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Welp we are back at almost 10 years later and it honestly feels like yesterday since I posted last. But I made it to Bodø, Norway for the night before ferrying over to the Lofoten Islands. Flights were fine, but so grateful I upgraded to DeltaOne, even though I slept like crap. The layovers through Amsterdam and Oslo were thankfully uneventful but I arrived to Portland Winter Weather, which i believe will most likely be the forecast for the next two weeks. 😕

There are practically no stores open tomorrow, yeyyy Sundays in Europe, so I might get out the door early pending when I wake up. It won’t be sunny, but there’s a cool beach nearby.

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Updated Reading List for #danaspaidvaca

1) The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins 2) Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty 3) Friendship by Emily Gould 4) The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window by Jonas Jonasson 5) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 6) Unravel by Calia Read 7) The Vacationers by Emma Straub 8) Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman 9) Rosewater (Then they Came for Me) by Maziar Bahari 10) Unabrow: Misadventures of a Late Bloomer by Una LaMarche 11) Charm City by Laura Lippman 12) The Underwriting by Michelle Miller 13) The Sugar House by Laura Lippman 14) Denton Little’s Deathdate by Lance Rubin 15) In a Strange City by Laura Lippman 16) Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel 17) The Knockoff: A Novel by Lucy Sykes & Jo Piazza 18) The Last Place by Laura Lippman 19) The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan 20) By a Spider’s Thread by Laura Lippman
21) No Good Deeds by Laura Lippman 22) Another Thing to Fall by Laura Lippman 23) The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman 24) Find Me by Laura van Den Berg

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Updated Reading List for #danaspaidvaca

1) The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins 2) Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty 3) Friendship by Emily Gould 4) The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window by Jonas Jonasson 5) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 6) Unravel by Calia Read 7) The Vacationers by Emma Straub 8) Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman 9) Rosewater (Then they Came for Me) by Maziar Bahari 10) Unabrow: Misadventures of a Late Bloomer by Una LaMarche 11) Charm City by Laura Lippman 12) The Underwriting by Michelle Miller 13) The Sugar House by Laura Lippman 14) Denton Little’s Deathdate by Lance Rubin 15) In a Strange City by Laura Lippman 16) Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel 17) The Knockoff: A Novel by Lucy Sykes & Jo Piazza 18) The Last Place by Laura Lippman 19) The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
20) By a Spider’s Thread by Laura Lippman 21) No Good Deeds by Laura Lippman

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Updated Reading List for #danaspaidvaca

1) The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins 
2) Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty 
3) Friendship by Emily Gould 
4) The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window by Jonas Jonasson 
5) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 
6) Unravel by Calia Read 
7) The Vacationers by Emma Straub
8) Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman 
9) Rosewater (Then they Came for Me) by Maziar Bahari 
10) Unabrow: Misadventures of a Late Bloomer by Una LaMarche 
11) Charm City by Laura Lippman 
12) The Underwriting by Michelle Miller 
13) The Sugar House by Laura Lippman 
14) Denton Little’s Deathdate by Lance Rubin 
15) In a Strange City by Laura Lippman 
16) Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel 
17) The Knockoff: A Novel by Lucy Sykes & Jo Piazza
18) The Last Place by Laura Lippman
19) The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan 20) By a Spider's Thread by Laura Lippman

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turkey

six flights in six days,

kebabs all day, so hot,

hot air balloon, so much fun!

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south africa

met super cute boy,

penguins, leopards, sharks, oh my!

shopped and ate a ton.

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bali

drunk sunsets with friend,

picked up trash, very beautiful 

beaches. got tan. 

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new zealand

ten days on a bus,

no clue it was two islands, 

zorb’d, hiked, caved, boarded.

