They don't call it Iceland for nothing - an international escape after the election.

Northernmost Capital on Earth - Reykjavik, Iceland!

Reykjavik is the world's most northern national capital. It enjoys a cold, yet not frigid, climate courtesy of the Gulf Stream.

Five days after Trump was elected president, I left the USA for Iceland to celebrate my 20th wedding anniversary. The goal was to see the northern lights, little did I know when I booked this trip in May that it would be a welcome opportunity leave the US soil as a respite from all things Trump.

It was an amazing trip! We did see the Northern Lights: for about five minutes on the flight over. We did not realize what cloudy weather we would encounter when we arrived. Yet the sights we did see were SPECTACULAR! Iceland is very expensive in terms of meals and gifts, their famous sweaters will run you $200 minimum. Choices have to be made, yet make the choice to GO even if you have a limited budget, just plan ahead and plan one nice meal per day with snacks and walking as a way to save money. Just bundle up!

We were there four days, three nights. This was nowhere near enough. We were delighted to find that most Icelanders speak fluent English. Most of the tourists we encountered were either British or American. The atmosphere is a cross between the USA and Scandinavia. The restaurants have a wide variety of food yet we did enjoy traditional Icelandic fare.

Tjörnin is a lovely small lake in central Reykjavík, We walked along its shore, as it is situated downtown next to the Reykjavik City Hall and several museums.

View of Downtown Reykjavik, Iceland with mountains behind the city.

Traditional Icelandic breakfast, eggs, flat bread, smoked lamb, ham slice, musli and skyr yogurt,

Lamb and root vegetables, delicious meal at Iceland House restaurant.

Favorite meals in Iceland include lamb, filet of beef, cod, chard, salmon, and root vegetables. There were a fair amount of international restaurants in Reykjavik, much more than we found in other European cities. We found sushi, Italian, French, British pubs, Thai curries, even nachos! Perhaps best of all was there bakeries! Pastries to die for!

If you are interested in drinking, the local beer Gull was everywhere. There were several microbrews with the name Viking in the name.

Selfie in the cold. Down jacket helped a lot!

Suns finally coming out, note the mountain peeking through.

Fríkirkjan í Reykjavik is a church by the lake Tjörnin, seen here on the far right.

The Blue Lagoon - all its cracked up to be!

One of the highlights of the visit to Iceland was our time in the legendary Blue Lagoon. The history of the resort spa is so funny, I had to share this from Wikipedia. Fundamentally, it was created by the waste water of a geothermal power plant that is located next door!

"The warm waters are rich in minerals like silica and sulfur and bathing in the Blue Lagoon is reputed to help some people suffering from skin diseases such as psoriasis.[2] The water temperature in the bathing and swimming area of the lagoon averages 37–39 °C (99–102 °F). The Blue Lagoon also operates a research and development facility to help find cures for other skin ailments using the mineral-rich water.

The lagoon is a man-made lagoon which is fed by the water output of the nearby geothermal power plant Svartsengi and is renewed every two days. Superheated water is vented from the ground near a lava flow and used to run turbines that generate electricity. After going through the turbines, the steam and hot water passes through a heat exchanger to provide heat for a municipal water heating system. Then the water is fed into the lagoon for recreational and medicinal users to bathe in."

Yes, it is as lovely as it looks. Your skin feels soft and silky after a soak in the amazing and mineral rich water. SO warm too!

The Blue Lagoon is located in an extensive lava field moonscape. No trees or grass of any kind in the vicinity.

Notice how small the people are in their brightly colored jackets. It helps gauge the size of the waves.

Courtesy of Wikipedia: "In 1991, the US journal Islands Magazine named the beach in Vik as one of the ten most beautiful beaches on Earth. Its stretch of black basalt sand is one of the wettest places in Iceland. The cliffs west of the beach are home to many seabirds, most notably puffins which burrow into the shallow soils during the nesting season. Offshore lie stacks of basalt rock, remnants of a once more extensive cliffline Reynisfjall, now battered by the sea. There is no landmass between here and Antarctica and the Atlantic rollers can attack with full force."

The waves there are simply massive, pipeline curls, probably the biggest ones I have ever seen in person. Just beautiful and ever crashing.

Pictures just can't capture the beauty of this place.

Going to a black sand beach in winter was an incredible experience.

Icelandic horses are such sweethearts! We had read that Icelandics tended to be friendly, and easy to handle, although also enthusiastic and self-assured. The ones we encountered were exactly that! We fed them long grasses and they tried to see if I had any treats in my pockets. We saw them everywhere along the drive to Vik. So nice that we were able spend time with a few on our visit.

We enjoyed our official and fancy 20th anniversary dinner at LAVA the gourmet restaurant at the Blue Lagoon. We had the three course prix fixe meal, with a seafood soup, mussels, beef and cod as our choices. Dessert was creme brulee - probably the best I ever had due to the crumbly cookie topping. It was also topped with an orange section. It was just great!

Driving in Iceland to Vik and the Black Sand Beaches!

The drive along Route One in Iceland could be described as on of the most beautiful anywhere on earth. It is about a two and a half hour drive from Reykjavik. The route is through lavafield moonscapes, waterfalls, towns, mountains, and is flanked by the Atlantic ocean, glaciers and Eyjafjallajökull, the famous volcano that erupted in 2010. The wind is significant and four wheel drive car is a must. The route is easy to follow, just stay on Route One and play attention while going through the roundabouts. Google maps is very accurate and we never felt nervous or disoriented on the drive.

Stacks of basalt rock are seen easily from the shore.

Too bad we missed the puffins...they are in Canada in winter!

Shel making friends with the local population. Icelandic horses were brought to the island by the Vikings 1000 years ago.

Next time, we are hiking up to the glacier!

The sign of a good vacation, is that you can't wait to return! Iceland is a wonderful place in every way! While we briefly saw the Northern Lights on the flight over, we still want to see a full light show. We also missed the UNESCO World Heritage sites due to gravel roads and icy conditions. Lastly, we did not tour Hallgrímskirkja, the largest building in Iceland and home of the Lutheran Church of Iceland. We will definitely be back!

Happy to be back in the USA, yet it will be a tough four years!