Even though Iceland's almost at the top of the world near the Arctic Circle, winter temperatures are often warmer than, say, New York, London and Paris. In summer, the temp doesn't get much beyond light sweater weather. All in all, it's decent weather to see all there is to see, and there's a lot.

As the Icelandic trainer told Coach Bombay in the seminal classic "D2: The Mighty Ducks:" "Greenland is covered with ice, and Iceland is very nice!" ...

Outside of Reykjavik, where two thirds of Iceland's 320,000 citizens live, sits nearly 40,000 square miles of nature in its rawest form.

We ate lunch amid vast lava fields strewn with black boulders and belching sulfur vents. We rode sturdy Icelandic horses, camped in the wild and awoke to the cries of Arctic terns hunting above the softly lapping ocean surf nearby. And my son told me, "A kid can do a whole lot more than most adults think."

In the course of half a day -- by Arctic-sun standards -- we would see waterfalls, valleys, ridges, geysers, glaciers and tundra that can only be described as lunar.

In the season of the midnight sun, the light is both ethereal and intense, and touring Iceland is an absolute adventure. Those of us who live here sometimes need to be reminded that people come from far and wide to see things we take for granted.

Where do you go to avoid mass tourism and see original, unpolished events? Iceland.