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THE END

The next morning, it was off to the airport! I dropped Nerf off at Hertz, they didn’t notice any damage..YEYYYYYY!!!! and it was off to the USA! Direct flight into JFK to see the fambam in Connecticut. The flight went well, my entertainment screen didn’t work but they gave me an iPad, so I mostly read and tried to relax. I don't think I saw one screaming baby or child on my flight and I think I cried out of sheer happiness. I was excited to be one step closer to my dogs and my bed and one step closer to my new life in Portland, but also sort of sad to be heading back to reality. 

TOTAL MILES DRIVEN IN ICELAND: 1,764

My friend Stephanie asked me if I had any Eat, Pray, Love moments on this trip..and she wasn’t the first to ask. And the honest answer is, no. As someone who is so defined by their work, I thought I would have a hard time during this time off and I was not bored at all. I wasn’t scared to travel alone and of course some things may have been nice to share with someone, but truly I wouldn't have had this trip any other way.

I can’t begin to thank my mom who helped me as a pseudo-travel agent from CT and Marissa who watched my dogs for me :)

PS- Besides singing...like A CHAMP (!!!) while on my Iceland road trip, I wrote a haiku about my trip in each country. Those are coming shortly - so look out for 5 of them. Other than that...and me updating my reading list for the rest of this time off - you’ve pretty much seen it all! 

Thanks for following my trip! I start at Columbia on September 28th! Time to start apartment hunting! 

#danaspaidvaca

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Two bathrooms to 6 rooms is no fun, especially when both bathrooms are being used for showers by the two people from the same room! I had to go to the bathroom so badly when I woke up and the closest one was at the harbor - so I hopped in my car and drove down the street. Wasn’t a bad view, but still quite hilarious. The woman made me breakfast and I started the day off slow since there wasn’t much on my itinerary except a hike to Glymur, the tallest waterfall in Iceland.

It was a pretty long drive to Glymur, I stopped a few times a long the way when I kept reminding myself that this was my last day in Iceland...and the last day of my international trip. I had read a few things about the hike at Glymur: 1) It is clearly marked, 2) its pretty intense and 3) you must cross a river. Well I got lost before I even found the trailhead....duhhhh - who would think you must walk through a fence to a sign saying GLYMUR ->? Oops...But the views on the detour weren’t so bad! 

[That body of water is the same one that is in the photo above]

Something told me that this wasn’t the ‘river’ I would be crossing, but part of me hoped that it was!

I noticed that the signs labeled Glymur were yellow, so I came to a point in the trail where I wasn’t sure where to go, but then I spotted this yellow dot...so I followed it!

It took me through this little cave thingy...but then on the other side I was greeted by another Glymur sign, so I knew I was on the right path! At this point, even though it was kinda late in the morning, I hadn’t seen anyone else on the trail. A couple of cars in the parking lot, but that was it. 

This is the cave that I walked down into and out of. 

And then I found THE river. It didn’t look too bad, I had every intention of just taking my shoes off and walking across.

But it looked like they had set up a much MUCH easier way!

The next part of the hike was a pretty solid climb, there were some chains to help you get up, but just right of the river, you can see the cave in the distance. At this point, I was probably just under halfway to the ‘top’.

Then a bit higher, I stopped at a cool, outrigger of rock to take some photos. At this point, I could see some people in the distance over by the cave, so I kept trucking a long so that I could enjoy it before lots of other people got there. 

Yep, it was pretty tall...

I didn’t climb to the top of the waterfall, I wasn’t even quite sure if it was possible, but about the time I got here, the bugs were INSANE. They didn’t bite, but they were huge and all up in my face...it was actually unbearable. I also started seeing more and more people come up. So I enjoyed this while I could...and then decided to head down. 

