Epic Icelandic Road Trip: Part II

South Iceland

I already talked about the first half of my trip around Icelands Ring Road here. The second half of my epic Icelandic road trip features the Southern part of the island… which was honestly my favorite part. Don’t get me wrong, Iceland is an embarrassment of riches in terms of beauty… but I *loved* the sights during this part of our drive.

This part of Iceland arguable the more recognizable portion of the island, to tourists anyway, and it was interesting to see the increase is tourists the closer and closer we got to Reykjavik. Iceland has had a huge boom in tourism of the last few years (though the boom is slowing) and a lot of Iceland’s more wild places don’t have the infrastructure to handle the sudden increase in visitors.

I mention this as a photographer that really values Leave No Trace and ::stands atop a soap box:: sustainable recreation. Also, please, for the love. Don’t step on the moss. I feel like I want to tattoo this on some important part of my body like, I don’t know, my head, just to get the point across. I don’t want to be a party pooper but there are so many trails, roads, and idk, *parking lots* that are teaming with beauty, you don’t have to tread on the fragile moss or cross the trail barriers to get epic views.

Okay, rant over. The way we traveled was my favorite way; in a car, staying in off-the-beaten-path airbnb’s, and making our own food. Iceland can be fairly expensive so a way we cut costs was to grocery shop and cook our own meals (and also eat a lot of gas station hot dogs). We cooked a lot of pasta, grilled ham and cheese, home-made soup & salads, but there was something really cozy about sitting down with my found fam after a long day of adventures for a family dinner. One night after our salads and Rugbrød we sat on the porch and watched dozens of little lambs jump in and out of a hole.

No phones (except to take videos), no music. Just the faint bleating of sheep and our stifled giggles as these white lambs flung themselves into the mud over and over and over again. We sipped out tea and pulled our jackets tight. It was a quiet moment of our trip, not full of the might of glaciers or thundering waterfalls or coal black sand, but these quiet in-between moments often rank high on my list of favorite moments in trips.

This moment was no exception. I still laugh when I think of those lambs.

Also I’d like to give a shoutout to my husband Rob and good friend Emily. They were endlessly patient with my unrelenting picture taking.

And if you want to see more of Iceland, check out this epic Iceland Elopement.