Iceland

On March 9, 2020, I started a new job at my existing employer. Since I was winding down the older job, I took off a few days at the end of the prior week and dashed off to Iceland for a quick photo expedition.

You can see some of the best photos here.

It was an unusual time to be traveling, as it turned out. The COVID-19 pandemic was just starting in Washington state and had not yet resulting in any mass “stay at home” orders. However, on March 4 (the day I departed for Iceland), Amazon (my employer) issued its own “work from home if possible” directive. During the trip, the airports had signs telling you to call the Iceland health authority if you had symptoms, but they were not enforcing any strict social distancing measures.

A fence full of bras on Highway 1 in southern Iceland

As it turned out, I was pretty isolated the entire time myself. I arrived on early Thursday morning, picked up a rental car, and headed up the Snæfellsnes peninsula, stopping along the way when the sun rose to take pictures. Iceland, it turns out, has a variety of weather. In the morning, it was beautiful, cloudless, and almost no wind. As I headed north across the peninsula, it started blowing snow across the road, and by the time I arrived at Kirkjufell, it was snowing buckets. When I started to head back to Reykjavík after taking pictures, the road I came in on had been closed because of the weather, so I took another road back. This time, the wind was howling around 60MPH and visibility was only 20 feet or so. Luckily, I came across a snow plow and followed him for about 14 miles. By the time I reached the southern side of the peninsula, things had calmed down a bit.

The next day, I visited Þingvellir National Park, and it was another stunning, cloudless day. I headed toward Gulfoss waterfall and, while the weather was still beautiful, it was extremely windy and very, very cold (the sort of cold where your cheeks and nose grow numb after three minutes’ exposure). Heading back, I stopped to see the Geysir geysers and then turned south towards Selfoss.

On Saturday, I went back towards Selfoss to see Seljalandfoss (any name that ends in “-foss” is a waterfall, by the way), Skogarfoss, and the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Heading back along Highway 1, I ran across a fence full of bras (see image).

Sunday was a short day, so I spent it in Reykjavík with a brief drive out of town before I headed to the Keflavik airport and then home.