On my way down, I fell on my butt...got super dirty and a pretty awesome bruise. I also ran into a LOT of people...at least 30...I made it up just in time! After the hike, my next stop was Reykjavik, I totally misread my itinerary thinking I would have a full day there (the next day) and didn’t really plan what I wanted to do. But I knew that first thing I needed to change and get food. I found myself on the main shopping/restaurant/bar street and just walked around. I ate at a great little restaurant called Snaps (read about it online - voted ‘The Best Goddamn Restaurant’ three years in a row) and walked around and shopped a little. I also decided I would go to the Hallgrímskirkja church to get a bird’s eye view of the city! The church is the largest in Iceland, it’s Lutheran...and that’s a statue of Leif Eriksson out front. 

There were a couple of art festivals going on as this really is the end of summer for them...how depressing!!

I grabbed dinner, headed to my accommodation, showered and did some MAJOR re-packing. The first thing I did was throw away those pants with the hole. But the second thing I did was throw these away. These shoes have been to more countries in the last year than most people have visited in their lifetime and they were my all-time favorite shoe to work on at Brooks. They were muddy, there were holes in them, they smelled and I had lost 1/3 of their outsole rubber. So it felt both necessary and symbolic to leave them in Iceland and not bring them home with me....time to move on! 

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Well today was a drive around the Snæfellsnes peninsula, I knew it was almost like I was driving backwards, but since there was so much to see on the peninsula, there was no way I could’ve done it on my way down last night. The first thing on the list was the Eldborg crater. The itinerary mentioned it was a 2-3 hour hike and I had eaten an entire pizza for dinner the night before, so I figured it was a good way to start my day with this beautiful weather! The reason that it was such a long hike, was because I had to get to the base of the crater. Ascending the crater took 4 minutes, but it took about 45 minutes to get to the base. The picture about shows the crater in the distance. Forgive the dirty lens...UGH...Iceland, you are killing me! Some geologists believe was formed five to eight thousand years ago, while others think there was a second eruption in historical time. Either way, the views were amazing...it was such a clear day and the weather was PERFECT! 

It was very windy on the way up, I had a lot of layers, hats and gloves on. But the closer I got to the crater, it was warming up and the layers were all coming off. There wasn’t anyone else on this hike, it wasn't too early either, 9 am, so I decided to run back. Besides for some lava rocks on the path, it was mainly flat, so I figured I would run that pizza off! Plus, it’s a great way to make up some time. The run was fun, nothing scary, but definitely required me to be nimble, but then I tripped on a rock and fell. Ouch! Pants ripped, felt some blood...but I was able to roll to my left and prevent my camera from smacking against the ground. I knew it wasn’t bad so I continued. But it was funny, because on my way up, I thought, I should do a blog post about the best things I packed on this trip...and these pants were one of them...and now they were gone. RIP. When I got to the beginning of the trailhead, massive groups of people with their trekking poles and fancy packs were coming in, so I’m glad I got out when I did. I even stopped to say hi to the cows!

It got warm and I am out of shape and I was sweating... a lot! But it was off to the next stop, Gerðuberg basalt columns. More of the same, but in the middle of an open field and a large amount of them. I just got out to cool off and snap some pics!

Next I stopped at Ölkelda farm, where you can try some mineral water directly from the ground. My itinerary said “Don’t be shy and try it!” so what do you think I did? I mean, I put animal poop in my mouth in South Africa!

And it was absolutely disgusting! There was a French family there before me and they had cups, one of the sons filled his up, took a sip and spit it out and we all laughed. Then they handed me a cup to fill up and try it, so i did. It tasted like VERY flat sparkling water that came out of a rusty pipe, but it was clear and didn’t smell....so you would’ve never known. So I did NOT refill my water bottle like I had originally planned and I paid my 200kr donation fee and got the heck out of there! 

But not before I noticed this little guy on the hood of my car. I totally laughed out loud...what is this? A cartoon?!

I drove a bit more and decided to pull off to take a few more photos and change my t-shirt because it was STILL soaked from my run and I needed to use some hand sanitizer to clean out my knees.

