Since our first trip out to the Icelandic countryside was so incredible, we couldn't wait to get out the next day and discover more! We decided that we would head south from Reykjavik down the Reykjanes peninsula, "where geology happens." If you fly into Iceland from America on a clear day, you will see the cliffs and the lava fields of the Reykjanes peninsula, as the city of Keflavik, home to Icelandair's main airport, is about halfway down the peninsula. (The name Keflavik, by the way, means driftwood bay. It is one of the places in the world where driftwood is carried by ocean currents and collects. This was a huge help to the Icelandic people, who, as we've seen, do not have too much in the way of trees around.)

you mean there's something here?

Shortly after passing Keflavik, we spotted these info signs, smack dab in the middle of a barren looking ash and lava field. They seemed to indicate that there were bird cliffs at the water's edge. We could see the water on the horizon and the fact that there was another car there, sans people, seemed like a good sign so we thought we'd hike out a bit and see if we could find them. Uh, the birds, that is, not the people. But then again, it'd be nice to see some other people out here - not ever seeing anyone else around makes it all even more weird!

cairns marked a little walking path through the basalt ash

This area was like a twenty minute walk from the car. The water had been obscured by a small rise in the land and we were sure that just over that ridge, we'd find the ocean, some cliffs, something.

But in Iceland, each ridge seems to lead to yet another whole-horizon-filling view of the same thing on the other side. In this flat landscape, there is just no way to tell how far away something really is. Without trees for scale, everything seems both closer and farther away. So, having absolutely no clue how far away the water was or even which direction was the best to go, we turned around at the enormous cairn you see there, added a rock of our own, and headed back to the car.

Back by the car, we found Uranus.

I KNEW we were on another planet!

Hubby speculated that the metal model was done at some specific scale and that the other planets were scattered around somewhere at the appropriate distance from each other, based on that same scale. Pleased to have found anything besides more lava and ash, we were eager to search for the other planets on our trip down the peninsula.

Our next stop was a planned one, the Bridge Across the Continents.

This little bridge is built across a, for Iceland, rather shallow ravine that marks a spot where the North American and the European continental plates are pulling apart at a rate of about 2cm (1 in) per year.

This rift here is not unusual (the plates are pulling apart right through the middle of the entire island - recall the giant ravine at Þingvellir). The only thing special about this place is that they've built a bridge here and put up a cute sign.

Because hubby and I are from these two different continents, we were suckers for this cheesy little sign and this quaint little bridge.

We continued down the same road in search of a lighthouse at the very tip of the peninsula (the site of Iceland's very first lighthouse built around the time of the American Revolution). A short way down from the bridge, we spotted... Saturn!

The landscape along the road had been becoming gradually harsher, with less moss, less ash and more and larger lava rocks. Saturn seemed to be right at a transition spot, with a small pond on one side in the still ashy ground and the beginnings of a darker, more ominous looking lava field on the left. This is so cool! It's like space exploration! But the best was yet to come.

now that looks positively extraterrestrial

Ju-pi-freaking-ter! We HAD to get out and climb around on this lava field. It was awesome. We walked out to the mound there on the left, which was a sort of crater with red and black rocks and even some green mossy patches within. We stopped there to take in the whole view, from the lighter lava fields we'd seen before, to the little pond by Saturn, then the ocean (that beautiful blue water looks so out of place in a landscape like this!) and finally back over the black Jovian lava field to the car, where we actually spotted another car driving on the road. More intergalactic travelers!

wanna visit Jupiter with me?

We picked up a little lava rock for each of the kids (one look at those and the photos we showed them of the geyser and they can't wait to come to Iceland!) and off we went to find the lighthouse and the view my guidebook promised us at the tip of the peninsula.

Okay, again, you just can't get a sense of how big this is! The large cliff there, which is called "Karl" or man, is over 150 feet high above the ocean. There is actually a tiny dot/person up there on the far left! Hubby was very excited to go up it. I, however, am mega scared of heights, so I only went halfway and photographed him from there.

It was so windy, I was sure I'd be blown to sea. Especially when hubby convinced me to go up the neighboring cliff, which although just as high, was much much wider so you weren't always at the cliff's edge. I had to sit down at the top and do calming breathing exercises, while hubby made a video of the view for me to look at later.

