Day 10, Saturday, August 8
Definitely a bit bummed out because today was supposed to be our 10 hour hike between two glaciers. We were really looking forward to it, but this rain is too much to tackle that hike as there are points that can be a little treacherous. The rain would only make that worse. Not to mention, it would be borderline miserable. If it was only a sprinkle, we would be trekking on. Instead, we will see all we can from the car and just wing it.
Before leaving, I thought it only appropriate to take a picture of our "hostel" that was off of road F232...
The three of us also carved our initials in the plane....
While soaking in the hot bath, we saw the people from plane again. When Connie and I were changing, we talked to them for a while. They were from MN too, which wasn't surprising being they were on our plane. They were from Hibbing. We found they would be on our same flight home and just hoped at that point, the baby would have a smoother ride home than the one there! :)
We then decided to head up to the highlands to camp. Yeah... We decided on one more night. Why not?! We just couldn't turn down another night of choosing our view and feeling that much more connected to Iceland!
It was our third night sleeping in our car. And maybe the last. Although it's been a fun adventure, our hips are feeling a little bruised from the hard floor! But... How amazing to just find a place along the way to camp!! We get to pick our own view! I'm not sure we could get away with this in the states?
So... Onward. We have a couple things on our list to see. Of course on our way... Another church. Have I mentioned that they are everywhere?! I love them.
Our first point of interest was something I found on a photographers blog when researching Iceland. An old plane wreck just yards off the ocean.
This was an Old navy plane crashed in the 70's and it's been there since. The good part of the story: no one died in the crash. The interesting part of the story: the pilot was forced to do a crash landing because he was out of gas, but later realized that he simply needed to flip a switch to the reserve tank. Oops!
So, as much as it would have been cool to have clear blue skies, the weather seemed appropriate for a crashed plane on a black sand beach. And boy was it windy! I don't think we got a single photo without hair across my face!
The three of us also carved our initials in the plane....
Went to Skógafoss. Hiked to top. Several waterfalls. This would have been the start of our long hike.
After our mini hike, we stopped at the little cafe and had coffee (or hot cocoa for me). There was a baby in there that I didn't notice at first, but then Diego had noticed and said to me "I think that is the happiest baby I've ever seen". I then took a good look at the baby and she looked familiar, and then her mom looked familiar. Remember on our flight from MN to NY before heading to Iceland... we had an extremely crabby baby on the plane. Yep, that was her! Apparently she really likes coffee shops, but not planes!
Next stop: Hot bath at Seljavellir. This is a less touristy hot bath. From the parking lot, it was about a 10 minute hike. They had a little building you could change in. We put our suits on and jumped in. The end we first jumped into was warm, but it definitely got warmer as we made it to the other end. This is where the hot water was coming in off the mountain. This is such an amazing phenomenon to me. How is the water from the mountain hot? But then on the other side, the river is freezing cold.
After we were in the water for awhile... we realized how dirty it was! It was pretty bad. but we all got a good laugh out of it.
While soaking in the hot bath, we saw the people from plane again. When Connie and I were changing, we talked to them for a while. They were from MN too, which wasn't surprising being they were on our plane. They were from Hibbing. We found they would be on our same flight home and just hoped at that point, the baby would have a smoother ride home than the one there! :)
We then decided to head up to the highlands to camp. Yeah... We decided on one more night. Why not?! We just couldn't turn down another night of choosing our view and feeling that much more connected to Iceland!
On our drive we made a few stops... One being the "Marshmallow field". Or so we called them! It was one of our goals to go "frolicking through a marshmallow field". Mission accomplished!! Thank goodness for Diego so he could capture the fun in film! (Pictures will be added soon!)
Back on the road with Diego following behind us. After awhile, we realized we lost him so we turned around. A few miles back, we found him stopped on the side of the road, feeding the horses! He is such a sweet soul! Earlier Diego had mentioned that he bought some apples that weren't very good. He decided to feed them to the horses. But... Apparently those were some bad apples as the horses were not fond of them either!! The defiantly liked the grass through!! (Pictures coming soon)
When we first turned on to F road to get to our evening destination... I drove Diegos truck so he could 'drone the drive'. Excited to see his footage! Connie was driving along side of us off-roading! These roads are super fun to drive. It's almost like being in a real live video game!! (Pictures to come)
Soon after... We saw Hekla. The colors were beautiful!
Next stop was an impromptu glacier climb. Diego had packed crampons and wanted to use them to climb a glacier. Connie and I climbed the mountain beside the glacier to snap a few photos of his climb. (Photos to come).
The decent was fun as Diego started to slide down it. We then spent a little time sliding down the glacier a few times. Serious fun!! I was wearing white jacket so wasn't sure it was in my best interest... But Diego gave me his so I could experience the fun without destroying my jacket. Seriously, nicest man alive.
Back on the road!! Did I mention how much fun they are to drive!? I was having a blast! Connie drove the majority of the trip, but she let me share the joy on a couple of the F-roads! But then we came to a water crossing. Not the little ones we typically came across. This one was BIG! We had to get out and assess the situation. We had learned what to look for to determine if we could cross safely, but this one we were questioning. Diego to the recuse again! He sudden to says "there's only one way to find out" as he's taking his boots off and rolling up his pant legs.
Mind you... This water is beyond cold!! It was determined we think we can make it.
At this point, I turned the wheel to Connie, since the car was in her name.
Diego found the right line to take and we followed!
Right before he was taking off... Him and I had been talking and I had the window down. Oops... Forgot to put it back up and Amanda got all wet!! Then Connie said "you got my bed wet!" Haha! She had decided she was sleeping in the front seat to save her hips! Ha!
So... We found our camping spot with another view we were looking forward to in the morning. It was cold and super windy here so we spent most of our time inside. Diego made dyhydrated camping food for dinner and Connie and I had pizza. We also celebrated another amazing day with a couple beers. We kept them in the Iceland cooler (outside)!
It was an early night though... (Midnight or so) as we needed to get up early for our last full day! Sad to see the end so close!!