Next I stopped at Búðir, which is known for a tiny church and it is one of the most sought after wedding spots in Iceland due to the gorgeous landscapes. Which I guess was true, but there are some amazing spots all over Iceland! There are lots of hikes from this point, but since i did that long one in the morning, I decided to move along and keep traveling the peninsula. But I did get some really beautiful (i think) shots along the river....even though I still hadn't recognized all of the dirt on my lens! 

Next I stopped in Arnarstapi, on the southern side of the peninsula and took an insane amount of photos. I couldn’t help it, it was just too beautiful. According to Bard’s saga, one of the settlers in that area was Bard, who was part human, part giant, and part troll.  As he grew older he became increasingly retiring, and in the end Bard moved away from other men altogether, and went to live on the glacier on the summit of Snaefell.  He became a guardian spirit of sorts, exerting his benign influence over the landscape, and appearing when his friends or relatives were in trouble. So here is a statue that represents him guarding over the people of the village.

As I walked along the cliffs, I was more and more amazed by how gorgeous it was...and how badly it smelled of bird poop if you got caught downwind :)

I drove a short drive over to the Lóndrangar sea stacks which also provided some amazing views.

My itinerary mentioned that my next stop, Djúpalónssandur, was not to be missed. At this point the weather got kind of cloudy and this sort of ruined it, but it there was still a lot to see. The beach had 4 stones, which captains used for their workers to lift to see if they were worthy of working for them. The stones were named after how the person would then be described: full strength (154 kg), half strength (100 kg), weakling (54 kg) and useless (23 kg). 

The beach also had remains of the Grimsby fishing trawler Epine that was wrecked there on March 13, 1948.

I walked around the beach for a while, but the tiny rocks that its known for, made it a challenge to walk. Shoes were hard, barefoot it hurt. It was a long day for me after the run (and fall) and I was starting to fade. 

One of the coolest parts of the landscape in Iceland were the lava rocks covered with moss. Legend says that this is where the elves and trolls live...probably to teach kids not to play on it because it takes decades to grow AND hides the surface irregularities below and can be dangers to walk on.

Then I found a beach that wasn’t on my itinerary, but I hadn’t seen a beach with regular sand yet, they were all black sand, so I figured I’d take a look. The water was cool, being all different shades of blue and it was nice and quiet!

At Öndverðarnes, the westernmost point of the peninsula there was another dirt road to another lighthouse and my paranoia was high, but I made it in and out successfully and there was a really cool well there, where you can find the only fresh water around. The cliffs around the lighthouse are very large and quite dangerous so this point was the only safe spot around for farmers to reach the land and dock their boats, usually having to carry them up to the land so that the sea couldn’t eventually reach them. Of course no one knows where the well came from or who dug it, but it is said to contain water from three sources 1) fresh water 2) holy water and 3) ale. Its also bad luck to draw the water after sundown.

From here, the drive was mostly back to my accommodation for the evening. There were a few villages to drive through, not nothing really worth stopping at : Hellissandur, Rif and Ólafsvík. On the way, I did spot a magnificent waterfall from the road and decided to pull in and check it out, as usual, I was very happy that I did. This was Kirkjufell River and Kirkjufellsfoss...

The surrounding views were also spectacular!

This is Kirkjufell, Church Mountain...not on my itinerary, but amazingly beautiful. And come to find out something I DEFINITELY should have stopped at along the way, so I’m glad it did! Some of the most amazing landscape photos I’ve seen in Iceland involve this mountain and it didn’t disappoint. 

After this, it was off to my accommodation in Stykkishólmur. When I arrived, there was a note on the door that said “If you have a reservation, please call this number....” Well, I don't have a working Iceland phone and it’s a bit ridiculous to think that since the documents said nothing about worrying about whether you would be able to get into your room or not, but I just opened the door and walked right in. I found a landline in the living room and called the number. The owner drove over in a few minutes and checked me in. She was very sweet and the guest house was adorable, it was just a funky set up. I immediately jumped in the shower, since I was the first person there for the night and I wanted hot water (6 rooms to 2 showers). And then I ran out for dinner, unfortunately, in the small town, the only option was pizza. Two nights in a row....ugh. But it was actually very good! Then I went back home, looked at my itinerary for the next day and went to bed!

