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COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD 24 | THE COLONY NEWS | OCTOBER 2021 | SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS By Kathy Sullivan My daughter and I had planned this great trip to Africa and for the 2nd year it was canceled due to COVID. Iceland on the other hand is open to all visitors. Everyone that has been there raves about the spectacular beauty. What is so special about Iceland? Iceland was designed by volcanos and shaped by glaciers. Because there are several active glaciers, Iceland is blessed with sheer basalt cliffs endowed with waterfalls, from trickles to the largest waterfall in Europe. There is an active volcano that is spewing out a river of lava. Unfortunately, it is a several hard mile walk to get there and with my bad knee we stuck to shorter walks. My daughter had to walk slowly so I could keep up with her. We rented a car and drove the ring road – a road that circles the exterior of Iceland a little over 850 miles. There are black sand beaches, glacial lakes with floating icebergs, high ocean facing cliffs with all types of bird life. Drove by old lava fields covered with thick moss which give way to green pastureland dotted with horses and cute sheep – lots and lots of cute sheep. Then miles of curving road following the edges of fjords with little villages tucked into the hallows, then to highland dotted with lakes. The only difficult thing was the language – would you believe it has 36 letters in its alphabet and they love 18+ letter words! We also took the golden circle which has the place where the American Plate and the European plate come together, or really are pulling apart, with deep canyons and long lakes. It is the only place where you can see what the bottom of the ocean looks like without getting wet. Down the road is a small geothermal area with a geyser and mud pots. The cool part of all the geothermal activity is that every village has a thermal pool. On the golden circle there is the mother of thermal pools – The Blue Lagoon. Expensive! But so worth it. Here is a little tidbit that I didn't know: the first white child born in America was Icelandic! About year 1000 there was a pregnant traveling lady who willingly went to the New Land with the Vikings. She spent most of her life traveling around the world (I wonder if she could be an ancestor?). All in all, it was a fabulous vacation. I can't wait to visit it sometime in the winter. It sounds abusive to think about winter in Iceland, but winters are relatively mild as it is on the Atlantic Gulf Stream. OK, I'm a California girl and any cold is abusive. But to see Iceland with snow dappling the spectacular landscape would be worth the cold and then there are the Northern Lights! Iceland