I spent a great deal of time this month helping both boys start to pack up for college. Since both boys were busy with full time jobs, I figured they could use the help. After the rest of Peter’s new luggage came, I was able to start packing up their suitcases. I even cleared out and sold most of Peter’s furniture in preparation to have the room painted and set up as a guest bedroom. ​

​This month was bike heavy for sure as I got ready to race the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and prepare for the Double Bypass. I tried to sneak in as many runs as I could. I met with the Striders at Red Rocks and did hill repeats. On a separate day we did trail climbing on Red Mountain and Iron Mountain with a road tempo on the tail end of the run. I also ran a new route with Dionne and Caryn up the Sunrise trail. That was a lot of fun. The rest of the month was spent road biking up Gold Camp Road, mountain biking from Pulpit Rock to Austin Bluffs, a practice ride to the top of Pikes Peak, long rides on the Cottonwood Creek trail, and exploring and getting records on the 719 bike segment. I crushed the previous women’s record by 3 minutes and came in under 1 hour for the segment. It was a month of fun both on the bike and on the run.  

New Orleans can be done in 2 days, but one last thing that must occur when you are in the deep South is a trip into the Bayou. So, we got up, had breakfast, and headed east, just shy of the Mississippi border. We had a small boat tour of the East Pearl River and associated sloughs and bayou. It did not disappoint. It’s amazing how much life there is tucked into the grasses, bald cypress, water, and mud. From crawfish, to honeybees, to ducks, to pigs, racoons, alligators, and fish, there is a lot to see. It is a much different way of life than we are used to in super dry Colorado. Houses flood routinely, hurricanes threaten occasionally, and the humidity and heat never relent. It seems a distant world from the filth of New Orleans. It was fun to be in a different form of nature than we are used to in the mountains. There were lots more bugs and tons more water. The thought of our family living in a little cabin on the bayou makes me laugh. We wouldn’t last long.  
 
After the tour, we headed back to the city. On our way, we grabbed some po’ boys and our culinary trip to the south was complete. We went back over bridges and water to the city and our hotel. Thank goodness for nice hotels. Driving into the entryway is like arriving through the gates of the castle. It is a refuge from the world just outside in the streets. We rested a bit, then headed back to the airport for our evening flight. Then it was back to Colorado, reality, and the life we know. 

Written by Mike
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​Sunday arrived with a trip to church. The Brady family, who clearly was a big piece of this ward, decided to move to California and this was their farewell Sunday. It was an entertaining sacrament meeting and very much more diverse than anything we have attended in Colorado. After church, it was back to the WWII museum for the Pacific campaign and the planes. It was interesting to see the boys talk about their knowledge of Japan, the pacific, and relate it to the events of WWII.  I think that they could really feel the misery of jungle warfare, the tenacity of the Japanese, and the unforgiving nature of Naval Warfare from their experiences living in Japan and being a part of 7th fleet.  
 
After the museum, it was time for a New Orleans Sunday brunch. So, it was back to the French Quarter and off to Broussard’s where the boys had oysters for the first time, chicken and waffles, and I had Josephine Benedict.  The service was stellar and the food good. The boys really enjoyed their chicken and waffles.  
 
Sufficiently stuffed, the boys headed back to the hotel for a nap and refuge from the heat. I wandered around the shopping areas of New Orleans for a little bit, then headed back to the hotel. New Orleans and the WWII museum are a fitting mix. The WWII Museum shows the very best of mankind right beside the very worst of mankind. The depravity, vile disregard for life, lust for money and power that ushered the world into the misery of WWII brought out the heroism, charity, selfless sacrifice, and courage of so many. It is both a tribute to and a rebuke of humanity.  A reminder that we must strive for the best, extoll the good, and prevent the evil. New Orleans is much the same. There is no place on earth that exhibits the depravity and worst of humanity than Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. If sin has a smell, then it is the fetid odor that stifles the air of Bourbon Street. It is truly horrific. The sights, sounds, and smells remind you that humans will resort to their bassist most animalistic natures for what they perceive is a good time. But in the end, they are only trading their birthright for a mess of pottage. It is sobering to witness. The musical, culinary, and architectural delights are almost no match for the sewage which swills around it. It endures, but only if people chose the good and not the bad.  
 
