After all of the work to prepare for the trip and make sure as much of it would go as smoothly as possible, we all made it to Iceland. I'd like to thank my two colleagues in this adventure who helped to make it all possible. They are my friends Edna Collis from the Geological Society of America and Ingiveig Gunnarsdottir of Embla Travel. Þráinn Friðriksson, from the Iceland Geological Survey, was a welcome addition to our band for a few days, sharing his vast knowledge of Iceland’s geology with all of us. Nicole Beasley-Becker of Holbrook, Inc.also put in a lot of time making the travel arrangements. Without their extensive contributions none of this would have been possible.

The other thing that made this trip a success was the fantastic group of people who went along (and Guto). It was amazing to see how rapidly the group bonded together. Within 24 hours, we had formed a tribe. There was never a complaint about the conditions we were living under, the nearly constant Icelandic drizzle that we experienced, the low visibility that we sometimes encountered at scenic spots, or about the sometimes long bus rides. The long subarctic summer days made this somewhat easier to withstand, since there is always something beautiful to look at in Iceland. I think most of us slept better during these two weeks than we normally do. I know I always do.

I'd also like to thank Denise Poole, Ruth Hobson, and Jennifer Epley who managed to read and enter my handwritten journal into MS Word format so that it could be presented here.

Here is a list of the participants. Most of us have email accounts and can be reached by clicking the name. I will try to keep this list current as people move around.
 
 

Clicking in any of the boxes of the calendar below will take to the journal entry. Most days will eventually  include some photos.

July 26
Baltimore to Greer, SC

                      Ecology     Environmental Studies    Mathematics