Airplane Information: This shows that we are flying at an altitude of 36,000 feet. The outdoor air temperature is -63.4F (frigid). Current time in Keflavik Airport, on Iceland, is 5:48 am.

Have I slept at all? Nope...too excited, and I don't want to miss a thing.

Land Ho!: We have landfall at sunrise! Iceland is dead ahead, and I was surprised to see mountains for my first view. I guess that makes sense, though, considering that it sits smack dab on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. WOW! I am in Iceland! Never in my life did I ever expect to step foot on this land. I just about passed out from the excitement of it. WooHoo!

Let me give you a tiny bit of information about Iceland that I found in my Insight Guides: Iceland book by the Discovery Channel: "Icelanders often say that their country was unfairly named, since it is, after all, strikingly green for much of the year. But anyone paying a visit to the Southeast will have ice on their minds, no matter what the season. The whole area is dominated by Europe's largest icecap, Vatnajokull, whose enormous glaciers creep down through every crack in the coastal mountains like oozing blue putty.

Volcanoes regularly erupt beneath it, devastating farmland with flows of melted ice and debris as large in volume as the Amazon River. Little wonder then if the Viking explorers thought the name "Iceland" appropriate."

The series of photos that you will see are of the mountains and glaciers of the southern coast of Iceland, that I could see from my window seat on the plane. I always plan each airplane trip by what I might see out the window. I made sure that we had seats on the left side of the plane so we could see Greenland and Iceland as we passed over them. Fun!

Iceland: The first thing that I noticed was the lack of trees on the coastal landscape. As we came into the airport, I saw lots of grasses and scrub. It is more of a tundra type of landscape, which makes sense when you consider the high latitude it is located at (64 degrees N). I can't tell you how incredibly excited I was to actually land in Iceland. What an exotic country!

Coastal Farm: The soil here must be incredible for growing crops, considering it is all volcanic in origin. Next stop, Keflavik Airport, Iceland.

VIDEO: Stewardess welcomes us to Iceland: Listen to the stewardess speaking Icelandic. Fun! (Note: In order to play this video, you need a lot of patience if using dial-up. You also need Flash.)

Touchdown: We had a one hour layover in Iceland. Unfortunately, this was not long enough to go outside of the airport, plus security was tight. We had just enough time to find the bathrooms (called "water closets"), and have a snack before boarding.

Icelandic towns amidst the water and mountains: I didn't see too many towns, after this one, as we flew over Iceland. Most of the upcoming landscape is extremely mountainous and glacier-filled. I would imagine there might be significant flooding in this area after some of the north Atlantic storms that roll through this part of the world.

Enormous Mountains: My sister once visited Iceland and said the enormity, and starkness of the landscape was absolutely overwhelming. It was one of the most incredible experiences of her life. I have got to get to this country some time. For scale, click on the picture and check out the teeny weeny houses near the bottom of the photo. Oh, how insignificant people are here.

Inhospitable Landscape: Every scene out of the airplane window was spectacular. The glaciers on the mountain tops are permanent all year round, and you will soon see some photos of very large glaciers in blog entries to come. This landscape is covered with lava flow, after lava flow. You can just imagine the magma flowing down the sides of the mountainous landscape. Breathtaking...

Mountains, glaciers, snow, and clouds: The cloud cover makes the mountains seem even taller. As it is, some of these mountains are in the 600 meter to 1200 meter range. Notice the glaciers surrounding the mountain as far as the eye can see. I believe that some of the glaciers may be in excess of 2000 feet thick.

Glacier and Mountains: This entire area is volcanic. The rock is all basalt, and it looks like it has a high iron content. Look at the leading edge of the glacier in the lower right. You can see where it is retreating in the "heat" (all 54F of it) of the summer, leaving little pools behind.

Variable Icelandic Landscape: AMAZING! Gorgeous! This view really makes me want to explore Iceland some day. The features are all so large. Volcanoes, glaciers, basalt and ash everywhere...

Close-up of Icelandic Mountains: These look rather volcanic to me! Yowzer, there are a lot of volcanoes in Iceland. It almost looks like an alien landscape. Beautiful...(Click on the image...go on...I know you can't resist!)

Leading edge of a glacier: You can almost see this glacier shaping the land. Check out what looks like rivulets in the snow. These must be ridges of sediment deposits that have built up and allow channels of water to flow as ice melts periodically. The geology of this land mass is awe-inspiring. WOW!

Glacier Close-up: WOW! This photo shows the patterns of ice and the debris it carries (mostly sand and boulders.)

Mountains and Glacier: Whoo...my shutter finger was getting tired from snapping so many photos. Thankfully the skies cleared to give me this awesome view. Look at the sun shining on the side of the volcanic mountain! The crater of the volcano is filled with water. And, you can see the drainage from the western edge of the glacier through a mountain pass. Incredible! Isn't this so exciting? WOW! (Click on the photo for a closer view.)

Yet another glacier view: I know, I know...but gee...isn't it exciting to see this? You can actually see variations in the glacier and snow pack up against the mountain. (One more Iceland photo to go!)

Last view of Iceland: We left the coast of Iceland shortly after I took this photo. Now, for the long ride over the Atlantic toward Norway.

Plane location over Iceland: We flew over the southern portion of Iceland to Keflavik Airport.

View over Iceland: We had to change planes in Iceland for our final trek to the USA. It was quite cloudy out, so I only got a few good views of Iceland.