In June of 2006, Bil and I took a trip to Stockholm, Sweden and to Reykjavik, Iceland. It was my first trip to Europe. The primary purpose was to run the Stockholm Marathon and when that was done, we simply became tourists.
Why the Stockholm Marathon?, we've been asked.
Well, we came across it a couple of years ago while web surfing and casually looking at all the marathons out there. I'm not sure why we even started looking at international marathons, but we stumbled onto Stockholm and it just seemed right.
The pictures of Stockholm looked wonderful, and the course description and map portrayed a course both mostly flat and beautiful. We decided that some day we'd try to go there. This year we had "seed money" saved up for a trip and decided that we'd just go for it. So in January, we signed up for the marathon.
So, how does Iceland fit in?, you may then ask.
On Expedia.com we had started looking into flights to Stockholm to see how much the airfare was going to cost. One of the flights included a connection in Reykjavik, Iceland. I've been intrigued by Iceland for a really long time since hearing and reading about the geography and the geothermal activity and so on. It's long been on my short list of places I'd like to see. Bil thought it would be neat too. So we decided to go to Stockholm via Reykjavik and on the way back home, stay there for a few days.
So, on Wednesday, 31 May 2006, we kissed our kitties goodbye and left them in the very capable hands of my sister who wonderfully agreed to fly up and house- and kitty-sit for us. She claims she was simply using up vacation time but what she was really doing was giving us peace of mind. We still can't thank her enough. As we left, Debi told us she wouldn't let the house burn down. We told her, we don't care if the house burns down as long as the cats are safe.
That evening, we drove down to SeaTac to stay in a hotel in preparation for our flight out the next morning. There, we discover that we've forgotten the toothpaste. Ah, that's what 7-Elevens are for.
Next -- The Trip to Stockholm (via Minneapolis)