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I slept in a little bit (until 7 am) and then headed out! There wasn't A LOT to see today, but it was by far my longest mileage in the car. I had to decide whether I wanted to do horseback riding or go into the glacier. I figured that since I missed out on the glacier earlier in the week, I wanted to do that! So I drove through Skagafjörður and didn't stop at any of the horse places (which is what it is known for). My first stop, after gasing up, was Glaumbær turf houses and Víðimýri church from the 1830s. There was an entrance fee to go into them and see some of the original interior rooms and decorations, but I decided to skip that and just check out the exteriors and peek through the windows.

Next, it was off to the town of Blönduós, with a quick stop in Hvammstangi. It is known for seal watching, but I didn't actually want to go on one, so I just stopped for coffee. I stopped here for about 45 minutes, but then when I re-looked at the itinerary, I didnt think i was going to make it to my glacier tour on time!  I then popped through Blönduós and my book mentioned something about the church...and not missing it. Well, it wasn’t possible to miss it, it looked SO WEIRD in the middle of these tiny little town of small houses and gas stations.

Then I drove to Grábrók which was another crater....the book said this was a 2 hour hike and I barely had the two hours in my timeline. I RAN up the stairs and was at the top of the crater in 15 minutes flat. I’m not sure if I went to the wrong crater...or they shortened it? I’m not sure....but luckily, it did not take 2 hours and it was gorgeous!

Part of the troll/elf legend is that the trolls go around and eat all of the marshmallows, i mean wrapped up hay bales on the farms. :)

The itinerary said if I had time, I should stop in Reykholt to visit the medieval water basin and the museum dedicated to Snorri Sturluson. My book mentioned it as Snorri’s Pool, but I had no idea what it was. I took some photos and got out of there since I knew I was on a time crunch and promised myself I would read all about Snorri when I got onto WiFi. Here’s the scoop: This small geothermal pool belonged to Snorri Sturluson. Snorri was one of the most powerful and respected men in Iceland during his lifetime from 1179 to 1241. He was a great poet, historian and politician. Some of Iceland’s greatest literature most likely stems from him, including norse mythology books, Snorra Edda and Heimskringla along with Egils Saga Skallagrímssonar. The pool is connected to his house with a tunnel allowing him to walk out to the pool in bad weather without getting cold.

That’s it. Epic, right? HAH! 

Next I stopped at Deildartunguhver, which is the largest hot spring in Iceland in terms of water production per second, so of course they have a power plant there trying to take advantage of this. 

At this power plant, they had a honor system farm stand for some tomatoes. They were super cheap and with the INSANE prices in Iceland I should've bought some, but tomatoes? Ughhhh 

Next it was off to the glacier! The group met at Húsafell for the shuttle to the edge of Langjökull. I hadn’t previously signed up for the shuttle and it was $20 (!!) so I decided to drive up there myself. The shuttle driver said I would be fine and even after getting stuck the other day, I personally thought the shuttle driver was erring on the side of caution so when he said “OK!” I figured the drive would be easy. Shockingly, it was not. I had to teach myself how to drive manual on this trip. There were many roads and hills in Iceland that I would not have made it up if I didn’t get Nerf into 1st gear, including the last hill to the glacier edge...Nerf barely made it! 

When I arrived, there was a large group of Chinese tourists in my bus, half of it. The only reason I bring this up, is when we got to the glacier and they separated us into 2 groups of 11, I was the 11th to their 10. It made the tour very challenging! Of course there was a language barrier and that was frustrating for both sides, but they were FAR more interested in hurrying along and taking photos than learning about the glacier. The tour guide recognized this and worked hard to keep them close and explain all of the history to me when he could. 