On the other side, there is the Garden District and Commander’s Palace. It may seem a bit much to take an eighteen and a twenty-year-old to such an establishment, but it embodies Haute Cuisine and fine service. You would think eating at 8:45 pm was late, but the restaurant was packed with people. The immediate thing that you notice is the service. The service is impeccable. Everything about it is refined, thoughtful, and done in a way that dignifies the gust and does not demean them.    The second thing you notice are the happy faces of people enjoying wonderful food. No one is sitting around miserable, waiting, wondering, or wishing. Everyone is enjoying themselves. And what’s not to enjoy? The food is exemplary. Peter had turtle soup and Andrew and I had the gumbo.  For main courses we all had quail (you get a quail, you get a quail, you get a quail!). Peter said it was the best thing he had ever eaten. It was quite good. For dessert, Peter the bread pudding souffle, which is divine. I had the peaches and cream, and Andrew had the cookies n’ cream. Good food brings out good conversation and the evening was awesome. I am grateful that we could be together and enjoy an evening of laughs, tasty food, and excellent service. You can’t help but feel great after such an evening.

Written by Mike
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Getting up early to fly somewhere is always so painful, but when you have a limited schedule, sometimes, it’s all you can do. Before the boys went off to college, I decided to do a quick trip somewhere. But where to go? The boys are really into WW2 history and have lived in and studied both the major enemy countries. They are really into Jazz, Peter playing trumpet and Andrew playing trombone. They are really into good food. So, we decided on New Orleans, home of Jazz, the WWII museum, and tasty southern cuisine.  
 
Of course, we headed off on Frontier airlines, which was a little painful and certainly a little eye opening. It was the people’s flight. Lots and lots of unique, loud, and voluminous people. Once off the plane, we got our bag and then got on the rental car bus, which takes you on a 30-minute tour around the airport, to the old airport parking garage. It was not very glorious or efficient. The rental car folks still had printers from 1987, so that was interesting too. It’s like they took the entire airport and made it new and nice, except for the car rental people. They left them to perish by themselves. As if one day they are just going to open a new rental car place by the new airport and not tell anybody at the old place.  
 
Once in our California Camry, we headed directly to the WWII museum, parked, and then left for our first taste of goodness. The Cochon Butcher.  Just a couple blocks from the museum, the meats are delicious, the mac and cheese divine, and the Bavarian pretzels other worldly. A tasty way to start the day since we didn’t have breakfast in Denver. After lunch, we headed back to the museum and indulged ourselves in history. The WWII Museum is so well done, it’s just amazing.  It’s probably one of the best museums in the world in my opinion. There is so much information, so many interactive displays that you could spend hours pouring through all of it. It really is worth the journey. As a parent, taking kids to museums, they just kind of look around at some stuff and then ask when they can have ice-cream. Now, the boys were content to watch every video, read every placard, explore every nook and exhibit in the museum. It was a lot of fun. What was even more fun were the discussions that we had at dinner that night and later in the day as they drew comparisons to the lessons of WWII and current events. Fascinating.
 
After the museum, we hustled over to the hotel, dropped off our stuff, and then headed to Preservation Hall where we were entreated to Shannon Hall and the Preservation Hall All-Star band. Trumpet, Trombone, Drums, Bass, and Piano. So close. So good. So inspiring. To see musicians who have mastered the craft up close was a gift to the senses. The pianist’s forearm muscles were like the strings of a bass bounding and pulsating in a way that made his fingers resurrect music from the worn ivory keys of the upright. The trombonist smooth and powerful while the trumpet led everyone higher and higher with unapologetic grandeur. The drums and bass provided direction and confidence to the endeavor and for an hour we were reminded that somethings in life are best enjoyed in the moment.  
 
After the performance, we grabbed some Beignets at Café Du Monde and headed back to our hotel for dinner and more jazz. The boys had gumbo, truffle oil fries, Crawfish Fet toast, and shrimp and grits. Dessert was peach bread pudding and a smore’s board. After that, the only thing one could do is go to bed.  

