Rick's 11 day itinerary, anyone done it?

I would make a few adjustments on this. Day 1 is great and is plenty of time for Reykjavik, so no need to do this on day 2 as well.

Instead, on day 2 head up to Snaefellsness and do the peninsula loop. Instead of staying in Borgarnes, stay in Grundarfjordur or Stikkisholmur.

Then on day 3, head south to Borgarnes and then back up towards Skagafjörður. That is about a 4.5 hour drive, but you can see a few things on your way back down to Borgarnes. Don't try to take what looks like the more direct route on 54 as that is a really rough gravel road. The locals have always advised me to go back to Borgarnes and then up, so that is what we have done.

On day 4, yes you have time to drive the Trollaskagi Peninsula, and I would highly recommend it. The drive including that to Myvatn is around 4 hours, or a tad over. You will be stopping a lot though, so allow for that.

I would not stay in Myvatn for 2 nights. Stay one night, then on day 5 you could go whale watching or you could also do this out of Reykjavik on your last day. I am not a fan of Myvatn baths, and instead I would suggest GeoSea. There is also Forest Lagoon in Akureyri, but I can't comment on it yet as that is on our list for August;)

On day 6, Dettifoss is a must. If you have a 4x4/AWD with some extra clearance I highly recommend going on the east side. It is a very rough road, but FAR less people and the views are just as good. You can easily do this and make it to Seydisfjordur. Be sure to stop at Gufufoss on the way there, it just takes a few minutes but is really pretty.

For day 7 it looks good. It is a good 4.5 hour drive at least, but so much to see. I would aim to do the zodiac boat tour here either at the end of the day or first thing the next morning. I would recommend the afternoon/evening instead of the next morning if you can.
The zodiac boat tour at Jokulsarlon is so good! We have done it a few times and love it. Be sure to walk under the bridge and over to Diamond Beach. Sometimes there are beautiful ice chunks there and other times nothing, and there is no way to tell ahead of time. Just hope for the best!

Day 8 I would head down to the ferry for Westmann Island and stay the night there. The ferry books out, so you would want book that as early as you can. Also note, if your timing is for the first weekend in August do NOT go here!!! It is the countries largest music festival and the normal 4k population there at Heimaey brings in an additional 22K people! We got out the day the festival was beginning and it was mind boggling to watch all the people. Here I would highly recommend the 2 hour rib boat safari ride. It was a lot of fun, plus a pod of orcas came right up to us! Obviously that was a bonus;) The captain turned off the motor as soon as he spotted the whales further out, but then they came to use. Fascinating to see them so close, even up to about 15' away!

Day 9 Take the ferry back over and head down to Selfoss. Eldhestar is a horse farm and has rides. We have done it there and they are excellent. Lots of options for rides. After that head up to the Golden Circle. See some of the sights and stay overnight there around Reykholt.

Day 10 see the rest of the GC and then head back towards Reykjavik since you want to do Sky Lagoon. A good hotel at the airport is the Aurora. It is not cheap, but it is a 5 minute walk to the terminal, so that is a real bonus.

A few more thoughts on this. Is this trip for this summer? If so, you are at the mercy of lodging since most places in Iceland book out 9-12 months in advance. So you would need to get reservations like yesterday. Instead of the Blue Lagoon, I would head straight to Reykjavik and stop at Sky Lagoon and then head to your hotel. Then on your way up to Snaefellsness, Hvammsvik Hot Springs is on the way and is my personal favorite in all of our trips. You could also ride horses up on the Trollaskagi peninsula as there are a number of places there to do this. We had a trip booked with Langus Farm, but our plans changed so we did not do this here, but I was impressed with the family, FWIW.

This seems rushed, and it somewhat is, but with the adjustments it makes more sense. Don't worry though, since this is the norm for Iceland in that one night stays work well. The time we did the ring road we had 12 nights and still missed a lot, hence numerous return trips;) But this one would give you a really good trip and will have you itching to go back.

Definitely take your car to Westmann Islands, for two reasons. One, to get to the southern tip of the island a car is best. That is where the puffin lookout is, and it is best to go there early in the morning or later at night when the puffins are on their nests. Secondly, if weather is bad, the ferry may not head to usual stop at Landeyjahofn and instead can go to a port 3 hours away. If you don't have your car, you are stuck.

We too usually do picnics for lunch. Breakfast is either at the hotel or if we are self catering, we stop at the store and have a supply of Skyr, fruit etc. Your usual dinner time is fine for Iceland. We usually eat around 6-6:30 and have always been able to dine where we want. Do make reservations though since many places are quite small and in some areas there are not many options, so you need to book ahead.

Thanks so much for your response! I had not considered only spending one night in Reykjavik and adding Snaefellsness. Something to consider, also had not considered doing Sky Lagoon on Day 1 instead of Blue Lagoon. Fortunately I do have all lodging already booked, though I'm still in the time frame to make changes if needed. After reading more about it I think we will do Westman Islands as a day trip, with car, and went ahead and made that ferry reservation. Still trying to decide on where to ride horse...I'm worried that if I do it early in the trip I will be sore for days, thus making me not feel great for the trip, but if I wait til the end of the trip and the weather is bad I could miss out on the opportunity. Poor me, such travel woes, LOL! I think this is going to be a great adventure!

Nancy, I would not worry about the weather and horse riding. They go out in all sorts of weather. I only ride on trips like this, so am probably a lot like you and was not sore at all the times we have ridden up there. I am glad that you have reservations:)