Glacier tour and Ice Climb

the title of this post is not very creative so my summary of events can be short. 2 hour bus ride to and from Reykjavik (which yes, I can now spell..thanks Leens). Pretty scenery along the way and more opportunities for dad to take pictures of me sleeping in public places. No, I haven't become narcoleptic. I am going to attribute my abundance of day sleeping to dad's snoring plus jet lag plus the long car ride (and the fact that I didn't bring a book or my phone to entertain me). The glacier was amazing! It is at the base of a volcano so what appears to be dirt in the photos is actually volcanic ash from the last eruption. We hiked around the glacier for a few hours and I felt pretty comfortable in crampons. Then the guides took us to a vertical cliff and set up the climbing ropes. Dad flew up the wall so I felt pressure to perform. I think my youth soccer career prepared me for this moment. Most people had trouble kicking into the wall but because I have no upper body strength whatsoever I made sure my feet were planted and basically strolled up the wall. Since I have rock climbed (at REI and in the climbing gym in philly..which clearly makes me an expert in the sport. NOT).. I was familiar with belaying so that actually was the least scary part for me. No injuries, no accidents and great weather made it a fantastic day! We stopped briefly at another waterfall (I call Iceland the land of infinite waterfalls...because of the glaciers there is always a new one from the runoff) but we had spent an extra hour on the glacier so this visit was cut short so we would be back in time. Tomorrow Dad is letting me take it easy which means we will be strolling to the center of Reykjavik and taking a bus tour around the city. This will also give me the opportunity to purchase one of the snazzy Iceland sweaters I have seen all over the place. Steph can expect one too. Thats all for now. Lots of love. -Hope