​Written by Mike

The first day I got to the camp was a Sunday and we all went out on ran as soon as I got there. It was an easy run through the French Gulch Road trail. We also ran through a suburban neighborhood and kind of got lost. A few girls including Kira and myself accidentally came up through somebody's backyard. We did strides after then went inside. I shared a bed with Kira, and we let the non-natives get their own bed. As we all headed towards the bathroom to take a shower, we soon realized that the water pressure was broken and couldn't be fixed until the next week, so we headed to the recreation center to take showers. On Monday we ran hill repeats in the morning near Rainbow Lake. It was awful. For our afternoon workout we walked around Breckenridge and then did a 3-mile run along the Blue River. Our evening activity was spent playing barefoot soccer. Back at the house there was a pool table and we had fun playing pool at night. On Tuesday, we took the gondola up to the Peak 2 Peak trail and ran 8-9 miles. This was my favorite trail as it ran across Breckenridge. After we ran on that we headed towards a lake where we hung out. We played beach volleyball and then went and got ice-cream. On Wednesday, we did a small run around a lake that was pretty boring. Then we played beach volleyball again despite the lightning that was like 5 miles away. We left pretty soon after that. We were supposed to do the Summit Trail Running Series but because of the rain it was cancelled. We still ran it though but just with our group and I got lost and couldn't breathe due to my asthma, so everyone came looking for me. That sucked. That night we watched Olympic rowing and got cookies from a local bakery. On Thursday and Friday, we did long runs at Leadville Twin Lakes and Horseshoe Gulch. Saturday was our last day and we did a prediction run. I got pretty close to my time and was one of the first ones to choose some swag from the table. I choose a useless headband and I don't know why. Our coaches were Emily, Cal, and Thomas. We also had coach Lisa which is who I rode with the whole time. It was funny because her side door was broken and that became a running joke for the whole camp. We also had a kid from Alabama who couldn't stop falling on the trails and so that was pretty funny as well. It was overall a really fun experience and I'm grateful that I could participate in Kokopelli XC camp this summer.

​(Written by Emma)

We slept in on our final day in Iceland, slowly packed up our gear, said goodbye to our tranquil cabin, and headed back to Reykjavik. The best way to spend the last day on vacation is by relaxing in soothing waters. We booked a reservation at the Blue Lagoon and enjoyed the tranquility of this unique geothermal seawater. It truly was an otherworldly experience and is one of the 25 wonders of the world. After spending a few hours there soaking our tired bodies, trying on face masks, drinking our free sodas and slushies, we showered and headed for the airport. Thank you, Iceland, for such a magnificent vacation!

Since we had another red eye type of flight Madeline fell asleep for the last half of the flight and was dead asleep when we arrived in Denver. Mike had to carry her all the way through customs. It's a good thing she is a little thing!

​Off to get COVID tests! Since America doesn’t believe in science all the time, all travelers (vaccinated or not) have to have a negative COVID test to go back. We had made reservations ahead of time and so we drove back to Reykjavik to get tested. The testing center was very well organized. We got our barcodes scanned and they took out little family into a room and stuffed swabs in our nose. 30 minutes later we got an email with a certificate saying that we were COVID free. How tidy! Fortunately, we were all COVID negative.  
 
Since we were back in the Capital, we headed downtown to do some shopping and eat some fish and chips. Of course, we also had to get cinnamon rolls again from Brod and Company. We shopped a little, then took a bread break, then shopped some more. Madeline found the world’s longest hop-scotch board and a track to race down. After we were done shopping, we went to the fish and chips place we went to last time, but it was out of business, so we headed a little further down the street and got fish and chips. Madeline ate her fish with lemon. Mike got traditional Icelandic fish stew (plokkfiskur) with a piece of Rye bread. It was tasty too.  

