In September 2007, we traveled to Iceland. Why? I have a good friend who grew up there and the stories he tells convince me it's beautiful. Additionally, I belong to a photographers' forum where there are a number of Icelanders. Their photos are fantastic. Plus I've never been there. And lets face it, at cocktail parties, who gets the greater wow factor: someone who just returned from Oakland; or someone who just returned from Iceland? Not that there's anything wrong with Oakland mind you, it's just a place holder. Feel free to fill in the destination of your choice.
And it is beautiful, full of resourceful and self-reliant people. We landed in Reykjavik, rented a small Suzuki 4-wheel-drive, and drove around the country. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the trip.
And it is beautiful, full of resourceful and self-reliant people. We landed in Reykjavik, rented a small Suzuki 4-wheel-drive, and drove around the country. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the trip.
The red dots correspond to stops where I took pictures, and the gray line to our driving route.
We were gone about 3 weeks, driving about 1,800 miles (3,000 km). We were told the "ring road" was completely paved. We were misinformed! In general the speed limit on paved highway is 50 mph and normal speeds were about 10 over the limit. This works fine until the road suddenly switches from asphalt to washboard gravel. At that point, I'd struggle to remain in control of the car and we'd drop to maybe 25 mph. Sometimes much less.
There are summertime roads through the interior but our little Suzuki wasn't up to it. We did get off-road a fair bit to see some of the things that were interesting ... but the driving in those cases wasn't much fun. My wife and I had different strategies for these rough roads. My strategy was to go slowly enough so that we went up one side of the bumps and down the other. Her strategy was to go fast enough so we'd jump from bump-top to bump-top. Her strategy was the one I eventually adopted reasoning, "it's a rental!"
We were gone about 3 weeks, driving about 1,800 miles (3,000 km). We were told the "ring road" was completely paved. We were misinformed! In general the speed limit on paved highway is 50 mph and normal speeds were about 10 over the limit. This works fine until the road suddenly switches from asphalt to washboard gravel. At that point, I'd struggle to remain in control of the car and we'd drop to maybe 25 mph. Sometimes much less.
There are summertime roads through the interior but our little Suzuki wasn't up to it. We did get off-road a fair bit to see some of the things that were interesting ... but the driving in those cases wasn't much fun. My wife and I had different strategies for these rough roads. My strategy was to go slowly enough so that we went up one side of the bumps and down the other. Her strategy was to go fast enough so we'd jump from bump-top to bump-top. Her strategy was the one I eventually adopted reasoning, "it's a rental!"
The red dots correspond to stops where I took pictures, and the gray line to our driving route.
We were gone about 3 weeks, driving about 1,800 miles (3,000 km). We were told the "ring road" was completely paved. We were misinformed! In general the speed limit on paved highway is 50 mph and normal speeds were about 10 over the limit. This works fine until the road suddenly switches from asphalt to washboard gravel. At that point, I'd struggle to remain in control of the car and we'd drop to maybe 25 mph. Sometimes much less.
There are summertime roads through the interior but our little Suzuki wasn't up to it. We did get off-road a fair bit to see some of the things that were interesting ... but the driving in those cases wasn't much fun. My wife and I had different strategies for these rough roads. My strategy was to go slowly enough so that we went up one side of the bumps and down the other. Her strategy was to go fast enough so we'd jump from bump-top to bump-top. Her strategy was the one I eventually adopted reasoning, "it's a rental!"
We were gone about 3 weeks, driving about 1,800 miles (3,000 km). We were told the "ring road" was completely paved. We were misinformed! In general the speed limit on paved highway is 50 mph and normal speeds were about 10 over the limit. This works fine until the road suddenly switches from asphalt to washboard gravel. At that point, I'd struggle to remain in control of the car and we'd drop to maybe 25 mph. Sometimes much less.
There are summertime roads through the interior but our little Suzuki wasn't up to it. We did get off-road a fair bit to see some of the things that were interesting ... but the driving in those cases wasn't much fun. My wife and I had different strategies for these rough roads. My strategy was to go slowly enough so that we went up one side of the bumps and down the other. Her strategy was to go fast enough so we'd jump from bump-top to bump-top. Her strategy was the one I eventually adopted reasoning, "it's a rental!"