We walked into the glacier and put on crampons, just to help with the slippery parts and this made me laugh. It’s a good thing you are wearing snow pants lady, but your WEDGED HEEL BOOTIES are making this quite a challenge!

It took them a year to dig out the tunnels in this glacier and they did a good job of making it look but really COOL but also find lots of spots so you can actually learn about it. This is firn, old compacted snow, creating lines...like rings in a tree. They dug out some holes behind it to let in sunlight, so this photo is 100% untouched; no filter, no photoshop. 

There wasn’t much to see per say, but I had a fun time trying to take photos with the ice and light.

This is a giant crevice that they found inside of the glacier, the dug out some cool viewing points and light it up so that it was easy to see how massive (and dangerous) something like this is! Nature, you cray!!

After about 45 minutes inside the glacier (which is a temperate 0C/32F) the tour finished, but I was ready to head back out to the sunshine! We took the monster bus truck thingy back down to the meeting point and I drove off. Nerf did well on the downhill :)

I’m my way to Husafell, I had seen some cool photo opportunities so I decided to stop and take some!

The next place I wanted to stop was a waterfall, which after more careful re-reading of my itinerary it was actually a place I intended to stop anyway! This may have been my favorite waterfall I saw while in Iceland. All of the different colors, textures, the sun was just right....I don't know - I fell in love! It was technically two waterfalls flowing into one river, this one is Hraunfossar and the other is called Barnafoss.

Then I headed to my accommodation for the evening! I had done A LOT of driving today and I was ready for a shower, dinner and some sleep! It had been a few days since I had seen such nice weather so I wanted to stop when I could take some in some good views. So I did pause a few times along the way.

The area surrounding my accommodation was beautiful and I had every intention to walk around, but when I arrived they told me that the dining room was full and there was no room for my to eat there I had to go into town. Unfortunately town is a 15 minute drive each way and so by the time I got back, I just wanted to lay down and get some rest. 

[dforrdoes]

Updated Reading List for #danaspaidvaca

1) The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins 2) Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty 3) Friendship by Emily Gould 4) The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window by Jonas Jonasson 5) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 6) Unravel by Calia Read 7) The Vacationers by Emma Straub 8) Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman 9) Rosewater (Then they Came for Me) by Maziar Bahari 10) Unabrow: Misadventures of a Late Bloomer by Una LaMarche 11) Charm City by Laura Lippman 12) The Underwriting by Michelle Miller 13) The Sugar House by Laura Lippman 14) Denton Little’s Deathdate by Lance Rubin 15) In a Strange City by Laura Lippman 16) Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel 17) The Knockoff: A Novel by Lucy Sykes & Jo Piazza 18) The Last Place by Laura Lippman 19) The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

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In a cloud looking over Viti in Krafla, Iceland.

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Hveraröndor Hverir hot springs, Iceland. 

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It was just me and the ducks first thing in the morning out at the pseudo craters, Skútustaðir around Lake Mývatn. It was really the first day that the rain was kind of annoying. As a Seattle-lite, I really can’t complain, it was just a mist, but I got my pants all wet and I’m REALLY good at complaining. I decided to do the ‘Bird Walk’, which was a little bit longer, but once I got out there I realized my lens wasn’t nearly good enough and I didn’t have binoculars, so everything looked like a duck.

Except for the goats...there were some of those too!

After the pseudo craters, I drove over to Dimmuborgir, which I think would have been REALLY cool in the winter, but because it was a gray, wet summer day, it just looked like a pile of rocks. But as they were lava rocks, they were still cool to see. And I promise it was cooler than these pictures make it seem...with the rain, I didn't want to get my camera too wet. There are legends about trolls living in these rocks. Icelanders really believe in elves and trolls, you would see tiny homes in front of “real people” homes that people put there for elves. The story behind these formation is that a bunch of trolls went to this area for a party and they partied until the sun came up and got frozen as rocks. Many of the rocks have troll-like faces, but I mean honestly.... haha