After lunch, we tried out the museum, but that was a bit of a bust, so we headed over to Fly over Iceland which was a fun little Disney style attraction where you get to fly over the gorgeous vistas of Iceland in a big theater. It was a fun way to end our time in Reykjavik. We headed back to our cabin and got in the hot tub and sat and watched the waves, the birds, and the weather. It was a divine way to end the day.  

​More hiking! Today, we set-off from our quiet cabin to Skogafoss, which is one of the more impressive waterfalls in Iceland. The cool thing about it, is that the impressiveness of the giant waterfall at the base is just the beginning. After admiring its grandeur, we headed up the steep steps to the top and then off on the trail along the Skogar river. The actual trail goes all the way up to the Fimmvorduhals pass and is about 25 km long. We did about 4 miles up the trail and it blew our minds away. There are 27 major waterfalls along this trail, and they are all unique and breathtaking. Every turn and every time we crested the knoll of a hill, the views were awe inspiring. It’s like Iceland took every cool waterfall and canyon and put them on one trail for our convenience. Madeline crushed the hike. She is such an incredible little four-year-old. She never complains. She is ever so polite. She is creative and finds ways to entertain herself and those around her. It was a hoot hiking with her. We had lunch up on the trail, and then headed back down.  
 
Once back to the car, we decided to head a little further down the road to a famous canyon, Fjaðrárgljúfu.  The drive itself was miserably boring as the topography was very bland. Once we got there, it was like a who’s who of lazy, horrible tourists swarming for a photo. It was also 20 degrees warmer here and super sunny. The canyon was very meh in comparison to what we had just done. The problem is that Justin Bieber shot a music video here and people just flocked to it and then destroyed the area, so the government closed it for a while and then created a tourist path that doesn’t really allow you to enjoy the canyon. It would have been better if you could have walked along the canyon floor, but alas, Bieber has ruined yet something else for everyone.
 
After that, we drove back to Vik and had dinner at a really good burger place called Smidjan Brugghus. The burgers were tasty, and they had Nutella covered French fries with powdered sugar on them. Not sure if that would be good, we can attest to its divinity.  
 
Since Vik sits next to the black beach, we headed down there for a quick visit to the sea. It was windy and foreboding at Reynisfjara Beach, but the basalt cliffs were pretty cool. Iceland is very grandiose when the skies are overcast and the wind blowing. It makes you want to go back to your cabin on the lake, snuggle up with a blanket and watch the wind blow across he lake. So that’s what we did.

​Back in the car! We packed up our stuff, cleaned up our little apartment and headed down the hill back into town. We stopped by a bakery and they had truly wonderful stuff. It was hard to chose! We got sandwiches for lunch, doughnuts for the girls, and a bear claw about the size of an Icelandic Horse. The funniest thing was the girl at the counter looked like a model, but she was a SOUR apple. She was clearly not going to win any service awards. I have to say, that everywhere we have gone on this trip, the vast majority of people we have interacted with at stores have been teenagers. Sometimes, really young teenagers. The gas stations, gift ships, bakeries, ice-cream shops, grocery stores, coffee shops all seem to be run by teenagers with no apparent adults. I’m beginning to wonder if there was some kind of coup d’états during COVID wherein all the adults were banished to Grimsey island. Anyway, after the bakery we went to the grocery store, got gas, then headed out on the ring road. 

The initial part of the drive was gorgeous and the mountains stunning. For some reason, the weather in the North of Iceland is warmer than the South. We drove for a couple of hours and then stopped for lunch in Blonduos. Mike cleaned the car windshield with the free hose/brooms that they have at all the gas stations and then we stopped at a park to play and eat. Every park here seems to have a big trampoline pad and there are lots of slides and ziplines. Madeline had a blast while we ate brie and grapes and our sandwiches from the bakery.  
 
Following lunch, we headed up the coast on a gravel road to Hvitserkur and saw the dragon drinking from the ocean. It was really pretty cool and it was fun to walk on the black sand in the ocean. The cliff trail going down to the ocean was silly steep and slippery and Mike fell while holding Madeline. He fell straight on his back and Madeline popped right out of his arms, like a fumbled football. Fortunately, instead of falling off a cliff, she landed in a cozy bed of moss and shrubs. Abby was the only other one to take off her shoes and walk out into the ocean, so she earned bonus awesome points.
 