What a lovely view I missed: the lighthouse (rebuilt around 1900); some nearby steaming hot springs (back to these later); the ocean (which was crashing 100 feet below us); then way in the distance in the water, the cliff island of Eldey which is a massive bird refuge and was the home of the last of the Great Auks before they were killed off in the 1800's; then the lava fields behind us, which naturally include a power plant (where there is lava and hot springs, there is heat!); and finally the lighthouse again. We were so freaking high that the entire parking area, including a couple of tourist buses, was totally obscured by the cliff. I didn't look at anything but the grass until we were back down and finally looked up to see this at the bottom.

how appropriate: I was sure I was gonna die up there!

And then I felt an intense need to add a rock to a nearby cairn to thank the little rock people who looked over me while I was up there.

On our drive back along the crazy gravel road out to the lighthouse, we found ourselves at another hot springs area.

These hot springs areas all have this same look: mounds of red/white ground, discolored by all the minerals being released from beneath the earth's surface. Minerals like that stinky sulfur, which this place seriously reeked of. These rocks were super steamy and the wind was causing all the stinky steam to blow over one of the viewing bridges. Hubby said he wanted to go further and walked right off into the steam. He emerged again after a minute and told me I HAD to see. So I took one last deep breath of only seriously stinky air, pressed record on the camera and went to discover what was on the other side. Come see. I promise it will be worth it!

want to discover hot mud springs with me?

Boiling earth beneath you. Now, that is something! As amazing as it was, however, we had to get back in the car and get out of that air. We followed the narrow road some more and it led us straight past the power plant and to Earth.

Stop! It's another planet!

With Earth so small, we figured the other planets of the inner solar system must be very near. We walked back toward the power plant and there was Venus right at the entrance.

And just a lava rock's throw away in the other direction was Mars.

awesome Mars-scape

We never found Mercury or the sun. We wondered if maybe Mercury had been moved for the building of the power plant. Or perhaps, all these planets were leading up to the power plant and it was the sun. We didn't stop any longer to find out (after all this space travel, we were eager to make it to our final destination of the day!), but later research revealed that it was all part of an exhibit about the Big Bang and the power and energy of the Earth at the Reykjanesvirkjun power plant. The planets outside are a game set up in connection with that exhibit. Having missed the Sun, Mercury, Neptune and possibly Pluto, I'd say, we lost. But we had fun playing! And it got us out out of our car and into the crazy landscape over and over, which was a fascinating and surreal experience.

But now we were ready to relax! And how do you relax in Iceland? In a geothermal pool, of course. And if you are on the Reykjanes peninsula, you go to THE geothermal pool known the world-round, the Blue Lagoon. Which is literally a pool in the middle of a lava field.

want to drive through a lavascape to the blue lagoon?

They know how to make a dramatic entrance here! You walk down a path between massive rock walls.

And then you get your first glimpse of the water, which was originally formed from runoff water from the nearby power plant.

This water is kind of all over this area, forming this little pool in front of the building and even running up to the street. The swimming facilities are on the other side all separated off and made fancy and fabulous, but it's the same water. This light blue, opaque water, full of minerals, algae and silica, which is supposed to be v. good for your skin.

The pool is mahvelous, dahling. (And it should be for an entrance fee of 30 Euros a person.) The facilities are gorgeous and the water is divine. It's natural seawater heated in the Earth and then pumped over here at a heavenly temperature of about 37-39 C or 99-102 F.

There is a bar in the pool, where you can order sparkling wine or a blue lagoon cocktail (which I did, of course). They have a clever little system that allows you to charge your drinks (or snacks at an indoor cafe) to a wristband that you can wear in the water. You pay after you get changed and leave.

We didn't ever want to leave. We stayed at the Blue Lagoon for four hours until it closed at 9pm. We missed dinner, but we didn't care. It was so amazing relaxing in such heavenly water surrounded by such an out of this world landscape that you just never wanted to get out.

So I guess what I'm saying is, life on Mars is pretty good.

Stay tuned for even more posts about our trip to Iceland!