On my way to Dimmuborgir I saw some really cool formations on the side of the road but I didn’t stop because I wasn’t sure what Dimmuborgir would actually be like. But after I was done there, I decided to go back and check it out. It definitely had much smaller formations but was NOT used in this season of Game of Thrones. :)

After this, I drove over to Námaskarð, which is more geothermal areas. On my way, I drove by Jarðböðin which is very similar to the Blue Lagoon I visited on day 1. It is much less touristy and I considered stopping there for a rest, but decided to continue on with my day since I didn't LOVE the Blue Lagoon. The water was gorgeous though....

At Námaskarð there is no boardwalk and it’s pretty free-roaming which is a bit dangerous since the hot spots are over 100F, but it wasn’t until this time I actually said out loud “Nature, you cray-cray!”

The mud craters were insane and I got SO muddy...and the rotten egg smell was close to unbearable. But I walked around forever, it was a photographers dream. Which also meant, there were “professional” photographers everywhere and it was quite annoying. However, I got to see everything and even took a short video of one of the impressive fumaroles. [POSTING NEXT].

After that, I stopped in Reykjahlíð for some lunch. My book recommended a restaurant in this tiny little town and it was very good, I had a salmon burger and a beer. Then it was off to Krafla crater, which I read was a 2 hour hike. It turned out to be just passed Námaskarð, so I was practically driving in circles but I definitely needed the food. Driving to Krafla Volcano takes you through the Krafla Power Station which is the largest geothermal power station in Iceland. Here is a photo of some of the output water (which was the glowing blue) and the power station in the back hiding behind all of the steam and clouds.

When I pulled into Krafla, it looked like the road was newly paved and it turned out that the 2 hour hike, was now only a 5 minute walk. This made me happy! I decided to walk up to the top of the crater because there was no one up there, but shortly learned why...the clouds were so low, you couldn’t see a thing! Except these did allow me to see both craters, Viti and Krafla, and when the clouds did move away, the view was fantastic! I took a video of the clouds coming back in....POSTING NEXT.

It was so windy (you can hear it in the video) and so muddy, I decided to take some photos!

Next, I took my book’s recommendation and stopped at Hverfjall, which is an incredibly larger cinder cone built of volcanic ash and gravel. It was so big, it is 1 km in diameter (0.62 miles!). The hike was steep, but I had that beer running through my veins (I wasn’t drunk...I’m just being dramatic here) and I powered up the cinder cone! 

My last stop for the day was Goðafoss (waterfall of the Gods) Waterfall and it is considered one of Iceland’s most spectacular waterfalls and it’s very, very to see why. Even on a cloudy day, it was picturesque! I started at the ‘bottom’ of the waterfall and hiked to the top so I could see the whole thing, the water was so beautiful and there was so much to see, I didn’t want to miss it!

After Goðafoss, it was time to head to the town of Akureyri, where my accommodations were for the night. This town is the 2nd largest in Iceland behind Reykjavik and honestly, I didn’t spend ANY time there. I got to my accommodation fairly early (around 5pm) and I just wanted to shower and read my book and relax. I had ordered dinner at the guesthouse; salad with lobster, cod with some veggies, skyramisu (tiramisu with skyr) and a pepsi max and my dinner was close to $70! YIKES! But still good and it was nice to just CHILL. 

[dforrdoes]

Well, I had arrived at my accommodation in Egilsstaðir around 11:45 pm and I did my nightly “scheduling” for the next day. If I wanted to see and do everything, I would’ve had to wake up at about 4 am the next day....this was just not an option. So I chose to NOT go to Seyðisfjörður village which was a little disappointing, because I heard it was by far the best village on the East Fjords, but because of how lame the other ones were I chose to go see the third highest waterfall in Iceland instead. I headed out to the waterfall which was about a 30 minute drive around Lagarfljot lake. This lake has a famous worm monster, think Lochness Monster, but I did not spot it! Everything I read said that the hike would take about 2 hours and I read that the bottom had better views than the top, so it wasn’t worth climbing. Off I went...on a mission! I made it to the waterfall in about 45 minutes...I was crushing it. It was a beautiful sight! I had to keep reminding myself to stop and look around...and even take photos if I wanted to. It wasn’t just about GOING there, but actually enjoying it. This waterfall had some really amazing basalt rocks and rock layers.