Following the drinking dragon, we headed back down the road. This part of the drive was pretty boring and having driven it once is likely enough. The ring road is narrow, there are lots of slow camper vans and the drive gets rather tedious. We would recommend flying to the North and renting a car there for any future adventures. Gas isn’t cheap in Iceland and there isn’t too much to see on the way back down other than some cool waterfalls. 
 
About 6:00pm we rolled up to the cabin on the lake by Thingvellir. It was stunning. The sun was in the west, the lake was glistening, and we were no longer driving. Madeline enjoyed naming all the gnome statues and Abby found a secret path from the back deck to a hidden dock on the lake. Mike made tacos and everyone just relaxed and enjoyed the endless sunset.

​A little sleeping in doesn’t hurt when you’re on vacation, so we didn’t get started today until about 9:00am, which was nice since we had been getting up early the other days.  We headed out of town and started up the hill and had to stop to see the beautiful view of Akureyi. It really is a picturesque town nestled at the foot of the mountains with the water in the foreground. What a beautiful place!
 
We then headed out on the Diamond circle, or so they call it. We first went through a 7km tunnel, which was pretty cool, and then we drove up through Husavik, the whale watching capital of the North, and were awed by the views of the mountains and the Fjords. We headed North out of Husavik along the ring road and Mike discovered how to use the cruise control, which made the whole trip of 317 km much easier. It was fun to see the countryside and the vistas did not disappoint. We stopped at the overlook at Oxarfjordur and it was probably one of our favorite spots of the day. The cliffs were fantastic, and the puffins and fulmars nestling on the cliff edges, then catching updrafts and soaring around were awesome.  There is just something wonderful about staring out at the sea.  
 
From the Ocean, we headed deeper into Vatnajokull National Park and found our way to Asbyrgi canyon.  The canyon was either formed by glacial flooding, or when Odin’s horse, Sleipnir accidentally touched the earth here with a misplaced hoof so the legend is told. Either way, it’s a very different landscape here. The hike in the forest was dense with birch trees, artic thyme (small purple flowers), and ferns. There were also a lot of different birds and ducks than we had previously seen. Madeline enjoyed howling in the canyon and hearing the echo. It was definitely different than the endless cascade of waterfalls.
 
From there, it was on to Dettifoss, which stands in sheer magnitude as one of the great waterfalls around. The landscape is drastically different than the pastoral landscapes that abound. It was like being on the surface of the moon. Madeline pretended the sand was lava and hopped from rock to rock. The waterfall itself is voluminous and impressive. It was interesting to see the green cliffs on the Western shore from the spray. Everywhere else was desolate. There is another waterfall just upstream (Selfoss), which on its own would be a destination waterfall, but is dwarfed by the turbulent and noisy Detifoss less than 800 meters away.  
 
Saturated by waterfall viewing, we headed to something a little different, the boiling mudpots outside of Lake Myvatn. This had to be the best stop of the whole trip. It smelled like someone had taken a bunch of used diapers, set them on fire, then dumped raw sewage on it. It was horrifying and awful wrapped in a cloak of misery. The smell stayed with us for the next few hours. Why anyone would want to endure more than 30 seconds of this place, is a question I would like answered. Thank you Hverir!
 
After the mud pots, it was on to the lake where we walked around some cool green mounds and admired the vista. Lake Myvatn seems like a cool lake, but the gnats and flies there were relentless which must make for long and annoying days by the shore. Madeline fell and scuffed up her hands while running down a hill. The natural remedy, of course, was ice-cream, which was rather delicious and mostly devoid of flies.  
 
With our trip around the circle almost complete, we headed to our last stop, the magnanimous Godafoss.  Rumored to be the waterfall where the king threw in his pagan idols and adopted Christianity, the falls themselves are certainly a great setting for any kind of lore. The river, the falls, the grassy banks are spectacular.  We enjoyed the various views and the sheer power of this beautiful area.  
 
