Iceland

Taylor's graduation gift was a trip to Iceland for a week long photography workshop, led by her favorite photographer.  She's been following him for years and was super excited to be shooting alongside him and his crew.  Time to pack.. there isn't a lot of room on the boat they will be on so she needed to pack for 25-40 degree weather in one duffel bag and one camera bag..  This may take a while...

This was a photo after she got back, but she managed to get everything in, including hiking boots and a sleeping bag!   

Ready to go!  She flew from Burlington to Reykjavic, Iceland.  There she had a 12 hour layover where she walked all over the city to check it out.  After that she took a shuttle to a smaller airport 30 minutes away, flew to Isafjordur in the West Fiords, where they said the hostel was within sight distance of the airport.  No rental car needed.  That wasn't quite the case... when she got there she realized it was 3 miles away, it was raining, and she was exhausted!  She did manage to find a cab and get to the hostel though.  She was to meet her boat crew the next morning..

Reykjavic

 This pirate ship was her home for the week!  There were 9 people taking the workshop, Chris Burkard (the photographer) and his assistant, and the two crew members on the ship. If you look at the front of the ship you'll see someone jumping off the front.  I can also see Taylor wrapped in a turquoise towel by the front mast.  She clearly had jumped off the ship earlier!  Brr....

They hiked, kayaked, and explored most of the northern most tip of Iceland.  Because it's summertime,  this was the land of the midnight sun - the sun set and rose around 1:30 am.  It was never really dark.  Most of the time, they tried to sleep during the day so they could shoot photos at night.  

The little boat that took them from the ship to land for their daily explorations.

One of my favorite pictures Taylor took - what a beautiful place!

 At one point they needed to cross a river to get back to their boat.. It was much deeper than they anticipated!

 They all made it across!  I don't think they were ever warm on this trip.. It had to be freezing in this photo!

 So - the second part of the adventure.. Taylor spent a week traveling by herself through Iceland after finishing the first week on the boat.  There is a "ring road" that goes all the way around the perimeter of the country.  The photographer she was with gave her a bunch of places to stop along the way.  So, she rented a car and started out.  This was a self portrait she shot - also one of my favorites!

Here's the problem with Iceland.. it's too close to the Arctic Circle, so GPS isn't reliable.  Hence the map.  The other problem is that a lot of the country is desolate and sparsely populated.  It made for some long, lonely drives.  Thank goodness she didn't have any car trouble.. who knows when she would have had someone stop to help!

There are hotsprings everywhere - here's one Taylor found on her drive. A great place to relax after a long days drive!

 The trip was ..hard, frustrating, cold, but beautiful and amazing all at once.  I'm so proud of Taylor for being able to navigate all of it!  As a reward, I booked her a night at the Blue Lagoon.  I figured she had stayed with enough random people in hostels during the last week!