In order to make up some time, and because I had eaten a lot of french fries here in Iceland, I decided to run down. I made it down in 23 minutes and felt great! What a good way to start my NEW day! 

The craziest thing about Iceland was the terrain...one minute it was lush green, sunny blue skies and the ocean and the next it was cloudy, black lava deserts and high wind. It was very, VERY unpredictable. 

My next stop was the mighty Detifoss waterfall and Jökulsárgljúfur Canyon. But first I had to get there, there were notes in my itinerary about the roads being closed in the winter due to snow, but that’s about as much as I read. The roads were BUMPY! After the previous night, I was on high alert and after about 15 minutes and not seeing anyone else, I wondering if I was the only crazy person to actually come visit. But then, I came up on a ton of cars (albeit mostly 4WD) but I felt a bit more sane about the situation. Upon arriving at the trailhead about 35 minutes after, you could hear the waterfall from the car. It echoed through the gorge and was just insane. Very, very cool!

My biggest (and probably only) regret in Iceland was not making it to the top of Ásbyrgi. Here is an image I found of it on Google, just to show you the horsehoe canyon. Nicknamed Sleipnir's footprint, it is said that the canyon was formed when Odin's eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, touched one of its feet to the ground here. Legend also relates that the canyon is the capital city of the "hidden people" (huldufólk), who live in cracks within the surrounding cliffs. But it was a long walk to the top and I didn’t know if I had the energy or time...this is where my lack of planning really bit me in the butt. Because man, this would’ve been so cool to see... but I did make it INTO the canyon and onto the little viewing deck with the water. 

Next it was a drive through the Tjörnes peninsula, where all of a sudden the sun came out and I saw some amazingly BLUE water! I had just driven over that tiny bride in the background that crossed the water.

At this point in my Iceland road trip, there was a lot of driving, stopping for a few minutes and driving some more...which was a bit different than my first day or two. So, there was a LOT of singing. I had downloaded some pretty epic playlists on Spotify for the trip and I’m just going to entertain you by listing some of the most played songs:

1) Pumpin Blood (Acoustic) by NONONO

2) Boom Clap by Lennon & Maisy

3) All for You by Sister Hazel

4) Banana Boat Song (Day-O) by Harry Belafonte

5) Send Me on My Way by Rusted Root

6) I’d Do Anything for Love by Meatloaf

7) Someone New by Hozier

8) Elastic Heart by Sia

9) White Walls/Can’t Hold Us/Same Love/Thrift Shop (Acoustic) by Megan Davies

10) Cheerleader by Omi

11) I Really Like You by Carly Rae Jepsen

12) Halo by Beyonce

13) Work It by Missy Elliot

14) Wannabe by Spice Girls

15) From Eden by Hozier

Next stop was Húsavík, which is the main town for whale watching, but I saw some documentary about how boats are getting too close to whales and really causing problems out there, so I’m kind of against it. Plus, I was tired, it was cold, I got sea sick on my last boat and whales are whales everywhere in the world, right? So it was just a quick coffee stop and then another 45 minutes to my accommodation for the evening. I arrived fairly early (in comparison to MIDNIGHT like the night before), and it was nice to take a real shower, wash my hair, re organize my suitcase and get on some WiFi to update the blog and have a REAL plan for the next day. There wasn’t really anywhere around to eat dinner so I ate a buffet at the hotel and caught up on some reading. It was actually a VERY lovely day...but having so much time does make me regret not going to the top of the canyon :(