From the falls, we headed back to Akureyri for some fish and chips, only to find that the fish and chips store had closed. So we headed back to our apartment for some oven pizzas, French fries, and more ice-cream.  It was a delicious end to an adventurous day.

Happy Birthday Mike! Let’s get up and go look for whales! So, we drove up the coast to Dalvik and got on a boat with one other family and sailed out into the Fjord and the North Atlantic. There were lots of puffins to see, dolphins, and one lonely Minke whale. They say they call them stinky Minky because sometimes they have a bit of an odor, and I guess that is true because there was a bit of a stink to the Minke. Unfortunately, we saw no humpback whales on this trip, but maybe in the next 45 years or so. The crazy thing was all the waterfalls coming off the cliffs into the sea. Iceland is really the land of waterfalls. It’s stunning that everywhere you turn, there is another river, another waterfall, and another little stream. It’s amazing.
 
After whale watching, we went to a little park in the forest south of town, had cheese, grapes, and crackers and watched Madeline go down a slide about 200 times. She is an endless ball of energy and adventure.  
 
We then headed down to the Christmas store and bought a little ornament and then headed up to the Polar Hestar riding stables. The drive was gorgeous and it seemed like an endless parade of farms and fields at the base of the mountains. This country is truly gorgeous in the summer.
 
Once at the stables, Madeline played with the lambs and dogs while we waited for our horses to get ready. We then headed off down the road on our horses. Even little Madeline was riding along on her own horse right next to one of the guides. The Icelandic horses have a gear that other horses don’t have called the tolt. It was pretty fun to experience that and then ride up into the mountains. It was stunning country with a river coming through a canyon, mountain on every side with a Fjord at their base to the east. The mountain pastures were full of sheep and brand-new lambs (some just 1 week old!). It was an amazing ride with cool guides from Germany and Iceland. They were great with Madeline, and everyone had a good time. At the end, we had hot chocolate, cakes, and cookies. The only bad part was the price, which totally escaped Mike’s conversion capabilities. Sometimes, when travelling overseas, you don’t realize the price until it’s too late. This was one of those cases. A steep lesson for a seasoned traveler, but one that will not be forgotten. After that, we had dinner at the apartment, showers, and an early night. Off to more adventures tomorrow! 

The Icelandic people really love their licorice

Happy Independence Day America! We celebrated by eating a mondo breakfast at the hotel. It was Euro-fantastic. Once we were gorged, we packed up our gear into the cube and headed out to the Northern Island! 
 
On our way, we stopped at Glymur waterfall (the 2nd highest waterfall in Iceland) for a leisurely walk up a death-defying mountain with two perilous river crossings and death at every turn! It was totally up our alley. The first little bit was pretty easy, but then we had to go through a cave, and down the slope to the river where there was a really sketchy log river crossing. Of course, the water was super high, so there was some bonus traversing to be done. Abby screamed the most, and Madeline held on for dear life. Fortunately, no one fell in. 
 
After the river crossing, we headed up, up and up the steep slopes toward the waterfall. Madeline was a trooper and held onto the ropes on the steep parts, and our hands during the other really steep parts. It was kind of like Angels’ landing in Zion’s National Park except wet and slippery and a lot more Russian tourists.
 
The hike up was staggering and the beauty immersive. The waterfall did not disappoint, and the canyon was breathtaking. It’s hard to capture places like this with photos or videos because the feeling of the damp air on your face, the wind in your hair, and the exhilaration of standing on the edge of a cliff combine into a truly intense experience.  
 
Once we gained the top of the falls, we crossed the river in our water shoes (yippee for planning!).  The water was cold, and we saw another person slip and lose their backpack down the river and over the falls. I imagine that canyon is a veritable treasure trove of stuff that people lose in the river. We hiked back down the other side and made it back to our car with only some dirty butts and sore feet. Our little 4-year-old Madeline hiked the entire 4.7 miles with 1250 ft of climbing all by herself, with the exception of being carried through the river crossings and a few dangerous rocky scrambles. Once back in our Peugeot box, we made PB&J sandwiches and headed north.  
 
