Leifur Eiriksson, the reason we made it to Iceland in the first place.

A picturesque lighthouse on the shores of Reykjavik

Fishing ships in the Harbor

Hallgrimskirkja Church: One of Reykjavik's main attractions (currently under renovation)

The Pearl: Holds all of the city's hot water that is pumped from the geothermal power plant

Our Final Gooddbye

This is our last night in Iceland, we have been here in Reykjavik for the last 2 days. It has been nice to be a regular tourist, relaxing, sightseeing, and buying souvenirs of course! We are even starting to heal; we aren't limping or walking hunched over any more. We will head out tomorrow for the airport which is about an hour away from the capitol, so we will be spending the rest of our time packing, hoping we are under the weight limit for out bags! We thought we would put up a few pictures from around town just to show you some of the sights. The real reason for this post however, is to thank you all for supporting us along the way. It was nice knowing everyone back home(s) was thinking of us and reading along so intently. Thanks again.

Thingvellir; Site of the World's first Parliament and the western most extent of continental rifting in Iceland.

Geysir; The original geysir, after which all others are named

Gullfoss; Iceland's most impressive waterfall

Ash flow engulfing a barn along the southern coast

Sea stacks along southern coast

Svartifoss; glacial run-off in Skaftafell National park cascading over columnar jointed basalt

Vatnajokull; largest glacier in Europe

Icebergs that didn't quite reach the ocean

Jokulsarlon; glacial lagoon where icebergs calve off the glacier and begin their journey to the sea. (scenes from James Bond and Tomb Raider have been filmed here)

Yes, we are still here!

We finished all we could in Akureyri and decided to take a scenic tour of Iceland along the Ring Road. The trip has allowed us to see some of the most amazing scenery Iceland has to offer along its southern coast. We hiked around everything from glaciers to active volcanoes, with a little Icelandic history mixed in. It was nice to take some relaxing time knowing that we didn't have to go right back up the ridges. For now we are in Rekjavik, sightseeing, before we leave on Tuesday for Boston. We thought we would share some of the hundreds of pictures we took in the past few days. Our poor cameras have been working overtime, but we have been trying to capture every little thing along the way. Hopefully you will enjoy seeing something other than the same old ridges around Akureyri, I know we did!

Mountain-top view

Reached the end of the rainbow, but no rhyolite to be found; just a pot filled with shiny metal...

Lambi Hut; our home for a night
Inside the Hut (sleeps 6) Jason forging the river to collect rhyolite; Now that's determination!

The End is In Sight

We have had 3 very productive days since returning from our mini vacation. We finally accomplished a major 2-day hike that we have been putting off since we first started. We have been putting off the hike only because we knew how much it would hurt to carry the rocks out when we finished it, and we were right! Overall, the hike went pretty well, though I was a little damp, but not from the rain (see photo). Not even the fog kept us from working, though when your already on the ridge when it rolls in, you don't have a choice.
We were also able to check off another ridge from our list, and are now only left with 2 more. If the weather cooperates, we should be able to get up both of these ridges and be able to check all of our goals off by the middle of the week. If this schedule works out, it will give us a little extra time to spend in other parts of the country. The return trip to Rekjavik is the key motivator these days as we are pretty worn out and, in my case, kind of beaten up (sometimes the mountains fight back when you hammer on them).
We are tired but excited to finally relax and look back on our accomplishments. We are close to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Myvatn Trip

We decided to get out of town for a few days, just to take a breather before finishing everything up this week. The trip was to a volcanic lake and a few lava fields that are just a few hundred kilometers to the East, and lie directly on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a large rift in the crust where the Earth's plates are being pulled apart. Normally this takes place on the ocean floor, but in Iceland it is all above sea level. In the Northern Volcanic Zone, where we were, the rift is represented by a wide region of active volcanoes and lava fields. These features create interesting surface features and great rock exposures for us volcanologists. We think the pictures seem to speak for themselves. If you have any questions, post comments and we will answer them for ya!