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Iceland, I Need To Go Back And Explore More

@ daveNY37

We did have some non-farm related fun too.  On Sunday the clouds actually parted, sunshine showed-up, and Kjartan came into the barn and told us to stop working and go make the most of it.  He actually let us take the car!  So we flew into the house, ditched our sheep clothes, grabbed some yummy rice pudding with nutmeg, and took off.  Now, I absolutely love the open road.  Let me tell you, on a clear day in rural Iceland, hitting the pavement is a beautiful thing.  We had two goals before the sun went down around 4.  Gullfoss waterfall and Geysir a little further south.    Me being the terrain/landscape nerd that I am, absolutely loved driving through the unique Icelandic scenery.  We made it to Gullfoss and it was great.  You could get right up close to it.  The water just seemed to pour downward, cutting a huge hole into the earth below, and then carve a path of its choosing across the land in front of us.  From ground level on the other side I can see how it might be possible to not even see it, then you just walk right up on this crack in the earth and there’s this river carved into the ground.  In Iceland they say, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait 15 minutes.”  Well that proved true as our bright sunny day turned back to grey and cold, in what seemed like an instant while we were there.  Then these giant snowflakes started coming down.  When it hit your face it felt like someone gently placed a cold, wet facecloth on your cheek.

We got back to the car, drove a few miles down the road and just like that, the snow was gone.  It was still grey, but all traces of that previous weather were gone.  It was starting to get dark as we approached Geysir.  It was actually an area quite like Old Faithful in Yellowstone.  There were a lot of pools of bubbling water with egg-smelling sulfur steam coming out.  It sounded like a bunch of people boiling porridge on a stove.  Then we walked over to the crowd of people waiting for the big guy to do his thing.  We say the geyser go off three times in about 15 minutes.  It was pretty cool.   From there we wandered into the snack bar and I finally got me some Skyr.  It was this yogurt-type stuff, but not quite yogurt.  You could hold it upside down and it wouldn’t budge.  Yummy though, and in all kinds of flavors.  I hit a patch of black ice on the way back, which totally freaked all of us.  My Bond-esque driving skills kicked-in and we survived.

A couple days later we went to one of those outdoor hot springs.  It wasn’t the infamous “Blue Lagoon” south of Reykjavik, just a local one.  We had a good time though.  With the night time weather in the high 30′s we braved the outdoors just to get into one of those steaming hot tubs.  It was great.  They had one that was real hot, and a bigger one that was somewhat cooler.  Both were fed by steaming water from underground.  There was a rousing game of Marco Polo as well.  Man, I haven’t played that in years.  We would relax in the hot tub, then when it started to be too much we’d get out and fly over to the cooler pool.  About 30 minutes in, it started raining just a bit.  It was a great contrast to be cooking from the neck down, and have little, stinging drops of water hitting your face.  After a string of days working on the farm, let me tell you that hot water felt great.  I was so thankful at this point that Dorothee and Kjartan had let us borrow their car to be able to get out and do stuff like this.

Later in the week we caught a lift to Selfoss and just hung out.  It was nothing big, but we just walked around town, checking out this and that.  I managed to mooch a wireless signal off the library and put the Skype App on my phone to use.  Whether you’re traveling or at home, Skype is definitely something to get involved with when it comes to staying in touch with people.  Free calls for Skype to Skype users, video chats, and really cheap calls from Skype to cell or landlines.  There’s my plug, I can’t get enough of it.  After walking around for a while we found a couple stores, bought some naughty snacks, and settled in to pound it all.  I had more Skyr, some interesting candies and chocolates, and a great soda called Mix.  Ah, junk food…  I also spotted what I believed to be Cool Ranch Doritos (quite possibly the greatest chips ever), but over here they’re called Cool American.  I had to snap a pic of that.

Our time to leave the Farm came after seven sheep-filled days.  On a dark Thursday morning, we said goodbye and caught a ride with Dorothee back to Reykjavik.  Thank goodness for that!  She saved us some dough by giving us a lift.  On the way we came across a big line of cars being held up.  Apparently there had been an accident up front and traffic was delayed indefinitely.  We had to backtrack and find another route.  That took us into another scenic area to check out.  This area looked like another planet.  Less moss and more lava rock.  There was even this little emergency house a little ways off the road (dirt road) for stranded travelers if they get stuck in bad weather.  That’s kinda hardcore.  Everywhere on the island there was definitely an attitude of being proud about how Icelanders deal with tough weather.  I’ve never seen so many trucks and SUV’s with lift-kits. Eventually we made it back to civilization with a little time to spare for Dorothee (she was on her way to a conference).  She rushed us to the marina and dropped us off.  She had given us some of her candy and jam, and now we gave her big hugs.  Things were definitely tough this week, but overall it was a good experience.  I learned a lot about myself.  We were definitely thankful to her and the family.

Off went Dorothee, and off we went to secure our hostel.  It was pretty cold and windy that day so we went into a library for a warm place to gather ourselves and make our plan.  We narrowed down where we wanted to go and took off.  The first hostel was a no-go but the second one worked.  The lady cut us a great deal for our own rooms, for only about $24.  After settling in we went out for some more time in town.  We wandered around for a while, then went into the Settlement Museum.  It was all about the Viking settlement of Iceland, and about Nordic/Viking people in general.  The nerd in me was pleased.  After that we got a cheap lunch at a local corner eatery that featured “Texas Sandwiches.”  Nice.  We got hot dogs with an Icelandic twist.  Good stuff (a special sauce and crispy onion-bits).  After that we just meandered back to our hostel.  Not before buying a little more Icelandic milk for one last taste!  I spent most of the night getting a blog up and catching-up on e-mail.  It was a good day.

Overall I had a great time in Iceland.  However, I would absolutely love to get back here one day during the summer months and explore more.  There were so many good views of the distance here.  They all just stirred a desire in me to see more of what’s out there.  Getting into those remote areas towards the center of the island would be amazing.  But for now, up early tomorrow.  Time for Paris!