're able to be very responsible in paying off your credit cards in full every month (as to avoid interest and a poor credit rating), it's a great way to amass enough points to travel the world for almost nothing! Read his post for more details. It's a little complicated, but SO worth it for free flights for our whole family!
I loved this trip for the amount of times it caused us to face fears. I'd say I was afraid at least once every day, and how much better we were for it! It was exhilarating to do something that frightened us and to see our little ones challenging themselves. Again and again we'd look at one another and say, "this is our kind of vacation!" One such event was definitely spelunking as a family! Aka cave exploring. Brad did a lot of research to see which ones would be safe enough for our crew, but like everything, there's always risk. It was so rewarding to complete a kilometer of an underground cave with our little ones! We were insanely proud of them and even of ourselves for coaching them through it and believing that our little family could have a great time there. Kid-friendly vacation is kind of a state of mind, we think. In many ways this was the most kid-friendly activity - no lines, free, outdoors, no noise limits, nothing breakable - but of course a lot of people might think we're crazy! We're ok with that :)
At the end of every day we loved coming home to our little Airbnb. It was a two bedroom log cabin with an outdoor bathtub (read: not exactly a hot tub, but still awesome considering it was usually around 10-15 degrees out!). It was so cozy and the perfect location about an hour's drive from every major destination we wanted to see. Our place didn't have laundry, which made our capsule wardrobes that we brought extra crucial. Our kid's mainly wore Luv Mother merino wool layers, which saved the day! Especially in the weather which was often windy and wet, they were so cozy and dried quickly. I'm a big fan of buying quality over quantity, an ideology that is wholly embraced in Iceland where everyone has one single wool sweater that doubles as a coat and is worn daily. The merino layers and sweat pants were the perfect Iceland uniform, and now that we're back, they're pretty darn great for Montreal too!
On a drive to see the epic water fall Skogafoss, we pulled over to explore some rock formations that made a bunch of above ground caves. When we started walking we realized the ground was covered in the spongiest moss. It felt like carpet! We ended up spending an hour just wandering around. It was truly the greatest playground!
Skogafoss was every bit as breathtaking as we thought it would be. Standing at the bottom was my favourite. We definitely got wet, but it was too much grandeur to not experience for the price of staying dry :) Hiking up was no joke. I had Clover in the Beco Gemini all the way up! We passed an American family with slightly older kids and the dad took one look at us and says, "Stud!" haha! And then he gave us an applause as he walked down the thousand stairs. Not going to lie, it was crazy affirming. We had a picnic at the top with the kid's favourite Icelandic food - Skyr! It's like Greek yogurt but thicker, less sugar, and more protein. We really loved the hike and just seeing the glorious creation up close.
Stay tuned for more waterfalls, geysers, and Iceland frolicking tomorrow :) Last one, I promise!
/// In this post:
Baby carrier - Beco Gemini (purchased HERE)
Kid's clothing - Luv Mother (15% off with THIS link!)
My poncho - Swimms (purchased HERE)
My boots - Hunter (purchased HERE)
Just a heads up about the moss!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.iceland.is/arts-culture/news/dont-step-on-the-moss/11945/
oh my goodness, thank you for sharing! We had no idea! There weren't any signs saying not to go on the moss, nor even a rope sectioning it off. We just pulled over and went out to explore. Rest assured though that our kids didn't pull any moss up or dig into it or anything. Nothing like those campers would have done with their tends and vehicles :)
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