Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Our group of 31 travelers recently returned from a wonderful five-day tour of Iceland, known as the Land of Fire and Ice.

After our five-hour overnight flight to Reykjavik, we spent our first day getting acclimated to the new time zone and exploring our home base, The Hotel Ork.

The hotel was located in the small, charming town of Hveragerði, known for its greenhouses, which are heated by hot water from volcanic hot springs. The town was very walkable to hot springs activity, the greenhouses that made steamed bread and the outdoor community pool, open year-round and heated through geothermal energy.

Our location was perfect for exploring all that Iceland had to offer. Every morning we departed in a new direction. Our south shore adventure to the town of Vik took us through small villages, majestic mountains, active volcanoes and waterfalls. Several of our adventurous travelers walked behind the Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. We saw the geometric-shaped basalt columns, beautiful black sand beaches and we were able to get up close to the many puffins that were perched on the rocks.

Golden Circle Tour Day was certainly the highlight for many where we saw the famed Gullfoss Waterfalls, named one of the top 10 waterfalls in the world. Of special interest was seeing the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano. This volcano erupted in 2010, grounding all air traffic from Europe including our Evie’s Travel group in Dublin! At Thingvellir National Park, we were able to walk through the canyon, which is the meeting point of two of the earth’s tectonic plates, North American and Eurasia. A rainy day in Reykjavik did not deter our full day of enjoying the Nordic downtown area, including a quick lunch bite at a hot dog stand made famous by former President Bill Clinton who once said it was the best hot dog he ever ate. Most of our group agreed with him!

The FlyOver Iceland experience, an exhilarating attraction with motion seating and wraparound screen, was certainly a highlight and a fun way to see the extreme areas of Iceland.

No trip to Iceland would be complete without an afternoon at the Blue Lagoon, a man-made geothermal spa. The milky waters are rich in minerals and silica which have healing properties for the skin. Many of us looked 20 years younger after our spa!

Soon we will be leaving for our Paris/Normandy river cruise trip on the Seine River. This trip has been in the planning stages for several months and is a trip of a lifetime for so many. Reminder for those traveling to Paris with us, we are departing from the Walmart parking lot at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31.

Regular hours at the Mower County Senior Center office are 9:30 a.m. to noon Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Contact Information: 507-438-3946, PO Box 575 Austin MN 55912.