The drive north to Akureyri was very pastoral and the ring road is a marvel of narrowness. Driving that in bad weather is not to be underestimated, but we had good weather and made it to our rental apartment without too much drama. Then Mike headed out to get groceries and hot dogs for dinner (so that we could be at least a little American on the 4th). The amazing thing is that since the sun stays up until about 12:45am, you really can get a heck of a lot done in the evening.  

Madeline was NOT a fan of all the gnats

Flying out of Denver is never that much fun. It’s a long way to the airport, and the traffic from the I-25 gap project doesn’t make it any easier to get there. But after sitting in traffic in Larkspur, we finally made it to the airport. However, we didn’t anticipate that everyone from Colorado was going to be travelling this 4th of July. The parking lot we usually use was full, so we had to make a mad dash for another place, but it was terrible, so we finally just had to suck it up and park at the airport. Of course, parking was just the start of the lines. The line for Iceland Air was long as well. Fortunately, we waited behind some Denverites who were headed to Iceland as well, so it was entertaining listening to them. Security wasn’t too bad, and we made it to our gate just in time to start boarding. It must be said, that Icelandair is great overall for a discount airline. The flight was easy and pretty comfy overall.
 
Somewhere, over the Atlantic we popped forward a day and landed in Iceland at 6:20am. Everyone got a little sleep, but none more than Madeline who got to lay down and sleep for most of the flight. The airport in Keflavik is kitschy, but the boarder control line was ridiculous. Somehow, we made it through it relatively quickly. We had our passports, COVID-19 cards, and documents ready to go. Once through customs, we fiddle faddled until Sara asked someone where our car rental company pick-up was located. We got in a van and headed to the Dollar car rental place and picked up our box (as Emma liked to call it). Considering the absolute lemon we rented last time we were in Iceland, this was a veritable Porsche. Fortunately, all our suitcases and Madeline’s car seat fit inside without any problems.
 
With everyone and everything loaded, we headed to the Hilton in Reykjavik where we dropped off our suitcases since our room wouldn’t be ready for another 8 hours. After dropping off our gear, we headed to the downtown area for a bite of breakfast. We thought about going to a swanky place, but the line was silly, so we headed to our old staple Braud and Co. With croissants and cinnamon rolls in hand we saw Leif Erickson’s statue by the church and then headed off to the zoo.
 
It turns out the zoo was more of a who’s who of Iceland petting zoo with a fair number of carnival rides. It was a lot of fun for totally jet lagged travelers. There were seals, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, reindeer, artic foxes, and pigs. That’s it. It was basically a collection of farm animals and seals. Seems about right. The rides were fun and there was a great playground for Madeline. Abby and Emma did some thrill rides while Madeline and Mike did the most Euro-cringey carrousel ever imagined. It was great. For some reason, Madeline had more energy than is reasonable and basically dragged us around. Emma demonstrated that she can’t do a hamster wheel and we caught it on video, ouch!
 
After the zoo/amusement park, we headed to the botanical gardens and walked around for 5 minutes but realized that our delirium was worse than we realized so we headed back to the car. From there, we went to the mall, because if you haven’t been to a mall in Iceland, then you haven’t lived. We got some lunch there and realized that malls in Iceland are about as awesome as malls in America.  
 
After slumming it at the mall, we decided that driving wasn’t safe, so we headed back to the hotel and fell asleep in the lobby until our room was ready. After that, we crashed hard in our rooms for three hours, then got up and headed out again. We got dinner at this cool hamburger joint. The guy behind the counter advised us to try the special Icelandic sauce for our fries. So, we took our meal to the park by the lake downtown and ate our hamburgers under a tarp of gnats. It turns out that the special Icelandic sauce is fry sauce. So, I guess someone from Utah taught the people in Iceland about French fries. It was delicious.  
 
After dinner, we went down to the lighthouse and walked on the ocean and let Madeline throw rocks back into the sea. At about 10:30pm, we headed back to the hotel, with the sun still shining brightly and fell asleep.

We laughed so hard when we saw this shirt. It was a little how we were feeling after being so sleep deprived from missing an entire nights sleep. And we were delirious so there's that.