Iceland, Day 1: Thingvellir National park

Day 1, Reykjavik and Thingvellir National Park

On Day 1, we departed Reykjavik after stocking up on groceries and headed North. Our camper van had already earned the nickname The Beast (because we never had trouble finding it even in the most crowded parking lot because it towered over nearly every other vehicle). Despite its size, it was surprisingly easy to drive, so we.... drove... a lot. 

In the North, the weather did not disappoint.  Despite the fact that it was June, it was COLD, COLD, COLD...  plenty of sunshine and umpteen layers of clothes and a warm beanie did help keep me from abject misery... at least most of the time. 

Despite the COLD, we started at Thingvellir National Park, UNESCO world heritage site, Iceland's first national park, and the founding site of Iceland's parliament in the year 930.  If that weren't riveting enough, Thingvellir is also geographically located in a rift valley that divides the North-American and Eurasian continental (tectonic) plates. Not the best place to be during an earthquake, but the scenery was typically Icelandic -- stunning and breathtaking:

After leaving Thingvellir, jet lag from the overnight flight caught up with us and we traded places as we each were tempted in turn...  to fall asleep at the wheel.  Our original itinerary had put us spending the night somewhere on the way out of the Snaefellsness Peninsula by late evening (there was no nightfall in early June in Iceland -- only twilight that lasted for a good few hours before yielding to sunrise in the middle of the night). But the reality of functioning on no sleep after flying across a few oceans sank in and we stopped short of the peninsula at a campsite called Farm Holiday. Farm Holiday had no shortage of great views but we sound found that the bathroom/shower facilities were to be avoided unless absolutely necessary.