[Jeff Higgins]

Other guys have covered the "must see" and "must do" stuff already, so I won't bore you with more. All I will say is that, having lapped this big old globe about three times, Iceland was one of the first places to which I returned upon retirement. Took my wife and my younger son there. I absolutely love Iceland and everything about it. Hell, I could probably live there, I like it that much. You will have a fantastic time.

Good plan on the tour group to start out with. That will be the best way to get the lay of the land. We split out time differently, though, with just a few days on organized tours and the rest with our own rental car. The organized tours are very, very worthwhile, though, so you are probably going the right way. Be aware, though, each and every tour will land you in some sort of a gift shop, with maybe too much time to kill. Even at that, however, the gift shops are at the destinations you want to see, so how much time (and money) you spend in them is up to you.

The Northern Lights tours will have you out and about at ungodly hours. Often without seeing anything. And, if and when you do, you kind of have to prepare to be a bit disappointed. They are mostly just white or, at best, show very subdued colors. The really spectacular greens and blues and other colors we all see in the photographs are a result of the filter on the photographer's lens, not the atmospheric conditions. September might be kind of early for them anyway, but you might get lucky. Be prepared to drive all over hell and gone looking for them if they are not out, though. Kinda hard on the old sleep schedule, but what the hell.